The trusses go up

Work is progressing on the new addition to Kurt's shop. He excavated the site in August, cement was poured in September, he put up the three studwalls in October. Then came the cracked rib and now it is November.....Three friends helped put up the trusses last week

Here is the start of the day- getting the sills ready

Now all the trusses are on top of the walls and it is time to move them into position. Yes, that is Kurt standing on a ladder!!?? (at least he wasn't walking along the sills)


The last trusses are getting set into place (and notice our one maple tree turning yellow in the background)

FALL color in NE Washington

We took a car ride to the top of the Kettle Crest to view the fall colors- which have been absolutely spectacular this year.

Mark helps Grandpa recover.

Kurt attributes much of his speedy recovery to the fun of having Mark around- even though Mark was getting molars and not very happy. Here they are enjoying a popsicle

...and reading a book...

A bonus visit

Lisa and Amy flew to Washington to check on their dad after his unscheduled dismount from the ladder. So we had a quick family reunion- with (thankfully) a happy ending

The girls and Mark arrived at 1 am- so there was a lot of napping on the first day ...

The first time in the yard Mark remembered how much he liked climbing into the deck rocker- so here he is- having just climbed up all by himself.

Back by Popular Demand!

We keep hearing from folks that they miss the blog- so we intend to get going again. NOT driving truck- but blogging our trials and tribulations. To start off we have a real tribulation- but at least with at happy ending.
On Wednesday this week Kurt fell 15 feet when a ladder he was standing atop collapsed. Good news is he SURVIVED! But not without injury. There was a cracked rib, a collapsed lung and a 5 day stay in the hospital. Here is a shot of Kurt recovering at home and the nasty bruise under his arm...

Farewell Tour- last full day- Idaho and Oregon

Like a horse headed to the barn at the end of the day we have traveled straight and fast (as much as legal) to get this final load delivered. We finished Idaho as the sun was rising and had a beautiful drive along the Columbia River into Portland this morning. It was windy in the Columbia Gorge and the sailboarders were out in force. Zipping across the river in seconds flat.
There are sailboarders in the distance of the far away shot...

And if you look carefully you can see one sail in this shot....

We arrived at our delivery at noon and Kurt made perhaps his last back-up to a dock.

Farewell Tour- two days to go!

We woke up in Wyoming this morning-after a night that was cool enough that we didn't have to run the air conditioning. Kurt started driving before sunrise and I vowed to stay in the bunk until the sun was in our mirrors- So here is my first morning view.....

We crested the high point on I-80 in Wyoming- about 8600 feet in elevation. The Lincoln head pass cuts through these cool looking rocks. They are so weather-worn and tilted it looks like several of the boulders are going to fall at any moment.

We stopped for fuel and showers at Little America. This might be our last fill-up so I took a picture. Sure glad we don't have to pay that fuel bill!.....

We made a stop for groceries during the day and then feasted on grilled hamburgers and salad in the truck for dinner. I used an extension cord so I could set up the George Foreman grill outside beside the truck- cooked enough burgers for tonights meal and lunch tomorrow. Kurt was a happy camper..............

Big Red Farewell Tour- FINAL leg

Well folks, only a few days left of Big Red stories. We loaded our final load in Denver on Monday morning-Here is big red backed up to the loading dock. Our destination is Portland.

And here is the Denver skyline in our rear view mirror. We were feeling both happy and sad. Happy to be headed home- but sad that we won't be coming back to see our kids for quite awhile.

Last Colorado picture, this Buffalo stands guard over the last hill before you enter Wyoming on I-25.....

Big Red Farewell Tour- third leg

Okay, so we left Tacoma on Saturday, delivered and reloaded in Denver on Wednesday...and we were back in Seattle Friday morning delivering our load of WATER! To our complete amazement our next load was already ready. We dropped one trailer, picked up another trailer and by 9 am on Friday we were HEADED BACK TO DENVER!

They were harvesting the wheat crop in Eastern Washington- here is a combine going through a field near the interstate.

Coeur d"Alene Lake was looking spectacular on Friday afternoon.

We trucked on through Montana and Wyoming on Friday and Saturday and we were parked in Denver by noon on Sunday. Just in time to attend Mark's FIRST BIRTHDAY. This time LOTS of pictures were taken by others- so I only got a few. Here is one taken during the party.

Big Red Farewll tour- quick stop in Denver

We arrived in Denver on Tuesday afternoon. We had dinner with Lisa, Amy, Tim and Mark and then went back to the truck (and beleive it or not- NO pictures were taken!) Wednesday morning we made our delivery and immediately reloaded and we were headed back to Seattle by 9am. Amazingly- we were carrying a whole truck load of WATER to go to SEATTLE! Funny, isn't it!?
We went north to Montana and west on Interstate 90. No outside pictures of note but here are a couple from the interior. We mostly parked at rest areas at night so we made coffee in the truck as we went along. Here are our french press and coffee mugs

And on this same day I took a picture of our bunk- I even made the bed this morning...

Steamboat Springs visit

On our way from Salt Lake City to Denver we traveled a back road- Rte 40- That took us right through the tourist town of Steamboat Springs Colorado. There was no place to park a 65 foot long truck so we had to settle for taking some pictures as we passed through. Here is the welcome sign as you enter town.....

This was a hoot.... If you look to the right as you drive through town you can see a ski hill and a ski jump that comes right down to town at the end of this side street.

After Steamboat Springs you have to climb a mountain pass in the Rockies to get to Denver. It was a very pretty drive up the hill. Here is a view looking back towards Steamboat Springs....

One amazing and sad thing is the plight of the trees in the higher elevations in the Rockies. In this picture almost all the trees in the distance are dead. The whole hillside is brown. Don't quote me, but I think the problem is bugs. Bugs are killing the whole forest. (Seems like I also heard that lack of water was a problem too-maybe in combination) Whatever- it is very startling and disheartening.

Here is the sign at the top of the Rabbit Ears Pass. There were two summits with a long flat stretch between them- hence the name. (note the dead trees)

We did take a little hike at the top of the pass. We found this beautiful meadow that was full of wild flowers....

Farewell Tour for Big Red- first leg

We departed July 19th for our final two weeks in Big Red. We picked up a load in Tacoma WA and made deliveries in Salt Lake City and Denver on the 22nd and 23rd. Here are some pics from the first leg of our farewell tour.
We drove into the evening on our first day out and I took this picture of the sunset in our rear view mirror.....

Then the next day we were driving again at sunrise- "getting on to the day shift"

On Monday we made the first half of our delivery in down town Salt Lake City. Meaning we were driving our truck across Temple Ave and Main Street. We went by this great looking municipal building- can't remember now what it was- but here is a picture to prove we were truly in the heart of town.

Leaving Salt Lake we saw a rainbow off in the distance....

We decided to take a new route to Denver from SLC. We traveled for nearly 300 miles of Utah and Colorado on Rte. 40. It was one lane in each direction and covered a variety of terrains. At night we were the only vehicle at this rest stop. Here is big red in the morning before we got going....

Quick UPdate

Howdy to all our faithful readers. Here is what we have been up to lately. We came off the road on June 28th for a well earned three week vacation at home. We had a fantastic time visiting with and hosting visits from over 40 kith and kin during that time.
Also, while at Kettle Falls, Joanie interviewed for a job and has been hired as the Program Manager for ECEAP (our state funded preschool) in Colville. The job starts August 12th.
So, Kurt has given a two week notice to the trucking firm and we will be coming off the road by August first!!
We will post some pictures from "Camp Matter" and some farewell shots from our last two weeks on the road soon.
Joanie and Kurt

Another Snowstorm!!!!!

You would think that you wouldn't have to worry about snow in the second week of June- but here is proof that is has been a slow-to-warm-up spring in the Pacific Northwest...
Kurt had to navigate up to 6 inches of fresh snow while traveling westbound through the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon on June 11th. Luckily he hit the snowstorm at mid day- because earlier that morning they were making trucks put on CHAINS! It was still ugly!

Finally- Some travel pictures

It is still pretty out here on the road. Seems like there is another stunning view around every corner- expecially in the West. Here are some sights from our travels between Tacoma and Denver.

We took a shortcut from the Yakima, WA valley over a plateau and down to the Columbia River. Here is the view along the flat top of the plateau.

Here is the view as the river comes in sight, there were vineyards on both sides of the road at this point.......

Later, in eastern Oregon we saw this rainbow...

And later the same day - in early June- we saw this fresh snow on the Rockies in eastern Idaho....

Sorry we sound like a broken record- but Mark is SO CUTE!

Sorry, the route between Denver and Tacoma still cannot hold a candle to the cute things Mark keeps doing! Here are some pictures from this week while Joanie has been staying in Denver.
In the last five days he has progressed from mostly crawling to mostly walking. On Sunday he was still just walking in straight lines between objects. Every day he was doing a little longer walks and he waved his hands 'like a drunken sailor' to keep his balance.
Here he is on one of those walks....

The thing holding him back from full time walking was that he couldn't get himself to standing without having something to pull up on. He would get so frustrated when he was sitting in the middle of the room and couldn't stand up. I happened to be videotaping him when he stood up mid-room for the first time on Thursday. It was soooo cool to see it! Here are a sequence of pictures taken from the video (sorry I don't know how to to upload video)
Here he had just landed on the floor and rolled forward to stand up...

One leg is up.....

Here comes the second leg and he leaned forward for balance....

Then a squat and another re-balancing to be able to stand....

Almost there---

Done! He was not impressed with himself- he just kept on walking....

He hasn't stopped walking since he mastered this- he is quite a go-getter!