Pete and Repeat

 Get your motor runnin'

Head out on the highway

Looking for adventure

In whatever comes our way

This would make a pretty good theme song, don't ya think! I have no idea why but this verse just popped in my head and I haven't been able to get it out. Not the whole song, just this verse. Drives me crazy, and then I start making up my own words to finish out the song. Timothy told me that I take five or six songs and put them together to make one. He never knows what song I'm trying to sing.

Anywho..I was recently informed by my sweet and candid son that my blog posts are always about the challenges we encounter with our job. "You are always writing about the problems, troubles and frustrations. You never write about the good things. People are probably wondering why in the world you and Daddy are still in the trucking business. And, you never include me in any of the blogs. Wait a minute, I have to catch my breath. Wow! He actually reads my blogs. "I know but the crazy things we deal with are what makes it interesting and yes, I have included you in some. I can't help it if you're not always with us."

So, to make Timothy happy let me just say that not every load causes us to grit our teeth, roll our eyes, sigh in disbelief, clinch our hands or stomp our feet. Usually we are just doing the eye rolling thing and sighing. Carlos always just looks at me and says, "They don't want much do they!" "You can handle it! You are a professional!"

Thank goodness, for the past several weeks we haven't had any fist clinching or teeth gritting loads. Since returning to work after vacation, Timothy has been with us pretty much the whole time. I think we've only been apart for 2 weeks. I love how the Lord works it out for us to travel and do trips together. Los and I have been one happy mama and daddy. We just have one little problem when we are all together. Toot likes to get up early...ride, ride, ride and get a good nights sleep...at least 8 hours. If he says he's leaving at 7:30 a.m. then by golly he's leaving at 7:30...not 7:35...7:30! Then there's Carl and me...complete opposite! We say 7:30 but it could be 7:45 or 8:00 before we actually pull out. Then, we like to ride for a couple of hours, stop and stretch our legs, ride some more, stop for an ice cream, ride some more, stop and stretch. It's a constant ride, stop, ride, stop...THIS DRIVES TIMOTHY INSANE! We may not have had any teeth clinching loads but there sure has been some breath holding. I am so glad we are in separate trucks and have CB's for communicating because every time Carlos grabs that CB mic and says, "Toot, we need to hit the rest area!" I  just hold my breath and wait for it, "Really, again!" I have absolutely noooo idea where he gets his promptness and drive to go, go, go...certainly not from his mother or father. Carlos' philosophy is slow and steady...gets the job done! Yes, it does! I'm not sure how but we are never late for an appointment. We may be a day early or two days early or it might just be 15-20 minutes early, but one thing is for sure...we are never late! My man may be slow but he gets the job done and that's all that counts!

I asked Timothy one night if he was tired of us and ready to be on his own again. His answer was music to my ears, "NO!" I guess the grilling at night, the cinnamon rolls for breakfast, the home/truck cooked meals, the freshly baked brownies and the evenly toasted on both sides ham sandwiches, make up for our tortoiselike speed.

He won't admit it but he enjoys his mama and daddy time just as much as we enjoy our Toot time!

Instead of a building, this time we took a power skid to a new solar farm in California, which to us, is known as the snake farm. Yep, the snake farm! We had already heard horror stories about this place and were not looking forward to going at all. First of all, we were told that it was a nightmare to get in and out of...second, you have to wear snake leggings...third, there are snake handlers on sight and fourth, you have to stay within a certain perimeter of your truck. One driver told us that one of the workers drew a line in the sand and told him, "Do not go past this line!" Well, okie dokie then! "Carlos, it looks like you and Toot are going to be on your own. I'll just sit in the truck and watch for snakes and if I see one I'll yell snake. I mean really, how many snake handlers are on sight? If there is only one per truck then how can he watch for snakes for me and for you if we are on different sides of the trailer. I really think it's best if I just stay in the truck!" "Why don't I stay in the truck and you do all the work this time?" "Nope, I don't think so!" Can I just say that we were not the least bit excited about this load. We hadn't even got the thing loaded yet and there was already some eye rolling and A LOT of sighing going on...from all three of us! EVEN TIMOTHY! We were getting ourselves worked up in a tizzy. Finally I was like, "Maybe it's not as bad as everyone says. Let's just wait and see for ourselves."

After a week of wonder, we made it to the snake/solar farm. What a relief...easy peasy in and easy peasy out. The workers saw what a difficult time the drivers were having getting in and out of the farm so they made some changes a few day before we got there. Isn't God good! Carl and Toot did have to wear the snake leggings, although, one worker acted like it was totally ridiculous. He just kept telling Los, "Man can you just please put these on before you get out of the truck? I've already been chewed out once about these things and I don't want to get chewed out again. It's crazy! Just please put them on before you get out."

Now that was a hoot watching Carlos put those things on. He couldn't figure out which was the top, which was the bottom, which one was the right, which one was left, and then, it took him forever to get the things fastened. Toot had both of his on, was out of the truck and had walked up to our truck before Los ever got his on...and Toot got his AFTER Los.

 Wouldn't they make great models for snake leggings in an outdoor magazine?

When Timothy was little we would get so tickled because everything about him was just like his daddy. The way he looked...the way he walked...the way he talked...the way he stood...everything. Some things never change! Twenty-five years later and he is still the spitting image of his daddy. When I saw the two of them standing there like this, I couldn't help but smile! Love my boys!

Usually when we are traveling to California, I am fascinated and in awe of the beauty of the mountains. I told Carl that even though we have seen them hundreds of times every time seems like the first time. But for the past several weeks I have been admiring the beauty of the clouds. As I was watching the storms brew in the skies above me, it reminded me of the storms that brew up in our everyday lives. One minute we are enjoying a beautiful sunshiny day and the next we are running for cover from the lightning and rain. Our lives are much the same. One minute we are happy and healthy and the next we get a heart stopping report from our doctor. One minute we are enjoying our family and the next we are unexpectedly having to say goodbye. One minute we are off to work and the next we are looking for work. In an instance life as we know can change.

Just as I saw the beauty and grace of God's work in the clouds, we are to find beauty in our life storms. We do that through keeping our focus on Christ and knowing that He is walking through the storm with us. We are not alone. There are so many verses in the Bible where Christ is reassuring us that we are not alone. Joshua 1:9 says "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." In Psalms 46:1 it says, God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. Isaiah 41:13 says, For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. Matthew 14:27 says, But Jesus spoke to them at once. "Don't be afraid," he said. "Take courage. I am here!!" These are just a few. I hope you find comfort in knowing that even though it may seem like you're all alone...YOU ARE NOT! Christ Jesus is right there with you!

I have been following a sweet, young, newly wed couple on facebook who are currently going through a horrific storm. It's more like a hurricane. The husband is battling brain cancer for the second time and the faith and assurance they have that everything is going to be alright is remarkably strong. They are turning their storm into a true testimony of faith and love for Christ and for one another. Christ tells us to find joy in our troubles, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4

Sometimes I wonder, "Lord, how in the world can we find joy in our troubles...especially when our troubles are the size of hurricanes, like the one this young couple is in the midst of?" When he tells us to find joy, he's not talking about being all happy go lucky. He is telling us to have a positive outlook...keep our focus on him...remember the blessings in our life and to hold on to our faith in Him!

Some storms are short...some last forever...some are strong...some are light...some come with a vengeance...some come with a warning...some appear in the blink of an eye but one thing is for sure...they will come...and, they will go! When that storm comes, whether it is a wind storm, thunderstorm, tornado or a hurricane and everything around you starts turning dark, look up and there you will find that ray of sun, shining down on you, letting you know that you are not alone.

When life's storms come, I may look into the dark sky and say "God a little light please!" Then I remember - Jesus light of the world.  Max Lucado

Please remember to keep the young couple I mentioned earlier in your prayers!

Oh, I almost forgot, the rest of the snake/solar farm story. We did not see the first snake or the first snake handler. I was really kind of disappointed. I was looking forward to being on snake watch! Oh well, we have enough excitement without having to add snakes to the mixture.

Til we meet again!

Only by His Grace!

   Lynne

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Plans, plans, plans

Oh my! I can't believe it has been 4 months since my last blog post. In case you're wondering, no I have not been on vacation all this time...well, physically I haven't been but mentally I probably have.  I've just had a bit of blogger's block and haven't really been motivated to write one. I've thought about it but just couldn't seem to get myself to drag out the computer, which by the way, is on the floor right beside me. I'm ashamed to even admit that! It takes a LONG time and a LOT of THOUGHT for me to do a blog. I just really haven't wanted to do a lot of thinking or any thinking for that matter! BUT... at the requests of my mother...I am putting my brain back to work.

Where and what have the Truckin Duo been up to the last 4 months?! We have been busy, busy, busy! East to west...west to east...east to west...pretty much the same route each time. Maybe that's why my brain quit working!

One exciting load that we did was an ULA load (United Launch Alliance). Well, we thought it was going to be exciting. When we got the load we were told that it was  15'11" wide, 9' high and 38' long and was called a PLF fairing. Yep, there went Los' excitement! "What the heck is a PLF fairing?" All Carlos knew was that it had something to do with NASA. So I quickly texted a friend to get some info. "Oh my, Los it's the cone nose on top of some of the unmanned rockets to protect the vehicle through launch. Once it's out of the earth's atmosphere, it separates from the rocket usually in two pieces. How cool is that!" I couldn't wait to get to Harlingen, TX to see it.

 

                                  What I thought I was going to see once we got to Harlingen.

                        

Well, shoot fire...that doesn't look anything like the picture she sent me. AND...there went my excitement! Oh, for the record, we only had half the fairing and another driver had the other half. We had to carry that enormous box all the way to Vandenburg Air Force Base in California. We had three escorts and the other driver also had three; plus we had hired security each night we stopped. Can you say "feeling special?" We were only allowed to do 300-350 miles per day (we usually do 500-600) and could only travel 55mph. With all the detours and no weekend travel it took us 14 days to get to Vandenburg and 14 days before Carlos could breath again. What started out as an exciting, interesting load turned into one huge migraine headache. There will be a lot of thought and prayer before we do another one of those loads.

If you would like more information on ULA and to watch a  live launch you can go to this website  http://www.ulalaunch.com/. They also have a facebook page that you can follow https://www.facebook.com/ulalaunch.

After we unloaded at Vandenburg Air Force Base we were able to relax and really enjoy the beauty all around us. Which is something we should do all the time and then maybe we wouldn't get so stressed out.

                                                               Grapes, grapes and more grapes

                                            

                                                                Beautiful scenery in central California

                                            Finally able to relax. Love seeing that smile!

                                  

Yeah, not so sure I would want to live at the top of the hill like that! With my crazy self I'd open the front door...trip...fall...and roll all the way down that hill!

                                   Enjoying God's little creatures while waiting to get loaded.

California is putting in a lot of solar plants so we've been hauling Power Skids to the job sites.  One of the largest solar photovoltaic farms is in Desert Center, CA. The facility will provide enough power to more than 160,000 California homes annually. 

                                                              Solar Plant in Desert Center, CA

                                                     before the solar panels have been installed

                                                   After the solar panels have been installed.
                              The building in the background is what we have been hauling.

                                                   This my friends is Desert Center, CA.
                                                          This is one side of the street.

                                                   And this is the other side of the street.

                              This...well I have no idea what this is or was but it's on the same 

                               side of the street as the caboose. And that concludes the sites 

                                      of Desert Center, CA. I hope you enjoyed the tour.

We have also hauled a couple of Verizon buildings/communications buildings or if you remember Connecticut made us call it a vault. If you haven't read that post and would like to read about our trailer falling from the sky, just click on this link.http://adventuresofthetruckinduo.blogspot.com/search/label/Connecticut. The first one we took was to Sturgis, KY which was almost as thrilling as the Connecticut load. Once again traveling down a tiny little pig tail road...then up a narrow, wet, slippery, rocky road that lead up to the unloading pad. Oh, I forgot to mention that if we had gotten off the gravel we would have been in a fine mess...both sides of that tiny so-called road was thick, mushy clay and we would have been...stuck. Carl already had to kick in the 4-wheel drive to get across all those slippery rocks. We would have needed a tow truck to get through that clay. Once again I was holding my breath. We made it and all was good...until! "Los, how are we going to get out of here?" "I'm not real sure. I haven't figured that out yet." Here we go again! "Hmmm, don't you think you need to be figuring it out! Well, we are not letting them pick up this trailer! We are not doing that again! I'm serious, now. Why can't we just back down the road" "Because there isn't enough room for us to turn around without getting off the gravel." I know what all of you are thinking and yes...yes, we did! They picked up our trailer and turned it around but this time we did it a lot different from the first time. I still held my breath and I still did a lot of praying. The Lord is probably thinking, "Girl, you have really got to quit holding your breath so much. One of these days you are going to pass out. Relax! Trust me! I've got this!"  I told the little Verizon man that was walking around that if I'd had my way we wouldn't even be up on that hill. I mean really, do these people think we're hauling these big ole buildings behind a little bitty pick up truck. Sometimes I wonder what they are thinking!

                                          Our little pig tail road leading up to the job site.

                                              It kept getting narrower and narrower.

                                                    Carlos going to check things out.
                                          I REALLY REALLY should have gone with him.

                                                               And here we go!

                                                                      Up it goes!

                                                   I hope what goes up, gently comes down.

   It was hard as all get out to walk on those rocks. They were so big and slippery. We kept waiting for one of us to fall down or twist an ankle...oh wait, Carlos did slip and fall. I so hate I missed it! 

                                            Too bad the crane driver was all eyes!                                                          

                                                                 Here we go again!

 

                                Happy happy happy! Gently went up and gently came down!

                                        All turned around and ready for our next adventure.

As many of you know, we absolutely hate to tarp. I usually feel like I have just completed a triathlon. No, I've never competed in a triathlon and I don't plan on it. All I know is that every bone...every muscle...every vein...every hair...every inch of my body is tired, sore and aches when we finish a tarp job. Oh, and did I mention...DIRT! Dirt and grease from my head to my toes. I really really do not like to get dirty. My family used to call me the Queen Bee; well, Queen Bee's are not supposed to get dirty...are they? And no I'm not being a little wimpy tail; Carlos feels the same way because we usually shower, eat and go to bed once we are done. Even though we despise tarping we always make the best of it and some how laugh our way through it. Just like everything else in life you have the good and then...you have the BAD.

                                              FYI this is what I look like after a tarp job. 

                                        I swear sometimes I think I get nastier than Carlos.

We plan, plan, plan! Plans for doctor appointments, vacations, visits with friends, shopping; we have to plan for just about everything in our life. Plans are great otherwise our lives would be a chaotic mess and as long as those plans fall easily into place, we're happy as a lark. The problem with planning is that we want it our way on our time and when those plans are altered or do not go the way we want..look out... frustration, aggravation, sadness, madness, disappointment and irritation are just a few of the emotions that take over. Carl is really good about just going with the flow and taking things in stride.  I don't know about you but I can become a real sour puss. Being in the trucking business our plans are always changing which is usually fine until...it's time to go home or our truck breaks down. Recently I let that frustration get the best of me. 

At the end of February, we had to put our truck in the shop for some much needed work. Well, one problem turned into two problems into three into four, five, six...you get the picture. After four weeks and a small fortune we finally had LC back. We were good to go, shouldn't have any more problems. I mean we practically had a new truck. Finally back on the road, trucking up. We had it all planned out. Work, work work until June 25. On the 25th, we wanted to be home packing and getting ready for our week long vacation with family at the lake. Everything was going smoothly just like we wanted. We had load after load after load...busy, busy. Two weeks before the 25th we picked up a Verizon building in Louisiana and headed to Columbiana, OH. That should be a clue right there...Verizon...there is going to be a problem! We had plenty of time to get there, unload, get a load headed south and be home by

 June 25. Sounds like a plan to me.

We make all these plans but our plans are not always God's plans. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11. No, God doesn't promise us a life filled with a bed of roses...a life without problems...without frustrations and disappointments, but what He does promise us is that He is always here for us. He has not forgotten us. He loves us. He has a plan. He knows our future. He wants us to trust him...have faith and praise him during the good times and the BAD. It's easy to trust when things are running smoothly and going just as planned. The real faith comes when a plan has turned topsy turvy and we seek him for peace, comfort, reassurance and guidance. My life (and Carl's life) would be so less...aarrrrgggghhh if I would just do this more often.  I tend to get all frustrated and stressed before praying and turning to God. It should so be the other way around...pray first...no frustration! What in the world is so hard about that? 

 As I mentioned earlier, we had a plan to be home June 25th. We made it home about 10:30 p.m. a little later than we wanted but we made it on the 25th. Great, everything went just as planned...wrong! We took the Verizon building to Columbiana, OH with no problems but...yeah here comes the but! Once again Carlos had to kick in the 4-wheel drive to get across all the thick rocks and up the hill and that's when we heard it...pop, pop, pop. With eyes as big as an owls and fear in my voice, "WHAT was that?" "I have no idea! I think something just broke!" Every time Carlos would take off...pop, pop, pop. Ok, this was not in the plan! We finally made it up to the pad, got unloaded, back down and checked things out. Los crawled under the truck but couldn't find anything wrong...nothing was broken. New plan, head home with no load so we could put LC in the shop. Columbus, OH is NOT home! The popping continued to get louder and louder every time we took off. There was no way we could make it home so in the shop LC went...for THREE days...that was SOOOO not the plan. My frustration level went straight through the roof. We just spent a small fortune on LC in February and 4 months later we are spending another small fortune which included part of our vacation money...once again SOOOOO not part of the plan. I kept trying to focus on the positives like...thank goodness we missed out on the load going to Washington State. We could be stuck in the middle of no where dealing with this or it's a good thing it happened before going on vacation and not after...when all our money was spent or at least we had enough money to get it fixed and didn't have to borrow any. If I had prayed and thanked God for the positives of the unplanned circumstances, I would have had the peace that I needed.  But no, I was ill...thoroughly disgusted...highly aggravated...just put out and then there's Carl the complete opposite...calm...smiling...having fun aggravating me...resting nicely in the hotel room...yep, he had peace. Yes, he did get frustrated but the difference between us was that he didn't let it take control...unlike me. He would quickly turn his attitude of aggravation to an attitude of happiness.  This my friends is something that I really struggle with but also something that I am working on. "They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the LORD." Psalm 112:7. My prayer is that when plans do not go as expected that I immediately pray for peace, comfort and reassurance. 

"For God is not a God of disorder but of peace." 1 Corinthians 14:33.

Pray first. Pray first. Pray first

 

                                       Unloading another Verizon building in OH.

After being on the road for what seems like forever and spending 3 days and a small fortune in Ohio with our truck in the shop, it was time to head home for some much needed R&R. Our glory load of all things would be a jet engine that had to be...TARPED! But that's ok, if it's gonna take me home I'll tarp 20 jet engines.

 

                                    It might be smaller but we were still just as tired and sore.

                                 Our escort leading us out on the tarmac at the Atlanta Airport.

                                        Ready to unload that jet engine so we can go HOME!

                              I told Carlos it was too bad we couldn't load LC up on that plane 

                                                           and let it fly us home.

                                                     Now that is the best sight ever!

Those are just a few of the exciting/stressful/adventurous loads that we've done since April. Hopefully my blogger's block has been unblocked and it won't be 4 months until my next post.

     

Til we meet again!

Only by His Grace!

     Lynne