I've been home since last Thursday night - 5 full days in all. The doctor says we're working way too hard. We have to stop eating in the truck so late at night. We don't necessarily eat because we're so hungry, we eat to fall asleep. She, the doctor, wants us to lose weight and get our blood pressure way down. Last week, when we pulled into the driveway, we were in full trucker mode. Today, as I write this, I don't know what "mode" I'm in. I could take the next two to three weeks just dealing with the fixing up of our house, taking care of myself, and a whole "slew" of other issues (bills, refinancing, painting, etc.) that will just have to wait until next time. Of course, for every day off translates into another day not getting paid. There's also the problem that if I go inside one more Wal-Mart or Publix (that's a supermarket for those of you not living in the south) I will lose my mind. The prices of everything make what they sell in the truck stops cheap. In fact, I think we spend less money on the road, versus living at home full time. Everything from milk, juice, bread, meat to gasoline is expensive. I drink V8 juice. I don't remember what it cost when I first bought it, but a pack of 6 cans is over $4. And in no way has my per mile income kept up with the increase in the cost of living. So tomorrow is back on the road until the July 4th holiday weekend. The doc says staying out for more than 2-3 weeks is crazy. This last time we were out for over 40 days. That time on a oil rig out in the gulf earns you a plane trip home for a month off. But that "ain't" trucking. Are we ready yet? Don't really know. The Mrs. certainly had to do a lot of laundry and we thank her for that. The photo from "The Empire That Was Russia" at www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/work. By the way, if you have followed our problems with FJ - we had purchased a wi-fi card and antenna about a month ago - the software did something to our computer and it literally died. Working with Dell somewhere in India, we brought the system back up. It took over a week to do that. We sent the wi-fi card and antenna back to FJ corporate and never heard anything. Today UPS delivered a 3-day air envelope with a check from FJ for $98 - a full refund - right on FJ - you folks finally did something right for a change.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Are we ready yet?
I've been home since last Thursday night - 5 full days in all. The doctor says we're working way too hard. We have to stop eating in the truck so late at night. We don't necessarily eat because we're so hungry, we eat to fall asleep. She, the doctor, wants us to lose weight and get our blood pressure way down. Last week, when we pulled into the driveway, we were in full trucker mode. Today, as I write this, I don't know what "mode" I'm in. I could take the next two to three weeks just dealing with the fixing up of our house, taking care of myself, and a whole "slew" of other issues (bills, refinancing, painting, etc.) that will just have to wait until next time. Of course, for every day off translates into another day not getting paid. There's also the problem that if I go inside one more Wal-Mart or Publix (that's a supermarket for those of you not living in the south) I will lose my mind. The prices of everything make what they sell in the truck stops cheap. In fact, I think we spend less money on the road, versus living at home full time. Everything from milk, juice, bread, meat to gasoline is expensive. I drink V8 juice. I don't remember what it cost when I first bought it, but a pack of 6 cans is over $4. And in no way has my per mile income kept up with the increase in the cost of living. So tomorrow is back on the road until the July 4th holiday weekend. The doc says staying out for more than 2-3 weeks is crazy. This last time we were out for over 40 days. That time on a oil rig out in the gulf earns you a plane trip home for a month off. But that "ain't" trucking. Are we ready yet? Don't really know. The Mrs. certainly had to do a lot of laundry and we thank her for that. The photo from "The Empire That Was Russia" at www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/work. By the way, if you have followed our problems with FJ - we had purchased a wi-fi card and antenna about a month ago - the software did something to our computer and it literally died. Working with Dell somewhere in India, we brought the system back up. It took over a week to do that. We sent the wi-fi card and antenna back to FJ corporate and never heard anything. Today UPS delivered a 3-day air envelope with a check from FJ for $98 - a full refund - right on FJ - you folks finally did something right for a change.
