WAY SOUTH
We had a choice of 3 loads...Canada, North Dakota, and Texas. Duh, the winds were 30something below up north, course we took Texas. Got a loaded trailer that came in from Iowa on Friday and didn't have to be in Pharr, Tx till Sunday. Drove down to Anna,Tx for the night, just north of Dallas, the wind was brutal cold even there.

Drove all the way down on Saturday, was a really good day. Went to the customer Sunday morning....no one there..closed on Sunday : ( was lucky to find truck parking one mile away to wait for Monday morning. We were looking at the gate to go over into Mexico, the town of Reynosa not far. I'm a little leary of going over to do the tourist thing there. Ricky is sick so no real reason to test it this time. He has a cold and is fighting another kidney stone. He is running fever, not sure from the cold or an infection. Can't talk him into seeing a doctor yet.

They dead headed us to Laredo after our delivery. # 54 on the board when we got here, will give Ricky a chance to rest. He didn't sleep much last night. They are remodeling the terminal here... it is a mess. portapotties, portashowers, and no laundry. One good thing... 75 degrees today : ) hear there's another artic blast comin though. We'll probably get a load into it. Now Florida would be good... although my mama got snow in south Mississippi this week, it is so rare to snow there. I've just seen it about 3 or 4 times in my 52 years.

Well our soup is heated up, gonna grab a bite and try for some sleep tonight. Catch you up later.

Living our Dream...Belinda and Ricky

ENOUGH SNOW
Well, we went and got the load to Cheyenne, one we have done before, (I like familiar : ) Had just gotten over into Kansas and the check engine light came on... checked all the gauges and all is good. Called road service and checked the truck manual and decided all was o.k. till we could get to a Kenworth dealer... called several and even stopped at the one in Cheyenne.. would be at least 3 days before any could look at it. Got into snow as we went through Kansas to the west, all on the grass in places, like that in Colorado, and Wyoming too. Made our delivery and went to the truckstop to wait on a dispatch.

Was really cold up there, nice vacation spot, don't think I'd live there, unless I lived like a hermit in the winter. Got the dispatch to wait on a driver to do a relay..one to do over night.. to Salt Lake City, UT... Had been watchin the weather and knew a storm was comin... was not happy about a night run in snow and wind.. The run was tight.. but thank goodness the driver got there an hour early.. left at 1o:30 at night to deliver at 7:00 am.
Wasn't too bad till we hit the Utah line...that's were we met the snow and wind and the road signs warned of slick spots...black ice... Ricky did really good..drivin slow and steady... our load wasn't too heavy or too light...we went up the east side to the north and came down around the west side to the south of Salt Lake to get around the pass... they had the chain law in effect there.. and then shut it down completely. The snow was deep on the mountains and coming down hard and blowing across the roads in Utah. We sent in a delay message after we were easing into town because of the roads and then we hit stand still traffic comin into Salt Lake, Ricky just eased along and we were just 45 minutes late. The manager said he couldn't believe the over the road guy beat the line haulers in.. made Ricky smile : )

Dropped that trailer and went for breakfast at Sapp Brothers truckstop, just down the street, thank goodness. Got a nap and then a dispatch to pick up a load in Ogden, with another storm pumping up for the night up that way. Left to run up there and it was snowing hard.. had to weigh the empty trailer on the way there... gosh that Pilot up there was a mess. Snow and wind, parking lot not cleaned off and trucks out the A.. trying to find a parking spot and getting fuel. Finally got out and went to the customer...parking lot worse... one of the other drivers was stuck and had to call a wrecker to get out...got the loaded trailer..Ricky waded in thigh deep snow to check it out and hook it up..and then had to go back to the Pilot to reweigh it and come back to the customer and get the Bill of Laden so we could finally go... 4 hours to do a drop and hook...geeezzz.

Weather was getting scary... I-80 was closed but had just opened back up as we got there.. winds were 50mph with 70mph gusts... Ricky decided we needed to get past the Sisters(a hill that goes way down one side and way up the other side just after crossing into Wyoming) at least before we shut down, and we did : ) without me crying once : ) found one spot at the TA, that was not really a spot...some of Ricky's creative parking : ) parked for the night, wind was rockin us all night. The snow was blowing up drifts, a truck over to our side had to get a wrecker pull him out that next mornin.

We took off for Georgia...got warmer as we went east and south...poor paco's feet got froze one time Ricky took him out to potty...Ricky told him to find his perfect spot faster.. Isabelle did her business as soon as she hit the ground, no waitin on her. Oh well, I'll wind this up, delivered in Georgia, just north of Atlanta, Ricky had highlighted for Joplin so we could get the truck fixed, so we went to Tennessee just west of Nashville, got a load to Memphis, and then a load from there to Monett, Mo and then dead headed to Joplin. Got our truck fixed this morning,(bad sensor) and are waitin for a new dispatch now. Big board, little freight...hold up in the truck...cause it's freakin cold... a Miami run would be nice : ) will go for now. Ricky's gettin a nap case we have to run tonight...the dogs are gettin a nap too : )

Livin our Dream...Belinda and Ricky

HOME WAS SWEET
Sorry....I didn't pick this computer up while I was home. We finally got a dispatch to go to the CFI yard in Kansas City to pick up a relay to run on down to Joplin, so we got home on Holly's birthday, the 19th, I had left her present at Thanksgiving with Kelly, so she didn't feel left out... : ) Sure was good to see my house and my waterbed... : ) Was really busy the first few days putting up our tree and doing all our shopping for a big dinner and presents from Santa. Holly came on home on Sunday nite, was so glad she got there safe and sound... our Daniel called and said he wouldn't be coming : ( was so hoping for them all to be there this year... The grandkids sure grew while I was gone... my Miss Emily is a hoot, she was just a singing her version of all the Christmas songs : ) Cody got all his favorites from Santa so he was a happy camper. Watched him play his Mario games on the Wii, he is so smart, goes through those levels like a genius. Kelly and Brian went to Kansas City to see his family first and came on to our house on Christmas Day. Ricky and I cooked all day and had a big dinner ready for everybody, they got their bellies full and then had fun with their Christmas games.. that's the best... watching the kids have fun together... Ricky and I use to lie in bed on Christmas morning just listening to hear which of the kids got up first and scoped out what Santa brought and then go wake up the other 3...that was our best present.
Went to O'Reilly's and saw all my friends... went out on Saturday nite with Charlie and Anita to Buffalo Wild Wings and we had a ball playing Trivia and catching up. I miss my time at O'Reilly's with Charlie.
Had us a good long time off, was 17 days. Not bad for being gone for 3 months. Ricky and I didn't leave the house at all for a couple of days.. I didn't even get out of my pj's one day, : )
We blew out the water lines and shut up the house Friday, and loaded the van up for our trip out this time, came on to Joplin to pack the truck back up and went to the Safety Meeting this morning, we are now employed officially by Conway, says so on our paychecks. Ricky won a cool bag, thermos, watch and coat from Kenworth this morning in the drawings at the meeting. That was worth getting up for after just four hours of sleep... you see they didn't fix our windows like they were suppose too while we left the truck here, so we had to put it in the shop again and it was 1:30 this morning before we got it back and still had to put all our stuff up and make the bed : ( took us a nap after lunch though and then got a load to Cheyenne, WY to be there Tuesday morning. So we pick up Sunday afternoon and will be on our way.
I guess I've rambled long enough, got you all caught up I think... wish us a safe trip, and I'll try to post often.


Living our Dream....Belinda and Ricky