Hi, My Name Is Leslie and I Am A Paperholic

Is there such a thing as "Scrapbookers Anonymous"?

I commented to my husband today that my scrapbooking stuff is like crack cocaine to me. I think about all the new gadgets, papers, and embellishments I would like to have and then I think about how I can pay for them.

With money being tight this year for us I have been thinking about using one of our credit cards that have been put on hold until we can get it paid down.

Then, I think there ought to be a Scrapbookers Anonymous for family members, like for AA and their families. My husband is an enabler of the worst kind. Today while we were out getting groceries for our New Years Day dinner - he asked me if there was anything at Michael's I want.

My first instinct was to say yes and make a mad dash to the Michael's then to Hobby Lobby. My heart beat faster, and it swelled with anticipation of all the delights available to me on the shelves. I had to get a real grip on myself and say "NO, thank you". What a bummer. I want to go to Michael's so bad, just to look around and touch stuff, maybe buy one or two things. But I seriously can't. I begin with one or two items in my hands and then I end up having to go get a cart. I can't stop myself.

I used a few new techniques (new to me) on the Christmas presents I made for our family. Some of them were successful, others fell a little short because I didn't do it just right (perfect). But I learned something new and made changes on the next go round with something similar and made my corrections then. The oopsies I made on these items - no one will know except for me.

I have seen a website called Addicted to Scrapbooking and thought it was funny that anyone would be "addicted", it is not so funny now. I am fully, and irreversabily addicted to scrapbooking.

I guess it is better than being addicted to a drug. I'm not the only one that benefits from this addiction. Many people do, beginning with the store (drug dealer), online outlet (alternate drug dealer), myself and the learning curve of new techniques (good high or a dud - whatever it is called), and finally to my recipient. Thank God my recipients only get to see and touch the items and not be led down the garden path into this addiction.

If I have to be addicted to something, I guess scrapbooking is a good drug of choice.





This will be the one and only time our daughter will come visit my blog and this will ruin her Christmas present that was shipped out YESTERDAY.

New Grandson IS SUCH A CUTEY!!

He is absolutely adorable. I miss his little squeaks, grunts, and the sound of his breathing. Our daughter is in for a real treat in the next few years. He already seems to be holding his head up very well - for a newborn.

Next achievement will be for him to roll over from his back to his stomach, then sit without being propped up, then will be the crawling attempts. At some point he will make more noises and he will smile more often. Real tears will come.

When he begins getting around by himself, our daughter will have her hands full and develop eyes in the back of her head. Just a normal parent thing. I think it is really a heightened sense of hearing more than of seeing.

I would give just about anything to be able to hear him laugh. The sound that I love to hear is a baby's laugh. After seeing these on YouTube and on AFV I know that I am not alone in this opinion.

And, I am of an age where I can understand why the elder adults around me when my children were little like him said that raising children was for the young. It wasn't that they could no longer get around and keep up with the little buggers, it was just that they had become used to the lives they lead and were not continually hyper focused on where a child was every second of the day. That is tiring, indeed.

I Was Off Being Grandma

I have been blessed with the cutest little grandson. Pictures to follow at a later post - when I get all the thousands downloaded. That is if my computer doesn't decide to hack up a hair ball during the download - or upload. Whatever.

Two weeks with that little precious. The squeaks and snuffling noises. I used to lie awake at night just to hear my little babies make noises when they were little like that. Babies are so cute. They are a lot of work also.

I was thrilled when I was asked by my daughter to spend two weeks with them after the baby was born. I may have driven them crazy but it seemed to be my job to take care of the normal everyday housework stuff while they (Mom and Dad) dedicated their time to taking care of the new baby and for Mom to get healed up.

So much was going on during this time. Thanksgiving came and went, along with a whole houseful of people. Getting caught up on all the family gossip and hearing the news of everyone's lives and events.

I spent time with my new granddaughters (13, 9, and 8) making Christmas Cookies. That was an absolute blast. Listening to them talk about their creations and what each was, then little snippets of school or friends talk would come up. We also had a paper craft time together. I absolutely could not go to their house without bringing some of my scrapbooking stuff along to indoctrinate new people with stickers. Brainwashing, I think it is called. What better way to brainwash someone with something that brings out their creativity?

I had a few moments where I went back in time, about 15 years, and the cookie making was done with all of my kids who are now grown and on their own. Doing exceptionally well at being adults I might add.

I have an awesome family and I appreciate what each of them bring to my life. Now I have a new little one that will only enrich me further.

How could one woman be so lucky?

Creating A 2009 Birthday Calendar

We are a blended family. We have eight children between us (5 his and 3 mine - but they are ALL MINE), some have added spouses to their households and we have grandchildren - three I don't see for reasons out of my control and one brand new one I will get to spend the next two weeks (or more) with. I am so excited.

Every child (not children anymore) gets a call on their birthday where ever we are and we sing Happy Birthday to them. We do such a bad job of being off key and out of sync but they love it - Thank God. At some point through out the year I get asked "When is ------'s birthday?". Most of the time I remember, but not always. I especially have a hard time with the spouses, but I have my trusty iPhone with the calendar feature and I think I have them all now.

Okay, watch. This will be the very first time that all the kids come to read my blog. Money is pretty tight this year for us. After my husbands prostate surgery last year, and the resultant bouts of terrible infections he spent December and January in the hospital and he was not recuperated enough to get back out on the road until mid March. We have been playing catch up with our bills.

I had picked up a thing or two in our travels, but mostly this will be a hand crafted Christmas.

At the end of August we all got together in Denver for four days and all the kids got to see each other for the first time in about 10 years. It was awesome. Photos taken at every opportunity. Like most every other family, we have spoken about a spouse to the members, and the time we all spent together was a time to put faces with names. Thankfully there are no divorces in the offing after having met and spent time with this brood.

I am so blessed.

Well, anyway, one of the things I'm making from my humongous stash of scrapbooking paper is a Birthday Calendar for 2009. I only have one finished. The rest I will tackle when we get back from being Grandma and Grandpa. I only have two pages as a sampling, but I'm pretty proud of the way they turned out.


This is the September page. It is like a scrapbook and a calendar in one. Not my original idea, I sort of stole it from seeing the calendars you can purchase at Office Depot. The papers on this page are all from Club Scrap (www.clubscrap.com), well except for the white pieces.

The calendar part was printed onto thin cardstock from my stash. I used a program called The Print Shop (www.broderbund.com)to create the calendar months.

The one for July, since there are so many of us with birthdays in this month, I had to make a flip page. There are more photos under me (the red part).





I thought I would be really smart and punch the hole to hang it with as I went. Somehow I got it off kilter and had to repunch the holes when I was finally done. Man was I upset over that. All that work and time I put into it. My fix for it was to put strips of ribbon in the bad hole. Now there are pull tabs for each month. I can say I planned it that way if someone asks. Don't tell them different.

I have many ideas floating around in my head of what to do for Christmas. I will have time later to get at it and have little bits of paper tracked throughout my house from all of my creative genius.

I Have Fallen Into The Deep End

I was doing so well. Working diligently, daily, on my paperwork, doing housework in snippets of time - or taking an hour or two to get some work done, and after dinner time I would spend a couple hours in my craft room to get things made for family for Christmas presents.

Everything came to a screeching halt about two days ago. I went bonkers. I went mad. I lost control of my senses.

For about a year now I have been checking in on "Craft TV Weekly" and the Scrapbook Lounge for ideas and seeing how some really fantastic things get made. If you are a crafter and have not seen this site, go check it out. http://www.crafttvweekly.com/main.php

When I began scrapbooking, I wasn't very good at it but I gave it a try. As I got more experience and became more confident with my tools and techniques I got more excited about doing this.











While watching the Scrapbook Lounge one evening (last January) I saw a "formula" of sorts for making my layouts look better and more to my liking. Well, that started a whole new way of thinking for me and this craft I so love to do. I have so much paper - none from Club Scrap - that I figured I could use the "Design Guide" as a reference point for choosing papers. I was able to get about 15 layouts finished in a few days (minus any photos) - this was still last January when I was home tending to my husband after his surgery - and I was very pleased with them.





Well, the last time I was home, for more than just overnight, I went to http://www.clubscrap.com and looked at everything they had for sale. I was able to just look around and not be possessed to purchase everything I saw.

Friday, I lost perspective. It started out by becoming a member and selecting the "Club Scrap Jr. Paper" kit on a monthly basis. I figured for $11 a month for three months and cancel at anytime I could do that. The full kit membership - with all the embellishments, bling, rubber stamps, doo dads, and gee gaws - is well over $45 a month and I didn't want to go that far.

Everything would have been fine if I had not decided to go to Ebay and see if anyone had full kits for sale. There were six. 6 of them, I tell you. My brain fired up and I had to control myself from bidding on all of them. I only bid on two.

Getting out of Ebay as fast as I could, I went back into the Club Scrap site and looked it over. In the "Community" section is a place (Oh, my further undoing) called of all things - "Garage Sale". There is a section for Full Kits and I just had to press the button to enter. I just had to. I could not help myself.

Coming in the mail, some time within the next week, will be my very first Club Scrap Kit, then there will be two coming from Ebay (I din't get out fast enough), and I will have made a purchase from the Garage Sale at Club Scrap.

I am soothing my conscience with the notion that Christmas is just weeks away and we don't have the money to do Christmas up like we did a couple years ago. I can make things for our family. I have hundreds of photos of places we have been during our normal working. Photos from different states that I have admonished myself for not getting to and lessening the amounts of photos. I can make cards, or packs of cards, and send them to our children so they will have something to send a friend or family member for birthdays and get wells.

Then I think about my regular job. I spend so much of the year out on the road and all this paper patiently waits for my return during the winter times and after I have done all my other paperwork for income tax stuff.

It will, eventually, go to good use and I will be glad I have the tools and papers available for me to do this and be creative. This really isn't a bad thing. I just got derailed from my paperwork for about three days.

Tomorrow is another day.

Modified Flylady Routine

Being self employed I need to have some form of structure in my daily work life or I don't do anything.

If you have read my recent posts, I am an all or nothing kind of person. I am on a first name basis with Procrastination. I have spent so much time with Burn Out that the relationship has gone from being acquaintance to a dysfunctional cohabitation.

I want to do so many things. Wait, strike that. I have to do so many things and the pressure to get them all done can be overwhelming. Everyday there is something else added to the list of To Do Today that I am surprised that I have not been spotted by the military in a No Fly Zone while I'm zooming around on my broom.

I am getting things done. In fits and starts. I am not thrilled with the progress of some stuff. Though I am quite happy with the progress of other things.

My "schedule" for the last two weeks has been:

7:00 a.m. Coffee brewing
7:15 a.m. Check emails for new billings from Corporate Lodging
7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. QuickBooks
1:30 p.m. Lunch
1:45 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Housework
2:45 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Craft time
4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Fix dinner
6:30 p.m. Load dishwasher
6:45 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Whatever I want to do

There have been some days I've gotten up later than I had wanted to and some of the work load I had to shift around a bit. Also, there have been some days that the printing goes on for quite a while - over 10 minutes - so I vacuum during that time. Laundry, also, gets done during printing time.

There have been some days that I don't eat until dinner time. By that time I'm quite fuzzy headed and could be considered a doddering old fool.

My housework is slowly getting done. I mean s----l---o---------w----l---y.

My paperwork is getting done a little faster. March and April are finished and I'm beginning May. If anyone tells you that QuickBooks will make your job easier - only half believe them. Last year I spent one whole month setting up all my accounts, vendors, customers, and banks. That is a job. I did have the foresight to contact an accounting firm and have one of their gurus help me get set up properly. It still was a lot of work and a lot of time spent in getting the thing set up to do what I need it to do.

I figure it takes about three days to complete a whole month of business and personal expenses and incomes. The data entry goes fairly quickly. It is the bank accounts and credit card reconciliations that bog me down. An item will show up on one of these statements in the particular account and I find I spend about 45 minutes hunting for which account I put it in and make the necessary changes. Being so far behind in this work causes a few glitches.

All in all, it is coming right along. Things are getting more orderly and files are being put away as I use them. There is a structure here and I am feeling good about it.

I have such strong urges to get back at the paperwork after dinner and I have to forcefully restrain myself from going there.

So, if you find yourself in a situation like mine. Tons of stuff to do and limited time to do it in, take an hour and go to http://www.flylady.net and check out the site. One word of caution though. If you sign up you will be getting emails from them everyday. Put it in DIGEST FORM so you get them all at one time and can pick and choose what you want to read. If you don't do this you will have so many emails all day long you won't get anything done. I am serious about this.

Well, back to the laundry and getting supper ready. I really should not be here right now.

Ink 0 - Hairspray 1

This morning, while marking up the grocery list from Word, Joe's pen stopped working. He had put a refill in about a week ago. How long it had been sitting around before use is any one's guess.

Joe made a comment about his new refill already being old. I looked over at him, long enough, to see he had his Zippo out. I've seen others do this before but I've not paid much attention to where the fire goes.

The next thing I heard was "Oh s*&$". I looked over at Joe and he sported a purple thumb, index finger, and blotches on the palm of his left hand. He got up and went to the sink to wash the ink off with Lava. It was not taking the ink off his hand.

Many years ago I learned that hairspray would take ink out of fabric before washing. Saturate the ink stain on fabric, let it sit for a minute or two - the time it takes to load the washer with clothing and laundry soap - then throw the item in the wash. Ink comes right out of fabrics.

I went to the bathroom and came back with a bottle of hairspray and handed it to Joe. With major skepticism in his voice he tried it. He sprayed the hairspray on his fingers and palm where the ink stains were and rubbed it around. I had him dry his hands off first from the washing up with Lava. His response was "Momma strikes again". Compliment to be sure.

There was ink on the table top. Gone now with the hairspray. There was a good sized blob of ink on the linoleum floor. Mostly gone with the hairspray. It is a faded spot and not very noticeable unless you know what you are looking for.

So, if you have an ink stain on fabric or your skin, go after it with the hairspray.

Joe says there is solvent in the hairspray and that is what makes it work. Who knew (I didn't), perfectly coiffed hair is held with solvent.

Defragging Me

Fragmentation of my time and work load has caused a glitch in the works.

The work flow is mired in quicksand. I'm struggling and just getting deeper in the quagmire. Everywhere I look there is something that needs to be done and a lot of things are only half finished.

In the past three days I have succeeded in: 1) Joe's bathroom is clean. That's it. 2) Kitchen counters are decluttered and cleaned off. No more than that. 3) Kitchen floor has been vacuumed in the open areas. Whoopee. 4) The carpet has been vacuumed at all the open areas. Yippee. 5) One month of paperwork - March 2008 - is almost finished. Woohoo.

I have dedicated time to do something from each work category every day. If someone were to come knocking on our door and want to come in and visit I would allow them in. If that someone was coming to do an inspection I'd have to keep away from all windows and doors and hide.

This is really frustrating to me. I see improvement, but it is at a snail's pace.

Am I stressed out and ready to be the "Terminator" to anyone that even asks how I am feeling. No. The stress level is at a Level 3 out of 10.

When I have done things my old way, by the third day my stress level would be rising. By day four I would be spiking at Level 8. From day five, and until whatever day it would be to finish the work, my stress level would be at Level 25. Off the charts. By that time the "Nasty Quotient" would be 75% with pulses to 360%. Mild nasty to "Call a Priest for Exorcism".

I do have to say, since I have been doing stuff in increments, I am getting more things done AND I even have time in the evenings to do my scrapbooking stuff. So I do have time each day to play.

Give me another full week of this and I will let you know if I am progressing or have gone back to my old ways.

My To Do List - or - Look At It And Run Away List

Where are those magical little elves I read about many years ago as a child? Aren't there elves that secretly come in the night and do the accounting paperwork?

The magical elves I had for a few years (housework elves) have all grown up and moved away. They have their own little homes to keep. Do they wish for little magical elves also? Probably so.

Okay. I have to do the stuff I need to do a little at a time. I am a "gung ho, do it to burnout, keep going at it", type of person. I have a propensity to get totally involved in a project - any project - and work exclusively on that project until burnout.

I will, literally, get up early in the morning (around 6 am) to start a project and, with a single minded focus, keep at the project until after midnight. This could go on for days at a time - depending on how large the project is. Everything else goes by the wayside - well except for bathroom breaks. Cooking for my husband and myself is no where on the immediate radar screen. It is not part of the project and, therefore, gets attention only long enough to growl "Can't you fix yourself a sandwich or something?".

House cleaning is done from one end to the other. One room at a time. Furniture moved, dusted, clutter is moved to the room it belongs in or the trash, vacuum, sweep, mop, walls wiped or totally washed, windows cleaned.

I have done this in the past so often that I just absolutely HATE house work. So when I finally finish and am so tired and sore that I can hardly move that is the end of my focused mania. Nothing else gets done for the next few days. Maybe some cooking but that is it.

This time around, I have a wonky and wobbly plan. Do a little of each thing each day. I have no idea how long I will be home before our daughter gives birth in Colorado and I go to be with her for a couple weeks. I have put myself under pressure and I am really struggling to deal with this wonky plan. Not enough is getting done at any one time to make me feel I am accomplishing my duties.

Monday and Tuesday were lost days to me. There were things I had to do outside of the house that I just figured I would not start the projects on those days. Tuesday was grocery shopping day and a few errands to run. Too much of a block of time outside the house to get things done.

When I got home I had to put the groceries away and fix dinner. Totally wasted day - in my opinion.

Wednesday I got Joe's bathroom cleaned by setting the timer for 15 minutes to clean the bathtub. As my usual custom, the timer went off and I continued cleaning his bathtub instead of stopping and doing something else. Well, one hour and 20 minutes later his bathroom was all done. Shower curtain in the washer, towels and rug washed and in the dryer, floor swept and mopped, tub and walls clean, toilet cleaned from top to bottom, sink and mirror cleaned.

The next project was to make file folder labels for all the work we did from June to October. I did that and made the files and was so proud of myself for not going gung ho and doing more.

My next project was to declutter the kitchen counters and give them a good scrubbing and attack the sinks and stove. After I was done with that I started dinner.

We can't eat at the table yet because it is piled with Joe's stuff. We are terrible at "Any Flat Surface Becomes A Place For Stuff". We have gotten into that habit because we come home for a night or a couple days and all the mail and junk we no longer want in our vehicle gets piled on surfaces until we get home for an extended time. Bad habit to get into. I am so glad to be back home for a while, until I walk in the door and see all the CRAP. I just want to run away from home.

This mornings task was to get rid of all the *&@#$%(! boxes Joe has accumulated and kept for "someday I might need it" that his Ebay stuff came in. They are gone now. In the dumpster, out the door, ready for trash pick up today.

My next project was to get all the receipts and mail from June to now in appropriate files and made ready to enter in the Quickbooks software when that day comes around. I made so much progress. I got all the paper clutter put away, shredded, and tossed. I can now move on to my next project. Making labels and file folders for each of our Settlement Sheets from our dispatch offices.

My world crashed around my feet. Sitting on a file box, where I had put it, was a huge file holder stuffed with more Load Envelopes that I missed and didn't take care of yesterday. Freaking Out Now. Major Freak Out Attack. The file folders will be in a jumbled mess when I get finished with these new ones to make labels and folders for. All of my perfectly labeled 1/3 cut file folders will be disjointed and mish mashed because I did not get the Load Envelopes all taken care of at one time.

It is time to just watch some TV. Something we recorded while we were away. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition season premier I think. That ought to be long enough to make me feel even worse at not getting anything done.

We Voted

I was a little reluctant to get to our voting place. I had visions of the people waiting outside the voting place before opening time, and the long line behind them.

Well, there was a small line that moved quickly. We were in the door and out again within half an hour.

What was I thinking? Truthfully, just like the iPhone releases. This election, seemingly more than the past elections, have people more interested in voting. So, I expected there would be a backup of voters.

Maybe later in the day it will get crowded and the lines will be long, but this morning it was quick and painless.

Good Luck to each of the Presidential Candidates in this 2008 election.

Train vs Semi in Ontario, California

October 21, 2008 we had delivered trucks to the Volvo Dealership in Fontana, California. We stayed the night in Ontario and went to visit our daughter in Garden Grove. On the way back to the hotel, that night, there were red flashing lights everywhere at the intersection of the Milliken Avenue and the railroad crossing.


The piece of white stuff on the front of the engine, above, is a part of the trailer that got embedded at the time of collision.



The hand rails to gain access to the cab of the engine is all bent up and wrecked.



Here is a better view of the piece of trailer stuck to the engine. It took a railroad worker one and a half hours to get this piece of aluminum and foam off the train.



Lunchables all over the place. A string of these boxes are on both sides of the train from the actual impact sight all the way up to the front of the train.

Charm City Cakes

September 14, 2008 we were in Baltimore, Maryland. I wanted to see Charm City Cakes while we were in town and would be getting around in the pickup.

If you watch the Food Network's Ace of Cakes, the street looks wide and big. In real life, this is a very narrow two lane street. How they get their shots is beyond me. I don't know why the black plastic is on the windows - maybe to keep peeping eyes from interrupting their business. I did get a shot of Duff's scooter. Lucky me.

Halloween Time in Washington and North Dakota

Leaving Everett, Washington on October 11, 2008 I saw this amusement park south of Tacoma, Washington and I had to take this picture. Holy crap - Thank God spiders don't come in this size in actual life.

In Fargo, North Dakota at the Prairie Rose Inn and Convention Center where we stayed the night on October 30, 2008, a costume party was going on.

These two young men arrived in costume and I had to talk to them. These guys are only two of a gang of four who have won the last five costume contests and were hoping to win this contest. These guys begin brainstorming in August, come up with an idea and work on their ideas and get them designed and created in time for the contest. This year they decided to be Tetris game pieces. Their costumes are made from beer cartons, paper, and electric tape. No, they are not joined together, they just "hook up" to show what they are. Ingenious.

Crazy Sign in Fargo, North Dakota

On October 29, 2008 we made our final delivery in Fargo, North Dakota before heading home.

I know I am tired and my brain is just not clicking on all cylinders, but this just can't be right.

I didn't know that chickens had ethnicity nor did they go to restaurants.

Northern California - Sculpture

On October 12, 2008 we were deadheading from Everett, Washington to Sacramento, California. In northern California (somewhere south of Yreka) we were traveling south on I-5. On the east side of the highway (my left) I saw this sculpture and asked Joe to take the next exit and go back north a mile or two.

I have no idea what town this is near, if you should want to locate this yourself.

This just struck me as funny and whimsical and I have to share it with you.

Isn't she lovely?

Going Through Tons of Photos

We are finally home. Decompression time for me.

I have only uploaded the digital camera, the seven hours of video cassettes will have to wait for a while - until I can get a stand alone hard drive - before I upload them. Tons of footage I had taped. I hope by the time I can get to it I remember what is what and where the events took place.

Some photos I want to share with you on our trips over the last two months are going to be put in this post.

The first is a "sculpture", they call it, of a Prada storefront in Marfa, Texas. Check this site out http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasArt/Prada-Marfa.htm for an explanation of this building.




Our first trip from Laredo, Texas to Calexico, California was in August 2008 and the shoes and bags were in the building. In late September 2008 when we went back through Marfa, Texas the shoes and bags were stolen - by who knows - and the building was empty. If you check out the website I have linked, above, you will see pictures of the shoes and bags in this building.


You can see this is out in the middle of no where, literally.
Someone, with a sense of humor, decided to leave their version of shoe sculpture behind. Look to the left of the building and you see the fence posts. Now here is a clearer view of the fence posts.

Batman Sighted At Wendy's

Evil doers beware.

Batman was seen working the drive thru window in Wendy's at Sapp Brothers Truckstop in Fremont, Nebraska yesterday.

No Drama To Report

Let's see, Sunday afternoon we unhooked Joe's trucks in West Valley, Utah. He would go back Monday morning to complete his delivery. This Sacramento to West Valley trip is finally over.

Yesterday we drove north to Ogden, Utah to get two trucks for Joe going to Fargo, North Dakota.

These trucks gave us a little pause. They have THREE rear axles, the frame is extra long, and the fifth wheel is up at the front axle instead of between the two rear axles. We were concerned the frames would be too long and the fenders of the extra front axle would get damaged by our trailer.

Progress on this trip, the final one before we can go home, seems slow. It has taken all morning and part of this afternoon to go 300 miles. Just seems like it is taking forever to make the miles go past.



-- Post From My iPhone

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs - Not The 70's Song

We left Bakersfield, California yesterday morning to finish our deadhead to Sacramento and the last two trucks from JDJ Trucking going to West Valley, UT.

We stopped for lunch at Pea Soup Andersen's then arriving at JDJ Trucking at 5 pm (3 local).

Neither Joe nor I followed through with tying the seatbelt securely to the steering wheel of the back truck. Thank God there was no real damage done. A sign got knocked over.

An off duty Nevada Highway Patrolman pulled in behind us. Joe walked back to see the damage, found none on the truck and the street sign down. The patrolman displayed his badge and gruffly told Joe that either Joe was going to call 9-1-1 or he was going to make the call.

There followed a very demanding and acusatory conversation, by the Nevada patrolman, informing Joe that he had been driving in such a manner as to be dangerous. Joe watched and listened to the patrolman, when he had wound down in his diatribe and saw that Joe was not cowering in fear the rant stopped for a moment.

Joe walked to the downed sign, picked it up and put it backwards in the hole it came out of. Once the sign was again upright he came back up to our trucks, still on the phone with a 9-1-1 operator.

I high tailed it to the back truck and got the steering wheel firmly secured.

By this time the Nevada patrolman decided he had not made a big enough impression on Joe so his shoulder holster with gun were now on full display.

Two local officers appeared. One stopped in front of our trucks and the other stopped behind the Nevada patrolman's pickup. The three officers were gathered together near the sign, the Nevada patrolman gesticulating and holding forth declaring his importance in this matter. Joe thought his presence was needed so he went back to join the group.

Some minutes later the local officers decided the Highway Patrol was needed and one was called.

One of the local officers inspected our trucks for damage, went to the sign and turned it the right way around. Finished with these duties he then went back to the group that now included a Highway Patrolman on motorcycle.

Joe went back to find out what fate would be decided on him.

A few minutes later the Nevada patrolman, along with his glowering wife, drove off. Must not have gone in their favor.

I anticipated Joe would return with a ticket for an insecure load that would cost a whole lot of money.

It seems the Nevada patrolman, with all of his officious behaviour - declaring his Police Officer status and saying "Officer Jones, or Officer Simpson (whatever their names were on their tags) got so overbearing the California Highway Patrolman told the Nevada patrolman he could leave the scene and they would handle it. The California officers all agreed since there was no damage done we could leave without incident.

We went to the 49er Truckstop in Sacramento for Joe's Nevada permit and we got out of town.

Tonight's stopping place was back to the Western Village Inn at Sparks, Nevada with no further incidents or police intervention.

It is well and truly time to get home and off the roads. The signs all indicate this.
-


- Post From My iPhone

Napping Can Be Dangerous

Tuesday afternoon, October 21st, Joe and I were so tired we took a nap after all our errands were done. We were still at the Rodeway Inn at Ontario/Fontana, California.

I was wakened by four loud thumps. I thought someone was knocking on our door. After I turned on the lights and looked around Joe was, groaning painfully, trying to get up off the floor.

"What the hell happened?" I asked. His response was "I fell out of bed. Please get the First Aid Kit."

I did not immediately laugh. I at least waited until I had him bandaged and asked what caused him to fall out of bed.

The chest bruise is from hitting the corner of the nightstand. The knee abrasion is from landing on the carpeted floor when he fell.

It seems he was dreaming about being back in High School and on the football team. Some kid told him he was going to knock Joe down. Twice the kid came at Joe and didn't budge him. In Joe's dream the kid bounced off him and landed on the ground both times.

The kid must have pulled a fast one and knocked Joe down anyway.





-- Post From My iPhone

Foolishness And Mayhem Is The Order Of The Day

We went to Big Rigs Truck Sales in Fontana, California yesterday to get four bank repo trucks and take them to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for Taylor/Martin Auctions. Two Volvos and two Freightliners. These four trucks were not quite junk but wouldn't take much longer to make them junk.

My truck, a Freightliner, was dead. It was being charged while we did all of our regular write up and hook up stuff for the back trucks. There was extra work involved in getting the back trucks done because they were in such bad shape.

It took us four hours to get our work done. Then we got to wait another 30 minutes to find out where the Nevada Permit Office had faxed our permits. We got them later in Barstow, California at the Flying J.

The Santa Anna winds were blowing so hard we had to stop twice to take care of the air fairings of the back trucks to keep them from being blown off.

When we got to the Cajon Weigh Station we found it was open. Joe went over the scales first and was told to park and go to the office. I got the green light that all was well but went and parked next to Joe. Joe spent almost 40 minutes inside listening to the scale guy tell him our set up is illegal "all over in California" when we know different. We were in Sacramento the week before and he went over the scales and was given the green light that all was good.

The scale guy held Joe's driver license until he could get the weight right on the back axle. One and a half hours later, two adjustments, and two backwards drives to get to the scale to reweigh Joe got his license back and we left.

Barstow was the fuel stop for us and a place to get our Nevada Permits faxed. Craziness ran rampant at the Flying J. People with cameras were taking pictures of all the trucks in the fuel islands. There was a driver in our lane that was posing for the cameras and chatting, holding up another driver and us to get fuel. This nonsense went on for 20 minutes. Finally the people got back on the bus to their next adventure and left, cameras and all.

We parked after fueling and went into the restaurant. Before we finished eating a decision was reached. Get a room in Barstow and call it a day. We stayed at the Days Inn, formerly the Red Roof Inn. To get up early and finish the last 70 miles in the morning.

Up at 6:30 our time - 4:30 local - we were checked out and on the road at 7:30. Breakfast was at Whiskey Pete's in Primm, Nevada at 9:00 our time.

At 11:30 our time (9:30) we arrived at the delivery site, only after faulty directions from the delivery site people three times, and began our unhooking. Done and out of there in two hours.

Now we are deadheading nearly 600 miles to Sacramento, California for the last two trucks going to Salt Lake City, UT.

We have been gone for a month and a half with little down time. If there were a "Grumpy Meter" on me - anyone checking it would see it has gone into the Red Zone. I am way past Grumpy and Edgy.

I WANT TO GO HOME!!





-- Post From My iPhone

Nevada Highway Patrol Crackdown and A Train Wreck

Yesterday, October 21, we left Mesquite, Nevada for Fontana, California to deliver our trucks.

We got about 15 miles out of town when I got pulled over by the Highway Patrol. Had my permit with me this time for this trip. While I waited 30 minutes beside the road, for whatever checks the police do, Joe was stopped ahead of me waiting for me to tell him when we could go again.

Once I was released the patrolman passed me and quickly turned his lights on. I thought he was stopping Joe but he stopped an oversized load instead. The Nevada Highway Patrol are making quite a presence on the highways.

We got into Fontana in the afternoon and delivered our trucks to the Volvo dealership yard. Afterwards we had to go to the Volvo office and see if a guy we worked with was still there. He used to be the representative we dealt with at Freightliner years ago. He was still at Volvo but in a different capacity and loving his job.

Later in the evening we drive 45 miles to Garden Grove to see our California daughter for a while after she got off work. We had a great visit. It is good to see our kids face to face. We text them or talk on the phone but face to face is the best.

Getting back to the hotel - midnight our time - we got to the corner of Milliken and Gausti between the two T/A Truckstops and saw a tow truck, police lights flashing, a huge gathering of people, and a train vs semi wreck.

A Martin Trucking Company trainee had stopped on the railroad tracks. The trailer was cut in half, boxes were strewn all over the ground and the train was stopped. The train engine was about half a mile further from the wreck when it got stopped. Joe and I went to look at the train engine. Pieces of the trailer were embedded in the front of the train engine and its windshield was shattered. More boxes of freight had been carried all the way up with the train and lay around like offerings. Lunchables had exploded out of their boxes.

Homeless people were the nights scavangers. Scurrying around and picking up as many of the unopened cases of Lunchables as they could carry. A feast was before them.

Woe to the Martin Transportation trainer who was in charge of the trainee. I wonder if either one will still have a job after this.

The train's Engineer and Conductor had clocked in only an hour previous to the wreck. They would be going back home as soon as the clearing crew showed up.

This morning you would never have known there had been an incident. No debris, train gone, not a piece of trailer or glass left to hint at last nights events.

Laundry today, replacment of a tail light bulb on our pickup, FedEx papers and logs to dispatch offices, a trip to the post office to send off money to Oregon for Joe's ticket last week, take a look at the trashed trucks we get to take to Las Vegas tomorrow, and a much needed nap were what we did today.



-- Post From My iPhone

Virgin River Hotel & Casino - Mesquite, Nevada

On this trip to Fontana, California we are getting off I-70 in Utah and taking I-15 into California.

One of the stops we make on this route, since 1991, is the Virgin River Hotel and Casino in Mesquite, Nevada. When we first started coming here the Virgin River was just a small building with slot machines and a cafe. The only large casino north of Las Vegas on I-15 was the Peppermill at that time.

Over the years the Virgin River has grown and was a competing casino for the Peppermill. In about 1993 or 1994 the Peppermill got a name change and became the Oasis.

In about 1995 Merv Griffin built a huge casino complex called Players Island.

Through all these changes we stayed at the Virgin River every time we came through. We visited the other casinos to check them out, but we always stayed at Virgin River.

Over the last few years more changes have been made. A truckstop across the street from the Virgin River, a big parking lot for large vehicles across the street from the Oasis. Players Island was changed to Casa Blanca in about 2000.

Now the Black brothers, who had the original little building with slot machines, own the Virgin River, Oasis, and Casa Blanca.

Yesterday I called and made reservations for tonight at Virgin River. When we arrived in town the truckstop parking lot has been closed off and we didn't know where we were going to park. I called the Virgin River back and asked where the truck parking was. I was told it now is across from the Oasis. I got our reservations changed to the Oasis.

Trying to get into the parking lot was ridiculous. The median barriers block the lot entrance. We had to make a U-turn to get into the lot. Joe called the Oasis and asked if bobtails could park at the Oasis parking lot near the hotel rooms and he was told we could.

We went over in the bobtail, got checked in, played some Blackjack, went to the Paradise Buffet for dinner, played some more Blackjack and then decided to go to our room. On the way to the bobtail we found a note on the driver side window stating we could not park in the hotel lot.

Now for my rant!!! Our money is just as good as the people with cars. The Black brothers could provide some kind of shuttle service for us truck drivers since we are virtually trapped with these trucks and have to schlepp a bunch of bags and suitcases which are rather cumbersome to our room.

The Western Village Hotel and Casino in Sparks, Nevada provides a free shuttle to their hotel from the truckstops for the truck drivers. So, Mr. Black, WTF - we truck drivers aren't worth your time?

You can be sure that ALL of our friends and other truck drivers we know will be told to STEER CLEAR of Mesquite, Nevada. Take your money where it will be appreciated.



-- Post From My iPhone

Volvo Rumors and I-70 Over Vail Pass

Let me see...my last post was about our trucks from Sacramento, California going to Salt Lake City, Utah.

We delivered those trucks on Wednesday morning and started our deadhead to Commerce City, Colorado - Denver area.

We got to the Volvo Dealership Friday morning about 11. These are brand new trucks. The batteries were all dead. The computers in these trucks suck the life out of batteries while they sit turned off.

The rumor we had heard was this: Jump starting a 2006 and newer Volvo blows the headlights out. This seems questionable and, frankly, unbelievable with all the advances made toward the efficiency of these newer vehicles. It is not cost effective to pay $700 for headlights or worry about a wiring flare because the batteries need to be jumped.

At the Volvo Dealership I asked if this rumor was true or not. It is, in fact, true. Three of the four trucks have blown headlights after the dealership people jump started the trucks. We even had to have one of the trucks traded out and left behind because of a massive coolant leak that masked a big engine oil leak. These are brand new trucks. What the heck is up with that?????

I have to clarify blown headlights. They did not explode and fling glass everywhere or hurl shrapnel. The lights just don't work and won't until a mechanic does their mojo on them. Probably a 10 minute job at a cost of $700 to the truck owner. Bend Over.

Yesterday we putzed around with these trucks for about six hours. Taking them across the street to put fuel in them so they can idle for four hours while we slowly get our work done. We didn't shut them off until about 6pm. Fingers crossed they would restart this morning.

Thankfully, they started this morning and we were able to get this run started. These trucks are going to a Volvo Dealership in Fontana, California.

Leaving Denver we took I-70 west and up in the mountains. The Eisenhouer Tunnel I was really worried about going down that mountain. With an engine brake it was not really bad. A little scarey at times but all in all it was not a bad trip down the mountain.

So, our day has ended in Green River, Utah at the Super 8.



-- Post From My iPhone

California Highway Patrol and Nevada Highway Patrol

What a day!!!

The place we picked up trucks today, in Sacramento, had the California license plates on them and the trucks had not been de- identified - meaning the trucking company's name and DOT numbers were still on the trucks.

The man we got the trucks from was nice with Joe and quite testy with me. He was really irked about the agreement he had reached with the buyer and got after me a couple times. I barely said four words to him.

Leaving the pick up location and on I-80 the Sacramento Weigh Station was open. Joe got all the green lights and headed for the highway. I got the inspection light and had to go to the back of the scale house where I got to sit for an hour while the Highway Patrol tried to see if my boom was legal in their state.

I had got Joe stopped before he got too far away - a half mile - and called him to come back and explain the boom set up and why it was, in fact, legal. Some guy, not an officer, climbed all over my boom. Peering down the boom structure, looking into the tubing, turning and twisting everything that moved, pounded on the chains and safety chains, handling the hydraulic cylinder and just picking the whole thing apart to the Highway Patrolman. This got the CHP guy all excited and he called his boss to come in.

After an hour of Joe telling them the guy was not correct the CHP boss wanted a chain attached to both rear frame members then we could leave.

Joe had walked to his truck and back to mine three times, one of those times dragging a 40 pound chain. We finally left California and no tickets.

Into Nevada we went to Boomtown and the truckstop to buy permits. The truckstop is gone - Cabela's bought the property. No permits. We have to go to Sparks and the T/A now.

Joe got pulled over by the Nevada Highway Patrol, I pulled over behind the patrolman. These trucks with the California plates and the trucking company's name and DOT numbers got us ticketed and we were cited for not having permits for Nevada.

This time two and a half hours later, at roadside, we were allowed to go as long as we promised we would get permits yet tonight.

At the T/A in Sparks, Nevada we find they no longer do permits - Sierra Syd's Casino does them at the cashier cage. We had to call ComData to get the permits, cost $184.95.

What a day!!!

We have parked in the T/A parking lot and got a hotel room at Western Village Hotel and Casino for the night.


-- Post From My iPhone

Walmart - Citrus Heights, California

Yes, I know - it doesn't take much to entertain an idiot. I could not believe what I was seeing and had to take pictures of it.

At Walmart in Citrus Heights they have two floors. The automotive is upstairs, fabrics and housewares are upstairs also. When we first walked in I thought "How do we get upstairs?". Joe found the answer. There is an escalator that takes the shopping carts up along with a regular escalator for you to go up and down.

Can you believe it????

Ya, and can you dig it? Joe with his socks on. It was not cold enough for pants and jackets but it was cool enough to make bare toes so chilly they loose feeling in them.

Pea Soup Andersen's - Santa Nella, CA

Pea Soup Andersen's specialty is....Pea Soup. They sell packets of dried peas you can purchase to make the soup at home. They have a cheese tasting area, since pea soup is not all they sell. You can purchase local wines to go with Pea Soup Andersen's cheeses they sell.

The man pictured is the first wait person we met a few years ago on our first trip here. Joe and I debated who he reminded us of, then we hit on it. Raul Julia is who he resembles. When we spoke with him at our first trip we found out he has worked for Pea Soup Andersen's for over 15 years. He is in charge of all the new hires in training, and having worked there for so long there are many of his family and extended family who have started out in the dining room and moved on to other areas at Pea Soup Andersen's - some going into management positions.

If you don't like pea soup they have all kinds of other food items you may find you like better.

This is a touristy place. When you first walk in you are confronted with things such as wind chimes and dolls, as well as, all the various things to keep the kids entertained during long trips. And of course, snack foods of all kinds.

10 Trucks In Three Days To Port In Everett

Wednesday, October 8th, we delivered our trucks to Cascadia International in Tacoma, Washington. The dealership shop lot was crammed and jammed full when we arrived. There was a lot of maneuvering being done to get to the "undecking" area before we could begin the unhooking process.

Once finished we drove about 15 miles to Interstate Distributors where six of the ten trucks were. The Port of Everett, Washington was about 68 miles away so we decided to take three of the trucks and come back for the other three the next day.

We got to the Everett Port at 2:30 pm local time and got unhooked and signed out by 4 pm. This is a quiet port. There was no long line, like Baltimore, and we had plenty of space to work in.

We spent the night at Days Inn of Tacoma then went back to Interstate Distributors for the last set of three trucks. We got to the Everett Port at 12:30 local time and had to wait - lunch from 1130 am to 1 pm. While waiting we took everything off that was not necessary to drive around the port: Fairing boards and straps, brake fitting attachment, the straps on the rear wheels of the pickup. We left the lightbar on for signals and braking. Once lunch was over we got in and out, making our delivery and getting on the road to Troutdale, Oregon and the Travelodge. The Travelodge incates they have truck parking - across the street at Walmart.

Friday, October 10th, we got our trucks from Interstate Distributors and went back up north on I-5 to the Everett Port. We delivered at 3 pm. All 10 trucks are now delivered.

Friday night we stayed at King Oscar Motel in Tacoma, Washington. Today we are heading for Sacramento where we have been told to be for Monday morning. We don't know what work is next. It will either be 10 trucks in Sacramento, California going to Salt Lake City, Utah or 12 trucks in Fontana, California going to Las Vegas, Nevada.
-- Post From My iPhone

Phoenix to Tacoma

Saturday, October 4th, we deadheaded from Yuma, AZ to Phoenix and checked in at the Extended Stay Motel. A short visit with our daughter and son in law that afternoon and evening was fun. We took them to Benihana for the dinner show. There were eight at our "table" - two other couples and our group of four.

What a treat. Our daughter and son in law had not had the entire grill show and I enjoyed sharing this with my husband and children. Of course, I had the video camera to document the chef's antics.

After dinner we went back to their place for a game of Skipbo. Joe had not played this card game before and we all had fun keeping him somewhat within the rules. At midnight, our time 10 local, we bid goodnight with hugs and kisses then left for the hotel.

Sunday morning, October 5th, we got our trucks hooked up and left Phoenix.

I-10 west all the way past Ontario, California and north on California 57 where we picked up I-210 west to pick up I-5 and head north to the Grapevine. Sunday night we stayed at the Best Rest Inn at Frasier Park/Lebec, California. We got into the room at 12:30 our time, 10:30 local. I was beat.

Monday morning, October 6th, we left Lebec and went downhill - 3,000 feet - the backside of the Grapevine.

In Santa Nella, California we stopped at Pea Soup Andersen's for food and pea soup. Joe can't quite decide if he likes pea soup or not. He still hasn't decided after a huge bowl if the soup. Crazy guy. He got so excited in Oklahoma before we left home heading to Laredo. "Pea Soup Andersen's, here we come" he exuberently called out. Not sure what to think about him at times.

Our day ended at 1:30 am our time, 11:30 local in Yreka, California at the Super 8. By the time we got there I was drop down tired. That was the loooongest 538 mile day I've had in a long time.

This morning, October 7th, we left Yreka and are on the final 487 miles to Tacoma, Washington. Our plans to be there this evening have vanished. We were doing good until Joe got pulled over at the Ashland Weigh Station in Ashland, Oregon. He got a ticket for overweight on an axle. $833.00 and over an hour making adjustments to his hookup. During the adjustment process I lost my Jawbone wireless earpiece somewhere. Only found out after we were 40 miles past the scale. Now I have to buy another one. This trip is going to eat our lunch.

-- Post From My iPhone

Laundry Day

Well, since my last entry we have made progress - steady by jerks.

Wednesday, October 1st, we got loaded in Laredo, Texas and fueled. Heading down the road on I-35 to connect with US 83 and off to Del Rio, Texas and the La Quinta where we spent the night. In our Corporate Lodging book there is a "Yes" under the heading of "Truck Parking". The truck parking is at the curb, where ever you can find it, around the hotel. We had to "Firetruck", Joe's expression, the trucks around the building. This entails Joe driving the truck while I am in the back truck and turning the steering wheel to keep the back truck next to the curb. There was not enough room around the driveway to do this any other way. The open mouthed stares I get while I'm in the back truck at the steering wheel while he is driving is unnerving at best. Oh well, we get the job done and the trucks parked safely, and heading in the correct direction to get out of this tiny space. Bobtail trucks or dump trucks would have no problem in this parking lot.

Leaving the La Quinta Thursday morning we got on US 90 out of Del Rio and headed for Van Horn, Texas where we connected with I-10. Taking I-10 the rest of the way across Texas and into New Mexico where we had to buy a permit at the Weigh Station for New Mexico and continue on I-10 into Arizona where we did not have to buy Arizona permits this time since we had Transporter Plates for Arizona.

We got a call from our dispatch office asking if we could pick up trucks on Saturday. We called Vehicare in Phoenix to see if we could, in fact, pick up on Saturday. No. Plans will have to be adjusted. So much for a good long weekend for rest and laundry.

Thursday night we stayed at the Days Inn in Willcox, Arizona. Adjacent to the hotel is a Safeway grocery store. We stocked up on Tylenol Sinus and more Dial bath soap, along with other items we needed - like batteries for the little two way radios we use. The temperature changes and climate changes wreck havoc with our sinuses and we have to keep the Tylenol Sinus on hand at all times.

Friday moring, October 3rd, we got on the road and headed to Phoenix. Once in Tucson we called Vehicare in Phoenix to see if the trucks were ready to be picked up and if we could get them later in the day. Yes, and yes.

We arrived in Phoenix, 130 miles out of route by the time everything is done, and left the Calexico trucks in the Vehicare lot while we checked out the four going to Tacoma, Washington. Texas Red has a "Taxi" service specific for our industry. His fares are only truck drivers doing what we do. Thank God he was still in business. It has been about three years since we last dealt with him. We shuttled two trucks at a time about 5 miles away and Texas Red toted us back to the Vehicare lot for the last two and then back to Vehicare to get our Calexico trucks. One and a half hours later we were ready to finish our trip to Calexico, California.

We arrived in Calexico just before dark to get our trucks delivered. We did finish in the dark. This is not something I encourage because so many things can be left behind because you can't see what you are doing. Hopefully we got everything.

We traveled back to Yuma, Arizona and the Ramada Inn where we spent the night. Now, Saturday morning, I am doing laundry. Last load is going to be out of the washer and put in the dryer.

Delays, Aggrivation, and Funny Money

Laredo, Texas and French Ellison Truck Center. It has been nearly a month since we were last here. We arrive at 8 am CDT and within 20 minutes our trucks began arriving at the lot designated for hooking up. By 8:45 all four trucks were near us and I had one last truck to inspect.

We were going to get out early today, before noon. Maybe we could even make Van Horn, Texas by tonight - about 430 miles. We could get delivered in Calexico, California on Friday during their normal business hours instead of long afterwards like the last two times.

Noon rolled around and we were about three quarters done. We needed to get cash for fuel and find a place for lunch. With the pickup still down we went to IBC Bank and used the ATM machine. It would not dispense all the money available to us at one time so we went to another bank, LNB (Laredo National Bank) and their ATM. We still couldn't get all available money but we were able to get most of it.

This trip is going to cost us a minimum of $600 for fuel and we needed as much money as we could get right away. I went into LNB and converted all the $20.00 bills dispensed from the two ATMs into hundreds.

Off to lunch we went. The Golden Corral in Laredo.

After lunch we went back to finish the hook up and head out. By now it is 1:30 pm and we are losing time quickly. All finished and heading to a Speedy Stop about three blocks away, instead of 12 miles to the Flying J. We went inside to get the pump turned on. To my horror my driver license was missing. The only place I could have left it was at the Days Inn last night. A call to them confirmed what I had feared. I made arrangements for someone to come to the Speedy Stop from the Days Inn to bring my license. We had to putz around the Speedy Stop; getting fuel, Gatorade, and water; while I awaited the delivery of my license.

Paying for the Gatorade and water I had only a hundred dollar bill, I had given my only $5 to the Days Inn person. The clerk marked up the $100 bill with the counterfit pen and informed me I had given her a fake. By this time my nerves are jangling and I'm about to blow a gasket. We have to go back to LNB and I have to get this taken care of. The bank teller was really great. She checked the bill with her machine and said it was, in fact, good. She traded me another bill for the questionable one.

I forgot, after all the hubub at the Speedy Stop we had to back out of the fuel island because other truck drivers had pulled in too far and stuck out too much for us to make the corner.

We did get out of the Speedy Stop without a wreck, I did get the $100 bill changed, and we were finally on the road at 3:30 pm. Van Horn, Texas was not going to be our stopping place tonight. Del Rio, Texas and the LaQuinta instead if the Days Inn. We are here now and ready to go to bed. We will get an early start tomorrow morning and get this trip going.


-- Post From My iPhone

Chamber of Commerce Meeting and Dinner Dance

At 7:30 pm tonight the Chamber of Commerce will hold a meeting to discuss business opportunities in the community. After the meeting there will be a dinner in honor of the communities top builder, Fallon Downs, with a dance to follow. The public is welcome to attend.

The Chamber of Commerce is located at 2000 Woodview Place.




The dinner and dance will be held at Rubble Acres, hosted by Dusty and Woody Rubble. Dinner begins at 8:30 pm. Music for the event will be provided by Cracked Foundation.


We delivered our trucks in Houston, Texas this morning. While deadheading to Laredo on South US 59 I saw the Chamber of Commerce Building and asked Joe to turn around and go back so I could get a picture of it. While I was getting it lined up I saw the other building off in the background and to the right. I had to take that picture also.

Travel around this country and look at what is hiding in plain sight. It sure is interesting.

Lifecast Shot Craps

I have been having trouble posting my blog since September 24th. I had to wait until I got home to update it from my computer.

So, today I am trying a new application out.

We left home at 7:30 CDT this morning. Once we got going we struggled with traffic, full to over flowing fuel bays at Love's Travel Center in Pauls Valley - waiting in a long line just to get to a fuel bay, then just trying to wade through all the traffic in Ft. Worth. I heard on a local AM radio station there were several wrecks on I-35E near Dallas. Sure was glad we didn't go through Dallas.

Once we got some personal business conducted in Ft. Worth and back on the road we had to wade through more traffic. Maybe I am just really cranky and in desparate need of an attitude adjustment but it sure seemed as though other drivers on the road wanted to get one vehicle, or more, ahead in their trek to where ever. I seemed to spend a lot of time today dodging cars.

Centerville, Texas at the Days Inn tonight and Freightliner of Houston tomorrow. Once done delivering in Houston we have to deadhead to Laredo, Texas.




-- Post From My iPhone

Niemerg's Restaurant - Effingham, IL

I'm home for the night and I have my favorite coffee in my mug. Finally, a good cup of coffee so I can go on.

I have some photos I want to share. In Niemerg's Restaurant, next to the EconoLodge (formerly Rodeway Inn) where we stay in Effingham, Illinois, are framed artwork from school children in the surrounding area. The children drew local landmarks and buildings in Effingham that they, personally, like. The art is spectacular and my feeble attempt at documenting three of the pieces in the reception area of the restaurant don't do them justice. Throughout Niemerg's these beautiful pieces are hung on the walls. The glass proved to be my undoing with reflections galore but you can actually see what the children have done.

A description of the art piece is located at the bottom along with the student's name, grade, and school is in the accompanying photo. I sincerely hope these three wow you as they did me. Such talent. I am in awe. Click on the photo to get a full view.

Nick Durbin - 12th Grade - Heart Theatre













Macy Reed - 10th Grade

























Erin Jones - 11th Grade

In Desparate Need of Coffee!!!

Wednesday morning, September 24, at 7:30 am EDT we left the Baymont Inn of Ft. Wayne, Indiana. The coffee served with continental breakfast was hot brown water. Tasteless, no aroma, and an acidic tang in the back of my throat. Not taking any of that with me. I'll get some at a Flying J somewhere.

We are going to Ruble Truck Sales in Monroeville, Indiana for two trucks Joe will drive. These truck are going to Kearney, Nebraska. Normally we would take I-69 north then pick up I-80 and go west to Kearney. Not today. My trucks are way up north in Saginaw, Michigan.

After we had Joe's daycabs hooked up in Monroeville we took I-69 north in Indiana then into Michigan going further north toward Lansing and I-75 where we continued on further north.

Joe stopped at a Flying J in Michigan on I-69 for fuel and I went in with my cup for some good French Roast coffee. None. Nada. Won't be any either. Three Flying J's and no French Roast. All they have is Maxwell House crap. Bitter and pure acid, that stuff is pure nasty crap.

No coffee all day long. I'm getting cranky and really upset that a major truckstop nationwide forces us to take what they give us.

Weiland International in Saginaw, Michigan, where my trucks are, will close at 6 pm EDT and we anticipated being there at about 4:30. We did arrive at 4:30 our time (CDT) but it was 5:30 EDT. I got the trucks checked out and we hooked up in the lot. I had to leave my papers with the shop manager. There is just enough fuel to get me across the highway to the Flying J. It is getting dark and Joe is pretty tired. Time to pack it in for the day, we'll set out tomorrow.

About five miles away we checked into the Best Western for the night. Besides a couple hotdogs for Joe and a bratwurst for me, we hadn't eaten since about 10 am. We were hungry and tired. Our choices were Burger King, a restaurant that closed just as we walked up to the door, Taco Bell, and a steak and onion joint. We chose the steak and onion joint for dinner since it was on the same side of the street as the hotel.

Thursday morning, September 25, I went to the breakfast room for coffee. Much to my disappointment they had Maxwell House. Another day without coffee. Maybe when I get fuel at the Flying J this one will have French Roast. Nope. Now I'm really hot. Loudly I proclaim "We need to find a Pilot where I can get some coffee and not this Maxwell House crap!". Joe offered "or Starbucks on the toll road" I had forgotten that and I brightened.

It was about 3:30 in the afternoon before we found a Pilot. We didn't take the toll road after all. I-75 south to Lansing and I-69 south to I-94 into Indiana. This time I-94/I-80 was open. The water was no longer on the road as it had been last week. Going through Chicago today was a breeze. I-80 west through Chicago and across Illinois into Iowa went well. A favorite stop of ours will be at Iowa 80 Truckstop and dinner before going on to Des Moines, Iowa and the Travelodge.

Friday morning, September 26, we need to get more fuel and coffee. About one block away is a QuikTrip Truckstop where a strong, rich, aromatic brew is waiting for me. Joe gets to the traffic light ahead of me and tells me on our little radios "This may have been a huge mistake". Ahead of Joe is a jam of trucks all waiting for the fuel pumps. If I follow Joe in I will be hanging out in the street blocking traffic. My anticipation for a good cup of coffee vanishes as I see the jam ahead. I tell Joe the next place is the Flying J in Clive, Iowa about 20 miles away. If he can get turned around we can get out of the mess. Joe gets turned around and off we go to the Flying J. I am ever hopeful of getting French Roast coffee yet. Again, no such luck. By this time I am fired up to send a blasting letter to the Flying J headquarters and telling them what I think of them.

Back on I-80 westward Joe offers to stop in Stuart, Iowa and McDonlads for a tolerable cup of coffee. So I am appeased for a while.

We are getting closer to Fremont, Nebraska where my trucks get dropped before we head on to Kearney, Nebraska to deliver Joe's.

12:30 pm CDT we arrive in Fremont and pull into the Sapp Brothers Truckstop where we will unhook my trucks then Joe and I will each take a bobtail on to the delivery site on a county road. We will get a ride back to Sapp Brothers by the owner of D&T Truck Transporters whom we work as contractors.

Since we are going to Springfield, Missouri for D&T and are in a bit of a time crunch the owner made arrangements with the Sahling Kenworth of Kearney to leave Joe's trucks at their sister dealership in York, Nebraska. This will cut off 100 miles and save us two hours.

Off we go to York and get Joe's trucks delivered at 5 pm CDT then into Percival, Iowa and America's Best Value Inn for the night at 8 pm.

Saturday morning, September 27, I got my coffee fix at Sapp Brothers and we got on our way to Springfield, Missouri for the four trucks going to Houston, TX.

Two good cups of coffee in four days, no wonder I'm crabby.

Ft. Wayne Auto Auction

We left the EconoLodge (formerly Rodeway Inn) at Effingham, Illinois this morning at 7:30 for Ft. Wayne, Indiana.

We got about 40 miles east on I-70 when Joe said he was running out of fuel. The truck he is driving is pumping all the fuel from the right tank to the left. The fuel is not being circulated between both tanks. He just made it to an exit and onto the shoulder before the truck quit.

He got our measuring stick out and stuck the tanks. The right tank had one and a half inches while there was 11 inches in the left tank. Using a small one gallon a minute pump he moved some fuel to the right tank so we could get the truck started using starting fluid. Once the truck was running he pulled the lever to shut off the right tank, forcing the left tank to draw the fuel.

Back on the road, we stopped north of Indianapolis on I-69 at a Pilot then walked over to Wendy's for some food. M-m-m nutritious.

Getting into Ft. Wayne at about 4 pm (eastern time) we got unhooked quickly. Joe then was stopped by a couple of drivers from Canada who had his attention for the next 45 minutes peppering him with questions about our trailer and boom. He thinks he might have a buyer. Who knows.

I called the place in Moneoeville, Indiana where Joe's next trucks are. All the staff is leaving for the night. Time to just shut down for the night. Joe is having some pains at his left kidney tonight. I will watch over him and if he needs medical attention I'll get him to a hospital.

So, tonight we are at the Baymont Inn of Ft. Wayne, Indiana.

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Saturday Delivery In Fargo And Sioux Falls

Up and out before sunrise in Fargo, North Dakota we decided to get breakfast at Village Inn while waiting for daylight. At 8:15 we were delivered and signed for at the Kenworth dealership, only one truck left to deliver in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Back to the hotel room for showers, change of clothing, and clearing out for the 244 mile trip to Sioux Falls.

Weather was clear and by 10:30 it was warming up. The temperature was almost 78 when we had to stop at a Weigh Station so I could buy a $15 permit to travel the highway in South Dakota.

We arrived in Sioux Falls at 12:15. With no one available to sign for the delivery I was instructed to leave the truck locked and told where to leave the keys. That done, this trip was now officially done.

Off to Kansas City, Missouri, another 360 mile deadhead, for trucks going to Ft. Wayne, Indiana. I really need to stop early to do laundry. We are out of clothes. We don't have dispatch for any trucks just instructions to head toward Kansas City. Monday we will get the dispatch.

Saturday night we stayed at the Quality Inn at Omaha, Nebraska and they have a guest laundry. After a good nights sleep, finally, I was up at 7:30 Sunday morning and got the laundry sorted. The first load went in at 8 and the second load was in at 8:30. When I went back to the laundry room at 9 to check on the first drying load and get the third load in the washer there was water all over the floor and trying to escape the room.

I found a housekeeping person and told her water was all over the floor. She looked at me in a manner I know only too well. No English and I am limited in Spanish. I pointed at the floor and said "agua" then guestured with my hands open and arms widening in the hope that she understood meant wide. She looked in the door and at the floor then went to a nearby room for towels. Between us we got the water stopped from coming out to the carpet.

I took my last load back to the room and called the front desk to have maintenance check the leak. When I went back to check on the dryer, hoping I hadn't started an electric fire, the maintenance guy was there. He wanted to know what kind of detergent I used. With hackles beginning to raise I told him liquid, his next response was to tell me that I may not have done it right by putting in too much detergent. That tore it. "The water is clear, no soap, no bubbles, no dirty water". I was ready to spout off at him. He then told me he had run the washer with no soap and had no problem with a leak. So I said "You knew there was a problem?" to which he nodded his head then told me I was not to do another load of laundry. Well duh! I got the clothes out of the dryer and left.

We got checked out and headed to Kansas City, Missouri and the La Quinta on I-435. They have a guest laundry so I can finish what I started that morning.

So, here it is Monday morning and we are off to Bates City, Missouri to get Joe's trucks going to Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Only two this time.

That was our weekend.

At 11:15 am we arrived at Transtar Trucks in Bates City, Missouri to get Joe's trucks. We were on the road for about 30 minutes when the truck Joe is driving began making Rap Music. Pfft pft pt pffft pt pft pfft. We just made it to the TA in Concordia, Missouri and the repair shop before all the air bled out. Joe said he also needed the fuel filter changed. 30 minutes and $85 later we got back on the road.

Things are picking up. After we unload in Ft. Wayne, Indiana it is about 15 miles to Monroeville, Indiana for two trucks. I'll ride with Joe to Saginaw, Michigan where my trucks will go to Fremont, Nebraska and his will go to Kearney, Nebraska. We will then deadhead to Springfield, Missouri and get four trucks going to Houston, Texas. Then we will deadhead to Laredo, Texas and take four new trucks to Calexico, California.

We have work now through Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

Tonight, we have thought about the Rodeway Inn at Effingham, Illinois. These plans change. I'll let you know tomorrow.

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Fargo After Dark

We slept in this morning, I forgot to set the alarm on my phone. 6 am and back on central time. We have been on eastern time the last week. Everything is an hour earlier for us. We have been getting up at 5 am to be up at 6. It is good to be back on our own clocks.

Leaving Beloit, Wisconsin this morning we stayed on I-90/I-39 through most of Wisconsin then got on I-94 for the remainder. Into Minnesota we were on I-94 then caught the I-694 bypass around St. Paul and Minneapolis. Traffic was thick but thankfully not like Chicago.

At Clearwater, Minnesota, just east of St. Cloud is a travel center we like to stop at. It is now called the Petro 2, I think it used to be called the Clearwater Travel Center. This place has a bakery that will make anyone salivate as they pass all the breads and pastries. During normal business hours Monday through Friday you can watch them make their breads. Iced cinnamon apple, iced blueberry, iced raspberry, whole wheat, rye, white, and sour dough. The breads are for sale in sliced and unsliced loaves, just grab it and go.

There is also a restaurant that serves good food; normal food and not the gourmet schlock I had in Baltimore for lunch on Saturday. This restaurant serves a piece of pie that is really two. It is so huge Joe couldn't eat it all, I had the same problem with the bread pudding - way too much.

We were in rain for a few miles before Clearwater and it really came down while we ate, it had quit by the time we were ready to leave.

178 miles left to get to Fargo and we still had a lot of daylight. There is something going on in Fargo and several of the hotels are full. Joe got us a room at The Prairie Rose for tonight. With that bit of business over we kept going until we reached the Kenworth Dealership in Fargo. By now it was full dark and we don't really like unhooking in the dark. Too much can go wrong. As a matter of fact, I think I left a fender box open after we got the pickup down and emptied the trucks. What a Bone Headed thing to do. One of our sons would call it a "Slacker Stunt" and he would be right.

Saved by my husband. He went around and closed all the boxes.

Miles today was 552, I still have another 240 miles to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to finish my trucks. That is for tomorrow. Right now a bed and sleep is what we both need. Back to work tomorrow.

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Kilometers On The Odometer

These trucks we are taking from Caledonia, New York to Fargo, North Dakota came from Canada where they were worked at the diamond mines. Canada uses kilometers for distance instead of our miles.

The speedometer is for kilometers/hour speed and not what I am used to seeing. 60 miles/hour on our regular odometers is 100 kilometers/hour on these. There is some math involved in figuring for the difference. For instance, yesterday we traveled 742 kilometers for the day. To figure out how many miles we drove we had to multiply 742 (kilometers) by 3281 (this came from a conversion page at the back of my calender/planner) then divide by 5280 (feet in one mile). 742 x 3281 = 2,434,502 / 5280 = 461.079 (461 miles).

Leaving Austinburg, Ohio on I-90 yesterday morning we picked up the Ohio Turnpike (also I-90) outside of Cleveland taking it all the way across to Indiana. We made a stop in Perrysburg, Ohio for fuel at the Flying J before leaving Ohio.

We made really good time across the Ohio and Indiana Turnpikes then hit a major snag after the Indiana toll plaza. We normally take I-80/I-94 into Chicago but that road was closed because it was under water. I couldn't believe it. The last two hurricanes must have really wrecked havoc all the way up north with the rain.

I-90 and the Chicago Skyway was our only choice (unless we wanted to go about 150 miles out of route). I absolutely hate Chicago traffic and yesterday was a really bad day for it. Three and a half hours through Chicago. We are screwed - big time. Plans of delivering in Fargo on Friday afternoon have disappeared.

Our original plans of stopping for the night in Portage, Wisconsin with a nearly 600 mile day has ended in Beloit, Wisconsin at the EconoLodge and only 461 miles driven.

There is always tomorrow.

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