So, I started this post a few days ago and after the crap we have endured over the last 24 hours, I thought it would be nice to remember how awesome our lives are.  Cut to last Monday morning………………

After almost three years on the road, I am sitting in my living room this morning, cup of coffee (Tully’s French Roast, of course)in my hand, listening to Ingram Hill on Pandora and loving life.  When we hit the road on January 1st, 2011 we had just set Shelby up in an apartment that we were “sharing” with her so she could afford to live on her own and so we had a home base.  We did not get home to Colorado very often as no freight originates there so hard to get out.  When we went home for Labor Day we realized it was our first night home since March.  It never felt like our place at all.   Very glad we had decided to mover to Chattanooga.  I already posted about our first home hunt so I will continue.

So we decided to take the 3 bedroom apartment on the North Shore,  It is about 2 miles to town and that is the only thing not perfect about it.  I really wanted a place right in the heart of the city but this home fits us well.  Planning on buying two scooters and once we have those I think it will be very fun here.

We ended up running to Dallas, then to Little Rock and on to Denver.  I was just booking loads that paid well.  All that was left is we needed to get back to Chattanooga by the weekend to move in.  My son Jason had lined us up with five of his friends to help with the move and I had set the time for Saturday at 2:00 PM.  We got tot Denver early on Thursday morning with a Friday appointment.  The broker had said we could probably deliver early “just show up” she said.  We showed up at 8 AM and they told us to come back tomorrow.  So we sat at the TA in Commerce city for about 20 hours in the huge storm Colorado was getting.  I found a load for Friday morning and booked it only to get a call back from the broker a few minutes later that the shipper was flooded out.  So I found another load going to Georgia that delivered on Monday.  We got unloaded early Friday and headed up to Greeley to get our next load.  Roads and bridges closed everywhere.  We got loaded and had to head Northeast toward Nebraska to get out of Colorado.  We got out of the storm and headed “home”.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the Volvo dealer picked up the entire repair bill from the week before.  A huge relief.  Worldwide Equipment in Chattanooga are honorable people and we will happily buy our next truck there.  The repair, however, is problematic.  It seems we have a large exhaust leak since the repair.  The regen system is definitely working as when it goes into regen we can hardly breath.  Also, on Saturday morning as we were about 50 miles out of Chattanooga stopped at a rest area, one of the A/C lines broke.  So no A/C until we replace the line and get the system recharged.  We dropped the trailer, jumped in the F150 and headed over o sign the lease on the apartment. We now had a place to move our stuff into 🙂

The crew Jason lined up was just freaking awesome.  We got everything loaded into the apartment that we wanted to but there was a small problem.  We did not have storage for the crap we still need to go through and it was Saturday evening,  No way to fix this until Monday.  So with about 20% of the trailer still full we called it a day.  We got the apartment a bit together on Sunday morning then headed out to watch Anne’s Redskins get slaughtered.  I took a nap to rest up the the reality of prime time sports on the East Coast.  Sunday night football does not start here until 8:30 PM.  The Seahawk game was AWESOME.  My Hawks beat the Forty Whiners in a blowout.  The game did not get over until 1:00 Am.  I had Anne drop me off at the truck so I could make our two deliveries on Monday and she headed home.

Monday sucked for me.  I drove about 750 miles to make the two drops in 95 degree temps and high humidity with no A/C.  Beat the crap out of me.  Anne and Shelby worked on the apartment and when I got home it was pretty awesome.  Shelby turns 21 today so we went out last night at midnight to the Hair of the Dog pub downtown to celebrate.  I made sure we got there 15 minutes early so Shelby could watch Anne and I have a drink while she drank water.  lol.

We had a great day with Shelby for her birthday.  Started with Mimosa’s for breakfast, Champy’s for the worlds best fried chicken and 40oz beers (Jason, Anna and the grandkids joined us) and the owner of Champy’s bought Shelby a Forty to take home, then dinner at Community Pie where Bill, Lauren and Ryan from Farm2Fleet joined us for dinner and a few drinks and then off to The Honest Pint.  The night ended well with Jason coming late and Josia, who had helped us move, joined us also.  Shelby’s day was just about perfect.

Before we get to the birthday girls pictures, I need to tell a little story on Anne…

This morning, as we were cursing and praying and willing our truck to continue to limp into Salt Lake City.  I was driving and Anne was up front in the passenger seat.  Just before Park City Utah, as we rounded a corner, there was a dead animal on the side of the road.  It was on it’s side and all we could see was its back and the top of its head.  Anne exclaimed “That is one big ass rabbit”!!!!  In all fairness, the dead deer did have unusually large ears.  I laughed my ass off which, at that moment, I truly needed.  I said “Honey, I have never heard of a 175 pound rabbit.”  It was just way too cute…….blondes …smh

Ten Minutes until 21 and hanging with her evil parents (note the ice water for Shelby)

OK, they look damn good

A forty bites the dust

With Lauren, we love these people

Shelby and Ryan

Craig Shelby and Jason

The most comfortable parking meter in the world. I am calling this birthday a success.