A Newbie's Point of View {from when I was a newbie in early '07}

"You don't look like a truck driver," the waiter at Conway, Arkansas' Waffle House said to me. But don't judge a book by its cover.

I've retired my pink Victoria's Secret shower bag, but I still haven't seen another female driver with such a girly accessory.

Although I've seen one other female driver walking a little dog in a sweater in truck driving land. My dachshund has her own wardrobe… a purple sweater, a red dress,

a pink jacket, a lifejacket,

a raincoat and a corduroy coat. Wish she would wear some doggy rain boots so she wouldn't get the floors and seats dirty after being in messy weather. My husband makes Lolo do her business in the cold, refusing to be seen with a dog in a coat… especially a pink one.

I'm meeting lots of interesting people out here… such as this guy who rode up on a bicycle not proportionate to his size.

Other oddities I've seen on our nation's Highways:

• A running Ford Pinto
• Two van loads of men in skirts and tennies at an Ohio McDonald's
• Twice in Arizona, a man walking along the shoulder toting a cross on wheels on his shoulder
• A helicopter crash-landing on the shoulder
• A hitchhiker on crutches
• Truck balls

Things I've learned since becoming a truck driver :

· Things ARE bigger in Texas

· You can't pull a big rig into your choice of restaurant

· Don't answer a knock on your door… usually it's either a lot lizard or someone wanting money or cigarettes

· Super truckers dislike Swift (the company I drive for) since our trucks are governed at 62 mph and most of the drivers are new. Dumb asses, they call us. And I've got a rant ready to post on that subject. How I respond to the name-calling super truckers… "Lay off of Swift already… I'm just trying to grow up to be an asshole like you."

· Truck drivers don't see many pretty truck drivers

I'm driving down a busy Interstate in Texas one day when another truck initially intending to pass me starts hanging out beside me. I grabbed my mic and said, "Move along driver, you're holding up traffic."

"It's worth it," he said.

"What… you've never seen a pretty truck driver before?"

"No," he said.

· Things you think you find necessary living in a house become unimportant when you have to live in an itty-bitty house on wheels.

· Keep water and food stocked for when you're stuck for anywhere from 4 and ½ hours to 2 days due to an accident or bad weather. Or hope you get escorted into a Wal-Mart parking lot...

We picked up our load in icy Seattle

and headed south across Snoqualmie Summit, over Yakima Pass, through the mountains of Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, all notorious for harsh winter weather. And winter weather we did hit. Slowed us down a bit, but we kept on trucking. But they're used to it up north and have the equipment to keep traffic and merchandise flowing. Where do we get stuck at? Sixty miles west of low San Antonio, Texas… mere hours from our destination.

I was driving I-10 from El Paso heading for Laredo in the rainy night when it started getting slick and I was getting tired. I pulled into a picnic area where my husband judged the situation and thought it better to get some sleep and leave at sunup. But before sunup we were awakened by a big Baboom!! A big truck had slid into another trying to exit off the Highway and pull in behind us. Trucks started lining the shoulder, unable to get into the quickly packed picnic area... then, another wreck on the shoulder. The highway patrol showed up and told us I-10 was being closed and we were to stay put until they came to get us, line us up and escort us to the next exit, through the neighborhoods of Kerrville and into the Wal-Mart parking lot.

Around noon we slowly made our way through the residential area ) and into town where police were at intersection after intersection directing us on which way to go.

A lady was in her yard taking pictures of the endless 18-wheeler caravan going through her neighborhood.

Once at Wal-Mart, another officer packed us in like sardines. We couldn't have left if we wanted to, surrounded by about thirty trucks. Sixty-eight were there by the time we left.

Chili's – on a skeleton crew and only serving burgers, sandwiches and soup – and Wal-Mart were the only things open around us. There was a Sonic, Wendy's and McDonald's within walking distance… all closed. Time almost stops for Texas in icy weather.

My husband and I went into Wal-Mart and bought canned stew to heat in our Stove to Go and movies to pass the time. Another lady driver kept the coffee flowing to all the drivers, offering it over the CB radio. She also got on the phone to the local Red Cross since some drivers had no food or money.

The second and last night we were there, the disaster relief van showed up with gratis chicken, green beans, corn and coffee. Thank you Red Cross!

Only I-10 East opened up later that evening, luckily it was the way we were going. Enough east bounders left to leave us enough room around us to shimmy out. We finally got our load delivered in Laredo the next day. By the time we came back through San Anton that night, all was flowing smoothly again.

Waking Up At Glen Canyon, Arizona

This is my favorite blog from June, 2007. It's times like these that rejuvenate my determination to stick with this job to achieve our dreams...

Waking up in a new, beautiful place; what more could I ask for? More time to linger in such places, I suppose...

After driving all night, unable to see the scenes of Utah that passed me by, I handed the wheel over to my husband and went to sleep.

I had only been sawing logs for a few hours when Doug woke me up gently. "You're like waking a hibernating bear," he claims.

"Get up and get dressed. You'll want to see this, I promise," Doug said. I didn't growl, to his relief. I quietly obeyed, curious what this was all about and grabbed Lolo. Red-eyed, I stepped out of the truck. Yay! Woods! I breathed in the fresh air of the Kaibab National forest.

A native Indian lady was arranging jewelry and pottery on a table nestled under the trees at the edge of the little pullover where we parked. I want to kick myself for not buying a very reasonably priced piece. But I was anxious to see where Doug was leading me...

The trail ended at a cliff where you can see for miles...

I sat for a moment to enjoy the view...

A lizard scurried away when he saw me taking a picture of him...

Always in a hurry to deliver our load, we scurried back toward the truck.

Lolo didn't want to leave...

...But, we found another scenic overlook where we stopped for a few more peaceful moments. Doug mimicked Chevy Chase in National Lampoon's Vacation at the Grand Canyon.

Doug made me stay awake to take in the scenery of the rest of our
drive south into Flagstaff.

We'd never been this way before and he knew I'd enjoy it, no matter how tired I was...

We crossed the Colorado River at Marble Canyon, which is between the Glen and Grand Canyons.

It made me wish for summer and that I was in a tube, lazily floating down a river...

Tourist season hadn't started yet apparently. There were many unoccupied arts and crafts stands...

In Flagstaff, we took I-40 east to head to New Mexico.

Been there done that.

I laid my head back down and went to sleep with a smile on my face.

A Quick Intro...

Driving into the sunset is not as romantic as it sounds. It can be blinding when there's no clouds and the visor no longer covers the glare and you can't raise the seat anymore. But I-10 curves north in Hill Country to El Paso. I caught every glance I could out the driver side window at the oranges and yellows peeking out from behind the bluish-gray bald mountains. It put a nice pause in the hustle and bustle to get from Laredo to here at the El Paso yard to pick up our assigned load to Nashville. That was six hours ago and the load's still not here. Hurry up and wait! Once we get that load, we'll have 27 hours to get there... not an easy task governed at 62 mph. That is, if we still get the load. As it so often happens out here on the road, plans get jerked around. But I'm still hoping we get to visit my Tennessee folks that live just up the road from the Petro at exit 188. We need a 34 hr. restart anyway. Doug is calling me Rudolph my nose is so red from being sick the last three days. Doug jinxed me. I haven't been sick in two years. He caught the cold first last week and asked me, "How come you never get sick?" Then two days later, bam, a doozy. Much worse than his was. But I did learn something. Scott tissue is not nice for the nostrils... but it's all I had until we could find a Wal-Mart with Puffs Plus. God Bless Puffs Plus! Pun intended. Ah, how you have to compromise living on a truck. Blowing your nose isn't easy while driving either. Or using nasal spray. You have to be quiet crafty at times. Anyway, my hours are up and I'm going to lay my congested head down. From the blogs I've looked at tonight, this site seems to have a lot of people akin to truckin' hubby and me. So, ASAP I'm going to transfer some old postings from another site and get started on some of the other ideas in this weird head of mine... so stay tuned! Looking forward to meeting some interesting people!