STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life Day 22264: Still Sitting Around Salt Lake City (but not much longer)

I’ve been complaining lately about my drab, mundane existence. Well, I finally got a little reprieve. I received my Pre-Plan for today a while ago and it is not the usual fare. This time I’m going to the Walmart D.C. in Los Lunas, NM (25 mi south of Albuquerque on I-25). I pick up a load of meat here in SLC and deliver it there. They (the Los Lunas D.C.) then give me a load back this way, usually to a Walmart store in Delta or Montrose, CO. From there, I pick up a back-haul back to Corinne. These are regular runs, it’s just that I have not yet done one in my 1+ years with Corinne. It takes a lot of logistics between the two D.C.’s to put this run together. There is plenty of room for SNAFU’s. Los Lunas could take their sweet time finding me a load back to Colorado, or the back-haul (I don’t know what it is) could take forever to load (not unlike some of our others do). I’ll let you know if there are any problems, rest assured.

I spent most of yesterday geeking. I tried a few different BLOG themes, but I either didn’t like the look, or they took away Fine Tune. I lack the technical expertise, and the ambition, to figure out how to retrieve it without wasting the Herculean effort, and loving care, I expended selecting the music from the beginning. I would like to keep this theme, but I am growing tired of the color scheme. Again, I have neither the technical expertise, nor the ambition, to make the color change. I’m sure that someone less technophobic could do it with ease. Oh well!!!

It’s currently 95 degrees here in Salt Lake. Not hot by Vegas standards, but still ‘toasty’ enough to require me to idle the truck for comfort. There is a slight breeze, but not enough to make it bearable sitting in the truck.

Life Day 22263: Sitting Around Salt Lake City

Nothing much new as usual. The K9 Kids are doing just fine, as am I.

My recent travels have taken me to only one store that I consider out of the ordinary; Mountain Home, ID. I took a load there on the 23rd. I’ve only done it once before. I used to stop there when I was “over the road” because it is easily accessed from I-84. Also, there is a Pilot Truck Stop on the other side of the freeway. You can shop, then eat and/or sleep, all in one stop.

When I returned from Mountain Home on Monday, I had enough hours remaining to take another load, this time to Provo, UT. They are notoriously slow at this store. As a consequence, my 14 hour window expired about the time they were finished, so I slept there for the night. At this point, I only had 1.5 hours remaining on my 70 for the week. When I woke up yesterday, the 24th, I drove to Salt Lake City to re-start my 70 hour clock. I put my truck in the Swift shop. I had a PM service done and 8 new ‘drive’ tires installed. I also had the thermometer in my drivers’ mirror fixed. It stopped working after my last truck wash, for no apparent reason. Whatever the reason was, it only required a ‘reset’ with the reset button on the back of the mirror to get it working again. In addition, I had my windshield washer repaired. The problem with the windshield washer was the knob on the wiper switch. The end split, so when you pushed it in to operate the washer the plastic would spread out and it wouldn’t make contact with the switch that operated the washer. The wipers worked just fine. I was in the shop for a total 6 hours. The MMM had a miserable time because there was little shade and it was pushing 100 degrees. They did get lots of treats and attention though, as usual, and I supplied them generously with H2O.

Currently, I’m at the Sapp Brothers Truck Stop in Salt Lake City. I’m just killing time for the rest of the day. My 34 hours is officially up at about 1930 tonight, but I’m not going to make myself available until tomorrow morning. There is no reason for this except that I don’t want to get a load where I have to drive all night. I’m getting too old for that.

Life Day 22254: Vegas Vacuousness

I know, I know, it’s been forever since my last update. There are only so many words I can use to describe my mundane existence. At least I managed to make the post about Dawn’s graduation.

Since my last “on the road” post, I have been to only one new (different) store, Havre (pronounced Haver), MT. I’ve delivered to Havre once before, but it was not a Walmart load. I think it was a Sears load out of Denver actually. It was a few years ago. I remember that it was cold, so that narrows the actual month to between September and June. The remainder of my loads were the usual Denver, Wyoming, Southern Utah loads.

Little news from the ‘home front’ either. I’m still saving for that APU, S-L-O-W-L-Y. It’s 107 degrees here in Vegas today, but with the 10 mph “wind-chill factor” it seems like only 106. It’s too D__N hot to do any “day-trips” around this area. It takes all the ‘will-power’ I can muster just to drive the 4 or so miles to the UPS Store to check my mail.

I am now officially a VIP here at the Wild Wild West. My new Wild Card actually reads “Red-Hot” VIP, but that’s going a bit far. “Room Temperature” VIP more accurately describes my status. Anyway, it gives me a few more “bennies”. I now receive 2X points on my Wild Card every time I play. I still get to take advantage of any promotional points multipliers. In addition to using the accumulated points to pay for food, rooms, and store merchandise, beginning the 1st of July, I can use them to gamble on the machines. That’s a scary thought.

That’s about the extent of the excitement in my life. I’m going to end this and return to my normal “vegetative state”.