Happy Graduation Tyler

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Anne Leonard

One of the things I love the most about driving a truck. You don’t miss any family events. My son Tyler Johnston graduated from California State University of Northridge on Tuesday. It was an incredible experience I must say. I didn’t think I was going to get emotional since I was so happy. WRONG. As soon as the music started the tears started. Both Shelby and I were in tears. Happy tears I must say. We then went to lunch with my mother and her friend at a Korean restaurant. Yuck, not a very good one. Then we headed to our friends Lupe and Steve Mitchell to get ready for the party. Craig was busy making his ribs and what else was there for me to do but start celebrating. It was a great party. Tyler has 2 boys he has been friends with since kindergarten and one since 7th grade (Richie, Harrison and Ryan). They all were there to celebrate with us. I can blame Harrison for the pickleback shots. It was an awesome party, at least the parts I remember. Being we don’t drink a lot on the road who was I to think I could do shots. I can’t LOL. I was asleep by 10 o’clock.
We are currently in Chattanooga for Memorial Day. We can’t deliver our load till Tuesday in Atlanta so here we are. Such a hardship LOL. There are some changes in the wind for us. I will write more later in the week when we have more information but totally excited for a new chapter in our trucking life.
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The worst day of my life. Saying goodbye to Max.

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Anne Leonard

Some of you may know about Max and me. Max was the love of my life. He had been in my life for the past 8 years and anywhere I went. Max was sure to be nearby. My condition with Craig in driving a truck was as long as we could bring the dogs. I should also mention Lil Bit in this. But Max and I had a special relationship. Absolute unconditional love. He loved me and I loved him. I lost him last night and I feel like my heart has been broken.
He became sick on Tuesday. Throwing up. Nothing that big of a deal. He was in good spirits and we knew he had got in the trash so assumed it was just a upset stomach. In the middle of the night I was up with him. He was still vomiting and I knew something wasn’t right. We took him to the vet first thing and they ran tests. The thought it was pancreatitis at first. Except he really didn’t get much people food. Anyway they did an xray and he had a small rock like substance but the size was small and they weren’t sure why it didn’t pass. We ended up having fluids put under his skin and some medication to calm his stomach down. Figured we would head south and if need be stop on the way if we needed a vet.
Max and I curled up in bed as usual. He was a little antsy but was still always touching me. I woke up a few hours later to check on him. He was curled up under my blankets as usual. I picked him up and was cuddling him. As I was holding him he passed away. Needless to say I was in total shock. I opened the curtain and very matter of factly told Craig. Max has died. He couldn’t believe it and pulled over on the side of the freeway. A lot of tears flowed and Craig found a vet that would open up for us to drop Max off to be cremated and his ashes sent home. I think at first I was in total shock and then I lost it. I didn’t know a person could cry so much. It has been an incredibly emotional day with so many tears for a wonderful friend who will be missed everyday!!
Now our adventure continues with one less family member. My heart is broken but life goes on. I want to thank everyone for all the heartfelt messages.
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Bad Weather Driving

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Craig

A dashcam video from our little drive in the mountains today.  A little intense.  I did not edit this video.  action starts at about 1:10 and ends about 2:40

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Snow snow go away…come again another day.

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Anne Leonard

Here we sit in Gypsum Colorado in the emergency truck parking. I70 was closed for awhile and two sets of chain laws in effect. Now there is only one left but we don’t chain. So here we sit waiting for the storm to pass. We are going home and wouldn’t you know it. We head into the biggest storm to hit Denver this year. We are on the other side of Vail only 142 miles from our delivery. We figured we would have to sit in Denver since our delivery is at 4 am. Hoping that we can just sit here and still make it on time. Fort Collins has received something like 23 inches of snow. WOW!!! They even postponed a baseball game today.

I am sitting in the front seat, drinking my tea and contemplating taking the puppies out. I don’t know who is less enthusiastic about that. I think it might be them. But the wait is giving me time to play on the load boards.

Load boards are online and are the loads available to pick. If it fits your requirements. Type of trailer, weight, and most importantly money.  This is new to us since at our old company it was forced dispatch for the most part. Meaning they told you where you were going and you said ok. Much nicer choosing where you go but we are still in the learning process and it’s going to take a couple weeks to figure this all out. We have had some good loads and not so good. The not so good was because we were in Boise and it was hard to find a good load out. But we worked it out and now we sit in the snow LOL

Craig got pulled over today by a Utah State Trooper doing a random level 3 inspection which of course he passed. But what was cool was the Trooper talking to us about our life on the truck and how much fun we have out here. If my delivery wasn’t at 4am I would probably be super p*ssed about being stuck out here instead of home but hey you take the good with the bad. I know that tomorrow night I will be sleeping in my own bed and I get to give Shelby a big hug. Aleena is flying in Friday and CJ is already home needless to say. Another of the perks of this job. We get to choose a load heading home so we can spend time with the kids and go to CSU football on Saturday. Life is pretty darn sweet. Now please just lift the chain law and we will be super happy.

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Our Peterbilt 387

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Craig

After months of promising, here you go.  We finally got around to taking a video of the inside of our truck.  We love this truck.  We decided not to “clean for company” so you can see what it looks like when are actually live in here.  Sorry for the poor quality, I did the whole video once and much better but it turns out I forgot to push the record button.  I think a little of Anne’s blondness is rubbing off on me.

Any questions feel free to throw them at me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsnQmKdqhRE

 

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Oh my gosh where do I start…..

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Anne Leonard

So, yes I realize you shouldn’t start a sentence with So but I don’t care. It’s my blog.  We quit Lets Go a week ago. We ended up bobtailing from Wayne MI to Chattanooga TN. after a very frustrating few weeks, okay really months but I am not going to be negative. Over all our experience with USX was really great. We made great friends. We learned a lot and we got to travel 48 states. Pretty cool if you ask me.

This past weekend we had orientation with our new company Farm2Fleet and let me tell you. It is a world of difference. We feel like part of a family. Orientation was a total breeze and feel like I’ve made some great friends that I expect to be friends with for a very long time. Met some of the other drivers and bookies (that was for you Ronda). A little nervous about the load boards but expect to be learning all the ins and out pretty darn quick. One of the cool things about this company is they have expedite loads and if you don’t like the ones they have or need to go somewhere else. You get on the boards and find your own. That is in Anne language.

Craig took a video of our truck that he will be posting later. We have been in Atlanta since yesterday. We came down to pick up our trailer. Another cool thing is we have the same trailer all the time. No more worries about flat tires, lights out or missing mud flaps. Then we had to wait for some final paperwork and all that fun stuff and today we are waiting for a load so we can hit the road. One of the perks of being in Atlanta is my bff from college lives here and is only 10 miles up the road. She picked us up last night for dinner and I had lunch with her today. Sweet!!

And now our new adventure begins. We expect some bumps in the road but are super excited working for this company and totally expect it to be a raging success!!! We will keep you posted!!

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Colorado State QB

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Craig

Colorado State QB

I know this is a blog about our experience driving but I cannot help posting this.  One of the reasons I wanted to be an O/O so badly is so we can see him play on the road.  I am so proud of the character and work ethic of my son.

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Gone but never forgotten.

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Anne Leonard

USX was a great experience for Craig and I.  I don’t think we could have chosen a better company to have started out with.  In November we decided to make a switch to another company, though still under USX.  We had high hopes that this company would be as successful for us as USX.  Unfortunately there were issues pretty much from the start with them.  Freight was done, they lost a key account and to be honest they seemed a little disorganized.  We tried to stay with it but it got to the point we were running more empty miles than loaded and doing multiple resets every week.

Craig has done a lot of research on companies for the past two years.  Trying to figure out where we wanted to land when we had our own truck and came up with one he thought was a cool fit.  What we were looking for was great people and the ability to book some of our own loads.  As Craig says, we don’t need to make more money, we need to make what we are making now and drive 20 days a month instead of 27.  That will allow us to spend more time with family and friends.  Connie and Steve are making the switch too.  We are going through orientation this weekend in Chattanooga and will share more information later.

I don’t want people to be worried that something bad happened.  It was mostly just that our current company was not able to keep us moving like we wanted.  Our experience ended up a little on a sour note but that has nothing to do with USX.  It’s just time to make a change.  We are super excited about this new adventure and will keep you all posted on it.  Monday is the beginning of the next chapter.

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Last Remnants of USX

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Craig

A sad day as our USX experience comes to an end. Really looking forward to the next chapter. Will have all the news next week.

 

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Five Star Cuisine

Posted on March 23, 2013 by Craig

So we were just North of Wichita Kansas needed to find a place to wait while our fleet manager looked for a load for us.  I checked our GPS and there was am independent truck stop a couple of miles away.  I called and asked “do you have a restaurant?”  The answer “oh yes, we have a restaurant.”  A dusty dirt lot and a small place.  We were very skeptical but thought we should look inside.  This is what we found.

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One small table, a microwave and a cooler full of burritos.  I guess he thought we would not notice.  Pretty funny on a morning we really needed a laugh.

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