December 11 – 14, 2021

Saturday, December 12, 2021

Our original plan was to drive together to the highway and stop there to get fuel. But, we learned that there was a major accident right at that particular exit, and east bound traffic from there was completely stopped, and had been for hours. So Annalou separated off early so she could head east on the little roads, and get on the interstate an exit beyond. That worked for, and by the time I arrived at the truck stop and filled with fuel, she was getting on the highway, and moving freely along. Knowing about the huge traffic delay, my truck, and the other with him, decided to leave an hour later than originally planned. So I had time to kill. I can always find plenty to do! Catch up on receipt entries, blogging, tidy up my van, vacuum, and other odds and ends.

By the time the two trucks were about 15 minutes away, and my driver called as we had planned, the traffic had cleared up. I have always enjoyed a good swap on the fly, but haven’t done it for quite a while. My truck was the second of the two, so I stopped at the very top end of the ramp to wait. Once I heard them on the radio, I put it in gear, turned on my lights, and was ready to run, like a race car at the starting line! I saw the HP car come by, and the first truck (which was Eddie), and his steerman, Then the steerman I was replacing announced she was now getting off the ramp, so I let it fly down the ramp, and timed it so I fell in right behind my truck, and took over as steerman! Meanwhile, the steerman that dropped off, headed north to her home near Chicago. She will meet up with us after we load near Cincinnati.

When we crossed the state line inti Kentucky, each truck had arranged for a third Pilot Car to meet us there at the line, as the law requires. We drove a total of about 175 miles to a rest area near Horse Cave KY where we parked for the night. They had driven about 200 miles before they met me, so now the sun was beginning to set. That is a very familiar stopping point for us. Annalou and I have parked loads here in the past while working together, and stayed at hotels here as well. I drove one exit back, got fuel, and spent the night in the truck stop there.

Sunday, December 12, 2021

We left as soon as sunrise curfew lifted. In fact, even the third cars were there early, so we pulled out a few minutes early. Both third cars dropped off at the Ohio line. It was an easy run of all highway to the site in Batavia, arriving just before noon. This is the place where we no longer have the huge lot to stage in, so we found a wide road nearby to park the trailers on while the drivers take their mandatory 32 hours off.

Since it was so early, I went and did all my errands. I got groceries at Walmart and Sam’s Club, bought materials to rewire my CB, ink cartridges for my printer, and bought a new drone. Yes, once again, Annalou needed to encourage me to spend the money to replace it. I upgraded to the new version of my model, so now have the same model as Seth. This time I bought crash insurance!

Then I drove 4 miles to the state park campground to I could stay in my van for the next two days, because I still haven’t replaced the broken window, so can not lock it. It is still very warm here, only getting down in the 40’s at night.

Monday, December 13, 2021

I never left the campground! What a relaxing day! I made steak and eggs for breakfast,

replaced my printer ink, printed insurance forms, signed and sent them back, updated the GPS program on my tablet, rewired the CB, and unpacked and set up my new drone.

I really needed to finish the shaved steak, so made a steak and onion pizza for supper.

Tuesday, December 14, 2021

After breakfast I did my homework, and entered the route into both GPS systems. I will be leading as HP this time all the way to Phoenix, so need to lead him flawlessly there! Because we are going quite a few miles in Texas, it took me over 3 hours to get the route in. Texas is by far the most difficult state to decipher the route for. I suppose they could make it more difficult for us, but I’d have to spend some time trying to figure out how!!!

It was finally time to go get my glass replaced, so I unplugged and drove to the west side of Cincinnati for my 2 PM appointment. Even though I was more than 30 minutes early, it took them longer than expected, so I didn’t drive away until after 3 PM. I had gotten a call from Eddie, who asked if I could help he and his steerman by being their front escort as they drove from the street where we were parked, to the load site at 4:30. They wanted him there so they could load him first thing in the morning.

I had just enough time to stop at the hotel on the way by, check in, meet them, and put my signs and flags on by 4:20. Once we got him backed in to the load site, we all went to the hotel, and had supper there together with my driver as well.

In my room, before I went to bed, I went over the routing once again, and checked both GPS systems. So glad I did, as I found a mistake on each one!

Tomorrow we load both trucks, and leave. We need a police escort for the 45 miles in Ohio, and are hoping that the officer that takes Eddie will just drive back and take us after we finish loading, rather than us having to wait for another officer. If we have to wait, we may not make it to that rest area in Horse Cave. If we don’t, we have no idea where we can park before sunset, plus, that would put us behind schedule. We are scheduled to unload both trucks Tuesday afternoon, and no one wants that schedule delayed, because the next day my driver has a plane flight for home, Eddie has rented a car to drive to visit friends in CA, his steerman is going to meet his girlfriend in the area, and our steerman has rented a house with friends. Me? I’ll stay in a hotel there til Friday, hoping that I can have my insurance company appraise the damage, pick up my glasses, and then head to Tuscon to visit friends. We will all be back on Sunday, and leave early Monday with empty trailers to our next adventure!