18 wheels to 2 wheels- A Wild Ride!

Made you think that I'd stopped blogging since we aren't trucking, didn't I??? Well, sorry, but that is sooo not true! :) We have been civilians for all of 10 days, but that has not stopped us from Livin' La Vida Loca! I'll quickly share the bullets version of our last 10 days:

Saturday May 15th- First day home from trucking. 6am Paul and I got up to head to the Springfest conference in Shelbyville, TN. In attendance were the son of St. Gianna Molla, the Papal Nuncio and many others. Not in attendance was ME! I got up to go and I was so sick that I went straight back to bed. Blah! That is where I spent most of the day.

Sunday- Family and friends from far and wide came to celebrate the baptism of my nephew, Lil Dude. It was a beautiful, all-day extravaganza. We had a cook-out at my brother and sister-in-laws. Long, but wonderful day.

Monday- Worked on cleaning up the flood damage in the basement. All. Day. Long!

Tuesday- Still cleaning up the basement and getting new carpeting for the basement.

Wednesday- We got the travel itch already! We spent the day driving down to Atlanta to buy a trailer for our motorcycle. Beautiful day. Baaaad traffic! 

Thursday- Drove back home to Tennessee from Atlanta. Spent 3 hours at home and then left to drive the motorcycle up to Wisconsin. We made it as far as Nashville before getting caught in a downpour. We parked under an overpass and went to see a movie. Praise God, the rain had stopped by the time we came out. Unfortunately, we were so behind schedule that we had to ride until 3 am. Brrrr!

Friday- Spent the day riding in and out of the rain. Made it to Wisconsin Dells in the evening and had a very nice time at a camp up there. I had never really seen Wisconsin before and I enjoyed it.

Saturday- Toured the tourist area and drove out to Devil's Lake State Park which was very beautiful. We bought Slurpies, ice cream and pizza. Took a ferry across a lake. Found a beautiful stone church named St. Joseph's in Baraboo where we visited Jesus :-) We drove down to Indiana and went to Indiana Dunes State Park to camp for the evening. We made S'Mores before bed. It was a nice and relaxing day.

Sunday- Drove out to Michigan for the going away party of our best man who has joined the Marines. It was a lovely cookout and we really enjoyed catching up with our dear friends. We spent the night at my husband's best friend's house and had a Lost party to watch the finale- which we LOVED! Such great times.

Monday- Our Two Year Wedding Anniversary!!!!!! We went out to lunch with friends. Had a cook-out with more friends and then enjoyed some down time at a local park where we watched lots of baby geese and ducklings. Sooo cute! We had some fun news that I will probably share on here soon- keep us in your prayers.

Today- Spending the day being completely lazy!!!! Such bliss.

That, my friends, is the run down of our living a "normal non-trucking life." There will be much more adventure to come, but I wanted to take a quick moment to catch people up on our new life. God bless, friends!

Exciting and Emotional

Paul and I are pulling in to the trucking terminal right now to turn in our truck. We will no longer be trucking and it's a little bit emotional for me. We've lived in a truck ever since we got married- two years next week!

We are excited to start doing the marketing for the books and trading in our 18 wheels for a two wheeled motorcycle. But, being a woman, change is emotional for me. Pray that we follow God's leading, do His will and that God will bless our newest adventures.

I have to go clean the truck- PRAY FOR US, PLEASE!

What the flood dragged in

We usually experience one decent flood per year on our farm. Once the flood waters have disipated there is always something fun and fascinating to see. People are displaced from their homes and so are animals. While home I saw a pink salamander and a large rubbery-looking black salamander. While walking my dogs, I found this cute lil'guy. Surprisingly the dogs didn't eve notice it!

Awww, he's cute!

It looks like a long green noodle!

And then there was this fine fellow, who was walking smack down the middle of our driveway- an entire field (maybe 3 or 4 hundred feet) away from water!

Now that you've seen this guy you have to check out this Crawfish Boil Recipe and Pictures ! I don't think I could eat this guy- he's just too much fun. And sooo fiesty! Like a small yappy dog, he didn't realize he wasn't big. He was ready to pick a fight with anyone he could get close to!

Paul and I drove through Mississippi and Louisiana last week. I had never been in the Deep South before we began trucking, but I have really enjoyed traveling through that area. I always enjoy driving through the swamp on the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge.

 Here's some of what Wikipedia had to say about it, "The Atchafalaya Basin Bridge is actually two parallel bridges in the US state of Louisiana between Baton Rouge and Lafayette , LA which carries Interstate 10 over the Atchafalaya Basin. With a total length of 96,095 feet (29,290 m) or 18.2 miles, it is the tenth longest bridge in the world by total length." and "The Atchafalaya Basin, or Atchafalaya Swamp, is the largest swamp in the United States. Located in south central Louisiana, it is a combination of wetlands and river delta area where the Atchafalaya River and the Gulf of Mexico converge. The Atchafalaya is unique among basins because it has a growing delta system with nearly stable wetlands."

Calling Baton Rouge

In honor of our going off the road, enjoy this youtube video of Garth Brook's Callin Baton Rouge. Its our favorite trucking song!

Splish-splash!!!

I have been scolded for not posting pictures of our farm during the huge flood a week and a half ago, so I figured I had better post them quickly before I get into too much trouble!

When it first began raining we were all enjoying the craziness of it. The water was coming down so heavily that I could ony see a feet away when looking out the windows of the house. The rest of the family wanted to go down to the spring on our property to play in the water, so I stayed with my new nephew, Lil' Dude, while his parents and the rest of the "younger set" went off to play!

Lil' Dude didn't mind the rain coming down outside!

They came home cold and muddy, so they "showered" under the downspout before going in the house and enjoying hot showers.

I know! Scary, right? :-)

That night I was alone at my house when I went to check the basement and discovered a river running through it! I was in such a panic that I didn't even have time to take pictures...can you imagine???  I baled out water with a 5 gallon bucket and managed to clean up the mess. At one point I was running up the basement steps to pour a bucket out on the lawn and I stepped off the concrete into about a foot of water. I hadn't expected it to be so deep! I lost my balance and went sliding through water and mud. I've had finer moments. Like a little kid needing their parent, all I wanted to do was cry for my husband to come save me. I survived on my own and did manage to handle the situation even better than I thought I could.Two of my couches will probably have to be tossed since they had been sitting in the "river," but Praise God, that seems to be the worst of it.

A friend tried to drive up my drive way and had a wall of water splash up over the windshield of her van and flooded the interior. She never did make it. I could have pulled out the kayak and paddled over to my brother's house (NO, I am not exaggerating!),but I was too scared of the basement flooding again to leave the house unattended.

Once the sun came out, the water started going down and there was no longer a moat around my house I wadded over to visit my sister-in-law. I borrowed her camera and took some picture of the fields and trails under more than 10 feet of water in some places! My driveway and the field below it were literally a lake.

 

The horses seemed happy to come down from higher ground so they could say hello! 

Many of our friends (Mary!) have gone horseback riding down this trail and enjoyed a bonfire in the clearing. The water in this clearing is about 12 feet deep!

Welcome to the lake at Andrews Spring Farm!

Lord, I know I prayed that the rains would fall soft upon my fields, but this seems a bit extreme!

The dogs had fun playing fetch in their very own lake in the very own yard.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our tour of the lake, ehem, FARM. We hope you enjoyed the tour and learned a lot. Please be sure to stop and visit us next time you are in the area and want to do a little fishing!

Le Petit Dejeuner a la Truck!

Even truckers need to start the day off right with a good breakfast. Paul and I usually start our day off with a bowl of cereal and Classic Almond Breeze milk, a bowl of instant oatmeal, Eggo waffles or bagels and yogurt. 

When we have a little extra time in the morning we try to get creative by having pancakes- I buy small packets of Bisquick and and save single serving packets of syrup from Mickey D's to keep things simple and to save space.  Or we make fried egg sandwiches. YUM!

This is another one of those meals that can get messy in a truck, but is sooo worth it!

We toast onion bagels or english muffins and butter them lightly before adding a little Miracle Whip (we did a taste test and decided that, between Mayo & Miracle Whip, the "Zip" gave just the right kick!).

Fry up a couple of eggs and add a few slices of cheddar or sprinkle on the shredded stuff.

We keep a package of precooked, microwavable bacon around just for this meal and for tomato avocado sandwiches that we enjoy at lunch time. Add some slices of the bacon and tomato to your egg sandwich with a little salt and pepper and enjoy a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, my friends!

Even Snoop-dog loves them!

Another favorite (and faster!) le petit dejeuner is vanilla chai and yogurt topped with granola and fresh berries. 

Until recently, we had a hot pot that plugged into the cigarette lighter and I could boil up water for tea while sitting in my seat. Sadly, the element went out so now I have to crawl in the back and use the microwave, but a cup of tea is always worth a little extra work and the risk of being splashed by hot water!

Hey, Good Lookin'! What ya got cookin'?

I am home from California. I've survived the flooding at home in Tennessee. I am finally back in the truck with my husband! Ahh, truck sweet truck!

I have so much to blog about, but I'm not really in the mood for all the lengthy stuff right now, so I thought I would continue my expose on the "Secret Life of Truckers."


People always ask if we eat nothing but fast food all the time. When I answer "No!" and try to explain what cooking is like in the truck, people tend to look a little confused. A picture tells a thousand words, so I snapped a shot of my hubby making his specialty "Tuna Quesadillas."

Here is what this type of meal involves when it is made in a truck:

- Opening and draining cans of tuna. It sounds easy, but it can get messy in a truck. If it spills and ends up on the bed and it will smell like fish until we can get to a washer and dryer. Fun, right?!?!

- Rolling down the windows and turning on the fan to vent any fumes out of the truck.
- Setting up and lighting our single burner propane stove.

- Fry tortillas, add tuna and cheese until "melty" (Paul's word!), remove, roll and enjoy!

- Clean up cooking area, frying pan and plates with wet wipes.

That is how it is done folks! Hope you enjoyed this very random tutorial!