Pleasant Days

This has been a good week with a good start and a good end, so far. We've been in some of my favorite states. I love travling in the mid-west and always feel happier when we're doing that. And we've also had some pleasant experiences and surprises. I'll tell you all about it.

Last weekend was one of the best we've had on the road in a long time. We had another load of barley to haul from western Montana to eastern Minnesota. We loaded on Friday morning and could have gone home for the day on Saturday, but instead we decided to take an easy weekend and just putter our way across.

It was a great decision. Malcolm has been so tired and stressed out, and I knew if we went home, he'd spend the whole day working on the truck or other things, where as if we just took our time getting to Minnesota, he'd get to sleep in several mornings and get some rest.

In addition to his rest, we had some fun experiences. It started Thursday evening when we had dinner with his sister and her husband in Great Falls. Then Friday morning, after delivering in Fort Benton, Malcolm drove us down onto the main street along the river and we found this neat little coffee shop where we sat out on the deck and enjoyed lattes and waffles with blueberries. We also walked a short bit of the river walk they have there and read the historic markers the town has put up.

Finally we decided we'd been dragging around long enough. Time to get loaded. So we drove the whopping 14 miles to Carter and loaded up our barley. We puttered our way across 200 miles of scenic Montana two lanes, and stopped at a rest area for the night, waking up late in the evening to a magnificent lightning storm and down pour, which made the air smell so good and cooled things off quite a bit too.

Saturday we drove all of 350 miles to Bismarck, where we spent the evening telling stories and laughing the night away with Malcolm's other sister and her husband. They took us to a neat ice cream place for dessert and we stayed till almost closing. Then they took us back to our truck and we drove 30 miles to a quite rest area and turned in for the evening.

That had left 600 miles or so for Sunday. I expected it to have less of a weekend feel to it having so far to go. After a leisurely breakfast, we buckled down to business and headed east. I was glad we were getting past Minneapolis on a Sunday. I've never been through there when traffic wasn't thick and sluggish. But it flows kind of smooth on a weekend, and we got through with only one hang up.

still west of Minneapolis. Minnesota's rolling hills are pretty.

Our destination of Winona wasn't too far south of the big city. The previous weekend when we'd hauled this load, we'd gone across South Dakota on I-90. This time we came across North Dakota on I-94, thus having to deal with the big city, but also adding a new point of interest to our trip, though at the time, I didn't know we were going to see it.

We were south of Minneapolis, driving along the Mississippi River when I glanced up from my book just in time to see a billboard and all I caught, before it disappeared behind us, was the word Pepin.

Little alarms were going off in my brain. Pepin! Really???? So I snapped the book shut and zipped into planning on the GPS and typed in Pepin, WI.

Sure enough! We were almost into the city limits of Lake City, MN and Pepin, WI was just the other side of the river. I was thrilled!

Now, does anyone have any idea why I was so excited to be there?

hint: it has to do with a rather famous "little house."

Pepin, WI is the home town of my very very dear and beloved friend, Laura Ingalls Wilder! She was born in the "big woods" near the town of Pepin!

Lake Pepin was the lake that Pa drove across the frozen ice in the wagon to go to town, the lake where Laura picked up so many pretty pebbles that the pocket ripped off her dress and Ma had to scold her for being a greedy little girl. And Pepin is the town where the store was and the nice store owner who gave Laura and Mary each a stick of candy and Mary licked hers slowly to make it last, but Laura just ate hers because it was so good. At least I think that's the way she told me it happened.

Anyway, I think I've completed nearly all the main home sights......at 65 miles an hour. We've driven within 6 miles of De Smet, SD, passed the exit for Mansfield, MO, and now I've seen Pepin, WI....from across the lake. Maybe one day I'll get to actually go to these places!

At Lake City, the town on the Minnesota side of the lake, we were hungry, and I think Malcolm had noticed that I'd gone from bored to alert and glued to the window, so he found a parking place along the street, across from the marina...



apparently they like to sail on Lake Pepin



...where we were the only truckers in a crowd of summer tourists, our vehicle standing out like a sore thumb. But who cares!

We walked across the road to a little pizza joint that was run by a husband and wife. They were doing a booming business in delivery, but we had the dining room to ourselve,

and so we relaxed and enjoyed a really yummy cheese pizza and visited with the husband between his delivery trips. He was a very friendly fellow.

Look how patient he's being with me and my camera! He was really trying to indulge me. He even offered to take the pizza across the road to a picnic table, even though it was 95 degrees outside and we'd found the humid side of the country. That was really generous of him, but I was happy in the AC and quiet, so we stayed there.

After dinner, we packed up our left overs for a later snack (large cheese pizzas are perfect for meals and later snacks or second meals!) and headed on south. A few miles later, we were passing the south end of the "lake," which is just a widened section of the Mississippi River (Laura never mentioned that to me). And across the lake, through the summer haze, was the town of Pepin, WI. I waved as we went past.

By the way, did you know that aside being famous because Pa Ingalls drove across it with his wagon in Laura's book, it has two other claims to fame? Apparently, Lake City, on the shores of Lake Pepin, is where water skiing was invented. And also, Lake Pepin has it's own lake monster. Seriously! His name is Pepie. Laura never told me these things either. I think maybe she's been holding out on me, but I'll forgive her because I love her that much.

It was only maybe another 45 miles or so to Winona, where we delivered our barley right along the river, that evening. As we were leaving to head back north and to our morning pickup, we got to enjoy seeing a barge up close. As I said in last weeks post, this place was so close to the river that if we rolled too far, we'd fall in and drift over to Wisconsin.

We stopped once we got to the other side of Minneapolis. We were tired, but had wanted to get back to the west side of the city so we could skip Monday morning traffic. Our reload was on the eastern side of Minnesota in Benson. We loaded wheat there in the morning and headed out towards Colorado.

I can't for the life of me remember where I took the above picture. Somewhere between Minnesota and Colorado, and since it pretty much sums up the scenery for most of the trip, I posted it. South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and eastern Colorado = fairly flat and grainy (like corn, wheat, etc).

Sheridan Lake, CO is right on the Kansas/Colorado border, more or less. That's where the wheat went. And then we hopped 30 miles east to Marienthal, KS to load more wheat, organic this time, and took it to a mill north of Denver. That was an easy 250 mile trip and we were loaded and empty the same day. We got there 30 minutes before they closed.

Emptied out, we headed north towards Mitchell, NE, as scattered storms moved into northern Colorado.

The storms were just the ticket to get things cooled off, and we were able to sleep with the truck turned off and the windows open. We've been managing to do that a lot lately, which is nice because it's quiet and saves fuel.

We loaded great northern white beans in Nebraska and headed off for our drive to eastern North Dakota. The skies have been really pretty the last couple of days.

Scottsbluff National Monument in Scottsbluff, NE

pretty blue skies over the South Dakota prairie. That black area is what's left after a grass fire. There was a black scar for miles to the horizon where the smoke was still billowing up into the sky. Guess it was still burning it's way across the grasslands.

this morning in southeast North Dakota.

All those little puffy clouds have spent the day gathering together and now I'm sitting in a parking lot in Wahpeton, ND admiring tall billowing clouds with dark gray bottoms. It's also dropped in temperature to 75. A few more degrees and we'll shut the truck off for the day.

We delivered this morning west of here, and tomorrow morning we'll load sunflower chips across the state line in Minnesota. They wouldn't load us till morning though, so for now Malcolm sleeps and I'm catching up on a few things and trying to entertain myself.

Lucky you. It means I didn't have an excuse to put off blogging, which I've kind of done this week. I've been enjoying being in some of my favorite states and also had my nose buried in another good book. So you got neglected. Hope you don't mind.

We'll probably stop at the house on Saturday and then drive to Spokane, WA on Sunday where we'll deliver. So from last Monday to this coming one, our week will have looked like this.

I'm still trying to perfect my technique when taking pictures of the computer screen, got to get around that reflection somehow, but for now...the green lines are roughly the routes we took and the flags our destinations.

Sprinkles on the windshield! I would really enjoy a good storm right now! But a rain shower will work too.

A Few Favorites



sunset in Malta, MT on June 29



We've covered too much ground to catch you up on where we've been and what we've been doing for the past few weeks, at least in any great detail. So I thought I'd just share some of my favorite pictures from that time period and then we'll all be up to speed.

descending out of the Bull Mountains south of Roundup, MT. Billings is down there on the horizon somewhere.

We've driven through a number of the states out here, our first two trips going through Montana. From there we headed to California and then Utah. We've also been to Arkansas and Missouri,  passing through Nebraska on July 4th. They were combining grain there, about two weeks earlier than usual according to a friend who lives there, because it's so dry.

Storm clouds were gathering over Sidney, NE as we entered the western side of the state on I-80.

Those clouds didn't really produce anything, but later in the evening, over east of North Platte I drove through a really nasty storm with strobe light effect lightning and literally horizontal rain. It was really intense there for a few moments.

After delivering in Arkansas and reloading in Missouri, we headed to Washington. Wyoming was the picturesque state on that tour. It was a good day to be in Wyoming with a camera!

the hills between Cheyenne and Laramie

Elk Mountain hiding it's tip in the clouds

a storm moving in near Rock Springs

in northwestern Wyoming near the ID state line on US30

From Washington we went to Oregon and loaded corn which went to California. I always enjoy the drive down US97 through Oregon, passing along the eastern edge of the Cascade Mountains.

north of Madras, OR

 And then back up to Utah, crossing the Salt Flats at sunrise. After two weeks of cloudy air, the haze was starting to clear, which was a big help for pictures.

After delivering in Utah, we loaded wheat in Idaho and went to Montana where we loaded barley. And that brings you up to date. The barley load scenery was shared in my last post, Crossing the Midwest.

Today we're in Nevada about to load gypsum. Then we'll head to Idaho. Don't know where we're headed after that, but glad we're moving along at a nice pace, and hope the loads keep rolling in like this.

Traveling Through Corn Husker Country

Lucy and I said our goodbyes the other night. She had rubbed most of the skunk smell off, so I took her for one last four wheeler ride to the top of our favorite hill to watch the sunset with me.

Monday morning it was back to work! We drove west to Billings and loaded sulfur, which was delivered Tuesday morning in Nebraska.

Western Nebraska was after dark, and mostly after midnight. But central Nebraska was after unloading on Tuesday. We reloaded 30 miles north in Lexington and headed east towards Arkansas.

Driving I-80 is always interesting, and always crowded. I-80 is one of the busiest interstates in the country, and it's busy all the way across from Boston to San Francisco!

Driving on I-80 through Nebraska, you will see many interesting things. The road pretty much follows the Platte River, which is mostly evident by the thick stands of trees that shelter it's banks.

Another common sight along the interstate are large ponds right next to the road and occasionally the active sandpits that will later be more large pond.

Nebraska is home to the world's largest aquifer, the Ogalala Aquifer. It stretches out under surrounding state boundaries. About 27% of the United States irrigated land is over this aquifer, and it yields roughly 30% of the countries ground water used for irrigation.

Another common sight along I-80 in Nebraska is land marks and historical points of interest.

Because it follows along the banks of the Platte River, it is also following the path of the California and Oregon Trails. This part of the country is rich in pioneer history! Nearly every little town along the way claims some museum or point of interest to pull in travelers. Some require a little drive off the beaten path, while others are right by the interstate. The easiest one to find is this one...

...in Kearney, NE. You can't miss it because you drive right under it.

And of course another common sight in Nebraska, something your guaranteed to see even if you don't stop at any of the tourist spots....

....cows and corn!

I like Nebraska. It's one of my favorite states. Malcolm's family ranched in western Nebraska when he was a kid, near Scott's Bluff and Chimney Rock monument. We have friends there still. Nebraska is a good state! For a few more interesting trivia facts about the Corn Husker state, you can click here.

We delivered last night in northwest Arkansas, slept for a few hours, and then this morning, our broker couldn't find anything good heading to where we wanted to go. So we're bouncing 680 miles to Chattanooga to see my family for New Years. We should be there this evening sometime.

But until we get there, we can enjoy some pretty scenery of Arkansas hills...

...and in a few more hours, we'll be back in my home state of Tennessee! Looking forward to a visit with this side of our family. We haven't seen them since April. We'll be down here till after New Years, and then I'll be back to blogging to share our travels and adventures.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and enjoy bringing in the New Year!

Nebraska on a Hazy Day

A couple weeks ago, when we were home for a weekend, we didn't stay home.


Malcolm had found a dry van trailer on the internet for a good price. Let me state here that we're not changing our line of trucking. But dry van's do make great storage buildings and also it will come in handy when its time for us to move.


So instead of staying home for the weekend, we dropped our trailer at the house and drove down to Greeley, CO to pick up the trailer.


And since we were already down that direction, on the way back home we took a small detour and went through Bayard, NE. We have some family friends there and they had acquired a couple of propane tanks for Malcolm and his Dad. They needed to be picked up and gotten out of the way, and that was a good opportunity to do it, seeing as we were lugging around this big empty trailer!


I always enjoy going to this particular part of Nebraska. Its pretty, and friendly, and nice to visit with the friends we have there. It is also a historically interesting place and there is always something to look at, even if you've seen it a million times.


On this particular weekend, it was very hazy, which I found kind of odd for March! And the haziness made the pictures come out kind of crummy. Maybe I'll get a better chance another time and you can see things more clearly.


In the mean time...

Bayard is just east of the city of Scott's Bluff which is on the very western edge of Nebraska. You perhaps may have heard of Scott's Bluff in a history class or read a reference to it in a book. It is a famous landmark along the Oregon trail. The references don't refer so much to the city as to the natural land mark that the city is named for.

The entire area is full of sandstone sculptures. Scott's Bluff is definitly one of the largest, but I don't find it that interesting. Castle Rock is far more interesting, I suppose because it stands off by itself in a sea of grass, and so is more noticable.

a closer look



Perhaps the most famous landmark in the area is in Bayard. Surely most of you have heard of or seen pictures of Chimney Rock?

Chimney Rock is so neat! Malcolm swears he remembers it being much larger when he was a child, and I suppose that's rather likely. Wind, rain, and climate are taking their toll. But it is still a unique geological formation. I've stood on that little shelf halfway up on the right side.


Check out the picture below. See the house and barns in the for ground? Malcolm's family owned that ranch for a number of years during his childhood. What an amazing place to grow up!

Our destination was near the sight of Chimney Rock. We visited with friends while loading the tanks, and then hit the road. We were home by midnight, got a good nights rest and enjoyed a day at home before hitting the road to Illinois. It was a very busy weekend!


We've been on the road since Monday night, after our time off for my sister's wedding in Tennessee. We have another 40 miles to go before reaching our destination in Oregon. We'll just chill there till tomorrow morning, then deliver, and hopefully by then the broker will have our next load lined up! 

Covering Ground in the Mid-West

We have covered a lot of ground this week. Still, by tonight when we reach Burley, ID, we'll only have driven a little above the average we shoot for. We'll have almost 4300 miles under our belt since leaving Chattanooga last Sunday. But we've followed a diverse trail across the country, traveling from the most southern tip of Texas to the northern parts of the mid-west, and then across to the edge of the Rocky Mountains.

Tuesday we loaded sunflower seed in southern Texas, near Mccook. It was an all day process as they were dumping it on trucks straight out of the combine, there was a truck in front of us in line, and the combine kept having trouble. We didn't get out of the field and on the road till nearly 9:00 that evening. Sunflower fields aren't pretty once they are ready to harvest. They look pretty much like a bunch of dead weeds, like the crop has been lost, baked away in the sun. But truth is, the seeds have to dry out on the head of the sunflower. Still, though the idea of sitting in a sunflower field sounds like a wonderful way to spend the day, realistically, its kind of ugly scenery. The sunflowers seeds went to a mill in western Minnesota. On the way there, we ran into a rather nasty storm in northwest Iowa. Rained so hard I couldn't see anything, creeping along the roadway, hoping the other cars had the sense to turn on their lights. Lots of lightening, strong wind, and hard hard rain. When we finally came out the other side of it, the clouds were beautiful, though threatening. I used to know the proper name for these clouds. I've since forgotten, but I know as pretty and neat as they are, they are foreboding of dangerous weather.

Delivered the sunflower seed, and loaded barley nearby. That was delivered in Aurora, NE and then we loaded DDG (dried distilled grain) near Aurora. That's what we have now. DDG, if you've forgotten, is the bi-product of making ethanol. Its mostly used as cattle feed, and this load, as many do, is headed for a dairy.

Its not a great load. Nine hundred miles and three days to do it in. So needless to say, we're dragging our feet and looking for any bit of entertainment we can find. We stopped in Sidney, NE for a while yesterday morning and Malcolm went to Cabelas again. I've been in so many times I can't count them, so the girls and I stayed in the truck, fiddled on the computer, gave the girls pedicures and Ella a much needed haircut.

And enjoyed watching the very tame geese that make the Cabelas pond their home. There are probably a hundred or more, but I only saw one pair that had goslings, which I thought rather odd. I'd have expected more. Still, it was fun to watch these three and their mom and dad taking a stroll.

And then, since Cabelas had this really great grassy field that they keep mowed and its just behind the truck parking, I took the girls out to run. We've adopted this field as one of our favorite play grounds and we always go running when we're there.Well, the two run, and Paris as usual snoops from the comfort of the concrete. I discovered shortly after this picture that she was actually partaking of a Goose Poop Buffet. So we had to go back to the truck. Besides, the mosquitoes were eating me alive. After a week and a half in the southern states and only receiving one mosquito bite, I've been surprised to find that I'm apparently supplying the entire mosquito population of the mid-west with a blood bank. They've been after me from Texas all the way to Wyoming. Maybe I drank too much sweet tea down south?

We stopped at a scenic spot between Cheyenne and Laramie, WY so that I could share this with you. We've stopped here multiple times, but usually the wind is blasting this area so I keep the camera inside. This time it was unusually calm in eastern Wyoming, so we stopped to kill time and get these pictures. Between the east and west bound lanes of I-80 stands a tree that is growing out of a rock. Its been there a long time, since the railroad came through, and it was unique enough that they diverted the railroad to go by it, and then later the road went around it.The story has it that the trains use to stop here to show tourists, the workers getting out to water the tree from the trains water supply. For the full story, you can read the plaque below. I think you can click to enlarge it. Kind of interesting and proof of how the climate affects things in this part of the country. Its not very large for a tree that's over 100 years old. We just stopped in Evanston, WY. That's on the very western edge of the state, before crossing into Utah. We have less than 300 miles to drive today so I'm going to do a little Wal-mart shopping. Hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend and have a great start to your week.