Over 5000 miles

We left home on Monday. We were picking up in Shippensburg and going to Chicago. This was going to be the start of our new normal.
Some people have left us know that I am too open about what is going on with Pops. I guess they think it's too personal to publish in a blog, but yet they don't seem to have any issue continuing to read our blog which is nothing more than our personal journal.
When I started the blog it was mostly just as a journal for ourselves, as a record of where we have been and what all we have seen. We shared the website with our kids and friends as a way to feel connected with everyone back home.
I like it that people read it. It is a diary of sorts.
Anyway, our trip to Chicago went fairly ordinary.
Pops is peeing a little more each time and is catheterizing less and less. And I smile and clap each time like the mother of a potty training 2 year old. But this really is a big deal to us.
It sure was cold and windy in Chicago. We crossed our fingers and hoped for a load south. But within an hour of unloading we had another load picking up in another area of Chicago and going to Connecticut.
Now we had decided not to take trips to New England anymore because it is hard to get back out of there and truckstops are few and far between. But this one paid well, enough to pay us to deadhead out if we needed to.
I sure wasn't crazy with the wind and cold and the lake effect snowstorms but it sure felt good to be working again. So by Wednesday morning we had 2 good runs behind us. And better yet we got a predispatch load waiting for us to pick up as soon as we are empty going to Madison, Wisconsin.
We just can't seem to get south!
We were running good, hardly having any sit time. Pops was doing better each day. The weather was cold but not too much snow, so we were feeling good about all of it.
I have started posting travel trivia about the places we visit on our Nonipops page on Facebook. And besides that I am also posting local recipes from those places too and pictures when I get them. I try real hard to keep after the Facebook page every day because more people look at it. And it is fun to do. Check it out if you haven't yet. Just type Nonipops into your Facebook search bar.
I was looking forward to getting some cheese curds while in Wisconsin, but it didn't happen because we immediately got another load picking up in Milwaukee going to Eastern Tennessee.
Pops used the catheter this morning in Indiana when we were on our way to Wisconsin, but he didn't get much out, I guess because he is doing pretty well on his own. He is still getting the bladder spasms though. They must be horrible because sometimes it looks like he had been crying.
We are beyond baby steps now I think. I just wish I knew how to make his pains go away.
I was so happy to be going south. I felt like I was about to burst with excitement. Yay, sunshine and warmth, we are on our way!
Last time we were in Alabama there were daffodils blooming alongside the road. Oh boy, I can't wait to see them again and tulips and my favorite, hyacinths. Woo Hoo.
We picked up in Milwaukee around supper time on Thursday evening and started to go south. Pops started to drive right before we reached Chicago and we no sooner got to Gary, Indiana and it started to storm. It was snowing, raining, sleeting and so windy too. It was awful and we had to get there. This was a super hot load which means that it was badly needed. So Pops drove only stopping briefly because other trucks would throw slush onto our windshield and to clear the wipers. We saw too many wrecks, especially trucks.
I was scared so I went to bed. Pops has really good nerves and really good driving skills. I am almost never afraid of his driving but you just don't know what other people are going to do.
When I woke up we were already in Tennessee. I started to drive at 5:30am. We got to our delivery with our "hot load" and no one seemed in any great hurry to get it off.
It was a gorgeous sunny morning. The temperature was already 57 degrees at 10:00am.
This was our fourth good load this week. It was Friday morning and I was ready for a nice layover in lovely Tennessee.
But our layover options were Greenville, SC or Asheville, NC. We chose Asheville and headed out.
We would have to cross the bigs mountains to get there and I could look up and see snow on the top and fog! Oh no, was it going to be ugly on the other side?
It was foggy on top and there was some snow only in the woods at the top. But it was gloomy and drizzly on the North Carolina side. Oh, we'll. it was still 43 degrees.
So we found the truckstop and got settled in.
I transferred our earnings into our checking accounts and got busy writing some checks to pay bills. We are behind from not working but I am hoping that by the end of March to be caught up with our regular payments. However we have not yet begun to receive any of the medical bills. We don't have insurance just a discount plan that isn't very good and not accepted at some places at all. But I refuse to worry about that. We had to pay for Pops prostate procedure in cash, upfront and there went our meager savings account.
I felt pretty good being able to pay what I did though.
Pops had just fallen asleep and we got another load offer. We would have to drive down to Atlanta, GA and pick it up and take it the whole way to Detroit by tomorrow. Wow, and I thought it was time to catch up on rest. But like they say, No rest for the weary.
Even before doing this load we have run almost 4000 miles, it will be over 5000 after this. That's a busy week.