wildhorse casnio......pendleton, oregon

after running over 7000 miles in 7 days, we finally got a load that gives us a little down time over the weekend.....we're hauling 42,000 lbs. of sugar from nampa, idaho to a bakery in seattle and we don't have to be there till monday morning......when we got this load we really expected the drivertech to beep and tell us to load it and drop it at the yard for a solo driver to deliver and then that would be followed by another beep giving us a long and "hot" load that just had to go, go!, go!!.....but so far that's not happened......it took us about 5 hours yesterday at the shipper's to get loaded...they're usually not that slow there but for some reason everything was moving slowly....it was refreshing to scale out legal on the first try and not have to do alot of sliding tandems to get things road-ready.......so since we hadn't ate all day and since it was already late evening by eastern standards, we went over to the truckstop and had supper and called it a nite........we've been watching the first two seasons of "weeds"......(yes, i know, we're behind!...sometimes it takes us awhile to embrace new pop culture.....lol).....anyway, we finished up season 2.....this show cracks me up......i swear, nancy (mary louise parker's character) cannot catch a break.....never mind that she's a marijuana dealer.....she's is the epitome of murphy's law and then some!!....anyway, now we're anxious to get to target for the rest of the seasons that are out on dvd.....that's pretty much how we watch tv.....seasons of the shows we like on dvd long after the next season of those shows have started.....we are never setting still long enough to catch anything in real time.....although lately we have been exploring hulu.com....a wonderful invention!!......any way, back to the sugar load.....we made it as far as pendleton, oregon......it was absolutely beautiful today coming over cabbage....the sky so clear you could see for miles....we decided to call it a night here.....pulled into the arrowhead travel plaza and cleaned out the truck......i think we have gremlins that trash this truck when we're not looking, because it sure does get dirty quick.....course it could be blamed on the fact that i had an snack attack of peanuts in the shell the other night while driving.....trust me, you cannot shell peanuts and drive at the same time and stay neat.....not to mention that had a cop saw me he would have probably explained how that isn't much different than driving while texting, so i have decided that peanuts in the shell is not a good "driving" snack......it could also be blamed on the pup, who loves nothing better than to get hold of a paper towel or tissue and see how many pieces she can transform it into!.......after dusting and running the sweeper and cleaning the windows, we went inside to one of the nicest showers you can find in a truckstop....it was so cute i was sorry i hadn't thought to take my camera inside with me so that i could show you......clean and cool and really great water pressure!........right beside the truckstop is the wildhorse resort & casino.....doesn't take much more than that to put a sparkle in brad's eyes....lol...so we moved from the truckstop up to the casino truck parking area and ran inside......after all, farewell bend and cabbage scales were both closed today as we came over, so that's a sure sign that lady luck is in your house, right????......anyway, brad hit the three card poker table and i found a couple of good one armed bandits and then after awhile he found me and we hit the buffet......not the best one i've ever visited, but not bad........with my tummy full, i played a little while longer while he went back to the tables and then i decided babygirl was probably gettin lonely in the truck all by herself, so i called it an evening and came out to be with her......alot cooler.....not to mention cheaper, to play computer games out here with her......lol..........

pulled from the files of " you just can't make this crap up!"

in honor of father's day, here's another short installment from the "you just can't make this crap up!" file......

spotted this near ft. collins, colorado.....it actually was a pretty neatly done paint job.....considering all the time it must have taken tho, you have to ask yourself, "why?"

also in ft. collins.......i think the folks out there either get some kind of kickback on the price of paint or else just enjoy the fumes from it........

i can't think of a thing i could say that would explain this one any better.......

i guess if you're gonna be trailer trash, then be the cutest little trailer trash you can be.......

carl hayden dam at lake powell, az

we picked up a heavy load of sugar in nampa, idaho just before the memorial day weekend and took it down to pheonix, arizona.....i was already a little cranky because i had wanted to be home in west virginia over the holiday, but they offered us a nice bonus to stay out and run and even tho that brightened my mood a little, i was cranky all over again when i looked at the routing.....i84 down to ogden, ut, then i15 to down below salt lake city and then we were taking us89 out thru the woods ( as truckers like to say anytime they get off the 4 lane).....i'd never been down that way before and i just thought i wasn't in the mood to be dealin with draggin 45,000 lbs of sugar up one mountain after another.....i should have known better!.....it's true, there were alot of mountains......long pulls up and slow decensts.....but the mountains were absolutely beautiful and the small towns we went thru made me want to stop and spend at least a day in each one of them.....panquitch, utah.....kanab, utah...well, we did spend the night in kanab......and then we crossed over into arizona the next morning and found this little jewel.....pretty much the most northern tip of the grand canyon and beautiful in it's own right.....lake powell, just north of page, arizona....and the carl hayden dam and visitor's center.

if you enlarge the photo, you can see the dinosaur's prints pretty clearly.

you'd think i'd know by now that just as you can't judge a book by it's cover, you can't judge a trip by it's routing. if you find yourself ridin down this way, prepare to not be cranky anymore!

hi 5 for USA

one of the little things brad and i enjoy while we're running up and down the highway are the vanity plates so many people have on their cars now.....sometimes they're cutsie.....sometimes the just let you know what line of work the driver does......sometimes they're so abstract it becomes a game between us to see who can decipher them first...........this one that we saw yesterday as we were running west on the ventura highway in california was pretty obvious....and i have to say, "right back at ya!"