It had been raining for two days by the time I backed up to the loading Dock in Stockton, California. By the time my load was finally finished, it was nearly 11 pm and much to late to find parking at any truck stops or parking areas, so I parked --- along with several other trucks --- on the street outside.
All night long, the rain continued, and early the next morning, the rain persisted.  I decided to walk about a mile or so to a nearby fast food place to get something to eat.  Along the way, I passed someone's yard who had an orange tree in their front yard next Some of the oranges had fallen to the ground.  I love oranges and was tempted! Just down the road, I passed a palm tree in another yard. A sight not too uncommon. I was at last in the land of orange and palm trees!  My little spot of paradise away from winter wouldn't  unfortunately last for long.

The load I had taken was to be delivered in Portland, Oregon which meant I'd be taking  I-5 up through the mountain ranges of northern California and southern Oregon.  I decided to delay my departure for about 12 hours because I-5 was closed due to winter conditions. My short respite from winter storms was officially over.

Next dispatch was a load of hardware from Portland  Oregon to a large retail store in eastern Oregon. When I arrived, the area had been blanked by about six inches of snow just the day before. Apparently rain in California is snow in Oregon. This was a 'drop and pick' where I dropped the loaded container and picked up the empty.  This operation sounds easy and simple in theory, but events soon proved that theories can sometimes have exceptions.

The store had three loading docks. One dock was occupied by a trailer from another company. The middle dock by a trailer from our company, the empty that I was to pick up, and the third dock was vacant and it looked like the perfect spot to back up my loaded trailer.  The first challenge was trying to back up into the dock. There wasn't much room to maneuver at all without pulling out into the busy street. This required waiting till there was a break in the traffic, pulling out into the street and then backing up, pulling up into the busy street again to re-position, and backing up again.
Finally, after about 30 minutes of exasperating backing, I had the trailer ready for its final back up to the dock and I went inside to give my paperwork to the Receiving Department. It was then that they told me that they are unable to use that vacant dock for our trailers. I would therefore need to back up to the middle dock where our empty trailer was already.

The simplicity of my drop and hook operated just changed.  I had to disconnect from the loaded trailer, and connect to the empty container at the dock and pull it up and back it off into a corner out of the way, then disconnect from the empty and go back and hook up again to the loaded trailer and move it over one spot to the middle dock, and get it backed up ready for unloading, and then, the final step to back and hook up to the empty trailer. The entire process took a while, but finally, my drop and hook operations was completed. Another satisfied customer!

I headed about 20 miles down the road to my next shipper where my empty trailer was loaded, destined for Denver.  Once loaded, Bruce was climbing up the first mountain grade, when a bright orange light appeared on the dash...the famous 'check engine' light.  These have popped up before, and when I contacted our on-the-road team, they always checked the computer diagnostics remotely and said in effect: "It's nothing serious; keep on driving." This was the answer I was expecting this time, but instead the message came back: "Stop in at the Idaho or Utah terminal and have the shop look at it."

Spent the next two days sitting at a truck stop on a weather/safety hold while a winter storm raged, and then headed out to Utah.  The shop manager told me that the work that needed to be done was covered by warranty, and I should take the truck over the the dealership.  This I did and was told they couldn't have repairs finished till two days later.  So I'm right now on a couple of days wait while Bruce is having his repairs completed. Meanwhile, all around as I sit, the winter storms continue. When will this relentless winter end?  Or, when will I be able to take a load south where I don't need to worry about snow and Ice for a few days?