Saturday July 11th 2009
Cities/States driven through: Lincoln Nebraska, Omaha Nebraska, St Joseph Missouri, Kansas City Missouri, St Louis Missouri, Illinois
Saturday morning we finally get our load offer at 9:15. Drive up to Kellogg’s in Omaha NE and take a load to Breinigsville Pennsylvania just southwest of Allentown which is just to the north of Philidelphia! The holy land! You see, I bleed green. I’m a die-hard Philadelphia Eagles fan! Although this isn’t going right into Philly, at least I’ll be in the area. I’ll definitely be buying some gifts and souvenirs. I call everyone and rub it in. But, I spoke too soon. We get another message on the Qualcomm telling us that they need to give that run to someone else so they can get up there for their home time. Home time? What about my selfish needs??? Anyway, they give us a load from Kellogg’s to Atlanta Georgia instead. Either way, I’m glad to be out of the Crete terminal. I get a brief look at my home city of Omaha. At Kellogg’s, it’s a quick drop & hook. We head out of Omaha, into Iowa, and down into Missouri. We pass Worlds Of Fun. I was just there last summer with my son and nieces. I hear the built a new roller coaster. I wanna go there again!
Somewhere along the way it starts to rain. It quickly intensifies to a down pour.
Saturday morning we finally get our load offer at 9:15. Drive up to Kellogg’s in Omaha NE and take a load to Breinigsville Pennsylvania just southwest of Allentown which is just to the north of Philidelphia! The holy land! You see, I bleed green. I’m a die-hard Philadelphia Eagles fan! Although this isn’t going right into Philly, at least I’ll be in the area. I’ll definitely be buying some gifts and souvenirs. I call everyone and rub it in. But, I spoke too soon. We get another message on the Qualcomm telling us that they need to give that run to someone else so they can get up there for their home time. Home time? What about my selfish needs??? Anyway, they give us a load from Kellogg’s to Atlanta Georgia instead. Either way, I’m glad to be out of the Crete terminal. I get a brief look at my home city of Omaha. At Kellogg’s, it’s a quick drop & hook. We head out of Omaha, into Iowa, and down into Missouri. We pass Worlds Of Fun. I was just there last summer with my son and nieces. I hear the built a new roller coaster. I wanna go there again!
Somewhere along the way it starts to rain. It quickly intensifies to a down pour.
Hammer Down Thru The Pouring Rain
White knuckled, gripping the steering wheel. Leaning forward in the seat as if that’s going to help see between the raindrops. Eyes wide open, slowly narrowing to a squint. Is that a car ahead in the rainy murk? If you can see their taillights, you’re already too close. My foot covers the brake pedal ready to react if necessary. 80,000 pounds barreling down the Interstate. The thought of hydroplaning pops in my head. Jackknife? Peering into the gray, taillights become more visible through the rain as I draw nearer. The rain is coming down so hard, I don’t think the wipers are doing any good. The water on the windshield is distorting the outside world into a gray swirling blur. The water splashed up by other vehicles only intensifies the effect. Some cars slow to a crawl in a panic. Others blast past as if they’ve got some special vision that allows them to see through the downpour like some kind of superhero. The lines in the road don’t start becoming visible until about 20 feet away, just enough to keep you on coarse, but even they disappeared often. Grip the wheel tighter and hope. Hammer down.
The rain would let up every now and then. I could tell by the billboards that I was driving across the part of America where the Bible Belt is overlapped by the Porno Belt. Good and Evil doing battle through advertisement.
In Wentzville Missouri was a Muffler Man. I believe it was supposed to be Paul Bunyan?
We drive through St Louis right by the Arch.
We drive right by the St Louis Rams stadium and into Illinois.
We slept in Okawville Illinois east of St Louis at a small Pilot truck stop. They didn’t have internet. We were practically parked in a BK drive thru that was attached to the truck stop. We had to walk through the drive thru to get to the building.
The rain would let up every now and then. I could tell by the billboards that I was driving across the part of America where the Bible Belt is overlapped by the Porno Belt. Good and Evil doing battle through advertisement.
In Wentzville Missouri was a Muffler Man. I believe it was supposed to be Paul Bunyan?
We drive through St Louis right by the Arch.
We drive right by the St Louis Rams stadium and into Illinois.
We slept in Okawville Illinois east of St Louis at a small Pilot truck stop. They didn’t have internet. We were practically parked in a BK drive thru that was attached to the truck stop. We had to walk through the drive thru to get to the building.
Sunday July 12th 2009
Cities/States: Illinois, Paducah Kentucky, Clarksville Tennessee, Nashville Tennessee, Chattanooga Tennessee, Murfreesboro Tennessee, Marietta GA, Alabama
I got up before Al, so I went in to Burger King for breakfast. Then we continued on. On I-57 was a water tower painted to look like a golf ball on a tee. North of Paducah was a billboard for a giant Superman statue and Superman museum. Thor would love that! He’s a huge Superman fan. I also saw a sign for the Bell Witch Cave. Hmm, sounds interesting.
Then on into Tennessee, and through Nashville. I saw another stadium. I doubt it was the Titans. Maybe college? Maybe baseball?
South of Nashville I got my first taste of Mountain driving. 6% downgrade for 4 miles. The main danger of driving through mountains in a truck is what is called “brake fade”. If you ride your brakes too much, they begin to fail due to the heat of the friction. That’s why you have to put your truck into a lower gear and put your Jake Brake (engine brake) on to hold you back instead of riding your brakes. There’s ramps made of sand designed for runaway trucks. If you lose your brakes, hang on for dear life and look for a runaway truck ramp!
Since we weren’t supposed to drop our load until Tuesday, we planned on Tcalling it at the Crete terminal in Marietta Georgia. I drove through to the Crete where we got to shower, do laundry, and get a little bit of their very limited internet (most sites were blocked) While waiting for laundry, we had to sit and listen to a trainer who was incredibly annoying and full of it. We caught him in several lies. He was complaining about how his last student fired him after one week. One week? I could barely tolerate the 15-20 minutes I was around him. He made Al seem so much better! As soon as our laundry was done, we headed out. Both of us couldn’t wait to get away from that guy. When we got out to the truck, my friends band The Derailers was playing on “Willies Place” on XM radio. It was their song "Cold Beer, Hot Women, and Cool Country Music". I told Al, “Hey, it’s the Derailers!” He proceeded to continue to talk about that other trainer. No, you don’t understand. The Derailers are on the radio so shut up! We drove into Alabama where we stayed at a rest area.
I got up before Al, so I went in to Burger King for breakfast. Then we continued on. On I-57 was a water tower painted to look like a golf ball on a tee. North of Paducah was a billboard for a giant Superman statue and Superman museum. Thor would love that! He’s a huge Superman fan. I also saw a sign for the Bell Witch Cave. Hmm, sounds interesting.
Then on into Tennessee, and through Nashville. I saw another stadium. I doubt it was the Titans. Maybe college? Maybe baseball?South of Nashville I got my first taste of Mountain driving. 6% downgrade for 4 miles. The main danger of driving through mountains in a truck is what is called “brake fade”. If you ride your brakes too much, they begin to fail due to the heat of the friction. That’s why you have to put your truck into a lower gear and put your Jake Brake (engine brake) on to hold you back instead of riding your brakes. There’s ramps made of sand designed for runaway trucks. If you lose your brakes, hang on for dear life and look for a runaway truck ramp!
Since we weren’t supposed to drop our load until Tuesday, we planned on Tcalling it at the Crete terminal in Marietta Georgia. I drove through to the Crete where we got to shower, do laundry, and get a little bit of their very limited internet (most sites were blocked) While waiting for laundry, we had to sit and listen to a trainer who was incredibly annoying and full of it. We caught him in several lies. He was complaining about how his last student fired him after one week. One week? I could barely tolerate the 15-20 minutes I was around him. He made Al seem so much better! As soon as our laundry was done, we headed out. Both of us couldn’t wait to get away from that guy. When we got out to the truck, my friends band The Derailers was playing on “Willies Place” on XM radio. It was their song "Cold Beer, Hot Women, and Cool Country Music". I told Al, “Hey, it’s the Derailers!” He proceeded to continue to talk about that other trainer. No, you don’t understand. The Derailers are on the radio so shut up! We drove into Alabama where we stayed at a rest area.
Monday July 13th 2009
Cities/States: Montgomery Alabama, Mobile Alabama, Biloxi Mississippi, New Orleans Louisiana, Baton Rouge Louisiana, Houston Texas.
We leave the rest area and head south on I-85. The rain continually gets heavier, finally reaching a full-blown downpour by the time we reached Montgomery Alabama during morning rush hour. On I-65 southbound, the rain lets up. It’s still overcast. We pass a billboard for the Hank Williams Museum. A little further down in Hank Williams road. We go over a very long bridge that crosses over a couple rivers, creeks, and a lake.
I thought the bridge was very long, but, little did I know, I would see much longer soon.
We cross over into Mississippi.
We cross an even longer bridge over what Al tells me is a bayou. Sweet! It’s that tall grassy stuff that I always see airboats cruising through on TV.
We pass another stretch of bayou that is on fire. I don’t know if it’s a natural fire or some kind of controlled burn off. Then we passed a sign that read “Entering Stennis Space Center Buffer Zone.” Buffer zone? I look up to make sure a landing capsule isn’t going to fall on my head.
Then into Louisiana.
While driving on I-10 through Louisiana, I missed my turn onto I-12 which worked out for the better (for me) because it took us right through New Orleans instead of bypassing it. There were a lot of damaged and abandoned buildings that I assumed were remnants of Hurricane Katrina.
I look at a map and realize that ever since Mobile Alabama we’d been skipping across the edge of the Gulf Of Mexico, but it was always just out of view. I finally get my first view of the Gulf waters in near New Orleans.
I see the Saints stadium.
Then I see some cemeteries where all the crypts are above ground. Very creepy!
Then we cruised through Baton Rouge and stopped at Gross Tete where we ate and switched seats. I had driven 446 mile today.
While driving over a bridge over the Henderson Swamp east of Lafayette, I saw a gator floating in the water.
We crossed into Texas.
We drove past Houston at night, going to the northeast of the downtown area. I was able to see the downtown skyline off in the distance but, mostly all I saw was the outskirts of town. It was getting late so we decided, instead of going straight to the receivers, we’d just find a place to park for the night. North of Houston, on I-45, at exit 64, there’s a large Flying J truck stop. Large…and full. We do a couple laps through the parking lot…nothing. We check our handy dandy truck stop guide and see that if we backtrack one mile, there’s a small Sunmart truck stop…somewhere. We can’t find it. So we decide to get back on I-45 and head north to a small Sunmart truckstop at exit 73 that charges for parking. At this point we were willing to pay for parking. But, just like the other Sunmart, we couldn’t find it. They sure do hide their Sunmarts good. So we decide to head further north. The next closest place is the receiver. They can’t take our load until tomorrow and they don’t have any available parking. Looks like we’re heading further north still. We didn’t want to go all the way up to exit 118, but it looks like we’re going to have to. We wonder if there’s a rest area between here and there. I check the atlas and, sure enough, up the road away is a rest area with no bathrooms. That will work! Well, it would have worked if we could have found it. I noticed in the atlas that several more miles north was another set of rest areas (with no bathrooms). This time we find it! It’s a picnic area. We pull in. There’s one truck parked there already. Soon after we pull in, several more trucks pull in and fill the place. Good thing we got there when we did.
When we parked, I decide I need to go find a nice tree to point at. I got out of the truck, took a couple steps, and saw something moving around in the dark. Is that a possum? After looking at it for a bit I realize that, no, that’s no possum…it’s an armadillo! I tiptoe back to the truck to grab my camera. I proceed to sneak up on the strange creature. Luck has it, he (she?) happens to be sniffing around about 10 feet beyond a garbage can. So, I sneak over to the garbage can and his behind it. The armadillo was busy rootin’ around in the grass. He’d lift up a sheet of dried grass clippings and sniff around under it. I’d take a picture when his head was buried so he wouldn’t get startled and run away. But, it was too dark, and the photos were just complete blackness. So I turned the flash on. It lit him up a bit in the pictures, but he was still too far away to get a good picture. So, each time he’d stick his head down in the grass, I’d move a little closer. I got to within five feet of him. I was standing completely in the open taking pictures with the flash on, and he was still oblivious to the fact that I was there. The flash on my camers barely works, so the pictures still aren’t turning out. Then I remember the small flashlight I carry on my key ring. I shine the flashlight on him and take pictures when his head is not under the grass, I’m only about 3 feet away, and he still doesn’t know I’m there! I finally get a couple of relatively successful pictures. Then the armadillo starts moving toward me still unaware of my presence. He gets about 1 foot away from me, and, like a little girl, I panic. I took a step back. The armadillo finally realizes, in surprise, that I’m there, turns, and slowly waddles off into the darkness.
We leave the rest area and head south on I-85. The rain continually gets heavier, finally reaching a full-blown downpour by the time we reached Montgomery Alabama during morning rush hour. On I-65 southbound, the rain lets up. It’s still overcast. We pass a billboard for the Hank Williams Museum. A little further down in Hank Williams road. We go over a very long bridge that crosses over a couple rivers, creeks, and a lake.
I thought the bridge was very long, but, little did I know, I would see much longer soon.
We cross over into Mississippi.
We cross an even longer bridge over what Al tells me is a bayou. Sweet! It’s that tall grassy stuff that I always see airboats cruising through on TV. 
We pass another stretch of bayou that is on fire. I don’t know if it’s a natural fire or some kind of controlled burn off. Then we passed a sign that read “Entering Stennis Space Center Buffer Zone.” Buffer zone? I look up to make sure a landing capsule isn’t going to fall on my head.
Then into Louisiana.
While driving on I-10 through Louisiana, I missed my turn onto I-12 which worked out for the better (for me) because it took us right through New Orleans instead of bypassing it. There were a lot of damaged and abandoned buildings that I assumed were remnants of Hurricane Katrina. 
I look at a map and realize that ever since Mobile Alabama we’d been skipping across the edge of the Gulf Of Mexico, but it was always just out of view. I finally get my first view of the Gulf waters in near New Orleans.
I see the Saints stadium.
Then I see some cemeteries where all the crypts are above ground. Very creepy!
Then we cruised through Baton Rouge and stopped at Gross Tete where we ate and switched seats. I had driven 446 mile today.
While driving over a bridge over the Henderson Swamp east of Lafayette, I saw a gator floating in the water.
We crossed into Texas.
We drove past Houston at night, going to the northeast of the downtown area. I was able to see the downtown skyline off in the distance but, mostly all I saw was the outskirts of town. It was getting late so we decided, instead of going straight to the receivers, we’d just find a place to park for the night. North of Houston, on I-45, at exit 64, there’s a large Flying J truck stop. Large…and full. We do a couple laps through the parking lot…nothing. We check our handy dandy truck stop guide and see that if we backtrack one mile, there’s a small Sunmart truck stop…somewhere. We can’t find it. So we decide to get back on I-45 and head north to a small Sunmart truckstop at exit 73 that charges for parking. At this point we were willing to pay for parking. But, just like the other Sunmart, we couldn’t find it. They sure do hide their Sunmarts good. So we decide to head further north. The next closest place is the receiver. They can’t take our load until tomorrow and they don’t have any available parking. Looks like we’re heading further north still. We didn’t want to go all the way up to exit 118, but it looks like we’re going to have to. We wonder if there’s a rest area between here and there. I check the atlas and, sure enough, up the road away is a rest area with no bathrooms. That will work! Well, it would have worked if we could have found it. I noticed in the atlas that several more miles north was another set of rest areas (with no bathrooms). This time we find it! It’s a picnic area. We pull in. There’s one truck parked there already. Soon after we pull in, several more trucks pull in and fill the place. Good thing we got there when we did.
When we parked, I decide I need to go find a nice tree to point at. I got out of the truck, took a couple steps, and saw something moving around in the dark. Is that a possum? After looking at it for a bit I realize that, no, that’s no possum…it’s an armadillo! I tiptoe back to the truck to grab my camera. I proceed to sneak up on the strange creature. Luck has it, he (she?) happens to be sniffing around about 10 feet beyond a garbage can. So, I sneak over to the garbage can and his behind it. The armadillo was busy rootin’ around in the grass. He’d lift up a sheet of dried grass clippings and sniff around under it. I’d take a picture when his head was buried so he wouldn’t get startled and run away. But, it was too dark, and the photos were just complete blackness. So I turned the flash on. It lit him up a bit in the pictures, but he was still too far away to get a good picture. So, each time he’d stick his head down in the grass, I’d move a little closer. I got to within five feet of him. I was standing completely in the open taking pictures with the flash on, and he was still oblivious to the fact that I was there. The flash on my camers barely works, so the pictures still aren’t turning out. Then I remember the small flashlight I carry on my key ring. I shine the flashlight on him and take pictures when his head is not under the grass, I’m only about 3 feet away, and he still doesn’t know I’m there! I finally get a couple of relatively successful pictures. Then the armadillo starts moving toward me still unaware of my presence. He gets about 1 foot away from me, and, like a little girl, I panic. I took a step back. The armadillo finally realizes, in surprise, that I’m there, turns, and slowly waddles off into the darkness.
Tuesday July 14th 2009
Cities/States: Houston Texas, Alexandria Loiusiana
We wake up at the picnic area. Some of the other trucks had already left. I eat breakfast at the picnic table as I put my recollections of the armadillo encounter down on paper. I’m enjoy the Texas outdoors & just being out of the truck. Ahhh, nature. Well, as much nature as I can get at the side of the interstate. As I’m trying to enjoy nature, nature calls. Al’s got to poop. We gotta get in the truck and roll…now. So, we head back south down I-45. Then we head to the receiver. They get us unloaded early. We get a load offer right away. Deadhead 260 miles to Pineville Louisiana (Proctor & Gamble), drop part of the load in new Albany Mississippi then take the rest to Clarksville Arkansas. 692 miles plus 260 miles deadhead = 952 miles. We stop briefly in Houston for lunch at the Flying J then head out.
While cruising on I-10 in Louisiana, a Sons Of Silence biker screams past us. We head Noth on US165. A little ways north we pass a roadside cemetery. And I mean roadside! It was about 5 feet from the road. No fence. About 20 above ground graves arranged in two rows. We arrive at Proctor & Gamble and find that we cannot drop our load early. We’re to come back in the morning at our scheduled time.
We wake up at the picnic area. Some of the other trucks had already left. I eat breakfast at the picnic table as I put my recollections of the armadillo encounter down on paper. I’m enjoy the Texas outdoors & just being out of the truck. Ahhh, nature. Well, as much nature as I can get at the side of the interstate. As I’m trying to enjoy nature, nature calls. Al’s got to poop. We gotta get in the truck and roll…now. So, we head back south down I-45. Then we head to the receiver. They get us unloaded early. We get a load offer right away. Deadhead 260 miles to Pineville Louisiana (Proctor & Gamble), drop part of the load in new Albany Mississippi then take the rest to Clarksville Arkansas. 692 miles plus 260 miles deadhead = 952 miles. We stop briefly in Houston for lunch at the Flying J then head out.
While cruising on I-10 in Louisiana, a Sons Of Silence biker screams past us. We head Noth on US165. A little ways north we pass a roadside cemetery. And I mean roadside! It was about 5 feet from the road. No fence. About 20 above ground graves arranged in two rows. We arrive at Proctor & Gamble and find that we cannot drop our load early. We’re to come back in the morning at our scheduled time.
Wednesday July 15th 2009
We stop at Walmart in the morning for provisions before returning to P & G. We find out that we can’t pick up at our scheduled time (10am) either. “Check back in a couple hours.” We go to McDonalds. Al eats breakfast, I have coffee and use the internet. We head back to P & G at noon. Still no news.
This is a huge operation here at Proctor & Gamble. They occupy probably a square mile of land. There’s hundreds of trailers. Trucks are coming and going constantly. There’s so much waiting that goes on here, the even have trucker camp sites. Waiting trucks line all the streets.
It’s 7:30pm now and we still don’t have our load. I’ve been for a walk. We went to Walmart again. I did everything I could to pass the time.
This is getting ridiculous! We finally give up hope of getting our load today and we go to bed.
This is a huge operation here at Proctor & Gamble. They occupy probably a square mile of land. There’s hundreds of trailers. Trucks are coming and going constantly. There’s so much waiting that goes on here, the even have trucker camp sites. Waiting trucks line all the streets.
It’s 7:30pm now and we still don’t have our load. I’ve been for a walk. We went to Walmart again. I did everything I could to pass the time.
This is getting ridiculous! We finally give up hope of getting our load today and we go to bed.Thursday July 16th 2009
I wake up to find that we finally got our load. We left Pineville at 5:30am, 18 ½ hours late. We’re heading to a Walmart Distribution Center in New Albany Mississippi just northwest of Tupelo, birthplace of The King. The only excitement in the day was when Al missed a turn so we had to take a cool, scenic, off-the-beaten-path highway. I thought it was awesome. Al, apparently doesn’t like looking at stuff. I’ll point something out, and he won’t even turn his head. I don’t think I’d ever get tired of looking at the scenery.
Walmart allows us to drop early. Then I drive to Clarksville Arkansas to drop the rest of our load at another Walmart Distribution Center.
We get another load offer. Rogers Arkansas (Clorox) to Minooka Illinois. 677 miles.
Walmart allows us to drop early. Then I drive to Clarksville Arkansas to drop the rest of our load at another Walmart Distribution Center.
We get another load offer. Rogers Arkansas (Clorox) to Minooka Illinois. 677 miles.
Friday July 17th 2009
We head out at 8am. Southern Missouri is really cool. We drove through a tunnel, then past Devils Den State Park.
We got to the shipper (Clorox) and have to wait a long time for them to load us up.
In Illinois, near Livingston and New Douglas is some awesome place called Pink Elephant Antiques that has a pink elephant out front. There’s also a Twistee Treat giant ice cream cone building and “Beach Guy” a huge statue of a guy that was in the movie Flatliners.
We stayed at a rest area near Funks Grove Illinois.
Saturday July 18th 2009
I drove to Clorox in Minooka Illinois. It was a very quick drop & hook. We don’t have a load. We drive a little way up the road to a Pilot truckstop. Al says we may be here all night. But, it doesn’t take very long before we get another load offer. Minooka Illinois to Brattleboro Vermont. Sweet! I’ve never been in the northeast. But, it doesn’t pick up until tomorrow, so it looks like we’ll be here all night anyway! The good news is, I finally have some time on the internet for the first time in about a week.
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