My husband is a really good sport!

Sunset in PA on Tuesday - it looked like the sky was on fire

Sunday I returned to the truck, but prior to returning shared with Vince that this time we were going to work out three times a week doing weight training. He gave me the look I always get when he is not into whatever I have in mind, but doesn’t say it. I purchased the FitDeck Dumbbell which is a deck of cards with varying exercises using dumbbells.  It’s like having a personal trainer picking out the exercises you hate, without them standing there with you. We worked out Sunday with a lot of trepidation on Vince’s part and I feared I would get a lot of push back when we got out on the road.

We both have gained the middle age spread weight that everyone thinks they aren’t going to gain. I have tried in vain to lose it over the last three years, with diet and exercise to no avail.  In February I started a core class once a week with a personal trainer. While I have not lost any significant weight, I am stronger and feel way better.  I know Vince’s sitting all the time is his biggest nemesis and something I can’t change, but believe the weight and conditioning training will help him possibly lose some weight and definitely help his back and core.

On Monday we were in Cleveland for a load in of Million Dollar Quartet.  It was a cluster in the morning, because there were straight trucks trying to make deliveries and three Clark trucks trying to load into the Ohio Theatre.  The theatre is in a theatre district with other theatres and lets through it the area is under construction. At one point everything came to a stand still for about 15 minutes when two of our trucks and two straight trucks blocked the street.  Jerry, one of our drivers couldn’t get out and both straight truck drivers blocking the way were no where to be found.  Such good times, everyone standing around waiting, they figured out another way to get Jerry out and one of the straight truck drivers arrived to move his truck and thankfully the rest of the day went smoothly.

On Tuesday we headed to Maybrook, NY to swap a trailer with Joe Larkin. I believe Joe may have given up a day at home to load our New Mexico bound trailer due to our being in Cleveland to long to make our loading of the trailer. My thanks to him for doing that and meeting us in Maybrook, he made our trip a little easier.  That day I announced we would be working out Wednesday and Friday morning.  We had a long haul from NY to NM so Vince said “well you will have to get up early”.  I had no problem with that and knew the type of miles we would have to travel. For this to all work early rising would definitely have to be a part of it to get the workouts in and the miles covered.  But since I don’t always pop up in the mornings while on the road, I think Vince was hoping that would get him out of the workout.

On Wednesday I popped up with no trouble.  Vince was less than enthusiastic initially but surprised me by suggesting we could work out next to the truck or better yet in the grass behind it.  So I shuffled the cards and of course got one of the exercises I hate right off the bat.  But that is why I got the cards because I knew if it was up to me I would only do the things that are easy.

So out we went to the grass.  I announced the warm up of two sets of 10 of push-ups, sit-ups, squats and lunges.  After we got through the first set Vince shared that he believed the warm up was the work out.  After laughing I assured him that it was only the warm up and after much huffing and puffing we got through our sets.

On Friday, I got no complaining and I once again got another of my most dreaded exercises.  I believe it may payback for torturing Vince. We got through the exercises despite it being well over 80 degrees already that morning in OK.   I know working out is the last thing Vince wants to do but he is being a really good sport about it.  Way more so than I ever thought he would and hopefully he will see the benefit in it.  

Last night we arrived at the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort and Casino in Mescalero, NM.  We load in Family Feud this morning and are here for the weekend.  It is a beautiful resort so in my next post I will share how the weekend went and some beautiful pics.  

Out in the middle of no where NM Friday night

And Sometimes Change Puts You Behind!

So, last Sunday we got to eat at the restaurant in Durham that has my favorite Mac n cheese.  Thankfully, load out went smoothly and we were on our way to Orlando.  As we drove overnight to Orlando I was reminded how much the little things that occur the trips are the things that stay with me for years.  I have found that there is a moment when driving overnight that I get tired. It doesn’t matter how much I sleep during the day, I’m still going against my body clock and just get tired.  Twice this time that moment arrived and both times an old song came on that made us both start singing.  That moment like several others over the years created energy in the truck and helps me to keep going.  There are several songs that I now hear either in the car, in a store or in the truck, that takes me back to those moments, like it was yesterday.  The songs remind me how much I enjoy our time together as well as how music influences our lives.

After arriving in Orlando, it was time for the challenge of getting me home.  While it was nice to have a day of warmth, the distance between Orlando and home we knew may become a problem.  It was determined on Monday that we were to head to Atlanta, which took us into the storm that stretched from Texas to the Carolinas.  As we headed up I-75 on Tuesday the closest we got to Atlanta was Tifton, Georgia.  We stopped there due to the closing in of sleet on the radar.  One of the factors Vince had to consider in this situation was the number of and sizes truck stops between Tifton and Atlanta.  Macon already showed sleet had arrived and that would most likely mean the truck stops would be full, it would have been foolish to push on, only to find out there was no parking.

Vehicles on the side of the road in Atlanta

Instead of getting home on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning, we sat in Tifton on Tuesday and Wednesday more due to the conditions in Atlanta then Tifton.   As most everyone knows Atlanta became paralyzed due to the storm.  Our niece, Katie who lives in Atlanta endured a grueling 6.5 hour drive home on Tuesday.  Thankfully she made it, as opposed to the reported over 2,000+ motorist who abandon their cars that evening.  On our way through Atlanta on Thursday we counted 206 cars still sitting on the side of the road. 

One thing I haven’t share yet about this trip was that our refrigerator died while we were in Massachusetts.  When a refrigerator dies in a home it is easy to replace. We scout the ads go to a few stores, pick out the new one and arrange delivery.  When a refrigerator dies in a custom sleeper, I learned the process isn’t so easy.  Vince called a couple RV suppliers in Massachusetts and in Durham and all indicated while they could order the refrigerator it would take two weeks to get it.  We had a day or two not two weeks.  Vince then found Truck Fridge in Georgetown, Kentucky - truckfridge.com and learned that ordering was not an issue because they had the refrigerator in stock.  On Friday morning we got there shortly after they opened and after Vince wired, plugged in and installed the fridge, we were on our way.  I would highly recommend Truck Fridge to any truck driver or RV owner; they carry all types of refrigerators and were very nice to work with on the phone and in person.

Now I am settling into home, a few days later which shortens my time to get things done before returning to work. There is a month’s worth of mail to go through, the adjusting to getting up on a work schedule as opposed to truck schedule and hardest of all getting use to being alone again.  After six weeks with Vince at home and on the road, adjusting to life alone again takes time, not only me but Vince too.  Home and the truck are a lot quieter.  However, it is our life and the happiness that comes from sharing it with Vince makes it all worth it. 

Sometimes Change is Good!

After delivering in Durham, our next dispatch was to be Buffalo to Memphis.  Yes, it was back to Buffalo for us.  After dropping our trailer on Monday evening, we headed to the closest Petro. Vince’s dispatch for Wicked out of Buffalo arrived on Wednesday.  After we looked at the weather reports for Buffalo this weekend, we decided it would be best to leave Friday.  The weekend forecast for Buffalo and actually the entire East Coast and Midwest called for snow, cold temperatures and high winds.

On Friday, after breakfast we started out for Buffalo.  About an hour and half into our trip Vince’s phone started ringing.  It was an unknown caller, which we knew 90% of the time meant it was a Clark Dispatcher calling.  Sure enough it was Chris, a dispatcher for Clark letting us know the show decided they wanted to go with all team drivers for the Buffalo to Memphis trip.  As a result we were taken off Wicked and put on Once coming out of Durham headed to Orlando.  So we turned around and headed back to the Petro and this evening head to the theatre then it is off to sunny Florida. 

Needless to say I am thrilled with this change.  Let me see, freezing temps and snow in Buffalo or sunny Florida, which would you prefer?  Yes, sometimes change is good. 

Brody’s Diner and Flynn’s Truck Stop – a little piece of home

On the road our weeks consist of traveling from truck stop to theatre to truck stop with the occasional travel plaza thrown into the mix.  The old fashion truck stop is long gone; most truck stops are now chains with the same options in the stores and same menus at the restaurants.  But every once in a while we get a chance to go somewhere that is different, or in this case just like home. This week those places were Brody’s Diner and Flynn’s truck stop in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.

After Schenectady we learned our weekend dispatch was to take the show Once from Boston to Durham.  The closest truck stop to Boston from I-90 was Flynn’s on US 20.  The set up at Flynn’s is the truck stop is on one side of US 20 with an extra lot across the road.  At the corner of the extra lot is Brody’s Diner, an old fashion diner with waitresses and cooks that treat their regulars like family and strangers like regulars.  The cost of a meal is very reasonable especially for the amount of food you get.  If you go away from Brody’s hungry something is definitely wrong with you.

Brody's Diner

Brody’s is also the kind of diner, where when it is slow, the cook comes out to talk to you.  One afternoon he came out to share stories with us about the many accidents that have occurred outside the diner.  Like the time he was cooking and out of the corner he saw what he thought was a SUV in the air.  Sure enough he did. After hitting a car just before the diner the driver of the SUV lost control, hit a large rock that is outside the diner. Upon hitting the rock the SUV was projected into the air where it then smashed into the side of the chapel trailer that sits in the extra lot. That is only one of many accidents that they shared with us, so apparently it is never dull around the diner.   

While Brody’s is like Paul’s Restaurant at home, Flynn’s reminds me of our local Speedway.  I loved going in to pick something up in the evenings, because the evening guys always had their own music playing and were funny and very friendly.  The other thing nice about small truck stops is the prices for services are usually reasonable. The showers at Flynn’s were only $9 compared to the chains now as high as $15 and laundry only $2.25 for a wash and dry compared to $3.00 plus at the chains.

 

Flynn's Truck Stop

Along with hanging out at the diner and truck stop Vince and I also got the chance to go to the movies.  On Friday the new Jack Ryan movie came out and since I am a Jack Ryan and Chris Pine fan we had to go.  The theatre was only a few miles away, so all in all the time in Shrewsbury was like being home.

Next up, is our load out in Boston, which is usually good for a story or two.  Then off to Durham for load in.  Of course the weather prediction for Durham is 46 degrees on Tuesday. All I can say is sorry Durham, cold weather seems to follow me wherever I go.

The Trip to Milwaukee – Better Weather and Some Fun!

After surviving the blizzard Buffalo threw at us. We headed west toward Milwaukee.  While on our way we learned that our friend Jim Walker would be in northeast Ohio approximately the same time we would be passing through the area.  So we made plans to meet up with him for dinner Thursday night. 

As some of you may recall Jim was with Clark Transfer a few years back and the lead driver on Story time, a show tour Vince was on for about 10 months in 2010.  Jim has also been a guest poster on this blog. His post titled “Does Kalamazoo know it is 2011...” is among one of my highest viewed posts.  He is now with a company based out of Texas that provides him the opportunity to be home on a weekly basis.

Now most people when they get together with friends for dinner it is easy. Everyone meets up at a restaurant, possibly right after work; you have dinner and are home by 8:00 p.m.  When truck drivers want to meet up it isn’t so easy.  Getting to see Jim meant first figuring out a place where we could meet.  Vince did a search and found a Walmart in Streetsboro, Ohio that would be convenient for both of us to get to without going off route.  Now unlike most people whose day ends at 5:00 pm, that night Jim’s day didn’t end until 9:45 pm when he pulled into the Walmart.  We bobtailed (a tractor only is a bobtail) over to a Steak N Shake that was nearby to have dinner at 10:00 pm.  Not most people’s typical dinner plans with friends, but not that unusual for anyone in trucking.

While Vince and Jim had seen each other on the road since his leaving Clark, this was my first chance to catch up with him in a couple of years.  It was great seeing him, sharing stories and having some laughs.  Even though we miss seeing him on a more regular basis, it was great to see him looking well and content.

In addition to seeing Jim, on Saturday we were able to catch up with our niece, Kerry and her family who live in Milwaukee in a more regular type setting.  Our arrival on Saturday gave us the opportunity to hang out at their home Saturday afternoon and evening. It has been wonderful to see the girls grow and change over the years.  Right behind my chance to spend time with Vince, the opportunity to see family and friends still remains my second favorite thing about the road.

Over the years, Kerry, Tom and their girls, Elizabeth and Grace have been the family we have had the chance to visit the most. I believe this is most probably due to the strong supporters of the arts that can be found in Milwaukee, which results in more shows going in and out of there and most assuredly plain darn luck. The fact that they live 10 minutes from the truck stop helps too. Our trying to meet up with friends and family sometimes is very difficult especially depending on their proximity to a truck stop.  As you might imagine, we can’t just get into town and pull up in front of someone’s house with our truck.  For some reason most neighbors just don’t appreciate the beauty of a semi.

On Sunday, the weather in Milwaukee was clear and the temperature was in the high 30s.  It was a pleasant change from the previous week’s load out in Cleveland of torrential rains and the blizzard conditions of Buffalo’s load in.  Since we were one of the first trucks to get loaded in Milwaukee we were not there long last night. We were on our way in a few short hours and are now on I-80 eastbound heading to Schenectady, NY.  

We Survived the Buffalo Blizzard of 2014

Tuesday Evening in Downtown Buffalo

Just as the weather all over the country was cold so was Buffalo.  But along with the cold, Buffalo had blizzard conditions due to lake effect snow and high winds. Riding out a blizzard in the truck is really no different than doing it at home, with the exception of the rocking from the wind. The best way to describe 45 mile an hour winds hitting the truck is to say it is like a boat on choppy seas.  The rocking back and forth at times actually caused me to reach for something to hold on to.

Thankfully, the only problem we encountered during the blizzard conditions from Monday to Wednesday morning was the air suspension on the tractor freezing up Monday evening. This valve is the same one that broke last summer when Vince came to the rescue and replaced it on the side of the road.  This time it was a problem with the air lines freezing after Vince had dropped the air for us to fit in the dock area.  When we pulled out of the dock Monday evening, he flipped the switch but the air did not travel through the air lines into the air bags.  We had to pull over because the air suspension is connected to the braking system. Vince in the dangerously cold temps and winds spent three hours hammering and using a hair dryer to try and free the clogs in the lines. While he did all of that, I ran back and forth from the front of the truck to the back (all from inside, mind you) yelling out numbers off of the dials on the truck and flipping the air suspension switch off and on.  

Making our way to the drop lot

Sadly he could not get the clog to open up, meaning that Gary and Linda had to take the trailer we were under back to the drop lot and grab the next trailer while we moved under the trailer they were under.  The brake lines on the trailers freeze in these temperatures so keeping trucks under the trailers helps to keep that from happening.  We could move around just not very far.  We felt awful that they had to go back to the lot in the terrible conditions. To add to our bad feelings the trailer brakes on the trailer they went to retrieve were froze and needed a service call. The air lines finally started moving by Tuesday morning and while we wish it would have happened sooner. But we were just glad to be back in business.

The drop lot as we awaited an opening to return to the theatre

On Tuesday morning the winds were bad, but there was not much snow. That all changed by late morning when the heavy snow arrived. As our pictures show the trip to and from the drop yard meant multiple white outs and us guessing where the road began and ended.  Due to the closing of I-90 from the Pennsylvania border to Buffalo the trailer carrying the decking for the show did not make it on Tuesday and work on the trailers stopped much earlier than usual.  With the weather being so brutal, we never left the truck after returning to the theatre from the drop lot.  It was just time to hunker down for the evening.

Our trip back to the theatre - experienced white out conditions on the way back

 

Wednesday morning in Buffalo

We awoke Wednesday morning to snow (4-7 more inches expected) but diminished winds.  The deck trailer arrived first thing this morning. The crew is playing catch up so the show can open on time with evening. After these three snowy and cold days, trust me when I say, we are ready to shuffle OUT of Buffalo.  But there are no balmy warm temperatures in our future, our dispatch for this weekend: moving War Horse from Milwaukee to Schenectady.      

Record low temperatures and wind chills! I must be back in the truck!

By the Shea Theatre in Buffalo Monday Morning

Yes, I am back in the truck and a prediction I made last month has already come true.  In December, while I was home enduring snow and cold temps, Vince was in Florida enjoying warm weather.  One evening while on the phone with me, he mentioned how bad he felt that I was dealing with all the bad weather, while he was in warm temperatures. I laughed and told him to enjoy it, because next month when I joined him in the truck, as past experiences had showed us, we would be headed to cold places.  On New Year’s Eve he came upstairs in our home to tell me he had received his dispatch, Cleveland to Buffalo. I just laughed and reminded him that I had told him so.

The nice thing about the start of the trip is that we are with Gary and Linda Graff.  Gary as you will recall from one of my summer posts, has always been a big supporter of my blog.  But more importantly he and Linda are just good people.  I was more excited than usual to be heading out knowing we would be seeing them.

Sunday night we only had to deal with torrential rains on our way from Cleveland to Buffalo. With the snow fall that hit our family and friends in Indiana, we were very thankful it was only rain.  I was particularly thankful for the rain when we exited I-190 at Church Street in Buffalo late Sunday night.  It is a spirally tight ramp that I would not have wanted to be exiting on in ice and snow.

 

Same spot by the Shea, Monday afternoon

We are in Buffalo for the next three days shuttling trailers between the drop yard and the theatre.  This afternoon the temps have started dropping and the lake effect snow is coming down both horizontally and vertically. But most interesting are the winds that are really rocking the truck already. My understanding is that they haven’t reached the top speeds yet.  So I think tonight is going to be very interesting, especially trying to sleep.