We're not in Kansas anymore.
My goodness, I've just been living up a storm without taking any time to actually blog about it! Shame on me. ha!
I enjoyed a few days off during which I took a mini-day-vacay with my beau and our roommate. We loaded up the truck and headed into the mountains for a day of sightseeing and nonsense. We had a blast and even got to see some interesting wildlife. We saw a black bear and what we have determined to be a very large bobcat. It was exciting.
We also hiked a couple of short trails and took tons of pictures of leaves and twigs and flowers and such. I might post some if I can ever remember the password to my photobucket account. Sadly it is attached to an email account I no longer have access to so when I try to "reset" my password or have it sent to me, it goes into the far reaches of the universe, not to my inbox.
It was a pleasant day which I enjoyed thoroughly and wish I could have more of. Maybe I will make more time for mini-adventures during my time off.
Since being back on the road I picked up my 3rd ever HAZMAT load and headed for Memphis, TN. I was a paranoid mess during that trip because it was a liquid load in big totes that were only about half full, thus there was surge to deal with. Then it WAS hazardous so I was being super careful and cautious. But man I know what a pain in the ass it could be if something went wrong, which makes me nervous.
Of course my sweetie always tells me that being nervous about something is just a way of having a healthy dose of respect. I tend to agree... when I'm not carrying dangerous chemicals. hah!
But I made it to TN without incident and delivered the load ahead of schedule. Once my trailer was empty I headed to our terminal in W. Memphis, AR to await my next assignment. While I was there, I figured I'd get a little exercise in. So I "suited up", strapped on my tennies and was going to head across the street to take a walk in the park.
Then the sky unleashed it's fury and began to rain cats and dogs. So I settled in to the truck and played around on the computer instead. A few hours later I began receiving a dispatch and found that I was going to be picking up in Jackson, TN heading northeast to Mass. I figured that since I had a few hours left on my clock I might as well knock out some of the miles between me and the next shipper.
I saddled up, buckled in and hit the road. Which was my biggest mistake of the day. I didn't realize that the little thunderstorm that had begun a few hours earlier was just part of a massive storm system that was dropping hail, tornado's and other icky weather stuffs across pretty much all of western Tennessee. For some reason I didn't listen to the weather band before I left. I should have, then I'd have known about all the severe nonsense going on about the area and would have thus avoided the white knuckle grip and the pounding heart for the next two hours.
At first it was just light rain and insane traffic. There is a good bit of construction going on along I-40 in and around the Memphis area. And the time I left the terminal was just about oh... rush hour. Good grief! After finally making it through all the insanity that was just construction traffic the weather really took a turn for the worst.
Passing each new little town along the highway had me getting more and more tight gripped on the steering wheel as I kept hearing the tornado warning sirens blaring. There wasn't anywhere to stop really for a big truck right away, so I just kept a watchful eye on the sky and hoped for the best. Apparently, I got through the eastern side of Memphis just in time, the Weather Channel later told the story and showed the video of the damages caused by a tornado that landed right along I-40.
Gobs of rain, idiot drivers, and two sore hands later I finally arrived at the truck stop I'd planned to spend the night at in a relieved state of exhaustion.
The next morning I got moving and picked up my next assignment. I'll deliver in Mass first thing Monday morning then hope for a fresh new load to get me out of the north east!
I enjoyed a few days off during which I took a mini-day-vacay with my beau and our roommate. We loaded up the truck and headed into the mountains for a day of sightseeing and nonsense. We had a blast and even got to see some interesting wildlife. We saw a black bear and what we have determined to be a very large bobcat. It was exciting.
We also hiked a couple of short trails and took tons of pictures of leaves and twigs and flowers and such. I might post some if I can ever remember the password to my photobucket account. Sadly it is attached to an email account I no longer have access to so when I try to "reset" my password or have it sent to me, it goes into the far reaches of the universe, not to my inbox.
It was a pleasant day which I enjoyed thoroughly and wish I could have more of. Maybe I will make more time for mini-adventures during my time off.
Since being back on the road I picked up my 3rd ever HAZMAT load and headed for Memphis, TN. I was a paranoid mess during that trip because it was a liquid load in big totes that were only about half full, thus there was surge to deal with. Then it WAS hazardous so I was being super careful and cautious. But man I know what a pain in the ass it could be if something went wrong, which makes me nervous.
Of course my sweetie always tells me that being nervous about something is just a way of having a healthy dose of respect. I tend to agree... when I'm not carrying dangerous chemicals. hah!
But I made it to TN without incident and delivered the load ahead of schedule. Once my trailer was empty I headed to our terminal in W. Memphis, AR to await my next assignment. While I was there, I figured I'd get a little exercise in. So I "suited up", strapped on my tennies and was going to head across the street to take a walk in the park.
Then the sky unleashed it's fury and began to rain cats and dogs. So I settled in to the truck and played around on the computer instead. A few hours later I began receiving a dispatch and found that I was going to be picking up in Jackson, TN heading northeast to Mass. I figured that since I had a few hours left on my clock I might as well knock out some of the miles between me and the next shipper.
I saddled up, buckled in and hit the road. Which was my biggest mistake of the day. I didn't realize that the little thunderstorm that had begun a few hours earlier was just part of a massive storm system that was dropping hail, tornado's and other icky weather stuffs across pretty much all of western Tennessee. For some reason I didn't listen to the weather band before I left. I should have, then I'd have known about all the severe nonsense going on about the area and would have thus avoided the white knuckle grip and the pounding heart for the next two hours.
At first it was just light rain and insane traffic. There is a good bit of construction going on along I-40 in and around the Memphis area. And the time I left the terminal was just about oh... rush hour. Good grief! After finally making it through all the insanity that was just construction traffic the weather really took a turn for the worst.
Passing each new little town along the highway had me getting more and more tight gripped on the steering wheel as I kept hearing the tornado warning sirens blaring. There wasn't anywhere to stop really for a big truck right away, so I just kept a watchful eye on the sky and hoped for the best. Apparently, I got through the eastern side of Memphis just in time, the Weather Channel later told the story and showed the video of the damages caused by a tornado that landed right along I-40.
Gobs of rain, idiot drivers, and two sore hands later I finally arrived at the truck stop I'd planned to spend the night at in a relieved state of exhaustion.
The next morning I got moving and picked up my next assignment. I'll deliver in Mass first thing Monday morning then hope for a fresh new load to get me out of the north east!
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