Just trying to record recent happenings...

On Tuesday, January 27, Tracy left for Missouri... there had been an ice storm that had literally covered half the country. His road to Missouri was not smooth from the very beginning. He was originally told he was going to Oklahoma. When he and his crews reached Birmingham, they were told that Oklahoma had all the crews they needed and to wait to see if they were needed somewhere else. Well, they were told they weren't, so they started home. They got as far as Anniston, Alabama and were told to head back west to Missouri.

Tracy ended up in a small town in Missouri, just 20 miles north of Arkansas. The conditions were terrible. The power companies out there are unionized and they blatantly took care of their unionized employees and left un-unionized workers (like Pike employees) out in the cold - literally. The first night, they had no where for them to sleep... so they slept in their trucks. After that, Tracy and his men had to sleep in semi-truck trailers (while local motel rooms were reserved for union workers). They didn't have showers (also in the back of a semi-truck trailer) for a couple of days or so. It was COLD out there. Tracy said it was probably the worst ice storm he had ever seen... and that's saying a lot. When the casino complained about the trailers taking up space in their parking lot, the Pike guys were finally given motel rooms... in Memphis - 120 miles away. They stayed there for two nights.

Then on Wednesday, Feburary 4, Tracy was sent to Arkansas. Conditions were actually worse there, believe it or not. They slept in boxcars, with bunk beds lining the walls and a bathroom right in the middle of the car, just a few feet away from your sleeping head. Several of the men came down with some kind of stomach virus, including Tracy. The first night, they had no heat. I had never heard Tracy so discouraged on a storm trouble.

Tracy was released on Monday, February 9, from the power company in Arkansas they were working for. Pike could not find another place for them, so they came home. They stopped in Birmingham and ate Red Lobster about 3pm. A few hours later, Tracy was very ill. He finally made it home about 9pm after a miserable drive. He stayed home sick on Tuesday and came back home from work on Wednesday, still sick. All I can think is that he had food poisoning. Thank goodness he woke up on Thursday morning (yesterday), feeling all better. "Like I was never sick," he said. That was a very good thing, because he left again for Missouri last night about 6:30 pm. He'll probably be gone another couple of weeks.

Before Tracy left, he came home just long enough to pack his bags. But he made sure he did not come home empty handed... with Valentine's Day coming up and all.

And I was ready, too. I had already signed the card I made for him and it was waiting on his dresser. :)