Ontario,CA

Stuck.  I am going to get a 34 hour restart on my clock in the wrong location.  "We'll have a load for you tomorrow John" is the quote from Lillian, but in the mean time I am stuck.  It will cost me $24 for the past two days just to park here.  The only good so far was the walk yesterday to an Apple store.  It was 4.8 miles away, (yes that was 9.6 miles round trip) but I could not get my computer to upgrade.  It had loaded a corrupted file was the opinion of the genius, so they took a moment and now I am running the most current software again.  The helpfulness of staff at the Apple store is always astounding.  May it continue.

I delivered yesterday to Vons.  I had not called ahead of time, but arrived at 8AM precisely on time.  Large sign at the gate: "trucks may not arrive more than 10 minutes before their scheduled appointment."  On time was important for this load.

My pocket book will not miss Jesse being on the truck. On the same token if I my eating beans and his eating steak everyday when help him wake up, then bring on the beans.  Would fasting work? One can almost envy his intestinal fortitude although directed the wrong direction. 

San Antoinio,TX

Overcast skies.  That describes not just the weather but the feeling in my heart.  A cartoon shows a man scolding a dog.  What he states is a long oration; however, what the dog hears is blah blah blah Ginger...blah Ginger." The story is the same, the names are different.  

Yesterday we stopped at WalMart and spent every dime we had left to buy food.  Jesse went to the truck and got our change container and we had to use 38 pennies from it!  We turned the change, almost all pennies, into cash.  We had over $3.00 in pennies. Our money situation changes tomorrow when I fuel up in Anthony,TX.  We will try to make Deming,NM, but in reality we will be lucky to reach Las Cruces,NM.  Deming does not have a truck stop anymore, but they do have a large empty lot next to WalMart.  It is a super center so restroom is available even at 4:30 AM when I usually get up on such days to start driving by 5 AM. 

Midway,FL

We picked up in Miami, only problem was the load was due in TX shortly.  So we are now sitting in Midway,FL waiting to repower this load.  We will be taking a load from here to California.  The waiting for them to show up shortly has turned into several hours.

I have so much to write in this blog, but right now cannot write it.

A man convinced...

against his will, is of the same opinion still.  I have heard that several times and I am living through it in the truck.  It is hard to have a future when your mind spends hours questioning the past. Especially when it has an unquenchable thirst to ask why.  It is a mind that can never let go and move forward, for it is always stuck in the past.  

For the past several days have driven from Brawley,CA to Miami,FL.  We received the load late, had major traffic problems in Baytown,TX and again this morning on the drive from Ormond Beach, FL; however, we arrived within 15 minutes of the designated time.  It still took them over 5 hours to move us up the line and unload us. No load currently out of FL so drove to Weston to spend the night.  It is the closest large lot truck stop in Miami.  You are charged $10.00 for the right to park here. For that $10 I have access to a restroom that is disgusting, a non-affiliated SubWay so it charges higher prices (no $5 menu items) and they have an open bar.  The upside is we saw a fairly new Bentley.  Also a different species of Grackle is in this part of FL than in TX. 

It ain't Angus

I called ahead of time, "Your pickup will be ready in 2 hours." That was yesterday.  Today it will not be ready until 6PM my time; however, I am in California (at the wrong end!).  Normally at the beef production plants I never see cattle haulers, in fact I never see live cattle at the plants; however, today is different.  About 30 feet in front of my bumper is the unloading dock for two cattle haulers at a time.  The steers have no knowledge of what is about to happen at the other end of this walk off the cattle hauler and the building is designed to keep as few people as possible actually "knowing" how they get from field to table.  Even of the people within the plant, only a select number of people move into the ranks of those who perform the slaughter work.  Most work in packaging or other areas where you are handling pieces.  Somewhere around 10000 head of cattle went into the plant today.  I'm supposed to haul 42,000 of beef to the other side of the country.  The steers are black and white; therefore not Premium Angus.  It is just after 1:00 PM and they sent a truck away with steers still in it.  I wonder how long it will take to empty all the pen areas and put the last one into processing? One final note: I never observed any of the workers abuse the animals, but you also never observed one of them look at the steers in the eye.

The gift that keeps on giving

Nogales, AZ has proven to be a plague to me.  I left there on the 13th with what I thought was a full load, only to discover after I was 143 miles down the road and had transferred the load to another truck, that part of the load was still in Nogales.  So that load is still haunting me this morning.  This is not how to establish good relations with Dallas.  January has not been a good month yet.  My pay statement just arrived this morning and is smaller than I had expected and this upcoming week will also be smaller if I do not get a good load when I leave Riverside,CA.  That load delivers at 9:30 tonight.  May this time pass quickly.

Nogales, AZ

Arrived in an almost timely manner; however, I sat and waited for 3 hours for the truck to arrive from down Mexico way.  Once it arrived, they were prompt in unloading the trailer and I was on my way to the only truck stop in town. Noon and the place is already full!  Got a message to pick up a load about 3 miles down the road.  Rushed over there only to discover it is today for us, but the shipper has it as tomorrow.  Wait again for Dallas to haggle, but they lose.  Drop the trailer at the shippers, then bobtail back to the Pilot.  It is amazing how many parking spaces open up when you are only 20+ feet long instead of 70!

Jesse caught a cold so he has been using the cough medicine and sleeping.  He woke up for a few minutes and asked questions having no clue about the day.  The freedom to be a kid for just a little longer.  When he arrived in the truck I told him this is like the Vegas commercial: what goes on in the truck (said in the truck) stays in the truck.  I also told him I had 3 things I wanted to accomplish before he left the truck: his faith walk would be stronger, he would know that he is loved by his parents and finally he would leave with a sense of direction for his life. If we were to achieve all this at Jesse's usual pace it would be, "No rush, yesterday is soon enough."   Hopefully we can achieve at a more moderate pace!

Stupid errors

I made a math error a few days ago and carried it forward on my log book.  So when I thought I had x number of hours, I was actually 30 minutes short.  Therefore I worked 30 more than I was legally allowed.  I sent an email to compliance explaining my mistake and how I had notated it in the log book.  Hopefully they will not shut me down for this error.  But if they do, it will be for 10 hours.

We are in Las Cruces,NM tonight and will be heading for Nogales,AZ at 2:45.  I told Jesse he would need to be sitting in the seat when I drive out tomorrow since we have to see the INS on our way out on I-10.  

I miss not being in church on this day for some reason more than other Sundays.  

Big Springs,NE

Truck stop has large parking and is very clean. I will find out in the morning if the showers are good; however, the internet connection within this community is very poor.  You can connect to a T1 line for 20 cents per minute.  I think I will live with slow broadband for tonight.  Need to leave here around 2:30 so I should arrive in a timely manner in Cheyenne.  Jesse will not be enthused by such information.  

The greatest challenge I have with Jesse in the truck is attempting to teach him to focus on one project and thus see it through.  This is difficult for me to teach since my life has been filled with non-focus.  The sermon I have lived is screaming loader than the sermon I preach.  Ouch!  Maybe we can tackle the problem together.  I would like to encourage him sometimes to enter the military, specifically he talks about the USMC, but with his headaches, knee problems and eye issues; I am not sure this is truly an alternative for him.  

Goodbye John

On New Years eve he made a choice to leave his truck and go to a real restaurant for dinner.  He left is jacket with his debit card in a pocket on the chair while he used the restroom.  When he got back it was gone.  He raised such a stink that the police were summoned and ended up hauling him away.  He spent the night in detention.  By Saturday he was unemployed.  The young 27 year old, who may be a good driver; however, his maturity level is far below his age, was trying to figure out how to get from Denver,CO to Houston,TX.  I could not help him this time.  I was in Cheyenne,WY.  I tried to reason with him before this incident that there were problems.  I was attempting to see if I could help him find those puzzle pieces of life he seemed to be missing. My heart aches, but there is nothing I can do now.  May he wake up and smell the coffee that God has brewed for him. (I know I could sure use a cup!)

God's Glitter and the woman at the well

At the weigh station in Evanston,WY they make you get out of your nice comfy truck and trudge to the office for Port of Entry.  It was 8 degrees, clear and glitter blowing around.  As I walked to the office area I could see little flickers of colorful light, of course it was little ice crystals blowing around, but all I could think about was God's glitter.

We are in Cheyenne,WY for the night.  No church today, so in a few minutes, we will go in and take a shower.  We discussed the woman at the well story a little bit.  I reminded Jesse that at his age, I may be looked upon as the big L; however, in the story, the towns folk came out to hear Jesus because she said she had found the one, not that she was the one.  So for Jesse and I, I may not look like I know the answers, but I know the direction to look.

Boise,ID

Christmas, New Years, Monday, all the same after awhile.  I was in bed far before midnight.  The weather on I-84 from Hermiston,OR to Boise was bad for driving.  OR requires vehicles this large to chain up sooner than WA.  I drive for a no chain company; therefore I sat for 6 hours.  Did I mention I have a guest on the truck?  Jesse is on the truck so he got to be bored and entertain himself at the same time.  Snow is just a reason to run outside and play. But on does need to put on pants before doing that!

The time Jesse is on the truck is like the ads for Las Vegas, "What happens (is said) in the truck stays in the truck." May God bless this effort.

This load was supposed to be picked up on the 29th; however, it was not given to me until the 30th.  I did not finish picking it up until the 31st and it is "due" in Chesire,CT on 1/4.  HA HA.