Babalwa Brook: 2021

Monday, November 01, 2021

Counting My Blessings

To those of you who took the time to do research and get back to me about my health issue that I mentioned on my previous blog, Thank you! I do intend to make another appointment with the doctor before year's end, one that I will, hopefully be able to honor. As some of you may know, I'm so into new beginnings. I love the start of a new month as I have minimum of 30 days to tackle a goal. October was good to me, overall. I'm thankful for that. I've just jotted down my November goals, they're also very similar to what I would've wished / hope for beginning of 2021 in some ways. In that, the end of 2021 is around the corner. Whatever I may have wanted to resolve this year, that I may not have, yet, I had better get to in the next 61 days. Having said that, I also have just updated my gratitude journal. It was when I was writing today's date that I had an Aha! Moment! in 2014, 7 years ago (you're welcome for the Math), I was living in my studio in Las Vegas when I started Gratitude journaling. It was part of a desperate attempt at changing my life.

Getting Under My Skin| Medical Mystery

Between being at the shop a lot and not loving my dispatchers, I was having a great time at work. When you live full time in your truck, you live in the office. There’s no escaping your management. They run your ass! One time, they have me another older truck while mine was in the shop. This was a Freightliner. I didn’t hate it. It drive quite well! Also! It had curtains! It was also cleaner in looks than how my Volvo was when I got it. Granted, you can never tell what’s lurking in the background! I’m out for 6 days, then back to the yard for 2 off. While out there on day 4, I get a call from manager.

American Green Card Update

If you’ve been a reader of my more than ten year old blog for a while, you’ve seen me go through ups and downs in this beautiful country of America. The promised land. I’ve had visas, they’ve expired, I’ve had the renewed; I’ve been honored to receive different visas with different privileges and I’ve had the revoked. I’ve even been deported! Kinda! They’ve sent me the paperwork to vacate The US in 30 days. I’ve been through it all! I didn’t want to marry someone for a green card and have that hanging over my neck for life. Nothing against those who do go that route. This is one of the reasons when my ex husband, who was emotionally and verbally abusive, tried to use American citizenship as a carrot to dangle over my heard, I noped the f*ck out. You found me in this country! It is not because of you that I’m in America, and it will NOT be because of you that I leave. Good bye! That backfired on his ass! Go tell all your friends who suspected that I married you for a green card that I left! You’ve been yelling at me in public, making a spectacle of yourself, saying you pay for everything but now I’m leaving. Was I as dependent on you as you claimed I was? The joke’s on you, Sir! Biggest mistake you’ll ever make in your life! You can’t say you have not been warned!

Hair Loss Minoxidil Side Effects

At the age of 10, I was shipped off to Boarding school. The students, myself included, compared this catholic school to jail. By the way, how come no one ever uses Gaol spelling for jail? We had to shave off our hair every school term. That’s 4 times a year! I was in for 5 years. That’s going bald 20 times in 5 years. Meditate on that! (Don’t!).

Being Falsely Accused

Back in the day, I worked as a receptionist for a massage company. They had several branches around Johannesburg, South Africa. I was one of, if not the only receptionist with a car, so they had me report to different branches whenever need be. I had initially applied there as a therapist. It was a Chinese massage place but does it hurt to try? I was lucky to end up hired, regardless. I liked how close to my place all their branches were. They were in decent neighborhoods. I got to meet some celebrities in some of their locations.

Sexual Harassment in Trucking

Here’s a different #SexualHarrassment experience I had. Press play

At the risk of stating the obvious, there aren't a lot of women in the trucking field. I was one of a handful at ht terminal I was based off of once they moved me to a new account. Of course, I was reporting to three women, so we had females in the office but they never went to the yard. I guess this put myself and the other female truckers at the risk of feeling like animals in the zoo. Story of my life. Cue all the blogs from Georgia here! No, I am not looking for a boyfriend, husband or team mate!I know I am a beautiful woman walking by myself. I have a friendly smile, but this is not the woods. Everybody calm down! I got a lot more looks in this small terminal than I did at the other one that was several times bigger! What gives? There's a guy I met my first weekend at the terminal. I was settling into my truck, still unpacking the rest of my stuff. I wasn't attached to a trailer, so I was able to park close to the building, for bathroom convenience.

PMS Cravings

Sidebar: it’s September 30th and I just tried on some non stretchy jeans to see where I stand with regards to everything weight and size. They’re my smallest jeans. I fit into them comfortably. But I’m heavier on the scale than I was when I first fit into them. Is the scale a scam? Anywho, I hope you had a great month of Sept. I did!

Healthy meal prepped for me by Colombian friend

SMOG test FAIL

Now that I’m ‘home’ more often, I’m using my own car often. I love my car. If you’ve been with me for years, you’ll remember that I visualized my car to manifestation. That’s one of the reasons I’m so attached to it. I could’ve sold it when I got rid of my apartment to live in a truck. When I was over the road, I hardly came home, so I would do my errands wherever I would be when they came up. Same applies to chores.

Colombian Arepas that my friend made while I waited for mechanic to work on my car.

Runaway Truck!

Not long after getting the truck back, by the way, they hadn't take care of any of the extra things they had asked me to make a list of; I was helping out on another account. This route took me to Vegas. Was I looking forward to doing something different? I always prided myself on being adventurous must be age, cos I would rather keep things familiar, if I can help it, nowadays.

What is this? A Christmas tree?

Broken Down in Middle of Freeway

Back to having no friends again! Nobody to talk to. Poor me! Someone give #TruckerBrook a hug! Oh, wait, don't, we're in a pandemic! One of the things my ex-husband, Calvin brought up when I vented to him about them giving me a filthy truck to move into. He was like, you know that's borderline illegal, right? They shouldn't have just gotten your truck cleaned, they should've had it sanitized. Out for the week that I do my run for before going back to the terminal for my two days off, and boom! Truck died on the I-5 freeway! It just died! So, I was able to pull off only onto the shoulder, but like, right along the line, so too close to the road still. The sun was right above me and there was barely any cell signal. I know I mention this signal thing a lot but it's true. I have never had this problem living in a Third world country and Second world,ie, South Africa and Georgia respectively. But hello First world America! Hello Trucking! You get to be in the grey areas where cell network companies don't see it necessary to place a tower. And of course, that's where I'm going to get into a ditch or get stuck on a bridge, get run over by a serial killer truck driver, or, in this latest case, die.

I sent message to new manager. That's jut to let her know, otherwise, what's she gonna do? She couldn't authorize me to get curtains for a truck, how's she gonna help me when the whole truck dies? I was there for hours. You're not getting paid extra or anything like that, being stuck here by the way. If you're out there for more than a certain amount of time, your clock will reset and you will be 'able' to start working as soon as your truck's ready.In which case, you will have spent your sleeping time on the side of the 5 freeway, trying to call for help. These things happen more often than you can imagine. Some people still take their break, but I'd like to think more drivers, just consider that their break and get on the road after, with very little rest. I was outside on the dirt, walking around with the phone on speaker, waving it up in the sky to pick up signal. Roadside assistance would finally pick up. I'd give them my details, then they wouldn't be able to hear me. I'd move a hair and the call would disconnect. They would call me right away and go straight to voicemail, or and blah blah blah. Same story, over and over for a while. Eventually, I got hold of them. They sent someone from not far away. The person they were going to send didn't have the part they suspected I would need, so they had to go far away to buy it and then come back. I think it would've been better to dispatch someone from afar,and have them head straight for my location. But what do I know? I'm just a female with common sense.

Guy finally arrived. At this point, I had found the sweet spot of cell signal inside the truck. I guess it works best being inside than out, cos the truck is taller than me trying to wave a cellphone. I kept the phone plugged in and situated on that very spot. I only took the calls on speaker. I don't generally receive phone calls. Most of the people I communicate with text me. Well, they message me on Whatsapp. They're overseas. The guy worked on my truck for a bit and then, uhm, it was time for him to go home, haha! You can't make this sh*t up! He also needed another part for the truck. They had someone else come relieve him. Said person would also bring the new part. The new guy was also friendlier, so we chatted a bit. he was fast. Done within an hour. The problem was a brake line that had a leak. The truck uses air breaks. All the air was leaking out, truck switched off as a safety measure. It was night by the time the guy was done. In fact, I think I was out there for about 8 hours. On the side of the freeway from noon until 8! Imagine that! Nobody stops to find out if you're ok, even though you have the orange cones out. Also, they don't know how long you've been there for, if you know how to fix, are you male or female, blah blah blah. It could also be a set up. Maybe you're a killer or blah.

I don't do night driving and because everything I did on the account was within California, I could afford to go rest somewhere, and still make my appointments after picking up the next load. I found a place with a ginormous dirt lot more than an hour away. I save the places I part at, so I am able to look at my map app and see where what is in time of need. The dirt lot place has a super expensive restaurant with great reviews. I am not a restaurant out eater when I am working, so, that was whatever. They also have no showers but restrooms for us. So that's always good.

When I was off, the truck needed to go into the shop. I had a list of things that I wanted them to have a look at as long as they had the truck in there. They told me that they needed to send it to Volvo. It was within some warranty. I had to move my stuff out into a temporary truck. So far, I was having a great time on this account. They moved me into another unsanitized account. I cleaned it myself. It wasn't filthy, it just wasn't cleaned since the driver before me used it. I didn't want to complain. I used it for the week I was going to be out and hoped that mine was going to be ready when I got back. It was. You know what that means: moving again. CArrying fridges, microwaves, and other heavy stuff. I cook in my truck, so it's always fun to move the whole kitchen.

There was a mattress (wow, is that how you spell matrass?), so I didn't have to move that. But I worry about bed bugs and stuff. I do take my fitted shit and hope it will keep everything buried under it. Whew! I literally just took a giant breath, at the thought of these silly challenges of this job. It's not just your job, it's also your home life. I had used an older Freight liner while my Volvo was in the shop. I'm familiar with a Freightliner, so it wasn't a train smash.

Felt good to be back in my Volvo again. Not for any reason other than, it was MY truck.

@BabalwaBrook on all social

youtube.com/babalwabrook

Sunday, September 26, 2021

No Love Lost

Another “weekend” came by. “” because, the two days off can fall on any day. I had worked more than two years over there road. The pay scale and other things are all different from how they run things on the dedicated account I had just signed with. I was still going to get paid mike but they were going to pay me for additional stops as well. I did two and three stops per delivery, that means, one extra stop and two, respectively. OTR (over the road) you wanna finish early and can get the load off you if you contact customer or ask manager to have it dropped at the yard. All that doesn’t apply here. You be at Costco at the scheduled time, however you get there. Some deliveries were 200 miles away from shipper. I’d stop close to Costco and relax in the truck. I enjoyed those long afternoons of rest before my appointment the following day. You don't want too many of these because you’re not on vacation. You get paid when sitting behind the wheel not chillin in the sleeper berth.

More of Derrick’s cooking. I bought him those Adidas slides. I also got myself a pair

Friends with NO benefits

Awesome! They have a gay safety and security manager! I thought to myself as he met me outside the training room. He ushered me in, dressed in nice fun colors. You could tell this was someone who cared about his appearance. In typical me fashion, we exchanged some personal stories; more me asking about himself, than sharing about mine. We’ll save my stories for the blog. I found out in our conversation ahem, safety training, that he used to be a truck driver as well. At some point, He said something about his wife. Stop the presses! I confessed that I was hoping that he was gay. I was like, I feel like I’m gonna like this guy. It’ll be nice to have a gay guy around here. He was like: really? I’m like, yeah, who doesn’t like a gay guy? I asked. He replied, without thinking twice: my mother!

I’m not the Gaydar of the world, it was just a vibe I picked up before the guy even really talked to me. And then my mind stayed there throughout the conversation until I was told otherwise. Something about him telling me that his mom, who’s from the South, would have a problem with him being gay, made me really believe that he probably was gay. It also made me sad for him, if in fact he was. The guys is around 60 in age. To think that someone had to hide who is he all his life, would be such a tragedy. I saw him again the following day. First thought on my mind was: aw, there’s my new gay friend! Then I had to correct myself. That day, he gave me a t shirt and asked me to pose for photos with other drivers for company pictures. We posed next to company trucks with him as the director of photography. It was nice to do something so unusual. I did that back in the day when I worked for a weight loss company in South Africa. I worked in head office and as the only person who had reached my goal weight in that location, they always included me in things. I also got to tell my success story during events etc. Great fun! I since regained that weight and relost it!

All in all, Nice guy, I saw him every once in a while ever since. He would always ask how I was doing.

I never heard back from my manager about the fridge. I wasn’t going to check back with her, because I already had the vibes she wasn't into helping me out. I did have to consult with her for another concern, however. I didn't like that I was starting off with these folks with so many demands but the situation they put me in with a truck that wasn't up to par, made me have to make all these requests. I also didn't want to make the impression that I was a pushover. No, mam, Sir! The truck I was getting didn't have curtains on the windshield. Those are the ones I prefer to use at night when I go to sleep. That way, you can walk around dressed however or not at all. But if you only have the ones right by the sleeper berth (sleeping area, if I need to go use the microwave in the driving area, I would have to dress appropriately because you never know who might be looking inside your truck. Some of these drivers carry binoculars. Some make a note of trucks with females, I have grown to experience.

The T~Shirt from photoshoot & my new Volvo

The curtains in the sleeping area were torn, so they didn't do a good job of giving me privacy either. Girl! It was a shit show! I contacted manager and asked for curtains or something. I was hoping that the shop kept spares of these kinds of supplies, considering it's a trucking company, and all? (FYI, I later heard that they do). Manager told me, with a very pissed off expression on her face, that the company doesn't provide such supplies for drivers. It's up to us to get curtains for our trucks or not. Hilarious! The truck did come with curtains, but they were no longer there. So I call bullshit! She just wasn't in the mood for my basic necessity demands. I already knew that that was not going to be home for me, so to speak. How do you give me a condo without a door and tell me, you're sorry you don't supply such? Are you fcking kidding me? There were three women ( I can't get myself to call any of them ladies) in the new department: one was my direct manager, the planner and their manager. Any of them would randomly call, they all sounded alike, had the same physique and pretty much shared the same brain. In my humble opinion.

My job was to pick up a load in southern California and deliver it to Costcos across central and Northern California. I would do two or three deliveries every 2 days. After delivery 3, I would head back to base to reset my clock, so to speak. I got two days off every 8 days. It wasn't too shabby of a gig. I love being based in California. I love going to costco. They're so organized. The staff is great. I get to meet them and wait in the warehouse as someone is unloading my truck. Protocol. I didn't realize how many costcos there are in just California alone! I counted up to about 30 something different ones. Those are just the ones I went to.

First time off or so, I would hang out with Derrick. We're still not doing the deed. My choice. We were talking a lot. I am just not someone who can... uhm, how do I put this? I don't wanna say I can't move on from things, cos that sounds bad. Put it this way, I could never be the woman who stays with their man after he cheated. I would never be able to forget that that happened. That guy would be so disgusting to me after that! Have I been in this situation before? Oh yeah! I come from a culture of polygamy and other things I don't consider cute. It's more abnormal for a guy to stay loyal to one woman than it is the other way. This is my opinion of dating in South Africa when I lived there. I left the country almost a decade ago. I had my own self esteem then, and would settle for certain situation that I wouldn't at this point in my life. Granted, Derrick didn't cheat on me. My other reason for not wanting to be intimate with him now, is that what are we? We're not even together? I'm not trying to be friends with benefits with nobody!

Please can I go to bed? I feel tired. I worked some and went grocery shopping.

Chat soon, thanks for reading. #TruckerBrook on Insta

@BabalwaBrook

youtube.com/babalwabrook

Friday, September 24, 2021

Who Moved My Cheese?

Because I was switching from one account to another, I had to move trucks. I mentioned in the previous blog that I told my driver manager what time I would be at the location to do the swap. When I arrived at the location, being dropped off by Derek, because I happened to have spent yet another night in his place. I get there and I cannot find my old truck anywhere! I’m telling you I was looking underneath other trucks and trailers for that thing. My whole life was in that truck!

I got the New Trucking Job!

I just posted a new blog about how I lost 130 lbs / 60kg. The views are already through the roof. Thank you! I hope you will be able to take something away from that post that you can incorporate into your life. Before that blog, we left off where I was at my ex, Derrick's place. He answered most of the questions I had. He told me how he met the new girl he saw after our split. Unlike me, they met in person. He seemed different to me in more ways than one, race, marital status, the whole nine. That whole deal ended dramatically, according to D.

Carbivore BBQ in my honor!

Before and now

Dating my Ex

So Derrick's pick me up! I had already texted him the address, so I went around to the car section to meed him at the gate. He was already in the parking lot! They had let him in! I'm like, wait! Why did you say you were here? 'they didn't ask!' He replied! Oh, the White privilege of it all! I half joked with him. Derrick was a brand new man! His hair was cut different. I loved his old one, it went well with his nerd-ishness. The new cut was more now, I liked it as well but it kinda changed his vibe, or altered my perception of him, in a weird way. He had lost a ton of weight! He wasn't fat to begin with but he had a bit of cushion in his midsection. That was gone!

My Main Plan Going into trucking

My initial plan, going into trucking was to do OTR (over the road) for a full year in order to gain experience and to see The US, then move on to a regional account where I would be home more often than OTR. I would then look into local jobs, where, as you may have guessed it, you get to sleep in your own bed nightly (or whoever's bed you wish, No judgement here!).

Off to meet the Ex

My main plan going into trucking was to be able to have solid proof of a job when applying for mortgage for my first American house. After a year as a truck driver, I contacted the bank.

The Prodigal son!

A fly on the wall

About the explosion! I’m getting back into my new truck from doing post trip inspection. Turns out, the spare fire extinguisher was right under the passenger’s seat. I balanced on that seat as I lifted myself up to get into the truck. My weight caused the extinguisher to release its contents! at the time, I’d no idea what in the world was going on! I continued to rest on the passenger seat and prop myself up. The powder kept spraying out of the fire extinguisher. I was freaking out! What on earth is going on! It looked like it was coming from my sleeping area. I was so confused and frustrated. This is my new truck that looks as good as brand new. Now this!

Fire Extinguisher powder

Why me, Lord?

It's day number, God-knows-what! I'm still in Salt Lake City. I've dined with two different men on two different occasions. The rat removal process clearly hadn't worked. Now, I've got a newer problem! Rats that won't die! I talked to other people in the terminal. It's a huge one! She said! Just kidding. It's a huge terminal. I got some tips. She said! Sorry, please don't go away, I'll stop... he said! No, really! I'll tone it down! I ended up contacting my manager, asking for a new truck. I hadn't slept well for two nights in a row. Luckily, I wasn't working those days. You need your sleep, especially for a job such as driving all day. They had rows and rows of brand, spanking new trucks in that location. Surely, they could spare one for our African trucker friend, points at self!

I smell Rat in my truck!

It was three am, when I woke up to a rat in my truck. First, it was sounds of things moving around; naturally, I got up, turned on the light and boom! I made eye contact with this grey, four legged creature with big ears. What in the heck! I screamed as softly as I could and jumped up, heading for the door! The rat was in the shelf above the microwave, pictured on this blog. I tell ya, I felt wide awake in that moment! Adrenalin rush is real! I almost fell out of the truck from my knees getting so weak. I know it's just a rat but I'm just telling you what happened. I was so freaked, I needed someone to come get this thing out of my "apartment". The younger trucker's truck was still behind mine, so I went and banged on his doors, no answer! Windows, no answer! Come on! Your windows are open! Anyway. I even called him, nada! Mh kay! I then called the last person I wanted to talk to again. The guy who took me to lunch. He picked up immediately and sounded like it was 3pm. I'm like, you weren't sleeping? He told me he wasn't, he wakes up early. I told him about my predicament. I was in my nightgown, couldn't even go back into that truck to get clothes, lest there are more where that came from.

A Date with Truck driver

Because I went to the shops a lot, mechanics from these shops and I ended up friendly. Some, more so than others. I was in Salt Lake City. The company has a terminal there. I’m friendly with one of the guys. No preferential treatment though. This is not South Africa. Just kidding - ish. My truck was due for service. There was a long line. I joined it. When you live in your vehicle, it makes no difference where you park it. So what if you’re in line overnight? There were 2 trucjs ahead lf me. The guys ahead of me and I cracked up a conversation. One guy seemed much younger and the other older. I was the middle child. Story of my life. Not really.

Ice Cold NonSense

My truck kitchen

It's the end of February, starting to warm up in some states, especially California. I wasn't living in one place, being an over the road trucker; but I still called California home. My beloved, larger than regular truck, fridge gave out. Wait! What? I realized that my drinks were still room temperature, after more than a day in the fridge and my meats were defrosting. Please! Say it ain't so! I checked my plugs, outlets, fiddled with the fridge, googled, youtubed, the works. I was hoping the problem was electricity getting to the fridge. The thing about it, though, was that, the fridge light was on. Everything looked normal but, normal, it was far from. It got to the point where I had to make some phone calls.

iowa 80- Largest Truck stop in World

Weight loss progress picture

Every beginning of the year, I check in with myself, don't we all. I do the whole run down of physical, spiritual and emo. Physical, of course include weight for me, as this is something I monitor very closely. Simply because I have to! I have since lost more weight since the above picture was taken. For those who are on a weight loss journey, do I notice that sometimes you may not lose weight on the scale (duh!) but over time, you will get smaller in inches? I have noticed this over the years as I get to know how my body works.

Holidays away from Home & Family

I'm Back, back, in Cali, Cali! My usual stops during my time in town while on the road, were: Storage (sometimes), Definitely mailbox, Walmart for groceries and other necessities and bed. I always tried to be done early with whatever I'd be doing in order to rest. When Derrick was still in the picture, I spent most of my time in town with him, naturally. He used to marvel at how much I was capable to sleep. Most people who know me are. Not so much how much, but how easily I can fall asleep. My ex Calvin, used to backhandedly compliment me for how good I am at relaxing. I mean! What kind of a compliment is that?

Getting Run off road by truck

The second story I promised to tell you on this blog was what happened the day of the nails / shop. The truck had some freaking issue, nothing new. I was in the middle of Lord-knows-where. After my delivery that morning, I went to the nearest truck stop, which was a block away from customer and made an appointment. I'd to wait pretty much all day. What that usually entails is Catching up on TV shows and social media.Oh and painting nails and toes, you how that goes. Manscaping is important, kids! They finally get done and I would like to cover at least a couple hundred miles before the day is over. I got on my way right away. Idaho to California, I believe.

Rest in Peace, Trucker!

Alright! On our previous blog, I promised to tell you more about my fellow trucker friend in the future. Well, guess what loves? The future is now! We met at the company terminal in Phoenix, Arizona. In the bathroom, to be precise. This woman can shower, yo! She was one of two people already in the shower when I arrived there. The other stepped out, so I used that shower. This gorgeous one and I almost finished at the same time. Neither here nor there! We cracked up a conversation. She is so generous, she ended up giving me some of her supplies. She had a bunch of plant based canned foods. I was on my high protein diet at the time. I gave her some of my stuff. She wouldn't take it, but I gave her no choice. She also gave me some Hyaluronic or whatever that skin stuff is that Eva Longoria spells out in the commercial. I felt so lucky!

How I Quit | Cold Turkey

Buying gum AGAIN

I allowed myself to be hooked on something without even realizing it was happening. I guess that's how addiction goes, huh? I was chewing a pack of gum in two days! I felt like how a smoker must feel. In a way. No offense smokers.

Just some of my lip stuff

I keep all the necessities for during driving in arm's reach. These are the lip glosses that I have around, just in case my lips get dry. God forbid, right? No, seriously. I have really dry skin, especially lips and hands. This is not an addiction. haha. Some of this stuff, if not most of it; has been around too long. But when you find good lip gloss, it's hard to part with it.

Me, in some of the above. This pic was taken after the above haha

I love to mix my glosses up. I stick a hand in the holder and use whichever lip gloss I end up grabbing. It's a habit I've had for years. People will compliment my lip color and I won't know what to tell them the color is, cos it would always be a concoction of some sort.

Press Pray to see a How To Video I did on lip gloss may moons ago

More Gum. Lord help me!

It got to the point that I had tried all the sugar free flavors in certain truck stops. I'd be so thrilled to find a truck stop with new or different flavors. SMDH (shaking my damn head)

Chocolate Tea

When, one day, I have my own line of Chocolate Tea, know that you saw it here first! A Fellow Trucker Gave me that Dagoba can. Well, she had boxes of it left over in her truck. I took one in her insistence as I am always counting calories and it's not calorie free. So I had to be careful. It's really good but I just googled it, it looks like they closed down.

And there goes my chocolate tea! Spillages and dropping sht happens more often if you're not careful. And they happen more so after you've cleaned up or on a freshly washed mat. Welcome to life on a moving house! I was ready to get unloaded but they came and asked me to move it just a hair. Well, I moved it a hair and a jug of tea. Phew!

#TruckerBrook

Phoenix Arizona

They've a Walmart walking distance from company yard but why walk if you'll be carrying a ton of groceries? Also, whenever I'm there, I usually just have enough time time to sleep, shower and go. No down time. So, I always drop trailer and bobtail to Walmart. Great Rotisserie chicken.

One of the longest drives I've done in a day

617 miles is 987,2km. That was within 10 hours and 13 minutes. If you're new to trucking and can't drive that long yet. Be patient, stamina builds up over time.

No caption needed smdh

Around the time I bought all this gum and took photos. I don't always do but I did these few times. That somehow helped me quit. I think it made it sink in that I really was chewing that much gum on a regular basis. I stopped the best way I know how to quit anything: cold turkey. How do you do quit anything? Do you slowly wean yourself off or...?

Beautiful fellow trucker

I met this unphotogenic cutie at the Phoenix company yard. I'll tell you more about her. Gotta hurry up and got to bed now.

Someone was at Hershey's

Like I told you in the previous blog: Free Candy!

It's beautiful behind me but didn't get captured in this pic

Freshly done finger and toe nails

There was an issue with my truck, so I did my nails while waiting to get serviced at the shop. I ended up leaving in the evening for California. I'll tell you more about that drive where something that had never happened before happened. It was scary! BOLO! (Be on the lookout for that blog)

@BabalwaBrook on all social

Youtube.com/babalwabrook

love ya, mean it!