Come along for the Ride!

I am so glad you are here. Stay with us as we travel everywhere. I hope you will enjoy the ride.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

More later

I have so much to tell you. We are in Kansas now, but gotta run. Love you guys.

Some Pix

Bridges in Louisville, Ky over the Ohio River

Gateway to the West

Arch in St. Louis

Eyes on the road

More Louisville, Ky

What did I do?

Wow, I’m not quite sure what we’re in for now. We sat in Houston from Monday afternoon until we finally got a dispatch for early Thursday morning. We headed for Baton Rouge again. Our Gypsy got us almost there. She is so hilarious. She likes to mess with our heads. She will get us right there and say, “Look for your destination on the right.” And she knows full well that it is on the left, but we are so trusting and some of these, no, most of these areas are large cities with traffic and buildings crammed together. So we turn into the business on the right and they tell us, “We never heard of that company.” Turns out it is right across the street. Isn’t she funny? Not!
So we pick up three barrels of cleaning solution and take off for Washington, NC.
Our friend, Ralph called us while we were fueling in Slidell, LA. He was just leaving Baton Rouge and heading toward Slidell. We were close but we had to keep moving. Too bad. It would have been nice to meet up with him. (After one month on the road I know one thing for sure, I would not want to be out on the road alone. No Way!)
I got to drive during the day on Thursday as we made our way along the Gulf Coast through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. We crossed back over bayou, inlets, lakes, river deltas, and of course the Mississippi River, so I got to cross a lot of bridges, oh my. But how beautiful.
I wish I could describe the oil wells and refineries in Houston. It is like tall, lighted cities made of pipe and metal. They are endless it seems and stretch on forever. They are amazing in the daytime, but at night when they are lit up it is spectacular.
Pops took over driving somewhere in Georgia and I went to sleep. I woke up in time to get us some coffee and get dressed and cleaned up for our delivery. FedEx always asks us if we are wearing our FedEx Apparel. Once again Gypsy got us in the right neighborhood but no cigar. Oh well, we found it. Brrrr, it is much colder here than Texas was. Our average temperatures while in Houston was 92, even at night it only dropped down a few degrees. So yeah, North Carolina seemed chilly. I had to break out my long sleeved shirt.
Okay so now what? It is Friday morning and we only had 1 trip? FedEx wanted us to go to Parkersburg, WV or Canton, OH for our layover. Are you kidding me? Why would we drive that far for nothing. No thanks, we told them we would go to Charlotte, NC. It is much closer. (FedEx does not have forced dispatch.) We no sooner typed in where we were going when load opportunities for trips to California started to come across our screen. Okay, I’ll go there. We tried for both of those and no deal they went to someone else. Then one came on for Washington State, we tried and didn’t get that one either. Next came one for Las Vegas. Pops was in the truckstop paying for fuel. What should I do? You only have 10 minutes to accept the load or not and it takes almost all of that time to see the details of the trip and figure out how much you get paid. So by the time I did that, he still had not come back out. “Accept” I typed and we got it! Oh no, what did I do? Is Pops going to be upset with me?
It turns out that he wasn’t too upset, although he did tell me that now we might not get back in time for the Ladies Tea at our church or the meeting that he had set up for Camp Meeting. I really hope that is not the case. I want to be at the tea so badly. We have store displays for Walmart on board. We have six stops. The last one delivers on Monday. That gives us four days to get back. It could happen. Then when we got to our pick up there were several other FDCC trucks there. At least 8 trucks dispatched to go out west with these same deliveries. They all began to tell us how hard it might be to back this direction. So I started to pray. I prayed that God would see to it that we a load coming right back across. Please, friends, pray for us. I really want to be home by Saturday and I know if God wills it He can make it happen. And then a new message had arrived from FedEx, Delivery day changed to Tuesday.
We got our pickup and got moving. Total mileage for this trip, just out there is 3020 miles. I was still on the driving clock so I was driving. Pops needed to try and sleep. He has such a hard time. He doesn’t trust me with directions and to be honest, I don’t always trust me either. And we all know Gypsy can’t be trusted. And just to prove that point, just as Pops fell asleep in the bunk she pulled a slick one on me. I was driving up through the big cities of Raleigh, Durham, North Carolina and for some reason she told me to go right onto Hwy. 86. Now Pops and I had talked over the directions before he laid down and he never mentioned 86, so I didn’t think she was right. But I got off the exit anyway, then she told me to take a left at the end of the ramp, then an immediate left again. Well, that was putting me back on the same interstate I was on only going the opposite direction!!!! What the World? I knew this wasn’t right. Okay, so I’ll get on drive down 1 exit, loop around and be back the right direction. Pops woke up and then he couldn’t sleep because he was afraid I would get us totally messed up. Once we got moving again after about an hour, Pops went back to sleep. This time he slept good until I made a fuel stop. I pulled in to the fuel pumps to get fuel and another FDCC truck pulled in beside us. I didn’t think anything of it really because of all the trucks dispatched with us and heading out west. But when we looked again it turns out it was Mark and Elyse. Remember them? They drive for the same owners that we do? We met them our last trip to Ohio. Man, what were the chances of meeting them here? We talked with Mark for a while and then got moving again. It wasn’t long before I was in the bunk. I woke up once when we stopped at a rest area and then right back to sleep. We stopped again and Pops was very tired. He said he was going to lay down for awhile. He slept about 1 ½ hours before we got moving again. I got washed up and dressed, made up some coffee, got us a good breakfast of a Little Debbie cake and we got moving. We were somewhere in Kentucky.  We are looking for a Walmart. We need groceries. I mean, we really need groceries. We are down to nothing. We will soon have to start munching on the dog food. Haha
Oh yeah, I almost forgot,  for all you Facebook game players, I found Farmville. It’s off Route 64 in North Carolina. Hahaha For Real.
Pops says to tell everyone he says Hi.
So keep us in your prayers. Pray that God wants us back by Saturday and that He will make a way. I have faith that He will. He is a big God. He can do anything. And if we don’t make it back, then I believe He has a reason for that too. He knows all. And I trust Him.  

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

No load. Still in Houston.

We didn't get a dispatch out of Houston today. So it was a day off for us. We didn't waste it though. We got some stuff repaired that needed done. It was funny because the mechanic needed the VIN number and when he opened the door, Chucky and Lucy was there growling and he was afraid. Now everyone who knows our dogs would know that they wouldn't hurt anyone but I guess they did their jobs guarding the truck. lol
After that we took the truck through the truckwash. That was interesting. You pull into a big block building and there were about 6 workers that start washing with power washers. Pops got out of the truck to go into the office. The dogs and I waited inside. The dogs were a little scared because of the noise. I thought it was fun. I have always liked car washes. Our truck looks really good now.
When we came back over to the truckstop we got a different parking spot, a better one. It is on the end near the entrance, between the truckwash and the truckstop. There is a fence in between with a pretty big grassy area. I wish I had a chair with me. I would take the dogs, my book and sit outside. But I don't want to sit on the ground! The dogs are liking this new spot.
We did some laundry while we had some down time. And since we FINALLY got our money to go into our bank account, we decided to go into the restuarant to eat. It was good, but honestly I like my cooking better. I had meatloaf and mashed potatoes w/ gravy and corn. It came with soup and salad bar so I had some Italian Wedding Soup too. Pops got the Chicken Fajita Hoagie. It came with a baked potato.
I forgot to say that we both took a good nap today too, oh, a siesta, it's called down here. Siestas are good, especially during the hot part of the day. It was really hot again today. Right now it is 80 degrees at 9pm.
I got a voicemail from my friend Carol today. She works at Rest Assured. I was doing laundry when she called and didn't have my phone with me. I hate it I missed her call. She left a nice message for me. I will be seeing her when I get home. I miss my Rest Assured friends more than they know. It is always good to hear from them.
We checked our FedEx status on the C-link computer. We are on the top of the list for loads so hopefully tomorrow we will get a good one.
For you prayer warriors: Please pray for Mark and Debbie Billiter they need lifted up. Also, pray for my son Tom's friends who just became foster parents of a little girl they got directly from the hospital, no more details than that. And as always, keep Pops and I in your prayers.
Love, Noni

Guess which state we're in?


We are in Texas

We drove on in to Houston about 9:00 last night. We spent the night in a TA truckstop. It is still 79 degrees but windy. Hot wind! We had a good evening. Took the dogs for a walk and walked around looking at all the different kinds of trucks. There are so many different makes and models. They come in just about every color too. I really do prefer the looks of Freightliner or International. I don't like the big boxy front ends of Kenworth or Peterbuilt. But I am told they ride really smooth and easy, the Cadillac of trucks. I cannot for the life of me understand why a man would buy a pink or lime green or even purple truck.
I made chili in the crockpot yesterday while we were sitting still and a small bit of homemade spaghetti sauce and cooked noodles so Pops had chili, I had spaghetti and we both had a salad. Yummy! Homemade food is so much better than store food or fast food. We have not stopped one time for a restuarant meal since we've been out. I would rather cook. Unless you count the salad bar we had with Bill and Starla. I really do love to cook, but it is a tiny bit of a challenge in here. Although I'm convinced I can whip up a batch of fudge in here. Gonna give that a try on our next weekend.
We watched the movie "Grown-ups" night before last. It is so funny. I had seen it before but Pops hadn't. We laughed so hard, I'm sure neighboring trucks heard us.
It is 8am eastern time. We ae waiting to be dispatched. Most are just starting to move around. It is 7am here.
I get impatient while waiting for dispatch. Because I am excited wondering about where we will go and what we will see. Our wait time always seems long and slow but once we get a dispatch we are expected to move within 10 minutes and then you rush until you get there, then you go somewhere to wait again. But I am still enjoying it. And this morning when I woke up next to Pops he told me that "This is still working out." Yeah, I still like him. He is trying really hard to keep the truck clean too. lol  He always gets the garbage out before it overflows and he evens walks the dogs with me. I realize the cleaning and cooking are my deal but I appreciate his help. We have a pretty nice division of work. We drive equally, although I think he always gives me the construction areas. But he does the night driving. He does the electronic logs, I do the actual paperwork. He does the unloading and fueling. I do the cooking and cleaning. He respects my opinions on the mechanical (because when I was in busing all our buses were Freightliners) I do know somethings about that. He is definately the Navigator along with Gypsy(gps). I take care of the money and payments. It's a pretty good partnership. And we are getting to have some fun at these new places. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. I have a lot more. It really is a facinating world, the bayou. It's pretty, it's scary, it's dark, the smells range from mossy to swampy to flowery to downright "what is that stink?" It is amazing. I am a little disappointed that I didn't see any alligators. Oh well, maybe next trip.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Some Pix

Port of Baton Rouge on the Mississippi River

Entering a bayou in Louisiana

Most of the bayou was so thick, but here was an opening so I snapped a picture out the window

It's hot!

Wow! it's hot. We got unloaded at 11:30 and have been waiting for a load. There is nothing coming out of Baton Rouge today according to our computer so we are about to deadhead to Houston, 230 miles away. It is 94.6 degrees here. Thank Goodness for a/c.
I am tired of this particular truckstop. It is nice and clean and friendly. But there is nothing else nearby to do.
I heard that Dallas area had tornadoes last night. I'm glad we weren't there then. Okay, Pops is getting impatient to get moving.
More later.
Love ya.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Meridian Church of Christ, we attended there 10/24/10. Josh McCrary, preacher.

Welcome to Louisiana

Truckstop in the morning. Last night there were 40 trucks right there.

It's 91.6 degrees now

We got into Mississippi last night near midnight. Pops drove up until his hours ran out. We switched out just outside of Chattanooga, TN. Of course I remembered that once we would cross into Alabama I would have 12 straight miles of one lane construction. Yippee! I hate construction, especially when you’re sleepy and you have to stay in between cement barriers FOR 12 MILES!!!
We talked earlier and planned to get fuel at Meridian, MS. When we talked to Starla earlier she told us that there was a church in Meridian. We had found some others along our route but this one seemed like it would work out since we would be staying there anyway.
We were both so very tired when we parked. There were only 3 parking spaces left in the whole place. We estimate over 150 trucks in that truckstop.  I backed into a spot. We took the dogs for a walk, walked up to the restrooms and then went straight to sleep.
We got up this morning and pulled back the curtain and it seemed a whole other world. Almost all of the trucks were gone already. And it was only 7:15 eastern time. (We are on central time here.) We went for a shower, took the dogs for a walk, drank some coffee and then set off for church.
The church was about 12-13 miles away, but mostly interstate so it didn’t take long to get there. We had no idea what to expect. It was a nice looking yellow brick building with a big sign with changing words outside. It said that current temp. was 71 degrees and gave the mornings scripture text. There was a very large parking lot so getting the truck in was no issue.  In the back was a big grassy area. We were early so I left the dogs out without their leashes and they got to run around for awhile before people started arriving.
Shortly we noticed that people were coming and carrying food into the building. We put the dogs in the truck and went inside. We weren’t even inside yet when two men came over and introduced themselves and made us feel welcome.
I was very surprised when we entered the building. The inside was gorgeous. You walked into a foyer that opened up into a sitting room with 2 couches facing each other and several other cushy chairs scattered around. It was beautifully decorated. I noticed a ladies room so I went in. Oh my, I wish I had brought my camera inside. There was a couch and large sink with 4 washbowls, real flowers in baskets, and candles and real towels. It was lovely.
The auditorium of the church was just as nice. It really was pleasing to the eye. And the people were so very friendly. There really is something to be said about Southern Hospitality. I would say 85% of the people came up and spoke with us. There was this one little older lady. She was dressed in a brown pantsuit. She had her gray hair in a bun with a brown bow tied around it. She had a silk scarf with animals all over it and a Noah’s Ark pin. She gave me candy and a pack of gum. Her name was “Miss Betty.” She told me that if she gets to Heaven before me, she will hold the gate open for me.
The Sunday School lesson was about the Trinity; the Holy Spirit in particular. It was a discussion type lesson and most participated.
The preacher was a young man, 26 years old. He has been preaching there for 1 ½ years. They really like him there. He was a very good speaker. The Sermon was entitled, “The Value of Your Soul.” The scripture text was Mark 8:35-38. It was very thought promoting.
It was a wonderful experience. I love visiting different congregations and realizing they are my family. It was nice to meet fellow brothers and sisters for the first time. I hope we get to go there again sometime. Next time we will stay for the fellowship dinner afterwards. It was 82 degrees when we came out.
We are on our way now to Baton Rouge. We are going to be about 8 miles from our delivery. I plan to do some laundry today and maybe get a good nap.
How about those San Francisco Giants? It was great to hear them win the national league pennant.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Visitors

How nice that these two showed up in Hagerstown to bring us our mail. We enjoyed their visit very much. Love you guys bunches! Be careful going home. Doesn't it look like Bill is praying? Hmmmm, probably praying that Starla would stop singing in the side of his face. lol

Friday, October 22, 2010

Good Morning

I just wanted to post a quick little note first of all to Praise God for this beautiful morning. The sun is shining. The laundry is getting done. Pops is sawing logs like nobody's business back there in the bunk. haha Don't tell him I wrote that.
Last evening when we pulled in here I jokingly made the comment, "I hope there's a pizza hut attached to this one." Some truckstops have Subway, McDonalds, Arbys, but I have never seen a Pizza Hut. TA truckstops usually just have their own restuarant. But guess what? There is a Pizza Hut here!! Yes, there is! So after the ballgame we each had a few bites of our own personal pan pizzas which means, leftover pizza for breakfast. See what I mean,? It's a good day.
Another thing that makes it good is when I got on this morning I noticed right away that we have a new follower to our blog. Thanks, Randy Reynolds. I am so encouraged when I see new followers or if someone has left us a comment to one of our blogs. I enjoy knowing that you all are reading about us and laughing at us, or whatever. I know this probably sounds crazy but it keeps me from missing you all so much when I know you are reading. And I try to write as if I were actually talking with you. I love you, dear friends. Now enjoy this day that the Lord has given you. I have to go get my laundry then it's off to the truckwash.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Better today

Once we picked up our load in Decatur and got moving I started to feel better and could feel the gloom going away little by little. We got a good bath and that helped tremendously.
Pops was driving and we listened to the ballgame. I talked to Starla and my sister on the phone and found out that my niece, Kacey, was in Indianapolis at a concert with her school. What a coincidence we were coming through there at that time. What a absolutely gorgeous city. No kidding! It is beautiful. I texted Kacey and asked her where she was. Lucas Oil Stadium. Look there it is! We were passing it right then. I texted her and told her we were right outside driving by. It was cool how that happened.
I stayed awake for a while longer then I went to bed.
I woke up this morning (slept like a log) around 6:15. Just in time to make coffee and start driving. Pops' hours were up. We had just crossed into Pennsylvania. I drove the entire way across Pensylvania on I80. What a wonderful trip. The leaves are at their peak, it was just daylight and so pretty. Pops was finally sleeping, snoring even. Good for him. Thanks for praying.
He did wake up when we were somewhere in New Jersey. We were headed for Long Island, New York. That meant I had to cross the George Washington bridge. Then across the Throgs Neck Bridge too! Then through part of the city and out onto Long Island. Our appointment was for 2:30pm so traffic wasn't too bad until we actually got to the street where we delivered. There were cars parked on both sides of the street and he wanted us to back into a small lot between a fence. No Way! It was not going to happen. So we did what all good delivery people do, we blocked the street. The delivery didn't take long to get unloaded but he wanted to open it and make sure it wasn't damaged. Traffic was getting furious. Pops jumped in and moved the truck just as I got the paperwork signed and off we went. I was supposed to be driving but since he was behind the wheel he drove us out of that area and then we changed seats. So once again back Long Island Expressway and across Throgs Neck Bridge but we left the city a different way because we are already predispatched on another load. But I did have to cross the Tappen Zee Bridge. Oh my, What a trip!!! I am so glad to be away from New York. What a beautiful city, though. I did get to point out some of the buildings for Pops. The Bay was spectacular, but the water looked pretty choppy.
We are now sitting at a truckstop. We just had a good supper and we're going in to shower. By then the ballgame will be on. I want to call my dad. I sure do miss him. I heard through the grapevine that he is enjoying our adventures. He told my sister that he feels like he is with us. I'm glad he feels that way. I love him so much.
We pick up in Swan Lake, NY tomorrow and that load goes to Louisana for Monday. Not sure where we'll be attending church, but it will be somewhere we've never been with people we don't know. But they will be family, right?
I praise God for the hope that I hang onto. He is amazing and has never, ever failed me. His wonder and beauty are around us daily. Sometimes we just need to look in the right direction. That's up to us.
Love ya, later.
PS Bob Long, I owe you one.
PSS Don't worry Keenan, we have 23 different kinds of coffee with us in this truck. You would be surprized at the amount of storage we have. lol

More Emotions, must be menopause

I got to bed last night around 8:00. Pops was driving on very little sleep. He is having such a hard time learning to sleep in the moving vehicle. It is an extremely rough thing to do.
One of our clamps that holds our refrigerator into place came unglued so our refrigerator kept creeping out of it’s space. There are 3 other straps holding it but I was worried that they would come loose if it dangled out of the space and then oh boy, that would not do. I kept getting up during the night and shoving it back into place.
At one point while I was sleeping Chucky came back and crawled in with me. He hasn’t been doing that so I figured it was either pretty cold or he got into trouble. Sure enough when I did wake up later Pops threw a half filled jar of peanut butter back to me and said this is for the dogs. When I ask why, he told me that he was dipping pretzels into the jar while driving and he kept smelling peanut butter when he wasn’t eating it. He looked down and caught Chucky with his head inside the jar licking the peanut butter. Hahaha dogs will be dogs. What do you expect?
I got up to drive around 4:30, I think we were somewhere in Ohio. We sure do seem to spend a lot of time in that state. It was still dark so I listened to the radio and chatted with Pops who still wasn’t sleeping. I drove the whole way through Indiana and into Illinois. It was getting light by then.
I just couldn’t stop thinking about the two people I saw yesterday. What could I have done to help them that might have made a difference? You know they say opportunity only knocks once and I did not cash in on any opportunity that might have been there. There had to have been a reason God allowed my to see that or it wouldn’t be such a heavy burden on my heart.
I get weepy every time I think about that. For every good and beautiful thing I have seen, I have seen equally bad and ugly things. There are good, nice people and there are grubby creeps. God loves them all. Can I?
Also, Lucy is not doing well at all. Every once in a while I think that maybe she is adapting and then she gets gloomy and miserable and that makes me so sad. She is not cut out for this at all. She has too much energy to be in the truck all the time. She is too young at heart to live this life. I cannot stand this fact. I do not want to give her up, but I want her to be happy and living a life she deserves.
We met a royal grouch at our delivery place today. It was the Catepillar plant in Illinois. The guard at the gate was a pimple on the hind end of a buzzard. Pops said he must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. I think he got up on the wrong side of something alright. He was rude and nasty to everyone. He had snide comments about each driver through the gate. I did say a prayer for him and for everyone who had to deal with him. Once inside that plant, (it was very large, several city blocks) there were men riding around on every kind of vehicle with wheels including bicycles. There were golf carts, fork lifts, bikes, trucks of every size, and contraptions that I didn’t recognize nor could I describe. They were everywhere going in all directions. It reminded me of all the little workers from the Henson show, “Fraggle Rock.”
When we left there we found a Walmart to do some shopping. Before leaving the Walmart parking lot we had another dispatch. It was a pickup in Salem, Ill and delivering tomorrow on Long Island in New York.  I finished up my around 7:00 and Pops took over. He has had no sleep so I am worried about how he will be able to drive his share. Please pray that he learns how to sleep while I am driving. I know I drive okay, but I think he worries about me and directions. I do okay if Gypsy(gps) is going the right way, but don’t give me a map. Lol
So tomorrow is Friday and we’ll be on Long Island. Good luck to us getting out of there. I hope we aren’t stuck there for the weekend.
Love ya bunches. ttyl

Slow Fade

There’s a lot of bad in the world today. More than what most people realize or want to think about. It’s not a pleasant thing to think about and a lot easier to just ignore or pretend it isn’t there. While sitting at the truckstop today, I was awake and didn’t want to wake Pops so I sat in the front seat and quietly read my book. I noticed a woman in the side mirrors and she was walking around from truck to truck talking with some of the drivers. I understood at once what was going on. Eventually she disappeared for awhile and then later was back to walking around newer arriving trucks. She stopped at our truck once and saw me watching her and moved on. She looked neatly dressed, common, probably around 40 years of age. She wasn’t a bad looking woman at all, and not flashy or trashy either. I could no longer concentrate on my reading. My mind begin to wonder about her. And also about the men who invite her into their trucks. It was disturbing. It upset me a whole lot. I was sad. I was angry. I had pity for the circumstances that made her feel like this was all there was. My emotions were a mess.
We got a dispatch leaving a small town in North Carolina and going to Decatur, Ill. I woke up Pops and we got moving. It was still my turn to drive for about another hour and a half so he helped me back out of the spot and away we went. We hadn’t even got to the end of the block when we were flagged down by a man. He was dressed in what appeared to be some sort of work uniform with his shirt tucked in and he was very dirty. He asked us if he could polish our wheels. Pops told him that we had to leave now we were on a dispatch. He then asked us for a cigarette. He looked very disappointed when Pops told him that neither of us were smokers.
So…in one little truckstop parking lot two very different yet sad lives touched my feelings in a way that you probably can’t imagine. What could have brought these two people to live like this? Did they have families? Have they ever heard of Jesus? What wrong choices did they make along life’s pathway? Who could have made a difference? As I wondered and thought about all of that I wondered what I might have done if anything to let them see God at work?
The group Casting Crowns has a very good song out now called: “Slow Fade.” It kind of made me think about all of this. We all make wrong choices. We all at one time or another took a wrong turn, deliberately or otherwise. How come we are so quick to judge the wrong turns of others? How many wrong turns does it take to spiral into a mess? The chorus to the above song goes like this: It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away. It’s a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray. Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid when you give yourself away. People never crumble in a day.  It’s a slow fade.
A very good friend of ours, Chad Fatula has recently posted a lesson on his blog about living Inside Out. It is a very good lesson and should be read by everyone so I am promoting his blog to you now through ours. Check it out. Start living your life Inside Out whenever you can.
posted by Chad at The Hot Spot - 1 week ago
Today’s post is from what is commonly called “The Eight Woes.” This would be the 5th Woe. I personally find this to be among some of the most serious scriptures in God’s Word. I put this up there w...
So it’s back up North for us again. Anyone got a jacket I can borrow?
Written October 19, 2010

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Out of the Cold

It sure felt cold spending a couple days in Ohio after being in the south most of last week. We were waiting to get the Magtec removed from our truck and there was a big, nice grassy area nearby so we took the dogs over there to run and play. They really enjoyed being off their leashes and being outside all that time. After about an hour it got cloudy and began to drizzle. Immediately the temperature dropped and we got cold. Because of the dogs we could not go into the building so we stood by the entrance and chatted with some other drivers.
Shortly after lunch they told us our truck was ready. We got in and cranked up the heat. Pops tried to put his window up but it wouldn’t go. The mirrors wouldn’t adjust and the wipers didn’t work either. Oh, no! He went back inside to find the mechanic that had done our work. He assured us that nothing he done could have caused these problems, but set to work on fixing them right away.
He wasn’t able to spot the problem and time was wasting. So he called someone from the Magtec company that he works for and apparently he is a genius because within 2 minutes we were fixed and ready to go.
But we had already lost our load. So we were told to go to the truckstop and wait for another one. Well, I looked around the truckstop and it was full of FedEx vehicles that were in Canton to have their new C-link computers installed. We will never get a load with all of these trucks here. We elected to relocate. We decided to move into the Pittsburgh area. So we started to move. Within a few minutes we got a dispatch from where we were to Gaffney, SC. We accepted and off we went.
We picked up almost right away but by then it was going on 7:00pm. Pops was driving and I thought I better get in the bunk because he didn’t have enough hours lefts to drive the whole way. So I tried to sleep. I think we were on the roughest road in the entire USA! At one point my computer (which doesn’t ever move during transit) bounced down onto my head. Everything felt like it was going everywhere. Remember, we talked about imagination before? Haha  I just knew our load had shifted and was going to be all over the trailer. Pops even thought so too. When his time was up, I began to drive and he couldn’t sleep either because of the rough riding. We did stop to check our load about ½ way. It was just fine, didn’t seem to mind the bumps a bit.
We off loaded this morning at 6:15am and could not wait to get to a Pilot or TA. Once here it was just a matter of minutes until we were both sleeping.
Dispatch has been trying to give us loads so I am sitting up now watching. Pops is sleeping. I hope he rests, he sure needs it.
Keep praying for us as we go about. It isn’t always an easy way to live, but I still like it…….so far.
At least we're back down south.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

New Friends

We are sitting at the TA as mentioned and in pulls (backs, actually) another FedEx CC right beside us. At the same time my phone rings and it's Tate (our boss) "You in your truck?" he wants to know. I tell him that we are and he says. "You're about to meet some crazy people." He goes on to tell me that 2 of his other drivers, a couple from Ohio, are here too to get their Security Device removed tomorrow. They are also getting their C-Link (computer) installed in their truck. Pops and I walked over and introduced ourselves and we went in for coffee. We were in there for about a little over an hour. They are very nice couple. They have been driving for FedEx for almost a year. They really like it. They have been married for 24 years and seem to have a really nice family too. Their names are Mark and Elyse. I hope that I spelled her name right. I hate it when someone spells mine wrong. It is always nice to talk with other people in the same line of work. It is especially nice when they happen to be FedEx and extremely nice if they also work for Tate and Shirley.
I hope we get to spend some time with them tomorrow. I think they may be able to help us get our satellite tv going. (Hopefully)
I am still waiting for laundry. It seems that I have been at it all day. There are only 2 washers and 2 dryers and one of the dryers isn't working. Each cost $2.00 per use. We have to take turns. The dryer didn't get mine comepletely dry so by the time I figured that out someone else had already thrown theirs in, so I had to wait until theirs was done and he ran it for 2 cycles (2 hours) to get his dry. I guess I'll have some clean, dry clothes tomorrow. Otherwise, it might be ugly. lol
Love you guys.

The Pines Christian Church

This is a day that the Lord has made, Let us be glad!

What an absolutely fantastic day to be alive. The sun is shining in central Ohio. The leaves are fabulous. The temp. is upper 60's. What could be better?
We got to be in the House of the Lord this morning in Mt. Gilead, Ohio. It was The Pines Christian Church. Neil Gilliland is the evangelist there. We were made to feel welcome immediately. Mike and Geri Brown attend there and it was very good to get to see them again. Of course Neil, Sam and their family were there.
We enjoyed a good Sunday School lesson comparing the great High Priest, Melchizadek, with the New Great High Priest, Jesus. It was very interesting and Sunday School was good.
Worship service follows the Sunday School with worship in song and then the Sermon. Neil preached a good sermon on 1 Peter 1: 6-7. It was about being Tested by Fire. Testing is never pleasureable but sometimes necessary for Christians.
A good point that Neil made was: "A faith that will not take you to worship each and every Lord's Day is a faith that will probably not take you to Heaven on Judgment Day."
It was so good to be in church, that's for sure. But.....it was not Wills Mt. I miss my family there so very much. I just want to say to all who read this: if you live in or near Hyndman and are looking for a wonderful place to worship with good people who are like family go to Wills Mt. The people there are the best, the friendliest, the most sincere group of God's followers. I can hardly wait until we can be there again.
We are in Canton now, parked at the TA truckstop for the night. It is about 6 miles from where we need to be tomorrow. We just had dinner of Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, and salad here in the truck. I will be going in to the TA in awhile to do laundry. When we do that we plan to have some pie and ice cream and maybe sit in there and watch the Giant ballgame. We'll see.
The internet is good here so I will probably be on Facebook in awhile. I hope to maybe see you there so we can chat. Love ya

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Have you done your homework?

Did you get ahead of me and look up Samuel Austin? Once I got the chance I was very impressed with his story. I put a link to the website where I found the info down near the picture. Look it up.
While driving later in the day on Friday, Pops was sleeping, I could see another statue up ahead. I reached for my camera and hoped there would be no traffic around me when I got close. I snapped a picture of the second statue while driving. It was taken through the windshield so it's not real good. The second statue is of Samuel Houston, another interesting fellow. Take the time to look them up. You won't be disappointed.
We drove up from Texas all through the night. Pops drove us through Arkansas. That is the birthplace of Elvis. Also the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. We saw a good many deer in that state, but it was dark much of the time so not a lot to see. I told Pops I wanted him to wake me up in time to see Memphis. I have been thinking about going to or through Memphis ever since I heard someone talking about it at our training. It was pretty but not real big. It is just over the line from Arkansas once you cross the Mississippi River. The River is not so wide at that spot and it was just breaking daylight as you can see on the pictures. The rest of our day was spent driving through Tennessee and Kentucky. It seems that no matter where we have gone on our travels we have touched the state of Tennessee. I know that isn't true but it sure seems like we go through it a lot.
At one of the rest areas that we stopped at we parked next to another truck similar to ours but labeled another company. It turned out they were a FedEx couple also. They had just purchased the truck and was on their way to Ohio too. They were taking their truck to get the FedEx labels put on. They have been driving for this company for 3 1/2 years and they enjoy what they do so much that they only go home 4-5 times a year for 2 weeks at a time. They mostly stay out on the road. This is the fourth truck that they now own. He suggested that we buy our own truck. Pops told him that we planned to once we decide if we like it enough. He told us that we will.
We discussed our church options for tomorrow on the drive through Kentucky. It was too far out of route to go to see Buck and Sandy.  :-(   I would've liked doing that. Maybe next time. So our choices were: Mt. Gilead where Neil Gilliland is or a church in Canton, Ohio. A friend of ours goes there. We decided to go to Neil's. So once we stopped at a Pilot to shower, Pops called him to make sure we could get the truck in and find out service times. I am excited to see Neil and Sam.
Well, Giants are winning. I hope they continue.
Have a good evening and keep us in your prayers. I love you all.
www.tsi.state.tx.us/treasures/giants/austin

www.lone-star.net/mall/texasinfo/shouston
Taken out of the windshield while driving

The Mississippi (out through the window while moving)

Memphis

Friday, October 15, 2010

Today (satellite issues?)

Texas isn’t so bad really. Once we got more inside it turned out to be a little of what I expected. We could see Dallas off in the distance because the land is so flat and the buildings are so tall. It reminded me of the Emerald City from the Wizard of OZ.
We circled around the city and the Dallas/ Ft. Worth Airport to get to our pick-up. When we were close to our destination we needed to make a left hand turn, we had 2 lanes of on-coming traffic so we had to wait for a green turn arrow. Pops was driving so when the arrow turned green he made the left and started to move. Just ahead of us (we hadn’t even gotten the truck straight yet) was a railroad crossing and I saw the red lights come on. I said, “Train, train!” and he was going to go across because we were blocking the intersection of the traffic. “Gates, Gates” I said. They were coming down and were going to hit us. He hit the brakes hard and the next thing I knew, I was on the floor. Ouch, did my elbow hurt.
Pops kept apologizing but really there was nothing differently he could have done. If I had been driving it would have been him on the floor. Well, Praise God I wasn’t driving is all I’m gonna say about that.
The people at the business where we picked up were really nice people and had us out of there in about 10 minutes. Now we were going to Houston to wait for a morning delivery.
While driving out of Dallas/ Ft. Worth Area we took our time. The city was so beautiful at night. All the buildings were lit up and it was so pretty that I got distracted (Can you say, “Demas?”) that I missed our exit so we had to make a loop and come back up onto the interstate. So far, we’ve been fortunate and not gotten ourselves too messed up.
After getting away from that area I went back to bed. Pops drove us on into Houston where we parked at a Walmart for the night. God Bless the good people at the Walmart who allow trucks to park there and use their facilities at night. Of course, we always spend some money. I was so stiff and sore this morning. I have a big swollen bruise on the left knee. And my back between my shoulder blades feels jammed and stiff. It’s okay, I’ll live. I don’t want to make Pops feel bad. He couldn’t help throwing me on the floor. And Jeffy I know you’re going to ask, “Where was your seatbelt?”  hahaha
We needed to be at our destination at 9:00am central time so we got up early enough to walk the dogs and go into the store and still make our destination. We delivered right to a person’s house. He lived a wonderful neighborhood on a cul-de-sac which was a little sketchy turning around, but I did it. He was  a very nice gentleman and was glad for his delivery. I think we did a good job of promoting the FedEx “purple promise.” It states, I will do all I can to make every FedEx experience a good one.
On our way into and out of our destination we traveled a highway that passed a statue of Samuel Austin. The statue was amazing. We stopped so I could take a picture, will post soon. I don’t know who he is but I will find out. He must’ve been someone important. I am probably really showing my ignorance right now. Oh well, I will find out.
We are back in Houston waiting for a load. We have had to pass up some really good ones because we need to be in Ohio on Monday. We could be on our way to Colorado right now. I told Pops he should have asked for a raincheck. lol
Love you all, stick with us.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Everything's bigger in Texas

Yeah, including the boredom. Pops was driving and we are on an interstate, but ho hum, it is boring. There is nothing to see. Just trees and dirt. Where are the longhorns? Where are the tumbleweeds? Where are the cowboys or cows even?
We could see really tall buildings in Dallas off in the distance. But now we got a load so we are on our way to Houston as soon as we eat some supper.
It is really dusty here. And hot!
We are going to Uniontown, OH on Monday to get the dreaded Magtec (security device) taken out. Hallelujah! I'll be glad to see that thing gone. I know Pops will be too.
I am co-driver tonight. Hope I can read directions and get us there. hahaha
Pray for Pops.

We are on the move

Here we go again. It was nice having time to sit. It was good to be on the internet, but here we go again. We are not loaded, we do not have a load so we are being moved to another location with more activity. We are going to Dallas, TX. We will be leaving here within the hour and should be in Dallas by 6pm our time. Oh boy, never been in Texas before except to walk through the Houston airport while changing flights. I'm excited, do you think we'll see any longhorns? We should be staying the night there too, so maybe I'll have internet again, but who knows? Anyway, keep praying. Love you.

Shout out to Rest Assured

I do want to give a holler out to my good friends at Rest Assured. I hear that some of you are following our blog. I am grateful for that. It is very encouraging to me to know that people I love, miss and care for are paying attention to what I am doing now. I miss you and the residents a lot. Especially the 2-10 group: Ruth, Roxanne, Rachelle, Carol and all of you . I miss Annetta's good cooking but I am sure I will lose weight now that I can no longer eat any of it. haha Darlene, are you behaving? And Kelly, take care of yourself. I'm glad to chat with you on Facebook from time to time. Tell the other girls that I say "Hi" and that I miss them. And please tell Eleanor what I have been up to. I miss her as well as the other residents.
I am doing well and so far really like what I am doing. This is me, this is who I am. It is so exciting to drive everywhere and see so much. We really do have a beautiful country. We should be proud to be American for all of the right reasons. God has truely blessed us. Take Care.

Breakfast

Woke up about 7:00 our time, 6 here. After walking the dogs I decided to make breakfast for me and Pops. I smell bacon and eggs at each truckstop we go into and I have been wanting that for a long time. Pops doesn't like truckstops so we don't eat there. So..... resourceful me broke out the electric skillet and fried us some eggs and God Bless the good people at Hormel. They have some wonderful already made bacon that you just have to heat. I picked some up yesterday when I shopped. And we had coffee and butter bread and 1/2 an orange. Pretty good, huh?
Lucy grabbed her breakfast off the parking lot this morning. She ate it before I could really see what it was but I think it was the skin off someone's chicken. Yuck! Oh well she's a dog.
So now we are getting ready t o do our morning Bible study. Yes, Lettie, I am keeping up each day with Pops' help. He is doing it too.
And then time will tell. I hope we don't sit here too long.
Love yas.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Layover

Ok, so we are on a layover. That means that once we unloaded there is not another load for us just yet. This is the first time since we have been working here that this has happened to us. So we are sitting in Shrevesport, Louisana.
This trip down was very interesting. After I got some sleep, and I slept really well. I got driving again. Pops ran his 11 hours of driving time right down to less than 3 minutes left. We were between Knoxville, TN and Chatanooga, TN. So it was me again. Chatanooga is pretty. It is in a deep valley and there are some lakes that are really nice. And believe it or not many choo choos. So I kind of felt like I knew where I was going, it was familiar from the previous trip at least into Alabama. But once we passed our old exit it was ok because most of it was rural or semi-rural. We crossed into Mississippi. (Can you spell Mississippi with only 1 i?) lol
and I was in love. Mississippi is absolutely beautiful. Not at all how I would have expected. It was green and hilly and so not swampy. The sides of the interstates and the median were all mowed so nice; a lovely state, indeed. I saw a cotton gin harvesting cotton. I didn't get to stop in Mississippi, we drove straight through into Louisana. And again what a nice surprize. Louisana seemed even prettier than Mississippi. It, too, was green and fresh looking and we saw our first palm trees since starting this job. Oh yeah, and armidillos too, dead but still. There was a lot of interesting places that I would have liked to stop if we were leisurely traveling. Maybe someday. Cajun is definately the theme here. Cajun is just spicy rednecks. They eat crawfish and alligator rather than deer and turkey. We saw what I would think was a bayou. Forests of trees standing deep in water with lilypads and algae and spanish moss hanging from the trees. I wish my eyes could take and save pictures for me to post for all of you.
We ran through a heavy rainstorm. It was mostly to the left of us which would have been the Gulf direction. Toward the right side of us it was sunny so we got to see a huge, bright rainbow.
We spent the night in a Walmart parking lot. It was well lit and a seemingly secure area, unlike the truck stop we stopped at. It was a little scary there. I felt very uncomfortable. So we walked down and spotted some donuts that called our names.haha
This morning when I got up I walked over and got some grocercies. We eat a lot. No we don't, our refrigerator just doesn't hold a lot like at home so we have to shop more often.
We went to our delivery location and unloaded the secret. Whop de do! Then were told to take a layover in Shrevesport. We had to drive 300 miles for layover, but they tell us we will get out of here sooner than if we had gone to Baton Rouge. We'll see. But I do appreciate the chance to use the internet.
I elected to drive first today even though it was Pops' turn because I would rather drive during the day than at night. We were going through Baton Rouge and I looked ahead and saw the biggest, tallest bridge that I think I ever saw and got scared. I was supposed to stay left but the bridge was coming from that direction so subconciously I entered the right lane. At the same exact time our C-link computer started to talk to us (a message from Fedex) and before I knew it I was off the exit and not where I was supposed to be at all. Pops did not yell at me. He didn't even get upset. I was so sorry. But he is smart and found us another route almost faster than our Gypsy (GPS) did. I apologized to him for messing us up but he says it turns out that his new route was a short cut and got us out of Layfayette traffic. Ok, all is well. Turns out I still had to cross a big huge bridge that crossed over the Mississippi River!
So here we sit, 5 miles out of Texas. Wonder where we'll go from here? I'll let you know. Take care and God Bless You. Remember to hold on to your hope. God is Good!

October 11, 2010

Written October 11, 2010
It is not a good thing when you don’t have internet access all the time. I promise when I get home again I will try to take care of that problem by getting an air card. I cannot do it until then because we will be renewing our plan and each of my family members will want to be there to pick their phone. I am pretty sure that Pops is going to go with an IPhone. Me, I don’t care as long as I can text, call and maybe take a picture.
You know imagination is a funny thing. It greatly multiplies whatever you are thinking about. It can make any problem a tragedy or any pleasant thought a grandiose plan. When I imagined this job it was always in a good light and always the wonderful places and sights. I have seen much of those in the last two weeks, that’s true, but I never imagined the unpleasantness. Sunday evening while I was driving heading towards New Hampshire, Pops should have been sleeping so he could drive when my 11 hours was done. He couldn’t sleep. It isn’t easy to sleep in a moving vehicle. Every time I swerved, hit a bump or slowed down he was sitting up wondering what was going on. We stopped for fuel and I needed coffee to keep going. I wondered if he would drink some since he was awake so I bought a large cup. When I got behind the driver’s seat he said that he didn’t want any. When I started to pull out the truck jerked and my whole cup of coffee spilled all over Chucky who was sleeping beside my seat. Boy, did he yip. I felt so bad that I started to cry. I just continued to feel bad the rest of the trip. Chucky was fine, just scared.
Then it was Pops’ turn to drive. He had only slept for about an hour. Now he needed to drive 11 hours to complete the trip. Well he was very tired and I felt bad about that too. I couldn’t stay awake to talk to him though because we didn’t know what kind of trip we would get and I needed to be rested to drive if we had to take off right away. Well, I didn’t sleep very well either. I kept hearing him hit the rumble strips and at one point I heard a car blow the horn at him. I did sit up and talk him for awhile then.
It was almost time to go into our delivery destination and I was driving. When I went into the guard house he asked me if I had a camera in the truck. When I told him that I did, I had to take it into the guard house until we came back out. We were hauling fiber optics that is used for communication under the ocean. The shipper was telling us all about it, it was interesting but not enough that I wanted to take pictures of their building.
So…good thing I did sleep most of the night because we got a run almost immediately. It picked up about ½ hour from where we were and is headed to Louisiana. When we got to the shippers I backed into the dock, (a feat that I still am not completely comfortable with.) We were hauling a long metal box on wheels. The guard told us that we didn’t want to know what it was. Ok, whatever. Well I looked on the shippers Bill of Lading and guess what? The guard was right. I didn’t want to know what was in the box. Sorry fans, I am not at liberty at this time to tell you what it is.
Once we got moving Pops went to the sleeper. I was sure hoping that he would sleep. So it was just me and Gypsy (the GPS) in the front seats. I came down through MA okay. But Connecticut was a nightmare. I got there about 3pm and the whole way through every time I came to a city, traffic was backed up so bad that I sat 3 different times for ½ hour or more each time. Once through there it was the Tappen Zee bridge in New York City. Of course I sat there for about an hour. Then it was smooth sailing for quite awhile.
Then I ran into heavy thunderstorms. Traffic doesn’t care. They still fly. After about ½ hour of storming traffic came to a screeching halt. There had been an accident. Sitting again. For more than an hour. Boy, was it a bad accident. A tractor trailer had lost control and took out at least half mile of guardrails and several trees. The trailer was smashed badly and I didn’t see the tractor. I think it might have been down over the bank. I was sick in my stomach. That shook me up a lot. How quickly your life could change or even end. While sitting there waiting I prayed that God would help whoever was affected by that accident.
Time’s up and Pops is now driving. I am tired. It’s been a long week already. More later. Love ya.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Well our day off is almost over

It was a nice day. Got up around 7:30 and cleaned the truck a little bit. We have been organizing and rearranging to utilize our space as wisely as possible. We had breakfast and took the dogs for a walk and when we got back to the truck we got a phone call from Linwood. He was just around the corner and wanted to come visit. He stayed and talked and caught up for about 3 hours. How nice to see someone you love.
After that I mixed up a crockpot of chili for supper. I thought we might walk into Pilot and get us each a hot dog to go with it. Boy, did it smell good cooking.
It is very warm here. Hot actually. Bright and sunny and just a lovely day. I wish I had my lawn chair to sit outside with the dogs. I'm afraid to see summer come to an end.
Then I took a nap. Usually I take a good nap on Sundays, but tomorrow is going to be crazy rush day. Well, not rush but I will again be driving for 10-11 hours straight, so I figured a nap today would be good. After that I walked over and did the laundry. I took my book along so time passed quickly and then a nice looking, polite, and interesting man came in and talked to me. It was Pops. Had you going didn't I? I do love him so much. So far so good! It's only been 5 days. lol He told me he just got off the phone with Dan Hughes, a very good friend of ours. I miss Dan and his wife Valerie. They are good people.
Once the laundry was put away we had our supper. We didn't think we needed the hot dogs so we just had chili. It was really good and I am so glad that we didn't get the hot dogs. I couldn't even finish my bowl of chili.
It is now 20:41 which I can quickly know is 8:41pm. Our time has to be military and always eastern time. I don't know if we are going to listen to a ballgame or watch a movie. I know I do want to call my dad. I miss him and I love him so much.
Linwood suggested to us earlier that we go over to Stone Mountain, GA (about 43 miles from here) it has 3 confederates carved into the mountain. I guess maybe something like Mt. Rushmore? Anyway, he relayed a story to us about the time he took Buck and Sandy there. He said to Buck, "What do you think about that?" Buck answered, "Looks like a bunch of losers to me." hahaha He is so funny sometimes. Don't anyone ever tell him I said that.
So good bye for now. More later.
Love, Noni

We have a visitor

Good buddy, Linwood Smith

Friday, October 8, 2010

Henry Neely Dam in Alabama


Water tower in Winder, GA


Woo Hoo Day off tomorrow

We went to a huge Honda plant today. We had to drive through 2 guard houses and got directions to our dock. We had to drive through a big orange door and we were into an inner parking lot, then through another big orange door and then another. There were probably over 1000 docks. We were in a maze, seriously. We got unloaded very quickly and away we went. We were not even back to the 1st guard house when we got our next dispatch. We are on our way to Georgia for a Sunday AM pickup that goes to New Hampshire for Monday.
We drove on over to a Pilot on the other side of Atlanta and realized we are 7 miles from Linwood Smith, a good precher friend of ours. We are going to try to meet up with him tomorrow, maybe go to eat (there's a Cracker Barrel straight acroos the road from us.)
We just went over to Winder to Walmart for groceries. We really do have more storage space than you can imagine.
We are spending the evening listening to the Baseball playoffs. Go Giants! Then when things slow down we will go get our showers and do some laundry.
Alabama did turn out to be pretty beautiful in the daylight. As a matter of fact we found a really nice lake. And the mountains are nice, although still real green.
Of course everything looks better when you're not tired and you have a full belly. I had biscuits with sausage gravy for breakfast, I passed on the grits.lol
We are free all day tomorrow and I have the internet here. Yeehaw! Life is good!
I have been thinking about all of you and the messages on my phone are great. I have great friends. I spent a good part of the morning texting with Frankie, our step son. That was nice. I haven't gotten to do that before.
Lucy is doing a little better. Chuck loves this stuff. He is King.
I would like to say, "Way to go, Kaylee Miller. You are so smart. I am very proud of you. Keep it up." She is doing 5th grade math now so that makes her ALL 5th grade classes now. Good girl.
I am enjoying this new job. There is a lot to learn, but it will come. I love the traveling. I cannot believe how much ground I have covered in the last 4 days. It sure is going to be interesting.
We were a little grumpy with each other this morning but neither of us are morning people and the space is small. Plus the fact that I WILL HAVE A CLEAN TRUCK! And he like to eat crumby stuff. Oh and last night he knocked his plate down all over the floor.He says I clean every minute, but that is so not true. Although today I did a good cleaning of my "house" and it took a whole 10 minutes. But it is all good. I love my husband so very much. He is so good to me.
Our security system shut our truck down again today. I talked to the company, they are working to remedy it quickly.
PS If you are a prayer warrior please pray for my sister, Amy Bence. She hasn't been feeling good at all and is scheduled to have surgery on her hand in January.
Well more later.

A little grumpy

Woke up in the middle of the night really hot, so I got up and put the air on, it is hot and muggy here in Alabama.  2 minutes later I heard Pops get up and shut the air off, Oh well can't please anybody...in mean everybody.
When we woke up we are surrounded by trucks hauling stuff from slaughter shops.ewwww!
More later

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Finally a chance to use the internet!!!

Whew, I have been having major withdrawal from the internet lately! We haven't had any chance to be still long enough where I had service.
So Tuesday we left the house and was supposed to be Hagerstown to pick up and we were given 2 hours from our house to get there. Of course with all the construction in Cumberland and other roads we had to have our time bumped. So we got to our pick up and had to back into a building, well I couldn't do it. We have a system installed on our truck for security. It is to prevent the truck from being moved by unauthorized drivers. Apparently inexperienced drivers too. I could not back it up for nothing. Pops tried and he had a little trouble but managed.  So off we went to York, PA to deliver. We got there and all went ok there. We were immediately given another load for morning. It was a security load. (high pay, but required using the refrigerator unit on the truck in which we had no training.) Our boss said take the load, so once we got parked for the night (more on that in a minute) they instructed us on how to use the reefer. Suddenly we heard an awful noise and smelled belts burning. We called our boss and they got us off the load and told us to go for repair in the morning. During the night we were offered another reefer load for later on Wed. Boss said accept the load. We had origianally parked directly across from Jessup Prison near Baltimore and decided that was unwise and moved elsewhere.
We got up early on Wed and went to be repaired. As it turns out it is a major repair so Boss elected not to do it now. 3 hours wasted and another high pay load lost.
New dispatch comes Go to Philadelphia and pick up 1 container to go to Uniontown, Oh. Yep, right back where we did our training last week. Okay I can drive us there. I actually have been doing my share of driving, just not backing yet.
So that trip went off ok except for once when we stopped at a rest stop to walk the dogs, our security system must have detected that we are not authorized drivers and would not allow us to move the truck. We called the boss and he instructed us how to deal with the system. We got moving again.
This morning we picked up a giant bucket of paint weighing 5000 lbs. and drove it to Lincoln, Alabama. I have driven 11 hours each day the last two days.
I don't mind the driving. But remember the wonderful security system? I was driving 70 mph done a mountain in KY and system decided to shut down the truck. That was something. I did manage to get over 3 lanes of traffic and get off the road before losing the steering. FedEx called me on the phone and said they just received a sercurity alarm from our truck was all okay? She said that these devices were giving some problems and they are thinking of taking them out of the trucks. Ya think?
Chucky has adapted really well. He is enjoying this life. Lucy on the other hand is a nervous wreck. I don't know if she will get used to it or not. I am worried that she is going to get sick if she doesn't soon settle down.
Things are getting easier each day. The paperwork is really hard and the computer (direct link to FedEx) is complicated, but we'll get it. Meanwhile, I have seen some pretty scenery already and look forward to more.
When I get home next, I will be getting an aircard for my computer so access to the internet will be much easier.
Keep praying for us. I don't know where we go from here.
Love ya.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Well, we were told that sometimes you have to wait awhile for a load. Praise God, we are waiting at home.

Monday, October 4, 2010

I memorized this in First Grade and still remember it.

Come, Little Leaves
George Cooper
"Come, little leaves," said the wind one day,
"Come o'er the meadows with me and play;
Put on your dresses of red and gold,
For summer is gone and the days grow cold."
Soon as the leaves heard the wind's loud call,
Down they came fluttering, one and all;
Over the brown fields they danced and flew,
singing the glad little songs they knew.
"Cricket, goodbye, we've been friends so long;
Little brook, sing us your farewell song;
Say you are sorry to see us go;
Ah, you will miss us, right well we know.
"Dear little lambs in your fleecy fold,
Mother will keep you from harm and cold;
fondly we watched you in vale and glade;
Say, will you dream of our loving shade?"
Dancing and whirling, the little leaves went;
Winter had called them, and they were content;
soon, fast asleep in their earthy beds,
The snow laid a coverlid over their heads.

Waiting

We put our available call in to Dispatch at 5:03pm and now we wait for them to call. Alright already, I am ready to go.
We did go to Somerset again today to once again be fingerprinted for DOD which is Dept. of Defense clearances. Man, it's a good thing we are both so squeaky clean. We have given out so much info on ourselves and jumped through every hoop at least once.
I am so anxious to see where we go first. When we were at class on Friday I heard a couple talking about Memphis so for some reason every time I imagine us going I think about Memphis. Now I know we for sure won't go immediately there because we will have to pick up a load first and that will have to be closer to us, but then who knows? Maybe we'll go to Memphis.
I bathed the dogs today. It is chilly here, 47 degrees outside. So the dogs have been shivering since. I really wonder how they will do.
So I'll keep waiting.

Allison's homecoming

You look beautiful, Ally

This is it!

I slept ok last night, but woke up this morning around 5:30 and could not go back to sleep. So much going through my mind. It is very sad to leave my home. I walked around yesterday feeling very weepy. Don't get me wrong, I am still looking forward to our new jobs, but it is hard to leave your home and family.
Then my brain started churning, wondering if I am remembering to take along every needed item. What could I be forgetting that I will definately regret not having?
Then I watched Boots and Lucy playing and realized that each of them are losing their best friend and that makes me want to cry. Will Boots be terribly lonely, will Lucy be awfully bored? Oh my!
Starla just got the kids off for school. I don't know when I'll see them again, I hope it's not too long. And I wonder if we will be gone before Starla comes home from work, probably.
My emotions are a wreck. Keep me in your prayers.
Love ya.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Busy Weekend

Wow, what a busy weekend. Hunter and Kailey, our grandkids were with Bill and Starla this weekend, so of course that meant they were at the house. Our other granddaughter, Allison, didn't come because this was her homecoming weekend and she was busy with all of that. Anyway, Hunter and Kailey both had soccer games on Saturday and since Bill and Pops were hunting (1st day of archery,) Starla and I took the kids to their games. Hunter's game was first. His team is amazing. They were very fun to watch. They won 7-1.
Then we had some time in between so we came back home for awhile. Then we left again for Kailey's game. Her team was having their pictures done so we had to be there early. Her team is made up of all girls. Her game was not as action packed as Hunter's was. The score was tied 1-1 until the end of the 4th quarter. Then one of the girls, Sarah, kicked a goal from mid-field. The score ended up 2-1.That made the whole game worth it. What an ending.
Then we came home and made supper of tacos. (Kailey's choice.) They were good. We spent the remainder of the evening watching tv and talking.
At one point, around 9:30, Hunter came up to my room and spotted my penny jars. He thought it would be a good idea if we counted them. I totally objected since there has got to be over $100 worth of pennies there!
On Sunday we went to church. After church Pops and I stuck around for the soup meal. Bill, Starla and the kids went to the store for some stuff they needed and then came home to eat.
We worked around the garage and played with our truck and now back to church.
TTYL Pray for us

Friday, October 1, 2010

Finally Friday, soon will be gone

Wow, I'm tired. We got up at 2:15 and left the house at 2:45. Once again we had to drive to Uniontown, OH for more training. What a trip. We met our son, Tom, for breakfast in Somerset before getting on the turnpike. We made it to the FedEx CC building by 7:30. Class was due to start at 8:00. We got right into training at 8:00. We started with intense Hazmat training, Then went into transporting explosives. After that it was 11:45 and we went to lunch. There we got to talk with 3 other couples who already drive for FedEx and like their jobs a lot.
After lunch we got started on hauling military loads and how to get all the clearances and stuff we need. We are really spending a lot of money just getting all these clearances. I sure hope we soon recoup some of these expenses. Then after gov't, we got into radioactive materials and then came the dreaded test. We were not allowed to miss more than 2 questions. It was pretty hard, but I only missed 2, so I passed. We got brand new badges, certificates and another huge stack of papers and permits to carry in our truck.
We drove back home after that. We got here around 9:15. I am so very tired. I can't wait to go to bed. My head feels so clogged up with info and stuff to try to remember. I hope and pray that I have total recall when needed. I have always been one to take great pride in my work. So I am looking forward to Monday when we get our first dispatch.
Thanks to all of you who are reading and following us. I appreciate your comments and prayers so very much. God bless you all.