This week has gone by so very fast. I just can’t believe it. We have been so busy and traveled a lot. We started out the week with a real quick trip from the rest area in Florence, KY with a pick up in Florence only going up to Cincinnati. It only took a few hours and so we were a little discouraged and thinking that was it for the day, but before we even got it off loaded we were offered another load from Florence going to Painesville, Oh.
So we went to pick that load up and was a few minutes behind because of the short load and the man at the pick up point was in a foul mood. Pops was upset by him. Why is it that one negative attitude can upset so many other people? Anyway we got that on the truck and left for Ohio. It took us until late that evening to get up there and on the way the offered us another load. This one would pick up in North Jackson at a FedEx Freight Terminal. It was going to be a truck to truck transfer. That means that another Custom Critical truck would bring the load that far from somewhere and we would take it the rest of the way. A lot of Canada loads are truck to truck transfers and also if there is a truck that is not a team of two drivers then one driver can’t always go the full distance in the time allotted. It was a big load of office furniture that just came up from Cincinnati. We couldn’t figure out why that didn’t just give us that load in the beginning and give the other guy our load that we brought up from there. Then no transfer would’ve been needed. Oh, Well. We got the furniture loaded and away we went. This is our third load of the day. We are tired. And it’s only Monday.
We drove for awhile and then took a little break to sleep and then got moving again. We were headed into Methuen, MA. Pops drove across Interstate 80 in PA which is not the best of roads in good conditions and we were getting sleet. He took his time and he does a really good job. I tried to get some sleep although I figured it wouldn’t be easy because I had some concerns for my son Tom going through my head and issues with my dad still arising. But I did sleep and it was good even if it was short.
When I woke up, we were in New York, I think and the roads were horrible. There were several inches of icy slush on the roads and no plows in sight. Traffic was pretty light though so that was a good thing. It took us 24 hours to drive a trip that should’ve only been about 10 or 11 hours. But we arrived safely. We got the furniture unloaded and thought we found a Walmart to sleep, but they wouldn’t allow overnight parking so we had to find somewhere else. We decided to go up the interstate 6 miles and cross into New Hampshire to the welcome center.
We found parking there along with several other trucks. It was a nice place. And the workers were friendly. We realized that throughout the day and night while we slept there that they had gotten over 18 inches of fresh snow. It was lovely to look at, but once we were told that 12-18 more inches were expected we decided we were leaving with or without a load. We had already predispatched on a load to Missouri, but it had cancelled because they were getting some of the same storm affecting New England. So without a load we decided to go a little south to Hartford, CT.
By this time our truck was covered in 2 inches of ice. Our radio or our C-link computer would not work properly. The further south we traveled the more it rained. But the temperatures were rising a little and the rain proceeded to melt the ice off our truck, even though it was freezing on the trees and sidewalks. We hung out for only about 2 hours before we were offered a load leaving Shelton, Ct and going to Clarksburg, WV. We agreed to the load.
When we got to our pickup point, Pops went in to find out where to back our truck in and came out carrying a box. What is this? This is it! This is what we are driving all that way for that much money? Hahahaha. (See the picture)
While driving down to West Virginia we were offered many loads. Boy, they are trying to keep us busy. I do like the predispatch though. It makes it so much easier to know when and how to sleep, stop, eat and so forth. But no, we weren’t interested in going to California. We don’t have good luck getting loads out of there, so even though they pay well to go there, you sit too many days trying to get out and it doesn’t pay in the long run. And we aren’t interested in Alberta, Canada, thank you. Way, Way too cold there and again no loads out. But once again, we hadn’t even hit Maryland yet and we picked up another load going from Meadsville, PA back up to Haverhill, MA. We did check the weather channel before accepting and we found out that that it was to be sunny and upper 20s to low 30 temperatures.
Once we delivered the little box, hahahaha. We headed for a truckstop in upper PA to wait until 4pm the next day for our next pickup. That gave us almost the whole day to get showers, do laundry, clean the truck, replace a headlight, brush the dogs and a couple other odd and end things. Downtime…… is good.
I got a call from my good friend, Carol, awhile ago. Her call was good medicine because I was having a heavy homesick day. She is doing well and still working way too hard. I miss my good friends from Rest Assured. She said that Ruth always asks if she’s talked to me. I miss you guys so much.
I hate homesick days! I miss my family. Last night while driving to West Virginia, we came less than 20 miles from home. Being this close and not being able to see my family is worse than being half way across the United States. I know Pops gets upset when I am homesick. He doesn’t know what to do to help me. I don’t know what to do to help me either. I just hope everyone of you know how much I love and miss you.
So we are sitting in Meadville at a business waiting, our load is not quite ready. We are supposed to be in Haverhill, MA by 8am. I hope that all goes well. I don’t know where we will go from there. It will be Friday. Maybe we will pick up one more load to get us back out of New England. If not, I hope that weather isn’t as bad as it was.
Love you.
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