Once again I have been slow to blog. I have new pictures from Missouri to California. So look below and you will see all the new pictures.

Crazy bush

I was still in San Diego, the bush is in Mexico.

San Diego

I was sitting in San Diego 50ft from Mexico border. This is the Tijuana airport.

Arizona

I was near Yuma here, I love the cactus.

New Mexico

This is the lava rocks in New Mexico. The lava comes up out of the ground and creates these huge black rocks.

Cave

I was in Missouri and I had to drop off this load, it was in a cave. This was the entrance. I have more pictures inside the cave but it's really hard to see them. It's pretty dark down there and the temperature stays the same all year round.

Days adventures

Today was a great day. I got to see sand dunes. Rock mountains and really cool parts of the desert. I took pictures while I was driving. I just hold the camera up and snap pictures. So I don't really know how they will turn out. Today I took some pretty good ones. I posted the best ones to share with everyone. I hope y'all enjoy them.

More images of the mountains

This is the first time seeing mountains like this. I enjoyed driving through them very much.

Driving up the mountains

This was the beginning of my climb up these mountains. They look like a pile of rocks that got piled up.

Mountain

I love this image of the desert with the mountain in the background.

Palm trees

I was driving through the desert and I came across a field of these crazy looking palm trees.

Driving through the desert

I love driving down the road and taking straight ahead like the two on the right. The one above is some cool desert shrubs.

Sand dunes

This is coming out of Arizona into California. The name of this area is called Calexico. This all runs right along the border of Mexico.

Last weekend I was layed over in Ohio which was very exciting because my friend Janet and I got to hang out all weekend. We have not seen each other in over two years, so you can imagine how crazy we were. Our friend Julie and her girlfriend Elizabeth and Janet and I all went to lunch together at my favorite place, whole world. That is them in the picture. From left to right is Julie very tall and a big time basketball star, her girlfriend Elizabeth, I just met her that weekend and she is very sweet, and then my best buddy Janet. I was so glad to take a break after spending a week going through the east coast, and just relax and spend time with friends. I can't wait to see Janet again.

My new manager

I don't know what happened to my old manager Nick. He sent out an e-mail telling his team that we would all be placed with new managers. I was oh so happy. He stressed me out way too much. My new manager however is really cool and on the ball, his name is Brandon. His last name starts with an M I know that because when he sends us messages he signs BM, I think he should come up with a different sign off. I picked up a load 2 days ago from Cincinatti going to Texas. I made it here last night, and before my head hit the pillow I had a new load to pick up. I picked it up here in Texas, and it's going to San Diego. I am a bit nervous because this will be my first time going out west climbing mountains all by myself. But, I was thinking, last week I survived driving through manhattan, the bronx, and baltimore I am sure I can handle the west coast. It 's more spread out. I am pretty excited about it because I get to drive all along the coast and finally I get to go through Yuma Arizona. I hope that I get to see a lot of sand desert. Right now I am still in Texas, it's 138 degrees. I went for a walk that lasted about 10 minutes. I was afraid that I would get a heat stroke. All day tomorrow I will spend getting out of Texas, I have 565 miles to go. That will be my whole day. If you ask me Texas is way too big and they should give some of it back to Mexico. Last week I was on the east coast I drove 500 miles and went through six states. That is as big as Texas, big enough to put six states, or at least parts of six states.

Nebraska

I was talking with my friend Janet a couple of days ago and she told me that she wanted to go to Nebraska. I kind of chuckled and told her I should ask my manager to route me to Ohio to pick her up and then to Nebraska to drop her off. Well the very next day I got a load going to Nebraska. It was a load of beer, not good beer just budweiser. When I got into Nebraska from Wyoming I stopped at a rest area, I went into the stall and next to the toilet was a foot peddle, so I stepped on it and it flushed the toilet. I thought that was great and that every public restroom should install a foot peddle. Chelle and I use our feet to flush any way and this would make it a whole lot easier. I dropped my load of beer this morning and got a load of meat from Nebraska to Indiana. This place is literally in the middle of corn fields, on my way I saw a little sign that said school and an arrow pointing down this little dirt road, it has to be a one room school, because there is no way any considerable size school could fit on this road. I am now sitting at the slaughter house. It is 98 and humid you can imagine how it smells, its disgusting. I see these guys standing out here eating, I can't get out of my truck with out gagging let alone eat. Oh well, I will be out of here soon and maybe my appetite will come back to me.

Hi Everyone

It has been a long time since my last post, but they had put me on this dedicated run for Walmart, they needed help for about a week.I was running from Cheyenne to Denver every day. I would sleep for ten hours get up and just start driving for eleven straight. I could not catch my breath. I am all done, I'm going back over the road. It was a good experience, it gave me a lot of backing practice, and walmart is not trucker friendly when it comes to their docks. Below are a couple of cool pics of some crazy things I have seen. Also while I have been in Wyoming people kept asking me if I was going to the rodeo. I said no and they said I should because it is their biggest event of the year. They said over 200,000 people from all over come to this thing. I did not know there were that many people interested in this. I guess it is the largest rodeo in the world. I could not think of a better place for it.

While I was doing my laundry this bus pulled in and a bunch of hippies with their kids , came in and did their laundry. I ran outside to get my camera. I asked them if they would mind me taking a picture and of course they did not. This is the craziest thing I have ever seen.

When I am bored I have a bouncy ball that I bounce around and run after. While sitting in Colorado I was playing with my ball and looked up a saw the moon in the middle of the day.

Colorado bound

I got my first load on the 11th, going from Cincinatti Ohio to Henderson Colorado. With all of my tools for direction I have made pretty good timing. My appointment is on the 14th at 2am. I should have it there by 4am on the 13th. I am pretty excited about that. I will have it there before my manager gets in to work (hopefully that is how it will work). I am on the border of Kansas and Colorado, the town is called Kanorado. I like it. I just checked the temperature and it says 130, but I went on a walk and it did not feel like it, although during my walk I could not wait to get back in the truck. I have to get up at midnight and head for my customer. So, I am going to bed now. Goodnight.

On my own again

My team mate turned out to be crazy! I jumped ship and went home. After a few days they asked me to go get the truck she had abandoned. So, I am once again on my own. Hopefully things go much smoother this time around, because I got a GPS, I have my atlas, and my companies direction. Between all three I should not get lost. I just need to learn how to make a solid trip plan, but that will come with practice. I am sitting in Toledo Ohio. I was hoping to get out yeaterday but one of my drive tires was flat. They will definately get me going today. Chelle drove me down here yesterday and helped me clean my truck and organize all of my belongings. I had a lot. Chelle bought me enough food that I should be set for the rest of the year. Probably not, but it sure looks that way. She was a real trooper, she gets creeped out about things being dirty and my truck was not in very good shape, but she stuck it out . She also had to drive home all by herself. She has not driven that far by herself, but she did it and I am proud of her. We discovered that she really depends on me driving especially long distance, and she says that I depend on her for everthing else. I'm not sure about everthing.

Texas heat

Well folks, I have been in laredo all day. This morning at 8am it was 95degrees. by 11am it was 130degrees, yes, I said 130. I could not stay cool enough,our truck has air and we had it blasting it still felt warm in here. The people who live here had on jeans and long sleeve shirts it made me feel even hotter looking at them. It has cooled down and is now 102 which actually feels good. We headed further south today to pick up a del monte load going to Illinois. I think we are as far south as we can possibly go without going straight into Mexico. It really feels like I entered another country. No one speaks english, and all the radio stations are either spanish music or spanish talk radio. My team mate and I got lunch and I was trying to tell the lady what I wanted and she did not understand me and she was asking me questions and I did not understand her so I just said yes and she would put something on my plate. I just didn't want to hold the line up any longer. That is the cool thing about being down here you can get really good Mexican food. It does not matter where you get it, a roach coach or a resturant , you can't go wrong it is all good.

my partner

Well folks, I am on the road again. I have a team mate, her name is April, she is 35 and she has two kids. I am excited about being teamed up because we will make more money. Today we are headed for Laredo. We are dropping a load off at the border. A trucker from Mexico will come to the border and take the load on into Mexico. That should be fun. I did get to deliver some turkeys earlier this week. So, if anyone buys a butterball think of me. Last week I made a friend from Trans Am. We both were spending the night at this industrial parkway. We could not figure out where there was a truck stop. I needed water and something to eat really bad. He knew where there was a grocery store, so we went shopping together and I got lots of water and food. He has been out on the road for 30yrs. He was talking to me about being out on the road. I don't know if anyone knew but Jack that I always wanted a portable DVD player but Chelle did not see a purpose for it. Well, my Trans am friend gave me one because he just bought a new tv with a dvd player. I know that I don't need one since I have my laptop but I don't care I have it and I love it.

My first job

I recieved my first job yesterday. I was so nervous I made all kinds of mistakes. Hopefully the next one will go a lot smoother. Down below are some pictures of my truck and stuff in my truck. I hope you all enjoy!

That is the fridge.

This is the top bunk.

This is the inside, that is my bed.

That's my truck.

That is me! standing outside my truck.

Getting a truck

I made it to Indiana late last night. It was after midnight when I arrived at the hotel, I was so excited to lay down somewhere and go to sleep. Early This morning my dm(driver manager) called and told me that he came in early to start working on getting me a truck. It looks as though I may be starting out as a solo driver, because he has two truck possibilities and they both are empty. I am excited because I get to set the truck up the way I want it and get all my stuff organized in it first. I am really really really scared thinking about picking up that first load all by myself, getting it to its destination on time and not get lost. But, today all I have to think about is getting the truck. I'm sure God will work the datails out later. I am off to get coffee. I'll keep everyone updated on the truck situation.

Going back to work

Hello everyone! As you can see I am getting back on the road. I am headed to Chicago, hopefully to meet up with my team mate. I am sorry I did not get to say good bye this was a very last minute decision. Thanks to Jack he was able to book me a flight out of Rochester for 6am today. I enjoyed my time at home and with all of my friends. I'll see you all when I get back in a couple of months.

Home Time

Michelle has brought it to my attention several times that I have not blogged about my home time or even coming home. I would love to say that it is because she tied me up and would not let me have access to the outside world, the truth is I just got lazy once I came home. I got home May 29th and was planning to be home until June 1st but my time has been extended because the woman I am teaming with was in Washington state waiting to get a load to New York. She has finally been routed my way but is coming from Washington so I should see her sometime between friday or saturday, sunday at the latest. Her name is Dana, she is 57, non-smoker and a christian. We have spoken a few times in the past week and we both are excited about meeting each other and working together. I am so glad that I will be with someone older. It will be a nice change after being around a bunch of 20 year olds for 4 months. My first few days at home were weird. The first day I woke up and did not have any thing to do or any where to be. I could not figure out what to do with myself. Driving my car was strange. Michelle kept making fun of me. My driving skills have definately changed. I am use to looking about a half a mile ahead, when I see break lights coming on I start to slow down so that by the time I get to the traffic I can come to a slow stop. One revolution of the truck tires is 500 feet. So you need to give yourself plenty of time and distance. It looks pretty funny when you are doing this in a little car. I would start slowing down When I saw cars stopping about 5 to 6 traffic lights ahead. That is just one example. Michelle thinks that I am to cautious and I now think she is not cautious enough. Speaking of driving, My car did not get drivien for 4 months so when Gloria (our stepmom) came I thought that would have been a great opportunity for them to drive my car. But that did not happen I don't know if it's because Michelle did not ask or Gloria did not want to drive. So Gloria the next time you come If you want to please drive my car! When I leave out I will be headed to Jamestown New York Then who knows after that because I will be back to driving all 48 States again.

Truckers casserole

When you are out on the road mostly all the food you can eat has to be cooked in a microwave which can be pretty boring. So when you get bored enough you get creative. I invented a tuna noodle casserole except I call mine the truckers casserole. I know there are probably some of you out there who would like to try my invention so this is what you do. You will need a bowl of the easy mac and cheese, a small can of tuna, a small can of peas and salt and pepper. Follow the mac and cheese directions and pop that in the microwave, drain tuna and peas, mix together with mac and cheese and cook another 30 seconds to 1 minute longer salt and pepper to taste and voila you have the truckers casserole. So if you try it please leave me a comment to let me know what you think. If you think it sounds disgusting do not comment. I am finally back in Indiana and I start my classes tomorrow morning as soon as I am finished I will be on my way home. I don't care if it's by bus, plane, train or automobile I am going home. I am so glad that I did this and finished it out, there is no way to describe this experience there is nothing like it. All I can say is that it's pretty wild.

headed for Indiana

Mike and I have just picked up our last load together. We are in California now headed for Chicago. We will arrive there early Sunday morning then he is taking me to Indiana. Once I get there I will have to do a couple days of class work and then I graduate. Then I am headed home for a few days to spend with Chelle for her birthday. I can not wait to get home see Chelle, pet my kitty cats and just sit in my house. I don't know how the process works once I am done with training. Like getting home, getting on my truck and teaming up with my friend who will not be done with training for a week or two. So, when I get all that information I will give an update. I do have more pictures coming I just have to wait to get off the road to upload them. The desert holds up the whole process. Speaking of the desert I do not understand folks who live there. I mean you live on a rock full of sand, there is no signal for ANYTHING and you have to deal with snakes. I will not even use the rest areas in the desert let alone live there. Well I did use one rest area in Nevada. There rest areas are horrible, out house horrible but I found a modern day area so I stopped because it was urgent when I walked up to it there was a huge sign that said Watch For Snakes And Scorpians. I was freaked but the cleaning lady assured me there were no snakes or scorpions in the building at that time. I did not believe her because she was standing out side with me. I did use the facility full of fear and made a vow to myself never to use rest areas in Nevada, New Mexico, And Arizona. There maybe others but these are the big ones. Give me New York and snow any day.

This is a picture of a small sandstorm that we drove through in California.

Below are some pictures I took in Arizona at a rest stop

End in sight

I have not had much time to blog lately. I drive 10 hrs straight and go to sleep and get up and do it all over again. We run pretty tight runs so we have to keep moving. I am on a dedicated run and we run the same route everyday. We were running I40 to I44 which takes us up through Texas and Arizona. Now that it is spring we are running I88 and going through Wyoming. Last night I went to sleep in Oklahoma where it was 70 degrees and woke up in Wyoming where it was 30 degrees and snow on the ground. We ended up in Utah a few hours later and was back to summer weather. It's pretty cool being out here because if you don't like the weather where you are, in 2 hours or so it will be completely different. Like 2 days ago we left Illinois and it was cold and rainy in 2 hours we were in Iowa and it was warm and sunny. I have 2 more weeks on the road and I will be completely done with training. I just have to go back to Indiana for a couple more classes and I am going home for a few days.

Living in a truck

It is quite odd trying to figure out how to do things when you are living in a truck. It becomes a whole balancing act to try an eat soup, cereal or pour my water into my bottle. It all usually ends up on me. My truck mate thinks it is quite funny to watch me do these things and usually laughs at me. I just wait a few hours and he is going through the same thing then I get to laugh at him. My favorite time is when Mike and I get to have down time because we get a good nights rest, we get to to talk and play games together and we get to eat our food and still be clean afterwards. It does not happen very often because one of us is always driving while the other eats and sleeps. I am hoping to have my balance perfected before I get off the truck. I am positive that as time goes by I will have the whole eating and drinking on the truck perfected as well. We are headed back to California which Iam real happy about because we have been in Chicago and it is cold and rainy. I thought New York was bad Chicago has us beat. I have decided that it is a place I never want to live.

on the road again

After sitting in Utah for seven days Mike and I are finally back on the road. I am very happy about being on the road because I am once again making money. I am also sad because it means my fun with our friend Cindy is over for right now. It sure was great spending every day with her. So friday at midnight we headed to San Jose California and we are now sitting at our customers. We will be taking this load to Chicago. We have to go through Amarillo Texas again hopefully we will not get stuck in a blizzard. After this who nows where we will end up next. I sure am excited to find out.

My Awesome weekend

I am so happy that Chelle was able to come and see me for a few days. When I arrived she had to see the inside of the truck. I did not know there could be so many fascinating things in such a small space. She took a lot of pictures so I am sure every one will see those from her blog. Our friend Cindy took us sight seeing that was great. Salt Lake City is such a beautiful place every where. It was a great weekend and thanks to Michelle's Dad he helped make it possible. Thanks Jack!

big weekend

I am so excited because I get to see my girlie this weekend. It has been exactly 2 months since we have seen each other. I miss her sooooooo much. It will definately make the next 60 days go a lot easier. I can't wait to show Chelle all the things that I have seen. well I need to go get my rest so I will not be tired when I get there.

Showers part 2

I love my new trainer. He tries to take a shower everyday if we miss a day we definately do it the next day. I have been with him for 4 days and have had 3 showers. I also get to brush my teeth at least twice a day. He has braces so he brushes a lot. So needless to say I am well groomed and feel really good about the second part of my training.

Blizzard

This is my new trainer Mike. We will be spending the next 2 months together. He is really young but has done very well for himself. He's fun and has a great sense of humor. We have been sitting at a truck stop for 2 days now in Amarillo Texas because they closed all highways due to a blizzard. Yes I said Texas and blizzard. It seems that no matter where I go I can not escape the snow. We are headed for the southwest border of Arizona. I bet there is no snow there. Hopefully!

On the road again

I got a trainer today thank God. I leave at 4am and will be on the road for the next 2 months. The guy I am with is on a dedicated run from Illinois to California. It will be nice doing something different other than over the road.

Sad day,happy day

This is my friend Nader. He is really cool. He tells me great stories about Venezuala.We have a lot of fun together I think it's because we both share a great love for starbucks. He left today with his trainer and I have been sad because the hotel experience is not the same without him. It's also a happy day because after Nader left our friend Reggie showed up and I am looking forward to hanging out with him and getting his picture.

Starbucks

It has been 30 days since I have had Starbucks. My friend Nader and I have been trying to figure out what to do. We found out the bus runs free to Walmart and we got very excited. We went and bought a coffee pot and a bag of Starbucks Sumatra. We knew that we were going to get pretty caffinated so we bought a ball and a frisbee to run off the energy. So far it looks like we will be up all night. Oh well! it has been a really fun day.

Test

Finally I have finished all my tests. I passed everything so I get to go on another truck and finish out the second phase of my training. I am once again sitting in a hotel waiting. I'm not getting on a truck for at least a week. Guys are going home for a few days to wait. It's tempting but I'll wait here. Maybe I will get on a truck faster if everyone else is at home.

Back in Hammond

Saturday night at 1am we arrived in hammond Indiana. It was 2am by the time we got into our hotel room we were wiped out. As soon as I layed in my bed I was asleep and did not wake up or move until 10:30am the next morning. I have gotten good sleep and a shower everyday. I am back in Indiana to do testing on the stuff I have learned over the past 30 days. Today I had my backing test and driving test which I passed. Tomorrow I have more classroom time and I will be done with my upgrade and ready to go onto my next trainers truck. I found out today that I may be able to get some home time during my 2 months of training. I hope that happens. I miss my girlie and my home oh so very much.

Tired

My training with Chuck is over. We are headed back to Burns Harbor. We picked up a load in Washington yesterday to get us back to Indiana. We picked up washington apples. I spent my whole day in apple orchards. It was pretty neat. If you have seen Cider house Rules that is pretty much what it looks like. I am burned out from being on the road so I am totally looking forward to staying at a hotel for a few days even though I will be getting tested on all that I learned this month. I have to pass all the test to get on my next trrainers truck. So hopefully after some rest a shower and a good meal I will do really well. Wish me luck!

outing with Cindy

This is Cindy and I at Vertical.

outing with Cindy

This is our friend Cindy and this is the restuarant she took me to its called vertical. Cindy is rubbing her belly because it is full of goodness. It should be after 3 entries and 2 appetizers.

No signal

I love going into the mountains. It's so beautiful, but there is no wireless signal. I was not able to blog for 2 days. I could not even talk to my girlie. We got into Chicago late last night and I am up and running once again. While I was in Utah our friend Cindy (who is awesome) came and picked me up and took me to the best vegan restuarant ever! She also let me take a shower at her house. It was so nice taking a shower and not have to where shoes. I have some pictures of our outing.

I took these pictures at 5 am this morning. We are headed for Salt Lake City, hopefully I can get some am pictures there.

Smokey Mountains at sunrise

Smokey Mountains at sunrise

Smokey Mountains at sunrise

Smokey Mountains at sunrise

Smokey Mountains at sunrise

Smokey Mountains at sunrise

Missouri

We are coming up the hill towards the arch

Missouri

Missouri at sunrise

nebraska

The barn.

Nebraska

I was hoping to get into Wyoming to get more pictures of these trains. It's the coolest thing, they are so long I have not seen the end of one yet and they run right down the center of the prairies.

Nebraska

It was hard to get this picture. These horses were running wild.

Nebraska

This is a pond. The white specks are birds. I could not see the water because they over take it. You can see miles and miles of these bird ponds.