Back To Colorado

Oct 6th, 2012
 So nice to wake up in our own bed, and have everything done needs to be done before we go out. We had a leisure morning with our coffee, me blogging.
  9 am we needed to eat something. (I didn’t wanna mess up my clean kitchen) and we needed a few things from Wally world. Now do we visit the in-laws on the way to Wally World or do we do shopping first. I voted for shopping, put off going into the lion’s den as long as possible.
  I had my list nearly completed, Van went to wait for me up front while I ran to grab milk. I got the milk, looked at veggies and my phone rang... it was the dispatcher.
  I inadvertently put MY cell phone number on van’s application.. So they call my phone. We have tried to tell them but... yano how busy ya get and to edit a number on the cell phone, it’s easier for now to just call the number on it... right?
I am running with my loaded cart to the front of Wal-mart holding out my cell phone hoping Van see’s me and meets me half way... NOPE.
  We loaded the car and back on the road again within minutes:)
Where to this time.... same run.. Nooooo but it’s okay I”m sure we’ll see other parts of the country soon enough

Our Truck

So we made it home, rest and relaxation... WRONG!

I grabbed ground beef out of the freezer to defrost in the microwave, threw laundry in the washer and started it. Dragged out my sewing machine to reinforce the Qualcom holder. Oh yeah forgot to mention that...

 Van said I wish I had a holder a type of pocket...

 ooooo I grinned (this was before we got all the junk taken out of the truck after we sorted thru it 3 times.) I whipped out my little bedside organizer. (I told ya I brought everything BUT the kitchen sink! Never know what ya might need.)

 I slipped it over the door of the glove box and slammed it shut... wow it works perfect! The big pocket holds the Qualcom, it has a kleenex department (yup we loaded our kleenex in it) another pocket for a book, scissors, maps etc.

(you can see not much room between the seats.)

Our entire Kitchen, (food in the red and white bag, popcorn popper, on a shelf on top of the microwave. This is hanging over our bed.)

All the storage we have in the sleeper behind my seat. Top shelf: food 2nd shelf plates,plastic flatware, cups, coffee, 3rd shelf: coffee pot, crock pot. fridge is below the third shelf.

opposite storage, is our shower/bathroom storage below that is our only closet.
and our bed

Mother in Law

(singing that old song) mother in law.. mother in law...

Mother-in-law calls:

 When did you take Dad to his last appointment?

Me: It's on your calendar, sometime in Sept.

Her: I ripped that page off already. When did you take him?

Me Sept 14. (I can't remember and I don't have my calender with me on the truck.)

Her: Well Dr. H wants to see him again, I don't know why he needs to see him after just two weeks.

Me: Dr. H is his skin doctor, the one we went to was his surgeon, he NEEDS to go see Dr. H after all the surgeries.

 Her: Okay I guess he can keep this appointment.

(I was trying not to laugh)

This morning before 8 am Van's phone rings
"Did you know Jeanne put SOAP in Dad's aloe vera?"
"What?"
 "Dad brought home the Aloe Vera that was on your dryer, you're not going to use it."
"I don't know what to tell ya, but... remember when Jeanne asked you to save Dad's empty Aloe Vera jugs so she could put soap in them for the truck?"
"Oh yeah, why didn't she mark it?
"It is marked on the OTHER side of the jug"
"Oh so it is."
(I'm still laughing, Why get upset at things I can't stop, like going into my house and taking stuff they gave to me.)

Boise City OK

We are finally in HOME Country! Yano ya kinda feel safe, with kindred when you get into your home state.
DO NOT FEEL THAT WAY!!

 Dollar General was across from Love's. Ya gotta shop when the opportunity presents it self right? After all you can only find so much stuff at truck stops along the way.

 I had safely navigated my way across a busy four lane hi-way headed back to the truck, six empty fuel islands, I crossed the one straight across from our truck. I seen a truck racing me.. only I didn't know we were racing.
 He comes right at MY island!! right at me. I side ran out of his way, we are nearly the only truck in the lot with 25 parking spaces, he can park ANYWHERE! He can see Van is in the drivers seat of the ONLY truck around, so it makes sense I'm going to get in on the passenger side right?
 He comes roaring back toward me as I am walking toward the ONLY truck on that side of the lot.
 I ran to Van's door and he let me in.
 "What is his problem?"
  "You seen that?"
 I think he was having such a great day, he wanted to give me lots of insurance and I was just too quick for him.

The Hat AGAIN

Fort Garland Colorado, we go in Del's Diner, the waitress came right over with menus and asked,
"I have to know, is that your hat?"
 " yes its actually a visor"
 "No is that your hair? The other girl and I disagree, I say its a hat and she says its your hair."
 Van took off his hair hat and they all laughed.
"I bet you get a lot of attention with that hat."
"I bet you're right." Van said.

Getting Potatoes

Oct. 4, 2012
 The APU now is totally dead. I fixed coffee in our little pot, Van started the truck and just as the final gurgle of hot water went thru the filter the truck died. (it's supposed to do that.)
  We got permission and directions where to take the truck to get the filter changed on the APU. An hour and $300.00 later we were back on the road. (they pay not us)
 This time we are headed to San Luis, Colorado to a potato farm to pick up bulk potatoes.   We have a box how can we pick up bulk potatoes?
 I guess we'll find out IF we can find the potato farm. Now the guy did give us fair warning...
"Get a biiiiig piece of paper"
 These are the exact directions:
 take 285 to Romeo Colorado,
Turn R on 142  22 miles to San Acacio, CO
turn Left on cr road 12 N
Left on cr X (no markings on that road what so ever) so 10 miles later we are finding roads AA BB CC DD  so we stopped. and called again, remember the house with the blue roof? you mean ten miles back?? yup that's the one. yeah right we are gonna make a U-turn around on a two lane dirt road... with that same 53 ft trailer.
Van said don't mention the mailbox we ran over as he backed into a dirt lane.
 (we didn't knock it down we barely scraped it, it was still standing.)
 now its Right on CR X (at the house with a blue roof)
 Right on cr 10
 Left on  cr Z and go 2 and half miles...
 It was really interesting, a truck came from the field, a conveyor belt pulled the potatoes off the truck, shook the potatoes, rolled them onto another shaking conveyor belt to shake more dirt off, another belt caught the dirt and loaded it onto another truck then the shaken potatoes were sprayed into the back of our truck with a huge tube. (Gently dropped not really sprayed.)
 Our trailer was lined with plastic.
 You have to wash your hands  before you touch the product like we are going to touch it... yeah right.
 One man motioned for Van to pull ahead four different times as the truck loaded it. (not to the ceiling only about 5 feet deep). We went to weigh we were right at 79,100 (we can legally weigh 80,000). good enough they shut the doors put a little seal on it and sent us on our way.
to Unload it, they flood our trailer and float the potatoes out. (that was in OKC)

Day 2 of our Adventure

Day 2 of our Adventure.  Tucumcari NM
 I woke up staring at a bright star twinkling thru the overhead bunk window. It wasn't a satellite, this one was much smaller and actually twinkled.  The things we miss living in a house.
  We began the day with someone pecking on the door,  to wake us up, too late we were already dressed and had our first cup of coffee poured.
  Jim and Leann Allen our friends live in Tucumcari, We've known them for over 20 years.
 Van showed her a light on the dash, Asked if she knew what it might be for. (She drove for years with her husband, Jim, Van's best friend.) She said it looks like a camera, why would they have a camera on your truck?
 I said for when thieves shove the security lights on the building toward the sky to steal all your tires. Yes this actually happened to us in Denver Colorado. We backed up to our trailer at the dock, got hooked on and got ready to pull out, Van went to kick the tires and there were  no tires. All the security cameras were pointed to the sky.
  I've become one of THEM old ladies that tell their husband what they can and can't eat... Van looks at the menu and says, "okay what can I have?" Maybe if he worded it more like what CAN I eat? I wouldn't get those " oh you're one of THOSE controlling women tells your husband what he can and can't eat...  *laughing* So I ordered for him. Hey he doesn't hurt now.
  We had two extra hours to spend after our  friends went to work. K-mart was close, so we walked over. Van got a notebook to put all the many papers we have to fill out. I got candy. I can't go long without my licorice They say its good for your stomach and we all know what "they" say has to be gospel!
  We get to Albequerque, we are mesmerized by the beautiful stone work all along the hi way  six foot gheckos, roadrunners, black birds, rabbits,turkeys, only they weren't wild turkeys they were pilgrim turkeys a child has colored bright colors. *laughing* We couldn't believe miles and miles and the money spent on the artwork. Every bridge is colored cement, not the ugly grey, but beautiful turquoise, pottery pink, pearl white.
  We had to go to four different Albertsons. No big deal until we discovered, the one albertson's is on a road no trucks allowed. We took a road missed our turn and there we sit at a red light ON the road we aren't allowed to travel on, our choice is left...on the forbidden road right on the forbidden road or U-turn pulling a 53 ft long trailer 13 feet tall.. yeah right we're gonna make a U-turn and we did! I tell ya Van's a proffessional. I on the other hand would have made a left and said kiss my 53 ft trailer!! *laughing*
 
  I decided we better eat the bierox for supper. (I made them at home.)
"You can use any electrical appliance you want you have an APU (Alternative power unit.) the engine will not idle for over 5 minutes, but you have the APU so you don't need to idle longer than 5 min." We were told.
  So I make sure the APU  is on, I plug in the microwave, put in my two little bierox, turn it on and it shuts off. theAPU turns on sputters and dies. It does this several times.
Van calls dispatch, they say to reset it, Van did. It still sputters and dies, by now the dispatcher has gone home. There we sit with our cold little bierox and a malfunctioning APU...
Van says well... i can start the engine will it take longer than 5 min?
I'm laughing as i can see us restarting the truck every five minutes as we try to cook dinner. We did

Day One on Our Adventure

Oct 2, 2012
  Our first day on our new adventure.
  We loaded the truck... boy did we load the truck, we decided to keep the dishcloth and dump a few books, clothes and other non essential items.  The porta potti found a home first in what's supposed to pass as a closet, its a small  rod under a shelf. The rod holds our 2 coats and 2 jackets thats it. Above the closet is a shelf for our laundry sheets (yup we go with the soap and softner all in one sheet). Our shampoo, conditioner (yup we share) soap scrubbies, (no we don't share scrubbies we may share all germs just not those)lol. Van's shave kit and my cosmetic's bag, mirror, hand sanitizer (we use alot of that as our only form of hand washing in the truck.)
the other side behind my seat is all cooking and food related items, microwave, refridge, coffeepot, paper plates, paper bowls, plastic spoons, forks, knives, and solo cups, paper towels, plastic bag holder. Above the kitchen is my book bag, our office supplies, wish I could say my lap top fits up there, it doesn't. We do have the dvd's and all the change we's hoarded for years.

 We picked up the trailer, Van started the refer as instructed before leaving the yard...oil poured out. So, the shop guy came out and said they had left the cap off the oil.:) he offered to wash the oil off.
He said, "I wish I could grow hair like you."
 Van said, "you can."
 he said, Noo I can't, and he pulled off his hat and showed Van his bald head."
 Van said, "Yes you can, and pulled his hat off."
 The kid laughed and asked to borrow Van's hat. he disappeared inside the shop wearing  Van's hair hat. We could hear laughter.

 On the truck again, I set the lady garmin for West bound and down, we are loaded up and trucking with Christmas lights, paper and toys:) We aren't sure where we're going but we're gonna have fun getting there.
  I had enough fun by 9:30, so I crawled into Van's pajamas as I can't find my own and climbed into the bunk. Yano those old fashioned vibrating beds you put a quarter in? Well I had my own free one... I have no idea why anyone would want a vibrating bed. My face itched in no time as it bounced on my sheet. I swiped Van's feather pillow and believe it or not... it didn't bounce nearly as bad.
 I will say this much, compared to our first truck we had, it was a 1979 Mack with a coffin sleeper. (that means they took out the window in the back of the truck, you crawled thru the boot and dropped onto the bed. It felt very much like a coffin.
 Van and his dad put innertubes (the kind you float down the river on) aired them half full of air under the sleeper to keep it from bouncing you so hard you physically left the bed on every bounce.
 That sleeper still bounced me so much I was sore the next day.
 Compared to THAT old sleeper back in the day... this one floats like a butterfly