Tombstone AZ

Somewhere in the midst of our travels we got to stop in Tombstone AZ for a few hours.
Here are some photos and part of the story of Wyatt Earp.


Here comes Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp.


Leroy with Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp.


The stagecoach is comin'.


Leroy got a souvenir - a cell phone holder made of horse hair with a silver star on it. I got a t-shirt.



The arguing in the streets begin.







More smack talk.



The Red Sash "Cowboys" don't want to comply with the "No Guns in town" ordinance.



Stagecoach comin' through.



The bumping and pushing begin.




Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp are joined by Wyatt's brothers: Virgil and Morgan, to help with this conflict.





The OK Corral gun fight site.
The fighting/shooting itself - was over very quickly.




Leroy & Laurie Lay
Here we are in front of the "Total Wreck Saloon".



In Tombstone, Arizona, Earp acquired the gambling concession at the Oriental Saloon and met his third wife Josie.


In 1881, a feud with the Clanton gang ended with the famous Gunfight at the OK Corral. Three of the Clanton gang were killed. The three Earp brothers, Virgil, Wyatt and Morgan, survived, along with Doc Holliday.

Wyatt and Josie Earp moved often. Between 1885 and 1887, they arrived in booming San Diego, where Wyatt gambled and invested heavily in real estate and saloons in the Stingaree district, now the Gaslamp Quarter. They lived here on and off for several years.

Earp owned or leased four saloons and gambling halls in San Diego. The most famous was the Oyster Bar located in the Louis Bank Building at 837 5th Avenue. He refereed at local prize fights. During the heyday of San Diego's boom, Earp won a trotting horse named Otto Rex. He and Josie began to travel the racehorse circuit. They left San Diego in the early 1890s.

In 1897 Wyatt and Josie operated a saloon in Nome, Alaska, during the height of the Alaska Gold Rush. In 1901 they moved on to a gold strike in Tonopah, Nevada, where saloon, gambling and mining interests again proved profitable.

Wyatt Earp spent his final years working mining claims in the Mojave Desert. He and Josie summered in Los Angeles, where they befriended early Hollywood actors and lived off real estate and mining investments.

He died in Los Angeles at the age of 80 on January 13, 1929.

[from Wyatt Earp - The Missing Years - San Diego in the 1880s by Kenneth R. Cilch and Kenneth R. Cilch, Jr. and from Bob Katz' article

Photos - Winter 2008

Jan. 2008
Snow blowing across the freeway on I-80 Wyoming.



Feb. 2008
Rest Area in Idaho.



Feb. 2008
Rest Area in Idaho. We had to walk acrss the bridge to get to the restrooms.




Feb. 2008
Rest Area in Idaho. The river under the bridge.



Feb. 2008
Frozen ice crystals on blades of grass.





Feb. 2008 Florida
Look above the truck.
A Rescue Helicopter picking up someone to take them to the hospital.

Broke Down in Ash Fork, AZ - 6/29/08

We had received a good run from California to South Carolina, then a return trip back to California. On our way we noticed a few problems... a slow air leak in the secondary system, and several clearance lights on this trailer were out. We mentioned these to the powers that be, and I think they were going to route us back to San Diego for repairs soon, .... but we broke down near Williams, AZ and ended up being towed to Ash Fork, AZ for repairs.

Sunday, 6/29/08
5:00am - We had just left a rest area near Flagstaff, AZ when traffic came to a stand still because of an accident. After waiting about 30 mins, traffic finally starting moving. When Leroy put the truck in Drive (we have an automatic transmission on this truck - bummer).... we heard a very loud, terrible metal grinding sound coming from the cat walk area just behind the cab and the wheels on the tractor would not turn. (The tractor is the front "cab" part of the semi-truck.) We were in the fast lane of a two-lane highway I-40 westbound, and people started honking at us to get out of the way. (We're trying!)

Leroy finally puts the Interaxle Differential on, and was able to get the tires turning just enough to get off the freeway. Leroy had me hop into the driver's seat and try putting it in Drive again, while he listened outside to where the terrible sound was coming from. It was coming from between the tractor tandem tires in the middle - the power divider box, the pumpkin, the differential. Not Good!

6:00am - we call our after hours number and tell them what has happened. We can't move, we are on the side of the road, and we are under a load going to Hollister, CA to be delivered on Monday 6/30 at 6am. They say, Let us make some calls and we'll call you back.

8:00am - They call us back. There is a "wrecker" (semi-truck tow truck) on the way, and they got the appointment for the delivery pushed back 24 hrs.

10:00am - the wrecker arrives and tows the truck to the nearest repair shop about 10 miles away. The mechanic does some preliminary work and discovers it is definitely the differential and not the transmission. Not Good news, but better than the transmission being out, right?

We will have to go to a motel nearby, at least overnight.
The shop has a steady flow of repairs coming in, mostly tires needing to be changed.

It is Sunday. It Is HOT!!! and there is only one guy in the shop, so we have to wait...... No food, only soda from a machine.

But they do have a corral of 3 buffalo at the rear of the property.

Dad-the bull, Mama and baby.

It looks like they are molting their winter coats, and shedding them for the summer.

Leroy was standing near the fence. The baby buffalo started to come closer because he was curious, but the Mama buffalo "charged" Leroy - protecting her baby.

6:30pm - Finally.... the shop closes, and the mechanic drives us to the nearest motel about 5 miles away in Ash Fork, AZ.

7:00pm - We check in. It is a 1/2 star motel at best. No frig, No micro, No phone, holes in the window curtains, torn carpet, a TV that only gets 3 channels (News, PBS, and religious programing), AND the nearest place to get something (anything) to eat is at a little convenience store inside a Gas Station about 1 mile away, on the other side of the freeway. We have no way to get around and we are hungry, so we walk.

At the convenience store, we buy some food, and a styrofoam cooler with some ice. (no ice machine at the motel.) -- But we really didn't want to carry all this stuff a mile back to the motel, so we ask the store attendant if he knows of anyone who could give us a ride back to our motel. - God is Good! - There was a nice lady worker who was just getting off shift. We asked her and she said yes, she would drive us (with stuff) back to the motel. Thank you God!

Monday, 6/30/08
We only brought enough clothing stuff for over-night. Yesterday, on our way to the motel, after leaving the repair shop, ... that is when the mechanic informs us that it will probably take anywhere from 2 to 4 days to do the repairs. I am hoping to have someone take us back to the truck to get some more clothes and some other things we forgot.... we'll see.

Waiting in Ash Fork, AZ.

Hoping to get Layover or Breakdown pay...
God Bless,

Laurie :)

Back with Sam Kholi

We have been back with Sam Kholi Trucking for about 5 weeks now. We started (again) with them in mid-May 2008.

It's OK. There are still some "quirks", but God has really prepared our hearts to be here and to accept whatever happens.

The main thing is we are driving and we are together, and we Love the Lord.

The first two weeks were the hardest because we were assigned a truck with no A/C, and no way to idle it. It was a truck that they had just purchased at an auction, and it hasn't been fitted for an APU unit yet. But they soon routed us through New Braunfels, TX where they installed a Rig Master APU unit. Then it was much better because we could then sleep in comfort. Yeah!

Thank you God!
God is really using this whole experience to grow us closer to Him, and closer to each other.

Looking for work

While looking for work we keep running into obstacles.

One: experience - Laurie has only 9 months and Leroy has 1 year.
The Magic number is you really need 2 yrs.

Two: longevity at a job. The most we have been employed with one company is 3 months. In our mind each move was to a better company, but it doesn't show stability.

Three: time since the "incident/accident" that Leroy had while with LCT. Some companies say that he needs 30 days, some say 60 days, some say 6 months or 1 year, of clean driving.

God is working in us to prepare our hearts.

We know that whatever company we get hired with this time - we HAVE to stay with for at least 1.5 years....

That will allow us to both get the 2 years experience that we need, it will show longevity on the job, and it will allow enough time to pass since Leroy's incident.

God be with US.
We looked for 6 weeks while staying with Laurie's parents.

God opened the door.
We finally decided to go back to Sam Kholi Enterprises, Sam Kholi Trucking.
"Jesus Christ Is Lord".

The Load from HELL that got us fired

Where to begin... this load turned out to be the load that got us fired from LCT. It's too bad too, because we really liked working for LCT.

We were at the yard in Okahumpka, FL waiting for our load to become available at 12 midnight. We got all the info from our "daytime" dispatcher and were just waiting for the trailer to arrive at our yard.

Then the "night" dispatcher comes on duty, and asks us to do a "quick" run to Jacksonville. We look at the QualComm message and ask her (the night dispatcher) if she believes we can make it back by 12 mid. (it is now 6pm). She said Yes, no problem. I say again... we will only have enough time to go up to this destination and drop the trailer, will that be OK? She says ok.
So we take the "quick trip".
-- Mistake #1

What is suppose to take only a couple of hours, ends up being a load to Wal-Mart that takes ALL night. We don't get back to the yard until 7am. By the time we get our paperwork for our Flower run, and get hooked up and do a Pre-trip, we are Late leaving by about 8 hours right from the start.

Everything seems to be going along OK. We are routed to go the southern route mostly I-10, then I-40. We make it to Kingman, AZ and Leroy has an "incident". He is driving in a parking lot and turns too sharply around a light pole. The light pole has a wider concrete base. The concrete base pushes the tires off the rims, damages the rims, and bends the axle. (No damage to body of trailer). But Not good. A repair guy comes out and gets us mobile. About 6 hours lost.
-- Mistake #2 -- our fault

After the "incident/accident".... the LCT Shop Supervisor directs us (re-routes us) to go up to Las Vegas, NV where we are to meet another team who is bringing us an empty trailer. We are to meet at a Cold Storage facility in Las Vegas where their workers will transfer the flowers onto the new trailer for us. We arrive in Las Vegas at midnight, the other team arrives at 3am, the facility doesn't open until 6am. --More time lost.--

After they open the trailer doors and discover that all the boxes are loose and are NOT on pallets, they say they cannot do the transfer.... so me and Leroy, along with the other team, Big Mike and Little Mike, go to the nearest truck stop.. back the trucks to each other, and do the transfer of 1800 loose boxes ourselves. 4 people, 4.5 hours.
-- Mistake #3 (re-routing, not our fault)

After the transfer, we head north on I-15 into Salt Lake City to go across the I-80 into Sacramento, CA then north into Portland, OR. --Big Mistake.-- We hit a big snow storm!
Weather - not our fault.

By this time the load is very late and we are being watched very closely. When we message in that we ran into a snow storm with white out conditions, and would have to wait until morning to drive, we are told by the night dispatcher (the same one who sent us on that "quick trip mistake" at the beginning) that we cannot stop and that if we can't keep rolling then another team will come get our load and deliver it for us. At first I tried to argue saying that if we can't SEE in these conditions, no one else will be able to see any better, but in the end I just said... OK, when will they be here..... She said about 2 hours.

After 2 hours, we get a message that says, "plans have changed and to deliver the load as soon as the weather conditions allow." That tells me that the other team ran into the same white out conditions that we did and couldn't get through. A little bit of confirmation for me.
-- Mistake #4 Northern route and hit snow storm.

After we started rolling, they were watching our every move. Even when we stopped to go pee, they would QualComm us and say... what have you stopped for??? Crazy. We even got a call from the President of LCT (Cory) wanting to know what our progress was, I told him everything that had happened.

He said that the client was threatening to pull this account from them because of us being late.
All I can say is.... they must have had other problems with this client in the past for them (the client) to threaten to pull this account because we were late - one time. This was our first time pulling for this client, so I know we were not the SOLE reason for the clients threat.

We finally made it to Portland, OR, with this load - three days late. We were suppose to deliver on Friday, and didn't get there until Monday.

LCT got us a load immediately out that same day. A slow run back to the Yard. When we finally made it back to the yard. We were called into the office and told that LCT would be "severing ties with us". In other words, we were fired. They said it was due to Leroy's "incident" which they made into a big deal. But we know it wasn't that.

So we cleared out our truck 3/24/08, rented a car, shipped our stuff home to California, and flew home the next day. 3/25/08

We found out from other veteran drivers at LCT, that we were really the "scape goats" so that LCT could save face with the client. The company fired us and swapped dispatchers (the solo dispatchers/for the team dispatchers) to show that things had "changed" to the client.

So now we are at home in Lakeside, CA staying with Laurie's parents and looking for work.
Pray that we find something soon.
3/25/08