Wyoming...

...rolling through.
March 5, 2021

I am rolling through Wyoming right now, on a trek to reach Jacksonville FL before Monday morning. It is a hard run, but I think that I can make it. I did get a surprise last night when I fueled in Wamsutter WY. There is a big truck parking lot that I had never noticed before. It was a pleasant surprise.

School and such

I am rocking a 99.95 in my current class and I am going into the final week on Monday. That works out well, because I may be able to get home and do the final instead of trying to wiggle it in. Unless I get pulled into the depot for maintenance this week, then I will have time. This course has been challenging, but I rose to that challenge. Yeah me!

Welcome to the Colorado Posts

Another color, another box. Not a memory or a rant, but those ideas that pop into my noggin about the move to Colorado. For instance, I am not sure if there is natural gas in CO, so I discussed the possiblity with the wife of using propane to fire a gas stove. Not to mention the inclusion of a whirlpool tup and high end stall shower in the master bathroom. But these thoughts will come together with time.


A blind date

I went to my Senior prom on a blind date, set up by my mother. Her name was Christine and she was well over 6 foot tall. We had fun and then drove to Atlantic City to hit the casinos. Yes, we were underage, but no one cared.

Unexpected...

...delay.
March 8, 2021

There are times when things just don’t run right. And this is one of those times. I was inbound to Jacksonville, FL. With a load for Michels. I had to take a small detour into Tunnel Hill, GA because the trailer needed a DOT inspection. According to the rules, if you pull on the yard, you must go through the inspection lane. This is where they check things to make sure that there are no recalls and such. Of course, once I pulled in, they found that not only did the trailer need a DOT inspection, but there were five recalls on my tractor, plus one critical one. They kept the beast and did the five, but the sixth has to go to the dealer. That is going to be handled while on vacation. Since I was down this long, we decided that I would take my 34-hour break and reset my timer. Then the fun started. I got the truck back and now the key must be ON for the refrigerator to operate. This is one of the things that they “fixed”. But that is normal operation. So now I will leave the key on. All in all, it was not a terrible situation, but I am down to the bottom of my food stores and I am really looking forward to getting home. I am headed into Tennessee, then Texas, then I should be home. Just a couple of days now.

School Times

I am in the last week of my current course, then just two more courses to go. I am still rocking higher than 99 percent and just have two discussions and my final paper. I put the two discussions up today, now I just have to do my replies. My paper is 3500-4500 words in 14 sections. I layed it out today and I will work on it this week. Then a week off, while I am on vacation, and then back to school for 12 more weeks. That actually worked out pretty well.

Beware...

...the Ives of March.
March 15, 2021
On the way to the Dunes...

PhotoCredit: Christopher Klein

Catching up

Y’all missed me, I know that you did. It has been one hell of a week, and things have finally come together, and me and the family are in Trinidad Colorado, seeing what the world is going to offer us. On our trip to the Dunes, we stopped by a siding and snapped a few pictures of the looming mountains. You see one of these above. Isn't she pretty?

The Variant Life

Things got a bit hairy here for a while. It had me teetering on the edge of sanity for a bit there, but everything worked out in the end. However, this shows the difference of the Variant family.
The first problem was picking up a load while running tight on time. I picked up a load of pet food, and found that the light on the license plate was not working. Normally, this would not be an issue. I would change out the light and be on down the road. But not this time. The light had burned up and a previous driver had pulled all the wires. I could not drive at night with it missing, so 10 down at the shipper, then on to get it serviced. I get to the Love’s in Palestine AR. And they had a non-mechanic working as a mechanic because the regular guy cut off part of his finger. Oye! The wait was going to be very long. The company jumped in and allowed me to rewire the rear of the trailer. It took under half an hour, and I was on down the road.

Things go wrong

Now is where things get really bad, or at least had the potential to do so. I was rolling into Pendleton because fleet could not send me home 36 hours early when there was freight to move. So I rolled in. I watched ROGER the entire time, and there were excellent timed loads headed right back to Memphis, I figured that I had it made. But that is not what happened. When cleared the load, instead of being sent about an hour from the drop for a new pickup headed into Memphis, I was assigned a load 120 minutes away, at the end of my shift, to live-load and then live unload at 300pm on Friday. That was six hour past when I was due to make home for the stuff I had to get done before the Colordo trip. Plus, it was going to require 10 hour breaks on both ends because these were LIVE and scheduled. It would put me home almost 36 hours late, and remove any ability to meet the travel plans.
I was not happy. Luckily, Operations jumped in. It took a bit of doing, but they had me dead-head from Indianapolis to Memphis to get ready to roll on my vacation for a week. They offered plane and rental car and reassured me the whole time. I made it about two hours late, but things fell into line.

A question of right and wrong

Subscription

Long ago, if you wanted a piece of software, you would buy it, and it would be yours. Once in a while, the author would make improvements, and you could choose to purchase those updates, or not. Now, many software companies are based on subscriptions. You purchase the software, and then pay a monthly or annual fee for the right to use that purchase. Do they continue to work to update the product? Some yes, some no. But you can't use it without paying that fee. So consider a student that must use Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint for four years of college. In the old days, that student would grumble about paying $199.00 for MS Office, which they would use for four years. Now, if they pay $14.95 a month for 48 months, they pay $717.60 for the same product. Just somethign to ponder.


Colorado: First Views

We have arrived in Trinidad, and we were welcomed with bitter cold winds and a bit of blowing snow. Still wonderful though. And we have spent our first day wandering around. We drove the inner city of Trinidad and will be heading back there tomorrow for a nice walking tour, and we headed up to Pueblo and wandered around a bit. They have one hell of a mall out there. And the Joann's is massive. Once we finished there, we headed out to the great Dunes. They are amazing. It is $25 to get into the park, but it is well worth it. Once we move, an annual pass will be a necessity.
We headed back to the hotel and got dinner from Tequila's Family Mexican. It was excellent and the portions were huge. All in all, a very nice Colordo day. But we did expand our thinking on where to buy property. We still have to discuss that.

A day of rest...

...and reflection.
March 17, 2021
Downtown Trinidad

PhotoCredit: Christopher Klein

The Final Days

Normally, since this is Colorado stuff, this area would be in green. But that would be very overpowering, so regular blog entry it is. We are still in Colordo, of course. We journeyed out to Trinidad Lake, right around the corner, and then took a backroad up into the mountains. It was a wonderful drive and a lot of fun. But it did change our ideas of where we may or may not like to live. Originally, I was set on the side of a mountain, but the rolling hills are just as good. Just no flat-out plains. I think that is where we are.

Once we finished at the lake, it was time for some walking stuff. We hit downtown. It is amazing. The people are friendly, the shops that are open are quaint. And there seems to be quite a diverse, but welcoming air about the entire town. I took some good pictures, and so did Laura. Willow wandered in and out of shops and did not get bored. Two notable stops in our travels. Wispering Winds curiosities is an amazing store with a little bit of everything from the complete works of O Henry, original printing in excellent condition, to cowboy boots, gently used. If you are in Trinidad and like curiosities, it is a place to stop.
The second place is a coffee shop. It is a little tiny place inside of a bank. It is called Perkatory. The coffee was excellent, if not a bit pricey (no more expensive than starbucks) and the Barista was perky like she had been oversampling her own product. If you like coffee or bubble tea, it is worth the stop.

the Future

The end of the day came with a blizzard like snow storm pounding down on the city. By bed time, there was more than 5 inches on the ground. It is going to make for a very interesting morning. We have one more full day before we head back to Memphis, pick up the pieces and see where this is going to lead us. But I am pretty sure that we agree that we have found a forever home. Now we just have to get here. One step at a time.