I'm not as young as I once was.

Whew. I find that I am not in "road shape" either.

Believe it or not, being able to sit in a vehicle and drive for hours on end does take conditioning.

It might not be physically exhausting, but it does have an effect physically and mentally.

Due to conflicting happenings, I made the Abilene/Weatherford/Tye trek, but had a detour for about an hour in Abilene, that ended with me and Memama meeting Chris and Pepa at Tye.

I had opportunity to get a haircut after dropping Chris for his first meeting, went by the Post Office, picked up Chris, took him to the Better 'Burger, back to Chris's second meeting and finally headed home.

On my way home I talked with Krl and she asked if we could pick up supper. In a rare occurrence, I didn't want what she wanted. I had been seeing advertisements for the "new" torpedos from one of the chains, so I stopped in there to get my supper, then I stopped again at the fish place to get Krl something to eat.

My experience with the torpedo was disappointing. Maybe I didn't know what to order. But, I don't think I will be trying it again.

The trucks were a problem yesterday. I don't know if it was the end of the month or what, but return loads were few and far between. Krl worked her butt off before calling me on the road to report. All of our new contacts were "loadless" too. Finally she made the call and sent the trucks North. She already had loads for tomorrow.

That is where my day had a problem.

My driver who had a problem week before last with his reloadable debit card, had another one. I had put five hundred dollars on his card for fuel. When he rolled in at the pumps, a new cashier just swiped his card, not putting in an amount, prior to turning on the pumps. What that did was remove all the cash from the card. $503 and some change. Believe me, I know a lot about the debit card transactions that has been a hard education, proper sequence is paramount. The driver got made at me, saying the cards weren't going to work, and that I hadn't put money on his and all sorts of baloney. I called the balance number and sure enough, the card reported a 0.00 balance. I called Krl and she went on line to look at transactions. The proof was on the computer screen!

My driver had left the truck stop, I called him and told him to return and talk with the manager. I detoured to a check cashing place to cash a check Krl had given me to use to reload. I really hate to use this place because even tough the company is based in Abilene, the bank we use is not, so this check cashing place considers this to be an "out of area" check.

$13 to cash a $500 check.

From there I was headed to Wal*Mart to load the money on the card. When this was completed, I called the driver to tell him and he told me the manager had discovered what he was talking about and had given him fuel and was returning the excess money to the card.

So, if you are thinking about getting a shared card or even a single cash card, her is the key. Any time you use it prior to actual transaction, give the cashier a $$$ amount to key in, or leave your license and card to swipe at the end of the transaction.

Krl reported that all the transactions had been recorded on-line so it appeared everything had settled back down.

By the way, the cashier got a up close and personal lesson from the manager of the fuel stop.

Not surprisingly, the manager there told my driver these cards are becoming very popular for what we are using them for.

I thought my day had wound up and spun out of control, flirting with disaster and gloom and doom. During the lull after the storm, I called one of our co-workers from the seasonal site.

I knew something was wrong when she told me she was at her parents home. I didn't want to ask what was wrong, but finally did. She said, "You don't know what is going on?"

"No", I replied.

She continued on, telling me that they had lost her "Pop" on Monday. "Pop" was her 93 year old grandfather. She was very close to him and she told me they had all been together on Sunday. The circumstances surrounding losing her "Pop" made losing him more difficult.

By comparison, my day paled.

Krl and I love this little family and we hurt for them. Our friend asked for prayers, so please add them to your list.

Rian and I talked last evening and he is ready and raring to go! He had been at school only a half day yesterday. His boss made him an appointment to see a chiropractor, trying to figure out why Rian is having trouble with his leg and foot. Then to the dentist, then to McAdoo. At McAdoo he met up with some friends who were giving him some performance parts that they were no longer using. They gave him two supercharger belts and some clutch floater plates along with some fuel pills. One of these friends is going to be at the show Friday night and told Rian if he had a problem, they would get it handled!

I suppose that is one of the things that is really heart warming is how much support Rian is getting from so many different people! I hope he has a successful weekend and it is safe and maintenance free!

I gotta get. I got a reprieve from Chris for a little extra time this morning to try to get a 2290 filed. It may mean a five o'clock departure tomorrow morning to go and register a truck, we will see.

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for the safe travel and for Memama's good report. We pray the tests they did yesterday will come back as good as the last ones. FATHER, I thank YOU for all the friends helping Rian. We lift up Becky and her family for YOUR comfort and care as they deal with losing Pop.