Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Better Late Than Never...
So, I'm sure that many have figured out, Mom and I made it home safely on our last day. We've both been so busy since last Tuesday, that we never had time to finish our blog! But our last day was an easy one. We got up early and hit the road around 7:00 am to make our final trip. Carmen said we'd be home at 1:50 p.m. Mom and I knew it would be a little later because we make frequent stops. Nothing exciting happened while we were traveling. We made one of our last stops around Bakersfield and decided to haul ass to Los Banos. We drove for over three hours without a stop! haha That's big deal for us! ;) We stopped in Banos for some stuff for dinner and then made the 20 min drive back home. We got home around 3. It was FABULOUS weather...95 and NOT humid! HAHA Sure is good to be back. :)
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The long haul...
Mom and I left Shamrock, TX yesterday at 8:00 a.m., with high hopes of driving in four different states (TX, NM, AZ, and CA) and traveling just under 910 miles. Can I just say, I was LOVING the weather in Texas. It was wonderful, sunny, warm, with a slight breeze, and DRY! Just the thing us to California girls love. :)
We were making excellent time and thinking it was going to happen until we reached a po-dunk town called Laguna, NM. We pulled into a gas station for a fill up and a driver switch when two big white boys came up to us and said that there is a problem with the right rear tire on the trailer...it was wobbly and not touching the ground...GREAT! They were driving behind us on the freeway and noticed it and were even worried about passing us because they were afraid the tire would blow out. Mom and one of the dudes looked at the tire in question and we discovered that there were some areas where the tread was starting to come apart. So much for our good time, right? Well, then the guy said to his friend, "get the jack!" and he then proceeded to change our tire for us! It was very nice of them. When Mom offered to buy them lunch, he said, 'no, I'm just doing it because it's the right thing to do.' :) Nice knowing there are people like that still out there. So, considering the stop entailed fuel, bathroom breaks for us and the dogs, and the changing of a tire, it was rather quick. We got back on the road. And drove through the rest of New Mexico with out another problem.
As we drove through Arizona, we were starting to get hungry and decided that we wanted pizza. So, I looked into the Garmin and found a place called Alpine Pizza. We called in an order to go, that way we wouldn't have to leave the dogs in the truck for long and so we could keep making good time. Well, I must have been reading cross-eyed because I THOUGHT it was right off the interstate. Turns out, Alpine Pizza was in down-town Flagstaff. Ever notice how narrow roads are in down town areas? Well, you sure do when you're driving a big truck and hauling at 22 foot trailer! Mom was driving and I jumped out at a red light to pick up our food...there is no where to park a truck and trailer in down town Flagstaff. When I came out, Mom had found a small parking lot right next to an alley, so she pulled it and hoped that she could get the truck to the alley without hitting anything (like cars, trash bins, light posts, you get the idea). Mom did a GREAT job, but it was tricky! For a few mins, we were afraid our pizza was going to cause us to get stuck in an alley! We got out of the alley and parked in-front of a Burger King to eat. The pizza wasn't bad, thank goodness. As we were eating, we saw a rock that Mom wanted, so we picked it up before we got back on the road.
The rest of Arizona was not a problem. We crossed into California, and had to go through a check point. How funny, we have crossed into 16 different states and the ONLY one we had to go through a check point was CA?! What a goofy state. When we told the man we only had luggage he told us to enjoy the rest of our trip. Thank goodness, because who knows if they would have let us bring the rocks in...
Wanna know another annoying thing about CA? Trucks have to do 55 mph on the road. For the last three weeks, we've been driving on interstates where the quality of the road is equal to or worse than CA and we were able to do 70 or 75 mph. May not seem like a big deal, but it is when you want to get home!
We pulled into the Best Western around ten. I got some experience backing up the truck and trailer...very frustrating. Makes me think Mom was a champ for getting out of the parking lot/alley in Flagstaff! We got to the room and I crashed, mom watched a little TV. So, the total for that day: over 900 miles and about 16 hours of being on the road (because of time changes, we gained two hours)! We decided we were going to get up earlier so we could get home sooner. We were looking forward to a short day of traveling. We'll be doing just under 460 miles today. :) Homeward Bound!
We were making excellent time and thinking it was going to happen until we reached a po-dunk town called Laguna, NM. We pulled into a gas station for a fill up and a driver switch when two big white boys came up to us and said that there is a problem with the right rear tire on the trailer...it was wobbly and not touching the ground...GREAT! They were driving behind us on the freeway and noticed it and were even worried about passing us because they were afraid the tire would blow out. Mom and one of the dudes looked at the tire in question and we discovered that there were some areas where the tread was starting to come apart. So much for our good time, right? Well, then the guy said to his friend, "get the jack!" and he then proceeded to change our tire for us! It was very nice of them. When Mom offered to buy them lunch, he said, 'no, I'm just doing it because it's the right thing to do.' :) Nice knowing there are people like that still out there. So, considering the stop entailed fuel, bathroom breaks for us and the dogs, and the changing of a tire, it was rather quick. We got back on the road. And drove through the rest of New Mexico with out another problem.
As we drove through Arizona, we were starting to get hungry and decided that we wanted pizza. So, I looked into the Garmin and found a place called Alpine Pizza. We called in an order to go, that way we wouldn't have to leave the dogs in the truck for long and so we could keep making good time. Well, I must have been reading cross-eyed because I THOUGHT it was right off the interstate. Turns out, Alpine Pizza was in down-town Flagstaff. Ever notice how narrow roads are in down town areas? Well, you sure do when you're driving a big truck and hauling at 22 foot trailer! Mom was driving and I jumped out at a red light to pick up our food...there is no where to park a truck and trailer in down town Flagstaff. When I came out, Mom had found a small parking lot right next to an alley, so she pulled it and hoped that she could get the truck to the alley without hitting anything (like cars, trash bins, light posts, you get the idea). Mom did a GREAT job, but it was tricky! For a few mins, we were afraid our pizza was going to cause us to get stuck in an alley! We got out of the alley and parked in-front of a Burger King to eat. The pizza wasn't bad, thank goodness. As we were eating, we saw a rock that Mom wanted, so we picked it up before we got back on the road.
The rest of Arizona was not a problem. We crossed into California, and had to go through a check point. How funny, we have crossed into 16 different states and the ONLY one we had to go through a check point was CA?! What a goofy state. When we told the man we only had luggage he told us to enjoy the rest of our trip. Thank goodness, because who knows if they would have let us bring the rocks in...
Wanna know another annoying thing about CA? Trucks have to do 55 mph on the road. For the last three weeks, we've been driving on interstates where the quality of the road is equal to or worse than CA and we were able to do 70 or 75 mph. May not seem like a big deal, but it is when you want to get home!
We pulled into the Best Western around ten. I got some experience backing up the truck and trailer...very frustrating. Makes me think Mom was a champ for getting out of the parking lot/alley in Flagstaff! We got to the room and I crashed, mom watched a little TV. So, the total for that day: over 900 miles and about 16 hours of being on the road (because of time changes, we gained two hours)! We decided we were going to get up earlier so we could get home sooner. We were looking forward to a short day of traveling. We'll be doing just under 460 miles today. :) Homeward Bound!
Monday, August 2, 2010
We've got an even longer way to go and a shorter time to get there...W
Yesterday, Mom and I left Kingston Springs, TN at 8:00. We've been getting up and ready much faster now there there is only two and not five animals to take care of! We did a lot of traveling yesterday, over 820 miles.
We've been making good time. Stopping to break and switch every two hours. Oh, and pick up rocks! When we were headed east, I wanted to stop and buy magnets, now that the trailer is empty, Mom wants rocks. haha So, we found some on Saturday in TN and we found one yesterday in AK.
There isn't much to report because we've been hammering down trying to get home. We did have dinner at the Cracker Barrel last night. It was my first time there, and it was fantastic! While we were waiting for food, Mom waited outside with the dogs. put us back about an hour, but it was worth it!
We stopped in Shamrock, TX last night. We stopped and a Best Western and they wanted over $100 bucks for the room...that's ridiculous for a Sunday night in a po-dunk town, so we drove 1/2 mile down the road to the Western Motel. After our experience at the Super 8 I was VERY nervous, but it ended up being ok.
So our night ended around 11:20 last night. We crashed. We hope to make it through TX, NM, and AZ in to stop on the other side of CA.
We've been making good time. Stopping to break and switch every two hours. Oh, and pick up rocks! When we were headed east, I wanted to stop and buy magnets, now that the trailer is empty, Mom wants rocks. haha So, we found some on Saturday in TN and we found one yesterday in AK.
There isn't much to report because we've been hammering down trying to get home. We did have dinner at the Cracker Barrel last night. It was my first time there, and it was fantastic! While we were waiting for food, Mom waited outside with the dogs. put us back about an hour, but it was worth it!
We stopped in Shamrock, TX last night. We stopped and a Best Western and they wanted over $100 bucks for the room...that's ridiculous for a Sunday night in a po-dunk town, so we drove 1/2 mile down the road to the Western Motel. After our experience at the Super 8 I was VERY nervous, but it ended up being ok.
So our night ended around 11:20 last night. We crashed. We hope to make it through TX, NM, and AZ in to stop on the other side of CA.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
West bound and down, ten wheels are rollin'
Mom and I sadly left Krystal and Andrew's place about 10:30 yesterday. It was hard for us to leave Krystal in VA, but we turned on Carmen the Garmin and started driving. Of course, she took us the long way out. As we were driving, Mom and I were saying how Andrew had drove us over to this same area, and that he went a different way, and that it didn't take him as long as it took us to get there! haha Stupid Garmin.
As we were driving through Orange, Va, we saw a Harley Davidson store and decided to stop. Nothing makes the blues feel better than shopping, right?! After our 30 min stop, we drove on. We got to the area where Krystal had taken the wrong turn on the way into Va and laughed because the wrong turn she took was definitely the much longer way!
Our drive was pretty uneventful until we had to drive through the rain..once again, it was sunny when we left Krystal's and then later on, it's pouring rain!
We made it to Tennessee and decided that when we reached Knoxville, we were going to stop for dinner. We decided we wanted KFC for dinner, so Mom was looking in the Garmin for KFC's close by. At the last min Mom found a KFC and said, 'Take this exit!' and so I did. We thought it was pretty cool that we had found one so soon and close, until we got to the KFC. It was in the ghetto of Knoxville. We should have just kept driving, but we decided it didn't look TOO bad, so we stayed. Well, we had to wait about five mins for our corn, and 15 mins for our biscuts. But because we waited so patiently, two free biscuts were thrown in and were walked out to the truck where we were eating. As we were eating our food, we were watching the house directly in front of the truck. There were a handful of people sitting on the porch and people kept coming and going into the house. We laughed, we were probably sitting in front of a drug house! haha we REALLY should have not stopped in Knoxville!
We were about thirty miles east of Nashville when traffic slowed. This was a bummer to us because we were so close to our destination. We wanted to stop about 15 miles west of Nashville. The traffic was due to a really bad accident. Two lanes of the three lane interstate were blocked. We were stuck in that but as soon as we passed the accident, all three lanes were open and we were moving nicely but only for about a minuet. Two lanes were again blocked for construction. Mind you, it was after 10:00 p.m. on a Saturday night, and we didn't see anyone outside working...so, WTF?! And when the interstate became four lanes, there was three lanes blocked! We were stuck in this no-construction-construction-zone for about thirty mins when we finally started seeing people working...looked like they were painting lines on the road. Awesome.
We reached Kingston Springs, TN at almost 11:30 p.m. We snuck the dogs into the room and crashed with hopes of making it to Texas.
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