Hysterical Virginia

or do I mean Historical? We picked up a load in Alabama on Thursday, the day before New Year's Eve. It is to be delivered to Manassas, VA on January 6. In case you need help with the math, that is an entire week to drive a load 600 some miles. It took us till sometime midafternoon on the 31st (24 hours basically) to drive it to within an hour of the customer and we have spent the last 50 some hours trying to find out if we can deliver it early. Here are a couple humorous Alabama shots:

Seriously? Bumpass?

Are we in Mayberry?
Or maybe that's Larry, Darrell, and his other brother Darrell.

Thank heavens for brother-in-law, Jimbo, in Stafford, Virginia. He sent nephew Tyler to pick us up from the rest area on New Year's Eve so that Mr. Trucker could participate in their annual New Year's Eve poker tourney and celebration.

Here we all are celebrating...

Even April the dog gets to ring in the New Year.

A good time was had by all, but unfortunately Mr. Trucker finished out of the money both games. We slept late on New Year's day, and then, since the dispatchers had no word on much of anything concerning our load, and since Jimbo had left a vehicle at our disposal, we decided to take a little jaunt into Historic Downtown Fredricksburg.

We've noticed these cool granite curbs in a lot of older eastern cities.

Clever!

Mr. Trucker and friend, and yes, this is a cigar shop!

Wow! At that price, we should stock up!

Very pleasing color palette

I'm in love with this sweater! It's even my
favorite color!

Liars! It says "Open Every Day" but the door's clearly locked!

Look what I spotted up this pole, hidden in the vine!

We had a nice time strolling around, although not much was open, being New Year's Day and all. We had lunch at a little deli and it ended up costing $21 for basically a small sandwich and a salad, with a few extras. Mr. Trucker was appalled at the 11% sales tax. 

I'm a little rusty on my history, but apparently Fredricksburg was pretty big Civil War territory, also some other important guy, whose name escapes me, was born there...

Oh yeah, that's right, it was Georgie Boy!

History...

History...

And more history! Very cool centuries old buildings, many
of them with slate tile shingled roofs.

Today we used Jimbo's truck to go to Walmart for a few groceries.  Then to pass the time in the truck, we watched a movie, napped, found the Green Bay Packer game (on a Chicago station, so we had to put up with the Bears' bias, but it's okay because WE won!), and now as the day/weekend winds to a close, we are hoping and praying that we can get out from under this load (and out of this rest area) tomorrow! 

Today's Silly Sounding Place Name:  Massaponax, Virginia.

Back In The Saddle

Okay, we're back in business. Thanks to all you readers who suggested solutions to my picture problem. Someday I MAY investigate some of them...but....probably not. The easiest fix was just to purchase more storage space, so even though I was initially opposed to that idea, ultimately what it boils down to is that it was the easiest solution. And I really have no patience when it comes to technology. Just ask Mr. Trucker. I want it NOW! So I can get back into the post I began typing on Tuesday...

Alright, enough messing around. Time to get back on the road and back to work! We had a very lovely Christmas with Mr. Trucker's sister and her family in Daytona Beach, FL. But first, we had to get through...

Atlanta

"Oh look!", I says to Mr. Trucker, "They root for the Packers".
"No honey", he says, "That's for the Georgia Bulldogs".
Silly me!

We experienced our Christmas miracle that day. When we started out in the morning, Mr. Trucker left himself enough time to get to our delivery stop at 1:00 p.m. We absolutely had to be there before 2:00 p.m. in order to be unloaded that same day,  otherwise we would have been stuck there, with the load, for three and a half days, until Monday morning. So he figured a 1:00 arrival would give us a nice hour cushion. HOWEVER, we had enough time to get there by 1:00 IF everything went smoothly. After we set off, and as he drove, it began to dawn on Mr. Trucker that he had forgotten to plan for traffic through/around Atlanta. I didn't realize it until I went out on the road with Mr. Trucker, but apparently Atlanta traffic is NOTORIOUS! It is every driver's nemesis and you can plan on delays there almost 100% of the time. Well, Mr. Trucker began to be very uncomfortable in his seat, the closer we got to Atlanta. He kept checking his GPS for signs of delay on the three available routes (one of them THROUGH Atlanta, and the other two, around it) and cursing at it because it didn't show any delays on any route ("You stupid, useless piece of crap!"). Well, dear readers...the reason Garmin didn't show any delays was because there weren't any! We sailed through Atlanta without losing a single minute! According to Mr. Trucker, that was truly a miracle. In fact, one of the people he related the story to (who is also familiar with Atlanta traffic) told him he was lying!

Here are some other sights from Georgia:

A peach, I presume.

Would you believe they're harvesting cotton here? In December?
Who'da thunk?

Yup, that's right! Bacon County.

Mr. Trucker's been trying to tell me that the South has a pharmacy
chain called "Fred's", and I always figured he was pulling my leg.

"So, where do YOU go to school?"
"Okefenokee Technical College. Studying Swamp History."

Late that same night (December 23), we FINALLY crossed the state line into Florida and on the morning of Christmas Eve, we picked up our rental car and headed for Daytona Beach. The whole experience of being in Florida in late December was so weird. It hardly felt like Christmas at all, to two people from Michigan and Wisconsin. The landscape is so different there. The houses are often short and squat, with flat roofs, built of cement block or stucco and painted all kinds of pastel colors. And the trees...

Palm trees!

For some reason, I always though Spanish Moss was only in
Louisiana. But I was wrong!

Heading north for Daytona Beach, we had to pass through Orlando. That is one busy place!

Orlando, FL

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon when we finally rolled into Daytona Beach.

Home of the Daytona 500

Here we are at last!

Mr. Trucker's sister lives on a narrow strip of land, only several blocks wide, which we reached by crossing a bridge over a lagoony type body of water. On the other side of that bridge is her community, and...THE OCEAN.

Hey look! The ocean up ahead!

Cool. Surf's up!

Hey honey! What are you doing? We can't drive down there!

The first thing Mr. Trucker wanted to do was drive down ON the beach, which apparently you can do in Daytona (don't tell the rental car company). It was a blast!

He's so proud of himself!

Christmas morning was a whirlwind of present opening...

The nieces and nephews in a frenzy of unwrapping.

Mom & Dad videotaping.

The aftermath!

Even Tara the dog got a new collar and a "pheasant".

You could have knocked me over with a feather when Mr. Trucker's sister handed me a package that had been mailed to me at their address by my dear friend Polly in Green Bay. I felt so loved and special!

One of the big hits of the day was the "farting putty" that Mr. Trucker and I had bought each of the kids at the Dollar store. 

We had a lot of fun over the weekend, and had two really warm days of sunny skies and temps in the high 60's and low 70's before it turned really cold (for Florida, that is). We played a ton of Euchre and enjoyed good food and a wine tasting. Some of my hats were even in demand...

New friend Alyssa looks cute in a Newsboy hat that I just got
a new recipe for.

My previously shown slouch hat on niece Josie. She never took it off!

The cuties!

Well, all good things must come to an end and our holiday ended Tuesday morning when we had to say goodbye to our hosts and head back out over the road. The good news is that we have remained in the south, having been in Florida and Alabama for the last two days, where it is quite warm! We've managed to avoid all the snowstorms we keep hearing about, and that is fine with me! 

Here's something you won't see in Wisconsin in December:
an outdoor fruit stand.

Mr. Trucker is so happy because he scored some boiled green peanuts,
which is a southern delicacy.

Birmingham, AL

Today's Silly Sounding Place Name:  Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Brigadoon, Pennsylvania

Today I was able to earn my way back into Mr. Trucker's good graces. You may remember me posting early last month about Emlenton, PA. That is the storybook looking village on the banks of the Alleghany River that you can see from way up high on the Emlenton I-80  bridge. I missed getting any decent pictures of it last month because I had nearly worn out the batteries in my camera in the miles leading up to it, and Mr. Trucker was gravely disappointed in me.

Today Mr. Trucker determined that we were going to get some good shots of Emlenton if it killed us. First, we had to wake up at the world's most disgusting truckstop in Lake Station, IN, and drive out of Indiana, where I saw my first snow of the season

Snow in Indiana

Then we had to drive across Ohio

the Meander Reservoir in Ohio

and into Pennsylvania. We were racing against time, because we knew that with the previous weekend's time switch away from Daylight Savings Time, we were barely going to make it to Emlenton before we lost our light. Mr. Trucker's plan was to get off at the exit just before the bridge, then drive down THROUGH the town and back up the other side, because the best view is on the north side of the bridge and we were traveling east, which meant it would all be on HIS side of the truck. 

Here's our exit

When I say that Emlenton is way down in a valley, I am not exaggerating.

the descent into Emlenton

It was quite a steep descent, complicated by a little bit of road construction

Great! Put a stop sign in the MIDDLE of a steep downhill grade.

This is the bridge we still have to go up and over!

The town is absolutely adorable! I think I may have to move there, they have all the necessary services

Emlenton, PA

It's your typical Pennsylvania town, with the houses all crammed together right on the street. 

Main drag in Emlenton, PA

 I saw at least TWO Antique stores and various other quaint looking businesses

Emlenton, PA business district

After cruising the main drag (can you call it cruising in an 18 wheeler?), we got back on I-80 heading west this time and I managed to get off these shots

Emlenton, PA seen from the Emlenton I-80 bridge

Mr. Trucker says it looks its best this time of year with no leaves on the trees to obscure the view from the bridge. He also says it is pretty in winter with snow. Since we had been holding it for hours so as to make it to Emlenton before we lost the light, we made a pit stop to use the facilities

Emlenton Truck Plaza

Home of America's Worst Best Pies!

I happen to know that the Lemon Meringue is good!

So, hope you enjoyed our little excursion! We're pressing on now to make it to the Flying J in Mill Hall, PA for the night so that we'll be within shouting distance of our delivery tomorrow in Fogelsville (yesterday I mistakenly called it Fogelville). 

Today's Silly Sounding Place Name:  Maumee, OH.