Down Highway 20

…and getting locked in bathroom stalls at truck stops. Most times I think it’s great when the doors go clear down to the floor. Gives a person more of a feeling of privacy. But when you get locked inside one and the space down at the bottom is real small, you start rethinking. Thankfully after awhile I heard someone come in the door so I hollered for help. This kind human actually got the door open from the outside and I barreled out in relief. Besides that, life has been fai

It’s been quite a week or two. The days seem to run together and it’s hard to know when one week is starting and the other ending. There was the day I unknowingly dumped my dad-in-law’s one and only working grease gun into the trash pit along with the rest of the trash out of the shop. And yes, the pit was set afire before we realized what had happened. There was the day I locked the keys in the pickup at the truck stop which was a good 30 minutes from the emergency set of ke

Everyone needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in… Where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. -John Muir One of the main places I go to feel alive and to calm any fears is the great outdoors. Something about the fresh air, the wide openness of the sky, and so many little miracles everywhere I look. Springtime especially thrills me. After a cold dreary winter, what is more comforting than the sight of crocuses pushing through the soil, daffo

And on the 10th day, God looked down on the Trucker and said, “It is not good for him to be alone.” So God made a Trucker’s Wife. God said, “I need a woman strong enough to stay alone for weeks on end to keep the home fires burning, yet gentle enough to raise her children in a loving way. I need a woman who loves her truck driver so much she will stay up for hours talking on the phone just to keep him awake as he drives. Yet independent enough that she can enjoy her time alon

Just wanted to capture a few of my thoughts from the last while.. It really struck home to me lately (with the world situation as it is) that every person’s job is so important! Sure, the doctors’ and nurses’ jobs and what they can do is beyond valuable. But could they do what they need to if they didn’t have grocery stores/restaurants to buy food to keep them going? Could the restaurants/grocery stores keep providing food if it weren’t for the truck drivers who bring it to t

The other day, inspiration hit me at the corner of the Walmart parking lot. It wasn’t much, just a homeless man standing and holding a cardboard sign. I assume he was homeless or needy. He looked the part. But on the contrary, his sign didn’t read “Hungry”, “Homeless”, “Needing Work”, or any of the usual slogans. The letters on the card spelled out, “Dreaming of Tacos”. That, my friends, struck me as a creative way to let people know he was hungry. In all ways and all things

You know how sometimes, you try to be cool and it really works and everyone is impressed with how elegant or beautiful or cool or amazing you are. Ya me neither. Here is an instance of how it goes when I try to be cool. So Ross and I were headed out into the hills delivering a load of brick to a job site. A new venture for us both, and exciting for me as I love going to new places. We wound our way up a narrow road. As Ross called it, “very squiggly.” We passed through an eli

The wind howled drearily around the truck cab, sometimes making the sleeper rock slightly. The sky was overcast and sullen. Ross and I donned our Carhartts and gloves and set to work undoing the ropes that hold the tarps on the hay. It was miserably difficult pulling the 29’ x 27’ tarp off. 140 pounds of heavy-duty canvas billowing in the wind makes for a fine kite. Or not. The drivers of the orange Freightliner beside us were having just as much fun. One tall swarthy fellow

My Week in a Pea Pod. (It’s like saying “in a nutshell” only way more interesting.) — One day I received an email. It began “Hi, I am Chuck, the Truck Duck.” Too bad it had to be spam after such a great introduction. — “You are not a chicken,” I told Buster Bear as he crunched on the piece of red cabbage that I chunked into the chicken pen. He only wagged his tail and crunched louder. — Lesson learned – The faster you try to climb through a barbed wire fence, the more clothes

It had been a long day in the truck. We wound our way over White Pass and happily found a parking spot on a wide spot along the highway. Inside the city limits of Packwood, Washington, Ross and I settled down in the bunk for a cozy night’s rest. Somewhere in the wee morning hours, I awoke with a jerk. “WHAT was that?!” I mouthed to Ross who was as wide awake as I. Thoughts tumbled over each other in my mind as I ran over all the possible options of what was happening to us. A

So to begin with, here’s the recipe I promised to share with y’all.. Butterfinger Trifles Here’s what you will need to get started on this simple delicious dessert. 1/2 cup butter 1 cup white sugar 1 cup heavy whipping cream 1 Tablespoon flour 1 teaspoon vanilla 8 oz. Cool Whip 1/2 of an angel food cake (already made and baked and cooled) 3 to 4 (2.1-oz.) Butterfinger candy bars, crushed To begin with, melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add sugar, cream, and flour, whis

Valentine’s Day is a special day for us as a couple. It all started 4 years ago on a sunny Oregon day. I stood beside my silver Honda Accord, my fingers wrapped around the door handle but too scared to open it. I was really hoping there would be some roses or a card inside, but I realized that my hopes most likely were sky-high and would come crashing down in a shatter of dreams the minute I looked inside. Finally I got up my nerve, yanked open the door, and plopped onto the

What’s Your Tuesday Like? In my life there seem to be no normalities. One cannot plan in advance beyond the next day (if even that far) as all things in my world are subject to change. In fact if I want to plan on something, I can plan on changing my plans. With that being said, here’s a glimpse into one of my lives. A Tuesday On The Truck The shrill ringing of the alarm startles me into consciousness. I reluctantly wriggle my way out of under the warm comforter and out into