R & R

Well we did not get to go to Atlanta for a layover. We got a call from our truck owner and they had made an appointment for us to get our generator fixed. So we were heading to Montgomery, Alabama the next morning.

Once we made our delivery we drove toward Montgomery to a truckstop. We were still about 20 or so miles out of Montgomery and it was fairly rural. There was a Horse/Dog Race track right next door to the truckstop but it was closed down.

I googled it and found out that apparently the owner of the track had been caught up in some kind of illegal activity and had to be shut down. Oh well, I think it would be kind of neat to watch a horse or dog race live.

But we were tired. So not long after we got parked Pops hit the bed. And boy, did he sleep. I think he would have slept through just about anything that day and night. Until our layover was all done he had slept for about 13 straight hours.

Not me, I was tired, sure, but I stayed awake that evening and read my book, worked on some studies that I have been working on, talked to some people on the phone and made friends with a stray dog.

When I did go to sleep, I slept soundly.

We got up the next morning and drove in to Montgomery. It took about 2 ½ hours for them to fix our generator. Now it is working good. And because it is, our A/C is working and we have electric when we are parked without running our engine.

Next our owners wanted us to go to another place to get a regular service maintenance performed on our truck. So we headed in the direction to get that done but we were offered a good load and accepted it.

This load picked up in Opelika, AL and was going to Hastings, NE. We haven’t been to Nebraska in a long time. It was Friday and this load wasn’t delivering until Monday morning so for once we wouldn’t have to rush to get there.

We had to drive for about 90 miles to our pickup. And we got into that town we passed a discount bakery store. I told Pops that if we came back past it again that I wanted to stop there.

Gypsy, our GPS told us to turn onto 13^th street and as soon as I did we saw that was a HUGE mistake. The street didn’t even go for one full block and became a dead end with only a very small driveway at someone’s house to turn around. Oh, Gypsy, sometimes I don’t like her at all! But I wiggled and made a 21 point turnaround and finally got out.

We did find our destination shortly after that and got loaded quickly. But we noticed that our original dispatch information did not match our Bill of Lading. So we called the company and found out that some of the product had already been shipped by air because it was needed so badly.

We left the pickup and stopped at the bakery store. I found some good buys of stuff that we buy regularly. And of course, I  picked up some snacks too.

When I came back out of the store Pops was on the phone and I realized that he was talking to Fedex. Our times which had been confirmed were now changed. We had to make this delivery tomorrow afternoon. They said this product is needed badly. The funny thing is we are carrying cardboard boxes. That’s it, boxes!

My theory is: that our division of Fedex is wanting us to beat the airplane to that company. And in fact we can. Until someone picks up a product, gets it to the airport, loads it on a plane, get it from the airport to the destination, at least 3 carriers have handled the product all of which takes time. Where we can pick it up, drive it straight there and not have to stop the truck except for very short periods. So we hustled.

I had to mentally change gears because in my mind we were driving leisurely and now we were rushing and had to re-think driving strategies. I was on to drive first so Pops needed to sleep. I drove most of the day through Alabama and into Tennessee. It was dark when I reached Nashville and something was going on that city because all exits that went downtown or through the city were blocked off by policemen. So I had to re-route and Gypsy would not help me. She was insistent that I follow her route through the city. So Pops had to wake up and help me navigate around Nashville.

Once we reached the welcome center of Kentucky he began to drive and I went right to sleep.

I woke up somewhere around Kansas City. But Pops continued to drive for several hours. I did start to drive while we are still in Missouri.  

Finally we reached our destination in Nebraska and got unloaded quickly. There were 2 Custom Critical trucks sitting there waiting for loads that couldn’t be shipped until they had the packaging that we brought.

We were offered a load leaving this same plant and going into Quebec for Monday, but I did not want to be out of the country on Sunday which is Mother’s Day. So we refused that load.

We were told to go to Omaha, NE for layover, but Council Bluffs, Iowa is just 3 miles from Omaha’s exit so we went there because there is a shop there that can do our oil change.

We set up our service at the shop and they told us they would call us when the bay was available. So Pops went to sleep while I caught up on some computer and paperwork that needed done. Then I read for awhile. I just got into bed and began to doze when the shop called us in. It was 11 o’clock pm. Ugh! I wish it could’ve waited til morning.

We got our oil change and a DOT inspection and was done by 1am. So we found a parking spot in the lot and went back to sleep.

We got up early the next morning so that we could shower and go to church. There are 3 churches in the directory that were 3 miles or less from us. But none of them answered the phone so we chose the one that was medium distance away and drove over.

It was Twin Cities Christian Church. We parked a short distance away in an empty dirt lot and walked over to the church. We were greeted outside by the Minister, Mike Galloway. He brought us inside to the adult Sunday School Class and introduced us to the others there.

They were doing to DVD series by Bob Russell entitled, Falling in Love with Jesus. We didn’t get very far in the lesson because we had such a good discussion. I enjoyed the class and everyone participated and it was very interesting.

After Sunday School we walked to the church with some people that had been in our class, Robert and Renee. They came over and sat with us in our pew because they didn’t want us to sit alone. I thought that was a very thoughtful and nice thing to do. They were very nice people.

This was a small congregation of about 60. But they were all very warm and friendly. Pops met a man that was originally from Indiana, PA and now lives here. He is a hunter and he and his father just purchased a farm in Iowa for hunting. He told Pops that he could come hunt for free if we are ever out this way. He would just need to purchase the license.

Of course the sermon was centered around moms. He preached on Hannah, the mother of Samuel. He called her a “true grit” mother. He talked about her desire to be a mother, the ridicule that she endured because she didn’t have children, her earnest prayer to God, her faithfulness, and her keeping of her promise. He tied it in really well with what today’s mothers face and endure.

I am so glad that God continues to bring us to good churches. I love meeting people all over that love God and live for Him.

At the end of the service each of the mothers were given a flower to take home to plant.

After we left there we went to the Laundromat that we had noticed earlier. Yay, we were going to have clean clothes and rugs.

After that we drove to Walmart and stocked up on our groceries. Then we went back over to the truckstop. We would’ve gone back to church in the evening but they cancelled their evening service this week because of it being Mother’s Day. So we just relaxed.

I did take the dogs outside and brushed them and clipped their nails.

It is so wonderful to have this break. I checked our mileages from our service appointments. We left home on April 12^th, today is May 13^th. In that amount of time we have driven 18,092 miles!!! That is a lot of distance. I could hardly believe it. No wonder I felt exhausted.