Snow!

A light dusting of snow this morning turned into an all out winter wonderland. We decided to chain up again, while Buddy had a fun time racing around in the snow.


We ate a breakfast of oatmeal and waited for the receiver to show up and open the gate. We were more than a little concerned that they would decide not to come in, since the snow was falling steady and heavy.

The receiver did show up, only about 10 minutes later than they promised. Yay!

By the time we were unloaded, more than 6" of snow had fallen.

Very glad the 'kids' came out to unload us despite the snow. (The operations manager looked like he was maybe 25 years old, and the forklift driver looked about 19.)




 

Once we got to I-5, we were pretty much in the clear, and were able to unchain at the Black Butte summit.

Homeward Bound

Sunset over Iowa

Driving across Nebraska and Wyoming we encountered high winds and icy temperatures. There was no precipitation, so we didn't encounter any nasty ice, but in the dark it is hard to know if there is or isn't any ice, so we slowed down some to be sure.

Sunset over Iowa



We hit Utah right at daybreak, and so were able to speed up once we cleared the mountains. High winds continued to buffet us around a bit, but the nice thing about our load is that it is heavy enough to hold us down, and it is low and not a solid wall of material - in other words, the wind could go through it enough to mitigate the buffeting.

Iowa Randomness

By the time we got to Reno, we were really noticing storm clouds to the west. Sure enough, between Reno and Susanville, it started to snow. We were doing all right, but decided to chain up anyway - we happened to be at the Bogard Rest Area on Hwy 44, that one I was waxing poetical over a few weeks ago. We drove over the summit, and the roads were clearing off. We stopped and had some cup-o-noodle soup while we decided whether to push on (which meant taking off the chains) or wait until morning to see if we would need to be chained by then. We opted to take the chains off and push through, and arrived at our destination without having to chain again. We parked just outside their gate, and went to bed.

Evidence of Multiple Roadside Bloodbaths

In the course of this trip we have come across evidence of literally hundreds of struck animals. In addition to the coyote Collin hit, we have seen dead fox, dogs, squirrels, owls, at least one elk (in Utah) and deer of every stripe (black tail, white tail, brown...) I even had one deer stumble out in front of me on a back road in Nebraska. It looked like a school kid getting pushed out of the bushes by it's peers, because it stopped in the middle of the lane and looked back where it had come from. Luckily I saw it in time, sounded the horn, and applied just enough brake to give it time to get across the road. The other deer I saw later that night stopped before coming out onto the freeway, which was good, because if he hadn't, I would have hit it for sure.

Weather and...Recyling...?

We stopped somewhere north of the Maryland state line for the night, as Collin was too tired after the Chesapeake mess to get all the way into Delaware, and anyway we had been specifically instructed not to come into the yard for the pick until 6am.
All day on the radio they had been forecasting wind, and boy did it hit some time in the wee hours. And I am glad we were parked. We woke to the truck being shaken by wind, and rain pelting the cab. The blow lasted about an hour, then by morning it had cleared off.
Again the iPad showed it's limitations. I had pinned the drop based on the address we had been given, and the satellite photo even showed what looked like a lumberyard. However when we got there, the pin actually marked a place called the "Rock Pile". The map app had just marked the highway, not the actual address, and I had no way of knowing it, because when I tapped the pin it showed the address I had entered. It turned out we hadn't gone far enough.
This pick was interesting. We loaded at a place called 2nd Time Designs - which is artwork made out of recycled items. The proprietors are retired husband-wife truck drivers, and it was interesting to hear their take on the profession after 30 odd years on the road together. They had enjoyed their time together, and Judy wasn't sure what she was going to do once they parked the truck, but now she finds it hard to leave home.
What we picked up was more recycled material - 100 year old redwood pickle vats from Vlassic Pickle company, broken down. (Apparently Wal-Mart told Vlassic that they wouldn't buy pickles made in wooden vats, so they changed them all out.) Makes me wonder what this project is.
The third pick, from a place called Tindall's Virgin Timbers in Peach Bottom PA, was walnut: beams and tongue and groove flooring. This was beautiful wood that we had to tarp for sure. (The pickle vats we did not tarp - they had been sitting outside at the shippers, not to mention that in their previous life, they had held briny pickling water in them.) Getting to Peach Bottom...talk about your country roads... There was no direct route to or from this place. We didn't get lost, but the windy roads and stop and go through traffic in small towns was eating up our time. In Lancaster, we had planned to cut straight up through about 30 more miles of country road, but we opted to go out of route by about 50 miles, just to get on a proper highway so we could make up some time. As far as I'm concerned, it was a good call.
We made the fourth pick, in Scranton, PA just in time. The guy was still there to load us, and it was still daylight in a rather scrofulous part of town. What did we load here? The guy just called it 'olde wood' - from a shipper called Olde Good Things. I think I heard Collin say it came from a boardwalk in New York. It looked like crap wood to me, all bug eaten and weathered. But whatever... We were getting paid to move it, and crappy wood like that wouldn't need to be tarped, either, which is a bonus.
Once we were strapped down, we beat feet out of there. While the place was located next to a high school, it still didn't look like a place to be after dark.
We had been debating whether to take the I-80 turnpike or not. It is the most direct route on the map, but it is a toll road, and we didn't know how much it would cost us, or even how the toll roads work. Since we were running behind, we thought we would give the turnpike a try. At the very least, we would know what it was like, so we could make an informed decision next time.
I think it was a good move. Near Hubbard, Ohio, we took a ticket at the booth, then it was pretty much smooth sailing through Ohio! And it 'only' cost us $36. Indiana was the same way - driving through at night, we pretty much had the whole thing to ourselves. Indiana 'only' cost $30, and the bit to get by Chicago? $3
The really nice part was knowing that we were staying on the same route the whole way, and not trying to string a bunch of highways together. I'm thinking what we saved in time and aggravation more than makes up for the expense.        

Moving Right Along

We delivered the insulated panels at the jobsite in Clayton first thing in the morning, then hightailed it to Columbia SC to get the first of four picks bound for McCloud, CA.
This first pick turned out to be old bleacher boards from schools around the east, that the shipper salvages and restores.
We had called the second pick to tell him we would be there first thing in the morning, and to get directions. The guy was a little vague, and turned out not to be the guy at the shipping location. He said if he were going to go from the Carolinas to Delaware, he would go through Baltimore, and cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.
When I started looking at the map, I could see that the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (which I had wanted to go on anyway) did not go from Baltimore to Delaware. So we decided on a route that would take us over the famous bridge/tunnel - the only drag is that we would be doing it at night.
We (I) made some unfortunate choices driving through the cities of Norfolk/Chesapeake. The iPad is limited - or perhaps it is just the way I use it - in that I can't tell it what route to take, and it will sometimes ignore intersections that I need to take. Another maddening thing is that the silly blue line that shows the route, also blocks the street names and highway numbers, so I have to zoom up so close in order to read them, and then I loose sight of the big picture, and miss key turns or make them too early. Another complaint I have is as much for the road signs as anything. We were driving in Chesapeake, trying to cross the world famous Chesapeake Bay Bridge, and all the roadsigns were telling us were about Richmond VA (way inland from where we wanted to go) and Virginia Beach, which was too far east, and not far enough north. I'm glad it was so late, because we were driving in places a semi truck and trailer had no business being. When you can read people's expressions and they seem to be saying WTF? then you know you're in the wrong place.
Collin's comment (now) is: "Sometimes you have to get lost to know where you are."  
The only thing I can say about the bridge/tunnel is that the waves were whipped up pretty high, and we seemed to be very close to them. By the way, Collin concurs with Elaine. We were NOT underwater when we went in the tunnels: we would have drowned. The tunnels were underwater, and we were in the tunnels. ;)

Early Arrival

 We arrived in Clayton, NC early. We had been given a bad address and had an adventure driving shoulder-less country roads, and turning down a residential dead end road that fortunately had a circle at the end just big enough for us to turn around. We decided to stay put for a while until we found out where we were really going. We took a walk, and took some photos of the stunning fall colors.

 Once we finally got through to the contractors, we got a good address, but we were unable to get anyone to unload us - contractors weren't on site, yet. Turns out they are building a bakery, and the panels are for the cooler. This bakery will specialize in buns for McDonald's. Who knows? Down the road you may eat a Big Mac whose bun originated in this bakery. (Not that I am endorsing eating Mickey D's - I don't, myself...)



See! Buddy gets to play sometimes!

We ate early (for us) and too much dinner at Venero's Pizzeria where they let Buddy sit with us out on the back patio. We had a lot of time to kill. I watched "The Brothers Bloom" while Collin fell asleep. The movie was as good as I had hoped it would be when I bought it.

Speaking of time, as a truck driver, crossing the country is an exercise in temporal gymnastics. For our logbooks, we have to keep using the time at our Home Base - Pacific Standard for now - but when we call people for appointments, we have to be aware of local time at the delivery site. We also have to be aware that any receipts we get at stops will not necessarily match the time we need to mark in our logbooks. To make matters even more interesting, the clocks on the truck both show Home Base time, and so does my Blackberry, but the iPad and Collin's phone both adjust to the changing time zones as we cross them. I find I have to be very conscious of which clock I'm looking at, and I'm always either adding or subtracting time...

Family Connection

Today we had brunch with Lyn and Michael at truck stop in Oak Grove, MO, (outside Independence).

Me and Cousin Lyn Halama - with Buddy - in Oak Grove, MO

This is the first time meeting my cousin as an adult.

It was a wonderful connection and one of the things I had hoped for when we were talking about me getting on the truck with Collin.

I hope for many more such connections as we continue.

Then we drove through St Louis, past the arch, and within a dozen miles of the neighborhood where I was born; interesting that I felt more of a connection driving through this time than I did in 1997 when I was there for the Kelly Family Reunion.

St Louis Arch at Sunset

There was a lot of road construction and at one point while I was rubbernecking at all the old buildings, I almost failed to help Collin navigate to stay on the I-64, and we 'almost' ended up in East St Louis. I remember hearing stories about bad things happening there when I was a kid.

I spoke to Mom shortly after we got out of town, and she remembers her Dad telling stories like the time the casket in a funeral procession was filled with guns. I looked out the window, and I'm pretty sure I saw apartments that have been featured on COPS, or on one of those other true crime shows that Collin likes to watch.
 
Mom reminded me that my Great Grandma was originally from Nashville, TN, and while we drove through there, I didn't get much of a connection there, maybe because it was midnight, I don't know. We saw some landmark type buildings - isn't Nashville where Radio City Music Hall is? We saw road signs for the Opry House, but I'm not sure we saw it from the freeway.

(editorial note: Mom has since clarified that my GG was from Nashville Illinois. No wonder I didn't feel connected in Tennessee!)


The thing I noticed most about the change between the Midwest and the Carolinas - a transition that seemed to happen in Tennessee - is the return of the roadside trees. By daybreak in North Carolina, there were once again proper forests. It felt like a return to some semblance of 'normal' or 'home'.