Latest Adventures

Hello to all our friends again. I have had several inquiries concerning our well-being and the status of the blog since my last post. It is really humbling to hear so many people care! Thank you for your well wishes and inquiries.
Yes, Kim and I are fine. We have just been running from Salt Lake to Aurora, Ill, to Gary, Ind, and back to Salt Lake. We have had some small adventures during the trips, but nothing earth-shattering. I got lazy, and just have not felt I had enough to write much about.
Some of the "interesting" side stories are:
One evening while stopped in Grand Island, Ne for fuel, Kim noticed one of our drive tires seemed low. I put some air in it and kept an eye on it. That night when we stopped I noticed a screw head buried in the tread. We marked it, kept an eye on it, and took it to a Speedco for repair. It is something to see them remove one of these super single tires we use. If you can imagine a single tire and wheel approximately the same width as the normal duals you see on most tractor/trailers. That is what we use on the rear tires on the tractor. We have 4 rear or drive tires vs 8 on most tractors. It was quite an ordeal for them to break it off the rim by hand, their machine didn't handle anything that wide.
On another trip, we were pulling a hazmat load, and got pulled into our favorite weigh scales coming into Des Moines, westbound. We scaled and was told to pull around and park and an inspector would be right out. UH OH. When he came out, I met him as he pointed to the rear of the trailer and commented that the rear placard was missing. Did I mention it was raining,,,and windy? He stated that it happens sometimes, gets sucked right out of the holder. I told him I had some spares and would put in another right away. Not so fast,,,,lets take a look around,,,turn on lights, turn signals, etc. We did a complete walk around, "pre-flight" inspection. Everything else was ok. He told me get all the paperwork, and come on inside. By the way, do you have the Emergency response book? "uhhhhhh,,I have the Hazmat guide book." Nope, not good enough, you need the one that tells you how to handle a spill or problem with any of the different hazmat materials. "Nope, never told that, or provided that book. " Thats not good.
Well after we in, he looked at the bills and noticed I should have another type of placard on the trailer. This is getting worse by the minute! Oh, by the way, did I mention it was raining? Not just rain, but lightning,,and rain isn't really the right word,,,downpour, flood, underwater, are words that come to mind. In fact the scale house lost power! Poor Kim was out in the truck being rocked to sleep by the tornado. Well, it sure could have been one, it was that scarey.
When he got done, I had a fine for no guidebook, and warning for the placards. The truck was placed out of service till we had the placards in place. That means we don't leave the parking lot till they were on. Did I mention I mention it still DOWNPOURING???? Ok, now the funny scene, here's Kim holding an umbrella against the wind and rain, so Steve can try to wipe the trailer dry enough in a spot long enough to put placards on all 4 sides. You have to realize that no matter what, we were gonna get wet on at least 3 sides of that trailer. I don't know how, but we got the placards on, and got drenched on all 4 sides! I sure hoped they stayed on long enough for me to drive past the scale house. They did. However, as we left the area and entered the interstate, I noticed one of the inspectors heading out also behind me, GREAT,,,he knows the placards cannot stay on. Oh well, too late to turn back now. I kept going toward Des Moines. Eventually he pulled off on one of the exits. I kept going!!! A couple of hours down the road when we ran out of the rain, we pulled over at a rest area, and checked out the trailer. I don't know how, but ALL the placards were still in place!!!

We did have a nice 4 day weekend off at home during the 4th of July and had some good times with our son. It was kinda hard to head back out after that.
Most recently, our son tried out for American Idol while they were in Salt Lake this week. It was reported over 10000 tried out. He didn't make the first cut but says he'll try again next year.

SOOOO,, there you go, some of the latest adventures of Steve and Kim. I will add more stories as we have them.

And again, my thanks to all those who inquired to our well being.

Till next time, keep it safe out there!