Reviewing Plans

People always seem to have the best plans, and yet the follow through is not always great. I had all these grand plans for this blog, and then life happens. We end up running so wide open I pushed myself to run at 75 mph, which cost us about $600 in lost fuel but allowed us to make the appointment. We end up just so focused on the life we are living, I forget to share. So, while my follow through on plans hasn't been what it should be, I won't make any more plans, just hope to do a bit better at sharing.

Bonnie enjoying the "back deck" while we were empty in San Francisco, CA

We have been back out on the road for almost a month now. I feel we are really getting used to this new truck. We are starting to make money (which is a good thing). We are enjoying the almost 1 mpg improvement this truck has over our old truck. We are happy in the first 12,000 miles on full synthetic oil in a 700k mile CAT, we have no oil usage, and thanks to the EcoPur the oil looks like we just poured it out of the jug. If things stay like this, we may be able to easily go 250,000 miles before needing to change it. We are looking to swap out the tires on this truck, which should help with the fuel mileage. Not really sure what kind of tires we are going to get as of yet, especially since we never had good luck with Michellin tires in the drive position, and the Bridgestones we would have gotten have been taken off the market due to issues. I guess we will figure it out.
On the homeschooling front, we finished most of the work I set out to finish this year, and now are looking at plans for what we will do next year. The only break we will really have (other than a day or so here and there) will be when Chris and I go to the CMC in September (but more on that in a bit). I have been very proud of Bonnie's choice to read more often. Some days are a struggle, but then I have to remember she is a teenager. We are looking to add Latin (hoping that will improve her language understanding), Logic (because let's face it, all of us could learn better ways of analyzing issues), and possibly Spanish (Chris wants to learn Spanish so he can better communicate at some of the places we go, so we might as well all learn it together). We will be continuing with Sonlight, Teaching Textbooks, and Apologia. I have found out I can get better deals if I shop around, so I will be doing that to ensure we aren't overspending on homeschooling by trying to get everything from one place. I am excited about next year, and then we get to start planning for high school!
Back to the CMC. You may remember, I mentioned a few months ago, I have been accepted into the mentoring program Kevin Rutherford started to help give back to the industry. I think I am the only mentor who has not been to the CMC. It is a week long in depth look into fuel economy, and the business of trucking. We have talked about going to it for several years, but just like so many other things, life gets in the way and we don't go. This year, we have committed to going, and have started making payments. I am excited about going. This will be a week with no Bonnie (thanks to my father-in-law), and no dispatch to bug us. I know, how can a week spent learning about the business of trucking really be a vacation, but I am hoping we will walk away with knowledge, and a network of like-minded people.

My hydration device.

As an update on the diet, let's just say right now I am more concentrating on my stomach getting back to normal than anything. I "cheated" on the diet and had some cherries we bought from a road side fruit stand in California. Within 12 hours my stomach was on revolt, and didn't want anything to stay in it, not even water. After about 72 hours of trying everything I could think of, I was so dehydrated I could hardly function. We went through the house, and my middle daughter picked me up and took me to the hospital. I stayed there for almost 24 hours while they got me hydrated, and medicated enough to hold a liquid diet in. It took me a few more days to get back to normal, but I still have a few issues getting my system to act normal, so we have halted the diet for now. We are still trying to eat better, but when I am still not reacting well to being out in the heat, and my stomach still isn't what it should be, I really can't justify trying to diet. I hope I will get back to normal soon.
I hope everyone who reads this will understand, especially those who truck, how difficult it can be to blog on a regular basis. I still have so many ideas of things to say running around in my brain. I think I will have to figure out how to record my thoughts when I am driving at night, so it will be easier to write later. Be safe.