Mundane or Adventure

Fretting over mundane chores? I understand, but things are a little different in the life of a truck driver. As I gather the clothes from 4 or 5 locations where they have been stuffed, and it's hard to tell where a person will put their dirty laundry when they are tired. Sometimes in the proper place in the laundry bag and then outside in the passenger side tool box. Tool boxes on a Big Rig may not be used for tools. I put them all together in a couple of netted laundry bags.
 The Ladies’ Room

In the process, I discover something has leaked from full water bottles or liquid detergent, in probability it is a mixture of both. It’s like the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. A disgusting, stinking, slimy mess. I take everything out of the side tool box to let it air. Then I trudge across the parking lot, that appears to be a mile long, and already the pavement is like molten lava. I don’t dare set any of the items down because the lot smells of urine and other undistinguishable orders, none of them resemble lilacs or roses.  

I manage to get the door open, and I only knocked one thing off the shelf as I maneuver the obstacle course of items on tight rows of shelving. Then I begin the process of sorting, washing, and drying the clothes. Did mention that the washers and the dryers cost $2.50 each. But don’t fret, there is a slot for your credit card.

I am in Alabama, and the humidity has me soaked to the bone.

As soon as I finish with these loads, I’ll go back to the truck, leaving the detergent because I have two more bags to fill with our sleeping clothes, the bed linens, and towels.

I let Del sleep in, he's having a hard time getting enough rest this week. He gladly helps with the next loads.

We have time for a game of pool.

This is a great truck stop, with nice big clean showers, a pool table, attractive décor

in each room, and a big screen TV in a cozy room with comfortable chairs.

Little Mirrored Flowers in the Shower Room

TV Room 

Inside the laundry room is a desk, a table to fold clothes on, a rack to hang the hangable clothes, and a desk in case you have bought a laptop with you.

      Laundry day is always hard, not to mention expensive. I will go clean the tool box, and

prepare it for the return of the detergent and other cleaning supplies.

Del will get the sweeper out for me; then he will take Tootsie walking. I will clean the rest of the truck from top to bottom; then we'll be free to relax the rest of the day, or what remains of it.

 This Petro is minuscule, but the trucker’s facilities are lovely, and this team appreciates the extra effort, so if you ever find yourself in Shorter, Alabama stop in and enjoy the facilities. I would suggest you eat before you get there, the food selection is limited.  

Snow. Snow, Blizzards, and Windby Cher'ley

I'm so glad we have our own truck and trailer, and that we work for a company where we set up our own loads. We did, however, spend our share of past winters in the blustering weather. Our truck has been barely visible many times.

         
 I have seen conditions much worse than these. One time we stuck in a truck stop because the roads were shut down, and the only place for us to park was in the fuel island. We went in and explained there was no parking. They let us stay there.

One time we got caught in a storm, and there was no way to get off the road. As I and several other trucks were descending a mountain in Tennesee, the drivers were joking about not getting too close to me because I was plackered. I agreed with them. I had enough wiggle room that I was comfortable, until I hit the brakes, fishtailed, and realized I was on the solid ice. To make matters worse, a line of cars were stuck at the foot of the hill. I was picking my spot to go off the road. When I glanced in my review mirrors, those trucks that were behind me was like a mother duck and her ducklings, they did their winter dance as they hit the medium one after another. I was still picking which place might be the best options, so that I wouldn't hit anyone but that I wouldn't roll and kill us in the process. In the meantime, I was still tapping the breaks, and finally, it stuck, I hit a dry spot. I came to a stop just a few yards from the last car in line. 

Trucking Style Meals

There are times I actually cook full meals on the truck, but not that often. After I've driven for 10 1/2 to 11 hours, I'm too tired to do a lot of cooking. The microwave is my friend, even though I often carry a hot plate, an electric skillet or my NuWave oven. We have a toaster somewhere on the truck.

This was our weekend brunch. A treat since we got a motel room. Actually more than a motel, it's an Inn and Suites in a very hot place. Yuma, Arizona. It would have cost us as much to run the truck for the weekend. We have a generator, but it's been our experience that it can't keep up with the heat in this part of the country.



A taste of summer, as sweet as watermelon. An orange I picked from a local tree, some tomatoes, and grapes round out the fruit. Toast, cereal and sausage tasted scrumptious. The kitchen here came with glass and silverware.

Normally we grab a sandwich, some chips, and something sweet. Sometimes a truck stop meal, or soup. I love some of the packaged meals like the "Complete" chicken and dressing. I try to keep fruit handy to snack on, but a few days is usually it.

Did you know a banana or an apple is 89 cents in a truck stop. Had to buy shampoo one day it was almost $9.00 and it wasn't that big of a bottle. Medicine or necessities are out of sight. I try to bring everything we need from home, but that makes for a storage problem.

2 small electric coolers hold the extra's that can't fit in the rather big small fridge we have on the truck. We don't use them too often, because they drain the batteries when we are sitting still.

Just remember if you see my truck in the Granny lane, call the Cops it's been stolen.

Duck! And other Critters that may hit the Windshield by Cher'ley

Duck! And I don't mean the quacking kind, even though that could happen. It's hard to tell what will hit the front or top of the truck. Many things over the years, including a white snowy owl. It is bug season right now. We've clipped deer, and once I squashed an antelope.
This is a horsefly and they really hurt when they bite.

We also have been infested with little black pea-ants. They don't bite, but they are a nuisance.
Winter is bad with snow, ice, and salt on the windshield. Summer has lots of bugs, all different kinds. When you hit a patch of Love Bugs, they will blacken your windshield instantly.

Last night on a back road in Texas I hit something. It was big and brown, but not as big as a deer. I'm thinking it was a coyote or wolf. I felt really sad about hitting. This morning I looked at the bumper of our truck and I feel really mad. I see dollar signs to replace the bumper.
Beautiful Animal.
Whatever I hit was moving very fast. I hope it survived.

Until next time. If you see my truck in the Granny Lane--Call the cops, it's been stolen. I love "Life in the Fast Lane".
 

Home again. We are getting home more than we are getting out.
Yesterday's interesting adventure was going through this tiny town and I was not able to make the turn without taking out the lamp post. On streets like these the Big, Solid, Line that vehicles are supposed to stop behind at a red light, needs to be farther back.. Fortunately a big truck going the other way was able to angle to the right in order to let me make the turn. Thanks' big truck driver, I didn't get a chance to thank you in person.

Also yesterday, someone gave us the wrong address to deliver. Needless to say we got down a dead end road that did not have room for us to do a Uie.

Life in the Fast Lane.

Went through a little town yesterday and almost took out a light pole. It was so close to the road where I needed to make a right hand turn onto, that I didn't think I was going to make it. I probably wouldn't have if it hadn't been for a nice trucker who angled his truck in such a way as to give me more room. Thanks Big Truck Driver. 

Life in the Rear View Mirror

Sometimes instead of seeing life through the windshield I see life through the mirror. When I posted this picture, I got a lot of great comments.

Some of the blessings from being out on the road are the sights. All the beautiful scenery is amazing, and some of it is just indescribable. When I saw this incredible sunrise in my mirror, I thought, I’m always going the wrong directions when something like this appears, so I took the photo and it turned out wonderful with the sunrise in the mirror matching the scene that was in front of me.

I wish I had the time to stop and explore, unfortunately we are always under time restraints. There’s a site that Google added, called G+, which makes it nice to upload many of the photos that I take on the road. If you are interested I will add you to my G+ circle.

The way I usually take the photos is to hold my cell phone out to the side and snap. I get what I get, and I have got some pretty amazing photos. Sometimes they end up like this:

My sister-in-law Carol Dicken sent me this:


And the other thing that makes trucking great is meeting people like you. Leave me a comment. 

Relationship Secrets

Where’re the trip envelopes? Where’re my socks?” Del squalls.

“Why do I have to keep track of everything?” I yell in defense.

“Because I do everything else.”

“Oh yeah, what all do you do? I drive as many hours as you, I’m tired.”

And then the fight is on. 

Finally, I got a good night’s sleep, very refreshing, which gave me enough energy to clean my truck home. I started in the left corner and worked as I do when I’m home—left to right—top to bottom. The microwave almost wore me out. I’d a couple of explosions, (fish, eggs, etc.) which I hadn’t had time to clean up properly. The rest of the upper lever wasn’t too hard. I rearranged some clothes and electrical wires and felt satisfied. After scrubbing the floors, fridge and cabinets, I had enough energy left to make egg salad. You guessed it, the eggs splattered all over the microwave and I had to clean it again.

The wonderful part was that Del loved the egg salad and he said the sleeper looked really nice. It’s so great to be appreciated. I appreciate him as well, he does all the fueling, most of the paperwork and all the backing.

A relationship on the truck is difficult. Two totally different people are thrown together in a 10 x 10 area, day and night, night and day, from daylight to dark and from dark to daylight. Del and I have a little secret I’ll share with you. When he drives I stay in the in the sleeper area and when I drive he stays in the sleeper area. When we’re both in the sleeper together we are happy to see each other.

How do you keep your relationship fresh? 

National Poetry Month

Mr. and Mrs. 

Says the mister to the misses,

I sure love you,

Give me a few more kisses.

Says the misses to the mister,

I sure love you,

Glad I'm not your sister. 

Alive in Nature's Glory

I travel these highways long and far. I get to see Glories that were only imagined at one time. It reminds me of the song, "I Can Only Imagine".


Alive in Nature's Glory                           

In all her splendor
In all her shine
The beauty of nature is mine



Breath in deeply
Breath out slowly

Don't utter a peep
Let your eyes fill
Nature's  ready for a deep sleep

Take a long drive
Be so alive

by Cher'ley Grogg


photo http://www.geekphilosopher.com/gallery/gallery.aspx?aid=155

Life Away from Home Virtual Tour of the Inside of our Truck

Some truckers go home pretty often and others like us stay out for 6-8 weeks, so we cram as much as we can into our trucks because it is very expensive to buy items in a truck stop. It's also bad to be setting out in the middle of no where and not have food, or even worse no coffee.

We have many comforts of home, or should I saw necessities. A microwave/convection over, a tv/dvd player (a zillion dvd's), a mixer, a couple of fans, a fairly large fridge, lots of books (reference and reading) a printer and four laptops and a lapdock. We also have several items stored in our read compartments, which is called a headache rack. I call it my outhouse. We have cabinets (we took out the top bunk) that are stuffed and closets full of things.

Let me just give you a virtual tour.

If you enjoyed this leave me a comment, share, and like thanks. I hope you follow this blog. If you were going to be away from home for 6-8 weeks what would be the main thing you'd want to take with you?

Loaded up and Truckin'

Loaded up and truckin'.  We are. It's amazing how much you can pack into the bunk portion of a truck. We have a Kenworth W900, Penelope (named after the big blonde on Criminal Minds), and we have all 86 inches jam-packed full. Plus we have additional space in the headache rack that's attached to the back (my outhouse).

Putting stuff on and taking stuff off, that's the motion of a trucker leaving and returning home. It's a trillion times expanded if it's a team operation. Do you want to know what goes on a truck?

Hold your breath. 

Stationary items:

1. TV/DVD player
2. Fridge
3. Microwave/confection oven
4. Printer
5. Cabinets
6. Coffee Pot
7. CB
8. XM Radio
9. DVDs/CDs (most stay)
10. Pillows/tempurdic mattress
11. Qualcom
12. Fan
13. Toaster
14. Blender
15. Electric Skillet

Pack On/Pack Off items:

• Coffee thermos (filled coming on, empty coming off)
• Clothes (enough for 7-10 days)
• Wash Basin
• Shirts, pants, underwear, socks, dresses (dressy and work), bathing suits, short sets, night clothes, shoes (2 pair for him, 4 pair for her) and with winter coming on boots (1 pair for him, 2 pair for her), coats, jackets, sweaters, gloves, scarves, you get the idea.
• Food-frozen, refrigerated and cabinet stock-fresh veggies and fruit
• Rugs
• Linens (which includes extra covers in the winter)
• Toiletries (enough for a month)
• Towels
• Electronics-2 cell phones, + snake-winding cords, 4 laptops, + snake winding cords, a lapdock, + a snake winding cord, two head-sets, + snake-winding cords, and 2 sets of ear buds, + snake-wind wire

Next Wally World trip may be far and in between. Stock up.

 After six hours of solid carrying and placing the items in a general location, we forced the doors shut. The stuff was stacked taller than me, all around, all around. Del say's, "Oh my, where in the world will you put all this and how will we ever find the bed again." I work my magic (as women do) and viola, it's livable.

What do you load on your truck? Non-truckers, what do you pack for a trip? Do you take any extras like irons, coffee pot, or electronics? Share please.

Photo: Page URL:	http://mrg.bz/0BBZWY
Image URL:	http://mrg.bz/UTyuX9

Singing in the Rain

Is the song now, stuck in your head?

Traffic in the rain is not anything like singing in the rain. Most people are not sure how to drive in the rain, so they slip, slide and take curves at superable speeds.  This scares me to death. I don't know if they are going to run into me or into someone else.

Seems like we've been in rain almost every day during this past week.

Slow down, but not in the hammer lane. Another problem is when a police car is flashing their lights, people slow down too slow. Get in the other lane, if possible, but don't bring all traffic to a standstill. When rain and police lights are mixed together, it's not a good situation, watch for the other guy. Don't go below the speed limit in the hammer lane unless totally necessary and remember even if you have your cruise set, you can speed up or step on the brakes when it's needed.

View over the hood of our truck. It may not rain often in Arizona, but when it does, it's a gully-washer for sure. We almost got washed off the road in one area. Then today it was almost like a small hurricane, the wind was blowing, the trees were bending and the water was flying. But, all this was followed by a beautiful Rainbow, which made me think of Singing in the Rain. 

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