Life changes
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mikechamp
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Re: Life changes
Has anyone heard from @tlombard recently? He hasn't updated his blog in quite a while.
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GeddyWrox
- Caught you a delicious bass
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tlombard
- tl;dr
- Posts: 5042
- Joined: May 21 09, 12:41 pm
Re: Life changes
He's still alive and loving life on the road. I've been meaning to get the laptop out and get back on here for awhile but things moved really fast on the truck with my trainer and then I got my company truck and by the time I got comfortable on there and was ready to figure out my laptop setup... I got approved for a lease and didn't bother getting anything else set up on the company truck since I knew that I wouldn't be on it more than another couple of weeks.
I spent NYE and New Year's Day with my brother, sister-in-law and nieces and nephew down at their house in the Daytona area... and then hauled a load back to Dallas for four days of meetings, paperwork, etc... and then another 10 days of just waiting for my truck to be ready. I tried getting on here a few times over the two weeks but nothing would ever load. There were just too many drivers there on the yard trying to access the cellular network (no wifi) and everything was too slow. Since Jan 20, 2022 I've been out on the road in my own leased truck with the exception of taking one week off because the last time I had been home was before Thanksgiving! The money is stupid, in the good way, and I'm absolutely loving this.
Now that I've gotten settled in and everything set up, you'll be hearing from me regularly again. I definitely have some stories, pictures, etc. from the previous few months. Last night I actually bought a new dashcam and just finished checking out the pictures and time lapse video I had it capture during my drive today. It worked really well. I didn't really want to spend $300 on it (truck stop prices, lol) but I'm glad I did in the end. The quality is great and everything can be controlled either through a phone app or voice. It's nice to be able to get a picture of stuff by just saying, "OK Garmin, take a picture," while not taking your hands off the wheel or even eyes off the road. I was even able to start the time lapse recording the same way.
The drive today? I-5 north from somewhere south of Sacramento all the way to 100+ miles into Oregon. Beautiful drive. I think I might like this drive even more than when I took the 101 from the Oakland area down to Oxnard for a pickup and then the rest of the way to LA before heading east on my way to Iowa. It's pretty cool to be driving a few dozen yards from the Pacific in stretches. Today I saw some really cool stuff and some sad stuff too. Lake Shasta is still a beautiful lake but I would have loved to have seen it at its fullest. It was sad to see boat ramps that were a few hundred yards long and end before reaching the water. The level is WAAAAY down. There are also entire mountainsides with nothing but burnt remnants of trees remaining for a few miles thanks for forest fires. The rest of the drive is pretty amazing though. This stretch of Oregon that I'm in the middle of now is a valley with mountains on each side and beautiful mountain rivers flowing along the interstate and all over. It was also pretty cool to cross over the Sacramento river a couple of times where it is bigger and then cross over it a couple of times later in the day up in the mountains where it is just a small mountain river.
Tomorrow I head up to a drop just south of Seattle and then on to another drop in Spokane. Unfortunately the first drop is at 9am and I'm still 340 miles out so I'll be doing most of the drive while it's dark. Then I won't have too much time left on my clock after getting unloaded so I'll have to sleep through the afternoon/evening and finish the drive to Spokane while it's dark so I won't get to see too much tomorrow.
We really live in a beautiful country with tons of variety in scenery. Once I get to Washington tomorrow morning, the last states that I need to get to are Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas, Michigan, Minnesota, Vermont and Arkansas (odd I haven't ended up there somehow). I have driven through every other state in the continental US since September though.
Anyway, I'm back and will be on here regularly again. I haven't given up on GatewayRoadbird either. I'll get back on that soon.
I spent NYE and New Year's Day with my brother, sister-in-law and nieces and nephew down at their house in the Daytona area... and then hauled a load back to Dallas for four days of meetings, paperwork, etc... and then another 10 days of just waiting for my truck to be ready. I tried getting on here a few times over the two weeks but nothing would ever load. There were just too many drivers there on the yard trying to access the cellular network (no wifi) and everything was too slow. Since Jan 20, 2022 I've been out on the road in my own leased truck with the exception of taking one week off because the last time I had been home was before Thanksgiving! The money is stupid, in the good way, and I'm absolutely loving this.
Now that I've gotten settled in and everything set up, you'll be hearing from me regularly again. I definitely have some stories, pictures, etc. from the previous few months. Last night I actually bought a new dashcam and just finished checking out the pictures and time lapse video I had it capture during my drive today. It worked really well. I didn't really want to spend $300 on it (truck stop prices, lol) but I'm glad I did in the end. The quality is great and everything can be controlled either through a phone app or voice. It's nice to be able to get a picture of stuff by just saying, "OK Garmin, take a picture," while not taking your hands off the wheel or even eyes off the road. I was even able to start the time lapse recording the same way.
The drive today? I-5 north from somewhere south of Sacramento all the way to 100+ miles into Oregon. Beautiful drive. I think I might like this drive even more than when I took the 101 from the Oakland area down to Oxnard for a pickup and then the rest of the way to LA before heading east on my way to Iowa. It's pretty cool to be driving a few dozen yards from the Pacific in stretches. Today I saw some really cool stuff and some sad stuff too. Lake Shasta is still a beautiful lake but I would have loved to have seen it at its fullest. It was sad to see boat ramps that were a few hundred yards long and end before reaching the water. The level is WAAAAY down. There are also entire mountainsides with nothing but burnt remnants of trees remaining for a few miles thanks for forest fires. The rest of the drive is pretty amazing though. This stretch of Oregon that I'm in the middle of now is a valley with mountains on each side and beautiful mountain rivers flowing along the interstate and all over. It was also pretty cool to cross over the Sacramento river a couple of times where it is bigger and then cross over it a couple of times later in the day up in the mountains where it is just a small mountain river.
Tomorrow I head up to a drop just south of Seattle and then on to another drop in Spokane. Unfortunately the first drop is at 9am and I'm still 340 miles out so I'll be doing most of the drive while it's dark. Then I won't have too much time left on my clock after getting unloaded so I'll have to sleep through the afternoon/evening and finish the drive to Spokane while it's dark so I won't get to see too much tomorrow.
We really live in a beautiful country with tons of variety in scenery. Once I get to Washington tomorrow morning, the last states that I need to get to are Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas, Michigan, Minnesota, Vermont and Arkansas (odd I haven't ended up there somehow). I have driven through every other state in the continental US since September though.
Anyway, I'm back and will be on here regularly again. I haven't given up on GatewayRoadbird either. I'll get back on that soon.
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Joe Shlabotnik
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Re: Life changes
Great to hear from you T! I haven't participated but I've been following your odyssey. We've been worried about you!
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mikechamp
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Re: Life changes
I know that stretch on I-5 that you're talking about, and yeah, it is pretty depressing. Haven't been out that way in over 2 years, so I can only imagine how much worse it is now.
Travel safe.
Travel safe.
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Joe Shlabotnik
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Re: Life changes
Well dang it, how did I miss that? You went right past Casa Shlabotnik 20 miles into Oregon. Next time you are driving past the Suncrest rest area near milepost 22 look to the east and wave!
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GeddyWrox
- Caught you a delicious bass
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- Location: Please use blue font for the sarcasm impaired.
Re: Life changes
Good to hear from ya T! Stay out of trouble!!! 
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mikechamp
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Re: Life changes
Sorry, Joe. I was on the section south of Sacramento.Joe Shlabotnik wrote: ↑February 23 22, 9:14 pmWell dang it, how did I miss that? You went right past Casa Shlabotnik 20 miles into Oregon. Next time you are driving past the Suncrest rest area near milepost 22 look to the east and wave!
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AWvsCBsteeeerike3
- "I could totally eat a pig butt, if smoked correctly!"
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- Joined: August 5 08, 11:24 am
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Re: Life changes
thanks for the update @tlombard, glad you're doing well.
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Leroy
- a bad penny always turns up
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Re: Life changes
Haha. Joe lives in a rest area.Joe Shlabotnik wrote: ↑February 23 22, 9:14 pmWell dang it, how did I miss that? You went right past Casa Shlabotnik 20 miles into Oregon. Next time you are driving past the Suncrest rest area near milepost 22 look to the east and wave!