Have not posted in a while for two reasons: first, Matt has not trimmed my nails in a while which are getting VERY LONG, causing me to hit the wrong keys. And second, AT&T Wireless set us up with a bum Sierra Wireless USB Connect unit. Please be patient. We will post somewhat regularly again when things are corrected. Until then you may not even notice that we are not posting....
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
The Caves
Today marked another first in my life as a trucker cat. For the first time I entered…The CAVES!!! These are located in Independence, MO as well as Kansas City, MO and other places nearby. In case you don’t have a clue as to what I’m talking about,…ask Matt.
MATT: I told you what to say about that. Tell them about the movie Deep Impact.
BUSTER: Okay, okay. There was this movie….Deep Impact…in which they all went to the caves…to live or something….so they wouldn’t die when the meteor crashed into the Earth…or something.
MATT: Yes, very good. The famous Caves which are always about 78 degrees year round, no matter how hot or cold it is outside. Lots of microfilm is stored here, and many businesses have warehouses located in many of these locations due to the advantages of the naturally consistent temperature. But today—
BUSTER: (interrupting) –Today we went there and some truck before us had crashed into a power thingy that makes electricity for lights and such. It was pitch black for the humans, but I could see just fine. Matt should’ve let me maneuver the passages with the headlights off.
MATT: Oh yes, that would have been great! It’s very tight maneuvering even with the lights on, but with them off I had to take extra care not to scrape the truck and trailer on the cave walls which were next to impossible to see. And to make things more interesting the walls are oddly shaped---they are not straight vertical from ceiling to floor. They still look like they were hastily gutted by some larg
e apparatus you see in coal mining. And when I have to make a turn around a corner my tractor is nearly scraping one wall while the trailer barely misses the other. Here’s a couple pictures with the lights on. The lights were on one minute and out the next.
BUSTER: I can tell the rest of it if you don't mind. The lights were on one minute and out the next. Matt was stumbling around, fumbling for his flashlight, while I simply admired myself for my night optics. We both agreed, however, that there was too much diesel fuming going on in the Caves. We were happy to leave.
MATT: I told you what to say about that. Tell them about the movie Deep Impact.
BUSTER: Okay, okay. There was this movie….Deep Impact…in which they all went to the caves…to live or something….so they wouldn’t die when the meteor crashed into the Earth…or something.
MATT: Yes, very good. The famous Caves which are always about 78 degrees year round, no matter how hot or cold it is outside. Lots of microfilm is stored here, and many businesses have warehouses located in many of these locations due to the advantages of the naturally consistent temperature. But today—
BUSTER: (interrupting) –Today we went there and some truck before us had crashed into a power thingy that makes electricity for lights and such. It was pitch black for the humans, but I could see just fine. Matt should’ve let me maneuver the passages with the headlights off.
MATT: Oh yes, that would have been great! It’s very tight maneuvering even with the lights on, but with them off I had to take extra care not to scrape the truck and trailer on the cave walls which were next to impossible to see. And to make things more interesting the walls are oddly shaped---they are not straight vertical from ceiling to floor. They still look like they were hastily gutted by some larg
e apparatus you see in coal mining. And when I have to make a turn around a corner my tractor is nearly scraping one wall while the trailer barely misses the other. Here’s a couple pictures with the lights on. The lights were on one minute and out the next.BUSTER: I can tell the rest of it if you don't mind. The lights were on one minute and out the next. Matt was stumbling around, fumbling for his flashlight, while I simply admired myself for my night optics. We both agreed, however, that there was too much diesel fuming going on in the Caves. We were happy to leave.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Back On The Road Again
The two-week vacation has ended and we are back on the road. In fact we've been out now for an entire week, running like crazy from here to there for a total of about 3,300 miles. We are out of hours and taking a day of rest while our hours reset for tomorrow.
Matt thinks it's great to have so many miles...as if business is picking up again. But I'm having a hard time adjusting to the truck again after being off for so long. And that air conditioning---UGH! He has it cranked all the time, it seems. I don't care for it, myself. It hurts my ears. Though I guess it's better than roasting with the doors and windows shut.
No flies yet to chase after, but lots of mosquitoes out early this year. Must be all that rain we've seen. And storms. While in Brookville, PA last week at a truck stop, Matt and I noticed some quickly swirling clouds in a circular motion above us in the midst of all those dark storm clouds, so we beat it on out of there pronto! And only 10 miles or so down the road we got a dose of hail. Not gravel sized but golf-ball! Then more in TN on the way to Chattanooga. We had to pull off the road both times, but it was dangerous because everyone else had the same idea. So Matt blew the horn while I reached out and clawed the air at them to frighten them into submission so they'd move...and they did. But I got no treats for my involvement in saving us.
Right now I'm typing this with my strap-on opposable thumbs while laying on the driver's seat (where I belong) while Matt is watching 3:10 To Yuma, which he says is really good, but is a remake of an older version which he hasn't seen. Oh well.
Don't you hate it when they show pretty much the whole movie in the trailer?
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