HOME AGAIN

Gee, just looked at my last post. Didn't realize it has been almost a week since I posted. The time has went by fast. So let's see, we didn't get to clean the truck.. came a gully washer Monday morning, so we held up in the truck, but did get out to get a shower. The truck had to wait. We didn't have to deliver till 6:00pm and the delivery was just an exit away. Got unloaded and went right back to the same exit, different truckstop. We got a dispatch to go on to Clinton, OK and do a drop and hook for the next morning. Back to Laredo, TX.. seems like home. Was an easy pickup and go, and off we went, stopped at a Cherokee Trading Post on our way down, took some pictures, had a great lunch, and shopped a little. Ricky bought me some cute earrings, and a pair of moccasins. He loves me :) We drove on to Denton, TX for our stop. Then on into Laredo. Got to the CFI yard and our delivery wasn't till the next morning. Ricky went on the board when we first got there, we were number 38. So Showers and laundry and off to bed. Got up Friday morning and off to a ghetto WalMart Distribution Center. The lot was full of holes and was in the middle of nowhere. Did a drop and hook, kinda... backed the trailer to the dock and left it to be unloaded, and we picked up an empty trailer in the yard, and while we were doing all this we got a call to come to dispatch for a load. We were 24 on the board when we left the yard, we thought we'd probably be waiting all day for a dispatch. We got a load to go to Illinois... just above Chicago... but doesn't deliver till Monday. We got our stuff together and hooked up and took off. We got to Joplin to fuel and got the truck and trailer tagged for a download of the computer, and repairs to the trailer we picked up... we had not planned to stay in Joplin for the night... thought we were gonna make it on to Springfield and sleep in our own bed.... best laid plans... So, we decided to do a reset there, visit with some friends, and I came home today by myself. Our son went out of town on business, and I thought I'd help with the grand kids since I was so close. Ricky is going on to Illinois by himself early in the morning. Our anniversary is next Saturday... so when he drops this load he is gonna hi-light for home... hoping to make it for the weekend and our 34th anniversary. We'll keep our fingers crossed.
We did get the truck cleaned out with this free time.. :) in Joplin. Poor Paco though... Ricky went to take him out for his morning potty... and when he jumped on the step up Ricky shut the truck door on the tip of his tail.... he let out a holler... I told Ricky I guess it would probably be like shutting it on one of our fingers. He's got it straight so I'm assuming its not broke. It bled just a little. Ricky hugged him up and told him he was sorry. Hopefully he won't hold it against him...
Gonna go for now... Ricky is suppose to call me later, catch you up soon.

Dreamin our Dream...Belinda and Ricky

COWBOY KNOWLEDGE

Had a nice time together today. We are at a truck stop on the northeast corner of OK City, staged for our delivery tomorrow. We decided on the Cowboy Museum for our treat today. Started to go to the zoo, but it's really hot today, and I'm concerned about Ricky. He's having some pain in his back. We can't decide if it's another kidney stone or his back muscle spasming. Since the museum was air conditioned and it is a common interest of ours... called a cab and off we went. It was a lot of fun. All aspects of cowboys.. movies, rodeos, military, and ranching. We were there for several hours but didn't get to read all the information in that length of time. It would take 2 days to take in all the knowledge they had for all the exhibits. It was just something we have shared in all the years we have been married, the western channel is on alot at our house when we are home.
Tomorrow..cleaning day for the truck before our delivery and then a nap so we will be ready to go again. Will catch you up later.

Dreamin together...Belinda and Ricky

WAITING TIME

Got to West Memphis last night. Was a really good day. Had a great breakfast at Kelly's Plaza in Greenwood, La., enjoyed the back roads going on to Little Rock. Ran into some pretty heavy rain there. Made it on over to Nick's for a late lunch, early supper. Was good as always. We gotta go on a fast now, too much food. : )
There are alot of drivers here, we dropped the trailer and Ricky got on the board, number 13 last night. We got our showers and then I did laundry. Wanted to get in bed in case we had to leave early...well, we were #11 when we got up this morning. Loads aren't moving too fast. It's 10:00am and we're still here. Don''t know what place we're in right now. I've got videos playing on t.v. Ricky's visiting with drivers, and there are more and more coming in the yard. Glad we got on the board last night.
Guess I'll go for now...catch you up later.....Belinda
We finally got a dispatch : ) Not a good one, but at least it was west and not northeast, where what few that had left, went. We came to Little Rock,AR to rescue a load from a driver that needed to go home. We can't deliver it though till 6:00pm Monday. Gee, no miles, no money. This sitting is getting kinda old. Gonna watch a little t.v. and get a nap. I've got one of my headaches tonight.
Catch ya'll later....

Dreamin our Dream......Belinda and Ricky

BYE BYE TEXAS

We are on our way out, finally. We got a dispatch about 10:00 Tuesday nite to pick up a load in Austin, TX at 1:00pm on Wednesday, and guess where it had to go.... Laredo, TX. for 6:00pm the same night. We had plenty of sleep, that's for sure. We took a different highway down from San Angelo and got some different scenery. Saw a lot of goats and pecan orchards and crete myrtles, pretty pink, red, and purple ones... didn't expect all the pecan trees. Thought of pecans being from more south like in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. I had picked a many of them up out from under the trees in my grandmothers yard as a kid, in Mississippi. Stopped at a picnic area and read a historical marker. There were a lot of them scattered all along the roads, but no time to read them all. The one we read was about the indians using the hills around there to send smoke signals, and how the pioneer women tried to stay safe from the indians by putting out their fires and being quiet. Well, we got caught up in rain, traffic, and an accident after we picked up the new trailer, between Austin and San Antonio. So we didn't get there till 8:30pm. The load didn't have to be delivered to the broker till 9:00 Thursday morning. Ricky had enough time to go ahead and get on the board, so we got assigned a new load, so we didn't have to stay and deliver there in Laredo. Got a relay load to West Memphis at the CFI yard, to be delivered Monday by someone. So after a really long day, I took off for the showers to take a long, hot, relaxing one. Ricky started to hand me a key to the truck, I laughed and told him I knew he'd be through before me and he'd be back to the truck before me. :) :) and I was right. :) :) There he was on the computer already.
The load doesn't have to be in Memphis till Saturday morning at 6:00. So we left this morning at 9:00 and are in a small town not far from the Louisianna line. Gonna go on in to Arkansas, with a stop a Nick's BarBQue, on the other side of Little Rock, for lunch, and on into West Memphis. We are running low on hours, so we will be at the CFI yard for the night for sure tomorrow. I think it will be laundry time again. Since I won't have to be rushed, maybe another loooong shower : )
I'm off to bed, catch you up later.

Dreamin our Dream... Belinda and Ricky

IT'S HOTTTT IN TEXAS

Mannnn, It's hot here!!! We were in and out of Laredo in record time. Didn't get a good load :( would you believe... back to Temple! For a Monday delivery at 2:00pm. Went back to Trucker's Heaven, the truck stop we had just left, was just a mile from the delivery..plastic cups. Got up Monday morning, went in a little early, got out at 2:00 instead of in, went to wait on a new dispatch. Got a load to be picked up in Houston at 10:00pm...beer.. to go to San Angelo, Tx., just 400 miles away. Was hoping for a day trip and got a night one, puts us in a night driving cycle and I hate that. Ricky hates it too cause I'm so spastic in the dark. My surgery left me with bad side effects for being a passenger at night. I try to be good. So we get to San Angelo at 7:30am and Ricky didn't kill me on the way, delivered the beer and headed for a small truck stop just around the corner, and went straight to bed. We had the air conditioner turned way up, the thermometer said 103 degrees. Slept for a couple of hours, woke up for a short time, laid down to try for some more sleep, cause Ricky was going back on the board at 6:00pm. Well, we're awake again, and still no dispatch, and it's almost 8:00pm. Just as we lay down again... if we can make ourselves go to sleep again.. the durn computer will go off. Maybe we can pretend to be asleep now and fool it into going ahead with with a dispatch...Hmmmmm.. :)
Forgot to tell you.... We went to bed Sunday night with Ricky being a CFI driver, woke up to him being a Conway driver. CFI sold the company to Conway and had the computer going off Monday morning telling us to check the web site for some exciting news.. The deal won't be final till September, and they are telling us it will be great for the drivers..Keep your fingers crossed.. hopefully better insurance and shorter wait time for loads, and longer loads.
Welllll, guess I'll sit and listen to the CFI CEO with Ricky on the XM radio show with Bill Mack about all this buy out stuff., hoping for a load soon.... catch you up later.....

Dreamin our dream...Belinda and Ricky

BACK TO WORK

Time goes by quicker at home, than it does when you are trying to get there. Got the relay done, and got to Joplin Wednesday night. Ricky got some things done Thursday morning in the CFI yard and finally got home that night. Slipped in and went to bed. Felt good to not have a schedule for a few days. Called Jay and Jenn Friday ,and took them out to eat with Cody and Emily, to Fazoli's, I like their spaghetti and breadsticks. Emily is talking up a storm now. She is so funny; she copies everything Cody does. Saturday, took Kelly, Brian, Holly, and the dogs(Kelly's lab, Hannah, and our Paco) to Hawg Wild Bar-B-Que in Aurora for some good eating and then to Flat Creek to play in the water and let the dogs swim. It was a lot of fun. Was gonna take the canoes out but with all the rain they have been getting, we were afraid the rivers would be to dangerous for now. The beaches at some of the lakes were closed, there has been some flooding in alot of the areas. Sunday, Ricky and I got up and made a quick trip to Panera's for bagels and Dillon's for juices and cream cheese. Kelly and Brian were leaving to go back to Ohio. So we had Jay, Jenn, Cody, Emily,Kelly, and Brian for a small breakfast. Started that day off good. Cody stayed with me for a while..playing games on the t.v. and coloring. He doesn't like me being gone so much. Time flew from then. Visited some more with Holly on Monday, went Square Dancing on Tuesday nite and left from there to get our stuff and drive on over to Joplin and get set back up to leave. Got in the bed finally at 3:00am. Ricky went ahead and got on the board when we first got there so we had a load by 10:00am...going to Wisconsin, just out from Milwaukee. A light load of plastic cups.. :) Had to be there Thursday at 6:00pm. We got there at 5:00..an hour early. So Ricky backed to the dock and laid down for a nap...we were to pick up a new load 30 miles up the road at Allenton at 10:00pm. An hour later he woke and they hadn't started unloading us. They thought we had dropped the trailer and left..duh..no..it's a live unload. So long story short.. was 9:30 when they were through. Ricky gets us on up to Allenton..few minutes past 10:00pm, and they aren't ready with the full order.. so our hours run out and we sleep in their lot till morning. Now we are on our way to Laredo, TX. Drove all the way to Springfield just in time for Ricky's hours to be up. Jenn and the kids picked us up from the truck and took us to our house for a shower and to sleep in our own bed for the night. Jay got up early this morning to give us a ride back... We have some really great kids!!! Stopped in Joplin to fuel., have to go through the inspection bay as you go in ...shock needs tightened and tires need rotated on trailer..so that means we use up a couple of hours there.. we have made it to Temple,TX for the night and will knock this trip out in the morning. Hoping for a good run out with some good miles. When you take off a few days, makes the check short if you get short runs instead of a long trip. The run from Wisconsin to Tx helped, a long run out will help. O.K. now , I've tried to catch you up..sorry not too much excitement so far this week.. gonna get a nap for now, catch you all later..

Dreamin of retirement.. :) Belinda

HURRY UP AND WAIT

O.K. so we go to get unloaded in Terre Haute, our appointment was for 5:00pm, we get there at 4:30 and they let us on in :) we get to the dock and it takes 2 hours to unload half a trailer load. Man, I'm glad it wasn't full. Then we get dispatched to go to the Pilot in Indianapolis for a relay to Joplin. They tell us the relay is set for 9:30pm and we get almost to Indianapolis and get a message the relay is now for 2:00 tomorrow. Apparently the other truck had some problems and got delayed. Eventually we will get in Joplin, looks like in the wee hours of the morning Thursday. So home maybe by Thursday night. I'm afraid to make plans after the last few days. Ricky said he feels like he's been snake bit and bound to die. We need a reset of luck :) He's got a broken headlight, so we went in the Pilot to buy a new one. Thought I'd watch a little t.v. but the reception is too lousy. So we're listening to some wild entertainment on the c.b. You wouldn't believe it.

Dreamin beside each other at 65 mph.....Belinda

BEST LAID PLANS...

You know when you think you have a plan all ready to execute....you can count on something going wrong! So we walked down to a little restaurant for a quick burger, got back to the truck, and had a great surprise..our son, Jay, Jenn and the grandkids, Cody and Emily, had been in Tenn. and were on their way home, going by where we were sitting , by about 10 miles. So they made a side trip and came for a short visit (since they still had about a four hour drive to make, it had to be short), got some good hugs and kisses and Cody got his picture taken up in his pawpaw's truck seat. After they left, we got a short nap, and took off to Pocahontas, IL, just 50 miles away. Got there, dropped our trailer...hooked up the relay..did the pretrip..which includes pulling up to check the brakes..and two wheels were locked up on the trailer..and it's 3:00am..Ricky does all he knows to do, which is alot, see he's very smart :) and they are still locked..has to call in and then get road service..they get there about 4:30..he gets a biggg hammer and beats on one and finally gets it loose. The other has a broken brake disc that has the wheel locked, they get pieces out and loose enough to get us to the shop. This is about 5:30, and the shop and parts store doesn't open till 8:00am..so the mechanic goes home, we go back to bed. Got a little longer nap. The guy comes back at 8:00 and we finally get out at 10:30. Our relay time was for 8:00 that morning..we were late...the office was to take care of all that..dispatched us for a new time of 2:30et, 1:30ct, our time, got there at 1:00ct, they wouldn't unload us..no appointment. So Ricky calls the dispatch, and they are working on it. We sat for 3 hours on the side of the road waiting to hear something. Ricky calls the contact number for the company and they say the girl that does the setups, went home at 2:00et, which is 1:00ct, which is when we got there..and that meant, no delivery till maybe tomorrow. So after 3 hours with no amenities, Ricky calls dispatch, tells them we are going up the road to find a Pilot, and wait for an appointment. Got here just in time..spots are almost gone. got a bite to eat, took showers and played on the computers and went to bed. So the pick up for the preplan to take on to Joplin went out the window...and here we sit at the Pilot waiting and hoping we will not be sitting here till after the 4th. Guess I'll get out my blanket I'm crocheting and put a movie in the dvd and relax...I'd rather we were on our way home.. :( Fill you in later.....

This isn't the way our dream played out a couple of nights ago...Belinda

TIME FLIES WHEN YOUR ON THE ROAD

Geeezz, looked at my last post, didn't realize it was from Tuesday and it,s Sunday already : ) So let's see..left the crazy truckstop and drove on into Laredo, got there about 9:30 Wednesday night. Ricky dropped the trailer, went to check in, and got a new load to take to Fairburn, GA. A trailer load of bowl cleaner and paste wax, of all things, and Fairburn is just outside of Ricky's favorite town....Atlanta...aagainnn, so off to get a quick shower and a nap. Drove through some heavy rain on our way out of Texas, the roads were flooding in several places. They shut down 59 hwy behind us after we drove through a flooded part. We drove to Frog City truckstop out from Lafayette, got a bite to eat, did laundry and went to bed. Drove on into Fairburn and got there two hours early. They said they would unload us when they could, but not before Ricky's hours would be up. So we dropped the trailer at the dock and parked in the lot for the night. Got up saturday morning..and guess what..still not unloaded..arghhhhh..had to wait alittle longer. So unloaded and now off to Macon, Ga to pick up a loaded trailer to take to Centralia, IL. Got this heavy..78,000 lb load of paper on rolls to bring up the mountains.
Monteagle was fun. Crawled up and jaked it down. Paco hates the jake brake. At least ours has a good muffler on it. The high pitch does a job on Paco's ears. Just after we got into IL , we had a good scare, all of a sudden , there was a air hose noise, Ricky got stopped on the shoulder of the hwy, thinking we were gonna lose our brakes, a hose came shooting out from under his chair, spraying air and waving like a snake. His seats have an adjustment where you raise them up or down with air lines, and his came loose. It had great timing. Like to have given us both a heart attack. When we recovered and got back in the busy traffic, we got on into our delivery 3 hours early and got unloaded but since we are running on a ragged book...we are out of hours again. Sitting in there lot taking a 10 hour break. Have to go to Pocahontas, IL in the wee hours..leaving here at 1:00am.to pick up a loaded trailer in the CFI dropyard to take and deliver in Terre Haute, IN. about 8:00 in the morning and then pick up a load somewhere there to take to Joplin, after another 10 hour break. Some times these hour of service rules are as dumb as a box of rocks. I think we will finally pick up enough hours after midnight Monday to get us on into Joplin, but we will have to drive after midnight and get into the yard about noon Tuesday, but then we will be off for 5 days. We have been out for about 5 weeks. So off to bed for a nap for a busy day tomorrow. I'll be glad to be home.

Off to do some short dreamin tonight...Belinda