Our Fight

I was driving us north from southern Texas. Pops needed some sleep and we agreed that I would drive to the Texas line and then we would switch out.

Driving back up through San Antonio, Austin, and Waco was much smoother coming up then when we were going down. There was a lot less traffic this time. But once we reached the Fort Worth area traffic began to get heavier.

We passed by Texas Motor Speedway and the parking  lots were full and I could see that the stands were full of people. I figured Nascar must be here or something, but it was Saturday evening, so I wasn’t sure.

We stopped for fuel shortly after that and I googled the schedule of the raceway and found out that there was an Indycar event going on. Well, in any case it should soon be over so I wanted to get out of the area before that traffic left out.

So I continued to drive for now and Pops went back to sleep.

I crossed the line and drove into Oklahoma. I passed by the welcome center and did not stop because Pops seemed to be sleeping pretty well right now. I continued to drive for about another hour or so. Then I spotted a rest area and I was tired. Driving distance from Pharr, Tx to Denton, Tx is about 533 miles or about 9 hours.

Once I got parked, I began to do all the routine things I normally do when we switch over. I started the coffee and took the dogs out. I hurriedly got us a bite to eat, filled Pops’ coffee cup and then started the big coffee pot brewing to fill the thermos.

At this point I’m not quite sure what happened but we began to growl at each other. The dogs cowered. And then Pops got angry and pulled out from the rest area before the coffee was done and since it was in mid-brew the basket inside was full of hot water and grounds and it began to run over into the reservoir part of the coffee pot and then spilled out onto the counter.

I grabbed the pot and was yelling at Pops telling him that now he was going to be drinking coffee grounds and I better not hear a word about it. I filled the thermos the best I could while the truck was in motion and when I saw how many coffee grounds was down inside of the wrong side of the coffee pot I got really mad. I turned the coffee pot upside down and was banging it on the counter trying to get the wet grounds to come out and it wasn’t working.

I suddenly got a horrible urge to take the carafe of the coffee pot and whack Pops over the back of the head while he drove down the road. But thank goodness I resisted that temptation. Instead I slammed the coffee pot down to the floor and broke it. Now I double dog dare him to start about me being menopausal or whatever because I will so go crazy right now.

But he was smart enough to keep quiet and I just ignored him and went to bed. I did not want to talk calmly and act like nothing ever happened. What did happen anyway? I honestly don’t know. I don’t know who said what or what provoked this entire episode but oh well.

When I woke up the next morning we were diagonally the entire distance across Oklahoma and was parked at a Dollar General Store. Pops had located a church in the directory and was trying to reach someone for information. But no one was answering. We couldn’t even just show up there because it was a post office address and our wifi internet wasn’t working in this location. Oh well. We drove a little further hoping for better internet but still nothing.

So the only thing to do was keep going to the next town where there was a church listed in the directory but we would have to attend the evening services. I called for parking info and times but no one answered. I left a message on the machine.

We reached Le Mars, Iowa and found a Walmart lot to park. We spent the day here. The preacher from the Le Mars church did return my call and unfortunately they do not have a Sunday evening service.

I was still upset with Pops from the night before but it was his birthday so I gave him his gift that I had bought while we were home last time and had kept hidden until now. Pops loves his phone and facebook. So I got him an Ipad. I was just going to get him an Ipod like mine, but they were having a really good sale on the Ipad2 since the newer version was out, so after questioning several people about the old vs the new, I bought the Ipad2.

I knew that Pops was sleepy and needed to sleep so I was going to wait until he woke up to give it to him, but I figured that I needed to start mending our hurt feelings and he had been trying to spark conversation too. So I gave it to him right before I went into the store for a few items. I helped him get it registered and set up and then left him play.

When I came out of the store an hour later he was still on Facebook. I thought he would be curious about some of the other applications but he hadn’t gotten that far yet. Haha. I knew this would be a good gift.

Eventually he did realize that he needed to sleep so I got to play with the Ipad then. Ok, so now I think I would like to have one too. But I already have my laptop, my phone and my Ipod.

When Pops woke up we ate his birthday cake. Remember it was the Three Milk Cake that I had bought from the store in Pharr, TX. Wow, it is so good.

So we stayed here in Le Mars until late evening and then when Pops woke up he drove us to Benson, MN for our delivery. From there we were sent to Minneapolis for our layover.

I was wondering how long we might be here, sometimes we sit here a day or two. I gathered all of our dirty laundry and then cleaned the truck really good. Pops worked around the outside of the truck and the dogs played outside for awhile. Then I went inside the truckstop and done our laundry. I no sooner had the bed remade before we got a load that was picking up in Minneapolis and going to Kalamazoo, MI. So we had to leave right away.

Since Pops had driven all night Saturday and then Sunday after his 10 hour break so that I could get my restart to be legal, I had to do this trip myself.

I drove us to our pickup in Minneapolis and we got loaded then I started our trip. We had to drive through Wisconsin which is very much like our state of Pennsylvania. And then we came into Northern Illinois and down past Chicago and around the bottom curve of Lake Michigan across the top of the state of Indiana and then continued to follow the curve of the lake around and into the state of Michigan. We were going to Kalamazoo which is in the southwestern part of Michigan. It is about 140 miles directly west of Detroit. We reached our delivery point at night but wasn’t scheduled to deliver until 7am. So we parked on the deadend street just outside the gate and slept until morning. After we delivered we went a short distance and found a place to park. It was a dirt lot right across from a Strawberry stand. We sat there most of the morning watching people come and go buying strawberries. Finally right before lunchtime I walked across the road and the dogs went with me and we bought 2 quarts of strawberries. Pops and I ate almost 1 whole quart for lunch.

Then we drove 6 miles to a Walmart parking lot and decided we would stay there until we got a load. There was a place to tan in that plaza so I walked over there. And we ended up spending the night in the Walmart lot.

In the morning we were a load that picked up south of Chicago and was going to El Dorado Springs, MO which is south of Kansas City by about 100 miles or so. We accepted and got the load. We left shortly after lunch so that we could beat the rush hour traffic. I was driving and it took a little over an hour to reach the Michigan/Indiana line. We then drove about 45 miles more until we reached the Illinois state line. It was another 30 miles or so until we reached our place of pickup.

We were picking up from another trucking company. This was a rush shipment and they knew that they couldn’t get it there so that is why we were called. It is our job to expedite shipments.

After picking up I continued to drive for awhile and then Pops took over sometime later while still in Illinois. We were going south but once we reached Missouri we would cross diagonally until we got to our delivery. It would be mostly rural roads instead of interstate highways. I stayed awake for awhile and then I went to sleep. Pops figured that we would get there around 2:30am and our delivery wasn’t until 7:30.

I woke up when I felt him getting into bed and then again awhile later when I felt him getting back out. He moved the truck to the other side of the building but there still wasn’t anyone here to unload us yet. I got up and made some coffee and took the dogs out.

Shortly after that we got unloaded and then I drove us to Springfield, MO for layover. So here we sit waiting for a good load.