Well guys, after having a long careful think about what to do - I've decided to move to another blogging site.
I'll keep this blog up, however I wont be updating it.
For new posts and the continuation of my blogging, please check out http://katdakiwi.wordpress.com/
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End Transmission.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Winter solstice
Indeed, today is winter solstice here in the southern hemisphere - the shortest day of the year!
I've been having a bit of a clean out today, reorganising things and tidying up. Unfortunately I had to stop kind of early because dad has work at 2am and he needs a good night's sleep. At least I can still do things like clean out old email accounts/shut down ones i don't use anymore, and clean out spam from the email accounts I do use.
Had a pretty quiet weekend so far, did the usual things today - shopping, housework, visited my uncle J, watched some tv.
Patrick and I started watching "Dexter" last week - absolutely loved it, its such a messed up tv show. Now we're watching "Supernatural" (can we say YAY for friends with huge dvd collections!).
I'm very seriously thinking about moving my blog somewhere else. For some reason this site always lags my computer, with the wee writing box and all. Its getting frustrating. It gets to the point some days when I can't listen to a cd AND update this blog at the same time, which is why you haven't heard much from me lately - i just get frustrated and shut it off. But don't worry - I'll let you know if i decide to move it elsewhere, and if so where that place might be.
Still no word on the bookstore job, I'll give her a call on monday and see what's happening - hopefully they haven't done interviews yet. Failing that i've got a few more jobs to write cover letters for, and email off :) wish me luck!
I've been having a bit of a clean out today, reorganising things and tidying up. Unfortunately I had to stop kind of early because dad has work at 2am and he needs a good night's sleep. At least I can still do things like clean out old email accounts/shut down ones i don't use anymore, and clean out spam from the email accounts I do use.
Had a pretty quiet weekend so far, did the usual things today - shopping, housework, visited my uncle J, watched some tv.
Patrick and I started watching "Dexter" last week - absolutely loved it, its such a messed up tv show. Now we're watching "Supernatural" (can we say YAY for friends with huge dvd collections!).
I'm very seriously thinking about moving my blog somewhere else. For some reason this site always lags my computer, with the wee writing box and all. Its getting frustrating. It gets to the point some days when I can't listen to a cd AND update this blog at the same time, which is why you haven't heard much from me lately - i just get frustrated and shut it off. But don't worry - I'll let you know if i decide to move it elsewhere, and if so where that place might be.
Still no word on the bookstore job, I'll give her a call on monday and see what's happening - hopefully they haven't done interviews yet. Failing that i've got a few more jobs to write cover letters for, and email off :) wish me luck!
Friday, June 13, 2008
Yay its friday!
I ended up calling the bookstore yesterday, and the news was pretty good..kinda. Turns out I didn't get that job, but she wants me to interview for a more senior role. She remember me so that's a good sign, and when I called she said she was intending on calling me this coming week to set me up an interview time. So fingers crossed.
Other than that, not much going on here. Just usual day to day stuff. Just waiting for dad to finish work, then we're heading out to get the groceries. Thats about all for the excitement phase of today. Tomorrow my aunt arrives from new zealand to see her daughter/the rest of the family, so it will be cool to catch up with her while she's over here.
I heard things aren't good in wisconsin people! that its under a state of emergancy? I know that there was flooding in the north/western part of the state but thats all I know. Hope you guys are doing okay. Missing you all heaps!!!!
Other than that, not much going on here. Just usual day to day stuff. Just waiting for dad to finish work, then we're heading out to get the groceries. Thats about all for the excitement phase of today. Tomorrow my aunt arrives from new zealand to see her daughter/the rest of the family, so it will be cool to catch up with her while she's over here.
I heard things aren't good in wisconsin people! that its under a state of emergancy? I know that there was flooding in the north/western part of the state but thats all I know. Hope you guys are doing okay. Missing you all heaps!!!!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
From the land down under...
Another update!
For the most part things are situation normal. Still job hunting, still doing housework, reading, and ocassionally playing world of warcraft.
No news yet on the bookstore job, still keeping my fingers crossed. Apparently over here when people say oh we'll call you on x day or we'll meet you on x day..they don't really mean that at all! silly people! Its okay though, i'll give it a few more days then i'll put that firmly in the "unsuccessful catagory". Meanwhile i'm still looking for other possibilities. I'm thinking I might have to go back to telemarketing, if only i could find one that wasn't in the CBD and had earlier hours. Its a pain living out in the "suburbs" because it takes so long to travel, but to be honest it takes longer to go by car than by bus if you're going in the city - buses get right of way ALL the time and heaven help you if you're not letting that bus go first...it'll run you over!
So today i'm just relaxing, doing a bit of writing and listening to music. Waiting for the 2nd load of washing to be done so I can hang it out and then i'll be done for the day..YAY! I'm planning on curling up on the couch with a book, or maybe decorating my bedroom - i'm thinking about hanging some of my photography on the walls. Though I need to talk with dad about that, and about what I could use to stick things to the wall.
Last night was quite cute - Jasper was a really good boy during dinner, he didn't beg or anything. So pat gave jasper a smacko's (i swear i just saw his head pop up when i typed that lol..the dog is amazing!). When pat gives him smacko's he makes him do tricks for them, sit/lay down/roll over that kind of thing. Last night he decided to try a new command - stay. He actually obeyed!!! which is shocking, considering it apparently took him 3 years to learn to sit (his old owner told us she had such trouble getting him to listen to her). So we were utterly amazed. He got lots of hugs and "good boy" compliments.
A few days ago dad got a soft toy shaped like an alligator (a joke), anyway we've been playing with him with it - he doesn't like it at all, it scares him. Anyway last night he was curled up on the couch next to me, and i slipped it between his paws while sleeping. Amazingly he stayed there like that, then pat tried to grab it... he started growling and snarling at him! like he does when pat's tickling my feet and jasper doesn't like it (he's my little prince in puppy armor). I nearly fell off the couch I was laughing so much. Jasper even went so far as to give the toy a bath, so cute! I got a couple of pics I just need to put them on the computer.
Well folks, I should go - the washing machine just beeped at me to signal the washing is done so i'd better get to it.
i'll leave you with a few photos of our gorgeous dog, Jasper....
For the most part things are situation normal. Still job hunting, still doing housework, reading, and ocassionally playing world of warcraft.
No news yet on the bookstore job, still keeping my fingers crossed. Apparently over here when people say oh we'll call you on x day or we'll meet you on x day..they don't really mean that at all! silly people! Its okay though, i'll give it a few more days then i'll put that firmly in the "unsuccessful catagory". Meanwhile i'm still looking for other possibilities. I'm thinking I might have to go back to telemarketing, if only i could find one that wasn't in the CBD and had earlier hours. Its a pain living out in the "suburbs" because it takes so long to travel, but to be honest it takes longer to go by car than by bus if you're going in the city - buses get right of way ALL the time and heaven help you if you're not letting that bus go first...it'll run you over!
So today i'm just relaxing, doing a bit of writing and listening to music. Waiting for the 2nd load of washing to be done so I can hang it out and then i'll be done for the day..YAY! I'm planning on curling up on the couch with a book, or maybe decorating my bedroom - i'm thinking about hanging some of my photography on the walls. Though I need to talk with dad about that, and about what I could use to stick things to the wall.
Last night was quite cute - Jasper was a really good boy during dinner, he didn't beg or anything. So pat gave jasper a smacko's (i swear i just saw his head pop up when i typed that lol..the dog is amazing!). When pat gives him smacko's he makes him do tricks for them, sit/lay down/roll over that kind of thing. Last night he decided to try a new command - stay. He actually obeyed!!! which is shocking, considering it apparently took him 3 years to learn to sit (his old owner told us she had such trouble getting him to listen to her). So we were utterly amazed. He got lots of hugs and "good boy" compliments.
A few days ago dad got a soft toy shaped like an alligator (a joke), anyway we've been playing with him with it - he doesn't like it at all, it scares him. Anyway last night he was curled up on the couch next to me, and i slipped it between his paws while sleeping. Amazingly he stayed there like that, then pat tried to grab it... he started growling and snarling at him! like he does when pat's tickling my feet and jasper doesn't like it (he's my little prince in puppy armor). I nearly fell off the couch I was laughing so much. Jasper even went so far as to give the toy a bath, so cute! I got a couple of pics I just need to put them on the computer.
Well folks, I should go - the washing machine just beeped at me to signal the washing is done so i'd better get to it.
i'll leave you with a few photos of our gorgeous dog, Jasper....
Friday, June 6, 2008
the waiting game
I'm currently playing the waiting game... why? because on wednesday I had an interview for a job at a bookstore, and today is decision day! fingers crossed. She said if I don't hear from here by tonight then I wasn't successful but that I should keep applying because my library experience is what got me into one of the 10 spots for an interview!!! so thats really positive.
Not much going on besides that. Dad and Pat are going up to my aunt and uncle's farm for the weekend, and i'm staying home (because they're leaving about lunchtime and If i get the call for this job i might have to start as soon as saturday or sunday). Then of course there's the fact I might be puppysitting for my other uncle (depending on how our dog gets on with his dog). I don't mind though, because they'll be back saturday night and it will be nice to have the house to myself for a change.
It dawns on me that some of you might not know we have a dog now! his name is Jasper, he's an older dog but such a sweetie. He's a spoodle - a cocker spaniel mixed with poodle. I don't have any decent photos of him yet, but he's a caramel/browny colour.
Thats about it really, things are situation normal (for the most part).
Rachel, thanks for your comment to my last blog, I can't believe how expensive gas is getting! its crazy. I was talking to marj and alan the other day and they were telling me about it as well. Over here at the moment its about AU$6.00 a gallon (which works out to about $1.60 a litre which is what it is in some more remote/expensive areas). In nz they hit $2.10 a litre! Its madness.
Anyway I should get going, I need to have lunch before the hyper puppy turns up to see if he'll be okay here for a day or so with our dog.
hope you're all well and happy!
xoxox
Not much going on besides that. Dad and Pat are going up to my aunt and uncle's farm for the weekend, and i'm staying home (because they're leaving about lunchtime and If i get the call for this job i might have to start as soon as saturday or sunday). Then of course there's the fact I might be puppysitting for my other uncle (depending on how our dog gets on with his dog). I don't mind though, because they'll be back saturday night and it will be nice to have the house to myself for a change.
It dawns on me that some of you might not know we have a dog now! his name is Jasper, he's an older dog but such a sweetie. He's a spoodle - a cocker spaniel mixed with poodle. I don't have any decent photos of him yet, but he's a caramel/browny colour.
Thats about it really, things are situation normal (for the most part).
Rachel, thanks for your comment to my last blog, I can't believe how expensive gas is getting! its crazy. I was talking to marj and alan the other day and they were telling me about it as well. Over here at the moment its about AU$6.00 a gallon (which works out to about $1.60 a litre which is what it is in some more remote/expensive areas). In nz they hit $2.10 a litre! Its madness.
Anyway I should get going, I need to have lunch before the hyper puppy turns up to see if he'll be okay here for a day or so with our dog.
hope you're all well and happy!
xoxox
Friday, May 23, 2008
Its Bloggy Time...
I know i'm a couple days late in writing this. But I have a pretty darn good reason for it - I had a job interview on wednesday, and then yesterday I got invited out with a friend.
My interview went well, so well in fact I got invited back in the afternoon for a second interview/trial!! Unfortunately I had to decline the job offer because it was just too far away. The job was for a promotions company. It took me about 3 hours to get home from where we were out in the "field". That included 2 trains, 1 bus, and a car ride home (it was meant to be 2 buses but by the time I got to the mall, my last bus had left - roughly about the time I got on the bus in the city) which sucked because I was told they ran until about 10pm but oh well.
Besides that things are going well, still sending my resume in anywhere and everywhere that I can. I was chatting to a friend last night who said she was doing everything I'm doing and it took her 5 months to find a job :( that was doing something minimum wage. So i'm going to keep at it.
Random piece of information - Fuel prices in NZ have hit NZ$2 a litre, and here in Aussie its not too far behind (its about AU$1.50 a litre in my area). How crazy is that? which of course means food prices are going to go up, i'm also thinking that they might put up bus ticket prices too. Where will it stop? Why aren't the governments stepping in and doing something about it? it really makes me worried about what things will be like in a year..let alone 5 years.
Alrighty, well I've gotta go make a few calls to places i'm hoping dad can drive me to today to drop off my resume.
My interview went well, so well in fact I got invited back in the afternoon for a second interview/trial!! Unfortunately I had to decline the job offer because it was just too far away. The job was for a promotions company. It took me about 3 hours to get home from where we were out in the "field". That included 2 trains, 1 bus, and a car ride home (it was meant to be 2 buses but by the time I got to the mall, my last bus had left - roughly about the time I got on the bus in the city) which sucked because I was told they ran until about 10pm but oh well.
Besides that things are going well, still sending my resume in anywhere and everywhere that I can. I was chatting to a friend last night who said she was doing everything I'm doing and it took her 5 months to find a job :( that was doing something minimum wage. So i'm going to keep at it.
Random piece of information - Fuel prices in NZ have hit NZ$2 a litre, and here in Aussie its not too far behind (its about AU$1.50 a litre in my area). How crazy is that? which of course means food prices are going to go up, i'm also thinking that they might put up bus ticket prices too. Where will it stop? Why aren't the governments stepping in and doing something about it? it really makes me worried about what things will be like in a year..let alone 5 years.
Alrighty, well I've gotta go make a few calls to places i'm hoping dad can drive me to today to drop off my resume.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Yes i'm still keeping up with this blog..kinda
My deepest apologies for being so slack on this journal!
Things have been so busy, I've been spending most days applying/dropping off resumes (yes they prefer that term to "cv" over here), and even had an interview! Not bad i've applied for maybe 25 jobs in the past 2-3 weeks, and only got 1 interview :( it sucks that there's so many people looking for work but only a limited amount of spaces.
Life has been hectic, but nice. I'm adjusting to the weather a little more each day (yay), but by lunchtime every day i'm usually in shorts, then by dinner time i'm in jeans/long pants because its cooling down.
Yesterday was pretty awesome. My cousin Nicky took me out for the day. We had coffee in town, took a boat ride around the river in the city, then went to the Greek Festival! it was absolutely amazing. So much good food! and there was tonnes of things to see and do. Pat opted to stay at home for the dog groomer, but next time its on we're all going. I'll try to get some photos off nicky to post on here for you guys.
Made a really yummy fruit salad today, one of the perks of having family working in the fruit & veggie markets hehe. So I think I'm going to go get myself some for lunch
Hope you're all doing well, Missing you all!
Things have been so busy, I've been spending most days applying/dropping off resumes (yes they prefer that term to "cv" over here), and even had an interview! Not bad i've applied for maybe 25 jobs in the past 2-3 weeks, and only got 1 interview :( it sucks that there's so many people looking for work but only a limited amount of spaces.
Life has been hectic, but nice. I'm adjusting to the weather a little more each day (yay), but by lunchtime every day i'm usually in shorts, then by dinner time i'm in jeans/long pants because its cooling down.
Yesterday was pretty awesome. My cousin Nicky took me out for the day. We had coffee in town, took a boat ride around the river in the city, then went to the Greek Festival! it was absolutely amazing. So much good food! and there was tonnes of things to see and do. Pat opted to stay at home for the dog groomer, but next time its on we're all going. I'll try to get some photos off nicky to post on here for you guys.
Made a really yummy fruit salad today, one of the perks of having family working in the fruit & veggie markets hehe. So I think I'm going to go get myself some for lunch
Hope you're all doing well, Missing you all!
Friday, April 4, 2008
Arrived!
Friday 4th April:
Wow! we made it. We arrived on wednesday but things have been so busy, i've hardly had time to get near the computer. There's so much to tell about the trip over here, i'll sit down tonight and write about some of the adventure.
I just wanted to let you guys know we're here and having a great time catching up with people.
Hope you're all well!
Wow! we made it. We arrived on wednesday but things have been so busy, i've hardly had time to get near the computer. There's so much to tell about the trip over here, i'll sit down tonight and write about some of the adventure.
I just wanted to let you guys know we're here and having a great time catching up with people.
Hope you're all well!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Before we leave.....
Sunday 30th March:
Hey guys, this will be my last entry before I leave for the airport.
We've got everything packed and ready to go. We'll be heading off to the airport about 4am tomorrow morning so chances are I wont be online at all, unless I use a net computer at the airport - but thats not likely.
I'll keep this journal going, for the people in america to hear about life in aussie, so keep checking back regularly.
So wish us luck!
Corina xoxox
Hey guys, this will be my last entry before I leave for the airport.
We've got everything packed and ready to go. We'll be heading off to the airport about 4am tomorrow morning so chances are I wont be online at all, unless I use a net computer at the airport - but thats not likely.
I'll keep this journal going, for the people in america to hear about life in aussie, so keep checking back regularly.
So wish us luck!
Corina xoxox
Monday, March 17, 2008
News article for Rachie-babe
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4441711a11.html
Hedgehog gets police escortBy DAVE BURGESS - The Dominion Post Monday, 17 March 2008
Why did the hedgehog cross the road? Because police stopped traffic to prevent it from being squashed.
Palmerston North police were faced with a prickly problem during a drink-drive blitz on Milson Line on Friday night when a hedgehog tried to cross their checkpoint.
Traffic was stopped and the animal was escorted across the road.
"His reason for crossing the road was not ascertained and he was not breath-tested," Senior Sergeant Brett Calkin said.
About 80 drivers were stopped and breath-tested at the checkpoint, with four found to be over the limit.
They included a 42-year-old woman who was almost three times the legal breath-alcohol limit, despite telling police she had had only two drinks.
Hedgehog gets police escortBy DAVE BURGESS - The Dominion Post Monday, 17 March 2008
Why did the hedgehog cross the road? Because police stopped traffic to prevent it from being squashed.
Palmerston North police were faced with a prickly problem during a drink-drive blitz on Milson Line on Friday night when a hedgehog tried to cross their checkpoint.
Traffic was stopped and the animal was escorted across the road.
"His reason for crossing the road was not ascertained and he was not breath-tested," Senior Sergeant Brett Calkin said.
About 80 drivers were stopped and breath-tested at the checkpoint, with four found to be over the limit.
They included a 42-year-old woman who was almost three times the legal breath-alcohol limit, despite telling police she had had only two drinks.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Saturday 15th March
Well we got our tickets yesterday! We leave here on the 31st of March, and arrive in Brisbane, Australia on April 2nd :) I'm so excited!! It does however mean that I've got a lot of stuff to get done in the next couple of weeks.
Last night I went through my books, and gave a bunch to hobbit that I thought she'd like. The rest i'll either give to the library or a friend who has a book store (he rocks, always gave us housemates discounts when we went in).
I'm in the process of getting a list of our dvd's for sale to the library to see if they need any. We've sold a decent amount of them, its just the last couple of boxes left.
Next to go through is my clothes, getting rid of stuff I don't wear, then my possessions like my beading kits and such (easily replaceable when i get to Aussie). Its not easy fitting your life into a suitcase!
We've got a couple of friends coming over tonight to watch/listen to some Rifftrax (think mystery science theater 3000). http://www.rifftrax.com/ Basically they make fun of movies. You find a movie you want to watch in their list, buy the track, download it/burn it to disk and play it on a cd player while watching the movie and voila! insta-fun!! I think tonight we're watching x-men or the lord of the rings (the first movie). Should be lots of fun. Oh that site has free samples if you're interested in checking them out.
alrighty thats about it for me, i'm going to post this then get some breakfast. take care guys xoxoxox
Last night I went through my books, and gave a bunch to hobbit that I thought she'd like. The rest i'll either give to the library or a friend who has a book store (he rocks, always gave us housemates discounts when we went in).
I'm in the process of getting a list of our dvd's for sale to the library to see if they need any. We've sold a decent amount of them, its just the last couple of boxes left.
Next to go through is my clothes, getting rid of stuff I don't wear, then my possessions like my beading kits and such (easily replaceable when i get to Aussie). Its not easy fitting your life into a suitcase!
We've got a couple of friends coming over tonight to watch/listen to some Rifftrax (think mystery science theater 3000). http://www.rifftrax.com/ Basically they make fun of movies. You find a movie you want to watch in their list, buy the track, download it/burn it to disk and play it on a cd player while watching the movie and voila! insta-fun!! I think tonight we're watching x-men or the lord of the rings (the first movie). Should be lots of fun. Oh that site has free samples if you're interested in checking them out.
alrighty thats about it for me, i'm going to post this then get some breakfast. take care guys xoxoxox
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Fun Times on Friday Night
Saturday 8th March:
Last night was awesome. We kidnapped a friend and took her to dinner and a movie. We were going to go to our favourite restaurant, but it was full, so we tried another one - that was full too. In the end we got pizza and came back to the house and chatted until it was time to go see the movie ("Jumpers"). It was pretty good, ended kinda abruptly though which seems like they're planning a sequel but we'll just have to wait and see.
Other than that things have been pretty routine around here, cleaning, watching a little tv, playing a little world of warcraft, and spending time with house mates.
Its damn cold outside at the moment. Last night when we came home from the movies it was negative 11 degrees F outside (not sure if that included the wind chill or not). can we say brrr? Not sure what it is outside at the moment, since its only 10am but the driveway is looking slick which isn't going to be too fun when I go out to get the mail. ooh I just checked and its about negative 10 degrees f (which is negative 23 degrees C). According to the weather site its going to warm up...a little by the end of the day, oh and there's meant to be snow! just what Wisconsin is lacking (please note: heavy use of sarcasm, we have about 2-3 feet of snow on the ground already at the moment).
Well I'd better go post this, and start having a tidy up in the lounge and computer room before people start waking up :) Hope everyone has a great day!
Last night was awesome. We kidnapped a friend and took her to dinner and a movie. We were going to go to our favourite restaurant, but it was full, so we tried another one - that was full too. In the end we got pizza and came back to the house and chatted until it was time to go see the movie ("Jumpers"). It was pretty good, ended kinda abruptly though which seems like they're planning a sequel but we'll just have to wait and see.
Other than that things have been pretty routine around here, cleaning, watching a little tv, playing a little world of warcraft, and spending time with house mates.
Its damn cold outside at the moment. Last night when we came home from the movies it was negative 11 degrees F outside (not sure if that included the wind chill or not). can we say brrr? Not sure what it is outside at the moment, since its only 10am but the driveway is looking slick which isn't going to be too fun when I go out to get the mail. ooh I just checked and its about negative 10 degrees f (which is negative 23 degrees C). According to the weather site its going to warm up...a little by the end of the day, oh and there's meant to be snow! just what Wisconsin is lacking (please note: heavy use of sarcasm, we have about 2-3 feet of snow on the ground already at the moment).
Well I'd better go post this, and start having a tidy up in the lounge and computer room before people start waking up :) Hope everyone has a great day!
Monday, March 3, 2008
Writing from the house...find out why....
Firstly I should apologise for the lack of updates recently. We've been having a heck of a time with our laptop.. first the inverter (what we plug into) died, so we replaced it. Then the power supply went dead, which we replaced (and it wasn't easier either trying to find a specific shop that sold this one specific product http://support.radioshack.com/support_tutorials/batteries/pfq-2731785.htm ) . We got that fixed and things were going great for a few days then....nothing...the laptop utterly stopped working! Its probably the screen, so our information on the hard drive will be fine and Patrick's brother will be able to get it off that so we don't lose anything. But still its frustrating, especially after the drama with trying to buy a laptop at Best Buy a few weeks ago (utterly rude to us and uninterested in us spending any money there). So we're at a dead end there. We have to wait for the tax cheques to come in before we can decide whether to get one in Aussie or just get one here.
The other (actually its bigger news than the computer issues) thing going on is that Patrick has quit his job because of pay issues, as in.... they were holding back our pay rather than paying us. We had our trip information turned in before time but they still didn't give us the money, instead we got a whopping $5.65 after tax for the week *insert glare here*. So he called up and asked the company what was going on, just looking for an idea about what happened, one thing lead to another and they started threatening him to charge him for out of route miles and other such things. So we dropped the load off that we were under, and headed to the yard to clean out the truck.
We arrived home last night to find one of our cheques here, but its the smaller of the two so hopefully the other one (the federal) will be here on Monday or Tuesday so we can book our tickets and have an idea of when we're flying to Aussie. Of course that also means that i've got a lot of stuff to sort out and fit into a suitcase before then, but i've done it before - I can definately do it again.
So thats basically whats been going on with us, hope things are well with you guys.
I'll update again soon, xoxox
The other (actually its bigger news than the computer issues) thing going on is that Patrick has quit his job because of pay issues, as in.... they were holding back our pay rather than paying us. We had our trip information turned in before time but they still didn't give us the money, instead we got a whopping $5.65 after tax for the week *insert glare here*. So he called up and asked the company what was going on, just looking for an idea about what happened, one thing lead to another and they started threatening him to charge him for out of route miles and other such things. So we dropped the load off that we were under, and headed to the yard to clean out the truck.
We arrived home last night to find one of our cheques here, but its the smaller of the two so hopefully the other one (the federal) will be here on Monday or Tuesday so we can book our tickets and have an idea of when we're flying to Aussie. Of course that also means that i've got a lot of stuff to sort out and fit into a suitcase before then, but i've done it before - I can definately do it again.
So thats basically whats been going on with us, hope things are well with you guys.
I'll update again soon, xoxox
Thursday, February 28, 2008
update time...
Tuesday 26th February:
Goooood morning all,
I'm feeling absolutely wonderful this morning - I got a full night's sleep and didn't even wake up during the night like I normally do YAY. Although apparently I had a conversation with Patrick and I seemed coheriant. He asked me to turn on the lights and he said I responded with something like "okay" and then nothing lol. Oh well. Then it turns out he accidently set the alarm for 7:30pm instead of 7:30am heh but we woke up a little after 7am anyway by a message on the com system for the truck.
Yesterday wasn't too bad. We got to where we had to deliver on time, and the roads weren't bad - just heavy traffic. Once we got out of there we drove to Tacoma to the truck stop. Unfortunately the truckstop is entirely too small, and you need at least 2 other drivers to help you back into a spot - IF you're lucky enough to find an empty spot. Thankfully we got one, and there were a couple of guys helping us get in there okay since its small and akward at the the best of times, there was a lot of traffic trying to get in and out. So we had a nice relaxing afternoon there, and I ended up going to bed about 7:30pm.
Not sure where our next destination is, we've just finished unloading and have to sit and wait. YAY.
Wednesday 27th February:
They ended up having us run around a little bit yesterday and by the time we got done the truck stop was full, and the nearest place to park wanted $20 for 24 hours (which is really damn expensive). So we stopped and grabbed food, and parked at the rest area for the evening (by the time we got there there was only a few parking spots left as it was). What time was it locally? only 3:30pm. Washington definately needs more truck stops!!!
About 8am (our time) we got our load info and had to return to the place we were yesterday to drop our trailer, then go to the other place we were yesterday and pick up our load. Its going to..drum roll please.... Wisconsin! YAY. Unfortunately we'll be there a few days too early for our home time but that just means they'll run us around illinois and wisconsin for a wee bit.
I should go and post this, sorry about my lack of updates lately. Things have been somewhat routine, basic day to day stuff...driving driving and sitting waiting for reloads. Its all good though.
An update on our moving to Aussie... We're waiting on our tax cheque which shouldn't be too far away. After that we'll book our tickets for 2 weeks in advance and start getting rid of our things here. Woohooo for fitting everything I have in a suitcase! Not a problem though because we can sell things like dvd's/gaming consoles, games for our Nintendo's etc.
All righty gotta run,
love you guys xoxox
Goooood morning all,
I'm feeling absolutely wonderful this morning - I got a full night's sleep and didn't even wake up during the night like I normally do YAY. Although apparently I had a conversation with Patrick and I seemed coheriant. He asked me to turn on the lights and he said I responded with something like "okay" and then nothing lol. Oh well. Then it turns out he accidently set the alarm for 7:30pm instead of 7:30am heh but we woke up a little after 7am anyway by a message on the com system for the truck.
Yesterday wasn't too bad. We got to where we had to deliver on time, and the roads weren't bad - just heavy traffic. Once we got out of there we drove to Tacoma to the truck stop. Unfortunately the truckstop is entirely too small, and you need at least 2 other drivers to help you back into a spot - IF you're lucky enough to find an empty spot. Thankfully we got one, and there were a couple of guys helping us get in there okay since its small and akward at the the best of times, there was a lot of traffic trying to get in and out. So we had a nice relaxing afternoon there, and I ended up going to bed about 7:30pm.
Not sure where our next destination is, we've just finished unloading and have to sit and wait. YAY.
Wednesday 27th February:
They ended up having us run around a little bit yesterday and by the time we got done the truck stop was full, and the nearest place to park wanted $20 for 24 hours (which is really damn expensive). So we stopped and grabbed food, and parked at the rest area for the evening (by the time we got there there was only a few parking spots left as it was). What time was it locally? only 3:30pm. Washington definately needs more truck stops!!!
About 8am (our time) we got our load info and had to return to the place we were yesterday to drop our trailer, then go to the other place we were yesterday and pick up our load. Its going to..drum roll please.... Wisconsin! YAY. Unfortunately we'll be there a few days too early for our home time but that just means they'll run us around illinois and wisconsin for a wee bit.
I should go and post this, sorry about my lack of updates lately. Things have been somewhat routine, basic day to day stuff...driving driving and sitting waiting for reloads. Its all good though.
An update on our moving to Aussie... We're waiting on our tax cheque which shouldn't be too far away. After that we'll book our tickets for 2 weeks in advance and start getting rid of our things here. Woohooo for fitting everything I have in a suitcase! Not a problem though because we can sell things like dvd's/gaming consoles, games for our Nintendo's etc.
All righty gotta run,
love you guys xoxox
Sunday, February 24, 2008
hehe..well here's an update
Wednesday 20th February:
Its hard to believe February is almost over! this year is flying by way too quickly. Anyways here's a quick update of whats been going on...
We had a really lovely time at the house. Sunday we took a friend out shopping before we went to the yard to take our load to be delivered. Had a pretty good time despite an extremely rude sales person at a computer store. But its all good because we wont be shopping their anymore.
Once at the yard we had a few troubles, mostly snow related. It had been snowing all day before we got there and the plows had only just started plowing the yard. We ended up getting stuck the first time in an area that had been plowed already! 10 minutes later and the tractor giving us a nudge we got free and had to deal with getting our trailer out of the wash bay. It was an odd situation, turns out we were hauling soda so it couldn't be left outside in the extreme cold or the cans would explode (and that, while slightly amusing would be really really bad). Unfortunately they didn't think to plow behind the buildings where the wash bays are...and you guessed it folks we got stuck again. Thankfully though we got out of there, and to our destination on time YAY.
The next day (Monday) we picked up our current load. It's heading to Arizona where i'm hoping its at least warmer than Wisconsin has been. We're due there tomorrow which we'll be able to make. Originally it wasn't due until the 22nd but we've been having a good run so they've changed our delivery so we can pick up a day earlier than anticipated.
At this stage our next home time should be about March 5th so if anyone wants to call, that would be a good time to do it.
Thursday 21st February:
So today, yeah it was one of those days that makes me wish I hadn't gotten out of bed hehe. Had a few things go slightly off plan but its now the end of the day, and we're sitting here relaxing watching Stargate Atlantis (season 2) on DVD.
I think the craziest part of the day was when we stalled in the driveway of a customer. Doesn't sound like a big deal right? wrong. When you're in an automatic truck, and reversing and your engine stalls while you were trying to slide the wheels to the back of the trailer - with a pin covered in ice from a snow storm we went through...its not good. So they ended up having to call out a road repair guy to putt air in the tanks so it would shift to neutral so we could start. Oh well, the company has to pay for it - not us. Its a damn good thing there were two lanes to get into the customer so we weren't entirely blocking up their driveway.
Turns out that our reload was out of the same place but its not ready until the morning. Its destination? Portland Oregon AND Kent Washington. We should be pretty alright on time to get there so thats a relief. Pat said we're going to end up going through the Mojave Desert which i'm kinda excited about.
Saturday 22nd February:
So yesterday we arrived at our destination really early in the day at our destination, only to find out that our power supply for the laptop had gone to the big computer store in the sky. Yup it was dead really dead. So while we had high speed internet we had limited battery supply and no stores that sold new power supply things. So we did a lot of reading, and I had a mid afternoon nap due to a headache i'd developed. All in all not a bad day.
Oh fyi the Mojave desert was really awesome to see - and it was raining! not something I really expected to see. I got a couple of photos during the break in the rain so i'll upload those tonight if I get the chance.
As you can guess by the fact that i'm blogging and using the computer, we got a new power supply. We were cruising down Highway 99 here in California when we saw a mall off to the side of the road with a big empty parking lot, and the store we knew would sell the power supply box (not as easy to get as you'd imagine). Anyways by the time we saw it we were past the exit so we had to turn around and go back to it. Thankfully they had them in stock so we got it YAY.
well i'm going to post this up so you can will know what we've been up to.
take care guys! xoxox
Its hard to believe February is almost over! this year is flying by way too quickly. Anyways here's a quick update of whats been going on...
We had a really lovely time at the house. Sunday we took a friend out shopping before we went to the yard to take our load to be delivered. Had a pretty good time despite an extremely rude sales person at a computer store. But its all good because we wont be shopping their anymore.
Once at the yard we had a few troubles, mostly snow related. It had been snowing all day before we got there and the plows had only just started plowing the yard. We ended up getting stuck the first time in an area that had been plowed already! 10 minutes later and the tractor giving us a nudge we got free and had to deal with getting our trailer out of the wash bay. It was an odd situation, turns out we were hauling soda so it couldn't be left outside in the extreme cold or the cans would explode (and that, while slightly amusing would be really really bad). Unfortunately they didn't think to plow behind the buildings where the wash bays are...and you guessed it folks we got stuck again. Thankfully though we got out of there, and to our destination on time YAY.
The next day (Monday) we picked up our current load. It's heading to Arizona where i'm hoping its at least warmer than Wisconsin has been. We're due there tomorrow which we'll be able to make. Originally it wasn't due until the 22nd but we've been having a good run so they've changed our delivery so we can pick up a day earlier than anticipated.
At this stage our next home time should be about March 5th so if anyone wants to call, that would be a good time to do it.
Thursday 21st February:
So today, yeah it was one of those days that makes me wish I hadn't gotten out of bed hehe. Had a few things go slightly off plan but its now the end of the day, and we're sitting here relaxing watching Stargate Atlantis (season 2) on DVD.
I think the craziest part of the day was when we stalled in the driveway of a customer. Doesn't sound like a big deal right? wrong. When you're in an automatic truck, and reversing and your engine stalls while you were trying to slide the wheels to the back of the trailer - with a pin covered in ice from a snow storm we went through...its not good. So they ended up having to call out a road repair guy to putt air in the tanks so it would shift to neutral so we could start. Oh well, the company has to pay for it - not us. Its a damn good thing there were two lanes to get into the customer so we weren't entirely blocking up their driveway.
Turns out that our reload was out of the same place but its not ready until the morning. Its destination? Portland Oregon AND Kent Washington. We should be pretty alright on time to get there so thats a relief. Pat said we're going to end up going through the Mojave Desert which i'm kinda excited about.
Saturday 22nd February:
So yesterday we arrived at our destination really early in the day at our destination, only to find out that our power supply for the laptop had gone to the big computer store in the sky. Yup it was dead really dead. So while we had high speed internet we had limited battery supply and no stores that sold new power supply things. So we did a lot of reading, and I had a mid afternoon nap due to a headache i'd developed. All in all not a bad day.
Oh fyi the Mojave desert was really awesome to see - and it was raining! not something I really expected to see. I got a couple of photos during the break in the rain so i'll upload those tonight if I get the chance.
As you can guess by the fact that i'm blogging and using the computer, we got a new power supply. We were cruising down Highway 99 here in California when we saw a mall off to the side of the road with a big empty parking lot, and the store we knew would sell the power supply box (not as easy to get as you'd imagine). Anyways by the time we saw it we were past the exit so we had to turn around and go back to it. Thankfully they had them in stock so we got it YAY.
well i'm going to post this up so you can will know what we've been up to.
take care guys! xoxox
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Some Fun....
Well I got tagged by Rachiebabe so here goes...
Here's how you play: Once you've been tagged you have to write a blog with 10 weird or random facts, habits or goals about yourself. At the end, choose 5 people to be tagged, list their names and why you tagged them.
You can not tag the person that tagged you, so since you can't tag me back let me know when you are done so that I can go read YOUR blog answers.
(1.) I enjoy making beadedjewellery
(2.) I'm not fond of cooked veggies, though I do enjoy cooked potatoes.
(3.) I'm hoping to get into either the radio field or journalism one day.
(4.) I have an ordered list for things I do online, kinda like a to do list - but no matter how organised about it I am, I still forget to do stuff.
(5.) I apparently can't sit still during a tv show, things keep popping into my head that I need to do or should remember to do and its easier to hit pause (yay for satellite tv/dvr) and go do it while I remember, much to the annoyance of my housemates. Yet I can sit for hours at a movie theatre!
(6.) I like my steak well done - can't stand it if its got even a little bit of red.
(7.) I'm hooked on A&W restaurants but they're really hard to find.
(8.) I feel that i've got to justify every little thing I do, even though deep down I know I don't.
(9.) My big shopping weakness is bookstores
(10.) I get a little nutty If I don't have books around me to read at all times. Yes I'm a bookworm.
As for who I'm going to tag... anyone who wants to be considered tagged, respond to this post with your answers.
I'll make a proper update later today when I get it written up.
Here's how you play: Once you've been tagged you have to write a blog with 10 weird or random facts, habits or goals about yourself. At the end, choose 5 people to be tagged, list their names and why you tagged them.
You can not tag the person that tagged you, so since you can't tag me back let me know when you are done so that I can go read YOUR blog answers.
(1.) I enjoy making beadedjewellery
(2.) I'm not fond of cooked veggies, though I do enjoy cooked potatoes.
(3.) I'm hoping to get into either the radio field or journalism one day.
(4.) I have an ordered list for things I do online, kinda like a to do list - but no matter how organised about it I am, I still forget to do stuff.
(5.) I apparently can't sit still during a tv show, things keep popping into my head that I need to do or should remember to do and its easier to hit pause (yay for satellite tv/dvr) and go do it while I remember, much to the annoyance of my housemates. Yet I can sit for hours at a movie theatre!
(6.) I like my steak well done - can't stand it if its got even a little bit of red.
(7.) I'm hooked on A&W restaurants but they're really hard to find.
(8.) I feel that i've got to justify every little thing I do, even though deep down I know I don't.
(9.) My big shopping weakness is bookstores
(10.) I get a little nutty If I don't have books around me to read at all times. Yes I'm a bookworm.
As for who I'm going to tag... anyone who wants to be considered tagged, respond to this post with your answers.
I'll make a proper update later today when I get it written up.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Distracted by relaxation
Whoops! I guess I've been a bit distracted the past couple of days relaxing and trying to get a bunch of things that need to be done, done, in the short time that we're at the house hehe.
For anyone who might've tried calling but didn't get an answer - i'm sorry! We're having phone issues at the moment. We think that something happened to the phone line in the lounge on the part of the line thats outside..because the jack in the kitchen works just fine, but it means that the phone isn't always able to be heard when it rings. Failing that - there's always our cell phone (which has a land line number so its charged at the same rate as landlines).
OH! I found this on youtube.com the other day.... Fred Dagg doing "We don't know how lucky we are"... enjoy! Classic Kiwi
Then of course how could I forget... "Gumboots" also by Fred Dagg (no video, just audio)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7X2b2x7Fw4o
Okay thats all I'm sharing with you guys for today hehe. I found them yesterday and just had to show them to my house mate Hobbit, she cracked up, thought they were fabulous YAY.
For anyone who might've tried calling but didn't get an answer - i'm sorry! We're having phone issues at the moment. We think that something happened to the phone line in the lounge on the part of the line thats outside..because the jack in the kitchen works just fine, but it means that the phone isn't always able to be heard when it rings. Failing that - there's always our cell phone (which has a land line number so its charged at the same rate as landlines).
OH! I found this on youtube.com the other day.... Fred Dagg doing "We don't know how lucky we are"... enjoy! Classic Kiwi
Then of course how could I forget... "Gumboots" also by Fred Dagg (no video, just audio)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7X2b2x7Fw4o
Okay thats all I'm sharing with you guys for today hehe. I found them yesterday and just had to show them to my house mate Hobbit, she cracked up, thought they were fabulous YAY.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Home.... At Last!
Wednesday 13th February:
Well we're back at the house for a few days YAY.
The past few days have been...very, frustrating to say the least. Having to wait until nearly midnight at a place to deliver one day, getting it to another driver who had been waiting since 8am the previous morning for it (note: 9 hours before we got the load information to get it for him, he was waiting for it and being told it was already on its way). Then spending 7 hours waiting to be loaded at a place in downtown Chicago - we're talking deep in the heart of chicago here people, where semi trucks really shouldn't be but yet there seemed to be an overwhelming amount of them trying to cram into spaces and get into buildings made about 100 years ago when trucks were a lot smaller lol. So rather than dwell on that I'm going to focus on the positive - we're at home, and dammit we're relaxing.
We got into the yard really late last night, so Pat's brother picked us up this morning. Came back to the house and watched a little tv, played a little WoW, started responding to some of my backlog of emails and im's from the last couple of days. Now we're watching movies. Tonight we rented "Family Guy: Blue Harvest", "The Invasion" and "Lake Placid 2" (pat's choice). Family guy was the best of the lot, very very funny and geeky if you like star wars and movies making fun of other movies then this is definately one for you.
I think I'm going to have an early night, time to catch up on sleep.
Rachie-babe.. I'll complete the quiz thing tomorrow when my brain is actually functioning hehe!
Well we're back at the house for a few days YAY.
The past few days have been...very, frustrating to say the least. Having to wait until nearly midnight at a place to deliver one day, getting it to another driver who had been waiting since 8am the previous morning for it (note: 9 hours before we got the load information to get it for him, he was waiting for it and being told it was already on its way). Then spending 7 hours waiting to be loaded at a place in downtown Chicago - we're talking deep in the heart of chicago here people, where semi trucks really shouldn't be but yet there seemed to be an overwhelming amount of them trying to cram into spaces and get into buildings made about 100 years ago when trucks were a lot smaller lol. So rather than dwell on that I'm going to focus on the positive - we're at home, and dammit we're relaxing.
We got into the yard really late last night, so Pat's brother picked us up this morning. Came back to the house and watched a little tv, played a little WoW, started responding to some of my backlog of emails and im's from the last couple of days. Now we're watching movies. Tonight we rented "Family Guy: Blue Harvest", "The Invasion" and "Lake Placid 2" (pat's choice). Family guy was the best of the lot, very very funny and geeky if you like star wars and movies making fun of other movies then this is definately one for you.
I think I'm going to have an early night, time to catch up on sleep.
Rachie-babe.. I'll complete the quiz thing tomorrow when my brain is actually functioning hehe!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Heading Towards Wisconsin
Not a lot happened yesterday. We started our day about 1:30am, and made it to our customer on time. They held us up for 5 hours unloading, not to mention left a heck of a mess in our trailer. For what the company paid his company you'd think he'd at least pick up the smashed pallet that we found in there. So after that fun, we had to stop at a truck stop and clean out the pallet bits and make our way to the pick up. Thankfully they didn't take long to load us.
Spent the night at a pretty good truck stop that had a seafood/steakhouse woohoo! dinner was pretty darn good If I do say so myself. I ended up having a grilled chicken sandwich, which had a lemon pepper marinade and it came with steak fries (the big thick fries).
Today we delivered the first part of the load, turns out theres not meant to be any receiving on saturday at the plant, and the only reason there was someone there today was because the warehouse is really full and they need someone there to feed the machines and make room. He wasn't entirely pleased but there wasn't much we could do about it.
The next part is delivering to Wisconsin on Monday YAY which means they'll give us a small run to Illinois or around Wisconsin to keep us busy until our home time on Wednesday! I'm really looking forward to it thats for sure. Not just because we're filing taxes but because we definately deserve a relaxing break from the road after the past couple of weeks.
Tonight we're going to stop a bit early so we can have showers, relax and have an early night. I'm really looking forward to it.
Anyways I'll write again tomorrow or the next day :)
take care guys xoxox
Spent the night at a pretty good truck stop that had a seafood/steakhouse woohoo! dinner was pretty darn good If I do say so myself. I ended up having a grilled chicken sandwich, which had a lemon pepper marinade and it came with steak fries (the big thick fries).
Today we delivered the first part of the load, turns out theres not meant to be any receiving on saturday at the plant, and the only reason there was someone there today was because the warehouse is really full and they need someone there to feed the machines and make room. He wasn't entirely pleased but there wasn't much we could do about it.
The next part is delivering to Wisconsin on Monday YAY which means they'll give us a small run to Illinois or around Wisconsin to keep us busy until our home time on Wednesday! I'm really looking forward to it thats for sure. Not just because we're filing taxes but because we definately deserve a relaxing break from the road after the past couple of weeks.
Tonight we're going to stop a bit early so we can have showers, relax and have an early night. I'm really looking forward to it.
Anyways I'll write again tomorrow or the next day :)
take care guys xoxox
Friday, February 8, 2008
I didn't forget about you guys.....
Tuesday 5th February:
Its Super Tuesday in the US, its where certain states vote together on one day to decide who the people want each party to have for their official nominee for the 2008 presidental elections. So its a pretty huge day here for people, especially since there's so many candidates to choose from.
So we've made it through Oregon, Washington and Montana, Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho safe and sound. In fact, Montana is so stunningly beautiful, especially with 8-10 feet of snow on the ground. I wish we could've been here in a car so we could explore more. They have laws against strip mining here, so there's a lot of old, huge trees adding to the picturesque landscape.
We delivered yesterday in Idaho, and it turns out our reload was out of the same place we were dropping off at. Much to my amusement. They told us to just leave the trailer we were delivering and take the preloaded one we're to deliver in Alabama, which saved us a lot of time waiting around.
The roads are clearing up, which is very good news. Some roads still have icy slick spots but they're few and far between. We're staying in Nebraska tonight and we'll continue on our way to Alabama in the morning.
One of the coolest things happened today, we saw a herd of Antelope grazing on the side of the road in Wyoming! Thats pretty unusual sight to see especially if you're not from around that area. I felt kinda bad for the trucker in front of us who had one of the antelope running across the insterstate in front of him, it made it safely, and the trucker didn't have any accident so its all good. It definately made my day. I love seeing wildlife in their natural environments and alive.
Wednesday 6th February:
Its seeming to take forever to get where we're going today. The roads aren't too bad, and the weather is sunny for now (a cashier at a truck stop said it was snowing in Wichita (Kansas) so we'll have to see. We're on our way to Oklahoma, and hopefully going to meet Pat's sisters! This will be my first time ever seeing them in person, and pat hasn't seen them since before he left for new zealand all those years ago. Marj and Alan are in Oklahoma with the sisters too so it will be wonderful to see them again.
So i'm adding yet another state to the "new visited" states... Kansas. It means that my list of states I haven't been to is getting smaller and smaller. I know there are a few tat we definately wont be going to, like say Alaska, and Hawaii hehe but its definately making a dent in it.
We were actually meant to be at the house today, this was our scheduled home time but obviously that isn't going to happen so we've changed it to Wednesday 13th February. Most of the reason for this is because we're filing taxes when we get in next, so it can start getting processed and making its way to us. Fingers crossed it wont take too long, and we can buy our tickets to Aussie.
I'm guessing you guys have heard about the tornado's hitting across the US, and more specifically in the area we're heading to. All the weather reports we've heard so far say that today's the last day they're on alert, that things will be calmer there tomorrow so thats a relief. I feel absolutely horrible for the people who lost family members, friends, houses and everything else like that in the mess. I cannot imagine how terrifying it must have been, especially happening at night time. One news report said that in Kentucky a tornado was reported on the ground for over an hour! thats really crazy. We've got a few friends in the area's hit by the tornado so I'm hoping they're alright and safe.
UPDATE:
Just got back to the truck from our visit with the family. It was really awesome to finally see Heather and Brandi (pat's sisters) in person, and I got to meet my neice (Brandi's daughter Kymmi). Unfortunately there were issues and we weren't able to see Heather's daughter Daylyn which was sad. All in all it was a truly wonderful evening, lots of laughter and good conversation.
Thursday 7th February:
Early morning start today, so i'm feeling a bit zombie-like due to lack of sleep, its okay though hopefully the dispatcher will let us have an easy run this weekend so we can rest after a hectic couple of weeks.
Today we're heading towards the area's where the Tornado's hit on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. They say the weather's cleared up and that there's no more threat so thats a relief. We'll be going through Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama (all of which were hit) So thats a little unnerving. I feel really badly for the people who've lost so much to these tornados, that the media is calling the worst group of twisters in 2 decades. hmm, we just got passed a pick up with decals saying its an insurance claim person, he'll have a pretty busy day today.
UPDATE:
Well we're parked for the night and i'm definately ready to call it a night even though its only 5pm, we're going to be up about 1:30am and leave out here about 2am to get to the customer and deliver. The funny thing is, they said this was a time sensitive load, the only times we could choose between was 6am friday or 6am monday.... ?!? I don't know about you but i'm worried about what might happen if you tried unloading this load at any other time than 6am hehe just kidding. The customer is just picky I guess.
Anyways i'm off to bed, goodnight guys! I'll try to write again soon. Missing you all xoxox
Its Super Tuesday in the US, its where certain states vote together on one day to decide who the people want each party to have for their official nominee for the 2008 presidental elections. So its a pretty huge day here for people, especially since there's so many candidates to choose from.
So we've made it through Oregon, Washington and Montana, Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho safe and sound. In fact, Montana is so stunningly beautiful, especially with 8-10 feet of snow on the ground. I wish we could've been here in a car so we could explore more. They have laws against strip mining here, so there's a lot of old, huge trees adding to the picturesque landscape.
We delivered yesterday in Idaho, and it turns out our reload was out of the same place we were dropping off at. Much to my amusement. They told us to just leave the trailer we were delivering and take the preloaded one we're to deliver in Alabama, which saved us a lot of time waiting around.
The roads are clearing up, which is very good news. Some roads still have icy slick spots but they're few and far between. We're staying in Nebraska tonight and we'll continue on our way to Alabama in the morning.
One of the coolest things happened today, we saw a herd of Antelope grazing on the side of the road in Wyoming! Thats pretty unusual sight to see especially if you're not from around that area. I felt kinda bad for the trucker in front of us who had one of the antelope running across the insterstate in front of him, it made it safely, and the trucker didn't have any accident so its all good. It definately made my day. I love seeing wildlife in their natural environments and alive.
Wednesday 6th February:
Its seeming to take forever to get where we're going today. The roads aren't too bad, and the weather is sunny for now (a cashier at a truck stop said it was snowing in Wichita (Kansas) so we'll have to see. We're on our way to Oklahoma, and hopefully going to meet Pat's sisters! This will be my first time ever seeing them in person, and pat hasn't seen them since before he left for new zealand all those years ago. Marj and Alan are in Oklahoma with the sisters too so it will be wonderful to see them again.
So i'm adding yet another state to the "new visited" states... Kansas. It means that my list of states I haven't been to is getting smaller and smaller. I know there are a few tat we definately wont be going to, like say Alaska, and Hawaii hehe but its definately making a dent in it.
We were actually meant to be at the house today, this was our scheduled home time but obviously that isn't going to happen so we've changed it to Wednesday 13th February. Most of the reason for this is because we're filing taxes when we get in next, so it can start getting processed and making its way to us. Fingers crossed it wont take too long, and we can buy our tickets to Aussie.
I'm guessing you guys have heard about the tornado's hitting across the US, and more specifically in the area we're heading to. All the weather reports we've heard so far say that today's the last day they're on alert, that things will be calmer there tomorrow so thats a relief. I feel absolutely horrible for the people who lost family members, friends, houses and everything else like that in the mess. I cannot imagine how terrifying it must have been, especially happening at night time. One news report said that in Kentucky a tornado was reported on the ground for over an hour! thats really crazy. We've got a few friends in the area's hit by the tornado so I'm hoping they're alright and safe.
UPDATE:
Just got back to the truck from our visit with the family. It was really awesome to finally see Heather and Brandi (pat's sisters) in person, and I got to meet my neice (Brandi's daughter Kymmi). Unfortunately there were issues and we weren't able to see Heather's daughter Daylyn which was sad. All in all it was a truly wonderful evening, lots of laughter and good conversation.
Thursday 7th February:
Early morning start today, so i'm feeling a bit zombie-like due to lack of sleep, its okay though hopefully the dispatcher will let us have an easy run this weekend so we can rest after a hectic couple of weeks.
Today we're heading towards the area's where the Tornado's hit on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. They say the weather's cleared up and that there's no more threat so thats a relief. We'll be going through Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama (all of which were hit) So thats a little unnerving. I feel really badly for the people who've lost so much to these tornados, that the media is calling the worst group of twisters in 2 decades. hmm, we just got passed a pick up with decals saying its an insurance claim person, he'll have a pretty busy day today.
UPDATE:
Well we're parked for the night and i'm definately ready to call it a night even though its only 5pm, we're going to be up about 1:30am and leave out here about 2am to get to the customer and deliver. The funny thing is, they said this was a time sensitive load, the only times we could choose between was 6am friday or 6am monday.... ?!? I don't know about you but i'm worried about what might happen if you tried unloading this load at any other time than 6am hehe just kidding. The customer is just picky I guess.
Anyways i'm off to bed, goodnight guys! I'll try to write again soon. Missing you all xoxox
Monday, February 4, 2008
update from oregon
So I wanted to update for those who haven't heard from me, things are going well we got to our truck stop on Friday but they'd changed the delivery date until today (Sunday) so we had to wait. We'll be heading of in about 2 hours to deliver and hopefully make our way to Washington (state not Washington DC) to get our load.
Its snowing right now, not too badly though.
On our way here we saw some really cool places, like snake river, where Evel Knievel jumped in 1974 which is pretty darn cool. It was very pretty around the hills/mountains but I didn't get any photos because as soon as the windshield was washed, it was covered again in the gunk from the road that they use to get rid of the ice (some places use a liquid, others put salt rocks, and some places use sand). which made it hard to get a nice picture. Oh well you guys will just have to take my word for it.
Well I need to get going, sorry it isn't a more interesting update.
take care guys xoxox
Its snowing right now, not too badly though.
On our way here we saw some really cool places, like snake river, where Evel Knievel jumped in 1974 which is pretty darn cool. It was very pretty around the hills/mountains but I didn't get any photos because as soon as the windshield was washed, it was covered again in the gunk from the road that they use to get rid of the ice (some places use a liquid, others put salt rocks, and some places use sand). which made it hard to get a nice picture. Oh well you guys will just have to take my word for it.
Well I need to get going, sorry it isn't a more interesting update.
take care guys xoxox
Friday, February 1, 2008
Update from Idaho
Update:
We made it to the next truck stop, the winds had died down by the time we had something to eat at the truck stop. After thinking about it we decided to try for the next truck stop and made it here fine. The winds weren't too big of a problem and neither was the snow.
We got our new appointment time for our load, and the company seemed to have changed their tune from "get there as quick as you can" to... "drive safely, we don't want you to have an accident" leading us to believe they might have had something go wrong with a driver in this part of the country, thats being hit by the storms so they realised that we weren't slacking, and the roads have been that crazy, opening and closing numerous times a day.
So its all good, the snow storm hitting at the moment is the last one that they had forecast for the area for the time being, so we should make it to the customer just fine.
We met up with another driver this morning at the truck stop we stopped at for lunch. He'd left Portland Oregon 3 days previous and was due in Wisconsin tomorrow. He'd only been able to go 100-200 miles a day on his way over here because of the storms. When you consider that you can go about 600-700miles in a day thats a huge difference. But its better to be safe than sorry especially when it comes to stormy weather.
I'll try to update tomorrow, but I'm not sure what our connection will be like so we'll have to see.
We made it to the next truck stop, the winds had died down by the time we had something to eat at the truck stop. After thinking about it we decided to try for the next truck stop and made it here fine. The winds weren't too big of a problem and neither was the snow.
We got our new appointment time for our load, and the company seemed to have changed their tune from "get there as quick as you can" to... "drive safely, we don't want you to have an accident" leading us to believe they might have had something go wrong with a driver in this part of the country, thats being hit by the storms so they realised that we weren't slacking, and the roads have been that crazy, opening and closing numerous times a day.
So its all good, the snow storm hitting at the moment is the last one that they had forecast for the area for the time being, so we should make it to the customer just fine.
We met up with another driver this morning at the truck stop we stopped at for lunch. He'd left Portland Oregon 3 days previous and was due in Wisconsin tomorrow. He'd only been able to go 100-200 miles a day on his way over here because of the storms. When you consider that you can go about 600-700miles in a day thats a huge difference. But its better to be safe than sorry especially when it comes to stormy weather.
I'll try to update tomorrow, but I'm not sure what our connection will be like so we'll have to see.
back on the road..kinda
Thursday 31st January:
We're back on the road! lol and we just ran over a tumbleweed! randomness for ya at 8:30am. Considering we've been up since 3:30am i'm entitled to random amusements. Who would've guessed..tumbleweeds in Idaho. It just kinda rolled onto the interstate and stopped about where the truck was heading towards hehe oh well.
Yesterday we got to drive for a wee bit, the winds died down to about 25mph (not particularly great but not bad compared to 70mph the day before). So we made it about 100miles before we decided not to continue. There was only 1 more truck stop between us and the closed roads and it wasn't worth risking not getting a parking spot or food. Not to mention when we were parking, you could see another wave of storm coming over the mountains, which was a pretty cool scene to watch. No photos though, I wasn't silly enough to stand out there in negative 30 degrees f to get photos! However I did get some photos from the first day the blizzard hit, but I haven't uploaded them yet..as soon as I do i'll post a couple for you guys. I don't know how well they'll turn out. Its hard to capture what its like in 6ft high snow drifts.
A few hours down the road... well we had to stop because of strong winds trying to blow us off the road. Not sure how long it'll take to pass or whether we'll get much further up the road. I'll update when I can. I just wanted to update this as quick as I could so you guys wouldn't worry about us.
take care xoxox
We're back on the road! lol and we just ran over a tumbleweed! randomness for ya at 8:30am. Considering we've been up since 3:30am i'm entitled to random amusements. Who would've guessed..tumbleweeds in Idaho. It just kinda rolled onto the interstate and stopped about where the truck was heading towards hehe oh well.
Yesterday we got to drive for a wee bit, the winds died down to about 25mph (not particularly great but not bad compared to 70mph the day before). So we made it about 100miles before we decided not to continue. There was only 1 more truck stop between us and the closed roads and it wasn't worth risking not getting a parking spot or food. Not to mention when we were parking, you could see another wave of storm coming over the mountains, which was a pretty cool scene to watch. No photos though, I wasn't silly enough to stand out there in negative 30 degrees f to get photos! However I did get some photos from the first day the blizzard hit, but I haven't uploaded them yet..as soon as I do i'll post a couple for you guys. I don't know how well they'll turn out. Its hard to capture what its like in 6ft high snow drifts.
A few hours down the road... well we had to stop because of strong winds trying to blow us off the road. Not sure how long it'll take to pass or whether we'll get much further up the road. I'll update when I can. I just wanted to update this as quick as I could so you guys wouldn't worry about us.
take care xoxox
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Fun stuff...
Monday 28th January:
Guess What!?! I'm back on the road hehe. Patrick came home the other night and I decided to go back out on the road with him. Our first load back out? Is to Oregon. So thats where we're heading. We're currently in Nebraska making our way there.
We had a bit of fun yesterday... but first I have to explain a bit about trucks, so hang in there with me. Trucks have 3 hoses going from the cab to the trailer. 1 is for the lights, and the other two are for breaks - a primary and an emergency. The emergency one (red) is the one we've had replaced twice now. The main (blue) keeps the breaks open so we can move, by forcing air through the line (on a truck, the breaks are always closed/engaged, the air keeps them open). So when you're travelling down the road, and you have issues with your main line, the emergency one will kick in and keep the air pressure up so the breaks don't kick in. While it will be okay, its something you should get checked out. So onto what happened yesterday, we were traveling through Iowa and i caught a glimpse of the truck shadow on the ground through my mirror and I noticed something moving around back there. I said something to pat and we pulled over at the next exit and he checked it out. We'd somehow managed to snap the blue (main) line, we're thinking that the cold temperatures had a lot to do with it becoming brittle and snapping. So we found the nearest truck stop and headed there. We made it without too much trouble. We caught a light, and in that time the pressure dropped a little too low and the truck wouldn't move. So we had to sit there and let it build up more pressure before we could go (much to the annoyance of the cars behind us). We got it replaced, and continued on our way, but it was a fun experience sitting in the middle of the road praying the truck could get more pressure and quickly.
Today we'll be crossing Nebraska and about half of Wyoming before we stop for the night, its about 600 miles give or take.
We're passing signs for the pony express outposts. Back in the wild west days when they used horse riders to deliver messages, aptly named the pony express. So every 15 miles they had little houses for the riders to relax, refresh their horses and get a good night sleep. Some of them are still around today though i'm not sure what kind of stat they're in. They're historical locations so i'd say they probably keep them in good condition as much as possible.
Oh we're about to pass "buffalo bill's ranch" how cool is that? unfortunately they don't have truck parking so we wont be able to stop. That would be one interesting place to visit with my camera some day.
Tuesday 29th January:
About 7am: Well the good news is we're parked, and made it here safely. The Bad news? we're stuck here in a jumble of trucks until the interstate reopens.
About 6 miles up the road from our exit an almighty storm hit, you couldn't see more than about 6 inches in front of you, which isn't too pretty when you've got about 50 or so trucks and a few cars thrown in for good measure. By the time we got up to the truck stop (took us 30 minutes to go 6 miles), it was chaos in the parking lot, they'd run out of parking spaces and the nearest truck stop was back a few miles but they were getting ready to close the other side of the interstate so that was a no go. They apparently opened the road up between here mile marker 209 and mile marker 155 where there's a small truck stop, which is already more than likely filled to the brim, just like this one, and just like the one thats back a few miles). So there's really no point going up to it, especially since its still dark outside.
wow, the kids have started on the CB, they're fighting and bickering. Everyone's patience is starting to wear thin. A lot of us have been stuck here since yesterday. The manager of the restaurant here said that the bad weather is moving away and that it should start clearing up today/tomorrow *sighs* At least the food is good, and there's clean bathrooms. I think the main thing people are waiting on is the wind to die down and the plows to come through.
10:30am: The wind is blowing really bad outside, which makes me glad that we don't have to leave the warm truck until lunchtime. Someone just broadcast the weather news, and its not looking good. Pat's decided we're not moving today. They closed the road, yet again. We've heard reports that the weather wont clear up until Saturday! I hope it clears up before then. Patrick called his dispatcher and told her what things are doing up here, and that its really really unlikely we'll make our delivery time in Oregon on Wednesday.
Bright side? we got ourselves a proper parking spot, rather than being stuck in the middle of the parking lot in a group of trucks. So yay, we don't have to worry too bad about blocking other people in.
I'll update again when I can, but don't worry about us. No load is worth our lives. So we'll stay right here until things clear up.
Guess What!?! I'm back on the road hehe. Patrick came home the other night and I decided to go back out on the road with him. Our first load back out? Is to Oregon. So thats where we're heading. We're currently in Nebraska making our way there.
We had a bit of fun yesterday... but first I have to explain a bit about trucks, so hang in there with me. Trucks have 3 hoses going from the cab to the trailer. 1 is for the lights, and the other two are for breaks - a primary and an emergency. The emergency one (red) is the one we've had replaced twice now. The main (blue) keeps the breaks open so we can move, by forcing air through the line (on a truck, the breaks are always closed/engaged, the air keeps them open). So when you're travelling down the road, and you have issues with your main line, the emergency one will kick in and keep the air pressure up so the breaks don't kick in. While it will be okay, its something you should get checked out. So onto what happened yesterday, we were traveling through Iowa and i caught a glimpse of the truck shadow on the ground through my mirror and I noticed something moving around back there. I said something to pat and we pulled over at the next exit and he checked it out. We'd somehow managed to snap the blue (main) line, we're thinking that the cold temperatures had a lot to do with it becoming brittle and snapping. So we found the nearest truck stop and headed there. We made it without too much trouble. We caught a light, and in that time the pressure dropped a little too low and the truck wouldn't move. So we had to sit there and let it build up more pressure before we could go (much to the annoyance of the cars behind us). We got it replaced, and continued on our way, but it was a fun experience sitting in the middle of the road praying the truck could get more pressure and quickly.
Today we'll be crossing Nebraska and about half of Wyoming before we stop for the night, its about 600 miles give or take.
We're passing signs for the pony express outposts. Back in the wild west days when they used horse riders to deliver messages, aptly named the pony express. So every 15 miles they had little houses for the riders to relax, refresh their horses and get a good night sleep. Some of them are still around today though i'm not sure what kind of stat they're in. They're historical locations so i'd say they probably keep them in good condition as much as possible.
Oh we're about to pass "buffalo bill's ranch" how cool is that? unfortunately they don't have truck parking so we wont be able to stop. That would be one interesting place to visit with my camera some day.
Tuesday 29th January:
About 7am: Well the good news is we're parked, and made it here safely. The Bad news? we're stuck here in a jumble of trucks until the interstate reopens.
About 6 miles up the road from our exit an almighty storm hit, you couldn't see more than about 6 inches in front of you, which isn't too pretty when you've got about 50 or so trucks and a few cars thrown in for good measure. By the time we got up to the truck stop (took us 30 minutes to go 6 miles), it was chaos in the parking lot, they'd run out of parking spaces and the nearest truck stop was back a few miles but they were getting ready to close the other side of the interstate so that was a no go. They apparently opened the road up between here mile marker 209 and mile marker 155 where there's a small truck stop, which is already more than likely filled to the brim, just like this one, and just like the one thats back a few miles). So there's really no point going up to it, especially since its still dark outside.
wow, the kids have started on the CB, they're fighting and bickering. Everyone's patience is starting to wear thin. A lot of us have been stuck here since yesterday. The manager of the restaurant here said that the bad weather is moving away and that it should start clearing up today/tomorrow *sighs* At least the food is good, and there's clean bathrooms. I think the main thing people are waiting on is the wind to die down and the plows to come through.
10:30am: The wind is blowing really bad outside, which makes me glad that we don't have to leave the warm truck until lunchtime. Someone just broadcast the weather news, and its not looking good. Pat's decided we're not moving today. They closed the road, yet again. We've heard reports that the weather wont clear up until Saturday! I hope it clears up before then. Patrick called his dispatcher and told her what things are doing up here, and that its really really unlikely we'll make our delivery time in Oregon on Wednesday.
Bright side? we got ourselves a proper parking spot, rather than being stuck in the middle of the parking lot in a group of trucks. So yay, we don't have to worry too bad about blocking other people in.
I'll update again when I can, but don't worry about us. No load is worth our lives. So we'll stay right here until things clear up.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Staying in for a couple of weeks....
Thursday 24th January:
I decided to take a break from being on the road for a couple of weeks, so I stayed behind at the house. Patrick left for the yard this morning, only to find out when he got there that there was something wrong with the truck that they had to put it back in for (i believe it had something to do with a hole in oil pan?), so he got recruited to go and pick up some leased trucks for the company with some other drivers. He's got his load which is pretty short so he'll pick it up early in the morning and deliver it, the customer its going to is only 3hrs away from the yard so thats cool.
Friday 25th January:
Pat called this morning, he was in Minnesota delivering then he had to pick up and bring a load back to Wisconsin. Fingers crossed they'll get him a load tomorrow rather than making him sit all weekend.
Things at the house are going pretty good despite the heat issue, as in our furnace is acting up, if it keep it up we'll have to call someone on Monday and get them to have a look. I'm sitting here enjoying subway for dinner (yum). Its starting to snow, so the roads are a little slick. We'll be staying in tonight and having a nice quiet evening.
I decided to take a break from being on the road for a couple of weeks, so I stayed behind at the house. Patrick left for the yard this morning, only to find out when he got there that there was something wrong with the truck that they had to put it back in for (i believe it had something to do with a hole in oil pan?), so he got recruited to go and pick up some leased trucks for the company with some other drivers. He's got his load which is pretty short so he'll pick it up early in the morning and deliver it, the customer its going to is only 3hrs away from the yard so thats cool.
Friday 25th January:
Pat called this morning, he was in Minnesota delivering then he had to pick up and bring a load back to Wisconsin. Fingers crossed they'll get him a load tomorrow rather than making him sit all weekend.
Things at the house are going pretty good despite the heat issue, as in our furnace is acting up, if it keep it up we'll have to call someone on Monday and get them to have a look. I'm sitting here enjoying subway for dinner (yum). Its starting to snow, so the roads are a little slick. We'll be staying in tonight and having a nice quiet evening.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
photo post....flowers, sunrises, rockets
Beautifully chilly morning in Alabama, but I absolutely loved the sunrise shot I got walking across the grounds at the welcome center for the state. I really love this photo and I hope you do too.
The Alabama state welcome center actually has a rocket! how cool is it. I didn't walk all the way over to it because it was extremely cold that morning. We've been past it a few times but never had time to stop when I had a decent camera with us. Next time I'll walk over and explore it a bit better.
Alabama's state creed. This was taken at the official welcome center for the state.
Memorial Highway sign in Alabama.
A really pretty coloured flower that caught my eye. I couldn't resist stopping and taking a photo despite the cold chilly weather.
Close up of a pretty flower in Alabama.
A really cute yellow flower. Despite it being extremely cold that morning, I had to stop and take a photo of this potted flower.
I don't remember what state this was in, but it was rather early one morning. I loved how bright and intense the colours were, and well the fact we'd been up since 2am made me a little wacky and camera happy. I don't even entirely mind the power/phone pole in the way.
Wow!
Firstly, let me say Hi and welcome to my new readers! My apologies if it took me awhile to get you the link to my blog. I have a horrible memory, thats my only excuse really. Its really nice to have this blog, it makes it a lot easier to let you guys know whats going on with us. Feel free to leave lots of comments and check back often! I've been slack lately about updating but in my defense, its been so busy! its nice to have a few days to rest, relax and catch up on things.
Yes! we're finally at home, and really enjoying our home time. Today I did some laundry, cleaned the house a little, played with settings on my computer to make it run a little better, which was interesting. Watched a little tv and played world of warcraft for a wee bit.
We're staying at home until Thursday when we're heading out on the road again for 2 weeks, so if you want to call tomorrow/tomorrow night would be a good opportunity.
Well i'm gonna go end this post and start organising the photos that i've been meaning to post for awhile! enjoy!
Yes! we're finally at home, and really enjoying our home time. Today I did some laundry, cleaned the house a little, played with settings on my computer to make it run a little better, which was interesting. Watched a little tv and played world of warcraft for a wee bit.
We're staying at home until Thursday when we're heading out on the road again for 2 weeks, so if you want to call tomorrow/tomorrow night would be a good opportunity.
Well i'm gonna go end this post and start organising the photos that i've been meaning to post for awhile! enjoy!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Wohooo my 50th Post! 4 day's worth of updates.
Thursday 17th January:
Early morning this morning, went from Tye, Texas to Ardmore Oklahoma. Delivered the load then went to pick up our next delivery in Tulsa. We got to go through Indian reservation area's today which was pretty cool.
They had some pretty crazy weather down here lately, there was a lot of damage to trees as we were going down the road. Pine trees, snapped in half!
Friday 18th January:
Unfortunately we wont be home on the 19th as we'd liked. The only load they had that they could give us which heads north, is in Louisiana. So we got a load going from Oklahoma to Louisiana (which we're currently on). That delivers today, then we're told the load going north wont be delivered until "early next week" which we take to mean monday or tuesday. Sorry to anyone who might've wanted to call this weekend.
They've decided to swap us out with a different load because the area that this load is meant to be going to only has loads heading towards california, which isn't the direction we want to go. Unfortunately the place we delivered to messed us around for awhile so we wont be able to get as far as we'd like tonight.
Stopped at a local small town truck stop tonight which was really good. They had a restaurant next door and since we were both hungry we stopped in for a bite before bed. There was a bunch of older people in there sitting around chatting. Was really nice to listen to. They were awesome. Really nice folks.
sleeeeeep...i need sleeeeeeep.
Saturday 19th January:
Started our day about 5am and headed to LIttle Rock, Arkansas to swap out loads. Got there and thankfully he was awake so we could swap loads and head out. We decided not to push too hard yesterday, our goal was Alorton, Illinois (near St Louis, Missouri). Pretty boring day for the most part. I read for awhile on our way to the truck stop, and for awhile once we got there. Even managed to get a little World of Warcraft playing done (you really need high speed connections to play it, so its not often on the road we get high speed, and time to play - had to make the most of it). I played for about an hour before we headed to bed.
Sunday 20th January:
Heading up to Richfield, Wisconsin tonight because its pretty close to where we're delivering tomorrow morning. I'm hoping that we'll get told to just head back to the yard without a load so we can go home for our home time.
I'm a bit sad because Shana is leaving to head back to college today. We've been working really damn hard to get back in time because she thought she could leave as late as Wednesday. Unfortunately the weather isn't looking good which means she's going to leave today so she doesn't have to rush through bad weather.
I'm really looking forward to having some time at the house to relax and get a few things done. We're only going to be in for 2 days this time, then back out for 2 weeks.
Random fact: Monday is Martin Luther King Jr's birthday here. Its celebrated on the 3rd monday in January.
Early morning this morning, went from Tye, Texas to Ardmore Oklahoma. Delivered the load then went to pick up our next delivery in Tulsa. We got to go through Indian reservation area's today which was pretty cool.
They had some pretty crazy weather down here lately, there was a lot of damage to trees as we were going down the road. Pine trees, snapped in half!
Friday 18th January:
Unfortunately we wont be home on the 19th as we'd liked. The only load they had that they could give us which heads north, is in Louisiana. So we got a load going from Oklahoma to Louisiana (which we're currently on). That delivers today, then we're told the load going north wont be delivered until "early next week" which we take to mean monday or tuesday. Sorry to anyone who might've wanted to call this weekend.
They've decided to swap us out with a different load because the area that this load is meant to be going to only has loads heading towards california, which isn't the direction we want to go. Unfortunately the place we delivered to messed us around for awhile so we wont be able to get as far as we'd like tonight.
Stopped at a local small town truck stop tonight which was really good. They had a restaurant next door and since we were both hungry we stopped in for a bite before bed. There was a bunch of older people in there sitting around chatting. Was really nice to listen to. They were awesome. Really nice folks.
sleeeeeep...i need sleeeeeeep.
Saturday 19th January:
Started our day about 5am and headed to LIttle Rock, Arkansas to swap out loads. Got there and thankfully he was awake so we could swap loads and head out. We decided not to push too hard yesterday, our goal was Alorton, Illinois (near St Louis, Missouri). Pretty boring day for the most part. I read for awhile on our way to the truck stop, and for awhile once we got there. Even managed to get a little World of Warcraft playing done (you really need high speed connections to play it, so its not often on the road we get high speed, and time to play - had to make the most of it). I played for about an hour before we headed to bed.
Sunday 20th January:
Heading up to Richfield, Wisconsin tonight because its pretty close to where we're delivering tomorrow morning. I'm hoping that we'll get told to just head back to the yard without a load so we can go home for our home time.
I'm a bit sad because Shana is leaving to head back to college today. We've been working really damn hard to get back in time because she thought she could leave as late as Wednesday. Unfortunately the weather isn't looking good which means she's going to leave today so she doesn't have to rush through bad weather.
I'm really looking forward to having some time at the house to relax and get a few things done. We're only going to be in for 2 days this time, then back out for 2 weeks.
Random fact: Monday is Martin Luther King Jr's birthday here. Its celebrated on the 3rd monday in January.
Friday, January 18, 2008
3 rolled into 1 update
Monday 14th January:
Yesterday was pretty cruisy, spend the day in Shreveport, Louisiana reading and waiting for this morning when we could deliver our load.
Got up early this morning, delivered our load. Played musical loads for a couple of hours until we finally got settled on one we could deliver yay. Went and picked it up and started heading towards where its delivering - El Paso, Texas. Got until Wednesday to get that delivered and then we'll be heading back towards the house (hopefully) for our home time on the 19th.
Not feeling particularly good tonight, the food was good.. i think. I got to try a dish called "pulled bbq pork" which was bits of pork strips fried, the best thing - the batter tasted just like batter they use on hot dogs and fish in new zealand. It was fabulous.
Tuesday 15th January:
Driving through the "countryside" in texas, the small towns and open fields are all around at the moment.
I didn't get a chance to tell you guys about what we saw in Louisiana the other day. Driving down the interstate in rural area's its not unusual to see crop spraying going on. There's signs all over warning about low flying planes and to be careful, keep an eye out for them. Well we were watching a little yellow plane flying around, circling getting ready to line up to spray a field, when he gets really really low to the ground and had the nerve to fly right between two trucks! It shocked the heck out of me, but I was glad we weren't one of the trucks he did that to. He could've been a little higher up and still got the field he was aiming for but he just wanted to show off I guess. I think I got a photo of the plane, and if it turned out okay i'll post it when I do my next photo post.
Here's an interesting fact about rural Texas: they like driving pickup trucks. Seriously! they're all over out here. I think in a period of about 20 minutes we saw only 2 or 3 vehicles that weren't pickup's. Its pretty awesome. The terrain around here, and the amount of farms, oil fields and such.
Wednesday 16th January:
Bit of an early morning this morning. We decided to head over to the customer, waited 2 hours before they got us in a door to unload, and we've just arrived at the second place to unload.
We've seen so much on our travels the past couple of days. We drove through this cute little town called "Stanton" which has a big sign up saying "Welcome to stanton, home to 3000 good folks and a few old sore heads". Makes me giggle every time.
The other 2 really odd things happening involve the border patrol by El Paso (since its right near the border with mexico they are kinda like an extra police force. Anyways on our way to El Paso there was obviously something going because they had about 10 patrol cars driving along the side of the interstate (in the shrub area off to the side, searching for something, as well as a helicopter! I've no idea what was going on though.
Lastly, today as we were approaching the check point (where they do searches and make sure you're not smuggling illegals into the country, they had cops about 10 miles down the road telling people to get into the right lane and slow down. Everyone was a little confused until we got up a little closer and realised there had been a bad crash involving a semi (which was laying on its side in the middle and across one lane either direction, as well as 3 cars that had damage. We saw ambulances and such go past, and a hazmat crew heading that way so my guess is that diesel fuel had leaked, but that no one was killed. There was so many cars from the local police, border patrol, state troopers, fire, ambulance workers... just to name a few. I'm glad everyone was okay.
As for us, we have an early delivery tomorrow so its an early night for us and a 3am start.
Yesterday was pretty cruisy, spend the day in Shreveport, Louisiana reading and waiting for this morning when we could deliver our load.
Got up early this morning, delivered our load. Played musical loads for a couple of hours until we finally got settled on one we could deliver yay. Went and picked it up and started heading towards where its delivering - El Paso, Texas. Got until Wednesday to get that delivered and then we'll be heading back towards the house (hopefully) for our home time on the 19th.
Not feeling particularly good tonight, the food was good.. i think. I got to try a dish called "pulled bbq pork" which was bits of pork strips fried, the best thing - the batter tasted just like batter they use on hot dogs and fish in new zealand. It was fabulous.
Tuesday 15th January:
Driving through the "countryside" in texas, the small towns and open fields are all around at the moment.
I didn't get a chance to tell you guys about what we saw in Louisiana the other day. Driving down the interstate in rural area's its not unusual to see crop spraying going on. There's signs all over warning about low flying planes and to be careful, keep an eye out for them. Well we were watching a little yellow plane flying around, circling getting ready to line up to spray a field, when he gets really really low to the ground and had the nerve to fly right between two trucks! It shocked the heck out of me, but I was glad we weren't one of the trucks he did that to. He could've been a little higher up and still got the field he was aiming for but he just wanted to show off I guess. I think I got a photo of the plane, and if it turned out okay i'll post it when I do my next photo post.
Here's an interesting fact about rural Texas: they like driving pickup trucks. Seriously! they're all over out here. I think in a period of about 20 minutes we saw only 2 or 3 vehicles that weren't pickup's. Its pretty awesome. The terrain around here, and the amount of farms, oil fields and such.
Wednesday 16th January:
Bit of an early morning this morning. We decided to head over to the customer, waited 2 hours before they got us in a door to unload, and we've just arrived at the second place to unload.
We've seen so much on our travels the past couple of days. We drove through this cute little town called "Stanton" which has a big sign up saying "Welcome to stanton, home to 3000 good folks and a few old sore heads". Makes me giggle every time.
The other 2 really odd things happening involve the border patrol by El Paso (since its right near the border with mexico they are kinda like an extra police force. Anyways on our way to El Paso there was obviously something going because they had about 10 patrol cars driving along the side of the interstate (in the shrub area off to the side, searching for something, as well as a helicopter! I've no idea what was going on though.
Lastly, today as we were approaching the check point (where they do searches and make sure you're not smuggling illegals into the country, they had cops about 10 miles down the road telling people to get into the right lane and slow down. Everyone was a little confused until we got up a little closer and realised there had been a bad crash involving a semi (which was laying on its side in the middle and across one lane either direction, as well as 3 cars that had damage. We saw ambulances and such go past, and a hazmat crew heading that way so my guess is that diesel fuel had leaked, but that no one was killed. There was so many cars from the local police, border patrol, state troopers, fire, ambulance workers... just to name a few. I'm glad everyone was okay.
As for us, we have an early delivery tomorrow so its an early night for us and a 3am start.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Its raining....its pouring
Friday 11th January:
Had a wonderful dinner last night and got a good night's sleep so everything is going wonderful today. Got to our delivery place with no hassle and it seems that what damage was caused by the storm last night isn't hindering traffic. Its beautiful and sunny out today, hard to believe how rough things were last night.
Got our weekend load just a few minutes ago, we're heading to Texas which is very cool, I like Texas (though i'm not too fond of traffic in the dallas/ft worth area its two huge cities right next to each other and it makes for really long back ups if there's an accident). Its about a 600 mile run so we'll have a nice leisurely trip over there from Alabama where we're currently at.
Saturday 12th January:
We made it to Louisiana tonight before we decided to stop. We're only about 3 hours from where we need to be on monday so its all good, we can have a relaxing day tomorrow.
It stormed a little today but it was after we'd parked up, so we ran inside and had an early dinner just incase it decided to get worse but it didn't. It rained for awhile, and I think it might actually be down to a light drizzle by now.
I've got a few photos I took the other day to post but I'll try uploading them tomorrow. As for now I'm playing around with a few settings on th blog because it seems people have been having issues trying to comment. I hope I can get it sorted :P because I love hearing from you guys. For some reason it doesn't email you to tell you i've responded, but keep checking back here, I might've!
If you notice a bunch of older posts turning it its because for some reason it saved them as drafts instead of posting them. Bah, silly blog.
Had a wonderful dinner last night and got a good night's sleep so everything is going wonderful today. Got to our delivery place with no hassle and it seems that what damage was caused by the storm last night isn't hindering traffic. Its beautiful and sunny out today, hard to believe how rough things were last night.
Got our weekend load just a few minutes ago, we're heading to Texas which is very cool, I like Texas (though i'm not too fond of traffic in the dallas/ft worth area its two huge cities right next to each other and it makes for really long back ups if there's an accident). Its about a 600 mile run so we'll have a nice leisurely trip over there from Alabama where we're currently at.
Saturday 12th January:
We made it to Louisiana tonight before we decided to stop. We're only about 3 hours from where we need to be on monday so its all good, we can have a relaxing day tomorrow.
It stormed a little today but it was after we'd parked up, so we ran inside and had an early dinner just incase it decided to get worse but it didn't. It rained for awhile, and I think it might actually be down to a light drizzle by now.
I've got a few photos I took the other day to post but I'll try uploading them tomorrow. As for now I'm playing around with a few settings on th blog because it seems people have been having issues trying to comment. I hope I can get it sorted :P because I love hearing from you guys. For some reason it doesn't email you to tell you i've responded, but keep checking back here, I might've!
If you notice a bunch of older posts turning it its because for some reason it saved them as drafts instead of posting them. Bah, silly blog.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Crazy Weather
Hi guys! all is going well on the road with us. We're currently in kentucky heading towards Alabama. We decided to stop due to rough weather in the area but we're safe where we are. There was a tornado watch out for an area nearby but that expired without any incidents. I just wanted let you guy know where we are so you wouldn't worry if you guys heard about the crazy weather going on here.
As for me i'm off to bed, we're getting up about 5am tomorrow so i'm going to catch an early night and get a good nights sleep.
take care guys!
As for me i'm off to bed, we're getting up about 5am tomorrow so i'm going to catch an early night and get a good nights sleep.
take care guys!
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Quick Update
Sunday 6th January:
At the moment we're sitting in Tennessee, only about half an hour from the state line with North Carolina where we're delivering tomorrow (though its not meant to be delivered until the 8th hehe, we're a day ahead of ourselves).
Had a pretty good day today, we ran hard to get up here because we heard the roads were a bit rough, so we wanted to have that little extra room to take it slow, but it was clear all the way up here.
Spent the evening reading and watching a little Stargate Atlantis.
Monday 7th January:
Delivered about 10am this morning and got our reload which is taking us back up to Wisconsin (but no home time - yet). We're spending the night just inside the Kentucky/Tennessee state line and we'll be leaving out of here early in the morning to get a full day of driving in.
Pretty uneventful day today really, we're just sitting here reading. Pat's reading "A dirty Job" by Christopher Moore, and i'm reading "Fluke, or I know why the winged whale sings" also by Christopher Moore. Had Hardee's for dinner tonight, yum. I actually prefer that to mcdonalds over here in america, I haven't had the greatest experiences with mcd's here.
well i'm about to head to bed, i've had a bit of a headache on and off today so hopefully some ibuprofen (panadol) and a good night's sleep will help get rid of it.
At the moment we're sitting in Tennessee, only about half an hour from the state line with North Carolina where we're delivering tomorrow (though its not meant to be delivered until the 8th hehe, we're a day ahead of ourselves).
Had a pretty good day today, we ran hard to get up here because we heard the roads were a bit rough, so we wanted to have that little extra room to take it slow, but it was clear all the way up here.
Spent the evening reading and watching a little Stargate Atlantis.
Monday 7th January:
Delivered about 10am this morning and got our reload which is taking us back up to Wisconsin (but no home time - yet). We're spending the night just inside the Kentucky/Tennessee state line and we'll be leaving out of here early in the morning to get a full day of driving in.
Pretty uneventful day today really, we're just sitting here reading. Pat's reading "A dirty Job" by Christopher Moore, and i'm reading "Fluke, or I know why the winged whale sings" also by Christopher Moore. Had Hardee's for dinner tonight, yum. I actually prefer that to mcdonalds over here in america, I haven't had the greatest experiences with mcd's here.
well i'm about to head to bed, i've had a bit of a headache on and off today so hopefully some ibuprofen (panadol) and a good night's sleep will help get rid of it.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Yes we're at the house...
So we're at the house now! YAY. We actually got to go home on the 31st but by the time we stopped for dinner and got a few things done it was getting a little late.
Tuesday we relaxed around the house, I caught up on a couple of the things I needed to do while at home so that was very good. We also went the movies last night to see "Aliens VS Predators Requiem". After we got home we watched some DVD's we rented yesterday including "War" (Starring Jet Li), Balls of Fury (comedy), Stardust (Fantasy based on a book by Neil Gaiman) and Resident Evil: Extinction. They weren't half bad, though I wasn't as impressed with "War" as I though I would be.
Yesterday we took Marj and Alan to the city to see "The Golden Compass" (we had already seen it, they hadn't), our local theater guy only had it playing for a week or two which sucks. Oh well it gave us an excuse to go into the city and have a look around.
If anyone wants to call us, any time tomorrow/tomorrow night would be best because we're heading back out on the road on Saturday (our time).
We finally remember to get batteries for my Electronic penguin called Simon. He's so cute, you plug him into speakers and he plays the music instead, as well as chirps, dances and plays a little light show on his belly. Its so cute! It was a birthday present from my brother in law.
Anyways, I'm really really tired so I'm going to have an early night (I say as it is about to hit midnight). So I'll catch up with you guys again soon.
Tuesday we relaxed around the house, I caught up on a couple of the things I needed to do while at home so that was very good. We also went the movies last night to see "Aliens VS Predators Requiem". After we got home we watched some DVD's we rented yesterday including "War" (Starring Jet Li), Balls of Fury (comedy), Stardust (Fantasy based on a book by Neil Gaiman) and Resident Evil: Extinction. They weren't half bad, though I wasn't as impressed with "War" as I though I would be.
Yesterday we took Marj and Alan to the city to see "The Golden Compass" (we had already seen it, they hadn't), our local theater guy only had it playing for a week or two which sucks. Oh well it gave us an excuse to go into the city and have a look around.
If anyone wants to call us, any time tomorrow/tomorrow night would be best because we're heading back out on the road on Saturday (our time).
We finally remember to get batteries for my Electronic penguin called Simon. He's so cute, you plug him into speakers and he plays the music instead, as well as chirps, dances and plays a little light show on his belly. Its so cute! It was a birthday present from my brother in law.
Anyways, I'm really really tired so I'm going to have an early night (I say as it is about to hit midnight). So I'll catch up with you guys again soon.
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