To us, one of the fun parts of this job is just seeing where we are going next. With our last company, we would usually know that information weeks in advance. That is not the case with this company. There is not much advance notice as to where we're heading. The list of available loads changes quickly as drivers pick and choose from the list. As we sat in southern Arizona last weekend, there was not alot available to us and we agreed to do a load that picked up in El Paso, Texas where we loaded twelve ATVs. These bikes are made in Mexico and brought to this shipper in El Paso where we truckers pick them up and cart them to various locations in the US and Canada. Our load had us going to a couple different dealerships in Arkansas. So we loaded them one day in Texas and delivered them the next day in Arkansas.
From there we cruised over to near Tunica, Mississippi to get our next load that was going up to Vermont. Tunica is about a half hour south of Memphis, Tennessee and has become a tourist attraction for all the large casinos that were built out in the middle of all the cotton fields. We'd been here years ago when we were still living in Nashville and since we had a little time to kill the night before picking up our load, we decided to take our chances at some of the slot machines. The trip paid off for us and we came out of there $120 richer. Jorge, being the voice of reason, cashed it out and got me out of there before I could have fun playing with 'their' money. He says that's now 'our' money and we need to leave with it... and so we did. We figured it would help pay a few tolls on our next trip.
We left Mississippi on Friday and had the whole weekend to make the drive up to Vermont. Such a beautiful ride we enjoyed all the way up here! The weather was perfect and fall colors were amazing. We passed everything from fall harvesting of nearly every kind of crop to fields of ripened pumpkins, county fairs to weekend car shows, and lots of old historic places. Speaking of historic places, I like to sit in the passenger seat with my computer. I'll look up information on the things we see along the way. For example, we noticed this huge old mansion in New York so covered in trees, you could barely see it anymore. I was able to read a small sign with the name of it near the road and before we had gone too many more miles, I was telling Jorge that was the home of the guy who made his fortune making the first sleeper cars for the railroads. That's how we get our kicks on these trips.
This morning we are parked and waiting at our Vermont destination here on the shores of Lake Champlain. We will be the first truck unloaded when this business opens and we'll go from there. It's a new week and new adventures await us!
From there we cruised over to near Tunica, Mississippi to get our next load that was going up to Vermont. Tunica is about a half hour south of Memphis, Tennessee and has become a tourist attraction for all the large casinos that were built out in the middle of all the cotton fields. We'd been here years ago when we were still living in Nashville and since we had a little time to kill the night before picking up our load, we decided to take our chances at some of the slot machines. The trip paid off for us and we came out of there $120 richer. Jorge, being the voice of reason, cashed it out and got me out of there before I could have fun playing with 'their' money. He says that's now 'our' money and we need to leave with it... and so we did. We figured it would help pay a few tolls on our next trip.
We left Mississippi on Friday and had the whole weekend to make the drive up to Vermont. Such a beautiful ride we enjoyed all the way up here! The weather was perfect and fall colors were amazing. We passed everything from fall harvesting of nearly every kind of crop to fields of ripened pumpkins, county fairs to weekend car shows, and lots of old historic places. Speaking of historic places, I like to sit in the passenger seat with my computer. I'll look up information on the things we see along the way. For example, we noticed this huge old mansion in New York so covered in trees, you could barely see it anymore. I was able to read a small sign with the name of it near the road and before we had gone too many more miles, I was telling Jorge that was the home of the guy who made his fortune making the first sleeper cars for the railroads. That's how we get our kicks on these trips.
This morning we are parked and waiting at our Vermont destination here on the shores of Lake Champlain. We will be the first truck unloaded when this business opens and we'll go from there. It's a new week and new adventures await us!