In the past week our path has gone from Louisville, to Joplin, to Omaha, and finally to Washington D.C. Once we finished the trip to Louisville, our next destination was really Omaha.
We had a few extra days and took the opportunity to go a bit out of route down to Joplin, Missouri to pick up the big storage box – or headache rack as we say in trucker lingo – which had been custom made to fit Big Red. We were in the shop for two days while they made the modifications and necessary changes needed to install this big 700 lb. box around our back door. It adds a plethora of extra room for anything we may want to carry along with us. In fact, it has more room than we currently have stuff to fill it with. I’m giving some serious thought to picking up my sewing machine and my keyboard on our next trip to our storage trailer. I bet I can make room for them both somewhere. Jorge has an idea to make a pull-out bbq on one of the shelves so he can just go out the back door, stand on the ‘porch’, and whip up some dinner on the grill. I am NOT opposed to that idea at all but the logistics of making it happen may leave that more of just a dream than a reality. In any case, it will open up a few new opportunities and possibilities for us, as well as likely expand Jorge’s collection of tools.
Before we left Joplin, enroute to Omaha, we made a little circle thru the town. We had watched the pictures on the news and as bad as it looked there, we were not prepared to see the amount of devastation that Joplin, Missouri had experienced. We took a few pictures but that didn’t begin to show the vast area just completely demolished from last month’s tornado that hit the city. There were still people picking thru what was left of their property. Meanwhile work crews were out in force just scooping up what had been recently been homes and businesses and tossing them into the backs of the trucks that would carry it off to the dump. It was very hard to look at.
Back up in Omaha we had a couple days to relax before the next trip. We found a quiet spot to hang out with some friends and even threw together a fantastic bbq with some of the other drivers. A trucker’s bbq has to have plenty of room for parking the big trucks and plenty of nice grass for all the dogs to play in. We found that behind a Shopko store. Jorge removed the cover of our huge generator, covered it with a tablecloth, and lo and behold, we had a serving table. It was all very nice and lots of fun until the mosquitoes finally put an end to it.
Finally back to work, we picked up ‘Wicked’ in Omaha and twenty-four hours later we were parking in front of the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. We were hoping to be there awhile so we could check out the surrounding area but unfortunately they unloaded us quickly and soon enough we were back in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania dropping off our empty trailer. Before parting ways with our traveling buddies, Don and Dale last night, we met up at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants to celebrate Dale’s birthday. They are heading back to their Florida home for a couple weeks off, while we continue our travels and head toward Dallas. We have until Sunday to get there so we will be taking our sweet time getting there. It’s been so nice to be in the cool northern temperatures - even sleeping with the windows open the past week- and I’m in no hurry to get back to the Texas heat.
We had a few extra days and took the opportunity to go a bit out of route down to Joplin, Missouri to pick up the big storage box – or headache rack as we say in trucker lingo – which had been custom made to fit Big Red. We were in the shop for two days while they made the modifications and necessary changes needed to install this big 700 lb. box around our back door. It adds a plethora of extra room for anything we may want to carry along with us. In fact, it has more room than we currently have stuff to fill it with. I’m giving some serious thought to picking up my sewing machine and my keyboard on our next trip to our storage trailer. I bet I can make room for them both somewhere. Jorge has an idea to make a pull-out bbq on one of the shelves so he can just go out the back door, stand on the ‘porch’, and whip up some dinner on the grill. I am NOT opposed to that idea at all but the logistics of making it happen may leave that more of just a dream than a reality. In any case, it will open up a few new opportunities and possibilities for us, as well as likely expand Jorge’s collection of tools.
Before we left Joplin, enroute to Omaha, we made a little circle thru the town. We had watched the pictures on the news and as bad as it looked there, we were not prepared to see the amount of devastation that Joplin, Missouri had experienced. We took a few pictures but that didn’t begin to show the vast area just completely demolished from last month’s tornado that hit the city. There were still people picking thru what was left of their property. Meanwhile work crews were out in force just scooping up what had been recently been homes and businesses and tossing them into the backs of the trucks that would carry it off to the dump. It was very hard to look at.
Back up in Omaha we had a couple days to relax before the next trip. We found a quiet spot to hang out with some friends and even threw together a fantastic bbq with some of the other drivers. A trucker’s bbq has to have plenty of room for parking the big trucks and plenty of nice grass for all the dogs to play in. We found that behind a Shopko store. Jorge removed the cover of our huge generator, covered it with a tablecloth, and lo and behold, we had a serving table. It was all very nice and lots of fun until the mosquitoes finally put an end to it.
Finally back to work, we picked up ‘Wicked’ in Omaha and twenty-four hours later we were parking in front of the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. We were hoping to be there awhile so we could check out the surrounding area but unfortunately they unloaded us quickly and soon enough we were back in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania dropping off our empty trailer. Before parting ways with our traveling buddies, Don and Dale last night, we met up at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants to celebrate Dale’s birthday. They are heading back to their Florida home for a couple weeks off, while we continue our travels and head toward Dallas. We have until Sunday to get there so we will be taking our sweet time getting there. It’s been so nice to be in the cool northern temperatures - even sleeping with the windows open the past week- and I’m in no hurry to get back to the Texas heat.