Movin On....: 09/24/08

Woke up in a place called Boise D'arc, Missouri at about 00:15 (12:15 a.m.) for those of you who are not familiar with military time. Just a small town on our way to Carthage, Missouri, where we will be delivering our load. It's only abouot an hour away, but the roads are VERY small country roads and it's DARK as heck outside. When we finally arrive, it's 03:00 California time which is 05:00 local time. This place was tough to find, especially in the dark.

When I check in, I find out that I will be delivering my load in a CAVE! I'm claustrophobic as it is and the directions to the West Entrance is something else... Go back out through the gate, turn right, go up around the hill, turn left at the HUGE water tower, follow the road around to the left (stay left, he said) and go through Tunnel #15, then drive through the cave to find the receiving doors which is straight ahead, next check in and put your truck in door # 96! Not bad directions, but I was hoping for daylight to come soon. I remembered my trucker friend, Julie had said she had been there, so I call her on the phone. "Help me so I don't get lost, please. Leave your phone on in case I need to reach you." She said she would, but daylight came and the directions to the "BATCAVE" as Julie called it, was right on the money. I was waiting for the call to leave the staging, which was, by the way, through the main guard check in gate, and around through this dirt lot, backed my truck up to a wall and I waited for the call from the guard. What a trip it was waiting for that call... I had to go to the bathroom and didn't want to walk through the dark back to the guard shack so I decided to go to the back of the truck and do my business there. Go figure, while squatting, another truck pulled in and the headlights were aimed straight at me--picture me peeing and trying to move behind the wheels to keep out of that guys light beams... Believe me, it was nothing nice, but when you gotta go, you gotta go.... he he he.

Hopefully, I won't have to make the call to Julie, waking her up again, and will find my way to the WEST Entrance Tunnel 15, where there are 300 docks carved right out of a big piece of limestone, to deliver this load of cheese. Wish me luck! I'm going to need it, and scared, YES. I don't like small, confined areas and just the sound of the word "cave" scares the hell out of me. Now remember, all of this is going on now while ... MIKE SLEEPS. I'll take pictures for you, if they will let me.

This cave was carved out of a huge rock of limestone in the mountains of Missouri.

As soon as I went through the tunnel, I knew I would be ok... it was so BIG in there

that I wasn't claustrophobic at all. They said I could take pics, so here they are.