Recovery Time

Taken about 4 hours after surgery

I had my surgery on Thursday. Luckily it went well and they only had to remove the left half of my thyroid. I stayed one night in the hospital and have been at home recovering since then. The surgeon did a great job and the cut is very small.


 The only problem I am having is with my left ear. I don't think it's related to the surgery. It's like it has water in it, but I dont think it does. I just can't hear out of it and it pops and cracks a lot. I finally broke down and made a Dr. appt. for this afternoon to have it looked at. I can't stand the feeling of having half my head feel like it's stuffed with cotton!

Other than that, Christmas was nice. Time at home has been nice. New Years Eve is tonight. Obviously, we have no plans for that. Just can't wait to get back to feeling 100% again. I am actually already starting to miss being out on the road. Although after hearing the weather reports, I am glad I'm home in Florida. Don't look forward to driving through all that snow.

Home for the 4th

How ironic that we have decided to stay out on the road and make money to build our savings account back up after the huge repair we had and now we keep getting loads taking us close to home.

After finally getting our truck back we got a load picking up in Kansas City, Missouri and delivering in St. Louis, Missouri. We weren't thrilled with the load because of the short miles   and the fact that it was going to be a hand load and unload. But, dispatch made us a good deal on it and we decided maybe a short load would be a good test run after the major repair.

The truck ran fine and we breathed a little sigh of relief. I kept catching myself looking in the mirror expecting to see smoke coming out of the tailpipe, but fortunately, it never happened.

Next up was a load picking up in Ft. Campbell, Ky delivering in Tobyhanna, Pa. This would be another good test for the truck because it would involve a lot of mountain driving. Again the truck performed well.

Our next load picked up in East Hanover, New Jersey. The shipper manufactures flavors. We were picking up flavoring that was destined for an orange juice plant in Bradenton, Florida. It smelled delicious at the shipper. All those flavors floating around in the air. While we  were sitting and waiting to be loaded, we watched a group of deer who were munching away on the sweet smelling grass. I never associated New Jersey and deer together. In my mind, New Jersey is all concrete and steel, but there are actually trees and grassy areas and quite a few deer.

Bradenton was not too far from our home and we really wanted to go home for awhile but we forced ourselves to stay in service and keep making money. We did drive home and get the mail and check on things while we waited on our next load.

We didn't have long to wait, (of course) and we next picked up in Orlando, Florida and headed back up the east coast to Nashua, NH. I like the drive up I95 until you get up into all the congestion around Richmond, Virginia. From that point on up it's too much traffic and then when you get up to New York, the roads are horrible. I think it's criminal that you have to pay so much money to cross the George Washington Bridge and then on the other side the roads are so bad that you would swear your truck is going to be destroyed by the time you get to Connecticut.

The truck held together, and our next pickup was Ashland, Ma. This one was taking us back south to Tarboro, Nc. From there we picked up in Rural Hall, Nc and delivered it to Jacksonville, Florida. This is Friday and Monday is the 4th of July so we decided it would be okay for us to go home for the long holiday weekend. We really need a break!

Home for Christmas

Just as it was with Thanksgiving, Christmas will be spent at home with family. Maybe a lot of people take that for granted, but we don't. For us, it is a special treat that we are very thankful for.

We made our delivery in Hudson, North Carolina. Next we picked up in Bluefield, West Virginia. That pickup was a complete nightmare and we wanted to just say forget it, but the load was taking us home so we kept at it and finally got it on the truck. The problem was the weather.

The drive to Bluefield was tricky. Snow covered roads, freezing temperatures and mountains did not make for a pleasant drive. We made it to our pickup location and found that the location we were picking up in sat on top of a hill. To get to it we had to drive up a twisting blacktop drive uphill. I made the attempt up but didn't make it very far before the truck started spinning out and slid back down.

Back down at the bottom of the hill which happened to be in a high school parking lot, we tried to figure out how we were going to get up there. Because we were several hours early, there was no one around to talk to. We decided to head over to a local grocery store and wait in their parking lot until morning and we were hoping that when we drove back over we would find that someone had been by to clear the roads and lay down some salt.

Of course, things didn't go that way. We drove back over only to find that there was even more snow on the driveway. We didn't make another attempt to get back up. I called dispatch and told them our situation. They advised us to wait while they contacted the customer. In the meantime, one of the employees showed up and saw our truck. She came over and we let her know that we couldn't make it up the hill. She told us to sit tight and when she got up there she would figure something out.

She took off up the hill and made it about 3 quarters of the way up before her car started spinning out. She kept trying but could not get the rest of the way up. She ended up backing her car back down the hill and parking it. She then climbed the hill on foot and made it up.

Next up was another worker in a mustang. We thought there was no way he would make it up, but he floored it and didn't let up and somehow he did it. He parked at the top and started to walk into the building. He hit a patch of ice and his feet flew out from under him and he landed flat on his back. I know that had to hurt!

We kept sitting there waiting for someone to decide what to do about getting us loaded. Eventually the first lady started heading down the hill towards us. She made it halfway down, lost her footing and rolled the rest of the way down. At first I was worried that she was injured but she sat up and started laughing. She got up, dusted herself off and came over to tell us that they had made a decision to bring the freight down the hill in a humvee and load us where we sat.

Long story short, a group of them got the job done and after a few hours, we were finally on our way. Heading south and away from the snow. We made the delivery uneventfully in Ft. Stewart, Ga and then continued on home to Florida for Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Back to work

We were off for Thanksgiving from November 23 to December 7th. Now that's my idea of a holiday! It was a wonderful vacation that allowed us to spend quality time with family. Very relaxing and very much appreciated!

However, all good things come to an end and we are now ready to get back to work. Again, with this job,we really don't mind going back to work and actually look forward to it.

We are on our way to pick up a load in Atlanta, Georgia. Hopefully it will be a busy and profitable month before the next big holiday.

Home for Thanksgiving

We did get Sunday off to rest up. After our delivery in Vance, Alabama we were next dispatched to pick up in Anniston, Alabama. From there we were sent to Ft. Stewart, Ga. As it is so close to Thanksgiving, we had a request in to get home for the holidays and our dispatchers did an awesome job making that happen.

From Ft. Stewart they had us pick up a load in Jacksonville, Florida that was delivering in Tampa, Florida. It was a short load, but got us within 90 miles of home. What more could you ask for?

We are so excited to get home for the holidays. This is the first time we've had a job that allows us to be off during holidays and be able to relax and enjoy ourselves. With this job, when we are off, we are off. No phone calls, faxes or worrying about what's going on at work. It's an amazing feeling to be able to do that.

A lot of people wonder how we can tolerate being away from home so much with this job. I guess it works for us because it allows us the freedom to be home when we want or need to be and the freedom to enjoy ourselves when we are here. Going away from home to do our job just makes it feel like a vacation when we come home for hometime.

Happy Thanksgiving!

1st 2 Dod loads

We sat the weekend of the July 4th holiday. Not unexpected with this job. We managed to find someone to come out and replace our windshield.

We also got a call from dispatch with our very first government load offer. We accepted it even though I was a nervous wreck. I just knew that I would screw something up. Fortunately, it all worked out and things went fine.

The load picked up in Graham, Ky and we took it to East Camden, Ar. I won't say a lot about the load for obvious reasons, but I will say it wasn't what I expected.

The next load was also a military load. This time picking up in Mcalestor, Ok and delivering in Richmond, Ky. There is a truckstop down the road from the base in Mcalestor. There is also a casino next door to the truckstop. We didn't go in but we might in the future if we get back there.

After having two military loads under our belt now, I feel much better about things. The stress level has gone down considerably.

Next up was a load picking up in Vonore, Tn and going to our favorite place. Brampton, Ontario. Yippee!

Easter in Oak Grove Missouri

Our Canada load saga continues. We left Montreal for a pick up in East Syracuse, NY but the delivery brought us right back to Woodbridge, Ontario. At least the weather is getting nicer.

We decided to hang out in Ontario and see if we could get lucky and get a load picking up in Canada. With our carrier, we get paid extra if we are loaded when we cross the border in either direction. This time it worked and we got a load picking up in Tillsonburg, On. Even better, this load was going to Kansas City, Missouri. An area in the United States that we haven't seen much of.

We made our delivery and then deadheaded to the Petro in Oak Grove, Missouri. It's a really nice truckstop and it has a Dairy Queen inside, so I was a happy camper!  We were ready for a few days rest. It's been a long time since we've been home and the stress of learning this new job is getting to us. I think we've done really well all things considered.

We delivered this load on Wednesday and it is now Sunday and here we sit. We ventured over to a Radio Shack a few miles down the road and bought a device that we can plug into our laptop that will allow it to act like a tv. We are able to pick up a few stations which is nice since we are sitting for an extended period of time.

This truck has a tv and a satellite dish. We activated the dish service, but have had no luck receiving signals. It's such a hassle trying to reposition the satellite each time you move to a new location that the hassle just isn't worth it to us. We'll try the laptop tv and see how that works out for us.

Today is Easter. We don't have any special plans. We'll probably head over to the nearby Walmart and restock the truck. The Petro is having a special buffet today. Looks pretty good! Our dispatchers tell us that freight is usually pretty slow during holidays. We'll see how long it takes to get us rolling again.