Floating

We're still in Memphis. Yes, we've been here since Sunday and it is now Wednesday. If I dare to continue the analogy of water to our driving experience, this is the picture I will paint. . .

Think of floating Blair to Patrick on the Norfork River. The excitement as you start out and the first ripple of water accelerating the canoe into the glorious river compares to our first load from Ohio to Memphis. "Here we go!" But now, we've hit that long mid section of the journey. The part of the canoe trip that you start sunburning so you decide to pull over and get in the water -is it best to ease in and let the cool water sting as you adjust, or is it best to dive in and submerse your body all at once, head to toes envelopment of the chilly waters? Well, sitting in Memphis is more like the slow sting of cold water.

What's taken so long? We had to put our truck out of service yesterday when we noticed a puddle of transmission fluid under our truck. It was a leaking output seal on our transmission. Fortunately, it was an easy fix, but the service center had to overnight the part. I got a night on a real mattress at Comfort Inn, though! It was good for us.

We had a load offer today from Halls TN to Perryville MO. Woo-Hoo! However, we got 50 miles outside of Halls and the load was cancelled. Thank goodness we are still getting paid for a dry run, but grrrr. At least we're flagged as first out on the dispatch board. So, we're waiting to see where we'll be dispatched.

Once I get my CDL License on December 27, we will not have to deal with this. We'll basically be able to go anywhere. In the mean time, Michael is a solo driver and we have to abide by the 11, 14, and 70 rules. Again, sound like trying to navigate through some ripples on the river???

So, we're sitting at Love's in West Memphis, AR waiting on dispatch. I was hoping to get to practice driving today. But  I can only drive on private property after a load is completed. If I drove now, it would start Michael's 14 hour clock of service time and take away from how far we can take a paying load. So we have to sit here.

Wal-Mart is only 4 miles away and I could use their parking lot to practice backing, paralell parking, and pre-trip stuff for my test, but again I would be wasting the hours we could drive. So, we're watching TV and cleaning our truck.

Too bad I can't go down to Mud Island or the Pyramid. It's only 1 exit down. Beale Street sounds great, too. Well, I'm stuck here in Memphis singin' the blues.

Don't worry, I love what we're doing, it is just waiting that makes me sit on the edge of the canoe seat.