Change…

Hubs is through his surgery. They did not have to fuse either heel bones so that is a great thing. The pain yesterday and last night has been more than he could bear, so here we sit, still in Sioux Falls… I think he has it under control this morning, so hopefully today we can go home! Yay!

So, I’ve been sitting in a hotel (I wish) hospital room thinking for days it seems, trying not to think, trying to sleep, not sleeping and thank the moon and stars I had my computer….

For the change… I’ve decided that I’m going to change over to a dot com for the One Girl Trucking website. You can now find One Girl Trucking over here…

I don’t finish much in life it seems. My life is full of starts and stops. I’ve been going to be this, or do that and I usually fail out of laziness or lack of interest… I’ve said it a million times that the only thing I’m really good at, the only thing I really love, the only thing I’ve never gotten bored of, is trucking. It seems to keep my attention. But I’m going to try and write while trucking, well not actually while trucking but do both, and do good at both. I like to write for some reason which really surprises me because anything that had to do with writing in school I hated! That may have been my control issues, where a teacher had control over me so I would buck the system. I do that sometimes…

And, maybe it’s just because I’m full of bullshit. It’s a trucker trait I would say. Anyways, I’m going to give this a shot. I’m going to drop my drawers and show all so to speak! Something else I’m not very good at. I’m usually very private about my life, what I do, what I like, who I like (not that I like many lol) and so on and so forth…. But I’m going to give this a try and we will see.

There will be change One Girl Trucking… I keep changing the layout of the site so don’t worry if it looks funny or different from day to day. I’m employing someone to make me a fancy, schmancy blog so it will look all pretty and cool. But that will take some time. And we will go from there.

10-4?

Just Call Me Selfish Bitch…

Going trucking. I did a short gig on Saturday afternoon which held me in St Paul till 11 on Sunday because I was told they (dispatchers, produce buyers) needed my load of produce, yet when I got there, they didn’t want it… Thanks Wholesale Produce! You rock!

Tonight I’m heading to Nebraska with a load of ice cream and I’m hoping this run is an easy going run. One where I can let my mind wander a bit, relax a bit, and enjoy the open road. Well, that all sounds wonderful, but here I am, daydreaming about daydreaming…

As of right now I have a husband who suggested I shut my truck down and run his, a husband in the hospital who wants to come home on Friday! come hell or high water, a husband who will have to be brought back to Sioux Falls (a 2 hr drive) on Monday morning for surgery (we hope), which will leave me with even more unknown dates and times, and rehab after all is said and done, then he will need to be brought back home if the doctor gives the OK. Then I will have a husband to worry about being alone. A husband who misses me and doesn’t mind telling me how badly. A husband who will have more doctor appointments and therapy…. And lord only knows how many times a week he will have to go to therapy.

When the hell am I going to have time to work? To keep up on bookwork? To tend the garden? To take care of myself? Trucking is not a job that can be called in at the last moment for a sick day or on the flip side called in at noon and decide to go to work… Loads happen days in advance, so I can not get husband to doctors appointment and come home to jump in my truck when I don’t know what will happen next… That would be poor business and I don’t believe in letting people hang. So, now I don’t know what… Except here I sit all balled up inside.

I don’t like the unknown. I don’t like not having plans. I don’t like being pushed. And I really dislike when certain someone’s tell me I’m more worried about business than him… Business pays the bills dear heart.

I guess just call me a selfish bitch… I wish I could sleep. I wish I could run. I wish I could hide. I wish, I wish, I wish… My grandpa use to say “Wish in one hand, shit in the other… See what adds up first!” I just may try that grandpa! I may be entertained at this point…

Life 101

Well. It’s been one of those weeks and I keep hoping I’ll wake up from a bad dream. Last Saturday hubs fell about 15 feet from our truck shed. Luckily, he is alive. Luckily he will walk again. Unfortunately, he broke his femur on his right leg ending up with a steel rod and pins in his leg as well as crushing both of his heels… The femur is on it’s way to recovery but the heels will have to have surgery in the coming weeks. We are just hoping the tissue swelling is down soon so they can go ahead with the surgery. The longer we wait, the more the body will start healing itself which will kill the chances of fixing what needs to be fixed.

We have two trucks and two businesses that we run and a farm place that I will be in charge of for the next good while. We have 14 chickens and 5 cats that depend on us…  Hubs will be in a nursing home for a while at least until they do the surgery on his feet and then we will go from there. We have been so lucky with working on our farm place, climbing on barns, trucks, trailers, and everything else in between… And I guess our luck ran out. Or hubs did anyway.

Next week I will have to go back to work. I will have to leave hubs two hours from home. Alone. Tonight I came home. Alone. It’s really quiet here, and although I love the country, and the piece and quiet, it’s really quiet tonight… My parents have my dog and although I love my cats I miss having another set of ears that knows what’s happening outside before I do.

Life 101… Some days it isn’t so great is it? Some days you expect one thing and get another. Some days you think life will roll along like it always has. Some days it jerks out of control like a bad car accident. I guess you just have to roll with it. And take it as it comes. One day at a time. But, like my vacation, I have learned to enjoy every moment you get because it can change so fast it’ll make your head spin!

Home Again, Home Again

Finally home. Really happy to be here. I’ve been home about an hour and Rosie is siting out in front of the house ready to ride… We have a short trip tonight but it will be good to go again. My ass is aching for my Bostrom wideride and my eyes can’t wait to look out over Rosie’s hood.

So, our trip was just short of 2800 miles. My grandmother and I had an ok trip. The weather was excellent, as was the scenery, food, drinks, and lodging but the company was only alright… The first two days were excellent. My lovely grandmother behaved herself, (now I think she wanted to get me far enough away from home that I could not return her). After that she decided that at 82 she didn’t know how much longer her life would go on. Bear in mind she can still drive, has wonderful eyesight and hearing, has her own teeth and hair, and is completely mobil. She complained about how she was all alone, how no one visited her,(my parents and aunt and uncle visit 2 or 3 times weekly) how her friends were unable to “go anywhere” because they were either unable to walk or too slow, deaf, too fat, boring, too honest, or on prozak (I guess they have to wear tags on their foreheads listing such medications nowadays, which would embarrass her:) ) and how she had no one to do anything with or talk to. She bitched at each meal about women with fat asses and/or straight hair (I’m guessing I was included in the fat ass category), how my parents moved 12 times in their life (which was only 7 in reality), how my grandfather (my mothers father) ruined her sons life because my father became a trucker, and that my tattoos made me look like a felon…

Lastly, which made me point her car towards home was that she complained to my aunt on my phone that she had a long, boring, lonely night in Cody WY… She said I had left her all alone. Reality was, after a full day of driving through Yellowstone, shopping and eating out in Cody I had left her at her room around 8:30 that night… Needless to say, the following day was far less boring because I drove towards home for 700 miles! Don’t mess with a trucker gramma. Sigh. I heard more family secrets than I ever needed or wanted to hear about how my cousin had an affair, my uncle wouldn’t buy her good booze and my aunt had a dirty car…. Now I know she will share what she learned of me with everyone else too– which I wish I had thought about before this trip!

Ah well. It was a vacation with awesome scenery. Although I’d never do it again (with her) I can say I have learned to be happy with my life. Live it to it’s fullest. Make the most out of everyday. Make myself happy no matter what. And don’t do anything I will regret the rest of my life!

What Gives?

I’m on vacation. You knew that right? It’s a driving vacation which suites me well since I like to drive. This vacation is being driven in my grandmothers car and it’s probably the most I’ve driven a four wheeled vehicle in many, many moons. Usually the furthest I go in a car is the 20 miles into town for groceries, and I am rarely ever on a 4 lane road  in a 4 wheeler because I live in the boonies and spend most of my time in my truck.

So, here’s the thing or my conclusion anyway. People are just shitty drivers. They don’t just hate trucks, they hate when they are passed one way or another. People are competitive, and sometimes almost combative. Any why? If you drive a car, pick up, mini van, semi truck or anything in between you should be paying attention. Right? You should know what the vehicles around you are doing. You should be looking up ahead of you a good distance, on your sides, and behind you. That’s what the mirrors are for. That’s how you safely drive a vehicle. If you don’t like that I’m in the hammer lane going to pass your ass, then get yours in gear and go. Right? No. Not even close.

Both Friday and yesterday on I94 in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana I ran into a total of 8 drivers who, when passed (with my cruise control set @ 75 mph) sped up while I was either along side of them or had already passed them and returned back into the slow lane ahead of them. There were also 2  more that, as soon as I fell back into the slow lane behind their vehicle (because they sped up while I was trying to pass them),  they slowed back down again in front of me. Then there was one dumb ass man from Georgia who I passed (with the cruise on) and as soon as I got back in front of him hit the hammer lane, sped up to catch me (I was about a 1/4 of a mile ahead of him then) and when he got up to me, sat along side of me for 7 miles. I finally blew his doors off and left his dumb ass behind, but he caught up again in Fargo and did the same… What gives people?

If your counting, this makes 11 people ( 11 drivers both man and women in 555 miles) that either didn’t know what the hell was going on, couldn’t stand the fact that a women was passing them, or just didn’t want to lose (are we racing?). Please tell me what the hell?? I don’t even know anymore. Is your head up your ass??? Did you not see me coming? Did you just decide that the speed you were going was not sufficient?  Do you feel you need to beat me? Or did you not like the fact that my car I’m driving is blue? Hey, I don’t like blue either, but it is pretty fancy! Really.

My thoughts now? Everyone doesn’t just do this to truckers… And now I feel so much better since that’s who I am. But I’m lying to you. Really it pisses me off.

Daily driving tips:

• Learn how to drive.
• Learn to look in your mirrors. Really, look!!!
• Be conscious of what is happening around you!
• Set your cruise control if foot feed does not work for you!
• Drive for the conditions people.
• Only set cruise if conditions are favorable.
• Don’t waste my time.
• Don’t make me put up with your piss poor bad driving habits.
• And be consistent people!

Vacation

I was a bit jealous this fella loved up to my grandmother…. He is definitely my kind of man! I had to tell hubs that I almost ran away with a gun slinger and he knew I was almost serious!

These boys were cute… Loved the face the gal was making in the back ground. She was one of our waitresses and I really liked her! She was pretty cool to play along.

We also had a local fella that went from car to car singing. I thought he was wonderful! In our car he sang a few Don Williams tunes which I thought were great.

Good looking cowboy at work! These photos are from our train ride on the Charlie Russell Chew Choo. It was about a 4 hour long train ride over 3 different trestles in the middle of beautiful Montana. The train ride is a dinner ride with Prime Rib being served. We didn’t see as many animals as I had hoped or when we did we were seated on the wrong side of the train, but we had an excellent time none the less.

This horse was 17 years old, and what a beauty she was!  The guys on horses and the horses themselves were excellent! All the shooting, chasing a train (the train was stopped and robbed) and it was really a neat day.

Follow the Moon

For most of my career trucking I have run at night. My favorite reason being, nights like the other night when the moon led the way. My trucking company is aptly named Quarter Moon Express because of nights like this. I am so lucky to see mother nature at her best and worst. I’m in it knee deep day in and day out and there is always something new to see.  

A few things that I have experienced over the years….

• Miles and miles of beautiful red Poppies in California
• Salmon flecked with sun, skimming the lazy waters of a river in Idaho 
• The sun coming up over Bear Lake in Utah
• Watched more beautiful sun rises and sunsets than I have a right to..
• The moon in all forms
• Woke up in an orange grove
• Smelled the garlic in Gilroy
• Watched the Antelope roam in Wyoming, and mountain Goats in Colorado