oh lord, won't ya buy me a new western star......

a couple of friends on facebook are always posting first lines or verses to songs on their status and most of the time, other friends will fill in the rest of the tune.....some of them are fresh and modern....others take you on a trip down memory lane........tonite my friend, jody's status was the janis joplin hit.....oh lord, won't you buy me a mercedez benz........took me straight back to the mid america truck show in louisville, ky......1999, i think....or maybe 98.......

western star's booth was doing a promotion and giving away free prizes and perhaps even a chance to be featured in an ad campaign....and all you had to do was get up on stage and give them a slogan idea, sing a song or act something out...........

well, always having prided myself on being a quick thinker on my feet.....and never having been particularily shy.....and aided by enormous prodding, coaching and even a little double-dog-daring from the bunch i was with.....i found myself on stage......and this was my contribution.....

oh lord, won't ya buy me a new western star

my friends all drive volvo's

i need a new large car

worked hard all my lifetime

drove near and drove far

oh lord, won't you buy me

a new western star.......

well, i did get a hat...a couple of them....and a t-shirt.....but no recording contract....not even a discount on a new star.........

get up! ethel, you ain't gonna believe this.......

coming thru amarillo on i-40 we found ourselves in a big ole backup that took forever to get thru......even tho truckdrivers are alot like nascar drivers and don't like to think about someone else's wreck and how it could happen to them, they also can be as bad as four-wheel drivers when it come to slowin things down to do some rubber-neckin......you can enlarge the photos and get a better look....please note that we're headed east.....and the trailer is across the west-bound lanes.......

at first i thought the tractor was hidden behind the firetruck or the tow truck.....but i was wrong....

as i got closer, there was the tractor in the far left lane of the east bound side......he'd obviously jumped the jersey barrier .........as we passed, it was set upright, but from the looks of it, it wasn't always that way......it's hard to see them in the pictures, but there were a couple of cars involved too.....cars on the east bound side......cars that probably never expected that big blue truck to jump the concrete wall and tangle with them......any ambulances that had been there were long gone and we never had any information about injuries......just goes to show ya, nothin is set in stone....not even when there's a four foot wall of stone between ya......be safe out there!

not all cleavage is created equal

brad and i stopped in oregon to empty our porta potty at the rv station in the rest area.....i couldn't help but notice the person working on their camper a couple of lanes over from us.....i think it was that massive expanse of white that drew my attention.....you know how it is.....you see a butt crack.....you don't wanna look......you even find it distasteful.......and yet, in just the same way you can't keep your fingers off a pimple on your face, you just can't seem to divert your eyes entirely from the cleavage before you.......you find youself wondering why alot of men can't seem to get a pair of jeans that simply "fits" them.......and then the guy stands up and turns around and........it's a woman!......

bg and the horses

we have about 12 acres of unused pasture & a barn at the house and so we let a guy from down the road board a few of his horses there......they're always happy to see us come home and always head straight for the fence, hoping for some petting and a treat or two......they just can't decide what to think about babygirl tho.......she goes flyin at them all barky and puffed up like she's gonna ride herd and just about the time she has them a little skitterish.......she stops short and turns to her dad and says "dad, those are the biggest freakin dogs i have ever seen!"

tomato soup

i'm still wondering how big the grilled cheese sandwich has to be to go along with this soup?????????????

more goodies for us!!!

if you don't already have one of these, then you need to take a couple of minutes (really, that's all it takes) to pick up one and activate it the next time you're stopped at a pilot or flyin j truckstop.....just ask the cashier for a new card and then you can activate it at the kiosk in a flash.....if you take in your old card, you can also transfer all your points and showers onto the new card.....all the instructions are on the back of the card and also on the kiosk screen so it's hard for even a technologically- challenged driver like me to mess it up.......you can register it online also, but if you're there, it's really easy just to swipe it thru the kiosk.....and the very best thing about registering????.....200 bonus points!!!.....i don't know about you, but we use those points....not as much for buying supper but we let them build and then buy or replace gadgets for the truck......new coolers, new ovens, cb mikes, log book covers.....it's like christmas!!...



it's still a point for every gallon of diesel you purchase over 50 gallons, but some of the added features include a half-shower point for diesel purchases between 14 and 49 gallons....which, if you're like us, especially in the winter months, you top off those tanks more frequently, and those half-points add up quickly........and, for those of you wondering, yes, i did have to explain to brad that this didn't mean you could only shower half your body at a time.........and for those of you out there running hard, there are longer expiration times on your shower points .....

it's nice to see that pilot/flyn j continues to look out for drivers with clean showers and restrooms and hazelnut coffee......and now it's even easier to cash in on your points with the new frequent fueler advantage card.

finally!....a sign i can agree with!!

there's so many special signs on the highways pertaining to trucks....but finally, there's one i can agree with!

happy new 2011!!

you might have noticed that i hadn't done much blogging in the latter part of 2010......i'm not completely sure why, except that it seemed like everytime i went to write something, it came out sounding angry and bitter.... and i wasn't liking that, not even a little bit.....i've always considered myself a glass-half-full kinda gal, and the fact that i was having trouble even finding anything in the glass was very troubling to me........even worse was the fact that i couldn't really name or define any particular reason for feeling this way.......oh, sure, the usual tribulations of truckdriving were applied.....bad weather, not enough time at home, the holidays coming and no time to get ready, frustrating fleet managers, rough roads that made for little or no sleep some days.........



we were, of course, late getting home for our christmas hometime, but that blow was lightened by the fact that my niece and her kids (thanks, joyce, cj and cayla!!) had cleaned the house and put our tree up for us and had done our grocery shopping.......it was so nice to come home to a well stocked refrigerator!



we managed to get to stay home thru new year's day which was just what i think i needed.....not that i couldn't have used a few more days.....and not that i really got anything that sounds substantial done around the house, but the boost to my morale was immeasurable.....we just enjoyed time with family and friends, time spent just enjoying the lights on the tree......time looking out at new snow......time planning future home times and home projects.....



as of yesterday, we've been back on the road a full week.....my mood is lighter and i'm back in the groove and hoping to be a little better about posting here.....i was gonna say that i was making it a new year's resolution to post everyday but i know me and i know that would achieve nothing except to jinx the whole idea, so here's to 2011......let's see how it goes!!