Pictures from our day at the Buckhorn Saloon and Museum

Tiled wall in the restroom of the rest area on Rt. 90 

Chair made from cattle horns

FDR bought several of the chairs from the Buckhorn Saloon

The ceilings are covered with horns and antlers

This mosaic picture is made from rattles from rattlesnakes

Bonnie and Clyde's Car

Pictures frrom last weekend

Linwood Smith

Deb and Linwood in front of his Baby.

Granddaughter, Reagan, cute as a button

My great big ring bling, haha

A Close Call

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.

Slow start

We got a good load when we left the house. It was actually one of the ones that had cancelled on us earlier in the day. It had come back out to us and we accepted it.It was picking up in Cleveland, Oh and going to Franklin, NC.
We left the house and had to go to Grantsville first for fuel. Our truck climbed up out of our valley really well. It seemed to ride very nicely as well.
It took us about 45 minutes to get to the Pilot truckstop. Pops filled up the fuel tanks and then we went inside. I wanted to look for some cup holders. There is only 2 in the dash and they don't seem to be very deep and stable. But Pilot didn't have anything that we liked.
So we got rolling toward Cleveland. We went through Salisbury, PA and just before we came into Meyersdale we noticed that something didn't feel right. All of a sudden our truck wasn't riding well. It got really loud and bumped really hard. Our air pressure was still ok and because it was dark we couldn't see any big problems. So I tried to sleep through a rough ride and the dogs were a nervous mess.
We got to Cleveland very early and got loaded and then we drove over to the garaage where we had picked this truck up just last week.
They found a problem with our airbags and had it corrected in about 5 minutes, but also found a problem with our brakes and aso one with our compressor fan. All of these were big problems. The garage got three mechanics working on our problems and within 2 hours we were on our way. I am glad that they got it all fixed.
We were supposed to get to Franklin by 9:15 tonight but because of our break down they bumped our time to 10:45. Although Fedex wanted us to get there sooner if we could.
We did in fact get there by 9:31. That is the time that we checked in. So I think we didn pretty good.  We were only offered Charlotte, NC as a layover option but it was over4 hous away so we decided to go to Atlanta. It would take us about an hour to get there.
Franklin is in the foothills of the smokey mts and so we drove through some rural roads and went south toward Atlanta. It was a ride that was probably very pretty in the daylight.
I fell asleep before we got to Atlanta and when I woke up in the morning we were parked in an old abandoned rest area.  After Pops woke up and I took the dogs out we drove on further to a Pilot truckstop. We found a pretty good parking spot and so we settled in but hoped that it wouldn't be for too long although there were 19 Fedex trucks ahead of us on the dispatch list.
We were still there that evening. So we made up our minds that if we were still here in the morning we would go to Best Buy and get a new XM radio for the truck. Out owners gave us permission to do this. They know how important the radio is to us. We listen non-stop. And the one we have didn't work. So Saturday we shopped for a radio and found one that we agreed on. It was the least expensive one too. It came with Bluetooth so that when we get a phone call while driving it shuts down the radio and we can take the call through the radio without using any hands. Awesome. It also has a CD player. But we couldn't get it installed until the next day which was Sunday. Oh well. Surely we would't still be here that long would we?
While at Best Buy I also bought a CD that I have been wanting but couldn't find and also a ccouple of movies. Pops and I also walked around looking at all of the phone choices and got some more information from the "experts" there. It seems we are fairly settled on which models we will choose when its time.
After we left the store we drove back to the Pilot truckstop. It was only about 15 miles from a church that we wanted to attend if we were still here. Our good friend, Linwood Smith, is the preacher there.
Sunday morning we got up early and went inside for our showers. Then we drank some coffee and then drove over to the church.
They have a Christian School there too so there was plenty of parking for our truck near their school buses.
We parked and went inside. Sunday School was already started and we found a seat in the back. A man brought us some paper stuff over and told to Pops to fill it out that it was an application for them to borrow money from us. Haha. I liked him right away. It was really a visitors card and a welcome packet.
Sunday school was a lesson from 1 Timothy chapter 1 and it was a lesson on Evangelizing. It was a good lesson and one that would make it easy for anyone who didn't know how to start sharing the gospel with people.
Our friend Linwood came over and talked with us for a few minutes in between Sunday school and church.  It was so good to see hin and be here. I sure was hoping we would get to visit with him after services.
The service began with some singing and then communion. During communion I started to think of all the friends that we have made all over the US and realizing that all of us were having communion and remembering our Lord and Savior, Jesus. We have good friends all over and they mean so very much to me.
Linwood preached a sermon about Jesus being our Great High Preist. He gave us 10 reasons why Jesus was the greatest High Preist ever.
I also got to meet the mother and sister of another friend, Tanya England. This is their home home church before Tanya's husband Tommy became a preacher.
I love making new friends through churhes.
After the service Linwood and his wife, Deb invited us to go with to eat at a nearby Chinese restaurant. Their granddaughter, Reagan was going along too and before we pulled their car out of the garage, their son, Jason showed up and went with us too. It was a nice time and I like getting to meet Linwoods family.
We hung around for awhile afterward but then we left so that Linwood could visit with his sonwho lives away and hardly ever comes.
It was a wonderful day so far. God is so Good.
From there we drove straight to the Best Buy store and hung out there until it was time for our installation.
It took about 1 1/2 hours to install our radio and antenna. But boy was I excited when it was done. We of course had to "try out" the radio bluetooth. It worked great.
Now we drove back to the Pilot truckstop and spent the night, listening to the radio and hoping  for a load.
Wow, only one load since leaving the house Wednesday evening. But I'm sure that God intended for us to be at the Whistleville Christian Church today.

Our last day at home

I enjoyed my coffee in peace and quiet Tuesday morning as everyone still slept. Once Bill and Starla got up and came downstairs we talked for awhile until Bill had to leave for work.
Then I got ready and drove to the Bakery where Amy works. She was busy in the back. She is one of the bakers. She is always looking for recipes and trying new and interesting things.
I ordered a coffee and a glazed donut. I asked if there were any white creme filled donuts. They are favorites of Pops and I wanted to take him one. Luckily they had one, just one. So they wrapped it up for him. As they were wrapping that the other baker came out to the case carrying a tray of small oatmeal pies that had just came from the oven. Okay, I'll take one of those to go. Ha
Then Amy asked me to try the canneloni that she made. It was a recipe that she had made out of several recipes that she combined and made into one. I told her that I didn't really want one right now so she wrapped two of them to go. So after saying my goodbyes to her and giving her a big hug that would have to last until November I left her.
I drove out to Deby's house and was there only long enough to give her the two cards and answer a couple of questions that she had thought of since yesterday. I could see that she was excited to get moving again. It's funny how that happens when you're home. It is so nice to see everyone and visit, but you do get a sense of "Let's get going" after a couple of days.
Now I had to rush home and then Pops and I had to hurry and get the pickup truck down to Tom. He needed it by 2pm and we had to hurry. But we didnt get there until 10 minutes after 2 and Tom was already gone for work. Now that's too bad because he didn't want to run his car anymore than he had to so that problems didn't get worse. Oh well, too much to do and to far apart.
Now Pops, Starla and myself drove back up to Cove Auto. We had talked with Starla's husband and they had decided which of the cars they wanted to buy. So when we got there we found out that the owner didn't want to sell us that car because he said that he encountered more problems than he first thought and he didn't think it would be a good car for them.
For just a bit more money they could get the same type of car that was newer and had less miles so Pops and Starla took it for test drive and decided that it was a good choice. So after plunking down the cash she drove it away into Hyndman to get it transfered. But once she got to Hyndman we realized that the paperwork couldn't be done because we didn't have Starla's insurance info. So we drove it up to the house and called another notary that lives near us and she said we could come up later and get it all done. That made me happy because I wanted to get it all done and on the road before we had to leave the house.
We had all of the leftovers for supper tonight. When I come home I like to cook and also want to eat certain other foods that we don't get while out on the road so there is always a variety of stuff leftover.
It was a nice last night at home.
Now tomorrow we had an appointment to take our truck to get the electric looked at. Pops had to be in Jennerstown with the truck at 8:30 in the morning. I decided to stay behind at the house and enjoy some quiet, downtime before we had to head out.
We went into service at 6am so while Pops was gone we got a really good load offer. It was one that was too good to pass up, so I accepted it and we were put on the load. I called Pops and we realized that he would need to hurry home for us to make the pickup time. But before he even got home Fedex called him and told him that the load cancelled.
So Pops came home and would you believe that 3 more times we accepted and got loads that cancelled? We have never ever had 4 loads cancel in a row. Oh well, I know that God will give us the load we are meant to have. Every since we were in Seattle in February I do not get worked up about loads. I know without a doubt that God gives us the loads that we are supposed to have. We always get a load when all our work is completed and we always go where we are supposed to. I trust the Lord to give us our loads.
So we did in fact get a good load. It was picking up in Ohio and going to North Carolina. It was picking up in the morning but we decided to leave tonight and be there in the morning.
After supper I gave Starla a haircut and then Pops and I headed out. Oh how I hate saying goodbyes. But I am excited to be moving again and I am excited to get to know my new home.

Monday

We got up on Monday morning and left the house early. We were meeting our son, Tom, at Bob Evans in LaVale, MD. Our kids always refer to Bob Evans as the old people's restuarant. I don't know why, I think because their Grandma Ryan always liked it there. But that is where Tom wanted to go and I don't care one way or the other. I love breakfast food and I will eat breakfast anywhere.
We picked him up at his home since it was on the way and we found a place to park and went inside. We were offered a booth and so we sat there.
Once we ordered we had a good time visiting with our son. Pops and him compared their phones and Pops asked him a lot of questions about his phone. We are due to get new ones soon and Pops always has a difficult time making up his mind about what he wants. I am pretty easy to please. I like a keyboard because I would rather text than talk and I like a good camera because I am always taking pictures. I have a Blackberry Torch that I got 2 years ago and I haven't had one bit of problem with it and you all know how good of pictures that it takes. So I am leaning toward another Blackberry but we haven't been seeing any in the stores. Tom has an HTC and our other son, Drew has the new Samsung Captivate. Both of them like their phones. Pops has the old Samsung Captivate and is mostly leaning toward getting the new one. Both of our boys have had Iphones and liked them but they like the ones they have now better. If I can't get a Blackberry I thought I would get an Iphone because I have an Ipod and an Ipad and I like the Apple products and I am familiar with them, but like I said, I am pretty easy to please.
We talked about Tom's car. He is having some mechanical problems with it and was asking us about where we thought he might take it to be repaired. We suggested a young man from our church that fixes cars. So Tom texted him and he said he would do it. So we made arrangements for Tom to use our pickup truck while his car is being fixed.
After breakfast I needed to go up to Walmart to pick up some items I needed to finish up with our truck, so Tom agreed to go along. While we were up there Pops and Tom went to look at phones while I shopped for what I needed.
Once we left the store we took Tom back to his house and Bullet was outside in the yard. Remember Bullet is our grandpuppy that belongs to Drew. He is full grown now but is still very puppy-like. He is very energetic. He is a silver labrador retriever. He is gorgeous. So I played with him for a few minutes then Pops and I left.
Pops and I drove back up over the mountain to our house. We had told our friend, Deby, that we would bring our old truck to her today. So once we went inside the house and left the dogs outside for a few minutes and then got them back inside we took off for Somerset. Pops drove the old truck while I followed him in my car.
We parked at a store parking lot near Deby's house. Pops quickly showed her around the truck and tried to fill her in on what was what and how to operate everything. It is a lot of stuff to absorb and I think that she was a little overwhelmed.
We left her and told her that if she had any questions to call us anytime. She asked about the credit cards for fuel and the drivers pay and I realized that I had forgot them at the house. So I told her that I would bring them to her tomorrow.
After we left Deby's house I called my sister, Amy. I had told her that we would come see her for a little while if she was home and she was. So we drove to her house. It was good to get to spend some time with her although it never seems like enough. Her and I have a getaway planned for November when I am home on vacation. I can't wait.
She works at a bakery. I told her that I would there and visit with her again tomorrow when I brought the fuel cards in for Deby.
Then Pops and I left and we were on our way back to the house. I was exhausted. We have been really busy. It was 4:00 when we got home. Starla was busy working with some tomatoes that she was making into spaghetti sauce. I helped her with that for a little while and then we made supper. Once again Pops, me and Bill and Starla just relaxed through the evening. Oh boy, tomorrow is our last day at home and we are going to get that car for Bill and Starla. Sleep fast.

Sunday

It was a little comical on Sunday morning. Since we had left the church building yesterday to go look at cars and we all went in my car, Bill P.'s truck was still at the church building. Now on Sunday mornings at Wills Mt. the ladies meet an hour early and have an early Bible Study. When I'm home I always attend, so that meant everyone had to rise and shine and go along. Ha
But I didn't hear too much complaining. Actually I don't think I heard any.
It was so good to meet with some of my favorite people on this earth. The lesson was about the Holiness of God and His calling us to be Holy. It was led by Ginny Logsdon. It was a really good lesson. It is in a book that we had just started not too long ago. I have the same book and work on my lessons each week in the truck so that I am "on the same page" with these ladies.
After this we went into Sunday School. Every few weeks all of our sister congregations have a preacher switch day. This is when the preachers of the churches get scrambled around and get to preach at another church and we get to hear a different preacher too. So Chad was in Meyersdale, PA this week and Meyersdale's preacher, Doug Conley was at Wills Mt. So Doug was our Sunday School today.
The last time Pops and I were home was also Preacher switch day. We are wondering if Chad plans that. Just kidding. We know he wouldn't do that on purpose, at least I hope not.
After Sunday School we went into the auditorium for our worship service. It was a really good service. I just wish that Doug's wife, Sheree, would've come along, but we found out that she is in Memphis visiting her sister and vacationing. I missed her but I am very happy for her to be able to visit her sister. I love you, Sheree.
We always have an after service dinner at Wills Mt. and I am grateful for that because it gives me a chance to spend time just visiting with our people. I usually always sit with Jeff and Jane. Jeff is just like a real brother to me. They are such good friends.
I really missed one of my dear sisters, Lettie. She has just undergone a hysterectomy and is in recovery. I did get to talk to her on the phone though. I just really missed her hugs.
But it was so good to see all of the other friends. I love Wills Mt. and all the people there.
After we got home from there, Pops and I finished up with all the moving and the final touches to our new home. It was really looking like "home" now and I was feeling pretty good about  it except we didn't have any electric power in the house part of our truck so we would need to get that fixed asap so that we could have a stove, oven, water, and refrigerator. I love to cook and we seldom eat in truckstops, so we absolutely had to have electric.
But everything else was done and looking good.
Drew and Shelbie came to visit us around 5pm. They had just gotten back from a trip with several others to Ocean City. The Cumberland prisons where my boys work as guards, have a softball team and this weekend in Ocean City was the tournament between many of the prisons.
Drew had assembled a team and it was required to have a specific number of female players as well, so that is how Shelbie got involved. Shelbie is Drew's girlfriend. We met her last time we were home in August. She is so nice, not to mention pretty and her and Drew make such a cute couple. I can see that he is very happy and that makes me, his mom, happy.
I gave Shelbie the necklace that I bought for her while Pops and I were traveling through New Mexico and Arizona. She said that she liked it, I hope so.
They had a good time telling us all about their weekend. It was funny listening to them recount their experiences. I think somehow Drew learned to tell a good story. I especially liked hearing all the stuff that happened to Drew's friend, Steve while they were there. That poor young man had one thing right after another go wrong or weird. But Drew said that he handled it like a champ. Steve is a champ. I have known him since he was a wee little boy riding my bus to the school he attended. It sounds like they had a good time.
They stayed about 2 hours and then they had to go. Shelbie had to be back at college in the morning and she had to go back to Cumberland first to get her car. I really like her. And it was great seeing Drew.
So by now it was way too late for us to go to the hymn sing that was being held for all the sister congregations. Now I wouldn't get to see and say goodbye to most of my church friends. We just never seem to have enough time to get done everything we would like to do while home.
So we just watched some tv until bedtime. Bill P. would be going back to work tomorrow. Starla had some plans and Pops and I were getting up and meeting our son, Tom for breakfast at the "old people's place," it was Tom's choice. Haha