It's a Team's Life
Road Trip
The end result of the car trip makes the trip worthwhile but the experience is not what it is portrayed to be. There were two legs to our trip well actually four now that I think about it which emphasized how bad the middle two legs were.
The first leg of our trip was to get from Califonia home. This leg was the best as we were in the truck. We had an air ride cab, a refrigerator, homemade meals, drinks, and the best part, our own bed. This part of the trip was 1788 miles and we were easily and comfortably able to do this in two days. We arrived home refreshed and ready to unload the truck and get ready for the next part of our vacation.
We reloaded our stuff into our daughter's Jeep Cherokee and the three of us took off for Florida. This part of the trip was 843 miles one way and required a hotel stay due to the time we left. We pushed pretty hard the first day and had a short night in the hotel. What a different experience this leg of the journey has been. We had to haul our clothing and shower stuff into the hotel and then take it all back out in the morning before we could start our trip again.
We packed water, snacks, Ipads, and our clothing for a week. The car was stuffed to the brim and so was the area we sat in. There is no getting up and getting the computer, water, a snack, or taking a nap. Nope, we have to sit in our seats and ride and ride some more. When we stop we grab something to drink and probably another snack and sit back down. In no time the seat became hard and the time seemed to slow to a crawl. The Jeep while comfortable sure does not ride like our Freightliner.
Finally, we arrived in Florida and Tyndall AFB to attend our daughter's change of command ceremony. This part of the trip was great! Now a car is handy as we are welcomed in all parking lots and at the beach. We had a few days to visit the local restaurants as well as visit the beach on base. Too quickly the time flew by and it was time to load up the car and head home. We were all sad to be leaving Florida with the beautiful beaches and overall nice weather. As you might remember Tyndall AFB was virtually wiped out when Hurricane Michael came through in 2018. Over our daughter's tenure at Tyndall, it was heartbreaking and amazing to see the rebuilding to withstand future hurricane-force winds and yet see the devastation left after Michael.
On our return leg of the journey, we added a 95-pound Belgian Malinois eight-year-old dog named Wwitch. Our daughter and her family had to stay one more day and they were bringing two cars to our house. Bob stayed to help them with the two cars. Out of all of us, Wwitch really rides the best as she goes to sleep and chills till we stop, does her duty, gets back in the car, and goes back to sleep. We on the other hand were sitting again on hard seats and had no room to move around. We made it home all in one peace with a happy dog and now it was time to plan for the next two legs of our journey as we are headed to Mountain Home, Idaho. Getting back to work is starting to look really good at this point.
Bob & Linda Caffee
TeamCaffee
Saint Louis MO
Expediters since January 2005
Expediting isn't just trucking, it's a lifestyle;
Expediting isn't just a lifestyle, it's an adventure;
Expediting isn't just an adventure, it's a job;
Expediting isn't just a job, it's a business.