OK, I will not try to type up a blog post on my tablet ever again.  Two times now I have composed big long posts and since the tablet does not save drafts I have lost them when I lost internet coverage or gone from 4g to 3g.  So let me start over.

We had a great time at home. Got in late on Saturday night and had plans to leave late Wednesday.  We spent some great time with our two kids who still live in Colorado.   Since CJ will be playing football for the next 4 plus years, we will continue to have Fort Collins as our home base.  I am itching to have “home” look a lot more like a warm, sunny beach.  We went bowling with CJ and his awesome girlfriend Lizzy.  Maybe the only sport I have ever seen CJ suck at.  He bowled a 76 on his second game.  So he decided to bowl left handed the last game…..and bowled a 148!!!  His best score ever.   Pretty funny.  I also got a chance to check out CJ’s dorm room and see his football locker.  Pretty cool.

It was also  so nice to spend time with Shelby and her boyfriend Scott.  Love that girl and very therapeutic for Anne to hang out with her little girl.

So we were having lunch with Shelby and CJ at Jim’s Wings (our favorite) on Wednesday when my phone rang and it was our Fleet Manager.  Could we help her out and head to Albuquerque to repower a load for a reefer team that had broken down.  I told Phyllis yes but it would take a few hours for us to get back to the truck and put it back together.  We had totally emptied it out since we had decided we had about twice as much stuff, mostly clothes, than we needed or used.  Got loaded up, said goodbye to the kids and headed South.  The trailer was at the Freightliner dealer.  The load was 42,500 pounds which is absolute max for a reefer load.  We were about to learn a very valuable lesson.  California has a weird law they say is for bridges but they are the only State that has this requirement.  The Kingpin cannot be more than 40 feet from the center of the rear axle.  Without  getting technical that means you are very limited in how much adjustment you can make on the axle weights.  27 miles and two hours before from our delivery time Anne gets pulled into the last weigh station in Cajon pass between Barstow CA and Riverside CA as the last truck for the night before they close.  They call her inside and tell her to bring all our paperwork.  He says that the tandem is not at 40 feet and makes her adjust it, that puts us 1550 pounds overweight on the rear axle.  He writes her a warning but says we cannot move the truck until we have the cargo adjusted inside to box to make us legal.  He then says goodnight and leaves for the evening.  We call USX and ask them to send someone out to move cargo, they say they need permission from the shipper to cut the seal and open the doors and will get back to us.  It is now 9 PM and we know the shipper is closed.  We decide it is bedtime and hit the sack.  I wake up at 3:00 AM and it is dead quiet.  Being only 27 miles to our Colton terminal I decide “screw it” and start the truck and drive to the terminal.  I then call our Fleet Manager and ask them to get us a new delivery appointment.  We get an appointment for noon, make the delivery and then get our next load in Compton at 5:00 PM and head out for North Carolina.

So, we learned to refuse a load we cannot adjust and think will be illegal.  We also learned how important the 40 foot setting for California is and to set the tandems at 40 feet before we scale a load headed to California.

We are now in Tennessee almost to North Carolina where we will drop and then pick up a load and head back to San Bernardino CA.  Weather has been great and just missing the bad stuff.  A bit bummed last night as I wanted to stop at the Big Texan Restaurant in Amarillo (the place with the free 72 oz steak if you can eat it) hear the steaks are great.  Maybe on the way back.

I have a couple of fun videos I am going to post once youtube approves them.