Part II

My kids are occupied by writing on the window/eating the window crayons that Rosie bought with some of her birthday money. She also bought 11 dishes, 10 spoons and forks, a sippy cup with a straw, some socks, and a crab to squirt water in her tub in her house with. So I shall wisely use my time to yammer on some more about my adventurous trucking saga.

After we got unloaded in Rogue River on Saturday morning we went back down to Central Point and sat at the Pilot for the weekend. We were kinda bored so we went into the truckstop and I gazed at the books they had. I found Angels On Call which I found out is the sequel to Angels In The ER. Then I promptly started reading. I only stopped reading long enough to pay for it and climb in to the truck. I read for 2 1/2 hours. And when Reece was shocked that I was done with the book I informed him that it was only 261 pages long!!! And since then I've read about half the book out loud to him! It's AWESOME! Ya can't put it down!!! When I was done, we went for a walk and found a tar walking path right behind the truck stop. Apparently it goes all the way from there down to the middle of Medford and they're talking about paving it all the way to Ashland! Sunday we listened to patch from New Ipswich and I was annoyed once more how people don't mute their phones. Seriously? I don't care to hear you talking to/yelling at your kids when I'm trying to hear a sermon!

Monday morning we loaded in White City with a load of Fiber Cement Siding going to Cascade Lumber on Camano Island, WA. I being the good navigator-wifey-person-thingy, called in to get directions. The dude's name was Evan and he's hilarious. I asked for directions and he says, "OH! That's easy! We haven't lost anybody yet!" and then proceeded to give the directions. So I started writing and then he stops and says, "Why'd ya laugh?" I said, "WELL. That was kinda FUNNY?" So he cackled with glee and kept giving directions until he got to the part where they always screw up. He said, "Ya can't miss us!" I said, "DON"T SAY THAT!! Every time someone says that it never fails you're GONNA get lost!" He assured me that if we miss his 900 feet of lumber yard we had more problems than he could help. Well, I kinda forgot to ask what time they unload till, so I had to call back and then in the process of that call, I forgot to ask when they open in the morning. -HEY! I never said I had all my ducks in a row!!- Anyway, I called back and talked to Evan again. I informed him it was his favorite truck drivers again. He screeched with joy, accused us of being lost and then told me where we could park if we got there before they were open. Then he added, "When you get in here at 6 o'clock in the morning, they will have some BEAUTIFUL coffee in here." I said "REALLY?! You mean you guys take pictures of it instead of drinkin' it?!" He goes, "You taste this stuff, you're gonna WANT to!" So at 6AM the next morning I waltzed into the office with my big ol' camera and said, "OK, where's Evan and where's that beautiful coffee?" There were about 7 guys standing there and they all looked at me like I had 3 heads until I explained, and then one ran off and grabbed a 5-10 lb. bag of beans and brought it over to me. In the process, we both filled our cups with beautiful coffee and they gave us each one of their waterproof hats, because it's not very often that they get truckers in there from Minnesota.

My hat came in handy when it started raining while we were loading the Bobcat tracks down at the port of Tacoma. Everything else on me looked like a drowned rat but the top of my head was still dry! Reece swears up and down that he'd rather unload and load in the freezing cold instead of the rain, but when we were in Bismarck trying to roll up those frozen solid straps, I questioned his judgement even more. I had to go warm my hands up twice to get all the bloody things rolled up in a semblance of a roll. They looked worse than if a 2 year old would have tried rolling them. I guess just 'cause my hands move doesn't mean a frozen strap is gonna do the same thing no matter how hard you pull on it. It didn't help that the strap winder needed to be welded for the 4,000,000th time. Why were the straps frozen solid you ask?

We left Washington in the rain, which turned to slush in Idaho. Which made the chain up signs blink happily on the side of the road. Which in turn cause Reece to say "Shit!" in a very nervous manner. You see, the man has been trucking for 7 years and has carried his chains all those years and has never used them once. His theory is that if it's bad enough to chain up, then it's bad enough for him to pull over. So we continued on our merry way but the next two flashing signs weren't flashing and everybody we met had no chains on so he said screw it and we crept up over Lookout Pass. And back down the other side. But really? I have no idea why they had that sign up, 'cause there was more sand and gravel on the road than there was tar and we never slipped once. But then again, we had a bunch of people prayin' us over, so that's probly the deal.

We hit snow after Lookout and didn't get past it until Missoula. then we hit the wind in front of that storm when we came through Livingston. They were sending us through town, which means the wind was blowing over 50 MPH out on the highway. It's kinda like a wind tunnel right through there 'cause it's right in a cleft between two sets of hills and cliffs. We ran out of time at a rest area right outside of Billings that night that everyone had assured Reece WAS open. Because he has a computer log that had just screamed at him that he only had 15 minutes of drive time left, we just backed up on to their on ramp and slept there. And while we were sleeping the snow caught up to us.

The next morning we took off and drove through half blinding snow all the way up to Miles City. Then the road cleared off and we got all happy. We were planning to get to Fergus that night so we could be home for Rosie's birthday the next day. But after Glendive we started getting blowing snow half blinding us. And it kept getting worse and worse until we could only see about 2 white lines in front of us. And you KNEW there were crazy idiots flaming along behind you and there was no place for you to pull off safely. Well, actually, there WERE places to pull off safely. And Reece was pulling into every one of them because his brand new windshield wiper wasn't doing it's job. Finally we kinda saw the exit sign for Beach, ND through the raging snow and I requested that he please pull off and go find out what the road ahead was like. I kinda think he was already planning to, but his decision was cemented when the road under us whited out completely so all we could see was white as far as our eyes could see, which was only as far as you could spit into the wind. When we made it into the truckstop looking like abominable snow individuals, the drivers from the east said this crap went all the way past Medora. SO. We labored out through the driving blizzard and parked. Sorta sideways, but ya couldn't tell that part until a few hours later! LOL! I can't remember why we went back in the truckstop, but we did and I went to see what the movie theater looked like 'cause I'd seen a ton of people in there. And there WERE a ton of people in there. Every seat was taken and people were even sitting on some of the boxes out in the hallway! I looked up at the TV and cracked up. I said, "Boy! This is great!! Standing room only in the TV Lounge for the Weather Channel!!"

Four hours later, after Reece had taken a nap, he asked what it looked like out there. I said, "HEY! I can see John Deere out there across the interstate!" Well, that inspired him and he leaped into the driver's seat and we went in to check out what the roads were like now! Whaddaya know? We could see miles down the road like normal, so we said "Praise the Lord and keep on truckin'!!" We made it to Bismarck, where we had to wait until 10am to unload. I was so sick of being gone by then I didn't care about anything but just getting home! But our obstacle course wasn't over yet. The truck and trailer were both due for their annual DOT inspections...

We got to Fergus and they started a quick once over on the trailer. That was cut short when they found 4 bad tires and all bad brakes and at least 2 lights out. There was something else too but I stopped reading the list when I got that far. So they unhooked the trailer and decided to do the truck, hoping that IT would be kinder to the inspection AND the pocketbook. Hmpf. It needed new brakes on the front drive axle and brakes on the steers. Oh and there was a crack on the exhaust pipe, but with a new clamp and a piece of Alunimum foil they're hoping it's sealed off. ROFL! It's drives needed new drums also, but Jerry had a couple sitting there and he gave them to Reece. Now let me tell you about Pollock. His last name is actually Pikala or something, but everybody on earth calls him Pollock, 'cause that's what he is. Anyways, he got a gallon of oil from Jerry, and Jerry goes, "See? I give Reece 2 brake drums and charge you for a gallon of oil!" Pollock says, "YEAH!! What's up with that?!" Jerry says, "Well, ya see, Reece needs help." Pollock: "I've been tellin' ya that for YEARS!!" *Everyone laughs* Reece says, "HEY! He needs help too!!" Jerry; "Yeah... but ya see... his is the MENTAL kind!"

So after all the camaraderie and joshing and roaring and laughing and my cheeks cramping from laughing so hard at these nuts that we work with, Reece's truck got it's DOT and we went flaming off to buy Rosie her pizza with olives and FINALLY headed home. There was just one more delay tho'. The moon. It was so huge and pretty and round and hanging there that I made Reece pull off on the side of the road so I could get a picture. But of course, I didn't have my tripod and so the small vibration from the truck running made the moon a wee bit oblong instead of round. SIGH...

When I walked in the door Rachel stared at me like she had seen a ghost until I said, "Hi baby!!" That was like a shot in the butt apparently and she took off roaring at the top of her lungs running up and down the hall. Rosie started screaming as soon as she saw me, jumping up and down yelling, "MOMMY'S HOME! MOMMY'S HOME!" It's kinda funny... Rosie is more a Mama's girl and Rachel is a Daddy's girl through and through. When Reece walked in the door Rachel ran to him screaming at the top of her lungs.

Then we all sat down, ate pizza and lived happily after ever.