Plans for the New Year

Happy New Year and looking forward to a wonderful 2011!

We had the best Christmas being able to spend so much time at home with no job worries. Being in Florida doesn't really put you in the Christmas spirit since it's so warm here and there's no snow, but I will never complain about that! If I really need snow, I can watch it on tv.

While we were at home, we found a classified ad for a truck that was for sale by owner. She was offering a contract sale. We talked to the owner several times and thought we were going to reach a deal but then she just stopped responding to us. I have no idea what happened. Maybe she found someone who was willing to pay cash or pay more money or maybe she just changed her mind and decided not to sale. We don't know.

We've been kicking around the idea of buying our own truck for a little while. We know we enjoy this job and want to continue doing this for as long as we can. Everyone we talk to says that if we're going to continue that the smartest thing to do would be to buy our own truck. This way we have complete freedom and that is exactly what we want. We will of course have the additional headaches that will come along with truck ownership but we believe we're prepared for that.

The truck that was for sale was a 2006 International. We are currently driving a 2006 Sterling. At first we thought we would like to buy a Sterling, but after seeing the cost of repairs for the Mercedes motor and finding out that the motors are considered "throw away" motors, we no longer want a Sterling. In addition, we are less than thrilled at dealing with Freightliner dealerships. They are not very accommodating to truck drivers and act like they could care less about you and your truck. For instance, when we were in New York waiting on the truck to be repaired after I hit the deer, we made a simple request to have them shuttle us to the motel which was less than a mile away. They refused and said they didn't offer shuttle service. We had to call a taxi.

Our boys drive an International and so far it seems like they are being treated well at the dealerships. Their transmission went out about a month after they bought it. The replacement transmission was covered under warranty which only had a month left. There was no shenanigans or trying to get out of the warranty. They were also given shuttle service. It's a small thing, but to a truck driver who is stranded miles away from home with no other transportation available to them, it's a big deal.

We are happy with the owner we drive for now but we will continue to keep an eye out for a deal on a truck of our own.

Another issue we are going to have to deal with is John's eyes. He has cataracts on both eyes. He's only in his 40's so it's pretty unusual to have them at that young of an age but we have a feeling that it is related to his former profession of working in the chicken industry since he was a teenager. The chicken houses are kept closed up in the winter time to keep them warm and that causes an ammonia buildup from the chicken manure. He was exposed to that ammonia every day for many many years. That's our theory on the cause of the cataracts but we know that there's no way to prove it.

Because we are self employed we aren't offered health insurance through an employer. We haven't purchased our own insurance up to this point because we are both very healthy and we decided to save the money and just pay for doctor visits as needed. It's worked up till this point, however, cataract surgery isn't going to be cheap so we will have to get into a doctor and see exactly what we are going to have to come up with.

On the money making side of things, we eventually left home and picked up a load in West Palm  Beach, Florida. That one was a shorty going to Jacksonville, Florida, but it was bundled with another load that picked up in Kings Bay, Ga that delivered in Norfolk, Va. That load completed our first week back on the road.

Introducing the Newest Member of our Family

I've been wanting a dog for quite some time. I just had to get John convinced that he wanted one too. He said he'd never have another one after our last one passed away. The emotional trauma is just too much. I figured after some time passed that he would change his mind, but it has taken six years to talk him into it.

Gracie and Cody

We first decided to get a Yorkie. They're small and seem pretty intelligent. We wanted to get one from a shelter or a rescue so that we would be doing a good deed at the same time as fulfilling our desires. I started looking into the rescues and it was unbelievable to me what the requirements were to adopt one of these dogs. They want to come to your home and do a home study. You have to fill out questionnaires and provide them with the name of your vet so they can call and ask how you took care of your last pet. Pretty shocking really what they expect people to go through to get a pet.

We were sitting up in South Carolina waiting on a load to take us home and I got onto the county shelter website for where we live. I couldn't believe some of the animals that they had there. It's sad to think what must have happened to the families of some of these pets that caused them to have to be brought there.

Who could ever resist this sweet little boy?

One of the first listings I saw was a beautiful all white male dog who was listed as a Maltipoo. Half Maltese, Half Poodle. He had only been there a couple of days. I immediately called and asked if he was still there and they said yes. I asked if they could hold him for me until the next day and they said no. First come first serve.

I told John I wanted to get home and go see this dog. I thought he was the one. John agreed and we went ahead and deadheaded home. The next morning we were at the shelter as soon as they opened. Cody, the dog we came to see, was still there. They put him and us in a playroom to see if we all liked each other and while we were in there, another woman showed up and was wanting to see him also. I told her no, he was ours. We definitely wanted him.

Poor little guy was underweight and needed groomed badly. We paid the fee of $100 which would cover neutering and shots. The only bad thing was that because of the holidays, we weren't going to be able to take him home for 9 days. They absolutely would not let us have him until he was neutered. We told them we would bring him back in and have it done when the vet was there, but they have their policies and would not allow it. It broke our hearts to have to leave him there for another 9 days!

We seriously discussed sneaking back there at night and breaking him out. The pens they are kept in allow the dogs to go back and forth from inside to outside. It wouldn't have been too hard to get him out. I was so worried about him because we were about to have some record breaking cold temps. Since we weren't really going to break the law, there was nothing we could do so I just put it out of my head and tried to focus on the holidays.

As soon as the day came to pick him up, we went back and got him. He was still groggy from the anesthesia. He looked so cute with his eyes out of focus and wobbling around. Poor little guy! We took him home and he got to meet the rest of the family. He was a hit and everyone loved him. He was introduced to our sons dog, Gracie. She's a black lab mixed with something else. She came from the same pound as Cody.

The two of them have become very good friends, we just have to supervise their playtime right now until he gets fully healed up. It will be nice to have Cody along with us on the road. He can be our ears while we're sleeping. I'm sure it won't take us too long to get him completely spoiled!

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!

John Travolta's Town

After being off the weekend, we started back up with a pickup in Atlanta, Georgia. Just like last week. How odd!

That one went to Ocala, Florida. Ocala is the home of John Travolta. One of my favorite actors. I remember well watching him in Welcome Back Kotter and then Grease, and Saturday Night Fever. I think every teenage girl and probably a lot of older women also fell in love with him watching him dance. He definitely has the moves. I missed him when he faded away and then it was so shocking when he made a comeback playing a bad guy in Pulp Fiction. It took a little while, but I got adjusted to seeing him play the bad guy and he seems to enjoy doing so. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see him while we were in Ocala. I wonder if stars like him ever go to the grocery store like regular people.

From Ocala we picked up in Bartow, Fl and had to leave the sunshine state and make a delivery in Holland, Michigan. From there we picked up in Calumet City, Illinois. This load has a lot of extra time on it so we will have take our time making our way over to Bluefield, West Virginia.

Looking forward to next week when we will start working our way home for Christmas!

A small circle

We got back into the swing of things after a nice long Thanksgiving at home. We picked up in Atlanta and took that load to Ft. Valley, Georgia. Next up was a load picking up in Atlanta, a little deja vu..

We took that one out of Georgia over to Fairfield, Alabama. For some reason, I do like Alabama. It's not as warm as Florida, but it's still a pretty state and the people there seem really friendly.

From there we next picked up in Sylacauga, Alabama. That's a mouthful! That one had to be taken to Auburn Hills, Michigan. Back up north. Brrr. Same day we picked up in Madison Heights, Michigan and headed to Rome, Georgia. 

We stayed busy this week but kind of traveled in a small circle. Doesn't matter. It all pays well no matter where it's going.

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!