Mama Mia and Steak Dinner

From Match 16th ....

    Today was quite a day. We spent the day pressing forward toward Marion, NC. Our plan was to pull in to town, park at a truck stop and uber over to his mom's house.  Um.  Yeah...not happening.  There is no Uber service or Lyft service in town.  After talking with staff in the truckstop, we found a number for Abby's Taxi service.  Call made and  reality accepted ($60 to go 4 miles because our cab driver was 1 hour away), we cooked our dinner of steak, green beans, and potatoes and got ready. 

 

With our bellies full, we jumped in to our cab and headed out. Our driver's name was Raymond and he was a very friendly retiree who was just picking up some extra hours. He had quite the life story. 

He dropped us off at Mark's mom's house. It felt good to get those bear hugs that were waiting for us. 

At the end of the day, we felt so blessed to be living the life God has for us.  We truly serve a great God who wants us to live life to the fullest. 

Adventure Awaits, But There's a Twist

 Good morning from sunny Kansas. It has been a looooong time since I have even been on the truck, much less blog about it.  Life has handed all of us a major curve ball over the last two years.  I'm no longer a staff nurse, but a travel nurse.....  AND I LOVE IT.   I have met some amazing people on my nursing adventure.  

As the title implies, we are heading out for at least 3 weeks to explore this great nation.  The twist???   

A 10 month old siamese cat, who has never been on the truck. OH BOY.... 

Off to Joplin, Mo. to pick up insulation going to Greensboro,NC.  Our plan is to stop in Marion, NC and see Mark's mom.  

Bathrooms and Bridges

Port Arthur, Tx. What an interesting place. I had a friend from college who was from Port Arthur. I always wondered about this little town.  It was founded in 1895 by Arthur Stilwell. Today it has the largest oil refinery in the United States. It has a population of 54,000 ppl in the 2010 census.

We wound up making our way to the Port of Port Arthur, to SS Marine to pick up wood pulp. After  going thru the many check points, we were escorted to the yard to wait. We were, then, told to follow the yard dog who was supposedly pulling our freshly loaded trailer to the staging lot. We got ready to hook up .... no paperwork. The yard dog said the office staff  would bring it out to us.
We got to know the other 6 trucks sitting there "waiting on paperwork". One guy  had been there since 6:30pm the night before. Did I mention it was noon? This man had been waiting for almost 18 hours! Needless to say, there were some angry truckers in that lot. After about an hour, Mark made a phone call to the shipping office. Apparently that was the straw that broke the camel's back,  as the poor guy on the other end of the line proceeded to have a complete meltdown. The men loading the trailers had made a HUGE mess and he was angry. It wasn't long after the call ended  the dock worker's supervisor paid a visit to all the truckers waiting.  He would fix this problem he said and scooted off in his gold cart.

One thing that is hard for us females in the trucking world is the need for a bathroom. This location did not have one and even tho the men could use a bottle this gal couldn't do that.  Off to town we went, driving around looking for a bathroom. Due to covid, location after location refused to let me use the bathroom. Thank you covid for making that part of my life harder! He found a grocery store and pulled in there. The guy managing the door was gracious enough to let me in. THANK YOU MR GROCERYMAN.
Upon returning to our waiting lot, we noticed many drivers were gone. Could it be that our paperwork would be in the mailbox? YES!

  Off to Zachary, La. We went. We quickly found ourselves driving over miles of swamp land under us crossing bridge after bridge as we made our way north of Baton Rouge. Arriving at the receivers, we noted that there was a bridge with a limit crossing into the gates. After making another call, we were told to take our 44,000# load over the bridge with a 3 ton limit. WHAT????

We held our breath and over we went. Thank goodness it was a low water bridge.  After we unload, it's off to Reserve, La. for a much needed shower and a good night's rest.

Houston....

We left Wichita yesterday morning and decided to stop early in the day, calling it done in Paul's Valley, Oklahoma. We spent the afternoon catching up on one of my favorite shows, Deadliest Catch. Praise God for technology.

Started on this beauty yesterday.  Can't wait to see what becomes of it.

This morning we headed out bound for Houston.

I have been to Houston several times since he has been trucking.  The thing that gets me this trip is THERE IS NO TRAFFIC! It is the creepiest thing. We landed at H.E.B. Grocery with a trailer full of flour. I must say I got tickled at watching the Dance of the Supertrucker while sitting in the staging area. It is usually a battle of the fittest when it comes to lining up at the front gate. I am always so amazed at how these drivers can maneuver these big rigs into such cramped and tiny spaces.  We managed to get on a dock unscathed and while waiting to be unloaded and get our paperwork, I was able to feed the locals brownie crumbs and potato chips.

Hey, birds have to eat too.

It's on to Baytown, TX tonight.

Did you pack the butter?

Today I don't have to say goodbye to my trucker  because I AM GOING WITH HIM!🤩😍.  It has been a year since I went out with him. Life has been C-R-A-Z-Y to say the least.  There have been 2 college graduations, our daughter's wedding, a new grandbaby, COVID 19, and as of last Monday, I started my new position on Pediatrics.

The day started out with a bang. After taking the dog to the vet for boarding, we headed out to get  to get our traditional coffee that we always get when leaving. We pulled into the parking lot of the coffee place, Mark looks at me and says, "Do you have the card?" "I thought you had it." was my response. Back to the house we go.   Upon entering the house, Dani the cat had this look of a guilty preteen girl, who had just been caught with her Hello Kitty phone in paw, planning the party for tonight. 😻 After finding card, it's back on the road, only to realize 6 blocks from the house, that we forgot to pack the frozen foods we needed for the trip. Back to the house we go. I must say my husband was very calm throughout this whole process.

We finally made it out of town heading for wide open spaces. We pick up in Wichita,Ks and take the load to Houston,Tx.  So much for going to Maine. Oh well maybe next time.

Two hours out and I look at Mark, "Did you pack the butter? " Ooops.  😳😳

It's a Barn thing..

Woke up this morning to news that a tornado hit our old stomping grounds of Eldon, Mo and Jefferson City, Mo. First thing to do... call family.  Check on friends; pour over the hundreds of photos and video footage that is all over social media. I praise God for the protection over family, friends, and everyone in those towns. No fatalities in either town.

After we dropped our load in Rose City it was  . To Saginaw to pick up a load and take it to Holiday City, Oh.  On the way, I noticed a pattern of old, two story houses with WOOD barns... NO METAL BARNS. They were beautiful.

I have concluded that the people of these counties in Ohio are trying to preserve their old barns, possibly for barn swallows. Barn swallows don't nest in metal barns. Ohio is also known for their painted barn quilts that dot the countryside.

I hope to paint one of these beauties on the side of my garage this summer.  I'll keep you posted.

Another one for my bucket list!!!

My bucket list .... I was able to cross off another state this trip. I have been to 38 states now!!

I checked off Michigan this trip. Wow, what a beautiful state. I wanted to take shoreline trip around Lake Michigan to see all the light houses, but time and the size of the vehicle I was in were not on my side.

So I had to settle for the road side welcome center props. Lol.  We drove close to two of the great lakes, which I was able to see Lake Michigan but never caught a glimpse of Lake Huron. Maybe I will see it next time.  Did I mention that would be a check off of  my bucket list again...to see all five great lakes? We pulled into to Rose City, Michigan, a town with one street and no stop lights. I guess you could call it a One horse town. 🐎🐎🐎

We settled in for the night, glued to the weather channels as another round of severe storms were going thru southeastern Kansas and southwest Missouri. As we watched video footage of a tornado hitting Carl Junction, Mo. I was transported back to that fateful day of May 22,2011, when a tornado hit Joplin. It's strange how the brain works. It's like living it all over again, even though you know the difference.