While Jorge spent the past ten days in Mexico taking care of family matters, Rocky and I were holding down the fort on this end. We spent a few days in Toledo with family there. It seems like it’s a city we pass thru a lot but seldom get to stay and visit so it was nice to be able to do that for a change. One thing I accomplished that week was a trip to our old church in Monroe, Michigan. This was a place where I spent a few of my formative years from first grade to fifth grade and also a place with many family memories. Though the congregation built a new church back in the early 1970’s, it’s the old church build back in 1860 that we really love. My father was the pastor there from 1966 thru 1970. It just so happened while I was there completing my mission to purchase graves in the old cemetery, the guy I was speaking with had the keys to the old church with him and gave us a grand tour of the renovated building. It had been scheduled for demolition after the new church was built but thankfully they changed their minds and restored it to nearly it’s original condition. It brought tears to my eyes to see this place for the first time in forty years.
After my family fun in Toledo, it was time to go back to work. I was doing a solo run taking ‘Wicked’ from Toledo to Durham, North Carolina – a mere 580 miles. Except for a few sleepy moments in the beginning of the trip, it was a piece of cake. The scenery across the Appalachians was just beautiful this time of year with everything blooming. It was enough to keep me interested to see what was around the next curve or over the next hill. I kept my camera on the dashboard so I could be ready to take pictures of everything. The redbud trees and dogwoods were in rare form.
Since Jorge usually does all the backing, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get my trailer to the dock for unloading without help from one of the other drivers. I decided to give it a shot and surprised even myself with my near perfect back-in. Relieved that I had made it and this part of my trip was over, I headed toward Austin to pick up Jorge. No problem, I had three days to get there.
Since Jorge usually does all the backing, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get my trailer to the dock for unloading without help from one of the other drivers. I decided to give it a shot and surprised even myself with my near perfect back-in. Relieved that I had made it and this part of my trip was over, I headed toward Austin to pick up Jorge. No problem, I had three days to get there.
Just as I was getting to Atlanta about rush hour, I decided to pull over and let the traffic die down while I found a mall in which to pass the time. I no sooner got parked when the phone rang and I saw it was a call from the company’s dispatcher. Hmmmm…. Should I answer it or ignore it? I figured I’d better see what they wanted. It turns out they were desperate for a driver to pick up a trailer the next morning in Atlanta and take it about 15 miles to the downtown theater there. They wanted to know if I would do it. Yikes! Are you kidding me? Do they not know I’m driving by myself??, I was thinking. I decided since I was fresh off the elation of my near perfect back-in that morning and up for the adventure, I said I would do it. Thankfully there was another driver who was doing the same thing so we were able to help each other the next morning when it came time to back up to the dock. Once again, by the grace of God, I was able to back this big truck into a pretty narrow dock just like I knew what I was doing!
What a relief to get that business behind me and finish the trip to Austin. My timing was perfect as I got here just about the same time Jorge’s plane arrived. So we’re all back in the truck again and things are settling back down to normal. I'm glad to have my team driver back as this is really somewhat of a job if you have to do it alone. Without Jorge in the truck to feed me his regular meals, I lost five pounds this week while he was gone. It seems he found it and then some though after all the tacos and good Mexican food he pigged out on while he was there.
We’re back to work this weekend and Sunday night we’ll be taking a show called ‘In the Heights’ from Austin to Denver. I’m hoping I won’t need to dig out the winter coats again when we get there as I see the forcast for Denver and it looks pretty chilly.
What a relief to get that business behind me and finish the trip to Austin. My timing was perfect as I got here just about the same time Jorge’s plane arrived. So we’re all back in the truck again and things are settling back down to normal. I'm glad to have my team driver back as this is really somewhat of a job if you have to do it alone. Without Jorge in the truck to feed me his regular meals, I lost five pounds this week while he was gone. It seems he found it and then some though after all the tacos and good Mexican food he pigged out on while he was there.
We’re back to work this weekend and Sunday night we’ll be taking a show called ‘In the Heights’ from Austin to Denver. I’m hoping I won’t need to dig out the winter coats again when we get there as I see the forcast for Denver and it looks pretty chilly.