Introducing Cybil

We made it out of Jersey with the new Big Red Volvo and here she is in all her glory. I don't think I haveto go into too much detail on the name, which is by the way very appropriate. She looks the same, but will never be the same as Dorothy. Same engine, 10 speeds instead of 13, 2 years newer (2007) with half the miles 368,000. The inside is in much better shape and the more modern cupboards instead of shelves and all of the netting to hold things in is all intact on her. Which is very nice for going down the road and not having anything fly off of the shelves. We are getting used to her. Has to be driven much different than the 13 speed. It has been a couple of weeks now and I think we are starting to bond. She needed a bunch of TLC when we got her, but she is coming around. She still does some weird, quirky things, some electrical, not on a consistent basis...hence the name Cybil. We have already put 12,000 miles on her since we picked her up. Don'tthink Jersey has a lot of elevation so she is in for a whole new ride. No Grapevine yet, but Vail pass at 40 mph...not bad! You just have to stay on the shifting more adamantly than Dorothy, but with more practice on a daily basis, she's gonna work out just fine.

We were recently driving through Idaho and noticed a lot of corn still growing and pretty short. Stopped to refill on coffee and the woman at the truck stop informed us that they have had so much rain that they lost all of their first planting so they had to scrap it and this is the 2nd planting, hoping to get something out of their crops this year. Maybe this could mean more good corn later in the year for everyone. What a sucky situation for the farmers there this year.

Waiting for Fall to arrive, which is coming BTW, to take more pics of the color. Leaving for NJ (Good miles, but we must be being punished for something) tomorrow from LA, just waiting to get 2 tires changed on a trailer. We will be taking I-70 so maybe we will get some good Aspen shots.

To the left: 58 in CA heading north from Bakersfield. It is mesmerizing to see all of them spinning on the mountain while

you are moving toward it...kinda hypnotic. You can all rest easy...I wasn't driving :o )

Death of Dorothy

In New Jersey now....yup our favorite place! We got a call the other day that they want to take Dorothy away from us and giveus a new truck with less miles. I guess most people would be excited about this, but this is our first truck...it's like your first love. No other truck will ever be any better or faster than our first truck, but what are you gonna do?? So we are sitting in a hotel, which has been fantastic by the way, while they get our new truck ready to roll.

The new truck number is 1938...haven't named her yet, that will take some bonding time. As soon as we get going again and have some bonding time I will post new pics of the new girl. It's still a Volvo and it's still red, so most of you probably won't even know the difference. This becomes your home and when things are different it makes it difficult when you have everything in it's place and get used to what a truck does and doesn't do. But we are up for the challenge and welcome the new truck into our world. We have put 140,000 miles on Dorothy since we started driving her in January of this year. She is up to 735,00 miles now, so she will be going to a solo driver that will not put as many miles on her. She will truly be missed :o (

Finally got to Memphis, TN while it was light out! What a cool looking city. Between here and Nashville I think Jeff and I will be taking some time to check out Tennessee sometime soon. Every time we have stopped anywhere in this state everybody has been so nice and friendly not to mention how we could just listen to them talk all day with those southern accents.

Time for me to relax in a bathtub and then lay down on a nice king-size bed for the night. It's been a good break and it is always nice to get a good night's sleep while the truck isn't moving.

Are You Serious?

Okay, I have to tell you about the weirdest load we have had so far. We were in Phoenix and were told to drive down to Yuma. Take the 10 and head east on the 8, take an exit and head north for 2 miles and take our first left. Okay.......

We ended up on a farm right in the middle of their fields and got loaded with 30 bales of hay...in a box, not a flatbed. Drove to Long Beach and they were unloaded directly into containers and shipped to China. I don't know if they used it for feed for their animals or for packing. Just kinda different.

Another Random Thing

We pull into a truck stop in Foristell, MO and we are sitting at the fuel island when all of a sudden 2 girls go by on horses riding bareback. It was about 11:00 at night and a truck stop is completely asphalt and loud trucks, someplace you would not expect to see anybody riding a horse. Evidently they had been traveling for sometime and needed to get the horses out of the trailer and exercise them...very strange site.

Montana in the Summertime

We finally made it up to Montana in the summertime. Still a beautiful place with a lot less snow. It is called Big Sky country for a reason. It really is true. The sky seems so much bigger and the clouds are always really cool. The first morning that we woke up close to Rocker it was 43 degrees and raining. I had to put on pants and socks for the first time in months...it was painful! Montana weather is a lot like Colorado. It changes on a dime and in the morning it can be chilly, but by the afternoon it has warmed up and turned into being a fantastic day.

Setting the Story Straight

Our load went from Salt Lake City up to Helena, MT and then from Helena over to Great Falls and then back to LA. While in Great Falls picking up a load at General Mills we ran into a driver for Watkins Shepard that seemed to know us. He recognized our truck number and asked us if we were the ones that had the blog. I was shocked. I had no idea people were reading our blog.

He mentioned that our blog has been openly discussed on many different truck driving forums and the word out there is that we are really a PR firm that has been hired by Watkins Shepard to up their image. Well I'm here to tell you that we are real truck drivers that were hired by Watkins Shepard, but to drive a truck, not to "up their image". We started with Watkins Shepard after attending their 10-day orientation program in January of 2010. My husband and I drive as a team and we love our job. The blog was originally created for our old clients in Denver to follow our transition into the trucking industry. My husband and I were in the printing industry and I being a graphic designer needed to keep in touch with my geeky computer side and feel like I could still turn on my Mac for a purpose. Yes, it's true. Everything on this blog we have done all while traveling around the country and making money doing so. If you have any questions about us or Watkins Shepard we would be more than happy to answer them. Please direct them to: melincreative@comcast.net

I forgot to add these two pics of our Maryland trip. They are both from the Harbor in Maryland. One of a battleship and the other of the Veteran's Bridge. We haven't been back here since our first trip, but hopefully will return in the future to see more.

Closer to Home

So we made it home for a weekend at the end of July...just to make it to Cheyenne Frontier Days. We go every year and had got tickets to go see Sugarland on the 30th. It was an awesome show and we really enjoyed the 4 days out of the truck. But 4 days go by quickly and it was time to get back into Dorothy and be on our way. First stop Fort Collins, Budweiser....load going to LA. Beer is not my favorite load, not to mention I never have liked beer, I know, there is probably something seriously wrong with me, but I never have taken a liking to it. It is also always a heavy load, at least 44,000 lbs. Anyway to make a long story short, our alternator went out before we could even make it out of Colorado, so we spent the night in Wheat Ridge and had it all fixed...this just kinda comes with the job. But we eventually made it to LA. Along I-70 from Colorado into Utah is a beautiful canyon...rocks again. Rocks and bridges, love them!

On an earlier trip we had to stop in Evanston, WY to pick up a part that controlled our airbags. Snowy and Sergeant were more than happy to show us around the shop and guard our truck while we got the part put on the tractor.

While fueling the truck in Wheat Ridge, we saw and met the driver of the Inferno Rocket truck. This truck runs on jet fuel and goes about 200 miles per hour. They were doing a demo in Colorado and were going to burn up a car with the jet of the engines. Sounded pretty cool! We were personally invited, but had to get the beer LA. Dedication, thats all I have to say on that one.

Mid Summer in Portland & Crabcakes

Finally got to take a trip to Portland without any rain. What a beautiful state. It isn't as green as it usually is in the summer, but they have had a shortage of rain...hasn't rained since the 4th ofJuly weekend. Here are some great shots from Interstate 84 heading west towards Portland. These are all shots of the Columbia River and Mount Hood.

We also took that oh so lovely trip to

New Jersey this past week. It was 104 degrees with 80 percent humidity...still don't get the appeal to live here. However,

we did get a scheduled stop in Maryland and got to try some AMAZING crabcakes. Kudos to Sara Harker, the fabulous person who suggested we go to G & M's restaurant to partake. Being a native she knew exactly where to go. The cakes were the best I have ever had and Jeff had a pasta dish with various seafood that was fantastic as well. On the must mention list though, the cream of crab soup...cream and crab...how can you screw that up? It was a great lunch and a nice treat. We would definately re-visit this place. Maryland and Deleware are very pretty an

d would like to take some time there are well to explore further. Somehow they frown on semi-trucks in touristy locations, not to mention its not on our route and Watkins Shepard probably wouldn't like the sight-seeing out of route either. But, they are on our list for places to visit later.

We have to go drive to Phoenix now from LA tonight and be back here tomorrow for another load. Talk to you all soon.

Been a While

Night sky in NM....I need a tripod

Sorry it's been so long. We have been so busy running back and forth across the country that I haven't had the time to update you all on what we have been doing. Not that I am complaining about the miles, they have been great. We just rolled over 700,000 on our truck and am proud to say that we put 100,000 on them ourselves. Last week we were in Missoula, MT and they offered us a newer truck. We looked at it, but it was two years newer than ours and only had 40,000 less miles on it. We love our truck and don't want to trade it, as long they keep fixing her we will be driving Dorothy!

Travel and see the world....well, we fell for it!

Our schedule is working great and we are not half as tired as we used to be. It is becoming more of a routine, which Miss non-spontaneous is loving! The job is spontaneous enough, I don't need kaos thrown into the mix. We have only missed 6 states now. Mostly, way north-east and also ND. Not sure if we are missing much in ND, but would like to see the north-east. We have been as far east as NY, which frankly is a pain in the butt to drive a truck in. The east is pretty, but the roads back there are very narrow and not made for big trucks and the bridges can make you duck every now and then when you go under a 13'8" one.

Dorothy looks good at the beach.

We got to back to Jacksonville with the same load, but this time we were a bit smarter. We have a client who takes from 6 - 8 hours to unload the trailer. The nearest truck stop is 15 miles away and the beach is 12, which offers the same amenities as a truck stop I might add, so I guess you all know which one we chose. We found the perfect spot to park the truck and spent the day at Jacksonville Beach. It was AWESOME. Finally after at least 24 days of going back and forth across this beautiful country and not 1 day to relax, we had a much-needed day-off (it was really only about 8 hours, but it felt like a full day of leisure). We went back and picked up the empty trailer and were back in Dalton, GA the next morning to pick up our next load.

Jacksonville Beach, FL

Have been eating mostly in the truck lately since we have been going so much, We have perfected several dishes out of our crock pot that have been really good. We also have had the opportunity to find a fantastic mexican market when we are are in LA. It has wonderful fresh produce for cheap and a deli that serves every dish you would find in a mexican restaurant, served up hot for under $6. They also have pork that already has the Al Pastor seasoning on it in the meat dept., great for throwing in the crockpot an having a yummy, warm dinner. I know you were all concerned about our withdrawal from Chubby's, but no worries, we are still keeping the mexican food tradition alive in our truck.

I-70, Utah

We got our routing changed and don't run the 40 as much as we did earlier this year, but now are taking 70. It has been nice to go through Denver, but can be such a tease. We have had the opportunity to have lunch with one of our boys a couple times, but then its back on the road and on our way. Most of our runs consist of LA to FL, NJ, MI, WV, NC or GA. Then from the east we usually run north and south for a couple of days. Sometimes OH or MI and then back down the GA to pick up another load to go out to either WA or OR. Then we get dispatched south to go back to LA. WA and OR are beautiful in the spring and summer, but the drive all the way down the 5 is a long one. It is over 1,000 miles and you can only drive 55 in OR and CA. When you cross over the border from OR to CA the first exit is 796....and then it goes backwards from there down to 1 in San Diego. Thats a lot of one highway in just one state. But when we go across TX to FL its 847 miles all in one state, which is all on I-10. There is usually a pretty good celebration after we cross the TX-LA border. Not that we don't like TX, but after a day and half and still being in the same state, it just doesn't feel like progress!

Pushy seagull in OR

We have met some more interesting people in the last few months. Trucking never has a shortage of colorful folk. We got to stay at a truck stop in Portland, OR called Jubitz one night. We went to see a movie and had dinner. It was like date night, I think I remember that. It was funny to watch a movie with everyone in the theatre being truckers as well. They also had jacuzzi tubs in with the showers and that was so luxurious to take a bubble bath that night. We both slept like babies.

Until next time....thanks for tuning in and enjoy the summer, I know we are.