Easter Update

Got this update from Mama a couple of days ago - sorry for the delay in posting it!

It's Easter morning, and we are midway thru our 3rd trip out since leaving home Wed.
Boy was that an adventure! Just getting out of the drive at the farm took over 2 hours since we got stuck getting from the drive into the road. There was too much of a hump, and we got the landing gear hung. My dad tried to pull us off with the tractor, but we ended up needing a wrecker. This made us late getting our 1st load picked up in Rocky Mount, NC and delivered to King of Prussia, PA.

Next, we drove about 45 miles to Allentown, PA and picked up a load going to Norcross, GA. We got to both of those early. Then drove about 50 or so miles to find a parking place to wait until time to get the next load from Cumming, GA. It is going to Chicago, IL for a 3pm Monday delivery, and the notes on the order say they will not take it early so we have lots of extra time.

That being the case, we drove into the edge of Kentucky yesterday evening and stopped for the night in Franklin, KY. We just microwaved canned food for dinner, corn, peas, and corned beef and cheese - - it wasn't too bad and cheap! We went in for breakfast this morning at the Flying J where we stayed.

We are going to head on closer to Chicago today and find another truck stop to hang out in until time to deliver this load tomorrow. We will try to take and send pictures of the truck soon.

Lots of love mama and daddy. HAPPY EASTER to all!!!!!

On The Road

well... not yet, actually.

Inez passed her test on Friday and waited at a local motel for Bruce to come in. He was delayed since they gave he and his trainer a late load to California, then a stop in Dallas on the way back. He got in super, super late (maybe 4 am or so) on Saturday night/Sunday morning. They rested and did some laundry on Sunday waiting for Bruce's turn to test on Monday.
Early evening they found out he had passed as well.

I (Nicole) talked to Mama about 1:15 this afternoon and they were waiting on a truck. A couple of hours earlier it was being worked on/detailed for them. They don't know where they will send them right away - if it will be straight to NC or if they will have to detour with a load - she will let me know as soon as they get an assignment.

~Nicole
FINALLY!!!!

The Time to End Training is Near!

An update from Inez from late last night...

A little bit ago, we were on a 3 drop run. We made the 1st and then got orders to meet another truck and swap. That driver was having truck problems, so we met at the Freightliner dealer in El Paso, Texas and gave him our load and took his. It was going to Chicago area to be delivered the next evening. This was lunch time or so on Monday.

We left El Paso headed north out of New Mexico when we had to go into a scale and got chosen for a level 1 DOT inspection. They go over the truck, bills, logs and everything with a fine tooth comb. Everything was good except for 1 of our trailer tires that had some bald places so we got a warning and had to stop at the next town and get a new tire. There went any "extra" time we may have had to get our load delivered on time.

I had left El Paso driving and drove pretty late and then Jim got up and took over, he did not get too far until the marker lights on the trailer went out. So we again pulled into a truck stop for repairs but this time they worked for more than 3 hours and could not fix the problem. They recommended we go just up the street to a trailer dealership and wait for them to open the next morning which is what we did. They had to do some rewiring to fix the problem so off we went again... now knowing we are going to be late.

We finally got there about midnight and dropped the trailer. We took a nap and then got a load going back to Texas just south of Houston in Conroe to be delivered on Friday so there was extra time. My trainer complained to dispatch about sending a team on a solo run and they came back and said we could go ahead and deliver on Thursday, so we ran all night again to get it there by the new appointment time. Just got it done when they needed us to hurry over to Temple, TX and get another stranded load at the Freightliner dealer there and get it to Atlanta by 6am on Fri.

Jim advised them it would be at least 9am as that was the best we could do... however we made it by 8am after running hard all night again. We sat around that location for several hours and gave up and went to a truck stop south of town to eat, shower, and do laundry. Almost as soon as we got starting eating, we got a call to pick up a load in Simpsonville, SC just south of Greenville. It had to be picked up by 10pm, Jim did not want to leave in the afternoon and be stuck in traffic so we went ahead with our showers and laundry and then left.

That worked out as we got there about 10, loaded, and drove up to Inman and slept a few hours and then I drove to Asheville where we met some of our family for breakfast. After that, I drove on until we got in to Indiana then Jim took over for the last couple of hours today. The load we are on does not deliver until Monday in Cedar Rapids which is only 400 or so hours from here. So we will have another easy day tomorrow. I am hoping we might meet up with Bruce since he is also in Indiana tonight and will also be going in a westerly direction tomorrow. We will just have to wait and see.

1 more week til test time!! We need lots of prayers as my nerves are starting to get to me.

Love you and can not wait to get home and see everyone.