California and home we go.

Well we have been trying to go home for the last week or so.  It seems that there is a lot of freight going and not enough trucks to take it.  I just read in a trucking newspaper that the industry is hurting for drivers.  That there is a lot that are leaving the industry due to the limits the government is trying to place on the truckers.  Has anyone stopped to think that if trucking stopped for, even two days, that the nation would come to a halt.  Look what happens when the airlines are delayed for any amount of time.  Scary thing to think about.

We were in Northern Utah and I saw a sight that I have only seen in "truck bone yards", a trailer buckled in half.

We heard a crack and a thud while at the loading dock, but we didn't think anything of it.  Just thought that it was the plate to the dock dropping onto our trailer, so that they could start to load the freight.  How wrong we were.  We pulled away from the loading dock and was going around to re-scale the load and this is what I saw.  The poor driver. It must have scared him a good one.  The good thing is that the trailer is the only thing that was harmed.  The tractor and driver were safe and sound.  Equipment can be replaced, but life cannot.

As I was looking at this picture I noticed that at the top of the trailer, some of the damage appeared to be a chair. The rounded back and the solid legs on the bottom.  Tom tells me that I can find something of interest in anything I look at.  Good imagination???
 
     While we were in California, we happened to pass this restaurant with the name of our friend that lives in Southern Utah, Vicky.  I just had to take the picture and send it to her, for she would get a good laugh out of it.  She loves to cook and now there is a restaurant with her name on it.

Then you have the guys that want to be mobile with their food. like this guy.  He is on the go with his little cart, but it appeared to be mostly beverages. 

As we were passing a residential neighborhood, I noticed a man sitting in his wheelchair with his dog watching the traffic go by.  I thought what a nice picture.  Man, with his leg propped up on the wall, just relaxing or maybe doing exercises and his dog watching out.

Notice the sign on the fence...Beware of Dog...I think he might "bark" you to death, before he would bite.

And now on to my construction guys.  I just have fun taking pictures of these guys at work.  Sometimes you scratch your head wondering what they are doing.  This guy was jumping up to grab the beam.  As he was doing it I thought that he must have great muscles, if he has to do this umpteen times a day.

They are building a bridge that will carry a train over the roadway.  Right now it goes across the road and the traffic backs up clear to the off ramp from the interstate.  It doesn't take many trucks in a line to have a major traffic problem.  It is a "good thing", as my friend Ann would say.
  We are going home now for a few days.  Looking forward to just relaxing and putting my feet up on something other than the dash board.  So until next time I will see you On the Other Side.

Return to the Asphalt roads.

We returned to Deland, Florida after a wonderful 7 days at sea.  We made new friends and met up with old friends.  The time off was restful and relaxing, to say the least. 

We are now heading up North to Ohio do deliver some paper towels to a distribution center.  The leaves have changed on a lot of the trees and that means, winter is on it's way.

Even the haze over the valley's couldn't hide the beauty of fall as we drove through South Carolina.

The bright colors of fall stood out as we looked past the baren trees.  There were a few trees that did not want to give up their color.

Every time we cross this river and I read the name of it, I wonder to myself, What happened to the "Old River"?

I had to take my picture of the construction worker hard at work.  No wonder the roads cost so much to build, if the workers are just looking board and wishing they were anywhere else but where they were.  The way this man is sitting, you wonder what is going through his mind.  I guess you could call him the "Construction Thinker".

The old churches that are on the back roads are interesting to see.  They have cemetery's adjacent to the church.  Some of them are very old and have interesting tombstones.  There are people that go around the country and do rubbings of the old stones, as an art form. 

Night has fallen as we come into Chicago, IL.  The night was overcast and there was a slight mist of rain.  Our friend, Jerry, lived there and worked there for awhile.  Now he can see the change since he left a long time ago.  And on that note, since it is night time it is time for the Sandman to come and visit.  Until next time I will see you on the Other Side.

Sun and Fun

On October 30, 2011 we met friends from Mississippi (Tammy and Ralph) to enjoy a cruise vacation.  We sailed out of Port Canaveral, Florida on the 29th.  Due to weather our destination was changed from the Western Caribbean to the Eastern side.  We did see two new places that we had never been to before and it was interesting.

Paradise Island was our first stop and the hotels there were amazing.  The properties were so well maintained and beautiful.  One of the suites in the hotel rents for 25K a night.  People pay that so that they insure their privacy, we were informed.  Some price tag. 

There were all sorts of sights to see and marine life to see in the time we were there.  The observation that I made was that there were quite a few vacationers from other countries other than the United States.

The sculptures in the hotel were amazing.  Tom and I took the time to have our picture taken in front of one.

Then after a hard day of sightseeing, we relaxed with a game of miniature golf on the top deck of the ship.  The girls were against the guys and the guys won one and tied the other.  But it was fun playing games out in the middle of the ocean.

On to the island of St. Thomas, US VI for the day.  The sights from the mountain roads were beautiful.  It is hard to picture that nature can at any time come and wipe out the homes and buildings with wind and rain.

We were able to see Iguana's and they are one ugly  reptile.  They were all over the island and were not afraid of people.  We were told that they can be aggressive at times, so we let them stay on the other side of the wall.

We made it to the top of the island and it was a sight to behold.  The beauty was unbelievable.

We return to the ship to sail away to return another day.  Our vacation is about over and we have to return to the world of asphalt and traffic.  But, we have our pictures to look at and reflect back on, when the snow is coming down and the temperatures are below zero.  Until then I will see you on the Other Side. 

The movie..."Groundhog Day"..or hubbys birthday..

Construction is going on on just about every road and highway we have been on lately.  This is the government at work, stimulating the economy with road construction and bridge repair.  But, there are so many barrels, (wonder if they are full of "pork"?) and just one man to do the job.  I think that there should be at least four.  One to drive the truck. One to toss the barrels and rings down and two on the ground to catch them and put them together.  Now we would have four people employed instead of one.

But, then again, why would we want our government to pay someone who isn't working?  Not the elected officials, we know about them already.  It appears to me that we are having a meeting of how things should get done. Wait and see how many cars and trucks it takes to create a back up for miles.  Now if they just sit there for a few more minutes...

But, wait.  There are two guys working on a bridge.  Or is he fishing?

Mission accomplished.  There is a back up in the traffic for at least five miles.  On this stretch it seemed that there were more trucks than four wheelers.  (four wheelers is what the truck drivers call a car)

With the back up in the construction zones we had the time to appreciate the fall colors.  There weren't many trees changing yet, but the ones that were were beautiful.

One of these days I am going to look up in the history books and find out what the battle at Chickamauga was all about during the Civil War.  There are so many battlefields throughout the North and South.  I never thought that there were so many battles fought in the Civil War, but I guess from all the signs along the roadways there were quite a few.

This picture is a little distorted.  It almost appears as if the restaurant is sinking into the mountain side.  But, I just took the picture as we were going around a curve.  There are rib joints and bar-b-que places in every town and city in the South.  Some are very good and others...well ..let's just say...I wouldn't go back there again and if you really really didn't like someone....send them there.

So on that note, I will say..until the next time I will see you ..on the other side.

Heading East.

We made it to California and the race track.  That was an interesting place to say the least.  It wasn't what I thought it would be, but then again we were on the back end of the track, not where the public goes.  We didn't see any race horses, but did see a lot of hay and recycled hay, also known as horse apples.

From California we were sent to...not Oregon, but to Idaho.  The roads we took were some that I hadn't been on since I was in high school and went hunting with my dad.  Things hadn't changed much in 50 years.  The buildings were just older.

The small town of McGill, Nevada is just a bump in the road.  You blink twice and you are on the other side of town.  A lot of the buildings there are very old and quaint.  One of my classmates from high school lives here.  She is lucky to live in a small town and not have to worry too much about crime, for everyone knows each other.

Yep, that is snow on them there mountains and winter isn't even here yet.  It has been very cool in the daytime as we head towards Idaho.  I am not ready for winter, even though I have our winter gear on the truck with us.  It doesn't hurt to be ready for any type of weather when we are out here, especially when we are in the months of Fall.  Maybe we will head South and stay warm. ..Just a thought...

As we were going into Idaho we were on this road that had the strangest overpasses.  They looked as if someone squished them from the top.  It was almost as if you could picture yourself going into a snakes belly, but could see daylight on the other side.  There were several of these as we continued on to our destination.

As we traveled on Scenic Highway (US) 30 out of Twin Falls, Idaho we saw some of the most beautiful sights.  There were waterfalls all along one stretch of cliffs.  One right after another.  There were camp grounds along the river that you could camp and fish.  This is one of the places that I would like to return to in a little baby truck to enjoy the beauty.

Now in Smity's Country Store you can buy just about anything, including Flies.  Now why someone would want to pay for those pests I have no idea.  I guess some people will buy anything just to say they bought it.  But, then again, maybe Smity is saying that there is flies and to beware or just where they are landing.  This needs to be investigated in more detail.

You can go from one type of beauty to another.  Here I can picture a wagon train coming across the land and the Indians following them to see if they stay or go.  It is almost as if you can step back in time and see the Old West.
 It is time to stop and feed the driver.  I will write more later, so until then ...I will see you on the Other side.

To the race track we go.

We are heading for the racetrack to deliver shavings of wood for bedding, I guess for the race horses.  I have only been to a racetrack once, and that was in Evanston, Wyoming many, many moons ago. I think it will be interesting to see the back end of a racetrack.  I read in the paper today that they are having races there this weekend.  I suppose that is the reason we need to deliver this load on Monday morning.  Can you picture a huge 18 wheeler pulling onto the racetrack property during a race.  Not a good thing.  Some of these races have large purses.  The highest I read in the paper for this weekend at this track is $45,000.00.  No wonder they take such good care of these horses.  They can make in one race what an average person would make in a year.  If there is such a thing as reincarnation, I want to come back as a winning racehorse.  No, on second thought, the owner of a winning racehorse.  That sounds a lot better.

Going the back way to reach I-5 we get to see some beautiful sights.  I believe that the structure in the background is a silo, but not real sure.  Here in California you can never be too sure what anything could or could not be.

 When I saw this sign, I thought it was referring to a town.  But, Tom informs me that Rolling Rock is a type of beer.  So, does the sign mean that the beer was born in a small town or the small town was born due to the beer?  A question to ponder.

The morning mist was thick in some areas.  As I looked out the windshield I saw the Flag waving in the mist.  I think I will never get tired of seeing the beauty of the American Flag.  It flies so majestically in the air, and when the breeze catches it you can't be help but think of the  song, The Star Spangled Banner and where in the song it says, "Forever may it wave." 

  As we went through Butte, Oregon the local saddle shop sign caught my eye.  They carry just about everything you would need to outfit a cowboy or cowgirl.  I wonder if this store is another one of those places that is information central?  The appearance of the town would suggest to me that this just might be the place to go to find out what is going on the the community

I made this photo a little be larger than the rest, for the sign/painting on the side of building makes a statement.  The first part has the flag and the next part says," The Bill of Rights, what part of this is gang related"?  Below this is gang graffiti, that is very artistic.  I would have to understand "gang" lingo, in order to understand what the graffiti means.  As it stands now, I have no clue and would like to remain clueless in some instances.  Sometimes no knowledge is good knowledge

As we came into the first town in California, I saw this fire engine parked outside of the restaurant/bar, and there were

three firemen walking into the place.  Now I suppose that if they are going into eat that it would be a place that you would feel that the food would be good.  If firemen eat there it must be good.  Kind of like, if you see trucks outside a restaurant the food must be good.  But, don't be fooled by that saying.  Sometimes that is the only place the truckers can park their rigs to eat and if they are hungry they will eat just about any type of food.

 As we continued on US 97 towards Southern California we saw some old buildings.  This one was a old log home that they haven't destroyed, but kept it as part of the towns history.  Can you imaginee living in a house like this?

Mount Shasta had a new dusting of snow on its cap.  I wonder if there is anyone up there that is going to try and ski down the face of it?  There are some dare devils out there, I am sure that have tried it.

 We then came into the town of Weed.  You can see the mountain from just about anywhere in the town. 

The food must be good here.  I could smell it cooking from inside of the truck.  This man was busy cooking on the outside bar-b-que.  I wonder what was on the grill?

As I was taking the pictures, he happened to look up and wave.  Now that is a friendly town, when the residents wave to you as you go by.  As I have mentioned before, I like small towns over the larger ones.

We are about to call it a day as we draw closer to the truck stop and the mountain lakes are looking as they are full of water.

And as the lone walker walks along the road, I will say...I will see you on the otherside.