Part two (scroll down and read part one first)

We found a place to park and sleep and actually got a good night’s rest before our pickup.

Monday morning dawned bright and clear, the first for many days. We even got a good glimpse of Mt. Ranier. Although I didn’t have any opportunities to get any pictures.

We drove to our pickup and got loaded. We were hauling 190 pounds all the way to Ok. City. It didn’t take long to get loaded but the paperwork was the glitch. We were hauling a high security load so every I had to be dotted and every T had to be crossed.

And then we were moving away from Seattle. It seemed melancholy somehow to finally be leaving the west. I really didn’t mind being out here if I wasn’t wanting to get home so bad. And Seattle is a lovely city. The winters are mild with temperatures averaging between 30 and 40, and summers between 70 and 80, it is almost perfect; that is, if you can tolerate the moss that seems to thrive everywhere.

We were traveling Route 90, past the truckstop where we “lived” while there and then further and further east. But first, we had to climb Mt. Baker. It appeared to be a whole other place. The snow was heavy and thick and beautiful. The day was still bright and sunny even up on the mountains so the views were outstanding. And the roads were clear.

I drove first and drove through Washington and Oregon, retracing our path from one month ago when we came west. Shortly after entering Idaho Pops began to drive.

At the Utah line he started to have snow and it was beginning to stick to the roads.

I woke up because I felt the motion of the truck had stopped. “Where are we?” I asked. He told me that we were in Evanston, Wy and that Interstate 80 was closed due to the weather. I got up and took the dogs out and then laid back on the bed and listened to road conditions on the radio. After about an hour, we were told that we were allowed to travel. Pops continued slowly on the bad roads. I slept, waking every once in a while and seeing the big flakes pound against the windshield. 

In the early morning I realized that once again the truck was stopped. We were at a rest area. Pops was out of driving time. It wasn’t snowing now, but the roads did not look good. I figured that I better get moving cause I would rather drive without snow than with it.

I did have some snow, sometimes real hard. The roads were horrible. We saw a truck that had jack-knifed in the road. Then the wind picked up and visibility was minimal. I kept going though. I didn’t want to stop unless they closed the road and I was hoping that that wouldn’t happen.

It was hard to enjoy the scenery in conditions like this but we did see a lot of antelope. We saw some mule deer too and even saw 3 elk.

The roads seemed to improve once we reached Laramie and then by the time we got to Cheyenne they were good. The roads were bare and there wasn’t much snow anywhere. We were now over the mountains and was now heading south.

Once we reached Denver we then began heading east again. It was so good to see the Rocky Mountains in my mirrors. I do really love the beauty of the mountains, but not when the weather is bad or when it is dark.

Now we were in Kansas and boy, is it windy. When we stopped for a break at a rest area I heard about tornadoes. They were hitting somewhere in Kansas but I didn’t hear where. But as I drove I watched so many tumbleweeds rolling across the road.

Then it was Pops’ turn to drive and I went to bed. I woke up when we reached Ok. City. We were parked and had 5 hours until our delivery. I took the dogs out and then went back to sleep. When I woke up next I fixed us breakfast of bacon, eggs and homefries. Yummy!

We delivered at an Air Force Base and didn’t have any trouble there, except for Lucy not wanting to allow the guards to inspect the inside of our truck. What a guard dog. Haha

We were sent to Tulsa for our layover and were offered several high paying loads but they were either going to California or Texas. One was going to Edmonton, AB, CA. No thanks, we want to go east.

So we waited until we were called and told to go at once to a nearby clinic for a drug screen, both of us. What are the chances of both of us being pulled for a random drug test at the same time? Really!!

When we got back to the truckstop and found a parking space I noticed that right in front of us was a truck that had burnt. The hood and the roof was all burnt up. So I spent the afternoon watching them come inspect that truck, take pictures, transfer the load to another truck, and then load the burnt truck onto a flat bed and take it away. Wow, that was something. I’m glad I wasn’t here while it was burning.

We got a load offer picking up here in Tulsa and going to Minneapolis for tomorrow night. We debated whether to accept or not and decided that it was probably the best strategy for moving us east. We didn’t have any eastward load offers here and we usually get  Chicago load offers from there. It’s a gamble, but we took it. Now we have to avoid the snow and the tornadoes.