We left Houston when we accepted a load that was picking up in Oklahoma and going to Arden, NC. It was so very hot. Everywhere looked dried up. The corn fields looked terrible and most of the fields in the south just looked like withered up weed fields. It is bad. And it is so widespread.
We made our pickup at a foundry in Oklahoma. We were hauling a heavy load of cast iron parts.
It is a long trip across the state of Tennessee and up and over the Smokey Mountains to reach our destination.
The state of Tennessee has lighted signs over the interstate warning people to drive safely and it keeps a running tally of the number of traffic deaths in that state so far this year. The number of motorcycle deaths was 69 the last trip through here and now it was showing 72. The auto accidents is showing 544. That is a lot of deaths in one state alone in 6 months time.
At first I thought it was morbid to show this but I realized that it makes it seems so real to see the figures and see them go up each time we pass through.
I woke up and we were already in the lot waiting to get unloaded. It was raining here, really hard too. The man that helped Pops unload told him that they had gotten rain 8 days in a row. Wow, that's a lot of rain.
So we got unloaded and then headed to Greenville, SC which is our place to layover but before we got there we already had another load. It was picking up near Greenville and going to Bay City, TX. So we are making one huge circle.
We made our pickup and got moving. This time since we were so far south we traveled the southern route across to Texas. So we went south to Atlanta and then through Alabama. We stopped for fuel and a shower at the truckstop near Montgomery where I fed the pregnant dog about a month or so ago. I looked for her or any small dogs but didn't see any. We were only there for about an hour and a half though.
Then I drove us through Mississippi and Pops started driving near Slidell, LA.
I stayed awake until we reached Baton Rouge and then I went to bed. I missed the bayous but it was dark anyway.
When I woke up we were in Texas near our delivery site. We were early and had to wait for someone to come unload us. We had to watch a safety video and put on clothing with long pants and long sleeves and Pops had to wear a hard hat and goggles when he got out of the truck. We were inside the gate for less than 15 minutes. Haha.
So now we were going up to Houston for our layover. It was hot and muggy thank goodness our a/c is working.
On the way to Houston we passed by Johnson Space Center. I wish we could visit there but it wouldn't be good to pay to get in and then get a load and have to leave without seeing it. We will come back sometime when we are off or already have a load that doesn't pick up until the next day.
We were on layover but we needed to get some work done on the truck and we needed to do laundry too.
So we went to the Flying J truckstop in Baytown, TX.
On the way there we made a stop at Walmart for groceries and then I went to Ricky's Thick and Juicy Burgers and got us lunch. I am so glad that I found this place.
So once at the truckstop we did get our work done on the truck and got a little rest. The next morning I got all caught up with the laundry and then fixed us some breakfast.
We relaxed and got caught up with all the paperwork and other things that we can't do while moving. We called about a church in the area that is not in our directory. I wanted to ask them some questions to see if they were a church that we would want to attend but no one called us back.
When we got up I called that church again and again no answer and no one called us back. So Pops and I had our own service. We listened to and discussed one of the lessons from our Camp Meeting CDs and then we re-listened to a sermon preached by Daniel Davenport. It was a good sermon and I picked up on so much more this time with no distractions. We had our communion and it was a good service. Although Pops refused to give me any offering. Just kidding.
Later in the afternoon Pops took me to Cracker Barrel for a "date." I have been whining a little about not ever getting to sit at a real table to eat a meal. Well, not a truckstop table either. So we did have a nice meal at a real table. No offense to Cracker Barrel or my own truck cooking either but I would love to have a "real meal, home cooked, at a real table, on real dishes, with real live people to talk to." That's not asking too much is it?
But it was a nice time.
We enjoyed the rest of the evening. We did get some rain too. Although Houston hasn't been having a drought either.
The next morning we got and accepted a load that picked up near Houston and was going to Michigan. Well barely inside Michigan. So I drove us to our pickup point and then headed northeast toward Texarkana. It was a good quiet drive and Pops tried to rest a little. We finally reached Texarkana and then we were on the major interstates. I continued to drive us into Arkansas and toward Little Rock.
Pops started to drive shortly before Little Rock and it wasn't long before I was in bed.
When I woke up we were in Illinois at a rest area and I began to drive. It wasn't long before we got to our destination and got unloaded really quickly. Then we were going to South Bend for layover.
We got offered a military load that was picking up in Sparta, WI. Actually we were offered 3 different loads picking up there. We did accept one and got it. It was picking up the next morning and going to Asheville, NC. So we waited out the evening. I read my book and tried to be really quiet while Pops got some sleep and then when he woke up he drove us to Wisconsin.
He did get to catch another few hours of sleep there too.
I got started driving and drove us onto the base. We have picked up here several times so I knew where to go. We got loaded and got going right away.
Before we got out of the state of WI I got a red light at the weigh station and they told me that I was overweight. I didn't understand this since I was only hauling 723 pounds. But he didn't ticket me just gave me a warning and told me I had to drive with my tag axle down. I still can't understand how that happened, how could I register overweight with so little weight on? But I did run with the axle down the rest of the way. I drove us down through Wisconsin and then lengthwise down through Illinois and almost into Indianapolis and then Pops started to drive.
I talked to Bill P. and Starla on the phone for a little while and then talked to Chad Fatula for a little while too. And then I figured I better get some sleep. I knew that Pops hadn't slept well and I might have to drive early so I went to bed.
I woke up at our destination in North Carolina. It was a military reserve. We had to wait for a little while until our Person of Contact showed up so I took the dogs out for a walk and then got my dishes done and the floors swept. We got unloaded and then drove over to a TA truckstop.
So we made several Big circles this past few days and here we are in NC again. I don't know where we'll go from here but if there is a pattern going on it should either be Texas, Wisconsin or Michigan.
No comments:
Post a Comment