Got Milk?

After this post, some of you will shrug your shoulders and say "it is what it is" and some of you promptly go get in your pickup and head out to buy your own milk cow.

But first, a brief update: Dropped the truck (now thought of as the albatross around my neck) off at the doctors office first thing Wednesday morning. For details on why, check the post following this one. Expected to be home for a few days while the truck sucked up more of our money, but as it turned out it was just a sensor (good job Frugal Canadian Hermit for an accurate diagnosis) and we were back on the road by 3:00 that afternoon. It's one of those deals where I was disgusted with the truck for being broken down, but had just enough time to get geared up for being home, only to find out we were leaving and get disgusted with the truck for being fixed so quickly! I tell you what, you just can't make people happy can you?

So Thursday morning found us here...

 

in southern Idaho delivering to an organic dairy. Pretty scenery isn't it? But don't be fooled. The dairy cows won't be grazing this nice green grass. They'll be eating this instead...

We delivered our load of canola meal that we had loaded in North Dakota on Tuesday.

Canola meal is a by-product left after abstracting the canola oil from the seed. We unload at most dairies by wind rowing the product out on the ground, and then a front end loader pushes it into the appropriate bin, as was the case here.

Its usually a very fast way to unload, unless the product sticks together, which is common with meal. But thankfully the canola meal was good and dry and dumped out quickly.

We deliver to dairies pretty frequently. They get a lot of different types of meal, and mineral. They have "recipes" and various amounts of each product are scooped into these trucks, ground together, and dumped into the feed bunks for the cows to munch on at leisure.

As soon as we were unloaded we had to skip down the road 10 miles to reload fertilizer. That load went 150 miles over into northern Utah. And then we hurried about 20 miles east of that delivery to load organic wheat in Collinston, UT.

By that point the "hurry up and get there" phase of the day was over. We had 450 miles to go and couldnt' deliver till morning. So Malcolm drove through Salt Lake City rush hour and then I took over for a leisurely drive through Utah's beautiful countryside.

Utah scenery is very diverse, but I prefer northern regions of the state, and then the I-15 corridor.

It was a very enjoyable evening.

The load of wheat was delivered this morning to another dairy, this one in southern Nevada.

When we first started this job, I was naive enough to still have an image of black and white cows peacefully grazing in lush green meadows, and then slowly plodding their way into a milking house each morning and afternoon for relief. Realistically, there are not enough of those lush green pastures to feed all the milk cows it takes to meet the human demand for our weekly gallon of milk.

99.99% of dairies look more like this, and YES, even the ORGANIC ones!

Cows milling about in large dirt lots with feed bunks where the interesting concoctions of mineral and meal are fed to them daily. No lush green meadows for these gals!

Now, in some respects I find it disturbing, but I'm also one of those who tend to say "it is what it is" and as nice as it would be to think milk comes from cows that eat grass all day, and as much as that concoction of stuff they do eat makes me cringe a little, I've been drinking it all my life and I haven't keeled over yet. We'll see what happens in the years to come. But when you think of all the icky stuff we eat, our milk products are just a drop in the bucket, so to speak.

I'll never be one of these that you find holding signs protesting outside feedlots or other agricultural businesses. I fully support, admire, and apprecicate EVERYONE in agriculture and plan on joining them full time as soon as I am able! But I'm also looking forward to the day when I can grow some of my own food. And I'm really looking forward to having my pair of much longed for, drooled over, and dreamed about dairy goats. And I plan on feeding them a strict diet of Montana grass.

We are empty and "bouncing" down 400 miles to southern California to load some of these

Looks like we're finally making it back to the onion patch!

Steamed..and I'm not talking vegetables!

Just thought, in the interest of sharing all things trucking, I'd vent on our newest development.

One week and two days after getting the truck back from the shop..."all fixed"....we find ourselves in the remote regions of eastern Montana, limping our way to Billings, in a truck that says we need to check the engine...again.

And on top of that, it keeps cutting our power off. The truck's running, but periodically we find ourselves mashing the accelerator to the floor with no response. So fun, when your going up hill, in a one lane construction zone. Traffic is minimal in this part of the state, but we're still not real popular with the ones who are on the road.

111 miles to go, the truck goes in the shop in the morning, and hopefully the dairy cows in Idaho aren't really hungry. Hopefully their owners have a good supply laid in and the stuff in our trailer is just "extra." Cause they aren't going to see it in the morning, or any time real soon!

So...needless to say...we're in a less than cheerful mood here in the truck, and trying really hard to be happy and grateful (well I am grateful) to the Lord that He allowed this to happen on a stretch of road that takes us home, instead of southern California. But at times like this its hard...HARD...to be grateful for anything. And really, as nice as it is to be home, even that isn't much consolation right now, b/c its not where we need to be at the moment.

And that's all I'm going to say about it, b/c if I keep going, this post might get really ugly. You get my drift.

This is the second post today, so for more interesting reading go on to the next post below. And as to when you might hear from me again...I think I'll let the temper cool off and things calm down some. Might take a while, depending on what Kenworth says in the morning, and what we have to say to them.

Till then,
I'm Steaming Mad in Montana

Remembering Blue Skies

May has been gorgeous where ever we have gone! That is until last night. We ran in rain drizzle all the way from Idaho over into North Dakota. It turned into a down pour for most of the way through eastern Montana and we even drove through some snow...yes SNOW...near Butte and Bozeman.

North Dakota this morning is a soppy sodden mess. I was going to get a picture to demonstrate the effect, but it seems my camera battery has gone dead. So its charging and you'll have to miss out on the picture of mud, but I'm sure we all know what mud looks like, do we not?

Last week was a slow week. We ran three small loads of fertilizer in the Idaho and Montana region, then took a load of seed potatoes from Montana to North Dakota, and then loaded sunflower seed in Minnesota bound for Spokane. That was on Thursday but couldn't be delivered till Monday, so we had another long weekend at home. Good for the spirit, hard on the purse strings. But I'd rather sit at home than on the road if we're going to be sitting anyway.

Sunflower seeds were dropped off yesterday morning bright and early, and then we reloaded mustard seed near Moses Lake, WA and brought that through the snow and rain to western North Dakota. It is human consumption grade seed, but I'm not sure of how it is going to be packaged, ground into liquid for hotdogs or poured into bottles for spice drawers. We got here 3 hours ago, but just now began unloading. The rain had to stop so that they would unload us. We generally load and unload outside, so if its raining, it puts a damper on our work so to speak. Hopefully it holds off long enough to get this done. I think they just finished the first hopper. We've got to go 120 miles east of here to reload, another "outside" situation, so hopefully its not raining there when we arrive, or we'll have to sit and wait there as well. If all goes as planned, we'll be in Idaho in the morning to deliver.



In light of all the mud, I thought I'd share a few blue sky pictures from the past weeks.

east of Great Falls on 4/27/11

Southern Idaho last Tuesday

west of Bozeman, MT on Wednesday last week

This middle picture is my favorite. And now after looking at these, I can easily remember what blue skies look like, so I'll recognize them when they return.

May Day in Montana

After a few days in the shop, our truck is fixed and we're back on the road. The problem ended up being smaller than we thought. Instead of a turbo replacement, we ended up having a wire that had been cut causing communication issues with the trucks computer. That along with some work on the fan, and even then it ended up costing us less than we were afraid it would, though its still not a pretty amount, but when is it ever?


We loaded sulfur yesterday afternoon in Billings and then hit the road heading west towards Bozeman. It was a beautiful day to be driving in Montana! May was putting on quite a show!

The weather was strange yesterday, one of those weird Spring days. While it was sunny and warm-ish in Billings, Malcolm's parent's (4 hours away) were dealing with the end of some heavy snow that had tried to turn blizzard, causing the loss of some calves and a cow.  We did not envy there weather, but even with our sunshine, in every direction we looked there were dark ominous clouds. A friend reported hail in Billings before we had arrived downtown to load, and even with temperatures in the 50's, we ran through miniature snow showers as we traveled west.

This load of sulfur was headed to Idaho, so at Bozeman we turned south on US191 and headed down through the western edge of Yellowstone.

Warmer temperatures, melting snow, and grass starting to grow are the ingredients for some excellent wildlife watching after a long winter of having the roads almost all to ourselves on this route. Up till recently, most of the critters have been laying low, staying in lower elevations where food was not buried under feet of cold white stuff. But yesterday evening it was apparent that everyone, not just the humans, are welcoming Springtime!

I didn't always have the camera handy, so there is no evidence, but by the time I came out the other side of the park, I felt like I'd seen just about all there is to see in the herbivore category. I drove past:
1 moose
5 big horn sheep
10 buffalo
about 25 deer
and a field with at least several hundred elk!


Happily everyone was steering clear of the road, until I was actually out of the park boundaries and nearing the town of West Yellowstone.

As it turns out, we're not the only one's who are back on the road. A couple years ago we encountered these guys on the road in this stretch rather frequently, and last night we had to wait again while these youngsters decided which way they wanted to travel, which basically meant they are just standing around in the road while traffic tries to ease around them. Someone needs to put up a "No Loitering" sign.

take note of the truck in front and the company name. How's that for coincidental?

 This morning we unloaded our sulfur near Twin Falls, ID and are now reloaded with another type of fertilizer from the same place. This is just a piddly little load, only 180 miles loaded, over to Utah, while the broker works on putting together something bigger.


It was a brief lay over at home, but I'll take any little bit I can get. We could have used more rest, but duty calls, and so its back to work we go! Maybe those few days will hold us over till our next "real" break, which we plan to take at the end of the month.

All of our Family are Safe and Accounted For

Malcolm and I got home last night and since then I've spent most of my time on the computer and on the phone with Mom.

Yesterday, starting early in the morning, my home state of Tennessee was attacked by mother nature. Not just my home state, but my home town.

As I've sat here at my kitchen table, 2000 miles away, I've been left...speechless and quite honestly shaken!

My sister's town in Murfreesboro did have a small tornado yesterday early morning. It touched down briefly the street over from hers, but she and her family and property were fine. It was a releif for me to have that news, as that area of Tennessee is so frequently assualted.

It was where the storms did their most damage that was so unexpected for me. As we were loading yesterday morning in Great Falls I was on Facebook reading posts from friends and family members in Chattanooga, all of whom were posting from basements, closets, and interior bathrooms where they were hiding out, as the first storm made its way through the area.

Loaded and heading home, I had checked in with my Dad who said they were all good. The storm was on the other side of Chattanooga from them. Mom was still at school in Ringgold, where they were working towards an early dismissal.  Malcolm spoke with his aunt, who lives on the northwest side of Chattanooga where a tornado had touched down, and she said they had a lot of trees down and that the Walmart down the road from her had lost its roof, but other than that they were OK. We breathed a sigh of relief and continued on towards home.

It is so hard to be so far away at times like these. Not that there is anything we could do if we were there, but still, you want to be able to be there, to see with your own eyes, to touch and know that all is OK, mostly to be there to lend support and just be with each other.

Later in the early evening I called Mom back to check back in and learn the latest as the day was to hold a number of violent storms. She said a tree had fallen on one of Dad's rental houses in the most recent storm but there didn't appear to be any damage. There was another HUGE tree leaning precariously towards my Dad's business, but nothing could be done but to wait and see. They had lost power around 3:00 in the afternoon at the house and at the restaurant, and were worried about the products and meat in the coolers, but that was the extent of their problems.


An hour later my sister called me and wanted to know if I had heard from Mom. I told her I had an hour ago, and she said she'd just texted her and Mom had replied in a text that they were fine but that Ringgold had been hit bad.


Ringgold, GA is a small southern town about 20 miles down the road from myparent's home in Ooltewah. Ringgold is the town Malcolm and I lived in before moving to Montana. We lived just outside town. He drove truck and was gone Monday through Friday. I taught 7th grade inclusion at Ringgold Middle School where Mom teaches still. I was worried about people I knew and places I treasured in my memory, but nothing could be done till morning.


And then this morning...

Malcolm's aunt and uncle were still fine with only some minor damages. We were thankful. My brother and his family are safe, and even have power! My aunt and her family who live very near Ringgold were able to stand in their yard and watch the tornado, but escaped damages and are all safe. My grandparents, uncles and aunts...all are safe and escaped damages. Even my cousins who live in Tuscaloosa, AL, another incredibly hard hit town, are fine and unharmed. We are thanking God for all their safety!


My parents are also safe and unharmed. Mom said it was amazing to look around this morning, knowing what awful damages have been done, and see that nothing, not even her garden, appears to be harmed! How is that? But we are so thankful!


The tree leaning towards the restaurant never fell. Dad had a huge expensive shipment of meat in his coolers, with no power to keep cool, and last night the Bi-Lo grocery store manager let Dad bring his meat to the store and they packed it on a pallet and put it in their cooler for him. They were in a part of town that still had power. I am so grateful to that man for his generosity. I know it was a relief for Dad. I asked Mom how they were going to eat with no power, probably for several days, and her response was that Dad had spent more than an hour this morning in a line of traffic at the BoJangles waiting for biscuits. Everyone is without power and no one can cook! And then once he got to the drive through window, they were unable to take credit or debit cards. Only cash worked! All those poor people who were sitting there hungry and waiting forever! It pays to always have a little cash with you, which Dad did thankfully, and I tucked that little lesson learned into the mind for future use.

Then, a small miracle, power was restored to Dad's restaurant, probably in time to save a good deal of what was in the coolers and freezers, and Dad was able to get the restaurant open early this afternoon. They have been swamped since opening. I am just so grateful that all my family has escaped harm or damages, and I'm sure there are a lot of people grateful that someone is able to cook and feed them!


Ringgold, as you may have seen on the news, is another story. From what I can gather from the pictures available, a good deal of the newer development of businesses are gone. I'm thankful that the more historic parts of town seem to have escaped, but the damages that exist are overwhelming. Its one thing to see on the news when something like this happens to a town somewhere. You hurt for the people, you think "how tragic" and you go about your business and its out of your mind in a few moments. When its a town you know, when its people who were or are part of your life, its a different experience.


Instead of being productive today and using my time at home to do the things I miss doing, I've been on the computer, fighting with my internet signal, to pull up pictures and trying to watch news reports. The town is closed and all roads are blocked so pictures are limited, but its still obvious that its horrible. There are fatalities. I hear that a high school junior is one of them and I worry because my dance team girls that I coached as 6th graders are juniors this year. There are friends on facebook asking 'has anyone heard from" this person or that. There are co-workers of Mom's that haven't been accounted for yet. There are businesses that were community landmarks, businesses that were like historic treasures for the community, that are gone! And maybe what touches me the closest, Ringgold Middle School has lost the roof off of part of the building and been seriously damaged. My Mom's classroom is exposed to the sky.

Though you couldn't tell from this rather lengthy post, I really have been left just speechless! I can describe what happened, but I can't describe my feelings, or put into words...there are no words! The picture above is from a Chattanooga news station. Here is a link to their website and the rest of the aerial shots.
http://www.newschannel9.com/sections/slideshow/?id=7462983

More pictures here of damages on Cherokee Valley Road, which comes into Ringgold across the road from our former home. They are still going through houses looking for bodies in that area.
http://www.newschannel9.com/sections/slideshow/?id=7463457

The thought occurred to me a little while ago that if this had happened 5 years ago, I would have been home alone and Malcolm would have been on the road in Virginia somewhere. I am so thankful that is not the case!


I am beyond just plain thankful that my loved ones are safe and in good positions. And I am devastated for a community that welcomed us and made us feel like family. So many people whose lives have been just torn apart, literally and figuratively. Its overwhelming to say the least. And that's from 2000 miles away!


I feel like this is a lame ending to an emotionally packed post, but I've run out of things to say. Or rather I don't know how to say anything. It goes without saying, but please pray for the people of this community, and all the others that had such a horrible day and night. They will be living a nightmare for many days to come!

The "F" Word

but not the one your thinking! You know me better than that, at least I hope you do.

We're talking "F"uel! Yeah, that "F" word, the one that is just about as dirty as the other "F" word thanks to what its costing us all as of late.

Fueling was never fun, but as prices continue to rise, and our rates continue to fail to keep up with it, fueling gets more and more depressing. In California on Friday I fueled up, 115 gallons of diesel, for $4.52 a gallon. Most of the prices we're seeing over here in the western parts are between $4.40 and $4.50. Its kind of nasty!

Delivering the other day in Wenatchee, WA we were planning on fueling after we went south and reloaded. We generally try to stock up as much as we can before going into California, but our weight also limits us, so we plan ahead as much as we can, but sometimes its no use. As we were leaving Wenatchee, we were also looking for breakfast and when we noticed a small truck stop on the side of the road that also advertised a cafe, we decided to go ahead and fuel there, shower, and get something to eat before going to reload.

If fuel is going to stay this high (and apparently it isn't! Its going to go higher!) then this is the most reasonable, rather brilliant fueling policy I've seen in a long time! Incentive for truckers to buy more, and we get rewarded (of sorts) for spending our money at their store. Granted its only for cash purchases, and we fuel on credit so we didn't get to take part. We've never liked the idea of hauling around as much cash as it would take to fuel on, but we might come to that if fuel continues to climb. The savings would be worth it, if you can call it saving.


Anyway, this is the first I've seen of this fueling policy. The more gallons you pump, the less it costs you per gallon! I felt like this fueling station was trying to work with us a little, and granted, I know their prices are still much higher than is necessary, but small as their effort was, its more than we're seeing from most. I don't see why all stations can't offer something like this to all fuelers, commercial and private alike!


I haven't followed the news on the fuel issues, but I've seen various posts on facebook from friends and I'm getting the feeling that Washington DC isn't interested in intervening on the American public's behalf. After an experience last week I'm fully convinced that the only reason the fuel prices are so high is an old fashioned case of price gouging. We were in Oregon or Washington and most of the prices were around $4.45 a gallon. Then on a little back road in a little town we ran into a price war between two stations. One was selling diesel at $3.80 a gallon and the other was at $3.81. Down the road it was back up to $4.46 or so. If those two stations can sell their fuel for a full $0.65 less than the rest of the state and still make money on it, then you can't tell me the other stations don't have their prices hiked as high as they dare! Maddening!


So there is my rant on fuel! It's a painful topic, as it is for most of us I'd wager.


I still believe that we live in a marvelous country and I am patriotic to the core. I wouldn't want to live in any other country. But fuel prices, along with certain other things going on right now (things we won't get started on as we would be here all day long) have me rather soured right now. I'm not impressed with our government and hugely disappointed in society as a whole, no offense meant to you my friends.


On a lighter note, another interesting sight we saw while delivering in Wenatchee...
I'm sure your thinking right now, "Sarah, how is a dog that interesting?"

The most effective guard dogs are provided with a means by which to monitor your entire property at once without expending a lot of energy patrolling.

So if your going for energy efficiency and trying to cut back on expenditures since everything is becoming so costly, here's you one idea! The guard dog that doesn't have to constantly patrol the perimeters of his property, probably consumes less dog food.


A different and better "F" word: Friend

I have a dear friend and her name is Lily.

 

Lily, you may remember, is not just my friend but recently became my for real niece. I've been Aunt Sarah to her since the day she met me and heard my niece Bentlee calling me that. Lily and I bonded from the start. She finds horse books and saves them to read to me when I come visit. Smart girl! She picked up on my horse love right away. I'm not even sure how. And I started sending her an occasional post card last year, not realizing she was keeping them all. Then one day my sister sent me this picture...

...and told me how delighted Lily was, ecstatic really, every time she got a postcard and the first thing she did when she got one was rush to her room, pull out her map, and with Meagan's help find the state and color it in. Meagan and Chris were using my postcards to help Lily understand the concepts of continent, country, state, and city.


And so I need your help, if your able. There have been several states we've been in where I was not able to get a postcard! But I'd still like to be able to send Lily one from every state. So I was wondering, if you live in or near one of the states listed below, or travel to one this summer, could you send me 2 post cards? Two, because I'm thinking of starting this with someone else, so I might as well go ahead and get 2 cards as we don't travel often in a number of the states on my list. My list of needed states is below and if you are willing and able can you just pickup 2 postcards, stick them in an envelope for me, and mail them to me? I would appreciate it so much and so will Lily!

I need postcards from these states:
Alabama
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Illinois
Iowa
Kansas
Maine 
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
Minnesota
Mississippi
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
North Carolina
South Dakota
Texas
Vermont
Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
West Virginia
Alaska
Hawaii


I know its a lot of New England states. They don't have as many truck stops and they are so small we hardly ever stop in them when we're going through...which is hardly ever. Any help is appreciated! Wouldn't it be awesome for Lily to have a postcard from every state in our great nation?


If you are able to help out you can email me by way of the button at the top of the sidebar or at whitelinechasers@yahoo.com and I'll respond with my address and a huge "thank you".  Please put something like "postcards for Lily" in the subject of the email so I'll know its not Spam and delete you!


We're loaded up and headed to Idaho, then we have a load of fertilizer to Montana! Back to the home country! (and sadly the cold country as they got more snow this week in places)

From Mountain Peak to Mountain Lake

This weekend we had a long leisurely drive down US97 through Oregon's high desert and into the mountains of northern California. It's a drive we enjoy, with several small towns along the way where we can stop and enjoy local restaurants instead of fast food and truck stop food. And its not unusual to find ourselves on this road over weekends when we load in California and can't deliver in Washington till Monday or vice versa.

Memorial Day weekend 2009, we stopped and toured the Logging Museum north of Klamath Falls where we got to see all sorts of antique logging machinery. It was quite impressive how they managed with the tools they had, and also to see the progression and development of logging technology over time, not to mention cuttings  from gigantic trees!

And then one day last May we stopped for an hour or so to take a look at the Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint, which was also well worth the time. Such impressive views over the edge of the river gorge.

So on this Easter weekend we found ourselves once again traveling US97 with time to enjoy. This time we didn't do anything too time consuming, but we did pull off at a point of interest a ways north of Madras, OR. I've wanted to stop there for some time, but its never convenient, or when it is there are other vehicles parked in the only spot we'll fit into, or its too hazy to see anything. But on Saturday morning our parking spot was vacant, in fact we had the whole place to ourselves, and the air was mostly clear so we could see all the mountain peaks, thought they still didn't show up too well in my pictures.

From this hilltop in Oregon, you can see for miles, and I don't know who's responsible for it, the state or a private individual, but  someone has created a mountain peak identifier to help us recognize which mountains we're looking at.

 Its really quite impressive what you can see from here. From Mount Hood which is more prominent, though not the closest...

...to Mount Saint Helens, which is nearly 200 miles away, and barely visible!


After our mountain top experience we drove south through Madras and Redmond and then Bend. Along the way we passed the Painted Desert Farm. I always look close when we drive past. Last summer they had all their new foals in corrals out by the road. This year there was just one out and he was hiding in the shade with Mom.

Last summer their corrals were full of cute white and paint colts. Or at least that's what I thought I was looking at until I looked up their website and found out I was looking at $10,000+ white and painted thoroughbreds! Never heard of such, but there they were! Their horses are so expensive, I think I'd have them under lock and key and not out by the road for display! On their website the cover horse sold for $80,000! Not my style, but they were neat to see. Maybe they'll have more out this summer for viewing. In the mean time, the people down the road had a couple of new little ones out enjoying the Spring day, learning about their world.

Further down the road we had a clearer view of some of the mountain peaks that had been small points on the horizon earlier in the morning. Most prominent, the Three Sisters, lined up and keeping watch over the town of Bend.

We drove down to Chemult, had dinner, and then continued on to a rest area where we planned to stop for the night. This was just north of Weed, CA a few miles from where US97 meets I-5 in California.

This body of water is called Grass Lake. Perhaps that doesn't make sense to you, but to us its completely logical.

You see, in the summer time there is no water visible here. During the summer months this entire valley is a gorgeous grassy mountain meadow.

Perhaps it stays a wetland, but driving past, it just looks like a lush pasture. During the winter its snowy and then spring arrives, and snow melt from Mt Shasta and surrounding areas fills the valley floor with water and thus Grass Lake reappears. A number of species of water fowl and many bald eagles are frequently seen as you drive past. Of course by the time we parked and I got out with my camera, everyone had apparently heard I was coming, because the best I could photograph was a persistent gull...

a pair of red wing black birds...

...and a pair of mallards that hadn't gone into hiding fast enough, though the hen was blending in pretty well.

It was chilly at 40 degrees and a light mist of rain was starting to fall, but even with the cold and the lack of water fowl to enjoy, the scenery and peace of the place was enough for me.

I lingered as long as I wanted, until my fingers were starting to burn with the cold and the rain began to get a little heavier.

After that I retreated to the truck where I snuggled into bed with the girls and a book.


We relaxed through the evening, drove the remaining 300 miles on Sunday and had another relaxing evening while we waited to deliver, which we just finished doing this morning. Now we're off to reload in Stockton and then its "over the hill" to Sparks, NV just east of Reno. A short load that we'll have completed by this evening. This is a load we frequently run just to get us out of this area and closer to something better. I'm guessing we'll load at Winnemucca, NV with Min-Ad, and those loads usually turn out to be pretty good.