Back in the 816

We are back on the road after a great weekend in Kansas City with friend and family. It was really great to see every one. We love getting to spend all our time together, but we both miss or peoples back home.
We were having so much fun getting Arthur Bryant’s and El Maguey, crashing super bowl party’s, and feeling like  loca’s again at Harry’s, that we didn’t take a single picture. Lame, I know.
I hope we can make it back soon, we miss everyone. A special thanks to Josh and Amy for putting us up and to my grandma for letting us use the car.
Next time we will remember pictures, promise.

Trucker Lexicon

In case you were wondering…
Here is a list of commonly used terms in the logistics industry.

OTR: Over the road. This is used to refer to a trucker who drives all over the country. Usually is out 2 to 4 weeks before going home.

Day Cab: Truck that doesn’t have a sleeper. Used for local deliveries.

Dead Head: Used to refer to a tractor/truck hauling an empty trailer.

Bobtail: Used to refer to a tractor/truck hauling nothing.

Lot Lizard: Term used to describe a hooker who solicits truckers at truck stops.

OT: On time

T-Call: Terminal call. Instead of taking a load all the way to its’ destination, you drop it at a terminal and someone else takes it the rest of the way.

Drop: to unhook the trailer from your truck

Hook: to attach the trailer to your truck

Live load: You must wait while people physically load the trailer with whatever you will be hauling.

Preloaded: A trailer that has already been filled and placed somewhere in the yard for you to easily pick up.

Yard: area around warehouses and terminals where trucks and trailers are parked for pick up and delivery-like a staging area.

Qualcomm: On board computer used for communicating with our dispatch, as well as managing our electronic driver logs and our GPS navigation.

Gear jamming: Driving a big truck.

CB Radio: Citizens band radio.

This is all we could think of right now but if you have any questions about the logistics business, or how things work, please ask. We love to hear from you guys!

Time with Family

We finally made it to Mountain Grove and got to see the family! We had a really great time! We got to see our beautiful new nephew Taten who is absolutely precious.

And of course his older, more energetic brother Jaron.

Being out on the road all the time you miss doing everyday “settled” people stuff. Like cooking. So one night we made homemade pizzas, With homemade dough.

Lucky for me they had a classy apron for me to borrow.

We played Catch Phrase and this Lego game called Creationary. It’s like Pictionary but instead of drawing, you build with Legos. It was awesome.

Then, because this is the first time we’ve been back in months, we did Christmas. 🙂 We got a fridge for our truck that we’d been desperately needing…the old one was a glorified lunch box that didn’t keep anything very cold and made our lunch meat slimy. The new one is like the Cadillac of trucker fridges.

It holds a TON of stuff and, most importantly, keeps all of that stuff super cold! Then, our brother Isaac who’s crazy talented with leather, made us homemade journals. They’re legendary. I love them!

Jaron enjoyed all the hats.


The trip went by way too fast and before we knew it we were saying goodbye…but not before seeing how many Smith’s we could fit into our truck.

We had a great time, and already miss everybody!
Now we’re back on the road and headed down to Florida.

And then awesome happened

So as you know we’ve been waiting for the last few days (since 11am Thursday morning to be exact) to get a load to Mountain Grove, MO to see Jacob’s family.
Today they sent us up to Edwardsville, KS (a suburb of Kansas City, KS) to get our batteries replaced, but when asked about getting a load home-ward we were told “be patient, don’t push it”. (Jacob just smiled and graciously responded…we’re lucky he was the one that was told this because I may not have been quite as…mature with my response).
Anywho, we got them to let us bobtail (drive the tractor without pulling a trailer) to the “store” and promptly headed for Raytown, MO to get some wonderful coffee from my favorite coffee shop, Benetti’s.
Ben, Michael, and Kiersten were working and greeted us with the warm welcome we had so desperately been missing. My good friend Chloie stopped by to see us and then later the wonderful, and adorably pregnant, Amy stopped in to see us as well. It was the social interaction I had been needing for weeks.
On top of all of that, as we were pulling into the coffee shop, and Jacob was narrowly missing the sign, we got a pre-plan for a load headed to Florida that doesn’t have to be delivered until Friday…which means, since Mountain Grove is on the way, we get to hang out there for a few days and leave in time to get the load delivered on time. Yay!
So now we’ve picked up the load and we’re headed to Mountain Grove to spend some time with his wonderful family. Finally!

More waiting

So we finally made it out of Oklahoma, but instead of them sending us to Mountain Grove, MO for our home time, they sent us to Emporia, KS to deliver a load. So now, after having delivered that load, we’re waiting again…hoping to get home to see his family soon.
I know we’re out on the road all the time and sitting versus driving doesn’t seem like a huge difference, but it is. We have no idea when we’ll be able to leave so it makes it hard to do anything outside of the truck.
I think I get rebellious when I’m bored and frustrated with things so our snack today wasn’t exactly healthy.

Anywho, for now I’ll take advantage of the time to hang out with Jacob and knit. He’s taking advantage of his opportunity to read some more.

Disappointment

Remember when we were sitting in Oklahoma waiting to get a load home so we could see Jacob’s family? Yeah…2 days later, we’re still here. Stuck. (supposedly freight is “slow”). We were planning on playing awesome games and eating awesome food with his awesome family…but instead we’re just sitting…waiting.
Jacob’s reading a book, I think this is his second now.

And I’m working on my knitting

We’re both getting a little antsy, but there’s literally nothing we can do about it at this point.
So, hopefully we’ll get a load out of here soon.  Until then, I’m gonna make a hat.

Almost time for a break

So we’ve been running these part two weeks looking forward to finally getting back to Mountain Grove to see Jacob’s family. Went in and out of Missouri a few times these last few days and now we’re sitting in Nowheresville, OK waiting for a load that’ll take us back that way.

After being on the road for two weeks it’s going to feel really nice to sleep on a bed that doesn’t move, and eat yummy, hot, home-cooked, fresh food.

…if you can’t tell, I’m kind of hungry at the moment.

This weekend should be a blast. It’ll be our first opportunity to meet our beautiful new nephew Taten. We can’t wait.

Procrastinators suck at blogging

So we know it’s been a while since you’ve heard from us. We’re still here, or there…driving around the country together. Over the last month or two we’ve done quite a few things so I think I’ll just leave you with some pictures.

Maple bacon ale doughnut

The job is interesting for sure but so far we’re having fun.

On the road…again

So we are finally on the road together, and finally writing a post.

We have been from Los Angeles to New Jersey and are now on our way to Georgia via Chicago.
Seeing different parts of the country is a lot of fun.

Rachel is working on a truckers lexicon (coming soon) so all you four wheelers (normal car) can get a feel for what it’s like OTR. (over the road)

Talk to you all soon -Jacob & Rachel

Hurry Up and Wait!

So we finished our truck driving school and got our CDL’s last Friday. Which was exciting. This week we had three days of orientation before we go out on the road with our mentor’s. After four weeks of getting up at 4:30 am and being exhausted, we are sitting around and waiting for a phone call. Having a break and sleeping in is great, I’m still hoping to get on the road soon. In the mean time…

We celebrated Rachel’s birthday last weekend. Lots of fun!

So much fun my eyes crossed!

What are you looking at?

We will let you all know what we are doing, when we know. Love you all,

Jacob & Rachel,