Me Quirky??

Your Quirk Factor: 76%

You're so quirky, it's hard for you to tell the difference between quirky and normal. No doubt about it, there's little about you that's "normal" or "average."

How Quirky Are You?

I Hate Computers!

I hate computers. I have spent 2 days deleting files and junk from my old e-machine trying to speed it up. Also been copying files to and external drive from the acer so i can put them on the e-machine and use it while I format and reinstall windows. Guess I need to get rid of vista and go back to xp. Acer sucks! Vista sucks! Computers suck! Everything sucks today!!!!

OK, So not everything does! I never imagined that I would laugh so hard I would cry (I have done that many times before) but not over my own feet! I know, sounds retarded but you really had to be there! Not sure if it was my feet or my socks but you can bet I will keep them dog's covered up from now on =)) =))

The Day After Christmas

Turned out to be a dreary and rainy day in Tucson. Seems that all I want to do is sleep! I have tons of paperwork to do and no motivation to do it. HELP ME! I think I need an energy shot. What do I do with all of this mess? How do I organize it all? Way too much to do, I am buried in papers here, hope I can dig my way out soon.

Merry Christmas 2008!

Merry Christmas to me, Merry Christmas to me, Merry Christmas Richaaaaarrrrrd, Merry Christmas Tooooooooooo Meeeeeeeeeee!(sung to the happy birthday tune). Christmas is here and I am still physically alone, But thanks to the internet, I am spending the day with Ivy:D

I did all my phone and text wishes to everyone and if I missed anyone, sorry. Nice day and nice dinner, Next year I will spend it together with Ivy instead of cyber!

Christmas Eve In Tucson Arizona!

I lay here in a motel room,.....alone,........ in Tucson, the spirit of Christmas is all around the town. My home sits empty in Tennessee. My parents in PA. Siblings in PA. TX. FL. friends around the USA. A few around the globe. Christmas has just been another day to me for some years now as all holidays are. But this year............it's different. My Christmas Eve has turned out to be one of the best that I have had for many years. Even though we are a half a world away you have done your utmost best to make me feel as if we are in the same room together. We had a wonderful dinner, yes, you stayed up most of the night and it was breakfast for you, then we had a nice talk and I fell asleep listening to you talk and breath in my ear. (Sorry hun, I promise not to make a habit of falling asleep while you are talking:D) I woke up to the sound of you breathing (if I said snoring you would KILL me) in my ear and I realize, since we can't yet be together, this has been the best Christmas gift I could have received. I love you. Next Christmas I will be by your side.

Time To Leave Nogales.

My trailer returned today around noon and it was way to late to find a load so I am probably stuck until at least Monday. This really sucks for the finances. So,..... I am off to Tucson and going to get a room so I can have a much needed shower. Ivy refuses to talk to me until I get one as she said she can't stand to smell me. Wow, modern technology, you can see, hear and now even smell over the internet!! Lol.

Christmas Grows Nearer

Still no trailer back from mexico. What did I expect? It didn't leave on Friday like it was supposed to so here I sit and wait. Lucky thing I have electricty and internet.

Meet My Future Family

I received these today and really had to share them with the world so I can look back here someday and see how the predictions turned out. :D

What A LAZY ASS I Am!!

Sunday evening and here I sit not doing a dam thing. Haven't cleaned any of the truck, done any paperwork, worked on cleaning the outside, pulled out the bumper from bambi! All I have managed to do is screw with this worthless piece of shit computer. NEVER buy an Acer!!!! They are junk. Everyone I know who has one doesn't like it. Nothing but trouble. I have been copying files to my external drive so maybe I can reinstall windows and start all over again.

Saturday Blues and Wonder of the Next Week.

Well, arrived here Friday evening and dropped the trailer at the freight forwarder for its trip into Mexico. They were nice enough to allow me to park here in their yard and plug into electricity so I can have lights and computer. Unfortunately though I looked out at one pm and see my trailer still sitting in the yard! This is not a good sign. So I see Mike (the owner) in the yard and I go ask whats up. He says the customs broker is dragging his feet doing the paperwork for clearance and it should be done early Monday morning ready to leave. HA!! that's what I have been hearing this whole trip. SHOULD BE! But nothing has gone as planned yet.

That will make the return trip later now. So assuming all goes good they will be back late Tuesday evening and with Wednesday being Christmas Eve I don't stand a very good chance of finding a load. :(( Things are really slow for this time of year and with the economy being in the toilet I wonder if I can find a load after Christmas even. Damm. Definitely not a good week:(

Tucson to Nogales

After a 6 hour wait and having to untarp the whole load and retarp it again, the Mexican inspection is done. So I am off to Nogales, about an hours drive to drop my trailer at the forwarder and wait for it to go 8 hours into Mexico, be unloaded, and 8 hours back to me so I can hopefully find a load before Christmas and have something to run with over the holiday.

Waiting In Tucson Arizona.

I am sitting in Tucson waiting for my load to be inspected so I can carry it on to Nogales and drop my trailer so the Mexican carrier can take it on into Mexico and then I will have a 1 to 4 day wait for it to come back. This is really going to suck! May be too late to reload before Christmas.

West Texas Clouds and Sunset.

The U.S. Postal Service Does It Again.

Finally, after paying extra money for 6 day service instead of the 10 to 14 day time to the Philippines, the package I mailed on November 21st has arrived at its destination in Manila, today, December 17th! Wooo Hooooo! Made it just in time for Ivy's birthday (December 8th). Thank You, United States and Philippine Postal Service for a job soooo well done!! (in case you don't detect the sarcasm there, a steak that is well done takes a long time to cook!) So WTF there USPS, if you have no control over the 6 day delivery time why charge more money and offer service you don't control?? Got to love these government agencies.

Anyhow, I am taking a nap until Ivy returns from the P.O. to open her birthday gift whilst I watch. Love modern technology also. Get to join via Internet and webcam a late birthday party 8000 miles away (12875 km's for all my foreign friends)

MAIL CALL!!!!

Arriving at home and checking my mail this is some of what was there waiting for me. This is from my sweetheart Ivy! She found it in an antique shop while visiting Singapore. It is (I believe she said) A Chinese good luck money. The keys are mine and were not included :D This, also from my sweetie, is my dream catcher which now has a permanent place over my bed..
The inside of my Christmas card which contained the dream catcher.

The outside of my Christmas card.

The back of the MERLION postcard from Ivy sent while in Singapore.

The flip side of the postcard with the MERLION. Sorry about the white spot which is the reflection of the flash:( Maybe someday I will post my favorite video on here for all to see :D
THE SINGAPORE MERLION!!! Look! =))

So despite all the snow and the hours working on the truck at home it was a great gift I received at home in the mail bag this time.

Damm I Hate Winter!!!

Got a late start from the house this evening and had good roads through Ohio and by the time I got to Louisville KY everything went to shit. First the rain started which very quickly turned t a snow sleet mixture and was piling up on the roadway pretty fast making treacherous conditions. I figured 2:30 in the morning traffic would be light and it would be easy going. HA! That was as wrong as I could be. Traffic sucked! They were all afraid, now don't get me wrong, I have a few fears but bad roads is not one of them. I know what I am doing and how to handle myself, but when you are around people who are afraid to be in the snow but too stupid to stay home, Then I have to deal with them. Which would be fine if they would drive slow and stay in the right lane.! But Noooooo, they cant do that, so Richard has to pass them on the left shoulder and scare them more so they get the hell out of my way and let me get down the road to where there is no one around me. Why do they all want to bunch up and make it more dangerous?? STUPID PEOPLE!!! STAY HOME!!!!

SO that was an extremely stressful drive. after 3 hours of that I hit wet roads then once into Tennessee it dried up. Thinking I was home free I got to the west side of Nashville and my shutdown light came on and before I could find a place to stop it did just that! It shutdown the engine. Coasted to a place off of the road and after a brief inspection found a hole in the lower radiator hose that drained all of the coolant. Sooooo being the handy (rigger) that I am, after a little rubber padding and some tie wire twisted around it, I filled the radiator with water and was on my way. Stay tuned to this channel for more exciting updates.:)

The New Aircard Has Arrived!

Got back to the house to find my new aircard waiting for me. (Bless you Fedex!! Why can you not deliver my love to me like that???) Put it in and I have a signal in the house where I never had one before. Now the real test comes, see how it preforms on the road.

Irwin, PA. to Nogales, AZ.

Run Bambi Run! Not That Way Dumb Shit.

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Just read the other day Pennsylvania has the highest deer/vehicle accident ratio. Been 8 years since I have hit one, until tonight that is:(( Oh well, the truck fared better than bambi did. Had to pull the bumper out away from the tire to drive but will have to get the rest fixed soon.

Light Up The Night

Had a good morning here. Had a friend come over with a bucket truck and put up a new dusk to dawn light so mom and dad won't be in the dark at night. Seems like only half of the bulb was lighting up so not sure if the bulb is defective or not. But its ok, Dave said he would come back and change the bulb if it is bad. Time to go fix lunch, I have a lunch date:D

Sheeler House Goes Wireless

Woo Hoo!!!!! Went to Wal Mart again today and bought a wireless router to replace the wired router that was here. With a little tinkering and tweaking got it up and running. Main computer hooked up and working. My laptop is connected. Now I can roam throughout the house and outside and keep Internet signal. Now I move to the upstairs computer to install the wireless card in it and get it connected. Hope it goes as easy as the first half. More updates later.

A Brighter Day

What a better way to start the day then to have a conversation with the most important person in your life! Seems like no matter how much time is spent chatting and talking its never enough. I pray everyday for the strength to go on until I can finally be with her. I never imagined it would be so tough. I love you Ivy. Thank you for the Christmas picture.

A Busy Day Spent With My Mother

Started out this morning sort of early and went to the department of health to get a birth certificate for Kayla. Had to wait an hour so headed to AT&T. Tried a new aircard and found out that tech supports not as smart as they thought! Told me it was my pc but when a test card was put in had full signal and connected right away so it was the aircard and not my pc!

Called the insurance people right from the store and got the new aircard ordered and was told it would be here in 2 days. Went to Wal Mart got a few things and picked up a box of fish. Decided to give mom a break and fix dinner for them. Back to the health department to pick up the birth certificate and we were on our way home.

Carried everything in and put some stove top stuffing in the bottom of a pan, a little onion soup mix, fish and some garlic cloves then on the stove to steam (Ivy introduced me to steaming and my cooking has improved a bunch since! Thanks Ivy, love you so much) cut up some zucchini and carrots to steam in another pot and an hour later we had a dam good dinner!! The only thing missing was Ivy! Hoping she is here to join me some day soon.

A Trip to the Doctor

Had a few things on my neck that kept catching on my shirt collar and getting pulled and would turn red and hurt for days so I made a trip to the Doctors to have them removed. They called them skin tags. Long story short, a bunch of needle pokes to deaden them all and some snip snips with the scissors, I am now minus 11 pieces of my skin and sitting here typing this with a sore neck. I am told I will have two or three weeks of soreness until it all heals well. :((

Just a Cloudy Day

A Cloudy drive when I got empty.

Emptied out and decided to head towards Mom and Dads. The truck was 6 days over due for inspection so i went to the Petro Truckstop to have it done. Got there and needed 5 tires to pass so I just went ahead and got 10 new tires.(Ouch $3000 I didn't have right now) Two days later and after they fixed a big screw up I had the inspections, (Truck and Trailer) new tires and an oil change. Got a free steak dinner for their mistake anyhow:)

Minneapolis Minnesota

This is where I slept waiting to unoad.

These pictures were taken shortly after I got thawed and rolling Saturday. I seen about 20 wrecks through Minneapolis/St. Paul. Odd how people can grow up living in snow and so suddenly forget how to drive in it. Doesn't take a genius to realize you have to slow down on slippery roads.

Sunday evening, I hit rain on the west side of Cleveland Ohio and it turned to ice by the east side. Had icy roads an sleet all the way to Erie Pennsylvania where it turned to snow. That continued to fall and get deeper all the way to Syracuse making my drive longer by 3 hours:(

Finally got to my delivery point and was glad to lay down and get some rest from the stressful drive there.

Waking up to Snow.

Got so tired driving pulled in a truckstop just outside of Minneapolis MN and awoke to the sound of leaking air and a low air buzzer screaming in my ear. Had to spend 2 hours trying to get air line antifreeze into the tanks to thaw it out so I could drive again. Got em thawed out and back rolling again, onto another adventure.

A Day Without You:((

Another day of missing you! I have thought about you all day again. It was great to talk to you before you went to sleep but this was only Saturday night for you. Why can you not talk to me until Monday? One whole day for me without you! It's tough, don't know if I can make it one day without you:D I love you so much!! Stay sweet, talk to you soon.

Trouble getting motivated

I woke up this morning in a rest area in Montana. I talked to my love for a little bit then had to travel. I covered close to 500 miles today. I just showered and am going to make a few more miles before I sleep again. Disappointed I didn't get to talk to my sweetie while here before leaving.

Clouds on a Mountain

My head is always in the clouds so I guess these are fitting pictures.

Burlington, WA. to Syracuse, NY.

This is the start of my trip, my blog, and my written journeys as I do my daily routine and earn my living traveling the highways of this great country. Follow me as I make my trips from place to place. See some of the sights I see, the foods I eat, the loads I haul, but know that this is the only way to enjoy it with me except for one person and one person only, who has an open invitation to join me in the cab of my truck and enjoy these fabulous journeys with me any time she wants. All she has to do is say the word and I will be there to get her.

Welcome to my world!

This is my first attempt at this. I was inspired by someone very near and dear to my heart. Let it be known to all who enter here! I am not a writer nor do I claim to have any writing talents. I only do this so a few can follow my daily travels and activities as I make my journey around this great country of ours in an 18 wheeler.