Time to Start Blogging Again

I kinda dropped the ball on this blogging thing and frankly I have missed it. Who knew it would be so enjoyable to write a blog. I sporadically kept journals as a young girl. But somehow they never interested me like this does. Who knew, well I guess that was my mom and oldest brother. After all they are the ones who encouraged me to start this in the first place.

Everytime something interesting happens, one of the first things that pops into my head is I should be blogging this! Take for instance where we loaded at a few weeks ago. We went in to check in and get our passes upon our arrival. They have a temporary building set up that is very basic and the flow of people, well there was no flow! We went to the left to check in and get our papers first. We patiently waited our turn. When it came we both walked up to the counter and gave the lady our information. Now I know as I describe her some of you are going to think I am mean, but this is a dead accurate description and without this mental image the story just wouldn't be the same. She was a large, heavy set black woman. Maybe in her mid 50s who looked as though she had stopped caring about her looks decades ago. Her clothing was unkempt and she wore what looked to be a really bad wig (to make matters worse, it was even slightly askew). Her mannerisms were overly exaggerated in ever way. My instant first impression was of a lazy drama queen. Then I immediately felt bad for categorizing her without even knowing her. If I had only known then...

As we told her what we were there to pick up she made several dramatic and loud comments regarding possible problems with our paperwork and freight then immediately dismissed them. Frankly at first I was confused as I tried to figure out how to respond to her. Then increasingly worried she was just plain crazy and this whole thing was going to go terribly wrong at any moment. However we both somehow managed to quietly muddle our way thru her dramatics, that is till she asked us about placards. I told her no we didn't carry any on the truck and would need them. To which she just stared at us...and stared at us. I swear it went on for over a minute. Finally she said, well just go load and when you come back here for your paperwork you can get them then. I was really worried then because I knew I was going to have to explain something to her. I told her simply we needed to take the placards with us in order to be able to placard the trailer once the freight was loaded. As we couldn't move a hazardous load without being placarded. She just looked at me, slack jawed and dull eyed. I tried again, "really we can't move the loaded trailer back across the facility without it being placarded. If there was an incident or accident we would be in serious trouble." Finally it started to dawn on her I wanted the placards now. So she informed us that the placards were at the end of the counter in that cabinet. Mind the cabinet she pointed to was a large double doored grey metal storage cabinet maybe ten feet to her left. Then she just stood there staring at us. Like that explain it all perfectly! I had to tell her again we really did need the placards before we could leave to load. She finally, very reluctantly, with plenty of shuffling, loud sighing and moaning, moved to toward the cabinet. One of her co-workers had the misfortune of being right next to the cabinet as she approached. First she stopped in front of it and just looked at it for a bit. Then she reached out a hand and poked the front of it! After this she turns to her co-worker and loudly proclaims it is locked in a whiny voice. He has obviously dealt with her before, as he simply turned around opened and closed the cabinet, then went back to what he was doing. She contemplated this for a bit then reached out and sort of wiggled the handle with two fingers. Here she complains to her co-worker again that she can't get it open. He, never saying a word this whole time, turned around again and opened the cabinet. She looks at his back for a few seconds, then looks into the cabinet....and stares into the cabinet....and stares into the cabinet. FINALLY...she proclaims, "there they are." Pause........"they are on the bottom." Then, she reaches out with her right foot and gently prods them as she continues to stare at them. She then has the audacity to turn to us and inform us that they are on the bottom. We manged, not without a struggle, not to say a word and keep our faces neutral. At this lack of response she turned back to contemplating the cabinet again, finally reaching down and getting the small package of placards.

She slowly walked back to her place in front of us and asked, "how many do you want, 6?" I responded telling her, "no, 5 will be fine." To which she proceeds to lecture me that I don't need "6" as there are only 4 sides to a truck and if we are worried about losing one she suggests we get out our duck tape, as all drivers carry that stuff, and tape the placards really good to the side of the trailer. Yes she knows what a mess it will make, but that's the only way to do it! I just gritted my teeth for a minute then calmly said 4 would be fine. She didn't like this response and gave us the WHOLE lecture again, after which she dramatically handed them over with another admonishment about taping them securely! After all as she informed us we would be in serious trouble if we were to loose one of them and not have a spare on hand to replace it with! With great effort we both gave a smile and thanked her for her help, then quietly turned and left as quickly as we could.

Our next stop was across the hall. As we were standing there waiting this woman came out into the hallway. There were two men standing in the hallway, which is about 7 feet wide. One man was standing on the right side leaning against some lockers and the other was on the left side, about 10 feet farther down the hall from the first, standing next to the wall. This woman, came to a stop a few feet in front of the first man and said, "excuse me!" in a medium tone of voice. To which both men responded by standing up straight and flattening themselves against the walls to make more room for her. She stood there for half a second looking at them then yelled, "EXXXXCUUUSSSSE MEEEEE!" at them. They both just stared at her helplessly not having a clue what she wanted. It didn't take long to find out either. She proceeded to yell at them that they needed to both move to the left side of the hallway and stand straight so she could pass on the right side of the hall. OH, and I forgot to tell you about her gloves! She had been wearing latex gloves when we first came across her. Which isn't entirely abnormal, but she had removed one while hand us our placards and then replaced it! So here she stands in the middle of the hall way holding both gloved hands up in front of herself like a surgeon yelling at these poor guys to get out of her way so she can go wash her hands immediately! I couldn't hold it in any longer, I turned around buried my face in Randy's back and started shaking with laughter. As soon as I heard the bathroom door close behind her I just howled! Even Randy gave in and laughed out right. She, while impossible, had to be the funniest person I have encountered in a long time! What was even better was while in getting our passes I heard her repeat the entire scene in the hallway in reverse when she left the bathroom. It took all I had in me not to start howling with laughter again till we left the building!

Revenge on a Tailgater

We took the truck into our favorite shop, Cadillac Truck, this morning and left it for its 6 month DOT inspections.  On the way home, while still maybe 7 miles south of town, a little grey BMW pulls up behind me.  Mind I am driving an Excursion, but I don't drive slow.  Its a diesel too, so hills don't even faze it on cruise control.  It just growls louder and up we go!  I was doing about 6 over the limit and had the cruise set.  I could almost hear the driver behind me gripping the wheel and grinding his teeth.  Tailgaters are a huge pet peace of mine and I am sure there is an especially heinous place in hell, reserved just for them.  Unfortunately for this idiot he decided he just had to get closer the rear of my vehicle.  Like that was going to speed me up.  Not!  Just for him, since I was in a no passing zone for the next 6 miles, I tapped my brake, broke the cruise and slowed down to 5 below the limit!!!!! Na-Na-Na-Na-Na :-P

I could almost see the steam come out of his ears in my rear view mirror O:-D  Randy, who was in the passenger seat wasn't perturbed at all by the irritating tailgater, but almost came unglued by me slowing down.  I guess those tailgaters have to stick together no matter what, huh?

Friday Night Truck Stop Social

It started out Friday afternoon as an imprompto get together, but continued all weekend.  We drove down to Elkton, MD Friday afternoon for the weekend.  Yes again. When we got there we noticed another custom bunk we knew was in the shop as we headed for a truck wash.  By the time we got thru the wash and to the back of the lot to our usual parking spot, he was out.  He works for a moving company and there were several other moving company trucks already parked next to us.  It turns out we knew one of them and our friend knew the other one.   I could go on, but I am sure you are already confused as it is.  Short of it is we all got together and decided to park together in a way that would block off our section of the parking lot.  Then out came the grills, chairs, dogs and polish rags.  We had such a great time BSing and working on the trucks I forgot until Sunday night after the sun went down to take any pictures.  Of course they didn't turn out good at all.

It was such a nice weekend and couldn't have come on the heels of a worse week.  Of course, after spending so much time relaxing, I could simply couldn't care less.  I am ready for another week.  Bring it on!

What a Crazy Week

This has been such an insane week.  It started out with a kind of slow drudgery, and I have never quite gotten up to speed.  First off Monday, Randy had to wake me earlier than usual to do a random drug test.  Then of course to top it off yet another rain front was coming thru and I got yet another headache.  Of course I had to drive starting Monday evening around 1700, but it was just a short 350 mile run so we were parked by midnight.  Then when we were sound asleep the delivery decided they wanted to unload us early, 2 hours early.  We rolled with it as usual and got to our next pick up 4 hours early because there was absolutely no parking in the truckstops.  Luckily, we had Live Searched the next pick up and knew the area was mostly opened and gaurded.  So we went ahead in, thinking we would just park and catch up on paperwork and breakfast.  Nope.   As soon as we arrived they were out the door and wanting us in the dock and loaded.  Of course this didn't make dispatch happy, because this was another TVAL load and the SOP on the Qualcomm wasn't set up to start recording on their end for another 4 hours.  We had to sit there, loaded, at the pick up for another 2 hours while they got everything straightened out on their end.  Which included them trying to tell us that our trailer traks wasn't working.  Funny thing was though that they knew exactly when we had turned the reefer on and off all morning, but now they supposedly couldn't get any temp readings off of the satellite.  We knew it was working (the previous load had been TVAL as well) and had to explain to them about 6 times that the problem was on their end.  The just needed to adjust the pickup time in their system so it would start capturing data.  Of course after the 3 try Randy was completely frustrated and tossed the phone at me and told me to "JUST DEAL WITH HER."  It took 2 hours, but she finally got it right.  With TVAL loads the satellite is set up to start capturing temp data from our unit 1 hour in advance of the scheduled appointment.  It is hard wired into the system, as our customers want at least one hour of the unit at temp prior to loading.  Well anyway, once we finally got that out of the way they released us to leave.  We ran the 7 miles to the delivery.  Of course the location was under construction.  These last couple of weeks it couldn't have been any different.  There were probably 30 docks open and wouldn't you know it, they just had to have us back into the one dock that had a huge dumpster/compactor on one side and a large ellevated cement ramp for straight trucks on the other side.  Yup and of course all of the personal vehicles of the companies employees were parked right in front of the dock where we needed to be able to pull up in order to even get turned around, much less back up.  But we did it.  I tell you that $120 we spent on our little Radio Shack handheld CB was the best money spent ever!  Oh and did I mention it was starting to rain. Again. Yup. Yet another headache too.

So then after this lovely morning we deadheaded 550 miles to pick up our next load.  It was to load the following afternoon.  I got lucky as Randy drove this stretch since I hadn't had much sleep since Sunday night.  The next pickup was a usual customer of ours, but we haven't been in there for maybe 6-7 months.  So it was, of course, nice to see them again.  We played the usual musical docks before they finally decided on one.  At least we are used to this dance and just wait it out till they actually all troop outside to access the sitution and point to the dock they REALLY want.  What a hoot it is to watch.  They take it all way to seriously!

So now it is Wednesday evening and I drove 626 miles thru sunshine, sunset, rain and finally fog into the delivery.  I got there early as usual and was unwinding playing online, when the customer came out and banged on the side of the truck's cab wanting to get things started.  I swear this sort of thing is taking years of off my life.  I jumped so high when he banged on the door beside me I almost hit my head on the roof of the cab! If course this caused yet another run around with dispatch (yup another TVAL load).  They take this stuff very seriously.  Though things seemed to flow easier this time around, since it was an early unload.  Then we actually had a second drop on this load. So I ran over to the location next.  I sat there for another 2 1/2 hours so that the clock could catch up with itself. Even though eveyone was there and ready to unload.  Nope, we had to end this one on time.  So we sat till it was our confirmed scheduled appointment time.  By the time I made it to the sleeper it was almost 0900.  I was so tired of course it took me a while to settle in.  But then I was gone.

For all of about 1 hour.  ANOTHER RANDOM DRUG TEST!!!  Of course they don't care if I just collasped and couldn't legally log anytime on duty for another 9 hours.  We had one hour to find the test location and check in.  Which in Allentown, PA it takes every minute.  We ended up having to park at a K-Mart and walking to the clinic.  At least it wasn't far and wonder of wonders it wasn't raining!

But by the time I got out of there it was after 1300 and we were locked down for another customer.  So I didn't want to crash.  Of course as a result here I am like an idiot still up at almost 0500 in the morning.  Going on 40 hours here and feeling every single one.  What is that saying...?  THANK GOD ITS FRIDAY!  Oh yeah.

I just really hope that this customer doesn't want us to do what I think they want.  At least not for another 12 hours.  Because once I fall asleep, I know from many past experiences just like this one.  I will not be waking for at least 10 hours.  I am NOT setting my alarm either...

106 TDOT Construction Deaths

We were driving East on 40 in Tennessee the other day when I saw the sign at the side of the highway.  At first I was both shocked and appalled at the high number of deaths.  Then I started to remember the countless number of times I have almost hit construction workers in this state.  I don't want to seem callous, but the State of Tennessee has a problem.  I can't tell you how many times I have seen workers step into oncoming traffic as if it wasn't there. Or how many times I have had to jerk my truck off the road or onto the shoulder in order to avoid hitting absent minded and careless workers.  I know all of you have seen the signs at the entrance to construction zones about years in jail and fines you will get for hitting a worker.  What they should be doing is spending money educating these morons about the danger of becoming complacent regarding their environment.  Then again maybe they are going for a Guinness Book World Record for the highest number of Darwin Awards!

Random Drug Test - Yahoo!

Yes I know it is a necessary evil in this industry, but I hate it.  Since I started driving 9 years ago I have been getting tagged with "random" testing, while my husband never gets called.  Interestingly enough I can't even count the number of other teams out here I have talked with who have the same problem.  The wives always get "randomly" choosen, while the husbands don't.  If this is such a fair system and is totally random then why is it that the female half is the one chosen most of the time?

Today when we arrived at the clinic to take the test, there was another straight truck from our company there as well.  While waiting in the lobby the other lady turned to me and told me how great it was that her husband finally had to do one of these and not her.  She has been doing at least 2 a year for the past 3 1/2 years.  While other than the preemployment testing he did, this was his first random!  We all had a good laugh at the system and our circumstances.

Down Time - Jeep Roll Over

This is Randy's buddy, Ed, and his girlfriend, Cathy, in the green jeep.  We were in what is called the bowl.  A deep sandy valley with steep sides about a mile from our house.  Great for playing in with 4 wheel vehicles.   They had decided to try a new run up the hill and had caught a down tree partially hidden by grass with the front driver's side tire.  It was enough of a glancing blow to throw the jeep over on its side and down into the old run, which is now more of a ditch after the spring rains.  Here Randy is helping them get out just after the accident.  The dust hasn't even settled yet.  Luckly, no one was hurt.

You can see in this photo how deep the roll cage sunk into the dirt, about 5 inches.
Pulling out the winch line in preparation of recovery.

Wrapping the snatch strap around the roll cage.

Ed tossing the snatch strap over to Randy to hook to the winch line.

The winch line was ran thru a pulley hooked to a tree and then back and hooked to the snatch strap around the roll cage.

Now Ed slowly tightens the winch to bring the jeep upright.

We position our jeep at the top of the hill and run our winch line down to the green jeep's front bumper to keep it from rolling backwards as the winch line that brought it upright is slowly released.




They slowly released the side line as they brought it forward enough to stabalize it.  Then completely disconected the side line.

Now it was time to bring it to the top of the hill.

Here we tied the green jeep's winch line to a powerline pole to lock it in place.

Now that it is at the top and locked in place it is time to see if it will run.  Unbelievably it started up on the 2nd try and ran just fine.  We didn't even go home.  We just kept right on wheeling for the rest of the day!  True to its name, ZOMBIE...

Stolen LEDs

So here were are at the Petro in Glendale, KY minding our own business.  We just had the truck washed. Then dried the aluminum, stainless and glass by hand to avoid water spots.  Of course we always miss a few and the wash is never perfect, so we end up using a little polish to rub out the inevitable drip marks on the aluminum and the remaining bug carcases from the stainless stacks.  

It was about then that Randy noticed something wrong with the dropped trailer we were parked next to.  Every single LED light was missing.   Some one had stolen all the marker, turn signal and brake lights.

We got the company name and number from the inspection sticker on the front of the trailer and called them to let them know.  It is Easter Weekend and the poor guy pulling this trailer probably wont be back to pick it up till late Sunday night.  We wanted to give them a heads up so they weren't blind sided.  After all it is going to take a little bit of leg work to find and get your hands on that many LED lights in Glendale, KY.

According to the company, their driver lived in the area.  Just as we had thought the driver had dropped the trailer to go home for the holiday weekend.  Of course they were grateful we had called them to let them know, but also suspicious that the driver had somehow caused this.  Randy explained that the trailer was dropped under two overhead lights and within clear view of the shop.  We would have assumed it one of the safer spots in the lot as well, that's why we parked there.  After hearing this explanation they seemed to relax and thanked us for taking the time to call them.

You can see the two overhead vapor lights in this picture and the shop was right behind me as I took the photo.

Such a dirty deed to do to another driver, especially on a holiday weekend!

Down Time - Off Road Park

This was a trip to the local Off Road Park with our club the Cadillac Jeepers last November.  Unfortunately I had forgotten to charge the camera batteries and didn't get a lot of pictures.  We were the only ones in the group that didn't seriously damage our vehicle on this trip.  

Us climbing out of a deep valley.

Waiting for the trail to clear.  What you can't tell is that the white Cherokee is hung up on some wet logs.  At this point you are headed up hill and as soon as you get over these 4 logs that are piled here you have to make a hard right toward the grey Grand Cherokee.  These logs are all slimy and slippery from the rain we had and as you can see he has spun himself around in the wrong direction.  He is facing left and needs to go right.  He does make it through though.

Playing in the holes!

We did play in the holes too, but unfortunately because of the dead batteries I didn't get an photos of us in the holes.  Next time though...

Down Time - Pink Lady

This is one of my new toys, a Charter Arms Pink Lady .38 Special +P.  It is made of aircraft grade aluminum with matte stainless and pink finishes.  It weighs in at a mere 12 oz with a 2" barrel and is very compact, which makes it perfect for a self defense handgun.  I got it last fall and absolutely love it.

 

Here I am at the shooting club's indoor range practicing with my new gun.  Mostly I shot standard .38 rounds, which handle very nicely in this little lightweight. But I did fire off a few dozen rounds of +P hollow points just to see how they would feel since this is my ammo of choice for this little beauty.  The +P rounds in this gun really kick!  Its so light that it was harder to shoot with these rounds than one of my husband's .45s.  But after a lot of practice I was able to control it and keep my grouping in a 6-7 inch area at distances up to 25 feet.  Which I am more than happy with.

One addition I think would be helpful on this gun is a laser handgrip.  I have one on my Ruger LCP and it is great.  Plus I am told that just that little red dot on a person will make them think twice.  They are also just a hell of a lot of fun to play with ;-)

I have been very fortunate as our shooting club has an ex-FBI tactical team member on staff.  He has been helping me with my shooting and has been a BIG help.  When I first started going to the range with my little LCP and Pink Lady last fall I could barely hit the target with them.  The smaller guns are much harder to control than the larger semi-autos I have previously shot.  But you just can't fit a large frame .45 in your pocket or purse very easily.  So when Randy and I decided to get our CCW last year I started to look at the smaller more easily concealed guns for the first time.  The Pink Lady was my choice for home protection.  I chose the LCP to carry in my purse.  Since I carry small purses I needed a smooth surfaced gun that would be easy to conceal in and remove from a small bag.  The Pink Lady is great because is is coated and doesn't need oil to keep it from rusting, but it just didn't fit in my bag well and the hammer was an issue.  As you can see from the picture below the LCP is perfect.  The gun is very light weight and fits my small fine boned hands very well.  Even with a full clip (.380) of six and one chambered for a total of 7 rounds it still feels like you have a water pistol in your hand. 

 I added a Crimson Trace red laser to it which in my opinion makes it just about the perfect concealed carry.  The laser has an instinctive front activation button which activates the laser when you pick up the gun and hold it in a normal shooting grip.

Patience Revisited

It turned out to be a double wammy on the other trucks that just had to get thru that gate before us.  When we all got our dock assignments and were loaded we were the cleanup truck with a partial load, single stacked pallets, double wide.  The other trucks that just had to be first got their dues!  NA NA  >:-)  They got loaded down heavy with triple stacked pallets that were a nightmare inside of their trailers.  According to the drivers when they came back in, the stacks were leaning every which way, including against the walls.  Now I hate to wish anything bad on another driver, but I do recognize justice when I see it!

Now comes the icing on the cake.  We always plan our trips carefully in advance, including paying close attention to the weather and adjusting our routes and fuel stops accordingly.  This trip was going to be pretty straight forward except for the fact that we were heading into a potential ice storm.  However, if we didn't dawdle and ran straight thru to the delivery location we figured we would get there just before dark.  That way we could park for the night before the temperature really dropped and the roads turned to ice.

Worked like a charm.  We ran thru rain, sleet and snow, but the temperature stayed above 37F till we were about 10 miles from our destination.  Then it started dropping like a stone.  Fortunately we were snuggled into our sleeper, snug as bugs in a rug, by the time sunset came.  We ate supper, watched House and then went to bed early.

We got up at 0600 in the morning and were first into the dock to unload.  Those other trucks that just had to be first to load, had stopped for a LONG lunch and hadn't bothered to drive in the night before.  Rather they waited till this morning to come in, on those icy roads!  We were empty and pulling out of the dock when they finally pulled into the delivery all frustrated at the strange weather they had encountered.  They kept saying it is Spring isn't it?

Almost makes you believe in karma doesn't it?

It's April & It's Snowing!!!

It was a surreal trip.  Bright green grass coming up everywhere and pretty pink and white blooms on the trees.  It makes you think the sun should be shinning bright and the sky should be bright blue with fluffy white clouds.  Instead, it is overcast and alternating between rain, sleet and snow as I drive across Virginia and Tennessee.

Now it's morning and there are great big fluffy snow flakes drifting around us all as we are unloading.  Such a beautiful sight, except it's SPRING dammit.  Get with the program already!

Our Weekend Running Around

We are back in one of our favorite stomping grounds, Elkton, MD, for the weekend.  So I thought I would show you around a little.  This weekend we are on practical missions.  Food, laundry and misc supplies.

We got up early and bobtailed to a little shopping plaza right on Main Street in downtown Newark, DE.  It is only about 5 miles from the Petro in Elkton, but a world apart.  Since the plaza's parking lot is so small we either have to go here when we have a rental car or get up early and get in and out before everyone else gets there.

You may be asking at this point what's worth the hassle?  Wang's Oriental Food Store.  This store has a great selection of fresh produce and you can get all your oriental pantry staples here too.  This trip I was hunting for sweet soy sauce (Kecap Manis), tamari, baby green bok choy, white bok choy, bean sprouts (azuki and mung), sweet red mung beans, red bean spread, white and black fungus, straw mushrooms and of course Jasmine and Green Teas.  I just love the smell of Jasmine Tea.  If you have never tried it, please do.  You wont be disappointed.

Oh and I just can't forget their Chinese Bakery.  I got two Sesame Balls and a six pack of Moon Cakes with red bean filling.  YUMMMMM!!

The second draw for us here on Main Street is the Newark Natural Foods Cooperative.  They carry a great line of fresh sprouts (including sweet pea shoots YUM), organic fruits and veggies, goat and soy dairy products, as well as a huge dry bulk section (4 different varieties of lentils and 3 kinds of Jasmine rice!!).  Both of us are lactose intolerant and finding good yogurt and cheese substitutes can be a daunting task with our nomadic lifestyle.  I can get my vitamins here as well.  I take live, whole food vitamins (they don't upset the stomach and can be taken without food), but finding them without garlic is difficult.  I usually buy them at my home coop, but since we have been on the road now for 3 months I ran out.  I think I like this new brand better though, since it has probiotics as well.  I will definitely recommend them to my local cooperative when I get home.

This trip I was stocking up on yogurt, sprouts, golden and sea veggie miso soup mix, inca red quinoa, konjac shirataki noodles, sprouted grain pasta and bread, brown jasmine rice and salad dressings.  Randy loves the orange cranberry vinaigrette and I love the sesame tamari.  We both like the sweet onion salad dressing, which is great either on salads or in wraps.

In the alley between the coop and Wang's is this little art gallery.  I just love to walk past their beautiful mosaic.  So I took some pictures to share.  Until I started taking pictures I had never noticed half of what is actually in this mosaic...

A little fishy

an adorable rose tea cup filled with marbles

words to live by? >:-)

a little love

freakish face and hand

?

Next we were off to yet another Wal-Mart to restock.  Of course by the time we got here, everyone else and their brother was already in the store!  Which I guess doesn't really matter because it isn't like we can park in the front row anyway.

Now Home Depot.  This is a great shopping plaza as it has a nice movie theater, grocery store, Game Stop, Radio Shack and Home Depot along with misc other stores.  But it is also, very busy.  Today was no exception, so we opted to park behind Home Depot and walk rather than risk the parking lot.

As it turned out Randy walked in and I stayed behind to take pictures of the turtles.  Yes, turtles.  There was this little pond we had never really paid any attention to before that was full of turtles, geese, sea gulls and ducks.  

You can't tell from the picture, but this one was at least 14" long.

This one had to be 12" long.  There were 2 of these monsters sunning here when I first walked up, but before I took their picture one slid back into the water.

Another 12" + long turtle enjoying the water.

Then there was this "little" guy, maybe 6" long.  But don't tell him he was the runt, he was very bold!  He didn't budge an inch while I walked around snapping pictures and talking to myself.  Instead he boldly watched me with a look that seemed to say, watch your step or I'll bite you in the ankle!

We ended our day on a high note.  Laundry.  We have been doing laundry at this location for years.  Nice clean machines, with 4 triple and 3 quad load washers!  Makes it really easy to do all the bedding.  

Today was to be the exception to the rule however.  We got there only to discover it was standing room only and customers were overflowing onto the side walk outside. Some times it really pays to have your house with you at all times.  Instead of fighting the crowd, we simply had lunch and watched a little TV while waiting for the rush to end.

It finally did, and in we swooped.  It took us 4 trips to get all the laundry, bedding and towels inside.  We had no sooner got everything into the washers then 3 couples show up who are all smokers.  YUCK.  I can still taste their smoke as I write this.  We don't do our laundry at the truck stops because of this.  They were going outside to smoke, but of course it followed them back inside.  I was afraid our laundry would stink, but we got lucky and they left after they got their washers going.