Rollin' Through the Weekend

Malcolm's sitting over here in the driver's seat talking to Brandon on the phone, and he just stated that he "couldn't think of one other thing he'd rather be doing."

I can! But over-all this isn't that bad, and it does have a lot of perks along with its struggles. For one, how many jobs do you know of that you get payed to sit on your rear and read, practically all day, and your boss say "oh you keep on reading. I'll just do your work for you for a while longer."

I'm feeling pretty good this morning. I woke up not wanting to get out of bed, and really didn't have to. We only had 45 miles left and Malcolm was driving it, but I was worried he wouldn't be able to read my writing on the directions. Sometimes when I call for directions, the people give them quickly and my writing ends up looking like chicken scratching. So I drug myself out of bed at 5:00 right along with him this morning. But it payed off. I got my Starbucks White Mocha!

Malcolm is an addict. He will go to great lengths to get to a Starbucks, and at 5:00 in the morning, we sometimes even pull into their parking lots, like this morning. You should see some of the looks we get. I guess its not everyday you see a 64 foot vehicle in the Starbucks parking lot. Since I discovered the white mocha last month, I've become an addict with him. So I'm not so squeamish about squeezing into incredibly ridiculous parking spots, because as Malcolm says of himself, "precious needs it!" (in a devilish little voice)

So, white mocha in hand, I have started my day with a smile on my face. Until a moment ago, when I looked up and realized that I as typed and Malcolm talked on the phone we'd missed our exit. Normally this wouldn't be any big deal, but out here when you miss an exit, the next one is often miles away. In this case, we just added about 13 miles to our trip. As Macolm just informed me, our little detour cost us $5.40 in fuel. There goes my White Mocha for tomorrow...and half of his too.

We're hauling potatoes. We came out of eastern Colorado and are delivering about 50 miles north of Idaho Falls. One would think we'd be taking potatoes from Idaho, but no, we're bringing them to Idaho. Last year we brought them seed potatoes from Colorado. Apparently they forgot to reserve a few from their own fields for the next years crop. This was a load of russet potatoes for processing.

We'd driven these parts of Colorado often when we were haulin' cows. There are a number of feed lots out in eastern Colorado, as well as the main kill plant in Fort Morgan, which we have made dozens of trips to. I didn't take photos while in eastern Colorado, but once we left Fort Collins and headed north on US 287, I got the camera out and snapped a few. This has always been a favorite drive of mine. Its a pretty part of Colorado.

These are the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. You leave the interstate to Fort Collins, CO and come out at Laramie, WY.

This was another one of those trips with too few miles for the time. We loaded Friday afternoon, and couldn't deliver till this morning. So, we were lazy truck driver's again. No point in rushing up there, so we only drove 450 miles and stopped at Little America, WY. There were dark, violent storms on the horizon with lightening breaking jagged lines from sky to ground. Malcolm, instead of backing into a parking spot, pulled in nose first into a spot at the back of the truck stop so that we could watch the storms. It never rained on us, just a few splatters on the wind shield, but the wind picked up significantly, the lightening was glorious, and the storm stretched across the sky from just south of us to as far north as we could see...which in Wyoming is a long way!


It was 73 degrees when we parked and within a half hour is was only 52 with a strong wind.

Yesterday, Sunday, we drove the remaining 260 miles to Idaho Falls. It was nice scenery, but I was lazy and didn't get out the camera. I'll capture it for you on another trip. We stopped at the Walmart in Idaho Falls and relaxed the day away. I finished a book, Malcolm took a nap, and the girls got their hair cuts and manicures (they were thrilled I assure you). For dinner, we walked across the parking lot to Olive Garden, my birthday dinner a few days early, in case we are in the boondocks on the actual day. I love their Capalini Pomadora (angel hair with roma tomatoes, basil, garlic, and olive oil), and then for dessert we split a piece of Tiramisu.

We're unloaded now, and just heading back north to Great Falls, MT again for another load of malt.

On a totally un-related topic ( you know me and horses), you have to go to Creekside Curlies blog and see the new baby. She's adorable!