A Memorable Evening in Portalnd

Late Saturday afternoon we rolled into Portland, OR.
I was excited!
I'd been looking forward to getting to Portland since Friday morning!

The reason you ask? I'll tell you! But first let me ask you...

...do you recognize these feet?

Many of you just might recognize them, but if not, its probably because we usually see them clad in green rubber boots while visiting with a couple of donkeys and a certain llama, or perhaps taking a stroll with a pair of mischievous goats. Do you recognize them yet?

My excitement was all about getting to meet the person attached to these feet! And Saturday evening, it finally happened!

If you haven't figured out yet who it is, I'll go ahead and tell you.
Danni, otherwise known as farmgirldk of On the Way to Critter Farm, and her husband came into Portland to have dinner with us at the truck stop!

I have to tell you, I've enjoyed reading Danni's blog for many months now! She has a gift for writing and sharing her life and her animals in pictures. On the Way to Critter Farm is one of my favorite blogs. I never leave her blog without a smile on my face, even on the bluest of days!

But reading some one's blog and meeting them in person are two different experiences all together. The idea of meeting bloggers is fun, but when it comes down to it, you start to worry a little! Kind of like reading a book and thinking its great, but when you go to see the movie it just doesn't work for you and then the book is kind of ruined too?

I didn't have any anxiety about meeting Danni, though. And I was at ease for good reason! Do you ever meet someone and instantly know you're really going to like this person?

It was that kind of experience! Both Danni and her husband were such nice people, and we had so much fun! So much in fact that it was hard to get a good picture of the two of us to document our meeting! Too much laughter and goofing around!

But Malcolm and Danni's husband kept snapping away with the cameras and eventually we managed to get a few that were usable.

It was a great visit. We laughed, and talked, and told stories! It was just a great time. And then of course the girls wanted to meet her too, because they love hearing the stories about the farm dog, Roxie, and the llama and goats and chickens, so we walked out to the truck for a visit.

Danni was thoroughly welcomed and loved on!

And then, sadly, it was time to draw the evening to a close. Goodbyes were said, last hugs and handshakes given, and just as I thought the sparkle of the evening was over, Danni came skipping back over to me with a gift!

I'll be rationing this out to make it last, and every sweet berry burst of flavor will remind me of our fun evening with a treasured blogging friend!

Since we got together on my turf this time, at the truck stop, we're going to try to have our next get together in her territory, the barn! Now that I met the critter's lady, I'd really like to meet the critters too!

Thank you Danni and "Ed" for a marvelous evening of laughs and memories!

On a Roll

Going over our home time escapades, I'm getting behind on keeping you up to date on our travels!

(last Monday in Dove Creek, CO where we loaded safflower seed)



Its been a white world, nearly everywhere we've been, except over in California. It was only in the high 30's north of Sacramento, where we delivered and reloaded last Tuesday, but the grass was an electric green! After seeing so much white for so long, it almost hurt the eyes to see all the color! But is sure was nice! Sadly, for you, I was so busy helping load and absorbing the color myself, that I forgot to get the camera out. Sorry!

Out of California we took a load of beet pulp pellest to a pet food plant in Sparks, NV. Then we took a 500 mile bounce to Oregon! Very low freight in the first of the year means long empty bounces for us to just keep moving, but it all balances in the long run.

It was a long bounce, but it was through some pretty country. North out of Winnemucca, NV on US95 into the Oregon outback. Its a remote, hardly populated stretch of rode, and I think its just lovely!



We picked up half a load of sunflower seed in Alicel, OR near La Grande. Then we took another 200 mile bounce to Moses Lake, WA to get the second half of the load.

Between Pendlton, OR and Umatilla, along I-84 sits this old elevator. It pretty much dominates the landscape and always gets my attention. There's just something appealing about it standing there so proudly, surrounded by the rolling plain of north central Oregon.



When we reached Moses Lake, our escort was waiting for us to scale in,...

...and then he showed us the way to the bins where we would load,...

...waited patiently, throughout the loading process, right by the driver side door,...

...and then once we had loaded up, he led the way back to the scale, waited for us to weigh out, and then escorted us off the property, nipping at our rear mudflaps. He was very friendly, so I'm going to assume those nips were goodbye kisses.

(I think we're reloading there again tomorrow afternoon. I'll have to be sure to share the girls cookies with him. He's a very hard worker and deserves a reward.)

The sunflower seed went to Minnesota, by way of the house! We stopped in around 4:00 Saturday morning. Malcolm's Dad and sister came over and stayed the night with us before heading out Sunday for a trip. We had a nice long visit, lots of laughs, and good food with good company. We'd not seen Malcolm's baby sister since late summer, so it was really good to see her. (and of course we're not complaining about the day and a half at home either!)

Sunday noon, we left and headed east. And we had the pleasure of more good visiting to anticipate as we picked our way across eastern Montana's icy roads. We had had some very wet snow and freezing rain on Saturday and it made things a little slick.

Behind this little tree row is the town of Wibeaux, MT.

You might have heard me refer to it before. Its the little town just off I-94. It's a scant 10 miles from the North Dakota state line, but more importantly, its where we sometimes jump off the interstate to go south to Baker and the ranch. It's about an hour from Baker.

Come to find out, its also in close proximity to a blogger friend of mine. I first "met" Judy, author of Loves Ranch Life and More, through the photography challenge blog, Sunday Stills. And after reading her blog a few times, I recognized some reference points she mentioned, and asked where exactly was she in North Dakota. To my surprise and delight, her families ranch is just a couple hours away from my in-laws ranch! We're practically neighbors! (an exaggeration of course, but not too far off the mark for this part of the country!)

Anyway, Sunday evening, Judy and her husband Doug drove over to Wibeaux (pronounced Wee-boe) and met us for dinner. We had a delightful evening of conversation during which was discussed the various aspects of ranching, life in the country, our mutual obsession with Barnes and Noble and Hobby Lobby, and lots of other topics. Malcolm and Judy's husband have both trucking and ranching in their background, so there were lots of mutual interests all the way around the table.

We're looking forward to another visit sometime soon, and I'm delighted to know someone who lives close by. I'm finally getting to know people out here, a few anyway. Its only taken 4 years!

We delivered in Minnesota this morning. There was a nice layer of fresh powder on the road all the way from Bismark to our delivery. It wasn't slick, but I couldn't help but think of what a nightmare it could turn into once the wind started blowing, and it always starts blowing in North Dakota at some point!

So far, its staying pretty tame. We're headed back west now, pushing to get across this state before the wind tears loose with a fury. All that fresh powder will make an excellent ground blizzard! Hope we don't see much of it!

That's our week in a nut shell. It was a successful week, and a pleasant one. We got our 4000 mile quota, got time at home, and got several hours of socializing! Not bad for a weeks work! 

And I got to meet another blogger. Judy is the fourth blogger to take the time to meet up with us as we passed through! Thanks Judy! We really enjoyed meeting you and Doug!

Seems like we're on a roll this year so far, in more ways than one!

As a side note:

Y'all are going to laugh at me! Remember me asking how to make my pictures bigger. Well all this time I've been annoyed at that stupid little blue bar that pops up under my pictures when I attach them to my posts, lol. Guess I should have looked more closely, and in fact I had read across the line. It didn't register, in all this time, that "large" "extra large" etc....HELLO SARAH....yeah. So I was in the middle of writing this post, and that blue bar was under a picture and I was rolling my eyes at the delay. Then it was like a light bulb came on. So, thanks for the offers to help me figure it out. Just goes to prove what I tell others all the time. If I just ask someone, then I'll figure it out or find what I'm looking for. Never fails. Sometimes I do wonder about my mind.

Bloggers Make my Day!

Two posts today, so when you finish here, be sure to go on to the  post below.

First of all, happy happy happy to announce that Mom is back to blogging and I'm loving it! She is working part time now, and Oh the fun she is having with all her hobbies. I love reading about it all, and wanted to share my joy and a link to her blog!

Second bit of happiness...
I got to meet another blogger friend!
This morning while unloading in Colorado, Mandi from A Ranch Life on Dreams and  Prayer drove over to have a visit. We've only been trying to meet up for a year now (see Judy, there is hope!) and it finally happened, quite by accident. We were chatting on Facebook, and when I told her where we were, she informed me that she was a scant 13 miles away and would be right over. And as if her company wasn't enough, she brought her new pup and three steaming hot cups of Starbucks treats, AND a piece of pumpkin bread and another of banana bread for me and Malcolm to enjoy for breakfast (how did she know what we each liked? She must be psychic or something!) We enjoyed our espresso and visit in the cab of the truck while Malcolm finished unloading. It was a pleasure and we're both hoping for more visits in the future, hopefully when Malcolm won't be busy and her husband Eric is able to get away from the ranch and join us.
Thanks Mandi for a great start to my day and a special start to trucking in 2011!

So....three bloggers down, many more to go. Who's next? Well it doesn't matter the order. I hope to meet you all!

Visiting Friends and Doing A Little Sight Seeing

We have had a wonderful weekend full of visiting friends and doing a little sight seeing.




We loaded meat and bone meal in Wallula, WA on Friday afternoon. While we were there, another truck pulled in to load and turned out to be someone we know. It still amuses me that in a country this big, we frequently run into other drivers we've gotten to know, or met just once. In this case, it was a gentleman from South Carolina who also works with Mark, our broker. We loaded onions with him last summer in southern California. Ironically, he is working his way back to southern California to load onions, as are we. In fact we might be loading together later this week.



After loading, we went to the truck stop in Pasco, and a little while later Jerry, that South Carolina driver, rolled in. We sat in the truck stop diner and talked till 10:30 that evening. It was a really nice visit.


We spent the night there and then visited with Jerry again in the morning over coffee and toast. Malcolm and I didn't want to eat too much because we had a lunch date with another friend.



I got to meet another blogger! Marcee, also known as frugalmom, has become a blogging friend of mine. I don't know who found who's blog first, but we read each others, and I have so enjoyed sharing in her recent adventure of moving from Illinois to their new property in Washington. She's got land now, complete with a garden and fruit trees that I am seriously coveting! Animals are soon to come and I'm looking forward to reading all about it. You can too at her precious blog, Fancyin' The Farm Life.

Marcee, her mom who was visiting from Illinois, and her little man met us at a gas station on a corner near their home and we all enjoyed getting to know each other over a Subway lunch. Marcee is just as sweet and precious in person as she sounds on her blog. She even showed up with a beautiful bright yellow flower pot filled with these...

They are delicious and I'm having a really hard time staying out of them. Like the tissue paper around them was suggesting, they have made me happy happy happy!

After lunch, her little man got a tour of the big truck, and what kid gets in a big truck without getting to blow the air horn...several times. I was standing outside visiting with Marcee and I have to say, that horn is a lot louder from outside the truck than it is inside. I think I jumped three feet every time he blew it! The look of delight on his face was priceless.
After the tour of our truck, Marcee took us and the girls to their new home so the girls could play in the back yard with their dog, Darby. Darby is about the same age as Ella, and she is part Chinese Crested, and once the girls were side by side, you could really see it in her face, especially her erect spotted ears. Darby was beside herself with joy, actually so excited that she overwhelmed my girls a bit, which was good for them. They are usually the ones that are too much for the other dogs, so it was good for them to be on the bottom side of things for once.

Eventually though, everyone adjusted and we all had a great time sitting in the yard, visiting, soaking up some sunshine and fresh air, and watching the dogs run around chasing each other and having the time of their lives.

Eventually we had to get on the road and let Marcee and her crew get on with their Saturday. It was such fun and I hope we'll be able to get together again sometime. We're often in the Pasco area with a long weekend stretched out before us, so maybe we'll be able to make that happen sometime soon. Marcee, thank you for a wonderful visit and your hospitality and your wonderful cookies! And thanks to your family too. You have a beautiful home and an absolutely adorable and delightful family.

After we left Marcee's house, we drove about 100 miles down the road south and then west along the Columbia River. We stopped at Maryhill, WA because Malcolm has been wanting to see StoneHenge. OK, I know its not the real one, but this one has an interesting story. The girls were exhausted so they weren't too distraught at being left behind, but Paris did drag herself out of bed to make sure we weren't going too far.

The views from the Columbia River Gorge are just breathtaking, no matter which way you turn.

StoneHenge was built by a man named Sam Hill as a memorial for the 13 men from that county that were killed in WWI. Mr. Hill also built a mansion nearby, and had planned on starting a Quaker community. His plans were never quite successful, but his home is now the

Maryhill Museum of Art, which is open to the public and StoneHenge is part of the museum and sits near the property. I hope to one day visit the museum as well.

FYI, Marcee, this is only about 1.5 -2 hours away from you. It would be an easy day trip and the kids would probably enjoy exploring it. Just a thought.

The monument sits on a hill overlooking the Columbia River, and Mr. Hill is actually buried there. There is a stone staircase that leads down the hill to the grave sight.

The view from the memorial is amazing. The small town of Maryhill sits below and you can see miles of Oregon countryside across the river. Thanks to all the wind this week, the air was incredibly clean. I've not seen Mount Hood that clearly in a long time. It's on the right side just above the river.I couldn't decide which picture to post, so I put up three of them! I just couldn't get enough of looking out over the river!Once we left StoneHenge, the road drops down off the hills and we crossed the river. You can still see Mount Hood peaking up above the horizon, and a barge making its way to Portland.

We had dinner, and then drove about 80 miles to a rest area where we stopped for the night. This morning we have about 600 miles to do, a nice easy day's work. We just stopped in Madras, OR for some coffee and now I'm sitting here sipping my vanilla latte (and munching a couple chocolate chip cookies), soaking in the beauty of God's creation as we travel down US97. It smells SO good today! I don't know what causes it, but it smells like hay, and pine, earth, and home....where I will be in less than two weeks, God willing (please God?)!

To all my friends out there who are Mom's I hope you all have a wonderful and special day! And Happy Mother's Day to my Mom, Mother-in-law, and Grandmother! You have all three been a huge blessing to me, and I love you all dearly!

Make New Friends

When I was in Girl Scouts (eons ago) we sang a song...

Make New Friends

But Keep the Old

One is Silver

and the Other's Gold

Saturday was an extraordinary day for us. It was one of those delightful days when everything falls into place just right, and you get to have a great day with unexpected pleasures. One of those days when trucking reveals another of its benefits and makes possible something that might not have happened otherwise.

After loading in Winnemucca, NV on Friday night, Malcolm drove north to just shy of the Oregon state line and we spent the night parked at a rest stop, listening to a gentle rain falling on the roof of the truck. Woke up to this beautiful scene in the morning, and a cool but comfortable 45 degrees.

Just down the road, we stopped at a cafe in the little border town b/c we knew there wasn't much out there once we crossed into Oregon. I had been catching up on a few blogs that morning as Malcolm drove and suddenly remembered that gtyyup (aka: Karen) from Life at the Rough String lived somewhere in the general vicinity of where we'd be traveling. So I left a comment on her blog saying we were in the area, and a few minutes later the phone rang and it was Karen, inviting us to come on over! Turns out we were passing within 2 miles of her and her husband's ranch!

I've thought for a while how neat it would be to meet the people who's blogs I read, and those who read my blog. In fact I've been working with one blogger friend in New Mexico, Lisa and Laughing Orca Ranch , but it just never seems to work out. She's always either snowed in or has a riding clinic to go to when we're driving through her area. One of these days though, Lisa, we're going to get it to work out.

Needless to say I was practically bouncing in my seat as we made our way across the Oregon countryside. This part of Oregon is rocky, with lots of sage and buttes, by all appearances completely empty of human life...and I think its lovely! There are actually people here. They are just quite spread out.

Karen and her husband, John, live south of Burns in central Oregon. We parked out on the gravel road and John drove out to pick us up. Their ranch is in such a pretty setting, all nestled up against the rocks of a butte, with a view of the valley stretched out before them. Unfortunatly I was too busy visiting to think to take a picture of it, but trust me...its very picturesque.

Karen is just as precious in person as she sounds on her blog. I so much enjoyed getting to visit with her. She and John gave us a tour of the place, and I got to meet all the famous residents of the Rough String. Colt was in the barn recovering from a little leg injury so I didn't take his picture. Didn't want to bother him with the flash. But he was very eager to greet us and visit. We also made friends with the rest of the gang.

Here's Karen introducing us to Stetson. He was the star of the show, staying around as our shadow through the entire tour of this side of the ranch. He was just a sweetheart! His Mom, Catnip, was a little standoffish, but that was fine. We still enjoyed meeting her from a distance. For those that don't read Karen's blog (and you should), she and John adopted Catnip and several mustangs from the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro program. Stetson was an added bonus as Catnip was pregnant when she was adopted. Here is Bella Jo and Stetson. They were going after each other in a round of "catch the dog/donkey."

Here are me, Rohan (one of her "wild" mustangs), Karen, and Stetson in a group picture to remember the day by.

After a tour, Karen and I went inside to sit by the wood stove and have a long chat about blogging, ranching, trucking, and a bucketful of other topics. It was SO much fun to get to make a new friend, and also get some much needed "girl" time.

Malcolm and John had snatched up the .22's and retreated to the front drive where they proceeded to partake of some "guy" time...spent practicing their aim at a hay field full of sage rats. I had figured John and Malcolm would get along pretty well based on the fact that Karen and John lived in the country and had the ranch. I knew at least they would have something to talk about. I had completely forgotten that John is a former long-haul truck driver. So there was plenty for the two of them to "shoot the bull" about.

It was a delightful and refreshing afternoon for all involved I think! And hopefully we will be able to get together again sometime when we're heading up through that part of Oregon.

Thank you Karen and John for a wonderful day! We had so much fun getting to know you both in person. While I considered you a friend already by way of the blogging world, I now consider you a "new"friend of the real world, and look forward to seeing you again soon.

As for the rest of you, I sincerely would love to meet as many of my blogging friends as possible! So maybe over time, we can make that happen.