Red Wing, MN

Well, I am home! I arrived at 9:00 am today. Late in the afternoon yesterday I received a message from Schneider that I could go home after dropping off the load in Blaine this morning. I decided to get up early and try to beat the snow that was forecast. I awoke at 3:00 am and saw that the snow was falling and the wind blowing hard. I ventured out anyway. The road had 4 to 5 inches of snow and I could barely see tracks in the snow. I drove 20 mph for the first 2 hours. Fortunately there weren't many cars or trucks on the road. After a couple of hours there was evidence of a snow plow. Gradually my speed increased. By the time I got to the WI/MN border the roads were clear and I was zooming along.

I'll be off until the day after New Years Day, so I'll have plenty of time to celebrate with Erika and Greta., visit Frank and continue to work on my condo.

I hope the coming week will bring many unexpected gifts to you and those close to you. - James (Jibs - Dad/Papa )

Blaine, MN

I arrived in Fond du Lac yesterday morning a half hour before my schdeuled appt and with 30 minutes left to drive before I was over 70 hours. That was cutting it close. I spent the day at a truck stop in Fond du Lac. This morning I was sent up to Escanaba, MI to pick up a load of paper which I'm to take to Blaine, MN. I'm to drop off the trailer at the Schneider Drop Lot where I park my car. There is a chance that I'll be done tomorrow, but I probably won't know for sure until tomorrow morning. That would be quite a Xmas gift.

It has been foggy since Thur afternoon. I drove through for all day today. 1/4 to 1/2 mile visibility all day. A bit stressful. But I'm also excited by the possibility of being done tomorrow. I could only drive 8 hours today. I was able to make the pickup in Escanaba and get as far as 30 miles west of Wausau before I needed to stop. I have a little over 200 miles left to drive tomorrow. I may be driving in snow, but there shouldn't be much traffic.

I imagine you are all getting ready for your holiday celebrations. I hope it is not too stressful. I'll let you know if I get home early. - James (Jibs - Dad/Papa
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Fond du Lac, WI

I've stopped for the day. I'm 5 miles into Montana. It is snowing. I got stuck climbing up to Lookout Pass (on the ID-MT border). I had to get out and put on chains and then crawl at 5 mph to the top and then come down on the other side at 15 mph.

I started out this morning in Everett at 2:00 am PST and drove down to Portland (200 miles) and picked up chains there. Then I took I-84 east along the Columbia River. That was spectacular. After another 180 miles I headed back north into WA and picked up I-90.

Tomorrow I'll drive through MT and thursday I'll try to make it to WI. Quite an adventure.

My supervisor is trying to get me home on Xmas day. That would be nice, but I'm just hoping to be back by the day after.

Erika and Pat have decided they will be moving to near Portland, OR. Pat will be teaching at Linfield College in McMinnville, OR starting in Sept. '08. They are excited. It sounds like a wonderful place. I'm very pleased for them.

Well, I hope your week is going well. I'll let you knpw how the rest of my trip goes. - James (Jibs - Dad/Papa )

Easton, WA

I'm in the mountains and stopped near Snoqualmie Pass. It is snowing. The advisory says to use chains. I don't have any, so I need to wait for the snow to stop. I'm 60 miles from Seattle. I didn't expect any snow this close to Seattle, but what do I know.

After dropping off this load, I pick up another load at the same place and take it right back to the midwest. (Fond du Lac). I need to be there by Friday morning 12/21 at 8:00 am. I'll be driving down to Portland to pick up some chains before I head back east.

I hope your weekend was good and that today is going well. I'll let you know if I get out of the mountains. - James (Jibs - Dad/Papa )

P.S. - Kara, could you mark down MT, I'd and WA? Thanks!

Bozeman/Butte, MT

I just stopped for the night midway between Bozeman and Butte ob I-90. Montana sure is big. I'll drive 700 miles from the eastern to western MT.

I started out from the Twin Cities at 9:00 am yesterday and got as far as Bismarck, ND. I started again at 7:30 am this morning and drove close to 600 miles.

I still have over 600 miles left to drive before I reach Everett, WA. The weather has been good. In the Twin Cities it was below zero, but clear. It only got down to 15 in Bismarck. Where I'm at now it is in the 30's. No snow which I'm grateful about. I hope that continues until I get to WA. The mountains are impressive. I haven't been able to see the tops of them. They are cloud covered. What I can see of them is snow covered. I was in MT once before, but that was during the summer. The terrain was quite different then. It seemed more hospitable.

I'll probably drive another 600 miles tomorrow and get as close as I can to Everett. I hope your weekend is going well so far. I'll let you know where they send me once I get to WA. - James (Jibs - Dad/Papa )

Everett, WA

Well, soon I'll be back at it. The driver before me won't be back to Blaine until tonight. So' I won't be starting again until tomorrow morning. He's bringing a load that I will be taking all the way to Everett, WA. (1700 miles). I don't need to have it there until Monday evening' so I'll have 4 full days to make the drive.

I think I'll go west on I-94 through ND, MT, UT and then WA. The other option would be to take I-90.

Once out there I'm not sure how or when I'll make it back. Heading south to CA or AZ would be ideal.

I'll have had parts of 10 days off. I've used the time getting settled in my new place and spending time with Greta and Tristan. It's been fun. I hope you all have had a good week. I'll keep you informed about my progress and next stop. - James (Jibs - Dad/Papa )

Birthdays, NY

Just a quick note about birthdays in NYC. Uncle Frank's birthday is today, Dec 8th and he is 61. Cousin Jason's birthday is tomorrow, Dec 9th and he will be 38, I believe. Happy Birthday to the both of them. - James (Jibs - Dad/Papa )

Red Wing, MN

I'm home. I arrived yesterday around noon. That was fortunate because it snowed all day here. (5") it would have been tough getting in any later.

I was in Chicago most of Monday. The traffic wasn't bad, so the day went well. I did stop for the night in Madison, but got there too late to visit Erika and the girls. On sunday night, Sydney was so excited about setting up the Xmas tree and making cookies that ahe had a hard time getting to sleep. Erika heard something in the living room at midnight and went out to look. There was Syd standing by the tree, just looking up at it. The magic of the season.

I just setup my new Blackberry. It took awhile, but now I'm all set. This one has a full keyboard so my emails might make more sense. However, in changing from Nextel to Sprint my address changed. Instead of nextel in the address you need to put sprint there. So the new address is jbarth9@sprint.blackberry.net

Please make this correction. I don't want to lose touch with you.

Have a great week. I'll be moving all the stuff from my garage to my condo (books' etc), and playing with my new toy. - James (Jibs - Dad/Papa )
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Streamwood, IL

I had quite a day yesterday. I started out from Madison driving south to St Louis. I missed all of the snow which I was thankful for, but I did hit freezing rain about 60 miles north of St Louis. It lasted for about 30 miles, but that was enough for me. I drove about 35 to 45 mph. I saw cars in the ditch on both sides of the road. Fortunately, I didn't slip or slide at all.

After I dropped off the trailer in St Louis I was to pick up an empty trailer and take it to Jefferson City, drop it there and pick up a loaded trailer and being it up to Streamwood, IL by Monday morning. The place I was to pick up the empty was closed however. So they sent me another 100 miles to pick up an empty in Fulton, MO. When I got there they didn't have any empty trailers, so I was sent another 85 miles to Sedalia to pick up a trailer. By that time I had to stop for the night.

This morning I finally picked up an empty and then drove back to Jefferson City, dropped off the empty and picked up my load. I drove pretty much nonstop and made it to just north of Joliet. I'll drive the rest of the way early tomorrow.

When I woke up this morning near Sedalia it was 66 degrees. It got as high as 70 when I drove through St Louis. About 40 miles north of St Louis during a 10 mile stretch the temp dropped from 62 degrees to 39 degrees. Quite amazing.

On Friday night, I went with Erika and the girls to a mall in Madison and bought the girls Xmas outfits. They also got some slippers, sunglasses and Sydney got some ear muffs. They had to wear the sun glasses right away. So we went walking through the mall with them wearing the glasses. They looked pretty cute. When we went outside, Syd had her stocking cap on with her sun glasses and her ear muffs on. Quite a sight. Erika said they wore the glasses to bed the last 2 nights.

Hopefully, after dropping off the load tomorrow I'll start heading back toward the Twin Cities. It would be nice to get back on Tuesday. But, you never know. I'll keep you informed. I hope you've had a nice weekend. - James (Jibs - Dad/Papa )