Kind of Home & Starting Vacation

Our vacation plans were altered moderately when we had a common problem in our line of work: finding an empty trailer to take to our next customer. This happened a few days ago in Pennsylvania. A delay of several hours can entirely alter the course of desired plans. Our knickers aren't too knotted, though; we know that this is how it goes in the freight pulling industry.

  Last night, we are were able to make it as far as Strafford Missouri - which is very close to Springfield Missouri. My mom came to pick us up. We spent the night at her house, with our kids. Our delay conflicted with the boys' mother's plans, so my mom volunteered to help make things smooth.

  We are still under a load that has to be delivered near Kansas City. It has to be delivered today. Before doing so, we are getting a little work done on our tractor at the ThermoKing dealership in Springfield Missouri. The auxiliary power unit (APU) started acting up a couple of days ago, requiring us to keep the main engine on all night to run the air conditioning to keep us cool. It is very important to keep that device in good working order, as it saves us lots of money in fuel & maintenance expenses. 

   As the included picture shows, we have our personal car here. Stephanie & the boys will follow me up to Kansas City, as I deliver our heavy load of bottled water. After that, I will park the tractor at the nearby Schneider drop yard. And then...our epic 10-day vacation to Ohio & South Carolina will begin.