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
Showing posts with label Oregon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oregon. Show all posts
Friday, February 8, 2008
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
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.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Thursday 22nd November:
We're on our way back to Wisconsin - slowly I might add.Things are going pretty good though. I survived the mountains and i'm not as nervous about them as I used to be so thats good.
We passed through area's with snow today!!! Mountain area's in Wyoming and Nebraska have some snow, and yes i did get photos. Its a sure sign that winter is almost here and for it to have arrived for Thanksgiving day is pretty cool. Yesterday when we were coming through Utah we saw little patches of snow, but not nearly as much as we've seen today. Word from the weather people is that Wisconsin has a bit of snow at the moment, but what remains to be seen is whether it'll be there when we get there.
This load was meant to be delivered on Friday but we're probably not going to make it until about midday on Saturday due to some issues at one of the shippers.
Got to see two new states this trip which made me happy - we've now seen Oregon and Idaho! Coming out of the hills in Idaho as the sun was rising was so beautiful, I wish my camera was able to capture stuff like that but it can't, and at least I got to experience it first hand, and that memory will stay with me. Oh and we got to drive through an Indian reservation in Nevada too! which was cool, it was about 3am so there wasn't really anyone around except the wildlife (saw a couple of wolves and a mouse who was running across the highway - he made it by the way).
Just parked up in North Platte, Nebraska and I was really happy when i realised there were snow flurries! Unfortunately they didn't stick around for long, but it was still pretty while it lasted.
Dinner was absolutely delicious tonight, the truck stop we're at was having a thanksgiving day buffet including turkey, baked ham, stuffing, mashed spuds, gravy (light and dark), mac n cheese, green beans, corn... just to name a few things. Then, the desert bar had this really yummy thing called "chocolate brownie overload" it was chocolate brownies, with fudge in the middle, topped with this white chocolate frosting and brown chocolate frosting... oooh it was good, but i could only manage part of a serving because it was so sweet. Pat ended up having bread pudding and this banana pudding thing which looked quite nice. It was so busy in there though, they had a big line of people waiting to be seated, and the poor waiter's and waitresses were run off their feet.
Sunday 25th November:
Made it back to Wisconsin fine, and even got to spend last night at the house doing laundry and catching up with house mates. It was fun. We played a little WoW, watched a bit of tv, had showers, did laundry and all that jazz then went to bed. Its a shame we couldn't be there longer but thats okay because we'll be back there in a couple of weeks.
Our next load is taking us to West Virginia, which is on the eastern side of America. Its kinda hilly with a few mountains thrown in for good measure, so it should be a beautiful sight over there at the moment.
I uploaded some of the photos i took to and from California to the laptop last night so i'll post them online a little bit later (the internet connection here isn't that great so it would take ages just to upload on of them). Hopefully we'll get a good signal at the place we're stopping at tonight. That was one of the things about going out to California, turns out the provider we use doesn't cover the west coast as well as we thought, oh well we didn't need to use it all that often while we were over there.
Oh when we were coming back from California we saw this amazing natural formation called "The Devil's Slide" I didn't manage to get a photo in time but I found a link to one online that I thought you'd like to see http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking/display/6049c216-17ab-4eb2-9c8f-d1db78188eb5.jpg
I think i'm going to post this up now, and i'll put the photos i did take, up later tonight if we have a good connection - if not then i'll try for tomorrow :)
take care guys,
Love Corina xoxoxox
We're on our way back to Wisconsin - slowly I might add.Things are going pretty good though. I survived the mountains and i'm not as nervous about them as I used to be so thats good.
We passed through area's with snow today!!! Mountain area's in Wyoming and Nebraska have some snow, and yes i did get photos. Its a sure sign that winter is almost here and for it to have arrived for Thanksgiving day is pretty cool. Yesterday when we were coming through Utah we saw little patches of snow, but not nearly as much as we've seen today. Word from the weather people is that Wisconsin has a bit of snow at the moment, but what remains to be seen is whether it'll be there when we get there.
This load was meant to be delivered on Friday but we're probably not going to make it until about midday on Saturday due to some issues at one of the shippers.
Got to see two new states this trip which made me happy - we've now seen Oregon and Idaho! Coming out of the hills in Idaho as the sun was rising was so beautiful, I wish my camera was able to capture stuff like that but it can't, and at least I got to experience it first hand, and that memory will stay with me. Oh and we got to drive through an Indian reservation in Nevada too! which was cool, it was about 3am so there wasn't really anyone around except the wildlife (saw a couple of wolves and a mouse who was running across the highway - he made it by the way).
Just parked up in North Platte, Nebraska and I was really happy when i realised there were snow flurries! Unfortunately they didn't stick around for long, but it was still pretty while it lasted.
Dinner was absolutely delicious tonight, the truck stop we're at was having a thanksgiving day buffet including turkey, baked ham, stuffing, mashed spuds, gravy (light and dark), mac n cheese, green beans, corn... just to name a few things. Then, the desert bar had this really yummy thing called "chocolate brownie overload" it was chocolate brownies, with fudge in the middle, topped with this white chocolate frosting and brown chocolate frosting... oooh it was good, but i could only manage part of a serving because it was so sweet. Pat ended up having bread pudding and this banana pudding thing which looked quite nice. It was so busy in there though, they had a big line of people waiting to be seated, and the poor waiter's and waitresses were run off their feet.
Sunday 25th November:
Made it back to Wisconsin fine, and even got to spend last night at the house doing laundry and catching up with house mates. It was fun. We played a little WoW, watched a bit of tv, had showers, did laundry and all that jazz then went to bed. Its a shame we couldn't be there longer but thats okay because we'll be back there in a couple of weeks.
Our next load is taking us to West Virginia, which is on the eastern side of America. Its kinda hilly with a few mountains thrown in for good measure, so it should be a beautiful sight over there at the moment.
I uploaded some of the photos i took to and from California to the laptop last night so i'll post them online a little bit later (the internet connection here isn't that great so it would take ages just to upload on of them). Hopefully we'll get a good signal at the place we're stopping at tonight. That was one of the things about going out to California, turns out the provider we use doesn't cover the west coast as well as we thought, oh well we didn't need to use it all that often while we were over there.
Oh when we were coming back from California we saw this amazing natural formation called "The Devil's Slide" I didn't manage to get a photo in time but I found a link to one online that I thought you'd like to see http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking/display/6049c216-17ab-4eb2-9c8f-d1db78188eb5.jpg
I think i'm going to post this up now, and i'll put the photos i did take, up later tonight if we have a good connection - if not then i'll try for tomorrow :)
take care guys,
Love Corina xoxoxox
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