The Travels of Seymour the Peruvian Llama

the future

2009-04-08T02:00:00.000-07:00

i don't know what i will do when we go back to portland. i think we'll go back sometime this summer.

zack is going to go back to college, and then he wants to preach the good news of Jesus and plant churches that will plant churches. he's been listening to the bible a lot. and sermons. he's also talking about helping music teachers find students.

sarah is planning on helping zack do all that. she's looking forward to being with her friends and having a house to make into a home for them and make it a nice place for other people be. she says she wants to make it 'hospitable'.. she says "a place for people to be and grow and be loved".

fen says he's going to find a closet at their house and write a book.

but i don't know what i'm going to do. i've never lived any one place very long. i almost don't remember peru very well. i remember being in amy's suitcase for a while. and then i met zack and sarah. maybe i'll practice my photography. i like taking pictures of things and people. and fen. but he doesn't know that. i think he's very photogenic.

winter has come

2008-10-21T23:37:00.000-07:00

we here in the seymour family truck appreciate wyoming. in this state, when there's icy snow ahead, they lower the speed limit to 65mph.

i'll post pictures tomorrow.

our new blue truck in portland!

2008-09-25T13:35:00.000-07:00

it is autumn today

2008-09-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

today is the first day of autumn. everywhere there are beautiful trees. it reminds me of when i met zack and sarah. it was a rainy day and the leaves on the trees were gold and red.
today is sunny. it still feels like summer. but the trees look like autumn.

gti

2008-09-09T19:47:00.000-07:00

today is the first day of orientation for the new company. we got to seattle late last night. a very friendly and very talkative cab driver drove us to the hotel where GTI had sandwiches waiting for us and a nice room. zack and sarah were touched by the thoughtfulness (we sure were hungry!).

i stayed in the room while they went to class at 6am. the cleaning lady was a little surprised to see me. fortunately i speak spanish, and i assured her that it was okay for me to take a bath by myself, even though i am rather short.

this evening when zack and sarah got back they were talking about how nice everyone was.. and how competent. i had to look that word up. it means that they are good at what they do. zack said that people seem to really enjoy their work. i think that's important.

we have two more days of orientation. then on friday we get our new truck!

a new company

2008-09-02T16:41:00.000-07:00

sarah and zack have decided to leave covenant and work for a company called gordon trucking. it's also called GTI. they say that gti is located near portland and that we'll be able to stop by home more often. they also say that we'll drive more miles and that the people there are really nice.

next week we'll turn in our truck and stay with sarah's dad in santa cruz for a week. then we'll go to the new company.

i'll post pictures of our new tractor when we get it. it's going to be blue.....

cooking with our engine

2008-05-26T20:14:00.000-07:00

Zack and Sarah cooked an amazing steak dinner on their engine today.
We were swimming at the bottomless lakes near Roswell and afterward they wrapped up a big steak and some mushrooms and carrots and onions (with some seasonings and water) and stuck it in the engine. Then we drove to Odessa, Texas. It was a three hour drive.

Roswell, NM

2008-05-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

Apparently, some aliens landed (or crashed) in Roswell, New Mexico. We got to drive through and see some of what they left behind...

(I'd never seen an alien before....)

bikes

2008-05-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

Zack and Sarah bought mountain bikes while we were home. Zack used to mountain bike a lot. Sarah only biked on roads. They found a bike rack for a car that fits on the back of our truck. And then they found a bike for Sarah on Craigslist. Josh (Zack's brother) said Zack could take Zack's old bike (that Josh had been using). Then we drove through Moab, Utah and I got to ride in the backpack through this..

it was very beautiful..

goats

2008-05-23T17:20:00.000-07:00

today we saw (and heard) lots of goats on the mountain. we were stopped for an hour or so because of an accident ahead of us. you can see the goats if you look closely.

hungry

2008-04-06T11:29:00.000-07:00

sometimes i get hungry and i just can't help myself.....

LOUISIANA!!

2008-03-27T11:17:00.000-07:00

we finally got to go to Lousiana!! We stopped at a little truck-stop 'mom'and'pop' diner and ate catfish and crab cakes. All of our vegetables were breaded and fried.. I guess that's how they cook in the 'South'..

funny signs in oklahoma

2008-03-26T11:27:00.000-07:00

we saw these at a rest area..

sometimes..

2008-03-25T11:16:00.000-07:00

Zack likes to take pictures of him pretending to eat Sarah..

north dakota storm

2008-02-19T11:04:00.000-08:00

yes, that is snow blowing over an icy road. we saw lots of cars and trucks in the snowdrifts along the side of the interstate.

road closure

2008-02-16T20:46:00.000-08:00

We're in Wyoming tonight. It's very cold and the wind is blowing the snow across the highway.

We just parked on a muddy hill just north of the interstate because they closed the roads heading east. That's the way we were going.

They have yellow lights that flash to tell you that the road is closed ahead. Then they have red lights at the last exit before the closure. These flash to tell you to exit the highway and turn around. So we did. Except that we didn't want to go all the way back to the last town we passed, so we pulled into this little muddy snowy hilly area. There was another truck here, facing the highway where he could see the red flashing lights. We thought that was a smart idea, so we parked near him.

Then another truck came.
Then four more.
Then all of a sudden there were about twenty of us. They all chose their own areas and made rows next to each other like it was a plan.

So now we're in the back of the truck, sitting on the bed. Sarah is cozy checking email. Zack is reading a book at the other end of the bed. They're playing footsies.

Trucks keep coming. They look like they're forming army regiments, all lined up. All waiting for those red lights to stop flashing and for the gates to open on the interstate, so we can drive all night to deliver our loads to warehouses all over the country and keep the stores stocked full of things people don't really need.

But people like to buy things to make themselves more comfortable. And that's not always bad, I guess. It just seems that sometimes they get caught up in all that comfort.. and end up comfort-ing their lives away.. forgetting why they're alive in the first place. Maybe they never knew.

I think I've been influenced a lot by Sarah and Zack. I never used to be so pensive. (That's my new favorite word: pensive....)

Anyway.. It's fun to watch the trucks come join our little make shift truck stop. There are about 40 trucks now. I wonder how long we'll be here......?

st. louis

2008-02-13T15:49:00.000-08:00

we drove through st. louis, missouri one night and stopped to see the arch. it was freezing cold. we parked right on the bank of the mississippi river. zack skipped some rocks along the river's surface. then he wrote sarah a love note in the sand. they ate dinner at a casino that had all-you-can-eat crab legs in the buffet.

our new truck

2008-01-24T15:38:00.000-08:00

we got our new truck on december 15th 2007. at first it smelled like smoke, so we spent the whole day cleaning it and making it like home. zack and sarah bought sheets for the bed and a little rug for the floor. they scrubbed all the surfaces and zack made sure the windshield was cleaner than new.

mcdonalds or starbucks?

2008-01-13T16:18:00.000-08:00

where do you think we are?

(clue: look closely at zack's cup..)

christmas and beyond

2008-01-03T09:05:00.000-08:00

we spent christmas with sarah's family. only half the family was there (her dad, dave & debbie and their kids, and liz and chris and their kids) but it sure was a houseful! they had fun playing on and in the truck.

then we got to stay with peter and ginger (et al) in indiana. peter is sarah's second brother.

the kids immediately turned the truck into a fort. it was amazing. =)

cold

2008-01-02T09:14:00.000-08:00

last night it was very cold.
this is a bucket of windshield washing fluid.
yes, that's ice.

snow!!

2007-12-08T18:40:00.000-08:00

we drove through the rocky mountains and I got to walk in the snow and it was beautiful and COLD!!

moon art

2007-12-07T13:07:00.001-08:00

here are a few pictures zack took in wyoming..

and zack's signature "z"

the imes'

2007-11-30T19:39:00.000-08:00

on wednesday we were in north carolina, waiting for a load, and we stopped by a cracker barrel for lunch. we were very close to charlotte, north carolina, and sarah has some friends there, so she called them. they lived 1.6 miles away!

so we went to their house and ate dinner with danny and carmen and their two little girls, eliana and emma. eliana is almost seven, and emma is two. i tried not to act nervous. they were very nice.

emma liked to kiss me.
she almost didn't give me back to sarah.

sarah was very happy to see her friends. and zack was happy to meet them. (i was happy to not be eaten by a two-year-old!)

the rockies

2007-11-30T19:31:00.000-08:00

we were in colorado today. the mountains there are very tall.

we were planning on going to nevada and california after this, but we switched our load, and now we're driving back to tennessee.

sarah and zack have nine days left of training. then we'll go back to tennessee - that's where covenant's head-quarters are. head quarters are where a company has it's main offices. i can't figure out why they call them head quarters.. aren't quarters a coin? i mean.. coins have heads on them sometimes, but i don't think it makes sense that way. quarters are also one-fourth of something. but that doesn't make sense either.

oh.. zack just said that quarters can mean a place where someone stays or lives.
that makes sense. because a head of a company is the person in charge. and that person is at the headquarters!

anyway.. i was telling you that we'll go back to the headquarters so that zack and sarah can take their final test and get a truck.

we're very very very excited about this.

the south

2007-11-27T01:01:00.000-08:00

georgia and florida are very warm and muggy. 'muggy' means the kind of feeling like there are too many people in one truck. the air feels heavy and warm. it's the opposite of wyoming, where it was dry and snowy. it was so cold and dry, it made my hair frizzy. 'frizzy' is what sarah says when her hair sticks out every-which-way and makes sparks when she touches zack or the sleeping bag or her sweater.

sarah has been drinking a lot of sweet-tea. she let me try some. it's very tasty. they serve it everywhere down here in the south.

zack drinks coffee to stay awake. he has a big thermos-cup. it keeps the coffee hot for longer. and he eats peanuts and raisins. and potato chips that taste like salt and vinegar. and he drinks a bottle of water every night while he's driving. he also likes to listen to sermons and music while he's driving. he laughs a lot when he listens to sermons. and then he tells sarah about them in the morning. he also likes it when sarah sits up with him after she's done driving. linda's usually asleep and sarah sits in the passenger seat and he drives and they talk and laugh and make kissy-faces at each other.

when sarah needs to stay awake, she drinks coca-cola. in some of the truck stops they have little buttons you can push for different flavors to add to your pop. she likes the vanilla. they also have cherry and chocolate and lemon. she also drinks a lot of water and likes to eat cashew nuts and cranberries. and crackers. and she sometimes takes a little pill that has 'royal jelly' - that's the part of the honey that bees give to the queen. sarah's friend, brekka, told her about it. it doesn't really give her more energy, but it helps her brain to stay alert. and that's a good thing, because it's important to be alert when you're driving a big truck like this.

we're waiting for a load assignment. this rest stop is full of trucks. there are lots of truckers in america.

wyoming

2007-11-25T08:40:00.001-08:00

last night we drove across wyoming. it is very long and yellow and mostly flat. and it's spelled funny.

right when the sun was setting behind us, zack got out the camera and started making "moon-art".. the moon was big and round and right in front of us. it was really cool. (i think 'cool' is a word that people use when they think something is nice or special or fascinating.)

sarah's going to help me get the pictures later today, so i'll show you them later.

we're going to take part of our load to south carolina and part of it to florida.

this is a very good trip.

trucker zack

2007-11-20T20:19:00.001-08:00

this is one of my favorite pictures that Sarah has taken.
we were in utah.

it was zack's birthday on friday.

our time in portland

2007-11-20T19:56:00.000-08:00

tonight is tuesday night. we got here a week ago sunday night. we thought we would be here for two days starting last saturday, but we couldn't get a load to portland until sunday night.

when we got to zack's family's house, thanksgiving dinner was over. zack and sarah told me that thanksgiving is actually this week, but that his family was celebrating early because kristan and charlie were going to be here.

thanksgiving is a day when families get together to eat turkey and be thankful for each other. they sometimes travel hundreds or thousands of miles just to be together. and the turkey is very important. i'm not really sure when this all started..

even though we didn't get to eat turkey with everyone, we did get to see zack's cousin, mark, and mark's girlfriend, heather. they are very nice. sarah and zack were very glad to be home.

kristan and charlie were there too. they have a one year old daughter - olivia. after my experience with sarah's nieces and nephews, i was understandably nervous. so i mostly hid from her in sarah's bag. i like little kids.. but.. they are very very unpredictable. but they are cute.. in their own devilish way.....

that night we went to a hotel, since the house was crowded.. and zack and sarah hadn't been alone in a long time. they had a room with a huge jacuzzi bathtub and when they were gone, i snuck into the tub and took a bubble bath.
actually, i took three of them.
i'd never had a bath before, but i'd heard about them.
it was amazing.
i think i scared the cleaning lady on wednesday.. maybe she'd never seen a little llama in a bathtub.

zack and sarah went out for coffee a lot this week.
and they ate sushi.
and they had a lot of fun with zack's family.
zack went out with charlie a couple times for some "guy time". they really like each other. and they both really like beer. i'm glad. it's nice to have friends.

we're going to be here until thursday. then we'll meet linda at the truck stop that's close to zack's parents' house and get back on the road.
we didn't expect to have this much time in portland.
it's been nice to spend time with people and drink yummy coffee.
but we're really looking forward to getting back on the truck.
i haven't seen montana in the daylight, but everyone keeps saying it's beautiful.
and zack wants to go to alabama and louisiana.
sarah wants to see kentucky and georgia.

we have 20 days of training left, and then we get our own truck. they said they're going to make a little seat just for me on the dashboard. i'm really excited about that! then i can see everything, and i won't have to be afraid of falling. not that i'm afraid now.. i mean.. not very much.. really..

today is zack and sarah's eleventh month-iversary of their first kiss. they've been really mushy today. actually, not any mushier than any toher day.. maybe i've just been noticing it more today..
they're really mushy.

and some seymours

2007-11-20T19:36:00.000-08:00

the wallaces are quirky..
but the seymours are downright strange...

some wallaces

2007-11-10T06:50:00.000-08:00

This is a picture Sarah took the weekend we went to her uncle's funeral. I'm sitting on Alli's head. (a lot of these pictures are coming out blurry and i don't know why..)

Sarah's dad, Bill, is on the left. and then there's debbie and david (David is sarah's brother) and their kids Chris, Alli and Lauren. Zack is behind Lauren. Lauren is holding Abigail. Abigail is Sharon and Ahshuwah's daughter. (Sharon is Sarah's sister.)

arkansas

2007-11-08T11:57:00.000-08:00

Linda is driving through arkansas right now. yesterday we stopped at a terminal in texas and had the mechanics change the fuel filter. i got to stay in the truck and watch I sat on the dashboard right next to the steering wheel and watched them take it apart and put it together. i like the mechanics. it looks like they enjoy their work. Maybe i'll be a mechanic when i grow up....

texas

2007-11-05T21:50:00.000-08:00

tonight we're in los angeles. sarah had to back up into a little tiny space between two trucks. actually, it wasn't that little. it just looked like it from where i was. i didn't think she would make it. neither did the old trucker in the next truck.
but she did it!
we are all very proud of her.

as soon as we're all loaded, we're going to drive to texas.

more trucker pictures

2007-11-05T21:19:00.000-08:00

zack showed me how to open the hood..

..and check all the fluids in the engine..

sometimes i like to sneak up on zack..

and jump from his shoulder..

to the steering wheel..

pictures from the road

2007-11-05T14:03:00.000-08:00

this is my first trip to new mexico. (i told you it was dark..)

this is me in oklahoma.

and me again in pennsylvania.

this is zack driving through connecticut.

this is me in utah.

did you know that there are 401 miles of interstate 80 in wyoming? i didn't know that until just now..

pictures of the bus trip - FINALLY!!

2007-11-05T13:57:00.000-08:00

we left portland at 11pm on friday night.

it was a long trip..

we got to los angeles at 10pm on saturday night.
then we waited for a bus on a dark street behind the greyhound terminal.
that was scary.
i think that zack knew i was scared, 'cause he asked a taxi driver to drive us to claremont.
we got there at 11pm on saturday night.
i was tired.

to portland

2007-11-04T12:39:00.000-08:00

we're going to be in portland next weekend! we get to meet charlie! charlie is kristan's husband. kristan is zack's sister.

happy day!

north carolina

2007-11-04T12:30:00.000-08:00

this week we went to north carolina. we took i-40 all the way from arizona to greensboro, north carolina.

we stopped in nashville, tennessee for barbeque. did you know that tennessee invented barbeque? we went to jack's. i only ate corn, 'cause i don't eat meat. the corn was creamed and yummy. sarah had pork ribs. she looked very very happy.

then we drove over the smokey mountains. they were beautiful.

sarah's mom lived in old salem, north carolina. that's right next to greensboro. sarah cried a lot when they passed the exit where her mom had lived. that's also where her mom died. i think sarah was thinking about a lot of memories, 'cause sometimes she would smile and then cry harder.

right now we're in arizona again. it's very very pretty here.

capitals and capitols

2007-10-30T23:32:00.000-07:00

Zack has been trying to teach me how to use capital letters. this is very hard for me, since i am so small and the keyboard is so big. usually i can only reach a few of the letters while i'm pressing on the shift button. I can easily reach QAZWSXCD and POLKMNJ. the j and the d are hard to reach. g and h are very very hard but I will try. h'es also teaching me when to use them. he said that capital letters go at the beginning of a sentence and at the beginning of someone's name. Also for I and for names of places. but only the first letter. Like: Mississippi. (I like that word.)

I think I will be very strong when can write properly. but I will probably take a while to get there.

oh, and i learned that "capital" can mean lots of things. it can mean the top of a column (which is a pillar). or it can mean a lot of money used to start something like a business or buying a house or big projects like that. it also means the city where the government is. i learned that every state we pass through has a city that is it's 'capital'.. but then i also learned that there's a word 'capitol'.. it sounds the same as capital, but it's different. A capitol is the building where the government meets. So every state capital has a capitol building.

linda's birthday

2007-10-30T22:52:00.000-07:00

today was linda's birthday.
zack and sarah surprised her with a card and white chocolate. she likes white chocolate.
people here like to celebrate birthdays every year. i wonder if the whole world celebrates birthdays.. llamas don't. at least my family didn't. but maybe i haven't had a birthday yet. i wonder how old i am?
hm..... (that's what sarah always says: hmm....)

we just picked up our load in las vegas and we're heading to greensboro, north carolina.

when zack and sarah went inside to find a bathroom, the security guard said to zack, ' a husband-wife team.. can she drive that truck?' zack said, 'yeah!' and the guard asked if he had to say that. when he saw that they were happy, he asked how long they'd been married. sarah said he sounded 'cynical'.. which i think means that he wasn't very nice about it. she felt sorry for him. zack said he was a pessimist with control issues.

after that they walked out to the truck. sarah got in first, only to find an old man on their bed with his computer!!! it wasn't their truck!!!

they laughed all the way back to our truck and told us about it (linda had moved our truck while they were inside).

m-w.com

2007-10-29T15:07:00.000-07:00

my new favorite website is www.m-w.com. it's a dictionary. and i've been learning so many words!!
first, i see words that i don't recognize.. usually these are on signs along the road. then i type them into the 'search' space on m-w.com, then i learn what the word means! i can even find out how to pronunce it and where it came from. it's so cool.

i learned the difference between canyon and ravine:

ra·vine
Pronunciation:
\rə-ˈvēn\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
French, from Middle French, rapine, rush, from Latin rapina rapine
Date:
circa 1772
: a small narrow steep-sided valley that is larger than a gully and smaller than a canyon and that is usually worn by running water

can·yon
Variant(s):
also ca·ñon \ˈkan-yən\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
American Spanish cañón, probably alteration of obsolete Spanish callón, augmentative of calle street, from Latin callis footpath
Date:
1834
1 : a deep narrow valley with steep sides and often with a stream flowing through it 2 : something resembling a canyon

see?? there's almost no difference. a ravine is a small canyon.
english is fascinating.

a deer

2007-10-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

zack hit a deer the other day. i think we were in massachusetts. i got sick when it happened. i was sitting on the dashboard, so i saw it coming. it was terrible. he couldn't help it, though. it was already dead. he said he didn't want to hit it with his steer tires, but there were cars next to him. so he just barely avoided it. but it got very messy under the trailer. he wouldn't let me come with him to check. when he came back he told us that it had torn our trailer air lines (that means that the trailer brakes locked up). so we had to wait for someone to come help us. an officer came by and asked them some questions about the deer. i went to the sleeper. i didn't really want to be in front anymore. sarah wasn't feeling well, so she was in bed. so i snuggled with her for a while and fell asleep. i didn't have any bad dreams.

utah

2007-10-29T14:43:00.000-07:00

i've been trying to post some pictures for the last few days, and it isn't working. i am very sorry, because we have some really good pictures.

we are in utah now. we got here yesterday and spent the night at a truck stop. yesterday afternoon our friend ben (the one i showed you pictures of before) came to visit us! he is going to be a trucker too. his company rented a car for him to drive from portland to salt lake city, so he was able to stop by and see us on his way to orientation. he took zack and sarah to walmart to get some things we needed. it was fun to see him.

now we're on our way to nevada.

we sure do drive a lot. i remember when i first met zack and sarah and we lived in their apartment. we didn't drive nearly so much. and they had a much bigger bed to sleep on. and they had a shower in their house. things were very different then.

i heard them talking about how much they miss grendel's and stumptown coffee. sarah said she misses going to peet's coffee with jenna. and spinach. they both miss spinach. sarah used to make spinach salads with avocados and apples and strawberries and gorgonzola cheese. (she had to tell me how to spell that.)

they both like driving, though. and they're looking forward to having their own truck and making it like home.

sarah's been sick for a couple days. she's been sneezing. so linda's been driving parts of her shift so she can get rest. she's feeling a lot better now.

i'll keep trying to post the pictures.

rhode island

2007-10-25T02:38:00.000-07:00

i forgot to tell you last time that we're in rhode island. zack is driving.
sarah drove ten hours yesterday. from ohio to conneticut. we all got to see new york city at night. the 'skyline' which is all the buildings against the sky. then we drove through the 'bronx'..
before that, we drove through pennsylvania. it was very pretty. there were hills and trees and rivers and lots of bridges. sarah said it was especially pretty because it is autumn. she told me that the leaves on the trees will be green in the spring.

we are almost in massachusetts. that is where we will drop off our freight.

trucker conversations

2007-10-25T02:16:00.000-07:00

for a couple nights now, linda, sarah and zack have been talking a lot about Jesus and about their lives. they all love Jesus.
i've heard that a lot of people don't know who Jesus is, and that a lot of people know who he is and don't love him.
even though zack calls me a 'not quite animal', i'm still sort of an animal, and we all know who Jesus is. i guess we're born with it. i mean, we know that he's God and that he's going to show us all what we were all meant to be, and make us really beautiful, like we used to be, and he's going to make his relationship with people all better.. 'cause it's pretty messed up right now. i mean.. he already came.. and he did all that work already.. he's just waiting for the right time to show us.
listening to zack and sarah and linda talking.. you can just tell that he loves them a lot. Jesus, i mean. and i think he helps them love each other.
linda was talking about guilt last night. and that since God has forgiven her, she doesn't feel guilty anymore. and i was watching sarah and i saw her smile, and then she frowned, and i could tell she was thinking about that. and i think she tends to carry guilt around with her. zack said something about how people, especially some christians, try to 'pay God back' for his forgiveness by carrying guilt and feeling very very bad about themselves. and i think he and sarah do that more than linda does. and i think that's pretty stupid. i think they should stop that. sarah agreed with zack that it's very arrogant for them to try to 'pay God back'..
arrogance is pride. not the kind of pride that makes you happy for someone, but the kind of pride that makes you think you are better than someone. or less needy than someone.

i heard that the conversations truckers have are full of bad words and that i probably shouldn't listen to them too much. but i don't agree. i think that truckers have good conversations.

My relationship with Zack. Part 1

2007-10-24T12:51:00.001-07:00

Last night Zack and I had our first talk. It didn't go so well.

He had just woken up in the back of the truck, on the sleeper bed, when he saw me looking at him. I was perched in my post in the corner of the bag with my head poked out so I could see him.

"stop looking at me" he said.

I told him I couldn't help it because Sarah had put me this way, and I couldn't currently move.

"right...what are those legs for?" he asked...mocking me.

I was about to responde with a scathing attack on all of Zack's less desireable features when Zack launched off into a discussion (monologue really...) about Calvinism.

"you see puffball..." he began, "your saying you 'can't help it', is like me saying that all of my actions are predestined before all eternity, and therefore God won't hold me responsible for them. If that is the case, then what if I 'can't help' but throw you out of the window because you won't stop loking at me?"

I responded that God says both that we are predestined, but also that we have to do right things.

Zack responded by calling me an "inanimate creature" and a "not quite animal", subject even more so to his dominion and rule than an animal is. I don't know what any of that means, but I know he isn't completely serious about what he says.

The reason I know this is because sometimes, when no one else is looking...Zack feeds me peanuts and soda pop.

Zack asked me once again to stop looking at him. And I told him he'd have to unstick me from the zipper of the bag and turn me around. So he did. But then he stuffed me down into the bottom of the bag. It's ok, I found some fish crackers to munch on, and he had his iPod down there...and so I listened to it for like 7 hours and then the battery died and you know what? The next morning Zack was like "huh, the battery's dead...weird"...and I was like "Sucker!"

To be continued...

the mississippi river

2007-10-24T00:39:00.000-07:00

a couple hours ago we crossed over the mississippi river.
sarah drove from oklahoma city to st. louis. zack drove about 600 miles this morning. from new mexico to.. i don't remember. i fell asleep in texas. (by the way, i was not bigger in texas. i was still very little..)

i am very tired.. maybe i will sleep a little bit.

the sun

2007-10-23T05:42:00.001-07:00

they were right!!! the grey in the sky WAS the sun coming up!
and, i googled the sun and, it is a big fiery ball of gas.

i have so much to learn.

we're almost to texas.

they tell me that everything is big in texas.
maybe i'll be big in texas......

the enchanted state

2007-10-23T05:06:00.000-07:00

we are in new mexico. it is flat. and dark.
but the sky at the edge of the world is getting a little greyish blue.
sarah says that that is the sun coming up. but i think the sun is very different than that.
zack says the sun is a fiery ball of gas millions of miles away.
but i don't believe him either. i can't even see things two miles away.
except in new mexico.

this weekend

2007-10-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

we are in arizona now. a place called 'flagstaff'. it's dark, so i can't really see what it looks like, but sarah told me it's very pretty here. she has some friends who used to live here and she remembers visiting them. they took her and her brother david to the 'grand canyon'.. i've never seen a canyon. zack and sarah said we'll probably get to see it in the daytime someday.

on friday we dropped a load in tracy. it's near a place called stockton. sarah's grandma lived there when sarah was growing up. so did her aunt carolyn and uncle bob. i haven't met them yet. sarah lived there for a year when she was 13.

after we dropped our freight we had lunch and waited for sarah's cousin to pick us up at the terminal.
we stayed with marty and butch that night. marty is carolyn's daughter.
they had such a good time catching up and telling stories.
marty and butch have three dogs and one cat, two horses and a few birds. and a big rose garden. sarah said it reminds her of her aunt carolyn's roses.

that night zack got sick. he didn't sleep at all and spent a lot of time in the bathroom. i don't know what he was doing in there, but it didn't sound comfortable. sarah didn't sleep much either.
neither did i.

in the morning we picked up more cousins, bill and paula, and drove to the funeral. i had to stay in the car, but i heard that it was a very tearful gathering. lots of people came to give respect to keith and love to alice and their kids and grandkids. two friends spoke. and keith's son and grandson. they all loved him very very much. i wish i had been able to meet him.

zack hadn't really slept in 48 hours, so he had to leave during the service and lay down on a couch. they couldn't find him for a while. sarah was very happy when her cousin butch found him!

there was a reception afterward. sarah said that it was at the same place keith and alice had had their 50th anniversary party at. that was 5 years ago. sarah cried a lot that day. especially when she saw alice. at the reception alice grabbed sarah and proudly introduced her as her 'trucker niece'.. she got a real kick out of it. everybody did. sarah is not a very big person.

after the reception sarah's cousin carrie drove us to sarah's dad's house. all of sarah's brothers and sisters were able to be at the funeral. peter had to leave from there to fly on a plane back to his home in indiana. (sarah said we'll see indiana soon.) they all got to eat lunch together after church on sunday. sarah was very happy to be able to spend time with everyone. so was zack.

i didn't get to meet everyone. just papa (sarah's dad), dave and debbie's family, liz and chris' family, and sharon and ahsh's family. i like them a lot.

zack is driving now.

massachusetts!

2007-10-22T08:40:00.000-07:00

today we're leaving from l.a. to go to massachusetts!! i don't know where that is, but linda said it's 3000 miles and we'll get there on thursday. zack and sarah seem very excited. we probably won't be able to take many pictures, but they told me we'll go through all these states many times in the future.

driving

2007-10-19T04:49:00.000-07:00

it is 4:24am. zack is driving a big truck. we're in central california.
yesterday sarah drove 300 miles. (she says: if you we're on the 5 from 2pm to 8pm between l.a. and the 152, you passed us on the highway!)

it's very bumpy in here.

sarah and zack have the bottom bunk and linda has the top bunk. i sleep in sarah's bag.

linda is really nice. she did their drive tests on monday and they all really liked each other, so they requested to train together. sarah says she's kind of a free-spirited bohemian trucker girl. i don't know what bohemian means, but linda has done a lot of things and lived a lot of places.

sarah's uncle died on monday. sarah's been crying a lot this week. zack called linda the other day and asked if it was possible for sarah to go to the funeral tomorrow. linda is the nicest person on earth and let them go. so we're delivering a couple loads in the 'bay area' and sarah's cousin is going to let us stay with her family. i've never met the rest of the family. it's a sad time to meet them, but i'm excited to. sarah loves them a lot. she's told zack lots of stories, and sometimes when i hear them i laugh really hard. sometimes i cry. mainly this week.

it's dark outside. the only vehicles i see on the road are trucks.

yesterday sarah said that she was really happy that she got to drive through l.a. and santa clarita on her first trip. it was like driving through her hometown. and even though there was lots of traffic, she did really well and didn't get scared.

on wednesday liz and her kids came to visit us at the hotel where we had orientation. i was a little scared, since there are four kids and the oldest one is not even five years old! they have LOTS of energy. so i watched from sarah's pocket. charles is the oldest, and when he saw sarah coming he ran really fast toward us and gave her a big hug. then becca, the next oldest, came running and gave her a big hug and a flower. hannah was sick, so she came a little slower. she cuddled with us for a lot of the afternoon. they played in the pool and played in the room and ran around the lawns and ate pizza and drank 'chai' and juice at 'starbucks'.

sarah was very very happy to see them.

now it is 4:46 in the morning. the sign says that we are 88 miles from san francisco.

i'm going to go back to sleep..

day two of orientation..

2007-10-15T18:13:00.000-07:00

zack and sarah had physical exams and drive tests today. they both passed.

sarah said:
if there's anything i do know about the trucking industry, it's that regardless of what's written, in reality it will be more or less, longer or shorter, but certainly not what is written.

i don't know exactly what that means..

wednesday or thursday we find out if we are officially hired. (right now we are "pre-hires"..)

we're going to go eat celebratory pizza.

a collision..

2007-10-14T16:46:00.000-07:00

- by sarah

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/14/tunnel.fire.ap/index.html#cnnSTCText

this is very sobering. 28 big rigs literally crashed and burned this weekend. three people died. two truckers and one boy.

zack and i boarded a greyhound bus on friday night at eleven. that's when the first two rigs collided. 20 hours later we were stuck in the traffic that the collision caused. just five miles from where i used to live. i've driven that truck tunnel dozen of times. and i probably will a few more dozen.. most likely in a semi.

we're at orientation now. it's sunday afternoon and they've put us up in a little hotel in claremont, california. we'll be here till thursday. every morning from 8-noon we have paperwork and drive tests and physical exams and more paperwork. on thursday we'll be assigned to a trainer and hit the road for forty days.

we are excited to get started. and sober. and wondering what life will be like in a week....

sleep?

2007-10-13T11:57:00.000-07:00

we did not sleep at all last night.

first, we went to zack's parents' house to eat dinner and say goodbye and then they took us to the "greyhound station".. josh and gabe helped carry all of our luggage in. we have a lot of luggage.

then we waited for the bus. i didn't know what it would be like. sarah told me it was kind of like a car, only a lot bigger. about the size of the trucks we'll be driving.

the bus was enormous.

i tried to sleep all night, but it was not very comfortable. zack and sarah had pillows, but they were not comfortable either. they took turns laying on each others' shoulders. but they didn't sleep much.
sarah woke me up from a little snooze in northern california. the sun wasn't up yet, but the sky was just light enough to see the silhouette of a mountain. she said it was mount shasta. it was very beautiful.

there was a baby crying for much of the night. he couldn't get comfortable either.
i felt sorry for him. and his mother. she tried to make him more comfortable. and it worked sometimes.
she looked very tired.

we are in the "central valley" now.
this is me looking out the window.

hired

2007-10-08T13:29:00.000-07:00

zack and sarah have been hired by covenant transport company!
we'll be taking a greyhound bus down to l.a. this weekend for orientation. then we'll all go with a trainer out on the road for forty days.
we're all so excited. zack and sarah are packing up the last of our things and saying goodbye to their friends.

a new adventure.......l

dreams

2007-09-30T18:31:00.000-07:00

last night and the night before i had dreams.
it's the first time i've had dreams.

in one of my dreams i was a flying llama. i've never heard of a flying llama, but maybe they exist.
i heard that i flew with amy to america, but i don't remember that. and i don't think it was the same kind of flying.
in my dream i didn't have wings. it's just that i could fly.
i flew all over. everywhere. and sometimes tabitha was flying with me. but i wasn't afraid of her. and she didn't try to eat me or catch me or even lick me. we just flew.
sometimes i was alone.
it was always daytime.

in another dream i was a talking llama.
i had kind of a high-pitched voice. that surprised me a little. but i didn't mind so much. i could TALK!! in that dream i also was a photographer llama. i took beautiful photos.

and in another dream i was a barista. that's what they call a person who makes coffee. i learned that a few days ago.

sarah and zack say that sometimes dreams are 'predictive' - that means that the dreams will come true - and sometimes they are about what we've been thinking about.

i hope mine are predictive.

rodent-killer

2007-09-28T12:51:00.000-07:00

today we went to zack's parents' house again to deliver tabitha's dog-house.

they have a big back-yard and lots of cats and squirrels. zack's dad likes to shoot the squirrels with something they call a 'beebeegun'. they were hoping that tabitha would 'take care' of their small animal problem, but usually she just wants to play with the cats, and she ignores the squirrels.

until yesterday.
tabitha has become a rodent-killer.
she got one yesterday and one today.
and then they wanted to take a picture of us TOGETHER!!!

i was VERY scared. but she obeyed them and didn't hurt me.
so i felt better.
i even let her lick me.

but then zack put me in her MOUTH.
this was just to show me she wouldn't hurt me.
and she was very careful.

but then..
he threw me up in the air and she caught me in her mouth!!

i didn't like that at all.
i started screaming at the top of my voice.. which happens to be non-existent.
but somehow i think they heard me, because they stopped.

tabitha licked me, to say she was sorry.

and i crawled back into sarah's backback.
i like it there best for now..

they passed!!

2007-09-26T21:29:00.000-07:00

this morning zack and sarah took their driving tests and they passed! i'm very happy for them. sarah's headaches have gone away and she and zack slept a lot today. we're over at zack's parents' house now. tabitha's here and the brothers. they are a funny bunch.
i wasn't allowed to go with them on their tests. only the lady who was grading them.so zack drove off at 7am and sarah and i stayed with gordon - one of their instructors, and jason - the other guy who was testing today. and then he came back and sarah left. while she was driving, zack and jason and i did 'donuts' in the parking area. they did it by driving around in circles and using their 'handbrakes'.. gordon laughed at them. i got dizzy. i felt kind of the same way i'd felt when we went to the bagdad.. they threw the frisbee around and then sarah came back.we were all very excited that they had both passed!
zack got a 98 on his pre-trip and a 96 on his drive test. sarah got 100 on her pre-trip and 90 on her drive test. that means they did very well.

the columbia river gorge

2007-09-25T18:26:00.000-07:00

this weekend we went to cascade lockes for a picnic. sarah wasn't feeling well and zack wanted to do something nice for her. they had their wedding there in june, and it was a beautiful day.
zack kept teasing sarah with a secret, and finally she couldn't stand it any more. so he told her that we weren't going home for that whole weekend. and he took us to a big hotel where we could still see the river and we spent the whole weekend relaxing there.
on saturday they came back from a drive. they had taken their little subaru wagon up the road until the road ended and it was just a dirt road. they went up and up and up the mountain and got the car really really dirty. they looked very happy.
sarah had been very stressed out about school. and today (tuesday), was the worst day. this weekend helped a lot, but she still seemed very weighed down. she said she doesn't feel prepared for her tests.
last night they talked to her dad and he told her that her uncle isn't doing very well. he's dying of cancer. she started crying. and then he told her that he'd had to put leesha to sleep. leesha was sarah's first cat. she got her when she was in fifth grade. leesha was 18 years old. i think sarah's dad misses leesha too. and then this morning we heard from zack's mom that his sister's father-in-law died last night.sarah's been crying a lot.
i'm glad that zack took her away for the weekend. she's been sad, but she seemed very happy that he loves her so much.

my first day of truck school..

2007-09-17T19:23:00.000-07:00

today i went to school with zack and sarah.they drive VERY large trucks.
sarah and i sat in back while zack drove first.

then sarah drove and zack sat with me.

i'm learning to use a camera.

they let me sit on the steering wheel of 'the beast'.. it's not really a beast. it's just a big old truck that doesn't work very well. they only drive it in the yard of the school.

this is sarah and me in the beast.

and zack. he always does this pose with me. sarah thinks he's 'sexy'.. i think that means she likes him..

they've been in truck school for three weeks now. they will graduate soon, and then we'll all go out on the road. they said we'll drive a lot. i mean: they'll drive a lot. i can't get my cdl. but they will, and then we will get a truck from their company, and they said we'll drive all over the country. they said they'll take my picture in every state, and then we'll put them on this blog so everyone can see where we've been. they came up with this idea the first time i met them. and they told amy. and i hope she sees all the pictures, and maybe she can show them to all my friends back in peru. i miss them, but i'm glad she brought me here. zack and sarah are really interesting people.

some more pictures from last night

2007-09-16T20:59:00.000-07:00

continued..

2007-09-16T15:50:00.000-07:00

we walked into the bagdad theater and sat at the bar.
they had beer.

and tater tots.

it was all very good.
i got a little - what they called - 'drunk'.

and then we watched a movie.

it was intense. it was called the bourne ultimatum. i thought the name wasn't so good. but the fight scenes were amazing. (i thought at first that it was all real, but sarah told me to not be afraid. that they were all just pretending. i felt better then. but i wondered why people enjoy watching other people pretend to hurt each other..)
it was a very funny evening. i like these people.
we picked tabitha up and dropped ben off and went home.
and now i'm going to go with sarah to her friend annie's house.

movie night..

2007-09-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

last night i went to my first movie ever.

zack was playing an ancient strategy game with his friend, ben. sarah packed me and their dog, tabitha - a great big monster of black fur and a drippy pink tongue - into the car and took us all to a place that serves coffee. they called it 'grendel's'. i watched the guys play this game and kept my eye on tabitha. she seemed content with her bone and greeting the people who walked by on the sidewalk.
sarah went inside for a while. she came out later with a little girl named sophia. sophia looked to be about three years old and wanted to pet tabitha. i hid in the bag. i'm a little skittish around children. they are very unpredictable.

after they all finished their coffee and their game, we all went to the house where ben lives. ben cooked dinner while zack and sarah played with tabitha outside. then zack went upstairs and there was much loud talking and screaming and music. they called it video games. then they ate dinner.
it was dark by then time we left, so i didn't notice at first that tabitha wasn't with us. then ben got in our car. i knew an adventure was in the works.
we went to a place called 'belmont'.
here, i had my first bike ride..

there was the avalon theater. but it didn't have the right movie.

then there was the pardox cafe. but it didn't have any 'beer'.
(this is the guy who served us at the paradox..)

and this is our friend ben at the paradox..

so we went to a place called 'hawthorne'.

(to be continued..)

from whence i came

2007-09-14T17:04:00.000-07:00

my name is seymour. i am from peru.
i came to america in september of 2007. the journey was long and arduous. and very dark. i admit, i was a bit scared. i was smuggled into the country in a great big duffel bag, along with many of my brothers and sisters. the lady who brought us here was named amy. after our arrival she transferred me to a smaller bag and took me to a place called mcmenemin's. i remember peeking out of the bag and seeing green signs. they read: n.e. 15th and n.e. broadway. the next thing i remember was amy's hand reaching into the bag and pulling me out.
we were in a restaurant. there were other people there with us. they were very nice and looked rather pleased to see me. i felt a bit shy. amy handed me to the girl and everybody smiled and oohed and ahhed. the conversation went on and they ate and drank and laughed.
when we left there, i went with the new people. their names are zack and sarah. sarah carried me down to the car. and then i thought they might leave me in the car. i didn't want them to leave me alone - we were having such a nice time. but i can't talk. i can only type.
but they didn't leave me! they took me to a place called peet's coffee and tea. it was just across the street. they drank coffee and talked some more. sarah petted me a lot. and zack took pictures of me. (this one's of me a sarah.)

they made grand plans. and then they gave me a name.
they even let me drink a bit of sarah's latte.

it was really good.

and that's how i came to america. and how i came to be seymour.
and this is my blog.