100 Day Project 2021

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Gramma Goes To Work With Gramps

Occasionally on my blog I like to tell stories to my four grandsons about things that Mr. H and I have been doing. Today is one of those days, I want to share some pictures of our little trip. My husband has been retired for about a year. To keep from being totally bored he drives part-time for a local food bank, delivering and picking up food to be distributed to smaller food banks. I was able to go with him on one of those deliveries.

Gramma went to work with Gramps.  I got to ride in an 18-wheeler!! My first time even though Gramps has driven a truck since he was 21. Hmmmm!! That's about 38 years of driving!!  I was a little nervous at first. You know they are much bigger than they look traveling down the road.  The door handle was above my head even though it was at the bottom of the door. It wasn't easy for me to climb up in the cab!!!  But, wow, you can see a whole lot better when you're high above the road!!

We started in the dark. The picture above is the lights of the cars we were meeting. I took all these photos from inside the cab. The truck rides a little rough when the trailer is loaded and heavy. Gramps had an air-cushioned seat; I didn't. So the truck was bouncing, I was bouncing, and the camera was bouncing all in different directions. That's why the lights are all shaky!! I think it's kind of a cool picture!!

We had to stop several times for the morning school buses. It's hard to get moving again, especially if you're going up a hill in the mountains. Gramps had to shift through 10 gears!!


Here's Gramps driving down the road.  Gramps, shouldn't you be looking where you're going??   Not only does he have to drive and shift the gears but just look at all those switches and knobs. There's cruise control switches, Jake-brake switch, radio, parking brakes for the truck and trailer, fog light switch, wipers, mirror adjustments, mirror heaters, dash light dimmer, and the knob to turn on parking lights that blink. That's all I can remember!

When Gramps drives he uses 7 mirrors to make sure he can see on both sides of the truck and trailer. These are the two mirrors on the front fenders.  The one on the left is on Gramp's side, aren't those pretty trees.  The one on the right is on my side, I can see if Gramps says in the lane!!

These pictures were taken in the mirror on my door. The first one shows the smoke stack and  the second one shows a Fed Ex truck behind us.  We were going faster than he was; he was pulling doubles. The third one shows more fall leaves.
This is what I could see out the back window of the cab,
the trailer and all the hoses.

You know I like shadows! 
Here's a shadow of the truck in the early morning sunlight.

We were up in the mountains! The rock wall was going by awfully fast!  Sometimes when the hill was very steep,  the truck slowed down to 25 mph!! See the crack in the windshield; I think they need to fix that so I can take better pictures.

 The sun is finally coming up.There's a the mist over a creek and sunlight on the mountain. It was a beautiful drive.
Look out!!   Curve ahead!!
I got to hear the Jake-brake. That's an engine brake that helps to slow the truck down as you go down the mountain.

Hey, look at us, we're passing someone going up a hill!!

We saw this red caboose and

an old railroad station that is now a museum

a tractor being held up in the air by a forklift and a steam engine and tender

and barns and hay and cows. I see a piece of John Deer equipment in the top barn. I've always wanted to take a picture of the red barn. I was finally high enough to get one!! We did see three deer, but they were too fast for me to get a picture of.

I knew we were almost home when we crossed the Arkansas River.
It was a fun and different day!!

4 comments:

  1. WOW WOW WOW!! I love these pictures and the words you wrote with them. It felt like I was right there in this big truck with you and gramps!!

    So many fun things you shared along this trip, I love going on road trips too and looking for the unusual settings and sights around us.

    I have to confess one of my wishes is to drive in one of these big 18 wheelers one day. They seem so huge and I'm so little and it would make me feel like QUEEN OF THE ROAD!! I didn't realize how many gears are in this truck, wow that would be too much for me to remember. So being the passenger would be best I guess.

    So glad you shared this with us today, made me happy and smiling already this morning.
    Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and commenting. It is taking me a lot of courage to do this art journal and sharing it with the public. I've been wanting to do this for months though and don't want to regret not giving it a try. So believe me you could do this too, you can make your journal anything you want and as simple or as out of the box as you want. I'm trying to really just keep an open mind and enjoy the process of learning this new passion of mine.
    Have a wonderful day and will be back to visit some more. I really like how happy your blog is.

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  2. Cathy, it was so much fun going on this road trip with you and Gramps. I've never been in a big rig either. It looks very complicated...that dashboard could be in the cockpit of an airplane. Lovely countryside photos, too. Thanks for sharing this! I felt like I was right there.

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  3. How cool! It looks amazing, though I'd be totally intimidated by all those controls! Great photos, love the ones of the car lights in particular. Thank you for taking us on your road trip.
    Btw I have nominated you for a blog award on my blog so do check it out. :)

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  4. The boys loved this story! I bet you can guess what Drew and Josh were most excited about - the steam engine and tender of course!! Jake liked all the mirror pictures and the "jake-break." He couldn't believe that he was able to ride in a big truck before you did! You really captured the beauty of Arkansas in the fall. Thanks for sharing this story with the boys! We miss you and love you!

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Thanks so much for stopping by!!