Finally!!!

In this day and age, it shouldn't be so hard to get internet connection. But then again, I have been in the south for 3 days. (ouch) Apologies to any of my southern friends. :-) Ok, the first day was interesting, only in that it was my first day back driving distance. I left Riverside, CA and took I15 north to I40 east, and that was my route the entire way to Morganton NC. 40 is a pretty good road all in all. Vast amounts of desert until you get to Oklahoma, and you trade desert for open plains. There were some pretty sites, and I will post some phone pics I took. I have to get a little camera I can shoot with while driving and takes good pictures. On my shopping list. But for now, my phone will have to do. Stopped in Gallup, New Mexico for the night. Slept at a T/A truck stop, right in front of a railroad track. I swear a train went by every 15 min. and was wailing on the horn. I thought it might keep me awake, but guess I was too tired for that. Can't go through Gallup without thinking about the Run For The Wall trip that Long Hair and I did. I get emotional every time I think about it. Next morning headed east again. Passed my favorite fireworks stand in Moriarity NM later that morning. Might have to stop there on my way through next time.
Some interesting things I noticed from the road. There are a heck of a lot of Fed-Ex trucks running on I40. I mean a lot!! Also, quite a few Red Bull trucks, but the little bobtail type trucks, and they almost always seem to be running in two's. Wouldn't it be cheaper to buy a bigger truck? Just saying! :-) Also interesting, was the windmill blades being transported. Now when you look at these windmills on the hills driving down the road they don't look all that impressive. But, just one blade being transported on a truck does. Wish I could have gotten a picture, but these things are at least 70' long on a special trailer. I'd say a good 8-10' in diameter. Huge!! On blade per truck and I must have seen 15 or more from NM all the way to Arkansas. I wonder if all these clean energy people think about how much it costs in fuel to get one of these windmills working? Just a thought. Ran out of fuel Tuesday afternoon. The fuel gauge on this truck is just plain messed up. It said half a tank, but going up a light grade it just quit running. Everything seemed normal, so that was the first thing I checked. Sure enough, no fuel. Made a call and got help pretty quick, but had to backtrack a little for fuel and all in all cost me about 3. 5 hours,. Outside of Amarillo TX, saw a bad accident. Well, the remains of it anyway. Only saw one car, on a trailer with the roof completely caved in. There was what was left of a big rig sideways across the west side of the road burned to the ground. Completely!! Tractor and trailer gone except for some scrap. Sobering visual. Sure hope the poor driver got out alive. No CB radio, so couldn't get the gossip. That's on my shopping list too. Stayed a little outside of Oklahoma City Wed night, drove so late I just pulled over and went to sleep. Got up early and headed into Arkansas. This is a real pretty state. At least what I saw of it. Lots of greenery and pretty flowers along the road. Was an overcast day, but nice. Weather was pretty good all the way, but woke up to rain Friday morning. Only had a 4 hour run to the terminal so not all that bad, but good rain, some fog, and the Great Smokey Mtns made for slow driving. Made it yesterday about 2PM, did some of my orientation, but it got late. They also looked at my truck and I need brakes, so they are doing that today. I hope to get out of here by this evening if they get it fixed. I will be heading for Seattle Wa. from here. Then I hope to get home for a couple of days. Take care my friends. Hopefully I will be able to post more often on this next leg.

Larry