It was a long 2600 miles from Pittsburgh to Hollywood but we made it in spite of a road rage incident in Tulsa. I guess Jorge gave one guy a lesson in merging and he didn’t appreciate having to ride behind our big truck in the construction zone.We left the cool fall temps for the warmth of the southwest.It’s hard to say which is a better people-watching opportunity… Hollywood Blvd. or Broadway in New York City.In the past couple weeks, we’ve done both.We couldn’t stay long so after unloading and we were off to Texas.Our real destination is San Antonio but the dispatcher found a trailer that needed to go from LA to Dallas so we’re pulling that with us and will drop that off before we head down to the Majestic Theater located one block off of San Antonio’s famous Riverwalk.We’ll be picking up ‘Jersey Boys’ there Sunday night.Destination will be Philadelphia.
Here are some pictures from the road this week...
In Barstow, California, we watched the sun set on another summer season. Not long afterward, this big ol' harvest moon popped up over the mountains near LA.
Way down in southeast Arizona is a rest area with some of the strangest rock formations. Here's just a couple of them.
Only in west Texas does one find a speed limit sign like this. There is not much to stop for so they don't mind you hurrying thru.
On our way to Grand Rapids last week, we took a little detour and headed towards Lake Michigan – near Benton Harbor in particular.I’d been there a few times before but Jorge had never been on the Michigan shore so we thought we’d watch the sun set on the lake that night.At the same time, I sent a message to my old girlfriend from high school, Laurie, who I know lived in that area.Thanks to connections on Facebook, we’d been in communication but I had not seen her in nearly 20 years.I was so happy she called me back on such short notice and came to see us right away when she got my message.It was an evening full of old stories and so much fun we didn’t mind missing the sunset.Here’s a picture of the two of us – more than 33 years after our graduation.I don’t think we’ve changed that much.Okay, we may have matured, but only slightly.
Our trip to Appleton was pretty routine.We got in and got out just as quick.From there we had to go to Pittsburgh and we had a week to get there.Along the way we stopped at the flea market in Shipshewana, Indiana.We don’t need a thing or even have room for anything but we thought it would be something to do.It was a huge place but the junk started to look the same after awhile.From there we went down to Englewood, Ohio where we have everything we own in storage.Time to get more winter gear and drop off other things we didn’t need.It is nice to have that semi trailer full of stuff sitting there to use not only for storage but headquarters.Our car is covered and parked next to it so we have that if we’d ever need it.Our mechanics there put one more toolbox on the side of the truck and we were on the road again.
Today we are in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Pittsburgh seldom gets credit for this but it is a very pretty town.Rivers, bridges, hills, and lots of old buildings are here in their downtown.The leaves are still mostly green but are sporting a hint of color and the change of seasons to come. There is a street fair going on a couple blocks over that we will walk to this afternoon.
We are leaving tonight and taking ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ with us.This week our destination is Hollywood, California.We will be there on Wednesday morning.
Here's another picture of Laurie. She has a cushy P.E. teacher's job and also drives the school bus for the local Lutheran high school. She couldn't resist the opportunity to jump in the driver's seat of our semi-truck and it wouldn't have taken much encouragement to get her to take off down the road.
Jorge is proud of his new 'kitchen' in the new truck and is showing off a jar of his famous salsa he just made. That should last him a couple days.
Rocky is always anxious to see what kind of meal Jorge has prepared for dinner. He was a bit leary of this hot bowl of steaming soup on a cool fall evening in Grand Rapids.
Here is one content dog. You can see he's liking his new truck now and feels quite at home.
Weeks like this one with so much time on hands, allows us to get some things done. Here's Jorge and another driver, Frank, admiring their work of polishing tanks and wheels. I'm glad they like to do that.
Meanwhile the women watched the guys working from their lawnchairs and were treated to seeing a brand new monarch butterfly come out of it's cocoon. We are easily entertained.
Our paths crossed recently in Winona, MN and here is a picture of me with my oldest daughter Mandy. She is fascinated with my natural hair color... various shades of gray!
The past week went according to plan.We lived on the streets of lower Manhattan for two days, picking up wardrobe for ‘Mamma Mia’ at two different locations.On both nights we had to make our move to find parking for our big truck and trailer at four in the morning.You’d be amazed at the amount of people wandering the streets at that hour of the morning.We were sooooo lucky to find a spot to park where we did and people watching kept us busy when we weren’t looking for a piece of good ol’ New York pizza.
When we were loaded up and heading out of town, we were finally able to exhale and start the trek to Duluth, MN.That was a new destination as we’d never delivered anything there before.It seemed like a real nice place but we didn’t spend any time there at all.We had a couple days to stop by my dad’s house in Winona so we zoomed down there.Dad is weak but hanging in there.My brother and his family came from Las Vegas to visit for a week yesterday so we headed on over to our next stop for this weekend, Grand Rapids.Along the way, we’re making a stop in LaGrange, Indiana to get a bit of work done on our truck at the place where the truck sleeper was built.We figured we should take care of it as long as it’s under warranty.So we are spending one night in a hotel until that gets done and we’ll finish the trip to Grand Rapids on Saturday.
We’ll be picking up ‘South Pacific’ and only taking it a short way to Appleton, Wisconsin.
After driving thru the narrow streets of New York City, the only thing between us and the George Washington Bridge - our exit - was this extremely tight left turn. I thought I'd take a video in case anybody hit us in the process. We made the turn, had to back up a bit then completed the turn down another narrow street. No wonder our insurance is $127 a week!
Below are a couple pictures we took this week in New York City and the final one at our delivery in Duluth.
Combining a love of travel and history, not to mention the need to work and fund those travels~ we found the perfect solution to satisfy our wanderlust ~ as over-the-road truck drivers. The nomadic lifestyle is surely not for everyone but it has worked well for us for several years. It has taken us to countless places we would never have gone and we've met many friends along the way. Join us, Jorge and Rhonda ~and Rocky, the trucker dog ~ in our adventures on our perpetual, mobile camping trip...