In December 1986 we all moved to a trailer park in Moreno Valley, the same town we had moved to Washington State from. We slept in our van in front of my folk's trailer, which wasn't too bad because we had a mattress and had ran an extension cord out to our van so we could watch a small tv we had and run our electric blanket. This is when I learned to 'love' my spare tire because it was directly in front of my face every night as I went to sleep! Not too many women love their husbands enough to sleep in a van with the faith that her husband would make things better for them. We were still sleeping in our van when we sold our first alarm system. When we went to install the alarm system we had to put our alarm equipment on our bed in the back of the van!
After about half a month we made arrangements to move into a big 60 foot, single-wide trailer, in the same park. We lived there until November 1987 when we had the chance to move into a one bedroom apartment in the same town. While we lived in the trailer we had sold and installed a few alarm systems so we were making a little money.
Nine months later we had the opportunity to move into a two bedroom apartment that was just upstairs from where we were living. Meanwhile we were selling and installing alarm systems that paid our bills. Life was on an 'up-swing' for us! During this time we would sometimes drive out to Devor where my brother-in-law lived and go rabbit hunting.
Every since we had moved back to Moreno Valley Martha and I had been seeing the doctors at Riverside County Hospital. They were treating the her for what they thought was arthritis because she had lower back pains. Also, they treated her for diabetes, which she controlled with oral medications. Martha had to see the doctors about every two months to check her blood-sugar and get her medication refills.
On January 18, 1991 my father passed away at the Riverside Community Hospital in Riverside California, after a short stay in a convelesent home. He was buried at the Riverside Veteran's Cemetery. In 1993 while we were visiting my brother-in-law Manuel in Sacramento he and I were talking about his business of driving a semi-truck locally. He showed me how much he was making and it seemed like a good thing to me and Martha. Manual told me that he could help me get my own semi-truck and we could work together in Sacramento. Only I needed to get a commercial driver's license to do this. Martha and I thought it was about time to change professions since we were both getting 'burned-out' doing alarm systems since I'd been doing it for almost 30 years.
In late 1993 I started attending a truck driving school in Fontana. Martha would help me study by quizzing me to make sure I knew the answers to the questions and by doing so she learned as much about driving as I knew. In January 1994 I graduated and passed my driving test and received my California Class A CDL driver's license.
After I got my license to drive semi trucks I found out that my brother-in-law couldn't help me to get a truck. This was a real blow to Martha and me because we had planned to move to Sacramento and drive locally with Manual. I then sat out to find employment as a local driver. After searching for a while I had to accept a driving job driving cross-country.
My first job was with C.R. England, located in Salt Lake City Utah. I had to leave Martha at home and go to Salt Lake City to attend their short schooling before I could go out on the road. The day I left from the train station in San Bernardino was very hard for the both of us.
After the schooling at C.R. England they put me in a truck with a trainer and sent us to Idaho to pick-up a load of frozen potatoes to take to the east coast. My trainer was a very strange fellow whom I didn't like at all. It was in Cheyenne at a truck stop where we had stopped for dinner that I decided that I couldn't stand to be with this guy for one more minute, let alone the five to eight weeks that the company planned for us to be together. I got up from the table where we were sitting having dinner and called Martha. When she got on the phone I told her what was going on and that I needed her to call the company's main office and tell them some reason that I had to come home.
When my trainer and I got back to the truck there was a message on our satellite communications receiver that I need to call home right away. We went back into the truck stop and I made my call to Martha and pretended to get the 'bad news.' I told my trainer that I had to get back home right away and then found another C.R. England truck that was heading back to Salt Lake City and also made the arrangements with C.R. England for me to come back. It was a long miserable ride back to Salt Lake City but worth every bounce and pain I had to endure.
Once back at the main terminal in Salt Lake City I got a ride in another truck that was going to Southern California. The driver stopped in Ontario, which is only thirty miles from my home, and let me off. I then called Martha and she drove out to pick me up.
To shorten the story, I then got a job driving cross-country with Southwest Motor Freight, located in Fontana, and spent only three weeks on the road with one of their trainers. It was a very enjoyable time and it went by quickly. I would call Martha every night and we would talk about what was going on with the two of us. When I got back to Fontana I got my own truck, a 1993 Freightliner, and Martha and I went on the road together. Martha and I got to see a lot of the country including the city where I was born in Maryland. She and I really enjoyed our time together as we drove around the United States.
After about three months of being on the road and having been home only once during that time, I decided that I didn't want this type of life-style any more so I terminated my employment with Southwest. Besides, Martha's health wasn't feeling very well. Martha enjoyed the time out on the road because it meant no cooking or house work! I could understand that!
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