Kearny, NJ - March 8, 2009

Greetings from beautiful Kearny, NJ. We got stuck here for the day - with a delivery to make in Quincy, MA in the morning. But, because of this particular load, we had to wait here. It's what is referred to as a High Value load, which means the truck has to be parked in a secure location when we're not moving. The view in this drop yard is stunning ... rusted cargo containers, weather-worn green vinyl snow fences, and brackish mud puddles that range in depth from a couple of inches to deep enough to lose a shoe in. The sun is shining at the moment but it still seems dreary.

Things are a bit slow with freight, but I suppose that's the way of the world at the moment. We've been moderately busy, enough to stay ahead of the game, but we would like to be busier. That will come as things start to loosen - hopefully sooner than later. 

The day actually got a little better as it went on, in large part to a fellow trucker named Craig - who is actually from the Uhrichsville area in Ohio - and drives for Arnold, which is a division of US Xpress. He was stuck in the same situation as we were, on hold for a day or so, and he was pretty bored.

He saw Beth sitting in the driver's seat (I was sleeping at the time) and he drove his truck right up beside ours and started talking. Beth is kind of like that; people have this tendency to just start talking to her, telling her their life's story, as though they had known her for a long time. Anyway, after talking for an hour or so, he took off and came back about a half an hour later with a bunch of food he had just picked up at the local grocery story - some meatloaf, a small pork roast, mashed potatoes, a gallon of iced tea and a couple of different kinds of veggies. At his insistence, we took the two tractors to a remote part of the drop yard and had a picnic. It seems, according to Craig, this kind of thing used to happen from time to time when drivers would get stuck together in a yard or at a terminal. Now a lot places frown on picnics and most companies outlaw them completely. My guess is the insurance industry had a hand in banning the practice. It did help pass the time for us even if we had to listen to a couple of hours of country/trucking music blaring from Craig's tractor.


We still like this game a lot. It seems to fit us well, and we get to see a lot of amazing country. Today is really the exception - there is a lot of beautiful scenery in New Jersey, just not here in Kearny. We like Tennessee and Connecticut for pure beauty, but it seems that every state has something of it's own personality - Wyoming and Southern Idaho are stunning, but in an odd way. The upper Midwest is lush and green in the spring, which is stunning, and Texas is, well Texas and California both really, have a little bit of everything