Load of Plastic Milk Bottles

Hey Kids,

Just finished a load from Phoenix, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada of plastic milk bottles. I delivered them to Meadow Gold Dairy, and they will fill these plastic bottles up with milk and then another truck will come and pick up the full milk bottles and deliver them to your store.

Can you see how important trucks are to you and your family? If I don't deliver these plastic bottles to the dairy, then they have nothing to put their milk in, and you don't have any milk to buy at the store.

So think about what you see when you look at a plastic bottle of milk at the store. You see the bottle of course, and then you notice the delicious white milk inside of it. Well, there is also a sticker on the bottle telling you what kind of milk it is, a cap to keep the milk from falling out and a stamp to tell you how long the milk is good for.

So I just delivered the bottle that was made by a company in Phoenix. They had to have the caps delivered from another company by another truck, and the stickers were printed somewhere that had to be delivered too. Once the dairy has all of these things, they can have their machines fill the bottles, put the stickers on and stamp them. Then they are put into boxes and shipped on another truck.

One of the pictures shows my load of empty milk bottles. Another is a closer pic of me taken a few months ago and the last is of a rest stop just after sunset in Texas. Talk to you soon kids!

Blessings,
~TruckerTony

Texas Panhandle

Hey Kids,

So if you look at a map of Texas, who can point out which part of Texas is called "the Panhandle"? If you look real close, you can probably guess. Well, I drove through that part of Texas a few days ago and boy did I get some good pictures of the sunset! I have included them with this post for you to see.

The Texas panhandle is fairly flat as you can see in one of the pictures. I think I saw a sign at a rest stop that said something like the "panhandle plains of Texas". The picture of my truck was taken at that rest stop just east of Amarillo, Texas. Can you find that city in the panhandle?

So just one more question; if I left Oklahoma and went into the panhandle of Texas, what was the next state I went into?

Okay kids. Have a great day and be sure to write to me about any questions or comments you have.

Blessings,
~TruckerTony

Oklahoma Indian Nations

Hey Kids,

Sorry I have not written in a week or so. I have been very busy and did not have access to the Internet.

I wanted to talk to you a bit about some of the Indian Nations I passed through while driving in Oklahoma. Many acres of land have been given to many Indian tribes through treaties dating back to 1833 in Oklahoma by the US Government. There are also Indian reservations in many other states.

I went through the following reservations in Oklahoma: the Cherokee which has 877,229 acres; the Cheyenne and Arapaho which has the Southern Arapaho, and Northern and Southern Cheyenne tribes and at least 529,682 acres; the Kickapoo which has the Mexican Kickapoo tribe and 22,529 acres of land.

I have included some pictures of each of these Indian tribes for you. The first is of a Arapaho boy in full ceremonial dress; the next is a Cheyenne Chief; then a Cherokee medicine man and finally a Kickapoo medicine man.

Have a great day kids!

Blessings,
~TruckerTony

Next Trip to Flagstaff, Arizona

Hey Kids,

Well, I delivered 1 day early this morning to Springfield, Missouri. One of the pictures is of my truck at that location. After i delivered, I headed back to Joplin, Missouri to spend the night there. That is where I am at as I write this to you.

On Thursday morning I am going a short distance north to a place called Webb City to get my next load and take it to Flagstaff, Arizona. It looks like I will have a little bit of snow to deal with in Arizona as I arrive on Friday. I will deliver this load sometime on Saturday.

There are 2 pictures of a rest area in Oklahoma just north of the Texas border on Interstate 35. It was a bit windy, however it was warm. You can see the flags being blown pretty good. It was a very pretty rest area with all the trees. Listening to the wind blow between the trees was cool.

So who remembers what my favorite time of day is? The last picture should be a clue. I took it of the Sunset in Oklahoma yesterday. Look at the difference between the sky ahead of me, and the beautiful colors behind me towards the sunset. Sometimes all I get is a rear view of beautiful sunsets, but it's better than nothing!

Remember you can click on the pictures to see a bigger one!

By the way, there is a saying; "the sun rises in the east, and sets in the west". So if that's the case, who can guess which direction I am driving?

Okay Kids...need to get some rest. I have had an exciting 24 hours! Be good and be sure to write me!

Blessings,
~TruckerTony

What GREAT Questions!

Hey Kids,

Wow! I have had a lot of great comments and questions from you on my blog! I am very impressed with what i read from you, and I am learning a lot about you, your school and your classroom.

I answer EVERY question you ask, so be sure and go back to the point where you asked that question to see if I responded. If it looks like I missed your question, just go ahead and ask again.

Please continue to write to me on my blog. If you want to send something to me in the mail, Ms Sison has my address and can help you with that. In fact, I have been doing some collecting on my own and i will be sending some things to your classroom very soon.

I hope to be able to set up a Skype session soon with you. I want to get a video ball to hook up and when that is done I will talk to Ms Sison about a good time to see you over the Internet!

Be good kids! I am really enjoying being your Trucker Buddy!

Blessings
~TruckerTony

TORNADOS In Oklahoma City!

Hey Kids,

WOW! Just as I was gettin into Oklahoma City, Ok yesterday, several police cars past us on the freeway with their lights and sirens on. I just thought it was a bad accident, however when I got a few miles up the road the freeway was stopped....and guess what I saw?

A tornado passed over the freeway about 5 miles ahead of me! It was the tornado that damaged Edmond, Ok according to the news reports. I also went through Lone Grove south of Oklahoma City a few hours before the killer tornado hit there. I did not realize that I was traveling right into a very active tornado producing storm...the first of the season. By the way, this area of the country is also known as "Tornado Alley" because of the many tornados they get every year.

So now I am in Joplin, Missouri with very rainy weather...but no reports of tornados. I will be in Springfield, Mo this afternoon to deliver this small load.

No pics this time...sorry. I only had enough time to post this real quick to let you know my experience yesterday. I will also be responding to your recent comments no later than Friday I think. Thanks kids...and be good!

Blessings,
~TruckerTony

Phoenix, AZ - Lordsburg, NM

Hey Kids,

Well, it's Saturday afternoon and I am in Lordsburg, NM at a Flying J truck stop. I have a lot of time to get to El Paso, so I have been taking it easy. Last night I stopped in a small town in Arizona called Eloy. I will leave Lordsburg early Sunday afternoon and plan on being in El Paso to drop my trailer around 4pm or so.

As you know I like to show you pictures. The first is of a nice rest stop just east of Phoenix. By the way, do you know which way East is? Your teacher can help you with that if you need a little help. The other pictures are of an area in southeast Arizona called the Texas Canyon. It is known for it's beautiful rock formations. There just happens to be a rest area there as well so I was able to get some pics for you.

By the way, a rest area is a place where cars and trucks can stop along side the road to take a quick break from driving. Most of them have restrooms and vending machines if you need a drink or snack to hold you over until you get to a city. Thats it for now. Be good and learn lots!

Blessings,
~TruckerTony

Goin to Springfield, Missouri!

Hey Kids,

Well, I got a little bit of work after all. I am picking up here in Phoenix, Az and delivering to El Paso, Tx on Sunday night. Monday morning I will pick up my trailer from the same location I delivered it to and take a load to Springfield, Mo for Thursday morning delivery. They unload what i took to them and re-load the same trailer. Looks like 22,000 pounds of office supplies going to El Paso.

I have included a map that will show you the route I will be taking from Phoenix to Springfield. You can see I will be driving in the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and finally Missouri on this trip. Some of the big cities I will be going through are Tucson, AZ; Las Cruces, NM; El Paso, TX (right on the Mexican border); and Tulsa, OK. Can you find these places on the map? Remember you can click on the map to make it bigger!

Thats it for now kids. Have a great day!

Blessings
~TruckerTony

Delivered Paint Cans!

Hey Kids,

This load turned out to be 17,000 lbs of 1 gallon paint cans that I delivered to Dunn Edwards in Phoenix. Dunn Edwards is a store that sells paint, wallpaper and other decorative items for your home.

One of the pictures shows the warehouse that actually makes the cans. You can see them stacked up, ready to load onto trucks. At the bottom of that picture you can see a big metal plate. That plate raises up and stretches out to my truck so that the loaders can use a forklift and put the cans on my truck. I'll send you a picture of a forklift when I can.

When I deliver these cans, Dunn Edwards will fill them with paint, put a sticker on the can that will tell what color and what type of paint it is, and then put it in the store to sell. Next time you see paint for sale, you can say your Trucker Buddy delivers those cans!

I also have a picture of what my truck looks like completely loaded. Usually, my loads don't stretch all the way back to the doors like this load does, but this load was pretty light. Remember I can load up to about 43,000 lbs in my truck!

The last picture is of a plane landing at the Phoenix airport. It is right next to the freeway and the planes come right over the freeway only a few hundred feet above. Its pretty cool to watch, especially since I want to get my pilots license someday.

Okay kids, thats it for now. Just so you know, I am stuck in Phoenix for a few days because there are 85 trucks ahead of me looking for loads. I might not be in touch with you again until next week. Have a great weekend!

Blessings,
~TruckerTony

Pastry Flour Delivered!

Hey Kids,

I'm sitting at a truck stop in Ontario, Ca after delivering 42,500 pounds of pastry flour yesterday morning in Irvine, Ca. One of the pictures you see is of the truck stop I took last night. Another shows Las Vegas, Nv as I passed through. The other picture was taken on the California/Nevada border on Interstate 15 heading south at sunset. Sunset and the few hours preceding it is my favorite time of day.

By the way, I am uploading smaller pictures, but if you click on them they will get bigger.

Today I am picking up a load in Fontana, Ca and taking it to Tempe, Az for delivery tomorrow morning. I am not sure what I am picking up, but I will let you know in my next post. Have a great day Kids! Gots to get back to truckin.

Blessings,
~TruckerTony

Jan. 26th - Feb 1st

Hey Kids!

This week got off to a slow start. As you can see by the pictures, it was a bit hard for me to drive with all of the snow on my window and the road! I decided to stay home in Cedar City, UT for a few days while the weather cleared out. Once I did decided to get moving, it took 6 sets of tire chains to get me out of that snow bank...and a lot of sweat!

My first load was from Hurricane, UT to Salt Lake City, UT. Then I went to Boise, Id. From Boise, i went back to Twin Falls, Id. Not sure what I was hauling though because the trailers were already loaded. The next load was from Hazelton, Id to Idaho Falls, Id. That load was seeds and rice. From Idaho Falls I drove to Ogden, Ut to load flour that I currently have and will be delivering in Irvine, Ca on Tuesday morning at a bakery. The flour I have is specially made for cakes.

In the future, I will try and let you know exactly what each load is, how heavy it is and how far I drive. I will also take some pictures of the loads so you can see how a truck is loaded.

Be good! Got to get back to truckin!

~TruckerTony