It all seems to creep up around the same time making January, February & March busy months for me. And with the purchase of my license tags the state of Minnesota wants to know what kind of miles I have run the previous year and in what states those miles are accumulated. Therefore I keep a record of every state line I cross as well as every time I stop Rosie for logging purposes.

With two trucking businesses under one roof, I could easily stay home and sit at my desk all three months, but thankfully the road calls my name and I have to go, plus no one pays me for my bookkeeping skills!

Here are just a few trucking statistics for 2011.

• I ran 16 states last year
• Those states were MN, IA, NE, KS, OK, SD, TX, ND, NM, AZ, CA, NV, UT, WY, ID, & MO
• The most miles run were in the State of New Mexico at 15,256 miles
• The second highest was the State of Arizona at 10,720 miles
• The least miles run were in the State of Nevada at 287 miles
• I never made it to the State of Wisconsin last year, which is odd
• I ran 9,886 miles in my home State of Minnesota
• I ran 96,588 miles last year (Loaded, Empty, Bobtail)
• My miles were lower than the previous year, but my income was higher
• I averaged 5.62 miles per gallon of diesel for the year
• I will spend right around $1800 to license Rosie for the year
• I rebuilt Rosies motor not once, but twice last year leaving me with nearly 2 months of unpaid downtime

Here are a few more figures for what I spent in 2010 if your interested.

Anyway I came upon this accident that day, and after passing numerous trucks that were bunched up in groups, truck after truck after truck, I thought this would be a good time to broach the subject of safety on the road.

I was not around when the accident in the above photo happened, but I did hear when I stopped at the truck stop that the driver was tangled up with another truck. Whether that’s what happened or not, who knows. What I do know is that I had a couple of drivers yell at me for passing them more than once on Saturday in the sloppy, slushy, icy roads of Wyoming. What I told them and what I will tell you is if the lead truck messes up, that whole bunch of trucks behind the first truck are going to have their hands full and possibly be involved in whatever happens next, and I want no part in the mess.

One thing I find humorous whenever I hit bad roads is that, in this day and age when most people do not trust anyone, a good share of drivers will, when they come upon a slow vehicle that is going actually too slow for the road conditions, all of a sudden trust this drivers judgement with their life and bunch up behind them refusing to get into the second lane and pass.

It seems that this lead driver all of a sudden makes all decisions and no one in the following vehicles has a brain.

I always wonder, do they think that all of a sudden the second lane is going to swallow them up? That the second lane has really disappeared on them or that the roadway has all of a sudden gotten smaller?  Then I go on to wonder if any of the other vehicle drivers have considered that the driver may be inexperienced, may be empty or light, or maybe has never driven in such conditions and should not be out on the road no way, no how. And yet, here they are trusting this drivers judgement.

I don’t care if you are driving a car, pick up or semi truck the best advice I can give to you is stay by yourself and give yourself plenty of room around you.

One thing I have learned over the years that I feel has kept me safe and kept my truck out of the ditch is that I stay far, far away from others (and usually far ahead of others) on the highways when the roads go to hell. I have had many, many times over the years where I was driving on pure ice or pushing snow with my bumper and I can say that any time I lost traction I stayed on the roadway because of how I reacted or the fact that I did not OVERREACT. Here are a few more suggestions:

• Know your vehicle
• Know the road conditions before you leave
• Do not over use your brakes!
• Keep plenty of room around you
• Turn your radio off so you can hear what your motor is doing
• Hang onto the steering wheel with one hand loosely so that you’re not overcorrecting
• Drive GENTLY. Everything you do on icy or snowy roads will affect how your vehicle handles. Move slowly. Turn slowly. Brake slowly. Doing any of the above suddenly can cause your vehicle to spin out of control whether it be a loaded semi or a pick up.
• Most importantly: Get off the road if you are that uncomfortable because YOU become the hazard!

I love to just walk around and absorb all of its beauty. All of a sudden Mother Nature has changed my whole world, like it’s been touched by something so amazing… Just for me.

I am always in awe and never disappointed.

I get so excited and I feel like a kid in a candy store just walking around our property looking at all of the magic that is there to embrace.

While walking around the property I found this little doorway into another little world under one of our pines. It was relaxing to just let my imagination run… Bunnies? Fairies? Who uses this doorway? Sometimes I need to do that. To forget all the stresses of the world. To unwind.

Hope you enjoy~

xxoo

I have very sensitive skin, which cuts me out of using many over the counter products, and since I don’t buy into most of the “Slather it your face and you will look 20 years younger bullshit” yet believe that if you take care of your skin you will look younger longer, I try my best to take care of my skin. My hope is that I age easily like my mother! Yet, since I live in a truck and subject my skin to many harsh elements most women working in an office would never encounter, for the most part I make my own skin care products because I know what is in them (and what is not in them), unless I feel like treating myself-then I buy Naturopathica products which I ADORE but usually find a bit too steeply priced to keep in stock year after year.And really it is fun & economical to make my own products!

Every summer I grow a good crop of Calendula and pick the flower tops as often as I am able for drying. I usually let them dry  and accumulate in my shop until late fall or early winter when I add them to a glass jar and cover with whatever good organic oil I have laying around at the time. This year I had organic jojoba oil. After months of infusing, I am left with a sweet smelling, natural yet powerful, extremely easy on the skin oil that I use for just about everything.

Once the flowers have had enough time to infuse, I usually let them sit for a good 4 months, I run the oil first through a strainer to get rid of the calendula. Then I run the oil through cheese cloth a time or two and finally a coffee filter which gives you a nice clear oil. The end product is a full bodied oil, with a rich scent and the nice thing is that anyone can make this at home.

To make this oil you can grow your own Calendula this summer and use an organic oil to completely cover the flowers, or you can buy everything you need online from Mountain Rose Herbs. I don’t really have a “recipe” of sorts with exact measurements for you, but I use a couple good handfuls of flowers and make sure the oil is completely covering them.

Enjoy~

I hope you all are having a great Saturday morning! This morning I made it a point to have a slow quiet morning, since I have yet been able to enjoy more than a cup of coffee since I arrived home. I happily sat in my living room this morning and watched the sun come up behind my lime tree, and quietly sipped my coffee. Earlier this month I had an epiphany of sorts while drooling over my new Williams-Sonoma catalog that seemingly haunts me every month with all the new goodies and gadgets they sell, and I thought I would share it with you.

It all started over the Thanksgiving Holiday when my wonderful Mother brought down her old fashioned coffee percolator so that we wouldn’t have to pull out my huge Mr. Coffee, or use my single use Keurig which at one point in my life I thought made pretty good coffee… I was so wrong.

I have always loved the coffee my parents whip up when I am visiting their house. It has always been consistent and had a depth of flavor that I could never get when I was home or out on the road. I really never thought about it any further, until my Mom brought down her percolator and left it for me to use.

Now, only once since she left that old fashioned coffee pot have I used my Keurig and I was SO disappointed when I did use it! To me, the coffee that was easily & quickly served up in my cup was warmish, but not as hot as I like it and had a flavor that reminded me of coffee water, rather than a flavorful coffee. My Keurig is now wrapped up and in the closet, along with my Mr Coffee, and I doubt very much Mom will ever get her percolator back!

With the old fashioned percolator I get the same coffee every day that has a good full flavor. And not only do I get good tasting coffee, but my whole house smells like home; like my grandmothers use to when she would make her old fashioned egg coffee and like my parents home still does which brings back so many good memories that I hold dear. Since the pot has its own stainless steel basket for coffee grounds I do not have to purchase anything but coffee which in this day and age saves me money too.

Now I love cooking, baking, and whipping up yummy dishes in my kitchen. I have 2 pieces from Le Creuset, a braiser as well as a dutch oven and an oval Staub Coq Au Vin that I love, love, love and use pretty much every day I cook. These are not cheap pieces, and I have to be honest that I am very lucky my Hubs, Mother, and Sister in Law have treated me to these awesome pieces for my birthdays over the years-they probably got sick of me begging for them. Even though you don’t need these more expensive pieces (although the color options lured me in) you can find less expensive enameled cast iron from Lodge, Cuisinart, and Food Network which I’m sure works just as well, they have changed my life, as in how I cook in the kitchen and I would tell anyone who is really into cooking to find an enameled cast iron dutch oven or braiser (or both!) and add them to your kitchen wish list. Although these pieces are not a cheap addition to a kitchen by any means compared to aluminum crap at Wal-Mart, I am confidant that these items will last my lifetime as well as my step-sons and their wives. These pieces have changed the way I cook-I love cooking low & slow, and have also changed the flavor & texture of what I cook, which by the reaction Hubs has had, along with various guests, it has all been good!

Along with the enameled cast iron, I have regular cast iron that I use often, and a few heavy stainless steel pans that I’ve had since the early ’90′s and they have held up to the amount of cooking that I do very well. Those kitchen items, along with my Kitchen Aid, (which is like my right arm) and a few good knives, are the only fancy items I have in my kitchen.

Now to my epiphany, sort of; sometimes I sit and dream about all the fancy things one sees online and in all the kitchen catalogs that show up in my mailbox. I sometimes dream of having a stocked kitchen with all the bells and whistles. Then I step back and wake up because I don’t need all of the high tech fancy new things that come out for ones kitchen! Although I have some expensive brands sitting on my kitchen counter, I really don’t need much more to make fine food.

I have started to really think back to what my grandmother use to use, which was a lot of plain old cast iron (which I still employ in my kitchen) and an awesome aluminum dutch oven that my Mom still has and cooks with. My Grandma would make to-die-for food in a very small kitchen that was always filled with way too many people. The laughter and the awesome smells of home cooking are what I still dream about and try to recreate in my kitchen. To me, that is what cooking is suppose to be all about, not what you spent to get it on the plate.

So with that I am stepping back in my kitchen, enjoying some of the old fashioned, not-so-high-tech gadgetry that I have, like my new (old) coffee percolator & cast iron, cheese cloth & glass jars, so that I can keep making excellent food for my family, which is all that matters.

xoxo

I belong to a food coop and had forgotten that I had ordered a HUGE amount of quinoa and that it was sitting on the shelf patiently waiting for me to do something with it. Finally the other day, at the last minute (I was packing Rosie up to go) I decided I had better get busy using it up. Now I keep asking myself what took you so long! Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) is very good for you, and can pretty much be a replacement for any other grain in most recipes.

Since I whipped up this recipe I have been living off of this salad and nothing else since I left the house. Not only is it very good for you but it is easy to make and very tasty!

I pop the flavor when cooking just a bit by adding a little shot of organic vegetable bouillon (you could also use chicken) or nothing at all depending on your taste preference. I had watercress in the fridge so that’s what I used since I was looking for spiciness. You could also add arugula to hop it up even more.

I hope you enjoy, I know I did… Now I’m just wishing I had made more!

He was out on the deck when I took this so the photo isn’t the greatest. When Milo wants to come in or go out, he now sits like a bunny rabbit as if to be noticed more. It is kind of funny since Milo does not meow. He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out, unless he really wants something, and then a very faint squeak comes out. He has been this way since I found him, for some reason.

He loves to play, and jumping on my head while I was trying to sleep was “fun” for him although I did not find the humor in it! And of coarse after he had me awake and I had played with him for a bit he was happy to curl up next to me and go to sleep!

I still can’t believe how grown up he is, and how healthy he has become in the months since I found him laying in front of our barn! If you don’t know who Milo Otis is you can read about him and his life here!

Milo seems to be more like a dog than a cat at this point. He is always interested in what you are doing and right there, usually underfoot to check out whatever you may have in hand.

Judy said:

You say nothing about the long hours alone and the poyential for rape by male drivers, the DOT shutting your truck down, log books being checked, food is great far and few places on the road and if you are only a rider you can be pushed out for someone the driver thinks is prettier etc than you what about all that and that does nothing about foreman’s who chew you up because you are supposed to be there the same day you load when the load is 20 hrs from where you load. Trucking is a hard life and few people let alone women deserve the harshness of that life. Maybe some day loads will go shorter distncs and the long hours will be a thing of the past but til then use your brain for something other than a ceiling punching box.—–Little Diesel for Women

First off, just to give a little information about myself for anyone who may not know me: I call my website & myself One Girl Trucking because first and foremost, I am out here on the road, trucking by myself. Nobody is out here holding my hand nor would I have it any other way. I write about MY life out here on the road as a trucker because people find it interesting.

I am not, nor will I ever be an “Advocate” for the trucking industry. I am an Owner Operator, a business owner, and driver who LOVES trucking to the bone. The only thing you will find me advocating is cool trucks & old school drivers that know how to walk the walk.

Dearest Judy,

First and foremost if you had read my blog here, you could have schooled yourself on who I am, as well as my life  in trucking (3rd generation trucker), and pretty much everything else in between before you made such a dumb assuming comment on my page. Since you failed to do this, I have to assume that I need to tell you who I am and what my thoughts are. Now please don’t think I take this personal, I take this very lightly, but like I’ve said here & here I get a kick out of people like you.

Now to start off I have to point you in the direction of this post, and this post since it talks a bit about my loneliness out here on the road. Everyone who drives a truck has had their share of days that are less than perfect. I can only speak for myself though and say that I love the road even when it’s lonely, and it is as much my home as the one I’m sitting in right now with four walls.

I love the road, I love my truck, and I can only write about what I know.

You write that I don’t talk about the potential of rape out here on the road. Well, here’s the thing Judy, I’ve never been afraid to protect myself out here, and I think guys know that number one. I have no problem shooting first and asking questions later. I have also had enough brains in my head to not put myself in a situation where I could be raped. Maybe I have been lucky, maybe I just know how to pick out good character in a guy. I have, over the past 20 years drank beer & whiskey in truck stop parking lots with MANY male drivers. I have danced on flatbeds under the stars with them, I have taken taxi cabs to bars with them, I have even shared a motel room with a male driver (separate beds of coarse) and swam half naked under the Arizona sky with fellow drivers and I have never had a problem. Yes, I have had too many offers to count and I have been hit on more times than I know what to do with, but never have I had one driver ever put his hands on me when I did not want him to. There is a potential for rape in a Wal-Mart parking lot just like there is in a truck stop parking lot, use your head. I take care of myself and I don’t expect anyone else to do it for me. I look and act like a lady, and I demand respect, that is something ALL women should be doing while out here. I have written plenty on protecting ones self here if your interested though.

Now on to the DOT checking log books and shutting your truck down. Judy if you actually drive a truck, which I’m thinking you don’t have a clue, you would know that you will get pulled in a checked every now and then. It is part of our job out here and as long as I don’t have an officer trying to scew me, I have no problem being pulled over because generally I have my shit together. Hell in November alone I was DOT’d 3 times in two weeks (Both my truck & I passed all 3 times for the record) and that is part of trucking. You can find post on what I think of the CVSA here.

I also write plenty on eating in a truck because I agree there is less and less good food out here on the road, but I’m guessing you would know that if you would have looked a bit further into my website. I am not one to bitch about what someone does not provide for me Judy. I fix the problem for myself.

Now, on to riding in a truck with someone who would kick you out, a foreman that would chew you out, and what a tough life trucking is, and poor, poor women who don’t deserve such a life. First off, I’m sorry, but I don’t know what it is like to be a rider or to be pushed out of a truck because some guy found a better looking seat cover. I own Rosie and depend on no man to cart my ass around the countryside because I either don’t have the brains or the brawn to learn how to drive a truck, or most likely, just don’t want to work…

Here’s the thing Judy, I am NOT PRO WOMEN so really you are barking up the wrong damn tree with me. I am out here because I have busted my ass to learn and be as good, if not better than the MEN I have admired my whole life in this trucking industry. I am PRO any person MALE or FEMALE that can do the JOB.

Never once have I asked for a break or respect that I did not earn, because trucking always has been a man’s world. “I” am the one who wanted to be out here with the boys-I had other options but I CHOSE trucking. They sure as hell didn’t ask me to come join them, I showed up and jumped right in.

There are MANY women who DO NOT BELONG OUT HERE. I’m guessing YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE WOMEN. Trucking is trucking and I love it with all of my heart and soul. People like you fuck up trucking (please excuse my language but I feel very strongly about this subject). I love running hard. I love the tiredness I feel when I’ve drove my ass off, because rarely do I ever let anyone down. I love bullshitting and learning from the people that have this same love that I do. I love greasing my truck. I love changing my oil. I love swearing & sweating my ass off  backing my truck into a bitch of a hole that was made for a straight truck and feeling the accomplishment when I’m done. I love looking at wheat fields and the snow drifts that come with the long hours. I also love finding ways to make my days out on the road better for ME because trucking is trucking and no one asked me to come out here. I came out here all on my own.

Trucking is NOT about having your hand held, although every big trucking company is putting more and more people out here on the road that DO NOT BELONG out here, because if their hand was not held they would never make it.

If you or anyone else don’t like the rules, then get the hell out because we don’t need you out here.

Signed,

One Girl Trucking

P.S

I am still wondering about the ceiling punching box thing. Maybe someone who reads this can teach me what exactly it is?

What do you listen to when you’re trucking, heading home from work, or at home?

Give me some ideas! I’m always looking for something else to pull me down the highway at a high rate of fuel consumption!

It is finally time to roll into the new year. I don’t know about all of you, but after rebuilding Rosies motor not once, but twice in one year (1800 miles after the first rebuild), the loss of most of our ducks to a mink, losing my grandmother the first part of December, then a good friend of mine a week later, and my brother in law on Christmas Day, not only am I, but my whole family is ready for a new refreshed year.

There are many traditions for the New Year. Along with those mentioned in the link, Danish traditions say that those who celebrate will find a doorstep of broken dishes on New Year’s Day. Thrown at the door through the night, the more broken pieces you have, it is thought the greater the number of friendships. I’m guessing you don’t want to leave the house barefoot New Year’s Day!