I love genealogy and can’t wait to make it my full-time gig, but in the meantime, I’m still an over-the-road truck driver with my husband. Sometimes I can do both. This week while sitting for a load, I found the records a client needed for a DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) application. The rest of the week was definitely not business as usual, so this blog will be a little different.
To set the stage, I’m sitting at a truck stop in central Pennsylvania instead of at my desk…at home. Believe me, I’d much rather be sitting at home!
Rob and I have a dedicated trucking route we take every week. We drive I95 from New Jersey to Florida (several times). This past Thursday a fault code came up on the dashboard just after I had crossed the Woodrow Wilson Bridge into Virginia. Trucks these days are nothing but sensors; when one goes there’s nothing to do but replace it.
I had 4 hours of drive time before the truck was going to “derate” or shut down which was enough time to get down to a Kenworth south of Richmond (about 20 minutes from where I grew up). They couldn’t take us right away so we spent the night there and to our surprise, they were quick to fix it the next morning.
We still had a load to get down to Orlando, so we hit the road and delivered Friday night. Since I also have a background in meteorology, on the drive down I noticed the clouds in North Carolina seemed different. I hadn’t looked at the weather in a few days and was disappointed to see a tropical storm off the coast that would affect our return trip north.
When you have a light load or an empty trailer, wind is your number one nemesis! So instead of coming back I95 we had to do the I95-I26-I77-I81-I78 foxtrot. The remnants of Tropical Storm Ophelia made Virginia and Maryland interesting, but we delivered the empty trailer in Newark just fine and are now back in Pennsylvania waiting our turn for an oil change and alignment. America is one big pothole! We also are taking a mandatory HazMat class for trucking on Monday to get that out of the way. Whew!
When your office is on 18 wheels and needs servicing, you stop and take care of it. But I’ve had a shower (yeah!!) and am sitting here safe and sound writing about my week to you. Life sometimes throws you a lot of lemons and you have no choice but to make …
I’ve been listening to a YouTuber this week on business skills and I see some wonderful changes coming for Gray Stabley Genealogy Services. Stayed tuned to hear all about them!
My word for this year is evolve. I didn’t know it at the time, but that was the perfect word for me to choose. I have learned so much this year and all while trucking 5 days a week and taking care of a business, a family, and a home. And grateful everyday for all of it!
Genealogy tip: Sometimes record retrievals can take months…make sure to give yourself plenty of time or be prepared to research someone else while you wait.
If you need some help getting started on your research or have hit a brick wall, click on the button below and tell me all about it. I may be trucking, but I’m here to help you on your journey to the past!