And the adventure, by way of aggravation, continues...

So my last update was about my newby experience on the truck, the hubby getting his new truck and the joys associated with all of that!
Well our last dispatcher had a way of "taking care of us". Rude awakening to us on the following Monday morning after getting our new truck, you have a new message... this means someone from dispatch is making contact.. So long story and email short, we have a new dispatch... well thats just fucking great... I will save all the in between drama, hubby has a VA appointment, which consists of a 2 week process the first week you go get labs, pee in a cup and then wait a week for results and the following week the doctor will see you and then interpret those results to you. It is a pretty important deal, since you only have to do this once a year..Not this year it seems our new dispatcher has no idea what is going on, whether it be with his fleet or whatever.. as you may notice my tone with him is less than pleasant, I haven't enjoyed talking with him, but the husband says he is probably about 20 years old and arrogant as____-you can fill in the blank with any appropriate word.. Had I spoken with him, we probably would be shopping for a new company to drive for, as I do not hold my tongue well especially when it comes to blatant stupidity. The VA appt has been on the board for notice ever since the hubbys date of hire,  so why in the hell was we still driving at 2am on the day that we were supposed to be home AND why was we routed 2 hours away from home. See what this dumbass fails to realize, if there is no one at home to drive 2 hours to get you, how are you supposed to get home. ? Hhmm, well long story short the husband was able to route us through our "hometown" and luckily April was there to pick me so I was able to get the car and of course drive the 2 hours were the husband had to drop a load on the second day of his 3 days he requested off. So I drove to pick him up because once he dropped the load, we had to have a way home. In between dropping me off and dropping his load he made his first appointment,  although he had to drive through Valdosta and park in a no semi lot to run and get his stuff done. Hubby delivers on time and I am there to pick him up and drive home another 2 hours northwest.. So we are supposed to have 3 days off and be back to the truck for Thursday,  by my calculations driving all nite on Tuesday and delivering a load on Wednesday and reporting back to truck on Thursday is NOT HAVING 3 DAYS OFF? So we return to truck on late Thursday nite after having less than 24 hours "off" to find the quallcom has been sending tons of messages, to include a loads we was expected to be at by 1am. Really? How can you assign us a load if we are technically off the truck. Let me explain, if you log off the truck it is like normal people clocking out and going home for the end of their day has come. So how do you/ canyou expect someone to work,  by taking a shift when they are not even there.  Well just like most normal people dispatch only works 8 or 10 hours and then they get to go home totheir husband and wife, kiss the baby and the dog. Unlike us Iif you don't take a load, it is considered refusing a load and that my dear is occupational suicide. ?. So fear of being labeled as refusing a load- because we wasn't even in the truck, we sent a message to nite dispatch who is sometimes wayy worse that your best frenemy, to tell them what the misunderstanding was on "their part" of course in a nicer way than I would have put it, my husband has a was with nice words... We had only hope we hadn't committed suicide,  as the weekend is now passing... it doesn't look real good we have been officially screwed at least twice in the last 2 days, so the odds are not looking like they are in our favor.  So as the new week approaches we are hopeful for some good loads after the second of 2 scheduled appointments.
Which brings me to some maybe good news after all of that bad.. April and Dom, well thats a mouthful its just they had been holding down the homefront, butwith all of the new changes that the husband and I have making, they of course are involved. With the upcoming birth of the third grand, I felt like April needed to be closer to some family, so I suggested she move closer to my mother and brother, especially since we are on the road more often than not. So she did, and Dom was at the house, but he has since decided tomove back to his mothers too. So all is well,  there is no since in paying for an apartment that has little furniture in it and no one living there. We have given most of our worldly possessions away, and what it left at this moment willbe given away too. We have 2 cars to place in storage and whatever fits in our cars, I feel like is all we will keep. I plan to return to school sooner I originally planned,  but it is so I can hurry up and get trained, and we can get on with our future and doing whatever we want to. Midlife crisis- this screams at you.. haa I know, considering we are willing to be home-less, hell most people go spend money on a new home or car... not us I guess we have really never been what they call typical...

Update on the adventure....

Well, it has been well over a week since my last update and equally the same amount of time since I arrived to take the passenger - co pilot seat. I must say it it different than I might have expected, first off I packed wayy too much stuff!! I also packed according to the size of the truck, to our surprise that too changed this week. Last week I ranted about our breakdown and how we was stuck in Atlanta for several days, thankfully since then we have been rolling with the exception of having to called in to the terminal for the new truck. I don't think usually it would be a big deal to go to the terminal but with the last several terminal incidents,  it has turned out to be a less than desirable outcome so of course we had braced ourselves go be down a few more days this time around too. After our load from Albany to Alachua then to Beech Island,  S.C. we received good news to go to Omaha. We heard that very important message,  somedays it is like winning the lottery when you get that message, we both looked at each other and smiled knowing the SDM, or dispatcher knew something that we didn't know but we were sure hopeful nonetheless.  A load to Omaha could only mean one thing, we had a new shiny truck waiting on us!?!  Hell bent we set out of course there is really no driving straight through,  so we plan our stops that are geared toward fuel stops, as we are only allowed to fuel at approved facilities,  and where we can possibly shower and park overnight. Sometimes we get lucky and get both, sometimes we are literally being chased by the clock and don't have a chance to both. We manage, its kinda like camping EVERY night, something fun and yet mysterious about it.
On the way up, I imagined we would have had a 34 hour reset, that means you run out of hours and your pretty much stuck where ever you are and staying down for what is considered a 34 hour reset, basically your reseting your drive clock. So with my thinking about we would have a reset in Nebraska, I immediately went into looking how far a drive it would be to Mt Rushmore as that is on our bucket list, it turned out we didn't have reset and in turn hageenough time to get to Dallas, which is where we are heading now. On these resets, in order for you not to be in DOT violation the truck doesn't move, so you have to find alternate means of transportation.  Long story short, no Mt Rushmore in the plans this week.
As it turns out, our plans for a load to Omaha was to pick up the hubby's new truck!! It isn't a brand new truck but for what we traded, we are very pleased. Our last truck had an air conditioner in the middle of the sleeping bunk, so it was virtually impossible to get a good nites sleep in comfort.  Our new truck has a solid bed with no ac unit in the way, and the to9 bunk is completely lifted out of the headspace way, no ducking to get around. So in all after the wait and terminal aggravation, the fleet manager did us very well.
In the mean time of trying to find a new adventure along the way, we just keep the greasy side down and the shiny side up and the wheels go round and round...

Adventures abound?

Yesterday, July 15th marked the first official day that I was allowed the chance to finally set sail with the husband in his "office" as he calls it. I had previously booked the entire month of July off work to go out on the truck with him and the four legged children. For whatever reason, it never worked out for several weeks, for when your making plans; life happens. So after a refreshing weekend of trying to move into the truck we left Albany after 1:30pm, the first stop was a "live unload" so after April and I waiting at the truck stop we decided to meet Christian at the drop, still after April dropped us off it was still another several hours of waiting for the unload. UGGH, thank goodness for AC esp, in the south, in a truck and surronded by concrete! Well as I am hoping as soon as this unload we are bound for ADVENTURES!! Well, as they unloaded the trailer- there is damage to the trailer, so that means we have to take the trailer somewhere to be repaired... more time spent wasted. Let me explain a lilttle as I am learning too, once you log on to your truck- literally your clock starts and although you may not be driving or technically working your still losing hours, you are allowed 14 work hours, and 11 hours of driving time. So to help make it make sense, we spent 14 hours while the driving hours where only 4 hours spent. What that means in lay persons terms is, if your not driving- your not making money. They do not pay hourly, it is strictly MILEAGE.. So technically, yesterday sucked. So after we dropped our trailer to be repaired, we message dispatch via Qualcomm, that is another computer generated tracking/ communication device like a little computer in your truck. You cannot surf the web, it is like your life life to the company terminal. So as we set and wait on return communication from dispatch, this takes HOURS- literally! So in the waiting time, we crawl in the sleeping cab and enjoy lying down, eating lunch, walking the babies or whatever we want to do and anxiously await verbal message...insert ding-"you have an important message".. those are the joyous noises! Finally, we have a load.. to pick up in Macon... Great we are moving! Take a trailer from the place that we just dropped a trailer, heading to Macon, hoping for a trip North or West as I had asked to go, not that dispatch listens but they do try to work with you. Heading down the highway....not even out of Dougherty County- insert ding "you have an important message"- so as your driving down the road, the messages are verbal and they will not show typed text while the truck is motion, so we have to stop and this is alot of work. You are not allowed to just pull off and park anywhere, so you have to find a "safe haven" to stop and read your messages, they will read it to you but it literally reads everything like the message and letters and dashes so it is hard to understand exactly what they are saying without looking at the message, you get the just of it that there has been a CHANGE to your load, and oh shit--- so are you now going the right direction? Or picking up a different trailer in a different place... Just crazy change your mind and direction in one simple "you have an important message" So after we are slotted to pick up in Macon, well that load is still on BUT, now the rules changed a little bit.. Go meet another driver at ### this location and swap loads...? WTF, really! Ok, so we make it to Macon to an undisclosed location that was as heavy protected as FT Knox, getting cleared through security.. husband says do not get out of truck<scratch my head> but ok. OH hell it gets better. Get our load and get outta town, dispatch sends another message that he must call and get briefing on load... bottom line, high potential for theft, KEEP MOVING!! NICE, I thought and we are going to where? ATLANTA ugghhh, not what I was hoping for. So we arrive at our "meeting" place to swap loads, the other driver is still outta town for a bit, as we got caught up in traffic from an accident, we are sure either he encountered the same or just hotlanta rush hour traffic, either way... we are screwed. We cannot "sit" we have to keep moving till we meet up. UGGH, so drive in and around Atlanta looking for a somewhat safe haven to kill some time or to pee or do whatever.. Yea right! Not happening. We have 2.5 hours left on clock.. There is no way we will swap loads, deliver this other guys load and get outta Atlanta in that amount of time, we knew we would be stuck there.. Guess what, dispatch doesn't usually answer too many calls "after hours" so trying to get in touch with the other driver at this time seems bleak.. and they won't answer the phone? Continue to drive around.. well lets seek out the local truck stops as we may have to stop there.. WOW, the google reviews say "if you value your life you will not stay" at this one and that one, $15 parking posted on reviews saying it isn't worth it.. We finally find a truck stop.. FULL, slam full of people- trucks- less than desirable people who readily approach your truck asking if you wanna have a good time? EWW, true story one less than desirable approached the truck, jumped up and stuck her head in the window.. I know she was going to offer a good time, until she seen me in the sleeper, HAA, then she just asked for some money "to get the hell outta here", we watched her approach one truck/ person or another. So freaking disgusting. Well after that fun, and numerous messages finally a phone call from the other driver... SCORE, we are making a drop and swap in the middle of a parking lot... QUICKLY! So as it turns out the driver we swapped with, was the first driver of our truck and he asked how it was doing, my husband unknowingly jinked us just then... He said, he hasn't had any trouble..!! BIG mistake, husband. We rush over to drop this load on time, wahoo. But we have about 30 mins left on the clock, now what? Luckily, we are blessed on a REGULAR basis as it turns out, the place where we dropped the load has some property nearby, we are granted access as a safe haven for the night!! First overnight in an 18wheeler, truck shuts off every hour due to the temperatures outside, so I awake the husband every hour to restart the truck, we are also parked VERY nearby the airport, the puppas are bed hawgs, and the bunk is NOT a full size + the non working, non removed air conditioner is in my back on the wall... SO yea! as the husband asks "did you sleep at all" hmmm, well.. doesn't really matter, my job is a passenger and requires no brain cells or sleep!! And its a good thing too!!
So we set the alarm for 0600, in hopes of a load to the North or West this am (as now it is a new day) and we get up and walk the puppas, do some morning ritual stuffs and await the message... lets go back to sleep!!! SO we did get another hour in before the notorious bleep- "you have an important message".. Good news, my adventure is rolling ? Yea ok. Heading to pick up load, the trailer is dragging? Christian gets out and checks the brakes.. hmm, nothing. Get back in and drives, still pulling. Don't know whats going on of course niether of us are mechanics! Get to pick up location, they do not accept empty trailers, you must come in as a "bobtail".. I am learning the jargon! So we head somewhere else to drop the trailer, UGGH.. dealing with fat, lazy security guards all before coffee, REALLY! Finally drop the trailer and thinking we are heading to get some coffee and heat up some breakfast, as our load will be unloaded and ready in 2 hours, coffee, yes! Leaving the trailer yard..the truck is jerking like crazy, hmmm smells of burnt rubber or something of those lines.. Coming to a stop, the truck is smoking? Just get to a truck stop, get some coffee and we will message dispatch of what is going on..Good thing we opted to get some coffee and breakfast all the while. After coffee and breakfast, no messages.. Hell, lets lay down for a bit. Nap thirty. Actually 2 hrs later, we get a message to drive truck to Atlanta terminal for repairs. So an extremely long story short, we are in a hotel tonite, while the truck is undergoing some definate needing services. Husband returns from terminal just before 5pm.. another day, no wheels going round and round. Epic suck. Shop manager is going to try to get us on road tomorrow, prayers he is successfull! Good news is the bed I am sleeping in tonite is a full size, for real!

First day of the next chapter

Sunday embarked another First in our lives, the husband was released from his trainer and set loose in hotlanta to seek out what new adventure awaited him..WOW, that about sums it up. His first truck assigned, had something wrong with it, oh yea... they searched the lot up and down and duh, it wasn't even there. So they assigned him another truck, they found it but might have been better off if they hadn't! It was driven by a smoker and wreeked of cigarettes, nastyness and other stuff, bad news brakes are bad, leaky shocks and some pump not working on top of no fuse for cigarette lighter outlet? So how did he light all those cigarettes? So much for off to a good start, my husband says ww, we will start again fresh in the morning. WW means between husband and I, WHATEVER, WHATEVER!! We use that phrase amongst ourselves when we are talking about something that is usually beyond our control and it consumes more time to worry about it, than it is actually worth. 

So, before my husband set out on this journey- believe it or not- he was doing some research to see what company offered the best this and that and just reading what was on the internet about OTR drivers and their experiences, and we came across someones "blog" that was actually quiet hiliarious it went along the line of describing me and uptight, person with severe OCD as the wife and just like my husband, the man was laid back and like whatever comes his way he was ok with it!. The story was funny and sounded alot like ours whereas the wife was upset that he had been granted a POS truck and the husband was so happy because he actually got a truck, we giggled about that story last night and how it was coming true for us too!

As it turns out today, his truck was fixed last night and he was granted "move in" status! So early this afternoon he was awaiting orders from the fleet manager to get his first load. After I came home from work, I had phoned him with some good news from the mail box, while we are on the phone chatting he gets a beep-beep-beep, he says hold on, .... standing by... he comes back on, he has mutually good news.. his first load, he has orders for his first load to Douglas, GA !! Yea, he says "I always knew you was good karma"
So as I update the blog this evening, I am anxiously awaiting the phone call to meet him somewhere to pick him up, as he has no where to park the truck at the house. He picks up a load in Albany in AM and is set for Ft. Lauderdale, FL. <phone rings NO LIE, after this, and guess what>  SAVE as DRAFT, off to Tifton to meet my hubby because he doesn't have enough hours to drive to Albany tonite. Well, actually that was now a few nites ago, and am picking up where I left off.. BOY, wheew what a last few days I have had...

So for what was supposed to be a nice quiet evening with my husband home after over 6 weeks of him not being home, soon turned into a nightmare. At 3:30 am, Cleopatra is sick, well she has had an upset stomach with vomiting and loose stools for over a day at this point, going into the third day. She loves to get into the trash, eat everything, lick frogs or whatever she can get in her mouth. I swear, if it doesn't eat her, she will surely try to eat it..So initially I did not get alarmed by her sickness, as usually in a day or so she is back to normal. Well, this time its different, she is having bloody stools and she isn't able to control it. Red flags start going off, due to we lost a chihauhau back several years ago and more recently our baby Napoleon contracted Parvo and was successfully treated although both dogs had been previously vaccinated, it doesn't really matter they can still get it. So you guessed it, we was sure that is what was going on. So the first phone call to the vet to see if I could give her some "human" phenergan to hold the vomiting to a minimum. The vet is wonderful as she always is, said yes of course and give it rectally if needed. Done that, no success in either direction. The loose stools are now projectile and its call the vet back or take my husband to Phoebe for a heart attack or stroke, as this is his dog and he isn't handling this stress very well. SO another phone call to the vet at 4:00am, I tell her what is going on and advise her, we are enroute with Cleopatra. So donned in a diaper and so softs and towels covering my car..... off we go. BUT FIRST, I have to take Christian back to the truck in Tifton, because he has a pick up in Albany that morning. So off to Valdosta, its a 2 hour drive one way to our vet from our new residence. We refuse to change vets and few other services due to our loyalty to their great service. Thinking the worst in our minds, both husband and I are literally sick too. Dropped the husband off and of course Cleo is still drinking water and constantly wretching it back up. Thankful she still has the urge to drink in order to attempt hydration. Before 7am, I am at the vets office awaiting the Dr, I have explained to the staff my recent phone convos with Dr Hiers that am. They know our worst fears and come in immediately and start doing tests on her. Thankful that I am there with her and she is going to be taken care of, I am a bit relieved!
Days later, literally.... as I have had some moments in time to update this, Cleopatra is back home and after 5 days of antibiotics and 4 other drugs, she is MUCH better!!!

Wrap this up

as the title says wrap this up my time with my trainer is just about over. It is been a very long 5 weeks of shitty roads, loss of sleep, shitty food, and in general living with a complete stranger and very close quarters for 5 weeks has taken its toll on not only me but the guy who was stuck with me. thank God my army training has prepared me for this. It was more than one time when I was ready to inflict grievous bodily harm on him and I'm sure he was ready to try and push me out of the truck while it was moving at a high rate of speed. Unfortunately in our travels I am one of those people that want to stop see things and try different things. While in the very heart of Louisiana cuisine I wanted to have some gumbo some boudin andother Cajun delicacies. So after directing my trainers traffic and telling him that next time we are in the area we have to stop because I am going to get said gumbo and boudain. well needless to say my trainer had other ideas. It is damn near impossible to turn an 80's foot tractor trailer around after he passes the only restaurantsof said Cajun cuisine. So after waiting weeks which seems like it was years I was not able to get any. Okay change in plans I'm flexible, I will kill you later, whatever let's keep on rolling down the road. So we got a shipment to West Memphis Arkansas also known as Jonesboro I don't know why the city has two names but it does so what the hell who cares. While driving west into the sunset I realize that there's more to life then being upset over little things. Now I know this I've experienced a lot of disappointments in my life and have had carrots dangled in front of to tote a load that I thought was too heavy but I complished what I needed to. See the sunset, seeing those around me that had less than I do, and watching some of those less fortunate that were around me made me realize that though I didn't get the boudain and gumbo I was going to be OK but I was still pissed off. Now for a change of pace I have to explain to you that West Memphis and/or Jonesboro Arkansas is 1 hell of a prostitute haven. In our trip from Madison Alabama to Memphis Tennessee back to Madison Alabama through Memphis Tennessee again into West Memphis and/or Jonesboro Arkansas we were not going to have enough fuel to make it back to Madison Alabama so we have to stop at certain truck stops that Warner Enterprises authorize. One of those is a loves truck stop. well I like coffee my coffee, Nay I love my coffee, and it is free at loves because I have a professional driver reward card. Professional driver what the hell were they thinking? But I digress, I walked towards the door to go in and purchased coffee. There was a gauntlets of [I'll be nice and call them women others would call them whores] trying to sell their wares to those that dare to venture into the pit of of ill repute.as I was able to fend off the advances of those more worldly than I, I noticed that of the five showers available to truck drivers for a fee or if you are a professional driver you are allowed 1 shower every 50 gallons of diesel purchased. one of these shower rooms are being utilized by the local working ladies. so with my past military training I was able to about face and extract myself from the hostile zone. by the time I got back to the truck my trainer stated the pumps were not working anyways that we needed to go on to a different stop. That is not a problem let us get out of Dodge. so we get back on the highway headed east towards the mighty Mississippi and after crossing into Mississippi we pull off to another Loves .again this is the only place we can stop that Warner allows us to in this area. After seeing the condition of the truck stop I'm ready to go to Home Depot and buy a link of garden hose and start siphoning diesel to avoid this kind of place. But with no Home Depot insights I have to fuel up here. No sooner I get the fuel pump running I get approached but what appears to be a woman? I questioned it is only because as I observed its gait, it almost tripped 3 times on its own shoes. Immediately the hand when up in a stop gesture and I said I am all set go away. Fueling what seemed like 2000 plus gallons ended and I need coffee. If I did not get coffee I'm going to kill somebody. And I can hide the evidence and body. I don't care whose body somebody's gonna get hurt if I don't get my coffee. So again I'm going to go through a gauntlet of I don't know what but I had to make it through this time. I walk into the building this time and my trainer is on my 6. I get asked hey sweetie are you spending the night here do you want company? I looked at said Jezebel and with a straight face pointed back to my trainer who had no idea what the hell was going on and said yeah him and I are spending the night together here.I got my coffee and left without further incident. So if you're ever in the Memphis Tennessee or West Memphis / Jonesboro Arkansas area and you need gas or fuel take your chances and go elsewhere. As of Monday I will be officially on my own tearing up the roads of the 48 States and Canada. Wish me luck and I hope these blogs are as enjoyable to you as they are to me. And as a side note my grammar really isn't this bad, I'm talking to text.

The first day of the rest of your life, child...

Well, it seems this should be the happiest moments of our lives? Our youngest child has graduated high school today. Although we are not there in person to see it through, we are there in spirit somewhat. As we really are excited to see through this milestone in more ways than most people can imagine. Several years ago when the children were approximately 13, 13, 14, 17, 17, of course depending on what time of the year we are talking, we had laughed and talked about how far this day seemed! Well, that has been 5 years ago, and the time sure does fly when you having fun or not necessarily having fun either! As you must know we always try to look on the bright side of things and of course have fun. I started this memoire with some hatred in my heart of what this joyous day means to us, but for the life of me, I cannot let that or those persons steal my or my husbands joy. WE endured a terrible divorce and nasty drawn out custody of who deserved what children, looking back from the end of this very day.... It happened exactly the way it was supposed to and the children are exactly where they are supposed to be too! I am and I know I speak for husband in volumes of this, we are extremely happy to be a part of our childrens lives, the ones that let us "in". And well for the rest, good luck on your journeys as you will need it. True Story, I have always said, you will need me, before I need you.

As for an update on the husband, not much has changed with his life with his trainer, I was able to steal away a weekend with him, not so long ago. WE really enjoyed each others company, as we always do. We actually despise being away from each other. So that in itself has brought about some more changes taking effect very soon. I will be out of work do to some extensive bodily repairs.. endodontist/ OBGYN, funny they are getting me a both ends near the same time. I let myself get wore down until I can go no more and then I must go in for a tune up. Everyone around here gets them, so no surprise its my turn. But as soon as that is done, I will be joining him on his truck as soon as possible. I think we have mutually agreed to put off my training until after we return from Vermont in August after the family reunion. After the "fun" he endured on the truck with his trainer, I have decided if it is at all possible, I want my husband to train me. So for this to happen, he has to be on his own for however long they decide. So after he gets his truck it is the waiting game! As it stands, he will know more earlier in the week, he is supposed to be done training this upcoming week! So in the meantime, just wait for the next update!

Travels that continue

Well I'm now into the 2nd week of my training with Ron and I have gotten a message from my SDM [student driver manager] that Werner enterprises is taking 40 hours of training off of my schedule. Im racking the miles up [over 6k+] and counting.  I've been officially removed from curfew and can drive between the hours of midnight and 7am much to the shagrin of Ron, who can try to get on some type of sleep wake cycle. I have no problem driving around those times so im trying to literally drive the rubber off the tires. I have to get to 235 hours of observed time before I am cut free to endeavor on my own, and as of last night I have 115, so half way there. Now for the last few days since the last time I blogged I had one hell of stressful situation, Ron tells me that he wants me to back up into a parking space,  oh and it's dark,  and it's late, as in 2am, and ive been driving for 10 hours. Well hes got confidence in me at least,  so after 10 minutes,  it is in there, not straight,  but its in there. Backed up next to another Werner truck,  imagine that accident report had it not gone well for me.  After a break, its back to the distribution center for some much needed rest.  Pensacola Fl and Memphis Tn again, without any mountain driving today.  I'm getting anxious to finish my training so that my Honey can get started on her CDL and I can road trip with the puppies for a few months before she joins me in our adventures.  I so miss her and the puppies.