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Monday, June 28, 2010

Time Flies When You're Having Fun






It is now Day 15 of this wonderful journey, but it feels like it should be Day 255. I feel like I have been out here forever and ever and ever and ever and EVER.


It was fun for about two weeks but now I miss my home. My shower. My BATHROOM. My bed. My TV. My clothes. My pretty much everything.



I don't want to wish it away though because we are having a really good time and I love getting to spend time with Dave. I don't want him to go back over the road without me after we come back from the beach....



Speaking of the beach........ 16 more days and I'll be buried in the sand near the ocean thanking the good Lord for vacations to the beach. ahhhh sunshine. :)

I will now make a list of all the places we have been:

1. Virginia
2. Tennessee
3. North Carolina
4. South Carolina
5. Illinois
6. Iowa
7. Kansas
8. Missouri
9. Pennsylvania
10. Maryland
11. New York
12. New Jersey
13. Kentucky
14. Delaware
15. Indiana

and tomorrow we will be traveling to Georgia and Alabama.

A whole lot of states to cover in 15 days!!! shew! Just imagine, I have 16 more to go... who knows where I'll end up!


Remember those days when you were little, or maybe just the other day, and you moved your arm up and down wanting the truck drivers to blow the air horn? Where do we learn that from? I really can't remember. I just remember knowing to do it. We get that a lot out here... and many teenage girls who do it as well.... makes me a little jealous, but I'm OK with it.
We're on Season 5 of Friends. I brought all 10 seasons with us lol Such a great show!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

10 Days On the Road







Ok, I'm just gonna jump right into this. Doing #2 in a public restroom is never going to be something that I will be comfortable with doing. YES, everybody does it... NO, nobody is comfortable doing it or being in the bathroom while somebody is doing it..... ew. I had managed to keep myself under control until I was able to take a shower in a private bathroom. It just worked out that way.... THEN I just had to have Taco Bell. Seriously. It hit me during the day at a truck stop somewhere in Tenn. (I think) Luckily, there were no other women in the bathroom (as most of the time at these stops there aren't) and I walked in the stall to use the bathroom... when out of nowhere a little foreign man pops in and announces that he is coming to clean the women's bathroom. Oh Hooray!!!! He yelled "anybody in there!?" and I said "YEAH, ME!" Listen Pedro, stay out of here until I leave the building.

Now that that's out of the way.....

I GOT TO GO TO THE IOWA 80 TRUCK STOP TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Although, there were a few tornado warnings issued, it was still a good experience. It's huge! They have the regular truck stop items, a theater, a dentist, a barber, 4 food places, a truck museum, and who knows what else.

Now we are headed toward Kansas... I gotta say.. I'll be glad to head back east toward the mountains that keep us safe! :)

I'm here in the middle of Iowa at a Pilot truck stop. There is too much corn in this state and I would never live here. Tornadoes and corn is just not my thing. ;)

I keep thinking about these truck drivers and how sad it is to think about them doing this every day, all day. It's such a depressing job. Driving all day by yourself, talking to your family only by phone Gone two to four weeks at a time! If it wasn't for these truck drivers and all the freight they haul , we wouldn't have anything. It is important job and it is completely overlooked! So many jobs are though....

I crossed the Mississippi River today!!!!!!!!!!!


Friday, June 18, 2010

Gotta Keep Rollin'





It is now Day 6 of this road trip. I have been to Tenn., Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, West Virginia, and now Pennsylvania. When we drove through West Virginia I was a little disappointed. lol It turned out to be kind of interesting though... We drove to pick up a load at a hardwood place in Beverly, WV and when we got there, the whole factory was outside standing around. Apparently there was "fire situation".

The only thing I dislike about this whole experience is the showering. Its totally weird. It takes forever to get one and I would much rather take a shower in my own home. I did get a towel that worked the last few times though.. so that's a plus!

I still can't get passed the whole brushing my teeth in a public restroom either... I know its totally normal at a truck stop, but still...

We're waiting at the moment to deliver to some place in Penn... I'm hoping we get to go somewhere exciting next.. South Carolina was really nice... lots of things to look at. Penn. has been pretty darn dull so far...

I'm shooting for New York city... although Dave is not, he doesn't like to drive there... :)

It is such a whole other world out here in trucker land. I have been enjoying all the down time... I stay in the back and watch episodes of Glee and listen to Dave yell at "4-wheelers" as that is the truck lingo for cars and trucks, as they cut him off or drive slow... lol He gets some pretty bad road rage out here... understandable too because hes driving a massive vehicle and needs to be aware at all times. I'm thankful hes so particular about his driving, otherwise we would have crashed.. many.. many times because of little cars and trucks wanting to pass him. Traffic is scary!

Also, I got to talk on the CB! We were in MAJOR traffic because of road work yesterday and he was trying to find out what lane we needed to be in and nobody would talk to him... so he got the bright idea for me ( a girl ) to say "what lane do I need to be in?" and see if anybody would respond, so I did... and there was at least 4 men that told me to get in the right lane. BAHAHAHAHA Men..... poor fellas.

Also, never walk into a truck stop by yourself. I had to use the bathroom, and apparently these men don't see women who look like women at these things very often, because I have never received so many "hello's, hi's, nods, and even a few hola's" in my life. Very good for my self-esteem, but a little creepy....

So Dave is waiting on me to finish this so we can leave.. we only have Internet access for the next month at Pilot's truck stops and I want to use it as long as I can lol and hes getting anxious.

Here we go!


Monday, June 14, 2010

Takin' It Easy








First of all let me just say this:

1. Riding in a tractor trailer up and down the road is awesome. So much fun!
2. Sleeping in a twin size bed with no room to move at all, eh not so fun.
3. Snacking all day and listening to my ipod while the sun shines through the window, FUN!
4. Taking a shower in a truck stop. Not so fun.




As I write this first entry I am sitting in the truck at a Love's truck stop in Winchester, VA. Thinking back over the last couple of days, I feel very proud of myself. It's not easy being over the road and I don't know how Dave does it every day by himself. I must say he is trying his best to make this trip as fun and exciting for me as possible.


Last night was my first real truck stop experience where I had to actually sleep and wake up at a truck stop. Dave informed me when we woke up that I would need to bring my toothbrush and tooth paste into the truck stop with me in order to brush my teeth. I stuck them in my pocket and followed him inside. I was the only one in the women's bathroom and I was thankful for this because I found it weird to be brushing my teeth in what looks like an ordinary 5 stall, shopping mall bathroom. I started to brush my teeth and kept hearing the commode flush.... I thought there were more women in there with me, but nobody ever came out. There was phantom toilet that kept flushing every 5 seconds. Freaked me out so I brushed my teeth as quickly as possible before anybody could walk in and see me! hahahahaha

We drove today from Tennessee to Virginia. Riding in the truck is so much fun. I don't feel like we have been anywhere that I haven't seen yet so I'm waiting to take some really good pictures for when we travel to some place far, far away...

Let me explain the shower experience.... I don't know why but I was terrified to take a shower at this truck stop lol I stood there with Dave forever waiting on them to call my number. Which was 27, by the way, my birthday number :) anyway, they called it and I walked into this room where there was sink with a mirror above it, a toilet, and a shower behind a tiled wall. There was also a fan on the wall that was blowing cold air. I did NOT want to get naked in that bathroom but I did.... They only gave me one towel and it did not dry my skin or my hair. It was like a water proof towel. No joke.

So now I am ready for bed and another adventure tomorrow! Don't know where I will be after Virginia.. but I will be blogging about it in the near future!