Oh my, we are tired. We have been going and going with little regular sleep, not the right kinds of food, we needed a good hot, long shower and clean clothes. But that wasn't going to happen just yet.
We drove over the Smokey Mountains into TN. That is always a beautiful drive. Then through the corner of KY, IN and Illinois. We made through Chicago with a fairly easy pace. Rush hour was at the tailend. Then into Wisconsin easily enough too until we got to Milwaukee. But it wasn't the traffic that gave us problems there, it was construction. It is construction season in most places now though. But we did get to Oshkosh on time.
We made our delivery. The workers there were admiring our truck. They had never seen an expeditor truck before and were impressed with the size of our sleeper. Of course once Pops explained that we actually live in there and how we travel, they understood why we would need a truck like that.
We got hit with another load immediately when we left there. I had had hopes of getting to a restuarant for a "real" meal. And I have to admit that once I realized that we didn't have time enough to do that I got a liitle pouty. No, I was bordering on being a real cry baby.
We had a trip picking up a load near O'Hare airport that was going to North Central PA. Well, that would be somewhat close to home.
While we were getting unloaded I hurriedly cleaned our truck inside and washed up some dishes and scrounged around for something to eat. At this point we were down to a few protein bars, a couple of over ripe bananas and 1/2 a leftover Big Az hamburger from the truckstop. But we shared knowing surely we would soon get a break to buy some groceries.
And that break came right away.
We did get another load offer and accepted it, but we had a little time to spare so when we drove through a small town we pulled in and I ran into the store for groceries.
I quickly mixed together a meatloaf and put the in the crockpot and heated us up a "pocket sandwich" to hold us over. Well let me tell you, I was in no mood for a pocket sandwich so I pitched mine into the sink and grabbed a bag of chips. They weren't what I wanted either. I wanted meat, potatoes, salad and pie. And I wanted it right now! I was past pouty now. I was getting downright hateful. Poor Pops. Poor dogs. I couldn't even stand myself.
Our pick up was in New Jersey. We had been to this place several times before and it isn't always a pleasant experience, but this time wasn't so bad. There were about 10 trucks like us there so we waited our turn to be loaded. And then we left there to head to a place in Ohio.
I drove us down the NJ turnpike, into Deleware, into Maryland, watching the sights change all along the way. I saw many deer and a few turkeys along the NJ turnpike. We always do. And that surprizes me that they would inhabit an area that is so much city.
We had to stop in Hagerstown, MD for fuel. Because of having a little spare time and my foul mood Pops suggested we get a shower and go into the restuarant to eat. That was music to my ears. I was tired, so tired, but a shower felt great.
I ordered steak, mashed potatoes and the vegetable was broccoli. The meal was supposed to come with soup and salad bar but they had it all torn down (it was 1:00am.) So we talked and waited for our food to arrive. I could hardly stand it, I had waited so long for a good meal.
I ordered my steak to be cooked medium, but when it finally arrived it was rare. The blood was running from it and pooling all around my INSTANT mashed potatoes. And the broccoli..... It was raw broccoli heated for a minute or two in the microwave! I wanted to sit right there and cry out load, but I didn't, mostly because by now the shower had really made me sleepy and I just wanted to get into bed. So I asked for a box and took my food to go.
I stayed awake though because I knew we would be driving within 14 miles of our house and within 4 miles of my son's house. I always like to be awake when we drive past there. It is bittersweet to be so close to those I love and not be able to see them.
And then I went to sleep right away.
When I woke up we were at our delivery place. I heard Pops talking to someone. It was another expeditor driver for another company. I got up and got dressed, made some coffee and took the dogs out. By then we were unloaded and ready to go. We drove over to a nearby truckstop and waited for our next load.
We needed some repair work done to our truck. We knew we should just head home from there, but we wanted to be home next weekend. There was an event that we really wanted to go to, but we didn't know if waiting for the repairs was a good idea. So we just played it by ear. But we did get a load offer right away again and took that as a sign that we should take the trip.
It was a pickup in WV not too far from where we were and going up to Connecticut.
We were at the pickup point for a while. It was a chemical plant and we both had to go into the guard shack and watch a safety video and be advised of safety and security measures. They also asked for our phones and cameras while we were there.
While Pops was inside I again straightened up the inside of our home and reheated my food from the night before. I steamed my broccoli and cooked my steak a little more and heated some real mashed potatoes that I had in the refrigertor. This time it tasted exactly the way I wanted it to. And then we were off to Connecticut.
Honestly this trip went without a hitch. It is a familiar drive through familiar roads, again driving within 60 miles of our home. Then diagonally across the state of Pennsylvania into NY and then into CT.
Our delivery was in a rural area of CT. There were many colonial homes with big front yards. It was a pretty drive. We like the rural parts of CT. We lived there for 2 years many years ago. Our son, Tom, was born in Torrington, Ct.
After our delivery we drove into a rest area to wait for a load. We had talked it over and decided we really needed to go home now and get the repairs. It wasn't too safe to wait much longer. But we were 400 miles away. So we waited it out hoping for a load that would get us closer.
We passed up several pretty good loads. Finally one showed up taking us with 150 miles of our home so we accepted it and got it. But within an hour we got news that the load was going to cancel. Oh well. They told us that there was a chance that it would go a little later though, so we waited around for a little while until they finally left us know that it did in fact cancel and wouldn't be going today at all.
So Pops called and talked to our owner and it was decided that we should head home now.
So we called Starla and told her we were on our way. She and her husband had the kids this weekend so Pops made plans with Bill and Hunter to hunt turkeys the next morning.
We drove the 9+ hours from CT to home but we had to stop at one point and catch a catnap. We pulled into our driveway at about 5am. Bill and Hunter were awake and waiting for Pops.
Within 1/2 hour or so they were gone to hunt turkeys. I opted to stay in the truck so that I wouldn't wake the girls up and also I wanted to get a little more sleep.
Lucy recognized that we were home and she wimpered and shivered wanting out of the truck so that she could go into the house to play with Boots, Starla and Bills dog. I made her lay down and go back to sleep.
We ended up sleeping until 10am. I left Chucky and Lucy out and they ran to Boots who was standing on the backporch waiting. I finished gathering our dirty clothes and our travel bags and walked across to the house. Ahh, Home Sweet Home.
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