From there it was up to Keyport, Washington where we were instructed to pick up a load of empty torpedo casings from a submarine base there. We've come to really like the military loads because they are mostly light and therefore we get better fuel mileage because of it. We averaged 9 mpg all the way across the country to Virginia Beach. This might sound low but it is actually excellent when you consider we're a semi truck pulling a load over the ups and down of the Rocky Mountains. This load also gave us our first experience at what we "flatbedder's" consider our worst nightmare - tarping. I have to say we did pretty well for our first time at it. We now find ourselves looking at all the other trucks going down the road and critiquing their work and hopefully learn from what the others are doing. One thing we have been blessed with is good weather on loading days. So even though we’re still in the learning phase of this job, the weather has been ideal. I keep reminding Jorge how one of these days our new-found strapping and tarping skills will be put to the test with cold weather, snow, and even worse – wind. I’m sure those tarps are going to make great sails one of these days.
After that delivery in Virginia Beach, we had one day off to recuperate before we loaded up again yesterday. This time we are combining a couple small loads that were picking up in the east and will spend next week dropping it all off at various locations in the west. We started in a little town called Farmville, North Carolina and are winding our way to San Jose, California – via stops in Virginia, Colorado, and Wyoming.
This week’s highlights included:
- Beautiful scenery from west coast to east coast.
- Just missing out on both earthquake and hurricane in the east.
- A quick stop in Winona, MN to visit my step mom, Gerry, getting a good home-cooked meal and good memories of Dad as we sorted thru some of his things, including old pictures.
- A stop in Franklin, TN today to pick up our new license plates we had sent to my mom’s house. That included a great lunch at the famous Loveless Café with her and Joe.
We love our job!