just so you know.......

consider yourselves forwarned.....hehehe......

crossing the gw......

ok....i admit it....i'm a freak......even brad, who loves me unconditionally, will agree with you that when it comes to crossing the gw.....heading into new york.....i'm a complete and total geek for it......i'm that one-in-a-million, often cursed and constantly misunderstood by other drivers freak who absolutely LOVES going into new york.......i've been across the gw a few hundred times by now.....but let me look over to the right as i'm coming up the nj turnpike and i start to get excited....i don't know...maybe it's the small town girl hits the big city in me......maybe it's that i still hope to catch a glimpse of chandler and pheobe and rachel and joey.....monica.....even ross........

my heart starts to flutter when we hit the ezpass booths headin onto the bridge and doesn't slow down till somewhere near the far end of the crossbronx freeway......and if by chance the trip takes us down into manhattan, or even out on the island, it's almost an orgasmic experience....

i've been to new york on both business and pleasure.......i've known the breathlessness of stepping out onto the observation deck of the empire state building at dusk....the thrill of the chandelier dropping in the opening act of "Phantom".......a saturday morning breakfast of an egg mcmuffin at the fanciest mcdonald's with the grand piano playing.....and the sobering patriotism of standing at the foot of Lady Liberty......

i've also experienced the obscene shouts and gestures when you bring four lanes of traffic to a complete standstill because you've encountered an 11 foot bridge with your 13'6" truck......... dodging taxi drivers and hellbent delivery vans while trying to back into an enclosed dock out of 3 lanes of traffic.......the hunting for an address when the street you're on ends abruptly, only to continue 2 blocks down on a one-way cross street.......

i guess it's that i head into it, accepting the city for what it is......i never expect to head straight to my destination, or even out again for that matter, without any delays or confusion......before i start out, i mapquest, i google......i check out the city map for any restrictions and low clearances......i try to prepare....... i guess it's also that by now i've been into the city a few times.....and i've paid attention while i was there.......i know which lane to be in to get on the upper level of the gw without a fight......i know how to get around jfk without getting "into" jfk......i know the whitestone bridge from the throgsneck bridge from the triboro bridge.....and i know to stay off the fdr.........

i guess it's the energy that is new york.....the fast pace that everyone moves at.....and the way they appear so confident in their journey.......it's hard not to get caught up in it......

biscuits and gravy

any of you who follow my blog and are also truckdrivers have probably heard by now that the february issue of the pilot truckstop magazine had a great article in it about truckdrivers who blog.....i have had the best time reading those, some of whom are really starting to feel like old and dear friends as brad and i keep up with their daily antics........the writing is exceptional, the photography phenomenal and of course the subject matter is always on course with our daily lives, trials, and experiences.......there's traveler, who wrote the article for the magazine, gigi, who hails from the great state of west virginia also, stace and hedron who share our views on just about everything from driving and company stupidity to politics .....and then there is salena, of the daily rant.......not just a talented driver and writer, salena is an outstanding photographer who has some fantastic pictures posted with her blogs.....and some of my favorites are from some of the meals she enjoys, both on the road and home.....they are so life-like that i dare not check out her blog on an empty stomach.........so the other day, while having breakfast at home.....biscuits and gravy......(wayyyyyy better than any truckstop's!!)....i saw the camera sitting there.....the gravy was still steaming.......the sausage bits were alluring.......so, salena....this one is for you!......lol...

still alive and kickin...

thought i'd better steal a few minutes and write something just to let ya'll know that i haven't fell off the face of the earth and am, indeed, still alive and kickin......it just seems like i've been busier lately than a one armed traffic cop on visitor's day at the nudist colony......if you ask me what i've accomplished, well the list probably won't seem so daunting....it's just that it took me forever to do it.........

the last week before we went home we had been running pretty hard.....it seems like that's always the way ....mid month we might sit and have a little down time (like we did in california)...but let the calendar roll around to the week we're headed home and they run us ragged....sometimes i think they try their best to see how many times they can make us cross over i 79 without letting us turn south and head home........we did manage to get to lost creek on the day we were supposed to this time tho....12 hours late, but at least the same calendar day.....that in itself is something.........

this time at home, in addition to the mail thingy, and the laundry thingy and all the stuff i've already written about, we had the tax thingy to get done....and i am happy to report that both the state and the federal will be sending us a check this year....modest ones, but hey.....it's better in my hands than their's, obviously......and then there was the eye doctor visit and getting new glasses made thingy, because i had dropped my glasses unknowingly in the truckstop parking lot in bushland, texas a few days before we headed home.....and we were 50 miles east of amarillo before i realized i didn't have them.....we pulled over and searched the truck inside to no avail....called back to the truck stop and asked them to look.....no luck....and then turned around and went back ourselves to take a look......well, we found them......but just in case you're wondering what glasses will look like if left in a truck stop parking lot while you travel 100 miles...well here it is...........probably not a real quality picture,

but, hey!, i couldn't see what i was taking......lol......

it was not a pretty site.....i had to pick them up tho.....i couldn't just leave them laying there,

abandoned.........

and then there was the making a privacy curtain for the truck thingy.....this new cascadia didn't come with a built in curtain for the side and front windows.....now i'm a little claustrophobic and i hate being closed in with the curtain that goes between the cab and the bunk....even more, i hate the idea of being seen by my fellow truck drivers in my bvd's or my flannel jammies.........so we had to have a curtain.....years ago t/a truckstops used to sell a really nice curtain that actually fit your window, but no more.....i think we've hit every truckstop store from one end of the country to the other, but no luck....they all sell the same one and it doesn't come close to covering the windshield and both door windows.........it had been along time since i'd sewn anything....i've had a brand new machine at the house for 2 years and hadn't so much as mended a pair of jeans, but i broke it out... made a trip to the fabric store.....and 5 yrds of navy blue suede and one real wrestling match with learning how to load the bobbin later, we have a custom-made, one of a kind, elasticsized, covers everything, but doesn't hang too long to let the heater/ac vents still work curtain!!........

while i got creative with the blue suede, brad worked on another version of the top-bunk shelf....we are now so organized that martha stewart will be wanting to travel with us........

anyway, we had a wonderful time at home....got alot accomplished both at home and things to make our life on the road a little easier.....had some good visits with my sister, wanda and even got to have dinner with her son, david, who stopped by on his way home from a guard week in virginia.....that was a treat, since we hadn't seen david since last october.....now we're back at work and i promise to do better getting the posts done.......it's not that ya'll weren't in my thoughts all along......so be safe out there......