Yesterday

Although everyday that I get up I know that with the good Lord willing a good part of the day will be comprised of driving the truck, almost everyday holds a surprise or something unexpected to our normal routine of driving, driving, driving. Yesterday was such a day.

We woke up at 5:30a in Missoula, MT, where we had spent the night (well, we arrived at 1am and got up at 5:30am, is that a night?). I was driving us in to Spokane, WA to the Watkins terminal for a partial unload. We arrived in Spokane at 8am, right on the dot, got unloaded without any problem. Then Shannon noticed that our air supply gauges were indicating we were losing air. Without enough air pressure in the system, our truck doesn't move, literally - it will lock down its brakes in both the truck and trailer if we get below a certain air pressure, and it isn't a respecter of location, it will lock down in the middle of the freeway, going around a corner, or pulling out onto a thoroughfare. So, needless to say, it was a problem that needed to be fixed.

We stopped at a Flying J truck stop just a couple of exits into Spokane and called our main shop in Missoula. Fortunately Watkins does business with a repair shop just a couple of blocks from that truck stop - coincidence? I don't believe in coincidences - so we limped the rig up to Leland Truck Repair on Broadway. Shannon began talking with several guys there and between all of them they finally figured out that we had a leaking turbo wastegate actuator and it would need to be replaced. Watkins approved the repair and the guys went to work on replacing it. The man who actually did the work on the truck was young and such a friendly guy and even though he had all kinds of problems with the job itself, couldn't get the old part out, dropped the new part and it rolled halfway under the truck, made about 20 trips into the shop for a different tool or whatever, didn't have the right hose clamp to complete the job, etc., but when he was all done he beamed. He was so proud of himself. I was just happy to have met this guy with his good nature and determination to get the job done.

Halfway during the day Shannon and I walked back up to the Flying J and had lunch where we met Jodie. It was hard to tell how old Jodie is but I would bet that she's worked at the Flying J for a very, very long time. She seemed to personally know everyone who entered the door, or in our case, she made us feel as though we were old friends. She is a waitress but she was more than that. I would imagine that if we would have gone to her home she would have treated us the same way, as though we were honored guests. You just knew that Jodie was genuine, this wasn't just a "job" to her. She wrapped herself in a cloak of friendliness.

Since the repair took all day, we didn't roll into Portland, OR until 12:45am today. It was a long day but I'm thankful to God for bringing these two people into our lives, even for the briefest of time.