Past Exhaustion

6,376

That is the magic number and also has a lot to do with the title of this post.

I am past the point of being exhausted. I feel like a piece of road kill that has been run over again and again. Is there a term for this level of weariness? I'm not aware of it if there is one. Someone please give it a name though. I need a label for it.

From last Monday morning when we delivered in Granger, WA to this morning when we delivered in Mattoon, IL, we drove 6,376 miles. That pretty much sums up the reason for our exhaustion. Its a lot of miles, and especially a lot of miles when you consider that we have become accustomed to driving around 4000 or so a week.

I feel like my blog has started to be a bit of a log of my gripes, wanting to go home, being tired, going to California and Texas yet again. I sincerely hope I haven't started to be a discouragement to read. Because truthfully, as tired as we are, as much as we wish we were home, we are so blessed. And I am trying hard to remember that, though I have to consciously remind myself on a daily basis just about.

(descending out of Nevada and approaching the flats around the Great Salt Lake)

When I left you last, I was describing how we were being asked to do the impossible, which was get to Washington from New Mexico more or less over night. There were delays in loading, and yet we still made good time, despite the two lane roads making up a good portion of the trip. But then Malcolm hit that winter weather in Utah, and that messed it all up. Fortunately the receiver for that load had agreed to come in early Saturday morning and unload us if we couldn't' make it by Friday at 5:00pm. We pulled into Pasco at 7:30pm, ate dinner, and went to sleep.

(southern Idaho on Friday morning. It was a beautiful day.)

After unloading in Pasco the next morning, we high tailed it over to Clarkston, WA and the guys met us at the mill and poured on the peas. And then it was off again, across US 12 through the ID mountains, where its nearly impossible to make good time, so you just sit back and enjoy the view. That's all there is to do, and I do so enjoy that drive.

We stopped near Bozeman Saturday night and slept 4 hours, then slipped into the house early Sunday morning for a shower and to switch steer tires around as they were getting badly out of round. We need to get into our tire shop badly to get the truck re-aligned, but we just can't seem to get to Billings on a weekday. Which reminds me, Malcolm needs to call them and cancel the appointment we had made for tomorrow morning.

(the hills of eastern Oregon along I-84 on Sunday afternoon. This is somewhere east of Baker City.)

Off again by 8:30am, and drove all night through fog. I am more tired of the fog than I am of the snow! It seems like South Dakota and Illinois have been under a perpetual fog bank the entire winter...or at least every time we're going through, which has been often these last few months.

But, alas, that starts to sound like more griping. Sorry!

Despite being run ragged, I did get a couple of shots for you. Took them while I was driving (shhh...don't tell). I was careful, just held up the camera and punched the button, and took what I could get. If I wasn't' behind the wheel, I was laying in the sleeper trying to go to sleep, so I missed a lot of scenery I could have shared, and I'm sorry for that.

Here we go..something I can say good things about instead of griping. Look what we discovered upon arriving in eastern Montana! YOU CAN SEE THE GROUND AGAIN!!! Isn't it beautiful...alll that lovely brown winter grass? I was so happy to see the ground, instead of all the white! My yard still had a lot of snow in front, but the back yard was bare! It was glorious...except for the muddy paws.

That is basically last week...drive, sleep, drive, sleep, etc.

We are now sitting in Danville, IL, (once again), waiting to load corn hominy, which is going to Texas, (once again), where we will deliver to a dairy there and then go to Mount Pleasant (once again) and load feather meal. You'll NEVER guess where that is going! Or if you've been reading this blog for a couple of weeks, you just might figure it out. Yep...Helm, CA....once again.

Boredom with the repetative loads makes my tiredness feel more tired. (and that is serious bad grammer but, oh well....I'm tired) On the bright side...and I'm one of those annoying people who always finds a bright side (I even annoy myself sometimes), that whole Texas - California thing is going to (once again) keep us out of most of the nasty weather covering the country...once again.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. Malcolm's birthday is Thursday and I'm really hoping we can be on a relaxing run that day, and somewhere where I can get him a good meal, as we've been living off truckstop food for the past several days. That would make a nice birthday for him, but I fear we're going to be sitting in Folwer, CA after unloading, and the only thing to eat there is a not so great Mexican place.