On Sunday evening we got and accepted a load offer that was picking up in Suwanee, GA and going to Marysville, OH. We had gone back to the truckstop so we slept there and got up early the next morning to make our pickup.
It was raining and a little chilly. Then it started to rain really hard.
We made our pickup and got started on our trip. I was driving, as I usually am the daytime driver. Pops was awake and was good company for me. We had a few days of good rest so he didn't have to sleep the day away.
The rain was not letting up at all as a matter of fact it was sometimes raining so hard that many vehicles got off the roadway and the water was laying on the roadway.
Right near the Georgia, Tennessee border I came up on the traffic at a dead standstill in both lanes. I hit the brake hard, but wasn't stopping. I remember saying, "Uh oh." Pops looked up and told me to get on the berm but I was already deciding to do that. The left lane was blocked and it was either the berm or slam into the back of the truck in front of me. I made it around that truck and was on the berm but still not stopping. I left up on the brake and hit it again and finally got stopped after passing about 5 or 6 trucks and a couple of cars. Wow. What the world just happened? I put on my signal and got back into the lane of traffic. Thank goodness, no one had been on the side of the road.
We found out that there was an accident up ahead.
We saw several accidents after that, we saw 2 rollover accidents and a couple of other fender benders. We saw one accident that the police car that was there ended up getting hit too. It sure was a treacherous trip.
We got to our destination late that night and got in and got unloaded right away. Then we went and spent the night at a rest area. In the morning we drove over to the truckstop. We wanted to get some lights fixed that had burnt out and then we asked them to turn off our ABS light that had come on yesterday after our near accident.
When the mechanic checked our ABS light he saw a big problem with our brakes. There was an issue that a previous mechanic somewhere had put the left wheel parts on the right side and the right side on the left side. So instead of "squeezing" the brakes on, the backward parts were pushing the brakes away from the wheel. So in effect, we had NO brakes on that axle. No wonder the truck wouldn't stop yesterday.
So now the mechanic was fixing them properly. It took a few hours but he finally got it fixed. Yay, now we will have brakes. It's odd that we hadn't even felt like our brakes were too bad.
And even better, the mechanic there gave Pops and me each a coupon for a free meal in the restaurant. Awesome.
So after leaving the garage and finding a good parking space, we went inside for our meal. I ordered the country fried steak and mashed potatoes and green beans and a roll, Pops ordered the same thing. It was huge portions! We ate all we wanted and then got a box to take the rest with us.
When we went to check out I noticed a display of BIG rings. I mean they were big rings. I had seen these being worn by several people recently and so I looked for a purple one and bought it. It was a whole whopping $4. Ha, oh how easy I am to please. I put that big ole ring on and I felt like a million bucks for the rest of the day.
We enjoyed the rest of the evening and the dogs enjoyed being able to go outside and just wondering around.
We were wondering why things seemed to be a little slow. We weren't getting too many load offers. So we settled in and got a good nights sleep.
The next morning we did get a load offer and we accepted it. It was going back to the Atlanta area.
So we made our pickup and got traveling again. This time we had brakes that we noticed. And it wasn't raining. I drove down through Ohio, Kentucky and just into Tennessee and then Pops took over. It was starting to get dark now.
By the time we reached Georgia we had to get off the interstate and drive across some two lane back country roads. I was starting to scratch my head in wonder when I noticed that every mile marker that we passed said, "mile 1." We passed 3 in a row that did that. We just looked at each other and wondered what was going on, but then Pops figured out that we were crossing into different counties and each time that happened the miles started over. Well, that was good to figure out because I was started to feel a little creeped out.
I went to sleep then and woke up after Pops had made the delivery and then drove us to a near by Walmart. I took the dogs out and we settled in for the rest of the night.
In the morning I got up early and went inside for groceries. I hadn't gone shopping since we moved into this truck and we needed several items and many gallons of water. I didn't even drink any coffee because I wanted to get this done before we got a load.
While I was in the store Pops got a load offer and accepted it. So when I got everything put away and we had a bite to eat we drove over to our pickup which wasn't too far from Atlanta.
This was a hazmat load and we had to placard our truck. We also found out that we would have a few re-routes because of the hazardous load.
What a reroute it turned out to be. I was so upset. It was up and over 2 different mountains. The road was narrow and winding. There were rock ledges jutting out and steep drops with no guard rails. I could not believe we were on a road like this. It was Route 60 in Georgia.
We stopped at one point and video taped the ride. I was so out of patience and my shoulders ached from tension by the time we got off that highway. It took us 3 hours to go 60 miles. Finally we reached Route 64 in Tennessee. Things should improve now. But they didn't. That road was narrow, and winding curves with stone ledges jutting out from the side and a big river on the other side. But I could at least go 35 mph now. That was a plus.
But we did finally reach interstate 75. And then we made better time.
Again I drove to the Kentucky welcome center and then Pops began to drive.
I called and talked to Starla. It was her birthday. I talk to her every evening though. And also to Bill P., her busband. They would miss me if I didn't call them. haha
Somewhere around midnight I went back to bed. I woke up in the morning while it was still dark, we were already unloaded and looking for a place to go for layover. We found a rest area and parked.
I stayed awake and worked on my Ladies Bible lesson and then cleaned the inside of the truck and got my dishes done. I had chili in the crockpot so I put it into bowls with lids and put it into the refrigerator for later and washed the crockpot.
Then I paid some bills and worked on some other paperwork. Now I'm all caught up on everything including the blog. So I am going to try to catch a nap, but everytime I do that we get a load offer. Oh well, I'm going to try.
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