The One About Missouri

Friday evening Dad and I arrived at "Wild Bill's Truck stop" in Branson, Missouri and quickly fell victim to advertising schemes. The advertisement which successfully swayed us completely away from our leftover black bean soup was a billboard for unlimited lobster and Crab legs....how could 2 seafood-loving-humans say no? Well, we couldn't. We said a definite yes, and proceeded to maneuver an 18-wheeler through the tight streets of tourist Branson all for the crab legs. The reward was well worth it, let me tell you!

 I found the Branson area absolutely stunning, but capturing it's rugged beauty from a moving truck proved difficult, here's a few shots:

Turned out that our load we were pulling didn't have to be delivered until Monday morning, which meant the weekend was ours to do whatever we wanted with! Our decision? To spend Saturday at Silver Dollar City! No sooner was the idea proposed then I had the app downloaded and our tickets purchased. ;) 

Silver Dollar City has always intrigued me. My family doesn't shut up about the delightfully fun trip they took there when I was three years old and in a stroller. From what  they've said though, it seems that for my three year old self, the highlight of that trip was a few bites of kettle corn...whereas they, apparently, rode tons of rides, and watched shows and demonstrations of things like glass-blowing! I have always wanted to redeem that pathetic sounding day for myself, and July 18, 2015 the opportunity literally fell in my lap...so I snatched it!

But wait...

Before you start thinking this was too easy for me, please recall that currently my only source of transportation is an 18-Wheeler with a Conestoga trailer, this was, of course, my always-prepared-father's first thought. I immediately called Silver Dollar City to ask how we could get around this issue. The employee I spoke with was somewhat vague but assured me that the parking attendant would know what to do with us when we got there, and that we would be admitted into the park in the vehicle. 

Saturday morning we headed off to battle Branson traffic with eager anticipation of Silver Dollar City. However, once we arrived, things took a bad turn. The so called "Parking Attendant" looked at us like we were crazy when we pulled up in our huge truck and trailer. Dad asked him where we should go and he stumbled around his words and halfway gave us directions to a lot but basically just kept saying, "The curves on the road there are REALLLLLY sharp, like REALLLLY sharp." In so many words, he assured us that it would be ill-advised for us to park on the premises. Dad and I  thanked him and started to drive off-neither of us said much-I just left him to think while I silently soaked in the miserable possibility of crushed hopes. Dad simply steered us back onto the highway and started driving. Soon we were completely off of Silver Dollar City's turf and still hadn't seen any lot with a space big enough for us. While I was mulling our possibilities-all zero that I could think of at the moment- Dad was pulling the truck off the highway and into the spacious parking lot of a place called "Sam's Trailers". As soon as he parked, Dad explained to me that we were going to go in there and ask them if we could park the truck on their property. I  can't deny that I looked at him a little cynically, but proceeded to march right into the place beside him. Dad introduced us, shook the man's hand, explained our plight, and simply asked if we could park our 18-wheeler in their parking lot all day long. You know what they said? Without asking for any payment (Which we offered), they gave us a resounding YES. Your faith in humans restored yet? Mine was. This story is a perfect example of a few of the things I admire in my Dad- he always calmly finds a way to do what needs to be done, and he's not ashamed to ask a fellow human for a helping hand. It seems to me that people often forget the value of face-to-face interaction. My Dad is one of the few who have not forgotten. Hearing a person's voice, talking fairly and kindly to them, and shaking their hand has power, people. 

I could make this post twice as long as it currently is with all the joys which the day at Silver Dollar City held, but we'll just stick with: roller coasters, glass blowing, pottery, water rides, coke floats, show choirs, amphitheaters, my Daddy, pretzels, dippin' dots, fireworks, sunburn, lightning bugs, and lots and lots of smiling.  

I think you catch my drift. 

Also, Sam of "Sam's trailers" is my fav person ever. 

~Ab

Knocking Out the States.

Let me start off by just saying that trucker time is weird. The individual days seem to fly by, but then you look at the calendar and realize, what felt like a week was really just two days. It's a strange, ironic type of feeling. You know what else is weird about trucking? The fact that I can just hop out of the truck after a day of riding and be in a completely new State with a totally different climate then I was in the last time I dismounted-and it just keeps changing as the days and miles fly by.

The last few days flew by like a whirlwind. We came up from South TX and went on our way over to Louisiana. We were in Delhi, Louisiana all day Thursday and Friday we were cruising through the Ozarks in Arkansas, up towards Missouri. 

I snapped this on the way into Louisiana, right as the Thursday morning sun was rising.

 We began driving Thursday morning at 4:30am-needless to say, Dad and I both fueled up on caffeine. By the time we went to bed Thursday night we had been awake for 17 straight hours and I "offended" him by falling asleep right in the midst of one of his western movies... ;)

 As we got deeper into Louisiana I requested a specific detour-and after a little research into truck parking situations, Dad obligingly agreed-so here I stand looking just about as stereotypical southern as an American can.

*side story: There was another 18 wheeler who had actually been delivering goods to the warehouse. It was a lady driver and she was returning to her truck just as dad and I were leaving.  She struck up a conversation and informed us that they had let her go back and see the “Call room”. She even sent us the picture she had snapped of it!

After the slight detour we pretty quickly reached our destination: an Aluminum Manufacturer. One of the most intense places I’ve ever been. Basically just a huge building bustling with 18 wheelers,  fork-lifts, stacks of aluminum, and intense people with full body coverage in 95+ degree weather. The words "safety first" were stuck on everything...and I soon learned that they meant it! 

         While we were there I mostly stayed in the truck and read "20,000 leagues under the sea" (an old classic which I am currently fan-girling over...but that's a story for another time).  However, at one point I had to go to the restroom, I figured this would be a pretty simple task...that was my first mistake. My second one was that, although I remembered to wear my long pants, long-sleeve shirt, close toed shoes and hard hat, I forgot my safety glasses. No sooner had I stepped into the intimidating building when I had another fully protected person wildly gesture to her eyes indicating that I needed some safety glasses like hers. I immediately turned around to get mine, and just in the short distance back to the door had another person wildly gesture to me and then her glasses. I hurried to the truck, added safety glasses to my menagerie of clothing, and began the trek back into the huge building. This time I was greeted at the entrance by a safety-glasses-hard hat-and-dress-shirt-wearing man who politely informed me "Ma'am, I am going to escort you to the women's restroom because you are not wearing steel-toed boots and we don't want a forklift to hit you" In my mind I'm like "Who is this guy and how did he know I even needed to go to the bathroom?" but to him I just said, "Uh, thanks" True to his word, he strutted rather stoically right beside me all the way to the door of the women's restroom. Then, just as I suspected, was right there waiting for me when I stepped out. Turned out it was the manager of the whole plant who had escorted/body guarded me all the way to the women's restroom and back!

A few pictures from at the plant...I don't look like I need a body guard, do I? 

Actually, don't answer that.

Sidenote: I forgave the plant for being so up-tight about safety as soon as I discovered that they had Popsicles for us after we worked hard hooking up and covering our trailer! 

while in Louisiana, I also got to enjoy two more of Dad's favorite restaurant haunts-a low budget cafe called "Boomers" for lunch, then a Mexican place called "La Fonda's" for dinner! Not to mention the "true Trucker experience" I got by staying the night in the parking lot of a sketchy, Louisiana truck stop.

 After all of our Louisiana adventures, Dad and I headed on up to Missouri with a Mark Twain CD entertaining us all the way through Arkansas. 

I will say though, as one who drove all the way across it, AR definitely has it's moments of beauty.

BUT, also it's moments of delightfully-dorky-red-neckness. They find no shame in flaunting cities with unique(?) names, such as: "Pickle's Gap" and "Toad Suck"...to name just a few of the ones I went through! 

On Friday we blew through AR, then straight into Missouri in no time flat. I say "we" but really all the credit for that goes to Dad...I just took shifts talking and reading. :) I did make myself a little bit useful though, by fixing us some black bean soup in Dad's little crock pot! 

Missouri and I have always hit it off before, and this time didn't prove any different...but those adventures are a story for my next post, so for now just know, my love for the state of Missouri has only grown. ;)

Here's to many more days of Truck Riding blog posts! 

~Ab

Day 1 of Truck Riding Adventures

  Currently I'm sitting on my cozy, little bed in Remington (That's the name I have affectionately given Dad's truck). Phillip Phillips is serenading me via Pandora, and Dad is below me preparing the truck to head out from Corpus to McAllen TX. It's been an exciting 24 hours! I've already learned tons of stuff, to name just a few:  How to fold a tarp, how the trucker's hour system works, the difference between Sorghum and corn, how to brush your teeth when no sink is available, the vital importance of deodorant, that I love catfish when it's fresh, and that my dad actually wasn't joking when he said to securely fasten ALL things in a moving truck to prevent being beheaded. Also, I've learned that my dad was a devious child (lots of story time in here:). 

Here goes kind of a run down of the first day on the road.

We left my little town around 10am, loaded down with me, my duffel, toiletries crate, extra bag, and bedding.  To my credit regarding my packing though, dad told me that I "Didn't do too bad for a girl" :) 

A while back he gave me a pink hardhat in preparation for this day, so I proudly wore it as we left the house.

A few hours and one CD later we stopped to get lunch -for the truck and ourselves- at a flying J truck stop. Wings and Pizza were our menu item of choice (Yes, we are two {unhealthy} peas in a pod).

We ate it with our fingers as we continued rolling down the road. While we were there I decided I am a big fan of the good ol' boy vibe I get in the truck stops.

About four more hours and one comedian routine recording later we arrived at our dinner destination. Dad's so cool because there's all these little hole-in-the-wall restaurants all over the US that he eats at whenever he passes through that particular spot. This particular one he introduced me to was so awesome and beach bum-ish!

                                                       

                                                     Pincher's Boil'n pot was the name...

 

...and Sea food was the game! Let me tell you, we both ate a LOT of food, but not even close to all of that ^ platter!

Corn seemed to be growing everywhere! All the Corn field sightings were what began the conversation concerning Sorghum vs. corn...

Two more hours on the road flew by full of fun conversations and times of just quietly and peacefully rolling down the roads. 

By the time we reached Corpus it was evening time. Another cool thing about my Dad? He knows people all over the place! Right next to the business we were supposed to be dropping our load at is a little restaurant called "Daniella's". One of the first times my dad brought a load to Corpus he introduced himself to Daniella and asked if whenever he came on this route it would be alright for him to park his truck in her parking lot. She said he could! He shows his gratitude by typically eating breakfast at her place the next morning.

 As badly as I wanted to go to the beach while we were there, and as badly as Dad wanted to please me, we just couldn't leave the trailer with supplies on it for that long...The best I could get was a faint smell of the ocean and a few sightings of seagulls from where we sat in the deserted parking lot of "Daniella's", on the outskirts of Corpus. 

At this point in my day is when I became quite resourceful and got myself ready for bed and teeth brushed all within the confines of the truck-which has no running water.

Soon we settled in with the company of an old western movie-Conagher. No sooner had the movie begun then the sound of dad's snores filled the cab and sporadically continued to -despite all my poking and pinching him in an effort to hear the movie. ;)

 It's a strange feeling to be in an empty parking lot, in the little curtained-shut truck, knowing that you're right on the edge of a road with cars passing you by, and that this is where you will sleep the whole night. I honestly felt pretty vulnerable, but the truck was locked shut and I was with my Dad so I knew I was safe. Once the movie ended I was so exhausted that I just climbed up into my little bunk and was out like a light! 

First day as a Truck Rider was a definite success.

-Ab