A Semi: The Epitome of “You can tell the men from the boys by the size and cost of their toys”

New Fenders known as double hump fenders

Our trip across the country was thankfully uneventful, except for a couple of stops.  One of those stops was in Talladega, Alabama at the Talladega County Fiberglass Unlimited shop to have new fenders installed on the truck.  These types of fenders are known as “double hump” and are great for keeping rocks from kicking up and hitting other cars and our own sleeper.  As far back as our first Louisville truck show in 2004, I can remember Vince talking about getting some type of fenders for the truck.  So as you might imagine it was an exciting day for him to get shiny new fenders for the truck.  I was never big on that saying about the men from boys and their toys until I came out on the road and discovered all the gadgets and shiny objects available for trucks.  Another example would be that I had commented to Nancy, my sister-in-law and Vince’s sister that Vince shouldn’t be left alone in chrome shops, just before I came out this time. Then what do I find on the dash of the truck my first morning in the truck: seven new shiny objects.

Along I-10 in Arizona

A good piece of news that we received on this trip was that we didn’t have to be in Los Angeles until Wednesday instead of Monday.  This great news allowed us to do one of my favorite things on the road – visit family.  We were able to spend Monday in Phoenix with Corey, Nancy and their five dogs. As I have shared many times visiting family and friends is so much fun and their assistance like letting us use their washer and dryer along with taking us to the grocery are always a great help. 

Bear aka Doug trying to get me to play catch

I had to feature their dog Bear in this post because he is so darn funny.  As you can probably see from the picture Bear likes for you to throw a ball for him.  The picture came about because as I was relaxing by the pool while talking with Elizabeth on Monday morning Bear decided to be like a kid when you get on the phone and kept trying to drop a tennis ball in my lap.  The more I kept telling him to stop, the louder Elizabeth laughed. 

He is affectionately nicknamed Doug (the dog from the movie “Up”) because of the way he acts.  He will bring you the ball, you throw it, and he retrieves it, then will either stay out in the grass thus not bringing it back or won’t drop it for you to throw it again.  When you go back inside he follows you in and keeps dropping the ball for you to throw it only to repeat the same trick again.  Another great Bear moment was when he dropped the ball in the pool, but instead of it floating, it sank.  He just kept leaning over the pool with his ears up looking at the ball for a very long time.  We don’t know if he was waiting for it to come back up or was trying to figure out how to get it, but either way it was hilarious.

Dust storm on I-10 Tuesday Afternoon in AZ

Coachella, CA this am before the rain

 During the rest of our trip to Los Angeles we experienced dust storms, heavy traffic and rain.  As you can see from the picture of the dust storms, coming across I-10 in Arizona and California can be tricky.  This morning it took us four hours to go 136 miles from Coachella to downtown LA, you got to love LA traffic.  I also love how California is all about making the truck manufacturers produce clean air engines and regulating the crap out of semis but trust me it wasn’t semis clogging up the freeways today.  But I digress, the day ended with this beautiful rainbow about 40 miles outside Barstow, California.

A beautiful rainbow after a long day of rain

Tomorrow we are off to Las Vegas then to Evansville Indiana with a stop off in Peoria to load in “Wicked” advance trailers.  It will soon be time for me to put my shorts away for good. But hopefully our trek back east will provide me opportunities to share the fall colors of a few states.