Week in Review – The One Where I Got Sick

Tawas Point at the top of Saginaw Bay.

Well, last week’s review was written and posted, according to my phone, but for some reason didn’t make it out to the web. Sometimes I love technology, and sometimes I am frustrated with it. Last week I asked for a mulligan. There were so many things that went wrong, and by Friday, I was refusing to get sick. Well, by Sunday, I couldn’t deny it, I was sick.

Frozen branches in Indiana

When I last wrote, we were on the way to Michigan with an oversized load. Bonnie and I were able to get quite a bit done. From Michigan, we headed to Louisville to load. Along the way, we stopped in Indiana. When I left Indiana Tuesday morning, it was -17° outside. When we loaded in Louisville, it was 38°. That was already 55° temperature change. We went from Louisville to Anaheim, CA, then up to Victorville to load a local. When we loaded in Victorville, it was 88°. In less than three days, our bodies had endured a 105° temperature change. I don’t think my body was really ready for that. We went from Victorville, back into the basin, loaded in Sun Valley and then headed to Memphis. Monday, we delivered in Memphis, headed up to Cincinnati to load, and then delivered in Houston on Wednesday. We informed them when we got here we would need to shut down until I got better. I had already struggled to do anything; there was no way I thought I could endure any more. Yesterday, I finally gave in and went to go get medication. Sometimes all of the home remedies in the world don’t work. Today, as we sit in Houston, I am beginning to feel better. Medicine is kicking in, and I actually feel a bit better. It had been a struggle all week to eat anything, and today I can eat without feeling horrible. Sadly, yesterday my sickness finally started affecting my family. They got medication as well, so I am hoping it won’t take them a week to get back on their feet.

Over the last two weeks, Bonnie and I accomplished quite a bit, and she has finished four more books. Her appetite for books amazes me more and more every day. We have taken a little time off this week because I didn’t feel like doing anything, but before that, we covered the American Revolution and the Constitution. Our interest in our government has clearly been passed on to my daughter, and I am thankful for that. Science and Math are progressing. We have decided to take a little break from Spanish for now. I am hoping to pick it back up maybe in the summer.

Last time I posted, I shared we had gotten some bad news about my grandmother. Well, we have now been given a final word of sorts. Her cancer has spread to not only her liver, but also her lungs. There is nothing that can be done. We have two to four months left with her. It saddens me, and yet I know I need to remember there is no pain in heaven. We have been blessed by her presence. Now it is time for us to really come to grips with the reality. This life is not guaranteed. We never know how much time we have with anyone. Enjoy the time we have when we have it.

NM sunrise through a dirty windshield.

In the post that never posted, I shared how I wanted a mulligan. Sadly, we don’t get a mulligan. We can’t go back and change things. However, we can do things differently tomorrow. The things I typically want to change are my reactions to things that have happened. I can never do that. All I can do is try to change how I react to things in the future. Sometimes I feel like I need a large sign that says, “Work in Progress.” We are all works in progress. So many things we would love to do differently; however, all we can do is change how we do things from this point. We are all on a journey. I can only hope along my journey I will be loved, and remembered as someone who worked every day to make tomorrow better than yesterday.

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.