:: forgets WordPress password and almost had to hack own account::

How has it almost been a year since my last posting to WordPress? We are still living the trucker life and married (for all you naysayers!). Just kidding. Where and how do I begin this update? 

I survived my first winter in the truck. Only one vivid memory sticks out from what feels like fifty years ago. Was it fifty years? How old am I? Are we in September? Anyway, while driving outside of Nashville in January, a sheet of ice flew off a U-Haul trailer and straight into our windshield while I was driving. What a thrill! I screamed, cried, and maintained control. Ryan: “keep going”. Me: “keep going?!? Are you crazy??”

We got a few days off while the truck was repaired (the ice impact also damaged the camera and sensor in the dashboard, and our truck didn’t drive above 5 mph when we picked it up…). Of course, we were productive with our time off and spontaneously booked a trip to Hawaii.  Apparently, we aren’t allowed to have time off. It gets expensive.

With our scheduled vacation in May, we were stuck in the truck with no home/off time and only a few weeks left. We were counting down the days when we landed in Boise, Idaho. I was planning to take my break and pulled into a shopping mall where I couldn’t find a spot for the truck because a circus was in town! We both needed off time and out of the truck, and with a delayed load, went to said circus and had the time of our lives. We obviously needed a day off because our minds were a circus.

We successfully made it to our vacation and had the grandest time in Kauai. It was our “yes” vacation, and we did all the things a YouTube channel told us to do. We checked off as many things as we possibly could and decided we had to go back to complete it.

I’d have to write a separate post about this, but I cried on the way to the airport because I didn’t want to go home. Needless to say, we had a good time. 

There is not much else to report. I made my photo album for 2023-2024 and loved it. The goal was to make one every year we are out here, but the ice killed the romanticism of this job and I stopped taking pictures. “You’ve seen one mountain you’ve done seen them all.”

Other exciting things: We celebrated our second wedding anniversary (how on earth is it two years already?! almost three by the time I post this!)

A few of my family members met us on I-20 and we stopped for a hug. That was a story in itself. I didn’t have time to visit but we missed each other because a fellow company truck passed right before me. They mistook them for us and left before I could get to the exit! It worked out for the best because I was able to pull over for a hug. Number two, my cousin who is stationed in Japan visited America. Of course, we had already booked our vacation and could not take off to visit them. The trauma that occurred, but God intervened. Our truck had to go into a shop and they drove 200 miles to see us.
One more: at a rest area in Illinois, we found a baby bird that fell out of its nest. We found similar birds taking flying lessons, but this little guy wasn’t ready and in distress tired. I wanted to take it into the truck, but my sweet husband searched high and low, picked the baby up with a small plastic bag, and put it back in a nest he found in a bush. In my mind, that bird is thriving.

All in all, I cannot believe this is my life. I prayed for years and years to be able to travel with my husband and I get to see this beautiful country back and forth and forth and back. How is it real? We live in a beautiful country and are so blessed to call this amazing place home. And to think, this isn’t even glory. 

I will post pictures since they speak 1,000 words more than I can write. I tried my best to post them in order, but like my mind, it became chaos. Not pictured. One of the most hilarious and fun things was before our trip I told Ryan if they had volunteers at the luau I was dancing on the stage! Low and behold, we were reserved at table one right in front of the stage and they went around dancing. I got up and danced!

To end this short note, this job has definitely exercised my Christianity. I’ve become a white trash version of myself. Things I never struggled with, I have to make an effort to maintain self-control. For example, I’ve never flipped anyone off, but now I think about it. I have Jesus who corrects me and I have not acted.

Hey. Don’t judge. I’m confessing my sins to you. You probably cut me off in traffic.

Atlanta. The end. 
My talented husband’s trip recap: