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, February 19, 2012

Up and Down the West Coast

We only had two loads during the week and one picked up close by us. It was at a well known glass factory and we were headed to Snohomish, WA. That is just outside of Seattle.
We were carrying empty glass bottles and they were going to a distillery.
So we drove the now familiar Rt. 5 back up the coast and at one point it began to snow hard and just as we passed the chain up area they turned on the lights and began to enforce the chaining up. We continued on up and over at a slow pace but without any problems. Pops is a good snowy road driver.
We reached our destination very early the next morning and no one was waiting for us. It was a small storefront shop in the middle of a very small town and didn't look at all like we thought a distillery would look like. So we waited several hours before someone showed up to unload us. There was no dock so we had to use our liftgate and the owners forklift to get the tall stacked bottles off the truck. But finally it was done. I went back to the cab of the truck to finish up the paperwork while Pops went inside with the owner to return his pallet jack. He got a quick tour of the distillery.
He told me that they use Yukon Gold potatoes and cook them and grind them and then they ferment them for 4 days. Then they go into the still and after the distilling process the liquid comes out as beer. Then it is distilled for a second time and it becomes whiskey or vodka depending on the ingredients used.
Now I wonder why someone wastes good potatoes on alcohol, but obviously it is very much in demand.
We then drove to the TA truckstop at the base of Mt. Baker. We were here about a week ago. It is a beautiful area and a nice truckstop.
Pops needed to sleep and I sat and read so as not to disturb him. I gazed out at the mountains too. It was a foggy day and the trees at the high elevations were covered in thick ice. It was a sight. Normally we see the mountain caps covered in snow but the ice was a sight to behold. It made everything look silvery. As the day wore on I keep taking pictures of the same mountains as the fog surrounded them.
The next day we got a load picking up in Portland, OR and going back to down Rt. 5 to Oakland, CA. It was a pickup at another glass factory. The same name just different town. It was going to a glass factory also.
So we picked up and drove through the night.
As we were driving to our destination in Oakland we passed areas and streets that I had visited many years ago when my son, Tom, was in the Coast guard here. Pops got to see the skyline of the city of San Francisco, and the Bay Bridge.
Now we are once again away from the city and nearer to Sacramento at the same truckstop that we were at earlier in the week.
I don't mind being on the west coast as long as we can keep moving but it is time to go home. We haven't been home since Dec. 27th. I am homesick. Sometimes I just about can't bear it. I pray that God will line us up for trips heading east. I have asked others to pray also.
I even contacted our company and asked if there is anything they can do to help us out.
I hope that something works out for us soon.

1 comment:

Chad said...

We miss you and pray for you often.