Thanksgiving Hangover

So Thanksgiving was great! The turkey and stuffing was excellent as always! The weekend with the children and family was blessed! Then there was the drive home. That had it's own issues. I can sum up the whole travel time back home with one word, T R A F F I C. I could go on and on but what would it matter. I am sure everyone had their own experiences with the road. I am just thankful we made it home safe and sound.

The cats were happy to see us after 4 days on their own. Charles, our biggest one, has been glued to me the entire time we have been home. He has to sit right next to me as I am doing my class work online.

I am looking for a job and I know that God will supply the employment for me by the end of the week. I have placed several applications in and am awaiting replies. I started school this week so to get my associates in business management. It is proving to be interesting and will stretch my will power to it's fullest.

I guess I just wanted to say that I am thankful for my family, friends, church and most of all, the privilege to be alive!

Have a blessed day!

Christmas without the kids.

As posted in earlier blog, we have moved over 600 miles from my daughter and my grandchildren. We are so happy to be in the south and I especially am happy to be back in the south again! We lived in Erie, PA and they had their first snow blizzard this year while I was enjoying 65 degree weather! Yes, I called my daughter and asked how the weather was and she was rather rude to me. (all in fun!) I can't imagine why? (stated with a bit of sarcasm)

Unfortunately we will not be able to see them for the Christmas season. We will be able to go for 2 days the day after Thanksgiving and spend some time with them. I will miss watching the grandchildren open their gifts and miss the joy in their little faces, and my daughter's face and embraces. We always have great times during Christmas, because it is the one time of year, (and it should be all year long!) that we embrace each other and ignore the differences! My parents are gone, and my daughter and son are all I have left of a family, (except my sister who has her own family). My son is in Iraq this year and my prayers go out to him and his wife in TN. (please keep him in your prayers this season!) My daughter and I have never been apart during Christmas and this will be the hardest thing for both of us.

All we have ever had has been each other. She has been with me through everything in my life and shared in everything and I in hers, it is hard to imagine Christmas without her. We have been each other's strength and support and laughter. She is so much more than my daughter, she is my best friend! I was there with her during the births of both boys and watched life begin from the little girl God gave me. I just pray and hope that she knows how much she means to me and how very sorry I am that I can't be there for Christmas due to job obligations.

I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with her when my mother died and when I delivered her, she became the reason for my life at that moment. I was so lost when my mother died, it was the life I carried and then delivered that God gave me that kept me from doing anything stupid. Thank you God for her and my son! They are truly God given gifts!

Laqueta, know that you have and always will be the light of my life!

A Different Kind of Driving

There is a new chapter beginning, or should I say picking up where it left off, in my life. It doesn't involve driving at this time. I quit my previous job with that company due to two things. One, they were not an EOE as they proclaimed and two, I am pursuing another call on my life. One thing is for sure, the road I am on now is a road of discovery and with more adventure than I could ever dream of.

You see, way back, about 30 years ago, I was anointed and blessed by God and a call was placed in my heart. I was about 15 at the time. I then spent most of my life running from that call and trying to do everything I could to stay away from that call. What I wasn't aware of was that everything I went through, every life lesson I was learning, every experience I had was leading me to this very place and time now in my life.

Sometimes we go through life thinking so much about the here-and-now that we loose ourselves in the day to day concerns overlooking the what-could-be. I was very guilty of that myself. I was always trying to "fix" the things in my life and thinking I was in control or at least attempting to be in control. I was forever looking backward into my past trying to recapture the reasons I was going through so much and blaming my past for everything. I have since realized it is the choices I was making in that present which gave me to stumble.

I now know that the past is great for good memories of pleasant times, but it is not the basis of which to build my life on now. I live in the here-and-now always dreaming and believing about the what-could-be and knowing that it is God who is in control, and through Him, all my dreams will come true.

I have quit driving over the road commercially for good. After 15 years of over the road driving for companies, I can leave that chapter without regret and am excited about the prospects of what will come. My father told me to "stop and smell the roses" and I realized that it is very hard to smell the roses while traveling at a speed of 55mph or more. I am now going to live my life with me in it and more importantly, with God driving. I've read the bumper stickers, "God is my C0-pilot", well, I have given the wheel to Him and now He is the pilot, I am soaking up the scenery!

I don't know where the road will lead me, but I know who is driving! I may not know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds Tomorrow!

So with a little apprehension, (you know, the kind of apprehension you feel at the top of a roller coaster hill just before it plummets down the huge hill that makes your stomach feel like it is in your throat), I am on my way! (can you hear me screaming with delight and fear!)

Driving Miss Tara is still a good name for this because now it is still a journey of discovery and I will keep you up on all that I find!

Until next time, peace be with you!

Hell Week!

Ok, so the first week was very interesting on the new job. Let's start with picking up the truck on Sunday. My other half and I drove to Raleigh, NC to pick up the truck that would be mine to drive until they replaced it with a new one. Upon arriving, we noticed it was in fact a 2005 Volvo and looked very nice. And that is where it ended. The inside was not wiped down in any way and the mattress was dank and nasty. I went ahead and took it to our home town to load it with my things. I called my dispatcher on Monday first thing and requested to be taken through a service center to replace the mattress with a new one. I got a load to Chattanooga, TN. Not a bad first trip! I went through Knoxville, TN to go to the service center to replace the mattress and the guys there were really nice. I then asked them if they would install my inverter, (a device that has 4 electric sockets to use for things like a microwave, phone chargers, computer...etc). They did and I was all kinds of happy. That is until I realized my phone charger was left at home. So I had to find the Walmart and purchase another one.

That was just the first 24hrs. Then after delivering to my destination, I received a load assignment to pick up at 6PM. I was delivered and ready at 9AM. So I took my truck to the service center in Chatt. and they proceeded to do a mild PM, (preventive maintenance) and switch out some bad tires which turns out that I had one steel wheel and the rest aluminum. By the time they were finished, it was 4:30:PM and I hadn't gotten to rest at all. I then had to pick up the load and by the time I did that, it was now 6:30PM and the load delivered at 7AM the next morning 500 miles away. With no sleep, I called the dispatch and told them and they told me to drop it so they can get someone on it that has the hours and the rest. I did and stayed the night at Chatt. The next morning they gave me a load to Richmond, VA and Chantilly, VA. I was on the way to get them picked up and stopped at 2 more service centers to find a shower. There were no women's showers. So I went in and said something to someone, and was told I could use the men's shower in the men's room, jut to put a chair in front of the door. Yeah, like that would work! I went in and told the HR person that it was sad that today, with so many women drivers, a company as large as this one and as well known, wouldn't have the accommodations for women.

After that, I was directed to a service center with a woman's shower and promptly left my blue tooth on the door after I left and was too far to go back and get it. So I called them and they are going to send it to me.

I made my pick up and got to my first destination on time, then made my second then was told to drop my trailer. My dispatcher was very kind and understanding and tried everything to help me. He then sent me home for the weekend for some much needed rest.

Just a side note: Driving through Washington, DC on the beltway is not a good idea around 5PM. It took me 3 1/2 hrs to get from Washington DC through Richmond, VA. That is only 100 miles.

The highlight of my whole week was coming home to my other half and enjoying time at home! Monday, I'll do it again.

On the Road again!

Got through orientation. I believe I will like this company! They have very good benefits and really nice equipment to drive. I will be driving a 2005 Volvo 6600 series. I go to pick it up today.

Met a lot of nice people in orientation. Super Dave was super nice and we clicked so now I know I have another friend. He lives in Mississippi and has a wonderful girlfriend he spoke very highly of. He was like the little brother I never had. There was Roderick, Charles, Robert, Kerry, just to name a few. They were all very nice and we all laughed a lot!

At the hotel, there was a Sports Bar that served food and we met there in the evenings to eat dinner. Then we talked the owner into fireing up the kareokee machine and the fun started. I sang a few songs and did some duets. It was a nice way to wind down the day.

Now I am getting ready to start my week with the new company and am looking forward to getting back to what I do best, drive! So be careful out there on the highways because you never know when a red volvo will be watching!

PS: Don't forget to use your turn signal!

Starting a New Chapter

So today I started with my new company. As in the last blog, I mentioned that I had moved to NC and the company I was with, unfortunately, could not guarentee me home every weekend. So I had to say good bye to one of the best dispatchers I have ever had to start with another comany. I arrived here late due to my plane being late and the good part was that I got a room by myself. WOO HOO!!! I started today, Monday with my DOT physical, then off to a Hazmat class then off to lunch. Following lunch, to a wellness class where I learned some important information about living healthy on the road. Then off to my driving test. So far so good, I am still here and looks like I passed everything. At the end of the day we got our uniforms. Yes, I said it, uniforms! I haven't ever HAD to wear uniforms so this is rather new for me in the 15 years of driving. I must say, I make them look good! (LOL!) I finally got back to my hotel room at 7:30CST after begining my day at 5:00AM! Now I am off to bed and looking forward to tomorrow's events!

All in starting a new chapter in my driving career! I think I will like this company!

Be safe out there!

A Different Level of Insanity

While driving along in my semi on 8/29, I received a phone call I had been expecting from my S.O., (significant other). She had been offered the promotion we knew she would get. (using the Secret). The conversations was one of elation then she informed me she had to be at her new job in North Carolina by 9/17. "Ok" I thought, no big deal. We were planning to visit with friends for the Labor Day weekend then the following weekend go to the Women's Festival in Ohio. Yes, this meant that I had not been home since 8/24.

So off we go to the friends house, enjoy a relaxing time of which would be the last relaxing time for the next 3 weeks. Our roommate chose to move immediately therefore leaving us with no choice but to get moved in 1 week because of our animals. So, leaving our friends in Cincinnati, OH on Monday, 9/3 with my dear friend on the truck visiting for a week, then to take her back by 9/6 to get back to the yard, (my company's yard in Bradford, OH) to drop off the truck. to the Women's Festival for Saturday east of Columbus, OH. Left there on Sunday traveled to Pittsburgh, PA to see her parents and spent the night. Then left there on Monday, 9/10, traveling to Rocky Mount, NC arriving Monday night to a Hotel. Tuesday after looking at several places finding an apartment at the end of the day, we collapsed and got up early Wednesday to drive back to parents in Pittsburgh to retrieve the things we left there then back up to Erie, PA. We arrive in Erie, PA on Wednesday night late, collapsing into bed for our much needed sleep. We then get up early the next day, go and procure our Budget moving van, get it to the house, and proceed to pack and load from Wednesday night through Friday evening.

We got most of everything packed up and in the van by Friday evening then decided to go out and say our goodbyes with friends and family. We drank, danced and had a good time. Then came time to say our goodbyes and it was a tear fest. We all hugged and cried and then we had to go. Got into bed by 3:30AM then got up at 8:30AM to finish the last of the loading. We then loaded the cats and dragon then off we went by 11:30AM. I drove the van with one cat and she was in the car with the other 2 cats and dragon. (bearded dragon) We left and got 2 hrs into our trip then had to stop and let the cats stretch on their leashes which is a treat in itself. Back in the vehicles and off again. The trip went like that til about 7:00pm when we stopped to eat dinner. Then when she got back into the car, one of our cats had figured out how to open the carrier and was sitting on top of it. After laughing, we switched that carrier for the one in the truck and that really made the cat upset because now it's a different carrier and she can't unhook it. The cat in the truck with me was very docile and content to have the door of the carrier open. He didn't even try to get out of it while the truck is moving. So from 7:30pm to 1:30am the cats in the car meowed. My S.O. tried to drown it out with music, but found out they try to match the volume with their cries. We were so exhausted by 1:30am, that even though we only had 50 miles to go to get there, we had to pull over at a truck stop and slept in our seats til 6am.

So we get moving again and arrived at our new place by 7:30am on Sunday, 9/16. Now, mind you, we have rented an upstairs apartment and began looking at the truck and looking at the apartment, back and forth and decided to go get some breakfast. We let the cats out and they explored the new place while we took the laptop and went for some breakfast. We got online with the laptop after we ordered and found a site called emovers. They send professional movers out to unload, load or move anything for a fee. Since her company was paying for the move, we decided to try them. Sure enough, by the time we were finished with breakfast, they had called us back and was on their way from Raleigh. We got back to the apartment and they showed up and unloaded the truck within 3 hours. I feel it was worth every penny that was paid to them. (about $140). We just told them where to put stuff. After they left, we collapsed onto the bed and slept another 3 hours.

I am off work for the duration of all of this so when we got word that our mobile home was being sold, I was ecstatic! This week we are unpacking and basically figuring where we want things. Here's the joy of all this, within 2 months, we plan to buy our own home and get to do this again....only not so fast and with hired help!

I must get back to unpacking since I found the bedroom and master bath, the kitchen is coming into view and the living room isn't quite as cluttered. Still looks like the moving fairy threw up in here, but it is a work in progress as soon as I get off this machine.

There is much to be said about insanity, but to find a place, pack, move, unpack all within a week, well, that just a new and different level don't you think?