Dirty Tumbleweeds and Flying Adventures

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A metropolitan area of nearly 3 million people, highly industrialized, lots of freight moving in and out and not a single truck stop within 50 miles. Grrrr..

We delivered into Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon and didn't get the next load until Monday morning so we were basically stuck. Hours of service, fuel cost and just plain inconvenience forces us to stay in Pittsburgh. We were lucky enough to find a fairly legal place to park but it means no shower at night and no coffee in the morning. These are two of my favorite things so this does not a happy tumbleweed make. (use your best Yoda voice for that part)

Unusual sign of the week: Christ's Home Office. And the best part of this is that it's in Paradise, PA. Well of course! What a perfect place for Christ to have his home office. Naturally, there was not a truck stop there  but I don't hold that against them, they had more important things to do, obviously.

***Breaking news****** (insert Muppet NewsFlash Breaking News music here)

Observant readers may have noticed that I have not posted any "action photos" lately, that's because I left the camera cord at home. All of our pictures are stuck on the camera with no way of downloading them to the computer. This is a shame because as we speak we are heading down to Lansing, West Virginia where we will have the chance to do a zip line through the trees.  I'm so excited! We have passed by the New River Gorge Canopy Tour signs in southern WV before, (http://www.newrivergorgecanopytour.com/), but never had time to stop. Himself called earlier to see if they could accommodate a big truck in their parking lot and the very helpful gal on the phone said, why not? They'll figure something out, they have a place for buses that we could use even if they have to shuttle us from there. I just love it when people are helpful! She said they had an even faster and higher zip line tour that's only been open for a couple of weeks. I hope we aren't the guinea pigs!

Keep your fingers crossed. In 2 hours we will be zipping 200 feet over old growth hemlock and hardwoods. I can't wait! Stay tuned to find out if Tumbleweeds really can fly...

On the Road Again

Ahh...on the road again. We have been off the road for a week, as you may have noticed there were no posts. I do apologize to my loyal followers (my mother and that crazy guy I used to work with!) this is supposed to be a trucking blog and we weren't doing any trucking so you can see I was in a sticky pickle!

Now we are heading east again, sadly, since we miss being out west. We are picking up Great Northern and Pinto beans in western Nebraska. I did not realize that they grew out here but apparently they are quite abundant. We have passed three bean plants right at the border between Wyoming and Nebraska. Known as dry beans, pinto beans are the most popular dry bean in the United States followed by navy beans, Great Northern beans, red kidney beans and black beans. This is according to the US Dry Bean Council, and they should know.  Nebraska is the 3rd top producer of dry beans, following North Dakota and Michigan. Beans have been grown for about six thousand years in the  Americas and did you know that beans are not in fact a magical fruit but they are good for your heart, bean consumption can lower your risk for heart disease. Now you know more than you ever wanted to about dry beans. It's not a good year to be a farmer of dry beans though, they are getting half of what they got last year for them in this area.

It was nice to be home but it's nice to be back in the truck again too, since we work 10 times harder at home than we do on the road. Himself has a never ending supply of energy and work projects so I have to do my best to keep up. One of the nicest things about being home is having my own bathroom, what a luxury to have it all to myself. And the only cooties are our own, not some sweaty, unwashed truck driver! Seeing friends, eating home cooked meals, lazing around in the morning over multiple cups of coffee... these are also a few of my favorite things.

Speaking of coffee we will be going through Lexington NE, one of my favorite places on I-80 because they have a $5 coffee shack with truck parking. Yum!. These little coffee houses are so popular out west, our little home town has 2 drive up ones and one in the hospital and one in the bookstore, but you hardly see them east of Nebraska. Of course there are Starbucks everywhere but that's just not the same (don't get me started).  I like the local ones that are just drive-ups the best and a lot of time they have homemade goodies. So now I really have something to look forward to and even Himself likes a $5 coffee (extra sweet & milky) and a scone now and then. I can't wait, although at the rate we are getting loaded it may be late afternoon before we get there. The bean counters are still loading us...

Ohio and $5 Coffee....

So there I was: An Ohio turnpike travel plaza. Morning. I need coffee, naturally and there it is: Starbucks.

It was a face off of mammoth proportions. Would I succumb? Or would I hold to my principles, die on this hill and maintain a sense of self that I could be proud of?

Let me back up.

My friends know that I have drawn a line in the sand in regards to Starbucks. I love a Cafe Latte as much as the next gal but have decided that I can only get them from places that aren't Starbucks. Why?

Well it comes from a place of being anti anything name-brand. You know, just getting things because they are cool or are supposed to be good?

It's kind of a joke among my friends and I really don't have anything against Starbucks per se. Except that they are intimidating places with all their frappacinos, skinny lattes, macchiatos etc. and I swear I have never been in one that the people were friendly and helpful.

If you don't know what you want right away and you stare dumbly up at the menu, the barista shoots waves of "hurry up, moron" out of her eyeballs. And even if you are the only person in the place they make you come down to the red light, the sacred place where your expensive coffee is placed.

Also the way they size their cups drives me crazy and I refuse to say Venti, it's probably not even a word and even if it is it doesn't have any place among tall and short.

There I feel better now. But really, does it make sense to not like something that you like just because other people like it? Isn't that reverse discrimination or at least reverse snobbery? I don't know.

Does anyone care? I doubt it. Actually I hope not, shouldn't you be doing something right now???

Back to the story:

We last left off with me against Starbucks. A shootout at the OK corral. Would my principles stand up or would I get that $5 coffee and let the Man keep me down? Would good triumph over evil? Could I hold my head up and look myself in the mir....Oh screw it!

Yes. I got the coffee. I even called it a Venti.

Sometimes a coffee is just a coffee.

And it was good.