DATELINE: HOME
Just a quick note today, gang, for two purposes.
1. To pass along my wishes for you to have a very happy new year, with success in everything you do in 2008 and beyond.
2. To let you know about another blog that I'll be maintaining. Take a peek at http://ziptochips.blogspot.com/. Do that so I don't need to 'splain it here.
Thanks for all your support, questions, and comments during this past year. Please keep it coming; I really do enjoy hearing from you. I'll be back in my truck and on the road on Wednesday, 1/2, so look for my next update that evening. 'Til next year, this is Trucker John wishing you a happy new year.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Wrapping Up the Year
DATELINE: HOME, Friday, 12/22/07, 8:30 p.m.
Well, I've gotten behind again. I have to blame some more long days ending in deep fatigue and the need to get to bed so I could get up early and do it all again. I just love it when the company assigns me loads with lotsa' miles as my next home date nears and my available hours are running low. But hey, I do need the paying miles. Anyway, on to the recap.
WEDNESDAY: BETHEL, PA TO HOWE, IN
The first thing I had to do on Wednesday was to make my way to Breezewood, PA to swap loads with another driver. The swap was set for noon, and I was only 2 hours away. But I got rolling at 8:00 anyway and go to Breezewood at 10:00.
Unfortunately, the other driver was not early. Also, unfortunately, he wasn't on time, either. I wound up with a nearly 3-1/2-hour "layover" at the TA Breezewood. I planned to take a shower while waiting there (one reason I got there early), but their showers for some reason weren't available. So I settled for working on crosswords and other brain-busters in the puzzle book I had along with me.
The other driver finally arrived, we made the swap, and I was back on the road around 1:30. Then my task was to drive as far as I could within my remaining available hours for the day. I managed a bit more than I expected, making it all the way through Ohio and into Indiana via the turnpikes in those states. I stopped for the night at a service plaza along the IN pike, arriving at about 9:45 p.m., too tired to do anything but get ready for and go to bed. So I did.
THURSDAY: HOWE, IN TO OSHKOSH, WI
I had adelivery appointment set for 1:00 p.m. CST in Green Bay, WI. Since I was around 350 miles away and couldn't start driving 'till 7:45 EST (6:45 CST), it was unlikely that I would make that appointment on time. If everything went well--most notably getting through traffic around Chicago--I could conceivably get there on time. But we all know that slowdowns are inevitable in Chicagoland. So I alerted my Fleet Manager that I'd likely be a little late, but no more than 2 hours behind schedule. Then I hit the road. The drive actually did go pretty well, and I didn't lose very much time to traffic problems on my way to the land of the frozen tundra.
As you may know if you know me or have been a regular reader, I like to see famous sporting venues. This was the first time I've been to Green Bay, and it was a thrill to finally see one of the Holy of Holies, Lambwau Field. I first spotted it from a couple miles away as I approached town on WI highway 172. The stadium from that vantage point dominates the town's skyline--heck, it IS the town's skyline. Then my route to my delivery took my down Lombardi way right alongside the stadium grounds. Very cool. But enough of the Lambeau tangent; back to work.
My delivery was one of the quickest live unloads I've ever had. Within 45 minutes of arrival I was outta' there. Then I drove over to a truck stop at the edge of town to plan for my next assignment, the one that'd take me home.
The pickup was set for 5:00 p.m. in a small town in the middle of nowhere, WI, about 30 miles northwest of Appleton, and about 50 miles west of Green Bay. So I made the drive over, making only one wrong turn in thr dark on the two-lane highways. The pickup took a little while, and when it was done I only had about 1-1/2 hours available to get back to civilization and find a place to park for the night. That wound up being a small truck stop aling US-41 outside of Oshkosh, after I couldn't find the one listed in my truck stop directory in Appleton. Again, I was too tired for anything but bedtime.
FRIDAY: OSHKOSH, WI TO HOME
My new load was headed for Coldwater, MI, where I would do a quick drop-and-hook, picking up an emptry trailer on my way out. But first I had to get rolling. That proved difficult because the lot where I was parked was gravel, but covered with ice. And my wheels just spun. So I "borrowed" some salt from the truck stop clerk, found an implement for chopping the ice, and spent some time getting my truck off the ice. So I finally hit the road about 45 minutes behind schedule.
The rest of the day was pretty much OK. The delivery went swell, no terrible traffic problems (nothing worse than what you usually encounter rounding the Chicago area), and I finally reached the yard where I park my truck around 7:30 p.m. or so. Many thanks to R.T. daughter #1 for coming to pick me up and haul me back home, where I'll get to spend the whole holiday period, with my earned home time and a week's paid vacation. I won't return to work 'til Janury 2.
Thanks for following along with my trucking experiences this year. I likely won't add any new reports to this blog 'til I return to work next year, so have a wonderful holiday season. Drop me a line, and keep on truckin'.
Well, I've gotten behind again. I have to blame some more long days ending in deep fatigue and the need to get to bed so I could get up early and do it all again. I just love it when the company assigns me loads with lotsa' miles as my next home date nears and my available hours are running low. But hey, I do need the paying miles. Anyway, on to the recap.
WEDNESDAY: BETHEL, PA TO HOWE, IN
The first thing I had to do on Wednesday was to make my way to Breezewood, PA to swap loads with another driver. The swap was set for noon, and I was only 2 hours away. But I got rolling at 8:00 anyway and go to Breezewood at 10:00.
Unfortunately, the other driver was not early. Also, unfortunately, he wasn't on time, either. I wound up with a nearly 3-1/2-hour "layover" at the TA Breezewood. I planned to take a shower while waiting there (one reason I got there early), but their showers for some reason weren't available. So I settled for working on crosswords and other brain-busters in the puzzle book I had along with me.
The other driver finally arrived, we made the swap, and I was back on the road around 1:30. Then my task was to drive as far as I could within my remaining available hours for the day. I managed a bit more than I expected, making it all the way through Ohio and into Indiana via the turnpikes in those states. I stopped for the night at a service plaza along the IN pike, arriving at about 9:45 p.m., too tired to do anything but get ready for and go to bed. So I did.
THURSDAY: HOWE, IN TO OSHKOSH, WI
I had adelivery appointment set for 1:00 p.m. CST in Green Bay, WI. Since I was around 350 miles away and couldn't start driving 'till 7:45 EST (6:45 CST), it was unlikely that I would make that appointment on time. If everything went well--most notably getting through traffic around Chicago--I could conceivably get there on time. But we all know that slowdowns are inevitable in Chicagoland. So I alerted my Fleet Manager that I'd likely be a little late, but no more than 2 hours behind schedule. Then I hit the road. The drive actually did go pretty well, and I didn't lose very much time to traffic problems on my way to the land of the frozen tundra.
As you may know if you know me or have been a regular reader, I like to see famous sporting venues. This was the first time I've been to Green Bay, and it was a thrill to finally see one of the Holy of Holies, Lambwau Field. I first spotted it from a couple miles away as I approached town on WI highway 172. The stadium from that vantage point dominates the town's skyline--heck, it IS the town's skyline. Then my route to my delivery took my down Lombardi way right alongside the stadium grounds. Very cool. But enough of the Lambeau tangent; back to work.
My delivery was one of the quickest live unloads I've ever had. Within 45 minutes of arrival I was outta' there. Then I drove over to a truck stop at the edge of town to plan for my next assignment, the one that'd take me home.
The pickup was set for 5:00 p.m. in a small town in the middle of nowhere, WI, about 30 miles northwest of Appleton, and about 50 miles west of Green Bay. So I made the drive over, making only one wrong turn in thr dark on the two-lane highways. The pickup took a little while, and when it was done I only had about 1-1/2 hours available to get back to civilization and find a place to park for the night. That wound up being a small truck stop aling US-41 outside of Oshkosh, after I couldn't find the one listed in my truck stop directory in Appleton. Again, I was too tired for anything but bedtime.
FRIDAY: OSHKOSH, WI TO HOME
My new load was headed for Coldwater, MI, where I would do a quick drop-and-hook, picking up an emptry trailer on my way out. But first I had to get rolling. That proved difficult because the lot where I was parked was gravel, but covered with ice. And my wheels just spun. So I "borrowed" some salt from the truck stop clerk, found an implement for chopping the ice, and spent some time getting my truck off the ice. So I finally hit the road about 45 minutes behind schedule.
The rest of the day was pretty much OK. The delivery went swell, no terrible traffic problems (nothing worse than what you usually encounter rounding the Chicago area), and I finally reached the yard where I park my truck around 7:30 p.m. or so. Many thanks to R.T. daughter #1 for coming to pick me up and haul me back home, where I'll get to spend the whole holiday period, with my earned home time and a week's paid vacation. I won't return to work 'til Janury 2.
Thanks for following along with my trucking experiences this year. I likely won't add any new reports to this blog 'til I return to work next year, so have a wonderful holiday season. Drop me a line, and keep on truckin'.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
New England Swing
DATELINE: BETHEL, PA, 7:00 p.m. EST
Drat! I've fallen behind in my blogging again. My mind has been preoccupied with other concerns these past few days, and I haven't felt the motivation to take the time to describe my work days for y'all. My profuse apologies for that, and I'll catch y'all up today.
SATURDAY, Vandalia, OH to Bloomsburg, PA, 483 Miles
Just another long drive, staying ahead of the winter storm. I did manage that, as I finished my work day before anything started falling from the sky. The sky was grey and gloomy the whole day, foretelling what was to come, but stayed dry for my whole trip.
I stopped at the TA in Bloomsburg, where I had spent a night once before, a few months back, a couple hours shy of my allotted 11 driving hours. Had I gone the full 11 hours, I probably would have been somewhere in New York state, in an area with little in the way of places to park a truck for the night. Besides, NY has a no-idling law (or for no more than 5 minutes at a time), and with the weather as cold as it was, that would have been a problem. (Trucks need to idle to run the heater to keep the cab warm, don'tcha' know.) With still plenty of time to get to my final destination, stopping early wasn't an issue. (Also, 'twas the 4:00 hour, and nightfall comes early in the east this time of year. It's always better to park when it's plenty light out for visibility.)
SUNDAY, Bloomsburg, PA to Willington, CT, 278 Miles
I awoke to snow on the ground, but less than I had expected or feared. Probably only 3 or 4 inches, max. I consulted weather sources online and found that the area I was headed for was due for slightly warmer temperatures and rain, rather than snow. But I was also concerned about my remaining work hours--just 7-3/4--in my 70-hour limit.
I was sure I had just enough to make the delivery (and a place to park afterwards) if the roads were clear and I didn't encounter any delays. I could stay in Bloomsburg and sit out a 34-hour restart, then hit the road around 2:00 Monday morning with a fresh 70. If I did that I would be just a tad late to the delivery. I checked with dispatch if my delivery had a window or if it was a set appointment. To my dismay, it was a set appointment, so I had to do what I could to get there on time (safely, of course).
By the time I settled on a course of action--hitting the road--it had become mid-to-late-morning and the roads had cleared a bit more. So driving wasn't hazardous at all--wet, with some snowy spots, but no trouble for a big rig. The only problem was how hilly the route was. Since I had a very heavy load, I lost quite a bit of time chugging slowly up a lot of steep hills. And I couldn't just "let 'er fly" on the other sides to make up time because of the wet conditions; I had to keep 'er under control.
I knew from my truck stop guide that there are few truck stops in Massachusetts, so I opted to halt for the night at a TA in Willington, CT, just a few miles short of the MA border. There I encountered my only trouble with the snow: they hadn't plowed the parking lot yet, and I nearly bogged down in it when attempting to back into a parking spot. (Another truck just ahead of me was bogged down, its driver working on digging out around his tires.) So I retreated from that area of the lot and found another spot I could drive forward into.
After parking, I headed into the building for a rare (for me on the road, anyway) afternoon/evening shower. I had been all set to take one first thing in the morning in Bloomsburg, but their showers were closed. Since it had been 4 days since I last shaved, I was ready to get cleaned up and smooth-cheeked.
MONDAY, Willington, CT to Willington, CT, 179 Miles
I was up early in order to fuel up my truck and get to my delivery in time for my 7:30 appointment. Since I had roughly 100 miles to go (just a bit less, as it turned out), I gave myself 2 hours to get there 30 minutes early. So I got up at 4:30 in order to get rolling at 5:00.
The drive to the delivery went fine, though some more steep hills and slow traffic, and I arrived as planned. This was a live unload, and a bit of a slow one, so I was at the site for about 2 hours or so. I had about 15 minutes left of my 70 hours, so I needed to find a place to spend the rest of the day--and night--quickly. In my atlas I saw several rest areas along the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90), so I headed that-a-way after completing the delivery.
Unfortunately, the rest areas/service plazas had VERY small parking areas for trucks, and they were all full. I headed south back down I-84 from whence I had come that morning to see what was available at the Pilot Travel Center along that way. Plenty of parking was available. However, they had a big sign up telling about the no-idling law in MA. So the die was cast: I would just head back to the Willington TA, where I knew I would find plenty of services (Burger King, Dunkin Donuts) and could idle to my heart's content.
That whole search for a resting place took 2 hours. Once there I sent in a message to my Fleet Manager, asking if they were going to pre-plan a pickup for me for the next day so I could make my own plans ahead of time. He replied that they were going to, but first they had to assign loads to the other drivers who were still rolling that day. I spent the rest of the day (from noon-on) in my truck, but no load assignment ever came.
TODAY, Willington, CT to Bethel, PA, 283 Miles
First things first: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Mrs. R.T., 29 (for the XXth time) and still looking great!
I had expected to be wrenched from dreamland sometime in the middle of the night by my Qualcomm box beeping with the assignment message, but mercifully that didn't happen. I woke up at 6:00 this morning to shower up and be ready for the day's assignment. Once back from the shower (and breakfast at Dunkin Donuts), the assignment still hadn't arrived, so I sent in a message asking for the assignment's ETA. My Fleet Manager replied that I was #1 on the board, so it shouldn't be long. But it still took nearly another hour (maybe more, I wasn't keeping precise track) before the assignment came in.
This was another interesting assignment: Pick up a load at the Port of Newark, NJ, then take it to St. Louis, MO, delivery on Thursday. The pickup was 147 miles away (according to the load message) at 1:00 p.m. Since it was now after 8:30, I needed to plan my route quickly and get rolling ASAP. I also needed to fuel up again.
Yada, yada, long story short, my route took me through the Bronx (a first for me), and because of heavy traffic there and on the NJ Turnpike, I arrived just after 1:00. But nobody seemed to care about that. I checked in, got my assigned dock door, prepped the trailer (opened the doors, slid the rear tandems to the back as requested at that site), and backed to the dock.
This load went quickly, and I was rolling an hour after I arrived. Since this is another very heavy load, I needed to swing through a truck stop to weigh my truck to make sure none of the axles carried too much weight. That proved to be much easier said--or typed--than done.
First I had to drive almost all of the way across NJ to reach a truck stop with scales along I-78 (the route I needed to take). It's a narrow state, so it took an hour or less. I first pulled off at exit 12 to hit the Pilot there. Alas, their scales were out of order, so I negotiated the traffic in the lot there to get back on the highway. At exit 7 are another Pilot and a TA, so I opted to patronize the TA. HEAVY traffic in its lot--it was only the 3:00 hour; why were so many trucks stopping already? Parking so I could go inside to get the scale printout took a while, then once I got inside there was a long and VERY slow line at the fuel desk. Yada, yada, another long story short, weighing, re-weighing, fighting through lot traffic and parking and waiting in line twice, all took almost an hour and a half. So that left me just enough time to make it to our Bethel terminal within the hours I had available to work today. Since I didn't take a 34-hour restart, I'm picking up hours that I used 9 days ago that are rolling off the 8-day window.
A few minutes ago I got a call from the evening dispatcher at USA. I'm now supposed to swap this load with another driver tomorrow at noon at the TA in Breezewood, PA. That new load is headed for Green Bay, WI. I don't know the delivery details yet, but I'm assuming it will still allow me to get home as scheduled on Friday.
And that's that. You're back in step with me. Thanks for waiting out my silent period there; I assure it wasn't any mishaps in the snow that kept me of the webwaves. Drop me a comment, and keep on truckin'.
Drat! I've fallen behind in my blogging again. My mind has been preoccupied with other concerns these past few days, and I haven't felt the motivation to take the time to describe my work days for y'all. My profuse apologies for that, and I'll catch y'all up today.
SATURDAY, Vandalia, OH to Bloomsburg, PA, 483 Miles
Just another long drive, staying ahead of the winter storm. I did manage that, as I finished my work day before anything started falling from the sky. The sky was grey and gloomy the whole day, foretelling what was to come, but stayed dry for my whole trip.
I stopped at the TA in Bloomsburg, where I had spent a night once before, a few months back, a couple hours shy of my allotted 11 driving hours. Had I gone the full 11 hours, I probably would have been somewhere in New York state, in an area with little in the way of places to park a truck for the night. Besides, NY has a no-idling law (or for no more than 5 minutes at a time), and with the weather as cold as it was, that would have been a problem. (Trucks need to idle to run the heater to keep the cab warm, don'tcha' know.) With still plenty of time to get to my final destination, stopping early wasn't an issue. (Also, 'twas the 4:00 hour, and nightfall comes early in the east this time of year. It's always better to park when it's plenty light out for visibility.)
SUNDAY, Bloomsburg, PA to Willington, CT, 278 Miles
I awoke to snow on the ground, but less than I had expected or feared. Probably only 3 or 4 inches, max. I consulted weather sources online and found that the area I was headed for was due for slightly warmer temperatures and rain, rather than snow. But I was also concerned about my remaining work hours--just 7-3/4--in my 70-hour limit.
I was sure I had just enough to make the delivery (and a place to park afterwards) if the roads were clear and I didn't encounter any delays. I could stay in Bloomsburg and sit out a 34-hour restart, then hit the road around 2:00 Monday morning with a fresh 70. If I did that I would be just a tad late to the delivery. I checked with dispatch if my delivery had a window or if it was a set appointment. To my dismay, it was a set appointment, so I had to do what I could to get there on time (safely, of course).
By the time I settled on a course of action--hitting the road--it had become mid-to-late-morning and the roads had cleared a bit more. So driving wasn't hazardous at all--wet, with some snowy spots, but no trouble for a big rig. The only problem was how hilly the route was. Since I had a very heavy load, I lost quite a bit of time chugging slowly up a lot of steep hills. And I couldn't just "let 'er fly" on the other sides to make up time because of the wet conditions; I had to keep 'er under control.
I knew from my truck stop guide that there are few truck stops in Massachusetts, so I opted to halt for the night at a TA in Willington, CT, just a few miles short of the MA border. There I encountered my only trouble with the snow: they hadn't plowed the parking lot yet, and I nearly bogged down in it when attempting to back into a parking spot. (Another truck just ahead of me was bogged down, its driver working on digging out around his tires.) So I retreated from that area of the lot and found another spot I could drive forward into.
After parking, I headed into the building for a rare (for me on the road, anyway) afternoon/evening shower. I had been all set to take one first thing in the morning in Bloomsburg, but their showers were closed. Since it had been 4 days since I last shaved, I was ready to get cleaned up and smooth-cheeked.
MONDAY, Willington, CT to Willington, CT, 179 Miles
I was up early in order to fuel up my truck and get to my delivery in time for my 7:30 appointment. Since I had roughly 100 miles to go (just a bit less, as it turned out), I gave myself 2 hours to get there 30 minutes early. So I got up at 4:30 in order to get rolling at 5:00.
The drive to the delivery went fine, though some more steep hills and slow traffic, and I arrived as planned. This was a live unload, and a bit of a slow one, so I was at the site for about 2 hours or so. I had about 15 minutes left of my 70 hours, so I needed to find a place to spend the rest of the day--and night--quickly. In my atlas I saw several rest areas along the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90), so I headed that-a-way after completing the delivery.
Unfortunately, the rest areas/service plazas had VERY small parking areas for trucks, and they were all full. I headed south back down I-84 from whence I had come that morning to see what was available at the Pilot Travel Center along that way. Plenty of parking was available. However, they had a big sign up telling about the no-idling law in MA. So the die was cast: I would just head back to the Willington TA, where I knew I would find plenty of services (Burger King, Dunkin Donuts) and could idle to my heart's content.
That whole search for a resting place took 2 hours. Once there I sent in a message to my Fleet Manager, asking if they were going to pre-plan a pickup for me for the next day so I could make my own plans ahead of time. He replied that they were going to, but first they had to assign loads to the other drivers who were still rolling that day. I spent the rest of the day (from noon-on) in my truck, but no load assignment ever came.
TODAY, Willington, CT to Bethel, PA, 283 Miles
First things first: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Mrs. R.T., 29 (for the XXth time) and still looking great!
I had expected to be wrenched from dreamland sometime in the middle of the night by my Qualcomm box beeping with the assignment message, but mercifully that didn't happen. I woke up at 6:00 this morning to shower up and be ready for the day's assignment. Once back from the shower (and breakfast at Dunkin Donuts), the assignment still hadn't arrived, so I sent in a message asking for the assignment's ETA. My Fleet Manager replied that I was #1 on the board, so it shouldn't be long. But it still took nearly another hour (maybe more, I wasn't keeping precise track) before the assignment came in.
This was another interesting assignment: Pick up a load at the Port of Newark, NJ, then take it to St. Louis, MO, delivery on Thursday. The pickup was 147 miles away (according to the load message) at 1:00 p.m. Since it was now after 8:30, I needed to plan my route quickly and get rolling ASAP. I also needed to fuel up again.
Yada, yada, long story short, my route took me through the Bronx (a first for me), and because of heavy traffic there and on the NJ Turnpike, I arrived just after 1:00. But nobody seemed to care about that. I checked in, got my assigned dock door, prepped the trailer (opened the doors, slid the rear tandems to the back as requested at that site), and backed to the dock.
This load went quickly, and I was rolling an hour after I arrived. Since this is another very heavy load, I needed to swing through a truck stop to weigh my truck to make sure none of the axles carried too much weight. That proved to be much easier said--or typed--than done.
First I had to drive almost all of the way across NJ to reach a truck stop with scales along I-78 (the route I needed to take). It's a narrow state, so it took an hour or less. I first pulled off at exit 12 to hit the Pilot there. Alas, their scales were out of order, so I negotiated the traffic in the lot there to get back on the highway. At exit 7 are another Pilot and a TA, so I opted to patronize the TA. HEAVY traffic in its lot--it was only the 3:00 hour; why were so many trucks stopping already? Parking so I could go inside to get the scale printout took a while, then once I got inside there was a long and VERY slow line at the fuel desk. Yada, yada, another long story short, weighing, re-weighing, fighting through lot traffic and parking and waiting in line twice, all took almost an hour and a half. So that left me just enough time to make it to our Bethel terminal within the hours I had available to work today. Since I didn't take a 34-hour restart, I'm picking up hours that I used 9 days ago that are rolling off the 8-day window.
A few minutes ago I got a call from the evening dispatcher at USA. I'm now supposed to swap this load with another driver tomorrow at noon at the TA in Breezewood, PA. That new load is headed for Green Bay, WI. I don't know the delivery details yet, but I'm assuming it will still allow me to get home as scheduled on Friday.
And that's that. You're back in step with me. Thanks for waiting out my silent period there; I assure it wasn't any mishaps in the snow that kept me of the webwaves. Drop me a comment, and keep on truckin'.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Ready, Set, Wait, Go
DATELINE: VANDALIA, OH, 8:30 p.m. EST
Miles Today: 573
Another terrific start to the day. I awoke earlier than planned--around 4:45--and again couldn't get back to sleep. So I decided just to get up and get moving. After showering, I got ready to go. I started the truck, did my pre-trip inspection, got in, put it in gear, and it stalled.
It did so because, as I figured out later, one (or more) of the trailer brakes was frozen, thus putting too much strain on the engine when the transmission engaged (the frozen brake plus a 45,000-pound load in my trailer). That wasn't the real problem, though. When I turned the key to re-start the engine, all I got was the rapid clicking indicative of a dead battery. AAARGH!
Fortunately, I was at a TA, a chain with which USA Truck contracts to fix its trucks on the road. So after conferring with USA's breakdown department via phone to get their OK, I walked over to the shop to get some help. They drove their road service truck over to where I was parked to jump start my truck. That didn't work at all for a few attempts, so the tech took a look under the hood. Eventually he determined that the truck had a loose ignition wire, so he tightened that back up. Yada yada yada, got the stuck brake released, and I was on my way after about an hour's delay.
Lots of fog during the drive this morning, but the sun eventually broke through and it was a nice, bright, sunny day, though cold. I stopped in Effingham, IL for lunch (Popeye's chicken at the TA there) and fuel (at the Pilot a couple miles further down the highway), but otherwise just kept moving all day. After 10 hours of driving, I arrived here at the Vandalia terminal. I'm spending the night here for my requisite 10-hour break, then I'll drive as far as I can in my allotted hours tomorrow toward my MA destination. Hopefully I'll stay ahead of the weather system that's moving this-a-way, but it's forecast to catch up to me in the northeast on Sunday. So I need to have as few miles to drive that day as possible. (Reminder, my delivery is set for 6:30 Monday morning.)
That's all the news to report today. Thanks for taking a peek. Drop me a line so I know I have a fan base out there, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 573
Another terrific start to the day. I awoke earlier than planned--around 4:45--and again couldn't get back to sleep. So I decided just to get up and get moving. After showering, I got ready to go. I started the truck, did my pre-trip inspection, got in, put it in gear, and it stalled.
It did so because, as I figured out later, one (or more) of the trailer brakes was frozen, thus putting too much strain on the engine when the transmission engaged (the frozen brake plus a 45,000-pound load in my trailer). That wasn't the real problem, though. When I turned the key to re-start the engine, all I got was the rapid clicking indicative of a dead battery. AAARGH!
Fortunately, I was at a TA, a chain with which USA Truck contracts to fix its trucks on the road. So after conferring with USA's breakdown department via phone to get their OK, I walked over to the shop to get some help. They drove their road service truck over to where I was parked to jump start my truck. That didn't work at all for a few attempts, so the tech took a look under the hood. Eventually he determined that the truck had a loose ignition wire, so he tightened that back up. Yada yada yada, got the stuck brake released, and I was on my way after about an hour's delay.
Lots of fog during the drive this morning, but the sun eventually broke through and it was a nice, bright, sunny day, though cold. I stopped in Effingham, IL for lunch (Popeye's chicken at the TA there) and fuel (at the Pilot a couple miles further down the highway), but otherwise just kept moving all day. After 10 hours of driving, I arrived here at the Vandalia terminal. I'm spending the night here for my requisite 10-hour break, then I'll drive as far as I can in my allotted hours tomorrow toward my MA destination. Hopefully I'll stay ahead of the weather system that's moving this-a-way, but it's forecast to catch up to me in the northeast on Sunday. So I need to have as few miles to drive that day as possible. (Reminder, my delivery is set for 6:30 Monday morning.)
That's all the news to report today. Thanks for taking a peek. Drop me a line so I know I have a fan base out there, and keep on truckin'.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
2 More Long-uns
DATELINE: OAK GROVE, MO, 9:22 p.m. CST
Miles Yesterday: 462
Miles Today: 425
Whew! A couple of long days, despite the relatively "few" miles. Both included lengthy waits that caused me to work nearly my entire 14-hour driving window. I was too tired last night to record it for you in this space, but I'll make the effort to catch you up in tonight's episode.
Yesterday I started out by completing the drive to my delivery in Roanoke, TX. It took about 3-1/2 hours of driving to get there from Oklahoma City. The delivery was a drop-and-hook, so it went fairly quickly--30 minutes from entry to exit at the guard shack at the gate. Fortunately, the rain let up a bit while I was out of my cab to unhook and hook the trailers. Did I mention the whole day was gloomy and rainy, sometimes heavily rainy? After the delivery I scooted down the road to a Pilot truck stop to wait for my next assignment. While there the rain did not let up, so I got a bit wet when walking to and from the building. Good thing I found a fairly close parking spot there.
It was over an hour before my assignment came in. In the interim I sat in my cab working on puzzles in a puzzle book put out by the publishers of Games magazine, so I had something to help pass the time. When the load assignment came in, it was just a bit confusing. The pickup was set for 2:00 that afternoon in Grand Prairie, TX (just north of Arlington, between Dallas and Ft. Worth) and delivery was scheduled for 2 hours later--in Tulsa, OK, 270-ish miles away. I sent in a message asking about that; after a while (while I was on my way to the pickup) my fleet manager called to 'splain. Apparently the pickup had been delayed by the weather situation in the area, so the load was behind schedule. And it was a HOT load: generators headed to a store in Tulsa, where the power was out to many residents. So I needed to get there with the load as quickly as I could.
That, however, was another problem. If traffic was completely clear all the way, I had perhaps just enough time to get to Tulsa within the remaining portion of my 14 hours for the day, which was 5 hours by the time I left from the pickup. However, a LOT of people live--and drive--in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, and with the heavy rain at the early part of rush hour, I couldn't make tracks as I needed to. It became clear early on that I wasn't going to get all the way to Tulsa. I pulled into a rest area and sent in a message stating that fact, and that I was shooting to make it to the Oklahoma City Flying J (from whence I had started the day). They could arrange a load swap there if they wanted to in order to get that load to its destination ASAP. I continued on my way to OKC and made it there just in time to avoid violating any hours of service regulations for the day.
I hadn't gotten any word from dispatch about a possible swap, so I sent in another message stating where I was and asking if a swap was in the works, or if I would just keep the load and head there first thing in the morning. This was around 8:00 p.m., and I was way tired, so I hit my bunk and went to sleep. 1-1/2 hours later I got a message, its "beep" alert waking me up. The message asked what time I'd be able to get there in the morning, and why I was in OKC. They (she, actually, on this occasion) said OKC was "out of route".
OK, there is another route that is more direct, but it's mainly along a couple of US highways, with many portions not being limited-access highway, snaking through towns and encountering stoplights and lower speed limits. Besides, I would have spent another goodly amount of time while circling Dallas in heavy, slow traffic just to get to that highway. However, I went the way I did because I wanted to stay on the interstates (something they tell us in training AND USA Truck orientation is preferred), and replied as such. Besides, the OKC route isn't really very much out of the way.
The "chewing out" about my route choice irked me, and it took me a good while to fall back asleep, despite my strong fatigue. Eventually I did resume sawing logs, and was sleeping soundly when another message came in and woke me up. This time is was between 2:30 and 3:00 a.m., and the message asked if I was on my way to the delivery. Sheesh! For one thing, these trucks have GPS units on them, and dispatch can find out just where we are. For another, I hadn't even completed my required 10-hour break yet. Sometimes I think the night-time dispatchers don't have enough to do in the middle of their shifts, so they send messages to interrupt their drivers' sleep. I messaged back that I would hit the road as soon as I completed my break. I was too polite to make a fuss about waking me up, but I was again irked and had trouble falling back asleep.
Eventually my watch's alarm woke me up when it was time to get back to work. I got up, freshened up, and hit the road pretty quickly. 2-1/4 hours later I was in Tulsa, arriving at the delivery site. After making the tricky docking maneuvers (off of a narrow side street, not a lot of extra room for pulling up to straighten out), I had a bit of a wait in my cab while they unloaded the trailer. As I mentioned earlier, this was a load of generators. The delivery was to a store that was selling a LOT of them--there was a steady stream of pickup trucks and SUVs to the loading dock next to me, customers picking up the goods they'd paid for in the front of the store.
It took 2 hours for them to finish unloading my trailer and to find the copy of the load's paperwork I had turned in on my arrival. (I need a copy to turn in to USA.) But they did find it, then I headed over to the local Flying J for fuel, a quick bite to eat (it was about lunchtime, after all), and to wait for my next load.
This next load was pre-planned for me, and my fleet manager had let me know while I was waiting at the delivery where the pickup would be--at least the city: Spring Hill, Kansas. I found the town in my atlas; it's just south of Kansas City, KS. I also had plenty of time to plan my route there, too. There wasn't a convenient interstate route between Tulsa and KC, so I decided to go north on US169 and US75 to I-35 (pull out your US atlas and check it out), then east on 35 to the exit for Spring Hill. (That was also along US169, but I decided to go the way I did because, 1. pickup wasn't scheduled 'til 5:00 p.m., and the load assignment mentioned not arriving prior to 15 minutes before the appointment, so I had plenty of time since it was still well before noon, and 2. at the intersection of US75 and I-35 is a TA, and I figured I could stop there for a quick break. Anyway, I made the drive and arrived around 4:30.
There's another story here about having to check in twice and being interrupted while following the instructions I'd been given at the first check-in, (then getting the same instructions the second time) but I'm getting tired and this entry is getting long, so I'll leave it out. Suffice to say that for a drop-and-hook pickup, 1-1/2 hours is way too long. After completing the pickup, I made for this town about 20 miles east of KC, MO. I'm at the TA here, where I've spent the night once before.
My new load is headed for an early Monday morning delivery in Tewksbury, Mass. I don't know yet if I'll take it the whole way or not. For one thing, I have requested to get home for a day on Sunday for the annual holiday concert by the men's chorus of which I am a founding member (and one of the things I miss most because of this job). For another, I don't know if I have enough hours to make the whole drive. I only have 28 left (of my 70-hours-in-8-days limit) through Monday, and it's over 1400 miles the Tewksbury. I'd kinda' like to give it a go, because I do need the paying miles, and I haven't had a chance to drive in MA yet on this job. I'd like to add that state to my fridge. (I collect the state-shaped magnets for each state I've trucked in, and I haven't added a new one for a while now.)
OK, I know I've run on a bit here, but it has been a busy, eventful 2 days. Thanks for checking in, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Yesterday: 462
Miles Today: 425
Whew! A couple of long days, despite the relatively "few" miles. Both included lengthy waits that caused me to work nearly my entire 14-hour driving window. I was too tired last night to record it for you in this space, but I'll make the effort to catch you up in tonight's episode.
Yesterday I started out by completing the drive to my delivery in Roanoke, TX. It took about 3-1/2 hours of driving to get there from Oklahoma City. The delivery was a drop-and-hook, so it went fairly quickly--30 minutes from entry to exit at the guard shack at the gate. Fortunately, the rain let up a bit while I was out of my cab to unhook and hook the trailers. Did I mention the whole day was gloomy and rainy, sometimes heavily rainy? After the delivery I scooted down the road to a Pilot truck stop to wait for my next assignment. While there the rain did not let up, so I got a bit wet when walking to and from the building. Good thing I found a fairly close parking spot there.
It was over an hour before my assignment came in. In the interim I sat in my cab working on puzzles in a puzzle book put out by the publishers of Games magazine, so I had something to help pass the time. When the load assignment came in, it was just a bit confusing. The pickup was set for 2:00 that afternoon in Grand Prairie, TX (just north of Arlington, between Dallas and Ft. Worth) and delivery was scheduled for 2 hours later--in Tulsa, OK, 270-ish miles away. I sent in a message asking about that; after a while (while I was on my way to the pickup) my fleet manager called to 'splain. Apparently the pickup had been delayed by the weather situation in the area, so the load was behind schedule. And it was a HOT load: generators headed to a store in Tulsa, where the power was out to many residents. So I needed to get there with the load as quickly as I could.
That, however, was another problem. If traffic was completely clear all the way, I had perhaps just enough time to get to Tulsa within the remaining portion of my 14 hours for the day, which was 5 hours by the time I left from the pickup. However, a LOT of people live--and drive--in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, and with the heavy rain at the early part of rush hour, I couldn't make tracks as I needed to. It became clear early on that I wasn't going to get all the way to Tulsa. I pulled into a rest area and sent in a message stating that fact, and that I was shooting to make it to the Oklahoma City Flying J (from whence I had started the day). They could arrange a load swap there if they wanted to in order to get that load to its destination ASAP. I continued on my way to OKC and made it there just in time to avoid violating any hours of service regulations for the day.
I hadn't gotten any word from dispatch about a possible swap, so I sent in another message stating where I was and asking if a swap was in the works, or if I would just keep the load and head there first thing in the morning. This was around 8:00 p.m., and I was way tired, so I hit my bunk and went to sleep. 1-1/2 hours later I got a message, its "beep" alert waking me up. The message asked what time I'd be able to get there in the morning, and why I was in OKC. They (she, actually, on this occasion) said OKC was "out of route".
OK, there is another route that is more direct, but it's mainly along a couple of US highways, with many portions not being limited-access highway, snaking through towns and encountering stoplights and lower speed limits. Besides, I would have spent another goodly amount of time while circling Dallas in heavy, slow traffic just to get to that highway. However, I went the way I did because I wanted to stay on the interstates (something they tell us in training AND USA Truck orientation is preferred), and replied as such. Besides, the OKC route isn't really very much out of the way.
The "chewing out" about my route choice irked me, and it took me a good while to fall back asleep, despite my strong fatigue. Eventually I did resume sawing logs, and was sleeping soundly when another message came in and woke me up. This time is was between 2:30 and 3:00 a.m., and the message asked if I was on my way to the delivery. Sheesh! For one thing, these trucks have GPS units on them, and dispatch can find out just where we are. For another, I hadn't even completed my required 10-hour break yet. Sometimes I think the night-time dispatchers don't have enough to do in the middle of their shifts, so they send messages to interrupt their drivers' sleep. I messaged back that I would hit the road as soon as I completed my break. I was too polite to make a fuss about waking me up, but I was again irked and had trouble falling back asleep.
Eventually my watch's alarm woke me up when it was time to get back to work. I got up, freshened up, and hit the road pretty quickly. 2-1/4 hours later I was in Tulsa, arriving at the delivery site. After making the tricky docking maneuvers (off of a narrow side street, not a lot of extra room for pulling up to straighten out), I had a bit of a wait in my cab while they unloaded the trailer. As I mentioned earlier, this was a load of generators. The delivery was to a store that was selling a LOT of them--there was a steady stream of pickup trucks and SUVs to the loading dock next to me, customers picking up the goods they'd paid for in the front of the store.
It took 2 hours for them to finish unloading my trailer and to find the copy of the load's paperwork I had turned in on my arrival. (I need a copy to turn in to USA.) But they did find it, then I headed over to the local Flying J for fuel, a quick bite to eat (it was about lunchtime, after all), and to wait for my next load.
This next load was pre-planned for me, and my fleet manager had let me know while I was waiting at the delivery where the pickup would be--at least the city: Spring Hill, Kansas. I found the town in my atlas; it's just south of Kansas City, KS. I also had plenty of time to plan my route there, too. There wasn't a convenient interstate route between Tulsa and KC, so I decided to go north on US169 and US75 to I-35 (pull out your US atlas and check it out), then east on 35 to the exit for Spring Hill. (That was also along US169, but I decided to go the way I did because, 1. pickup wasn't scheduled 'til 5:00 p.m., and the load assignment mentioned not arriving prior to 15 minutes before the appointment, so I had plenty of time since it was still well before noon, and 2. at the intersection of US75 and I-35 is a TA, and I figured I could stop there for a quick break. Anyway, I made the drive and arrived around 4:30.
There's another story here about having to check in twice and being interrupted while following the instructions I'd been given at the first check-in, (then getting the same instructions the second time) but I'm getting tired and this entry is getting long, so I'll leave it out. Suffice to say that for a drop-and-hook pickup, 1-1/2 hours is way too long. After completing the pickup, I made for this town about 20 miles east of KC, MO. I'm at the TA here, where I've spent the night once before.
My new load is headed for an early Monday morning delivery in Tewksbury, Mass. I don't know yet if I'll take it the whole way or not. For one thing, I have requested to get home for a day on Sunday for the annual holiday concert by the men's chorus of which I am a founding member (and one of the things I miss most because of this job). For another, I don't know if I have enough hours to make the whole drive. I only have 28 left (of my 70-hours-in-8-days limit) through Monday, and it's over 1400 miles the Tewksbury. I'd kinda' like to give it a go, because I do need the paying miles, and I haven't had a chance to drive in MA yet on this job. I'd like to add that state to my fridge. (I collect the state-shaped magnets for each state I've trucked in, and I haven't added a new one for a while now.)
OK, I know I've run on a bit here, but it has been a busy, eventful 2 days. Thanks for checking in, and keep on truckin'.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Ice, Ice, Baby
DATELINE: OKLAHOMA CITY, OK, Midnight
Miles Today: 635
Gonna have to make this fast tonight...I spent way too much time playin' poker (mostly not getting the results I wanted or expected), so now it's late and I need to get off to bed. But I'll fill you in on today's trip first.
'Twas just a long drive from eastern IL to here in OKC. The weather started out pleasant enough; dry (though overcast and foggy) and warm (in the 50s). But as I made my way into western Missouri, after the fog had cleared out, I obviously passed through a cold front as the temperature dropped, the skies darkened, and the rain began. So the second half of my drive today was with my wipers on.
Through the last bit of Missouri and all the way through Oklahoma, evidence of the recent snow and ice storm abounded. All of the trees, shrubs, and grasses were coated with ice. Fortunately the roads were well salted. It woulda' looked real cool if the sun were out, all sparkly and such. But with gloomy, rainy skies, it just looked, well, interesting anyway.
I made it to my usual OKC hangout, the Flying J on the city's northeast corner, with just a few minutes of my allotted 11 driving hours to spare. Tomorrow I'll probably get up around 6:00 and try to hit the road by 7:00. It should be about a 4-hour drive down to the Dallas area and my delivery, and I'm due there at noon, so that plan should suffice. Now some responses to reader questions.
Reader nancy r asks, "Nice that IL has decent restrooms at the rest areas, but what about the food? Do you have enough munchies in your truck for when you're stuck in places that have no fast food?"
I stock up on heat-n-eat meals from the grocery store whenever I'm home, so I do have plenty to eat when food's not available (or I want to save some bucks). As you may recall, I have a portable oven (kinda' looks like a lunchbox) that plugs into the truck's outlets so I can heat up my carry-along foodstuffs.
And a reply to reader jerry: Sure, I'd love to go to the Motor City Bowl again this year. It's always a fun time. Thanks much.
That's all for today, folks. Thanks for dropping in. Drop me a line or two, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 635
Gonna have to make this fast tonight...I spent way too much time playin' poker (mostly not getting the results I wanted or expected), so now it's late and I need to get off to bed. But I'll fill you in on today's trip first.
'Twas just a long drive from eastern IL to here in OKC. The weather started out pleasant enough; dry (though overcast and foggy) and warm (in the 50s). But as I made my way into western Missouri, after the fog had cleared out, I obviously passed through a cold front as the temperature dropped, the skies darkened, and the rain began. So the second half of my drive today was with my wipers on.
Through the last bit of Missouri and all the way through Oklahoma, evidence of the recent snow and ice storm abounded. All of the trees, shrubs, and grasses were coated with ice. Fortunately the roads were well salted. It woulda' looked real cool if the sun were out, all sparkly and such. But with gloomy, rainy skies, it just looked, well, interesting anyway.
I made it to my usual OKC hangout, the Flying J on the city's northeast corner, with just a few minutes of my allotted 11 driving hours to spare. Tomorrow I'll probably get up around 6:00 and try to hit the road by 7:00. It should be about a 4-hour drive down to the Dallas area and my delivery, and I'm due there at noon, so that plan should suffice. Now some responses to reader questions.
Reader nancy r asks, "Nice that IL has decent restrooms at the rest areas, but what about the food? Do you have enough munchies in your truck for when you're stuck in places that have no fast food?"
I stock up on heat-n-eat meals from the grocery store whenever I'm home, so I do have plenty to eat when food's not available (or I want to save some bucks). As you may recall, I have a portable oven (kinda' looks like a lunchbox) that plugs into the truck's outlets so I can heat up my carry-along foodstuffs.
And a reply to reader jerry: Sure, I'd love to go to the Motor City Bowl again this year. It's always a fun time. Thanks much.
That's all for today, folks. Thanks for dropping in. Drop me a line or two, and keep on truckin'.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Heading Back To...
DATELINE: MARSHALL, IL, 7:45 p.m. EST
Miles Today: 506
Another long day. That happens a lot on these days when I have a delivery and another pickup; in order to get my full allotment of driving hours in I need to take the full 14-hour window. Especially when the new load needs to go a long way with no excess time built into the trip. So here's the scoop on my day.
Up early enough for a shower, shave, and quick breakfast before rolling at 6:00. The roads were clear--the crews had salted away all of the ice--and I reached my destination 30 minutes early. This was easily the most challenging delivery I've had, in that I had to do some tricky backing maneuvers in some narrow lanes. I'm too tired now to write out the whole story, but suffice it to say that I'm glad it came after I've been doing this for over a year now (including training), instead of when I first started. But I finally did get through that delivery, then waited on the street in front of the business for my next assignment.
That came in after a brief interval. I was to head to Romulus, MI to make my 5th pickup at a business there. The drive there took an hour, and the loading was pretty quick--I was in & out of there within 45 minutes. So now I'm taking this load--can you guess? That's right, I'm on my way back to Texas on more time. Back to the Dallas area, this time to the town of Roanoke. It's just north of Fort Worth, so it's a little further west in that metroplex than I've been before. Delivery is scheduled for noon on Wednesday, so I have 49 hours from pickup to delivery to drive the 1200+ miles to get there.
This time I decided to take the "northern route" to get there. Instead of the usual I-75 to I-71 (Cincinnati) to I-65 (Louisville) to I-40 (Nashville) to I-30 (Little Rock) route, I'm going via I-94 to I-69 (mid-MI) to I-70 (India-no-place) to I-44 (St. Louis) to I-35 (Oklahoma City). I'm counting on the bad weather in the plains to have cleared up by the time I get there tomorrow. The routes are just about the same distance, and I'm just so tired of that southern swing that I've made so frequently lately. It's funny that reader/commenter "smudman" mentioned talking to people in Oklahoma City about the ice problems there, because that's where I'm headed tomorrow.
Tonight I've stopped at a rest area just inside the eastern edge of Illinois. I wanted to make it to Effingham, but my 14 hours were just about up. I had about 55 miles to Effingham and only 30 minutes left and when I stopped. But that's OK; IL has good rest areas with plenty of truck parking, and no "No Overnight Parking" regulations. This state gets an "A" on my rest area grading scale--it'd be an "A+", but the restroom facilities could be a bit bigger and nicer.
So that's today's tale. Thanks once again for checking up on me. Drop me a line, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 506
Another long day. That happens a lot on these days when I have a delivery and another pickup; in order to get my full allotment of driving hours in I need to take the full 14-hour window. Especially when the new load needs to go a long way with no excess time built into the trip. So here's the scoop on my day.
Up early enough for a shower, shave, and quick breakfast before rolling at 6:00. The roads were clear--the crews had salted away all of the ice--and I reached my destination 30 minutes early. This was easily the most challenging delivery I've had, in that I had to do some tricky backing maneuvers in some narrow lanes. I'm too tired now to write out the whole story, but suffice it to say that I'm glad it came after I've been doing this for over a year now (including training), instead of when I first started. But I finally did get through that delivery, then waited on the street in front of the business for my next assignment.
That came in after a brief interval. I was to head to Romulus, MI to make my 5th pickup at a business there. The drive there took an hour, and the loading was pretty quick--I was in & out of there within 45 minutes. So now I'm taking this load--can you guess? That's right, I'm on my way back to Texas on more time. Back to the Dallas area, this time to the town of Roanoke. It's just north of Fort Worth, so it's a little further west in that metroplex than I've been before. Delivery is scheduled for noon on Wednesday, so I have 49 hours from pickup to delivery to drive the 1200+ miles to get there.
This time I decided to take the "northern route" to get there. Instead of the usual I-75 to I-71 (Cincinnati) to I-65 (Louisville) to I-40 (Nashville) to I-30 (Little Rock) route, I'm going via I-94 to I-69 (mid-MI) to I-70 (India-no-place) to I-44 (St. Louis) to I-35 (Oklahoma City). I'm counting on the bad weather in the plains to have cleared up by the time I get there tomorrow. The routes are just about the same distance, and I'm just so tired of that southern swing that I've made so frequently lately. It's funny that reader/commenter "smudman" mentioned talking to people in Oklahoma City about the ice problems there, because that's where I'm headed tomorrow.
Tonight I've stopped at a rest area just inside the eastern edge of Illinois. I wanted to make it to Effingham, but my 14 hours were just about up. I had about 55 miles to Effingham and only 30 minutes left and when I stopped. But that's OK; IL has good rest areas with plenty of truck parking, and no "No Overnight Parking" regulations. This state gets an "A" on my rest area grading scale--it'd be an "A+", but the restroom facilities could be a bit bigger and nicer.
So that's today's tale. Thanks once again for checking up on me. Drop me a line, and keep on truckin'.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Swing Up to the Great White North
DATELINE: DEXTER, MI, 8:30 p.m. EST
Miles Today: 0
Miles Yesterday: 355
I got a pleasant surprise yesterday (Saturday). Actually, it was a case of good news/bad news. The good news was that I would get to swing by home while hauling a load. The bad news was that the load assignment had relatively few paying miles over 2 days. Here's the story.
Yesterday I woke up in Kentucky, just a bit east of Louisville. After a shower and shave, I headed toward my delivery in Troy, Ohio, just 10 miles north of our Vandalia terminal. I found the site, made the drop-and-hook delivery, then drove to the terminal to fuel up and wait for my next assignment.
It wasn't long after I reached the terminal that my assignment came in: grab a loaded trailer from the terminal's lot. The new load is headed for Shelby Township, MI, with delivery set for 8:00 Monday morning. That's only a 220-mile load, and with almost 2 full days to get there, I had plenty of time to go sit out the wait at my "home" truck stop. So that's where I headed after grabbing the new load. Another benefit of the extra time is that I'll chalk up another 34-hour break, so I'll have a fresh 70 hours to work for the next 8 days.
I arrived in the mid-afternoon, then had some time 'til Mrs. R.T. was free to come by for a visit. Actually, she and R.T. daughter #2 swung by after attending the Saturday evening service at our church, picked me up, and we headed home for a while. Since I'm under a load, I have to spend the night with my truck, so I couldn't sleep at home.
This morning I got to go to church with Mrs. R.T., then have a quick breakfast with her afterwards. Following that, I took the opportunity to find a Christmas tree for the ol' homestead. Then it was back to the truck shortly before 1:00 this afternoon. 'Twas great to spend time with the family in the middle of my tour of duty.
I've spent most of the time since returning to my truck this afternoon doing the online poker thang, playing in 1 multi-table tournament (and making the money to the tune of coming out 57 cents ahead) and 3 6-player sit-n-go tourneys. I took second place in the first one (after being "rivered" out of a win), bombed out early in the second, and finally won the last one. So, all told, I came out a bit ahead. (But I'm still trying to catch up after last Sunday's debacle.)
And that's where things stand right now. I'll need to get up early in the morning to reach my delivery on time. I'm hoping the weather will not quite live up to the dire forecast, and the roads'll be free of ice when I get ready to roll. At least since the snow-and-ice storm was predicted so far ahead, the road crews have been ready for it. Check back tomorrow to see how it all goes.
Thanks for checking in today. Let me know how you're doing, and ask any questions you may have about this life on the road. And keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 0
Miles Yesterday: 355
I got a pleasant surprise yesterday (Saturday). Actually, it was a case of good news/bad news. The good news was that I would get to swing by home while hauling a load. The bad news was that the load assignment had relatively few paying miles over 2 days. Here's the story.
Yesterday I woke up in Kentucky, just a bit east of Louisville. After a shower and shave, I headed toward my delivery in Troy, Ohio, just 10 miles north of our Vandalia terminal. I found the site, made the drop-and-hook delivery, then drove to the terminal to fuel up and wait for my next assignment.
It wasn't long after I reached the terminal that my assignment came in: grab a loaded trailer from the terminal's lot. The new load is headed for Shelby Township, MI, with delivery set for 8:00 Monday morning. That's only a 220-mile load, and with almost 2 full days to get there, I had plenty of time to go sit out the wait at my "home" truck stop. So that's where I headed after grabbing the new load. Another benefit of the extra time is that I'll chalk up another 34-hour break, so I'll have a fresh 70 hours to work for the next 8 days.
I arrived in the mid-afternoon, then had some time 'til Mrs. R.T. was free to come by for a visit. Actually, she and R.T. daughter #2 swung by after attending the Saturday evening service at our church, picked me up, and we headed home for a while. Since I'm under a load, I have to spend the night with my truck, so I couldn't sleep at home.
This morning I got to go to church with Mrs. R.T., then have a quick breakfast with her afterwards. Following that, I took the opportunity to find a Christmas tree for the ol' homestead. Then it was back to the truck shortly before 1:00 this afternoon. 'Twas great to spend time with the family in the middle of my tour of duty.
I've spent most of the time since returning to my truck this afternoon doing the online poker thang, playing in 1 multi-table tournament (and making the money to the tune of coming out 57 cents ahead) and 3 6-player sit-n-go tourneys. I took second place in the first one (after being "rivered" out of a win), bombed out early in the second, and finally won the last one. So, all told, I came out a bit ahead. (But I'm still trying to catch up after last Sunday's debacle.)
And that's where things stand right now. I'll need to get up early in the morning to reach my delivery on time. I'm hoping the weather will not quite live up to the dire forecast, and the roads'll be free of ice when I get ready to roll. At least since the snow-and-ice storm was predicted so far ahead, the road crews have been ready for it. Check back tomorrow to see how it all goes.
Thanks for checking in today. Let me know how you're doing, and ask any questions you may have about this life on the road. And keep on truckin'.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Steps Retraced
DATELINE: PENDLETON, KY, 9:00 p.m. EST
Miles Wednesday: 226
Miles Thursday: 545
Miles Today: 644
Tsk, tsk, tsk, I missed another couple of days of updates. This time it wasn't (entirely) my fault--I couldn't get an internet connection at the place I stayed both nights. So I'll have to catch up tonight. So here goes.
Wednesday started with me handing my key over to the shop at the West Memphis terminal so they could do the regular maintenance on my truck. My appointment was at 8:00, I checked in at 7:35, and I didn't get my truck back until after 11:30 a.m. That was OK since my load wasn't due for delivery until 11:30 the next morning in Irving, TX, a 7-ish-hour drive away. So Wednesday afternoon I split the difference and drove to Prescott, AR. I would have gone a bit further, into Texas, but I figured I'd stay at Prescott's TA so I could use one of my shower credits in the morning and clean up before heading to my delivery. The unfortunate part of that decision was the lack of a clear signal for my Verizon card to connect me to the 'net. So I had to settle for going to bed early.
On Thursday I got up early, hit the shower, then headed into the Lone Star state. As I had expected, it took me 4 hours of driving to get to the delivery, a site I'd been to twice before. The assigned me a dock door right away, but I had to wait a while for them to unload a couple other USA trucks before they started on mine. Once they did, though, unloading went pretty quick. Then I was off to find a truck stop at which to await my next assignment.
I tried stopping at a place somewhat near where I had just left, but when I got there I discovered that they charge for parking. Cheapskate that I am, I decided to head to another TA on the south side of Dallas and wait there (and to get lunch in their food court--they have a Burger King, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut Express). With the swing through first place and some traffic, the drive to the TA took me about an hour. My assignment still hadn't come in, so I had time to go in and grab lunch (I decided on Taco Bell). I took it to go and walked back to my truck to eat it there. While lunching, the assignment came in: Pick up a load at the place to which I had just delivered this morning. Sheesh! More backtracking. So I finished my burrito (a grilled stuft burrito with chicken) and headed back.
This time the drive only took 30 minutes. The pickup was a drop-and-hook, so that was nice 'n quick, too. This load is headed for a Saturday noon delivery in Troy, OH, so I was once again headed back along I-30 and I-40, at least as far as Nashville, TN before diverging northward. But on Thursday my remaining available hours only got be back to the Prescott TA from whence I had started the day. So, once again, no opportunity to blog for y'all to let you know what I was up to.
Today was just a lot of driving through a lot of drizzle (and some steady rain, too). I didn't encounter any traffic tie-ups the whole way, so as you can tell by my mileage figures above, I made it quite a ways today. I've stopped at a Pilot for the night, about 30-40 miles east of Louisville. I have about 3 hours more to drive tomorrow to reach my delivery, so I won't have to get up in the wee hours to get there on time. But I probably will, anyway, so I can get there and deliver early. Check back tomorrow to see how that goes. Now on to some reader questions.
Reader nancy r. asks, "So what state do you spend the most time in, do you suppose? You do seem to go through Tennessee quite a bit."
That is a tough one to answer with any certainty. With all of my trips to Texas lately, that state must be high on my list. But earlier on this year I may have thought perhaps Virginia was a candidate, since I made many trips along its western edge on I-81, either passing through or heading to customers in the state. Tennessee and Arkansas are also states where I do spend a lot of time, since they are "in the way" of other places I need to go. Besides, with 2 terminals in AR, I have spent many hours in that state.
Reader mrr asks, "So, what's your schedule looking like for around the holidays? Any chance you'll get to spend them at home?"
Well now, I have some good news on that front. I'll have my next regular home time starting on 12/21. That'll carry me through Christmas Day, but then I'm going to take my first paid vacation on this job for the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. Yes, I'll finally be eligible for that vacation as of 12/21. (Unfortunately, I only get 1 week of paid vacation, so that'll be it for another 12 months unless I find other employment.) So, yes, I will be able to be home for the holidays.
So now I'm caught back up. Thanks for following along with my story. Be like readers nancy r and mrr and send in some comments and questions. And don't forget to keep on truckin'.
Miles Wednesday: 226
Miles Thursday: 545
Miles Today: 644
Tsk, tsk, tsk, I missed another couple of days of updates. This time it wasn't (entirely) my fault--I couldn't get an internet connection at the place I stayed both nights. So I'll have to catch up tonight. So here goes.
Wednesday started with me handing my key over to the shop at the West Memphis terminal so they could do the regular maintenance on my truck. My appointment was at 8:00, I checked in at 7:35, and I didn't get my truck back until after 11:30 a.m. That was OK since my load wasn't due for delivery until 11:30 the next morning in Irving, TX, a 7-ish-hour drive away. So Wednesday afternoon I split the difference and drove to Prescott, AR. I would have gone a bit further, into Texas, but I figured I'd stay at Prescott's TA so I could use one of my shower credits in the morning and clean up before heading to my delivery. The unfortunate part of that decision was the lack of a clear signal for my Verizon card to connect me to the 'net. So I had to settle for going to bed early.
On Thursday I got up early, hit the shower, then headed into the Lone Star state. As I had expected, it took me 4 hours of driving to get to the delivery, a site I'd been to twice before. The assigned me a dock door right away, but I had to wait a while for them to unload a couple other USA trucks before they started on mine. Once they did, though, unloading went pretty quick. Then I was off to find a truck stop at which to await my next assignment.
I tried stopping at a place somewhat near where I had just left, but when I got there I discovered that they charge for parking. Cheapskate that I am, I decided to head to another TA on the south side of Dallas and wait there (and to get lunch in their food court--they have a Burger King, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut Express). With the swing through first place and some traffic, the drive to the TA took me about an hour. My assignment still hadn't come in, so I had time to go in and grab lunch (I decided on Taco Bell). I took it to go and walked back to my truck to eat it there. While lunching, the assignment came in: Pick up a load at the place to which I had just delivered this morning. Sheesh! More backtracking. So I finished my burrito (a grilled stuft burrito with chicken) and headed back.
This time the drive only took 30 minutes. The pickup was a drop-and-hook, so that was nice 'n quick, too. This load is headed for a Saturday noon delivery in Troy, OH, so I was once again headed back along I-30 and I-40, at least as far as Nashville, TN before diverging northward. But on Thursday my remaining available hours only got be back to the Prescott TA from whence I had started the day. So, once again, no opportunity to blog for y'all to let you know what I was up to.
Today was just a lot of driving through a lot of drizzle (and some steady rain, too). I didn't encounter any traffic tie-ups the whole way, so as you can tell by my mileage figures above, I made it quite a ways today. I've stopped at a Pilot for the night, about 30-40 miles east of Louisville. I have about 3 hours more to drive tomorrow to reach my delivery, so I won't have to get up in the wee hours to get there on time. But I probably will, anyway, so I can get there and deliver early. Check back tomorrow to see how that goes. Now on to some reader questions.
Reader nancy r. asks, "So what state do you spend the most time in, do you suppose? You do seem to go through Tennessee quite a bit."
That is a tough one to answer with any certainty. With all of my trips to Texas lately, that state must be high on my list. But earlier on this year I may have thought perhaps Virginia was a candidate, since I made many trips along its western edge on I-81, either passing through or heading to customers in the state. Tennessee and Arkansas are also states where I do spend a lot of time, since they are "in the way" of other places I need to go. Besides, with 2 terminals in AR, I have spent many hours in that state.
Reader mrr asks, "So, what's your schedule looking like for around the holidays? Any chance you'll get to spend them at home?"
Well now, I have some good news on that front. I'll have my next regular home time starting on 12/21. That'll carry me through Christmas Day, but then I'm going to take my first paid vacation on this job for the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. Yes, I'll finally be eligible for that vacation as of 12/21. (Unfortunately, I only get 1 week of paid vacation, so that'll be it for another 12 months unless I find other employment.) So, yes, I will be able to be home for the holidays.
So now I'm caught back up. Thanks for following along with my story. Be like readers nancy r and mrr and send in some comments and questions. And don't forget to keep on truckin'.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Round Trippin'
DATELINE: WEST MEMPHIS, AR, 10:45 p.m. CST
Miles Today: 407
Well, I'm back tonight from whence I started yesterday. I made my delivery this morning, and while my trailer was being unloaded, my next assignment came in, even before I could send in my "empty call" message. There was a good reason for that, though; my pickup was at the same place where I was. I thought that might be a possibility, because I had made a pickup at that site once before.
Anyway, the delivery was a live unload, and it took over an hour and a half. The pickup was a drop-and-hook, though, so that went quickly. My new load is headed back along most of the route I had just travelled, to Irving Texas, to another customer to whom I've delivered loads twice before. So I'm getting good, long looks at I-40 and I-30 this week.
The load isn't due for delivery 'til 11:30 Thursday morning, so I have plenty of time to get there (about 48 hours from pickup to delivery, and only about 13 hours of driving). So I've stopped back here at the terminal and have an appointment for my truck's regular maintenance check at 8:00 tomorrow morning. (The message telling me my truck was coming due for the service came in just as I was leaving here yesterday, of course. They couldn't have let me know that when I was here on my 34-hour break Saturday night and Sunday.) Assuming the maintenance work goes quickly in the morning, I'll have plenty of time to get to (or at least a goodly ways on my way to) the Dallas area (Irving is a Dallas suburb) afterwards. Then it'll be a quick drive to the delivery after I sleep in a bit Thursday morning.
I'm in a bit better mood this evening than last. Following my two online poker tournament wins last night, I played one more after arriving here tonight and won it, too! This one was quite interesting because it got down to the final three fairly quickly (it was a 6-handed game to begin with), then the battle went back and forth for quite a while, well past the 1-hour mark before we could eliminate the 3rd place finisher. Interestingly, he had been the chip leader when we went to the 3-way stage.
The heads-up battle between me and the eventual runner-up went back and forth for another long while before I finally got lucky--admittedly--on a couple of hands and took a huge chip lead, after having been well behind before the lucky swing. After that it wasn't long before my worthy opponent went all-in with a marginal hand (he was pretty much forced to because of his small chip count compared to the size of the blinds) against my strong one, and I took the win. After that prolonged battle, I had had enough cards for the night. I'm now happy and tired.
So that was my day, a bright, sunny one all day long. Thanks for checking out today's report. Do me a favor and submit a comment, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 407
Well, I'm back tonight from whence I started yesterday. I made my delivery this morning, and while my trailer was being unloaded, my next assignment came in, even before I could send in my "empty call" message. There was a good reason for that, though; my pickup was at the same place where I was. I thought that might be a possibility, because I had made a pickup at that site once before.
Anyway, the delivery was a live unload, and it took over an hour and a half. The pickup was a drop-and-hook, though, so that went quickly. My new load is headed back along most of the route I had just travelled, to Irving Texas, to another customer to whom I've delivered loads twice before. So I'm getting good, long looks at I-40 and I-30 this week.
The load isn't due for delivery 'til 11:30 Thursday morning, so I have plenty of time to get there (about 48 hours from pickup to delivery, and only about 13 hours of driving). So I've stopped back here at the terminal and have an appointment for my truck's regular maintenance check at 8:00 tomorrow morning. (The message telling me my truck was coming due for the service came in just as I was leaving here yesterday, of course. They couldn't have let me know that when I was here on my 34-hour break Saturday night and Sunday.) Assuming the maintenance work goes quickly in the morning, I'll have plenty of time to get to (or at least a goodly ways on my way to) the Dallas area (Irving is a Dallas suburb) afterwards. Then it'll be a quick drive to the delivery after I sleep in a bit Thursday morning.
I'm in a bit better mood this evening than last. Following my two online poker tournament wins last night, I played one more after arriving here tonight and won it, too! This one was quite interesting because it got down to the final three fairly quickly (it was a 6-handed game to begin with), then the battle went back and forth for quite a while, well past the 1-hour mark before we could eliminate the 3rd place finisher. Interestingly, he had been the chip leader when we went to the 3-way stage.
The heads-up battle between me and the eventual runner-up went back and forth for another long while before I finally got lucky--admittedly--on a couple of hands and took a huge chip lead, after having been well behind before the lucky swing. After that it wasn't long before my worthy opponent went all-in with a marginal hand (he was pretty much forced to because of his small chip count compared to the size of the blinds) against my strong one, and I took the win. After that prolonged battle, I had had enough cards for the night. I'm now happy and tired.
So that was my day, a bright, sunny one all day long. Thanks for checking out today's report. Do me a favor and submit a comment, and keep on truckin'.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Down Time
DATELINE: KNOXVILLE, TN, 11:00 p.m. EST
Miles Today: 383
Miles Yesterday: 0
Miles Saturday: 404
Oops, missed a couple of days, there. Sorry 'bout dat. (Then again, I didn't see any reader comments to my last update, so we're even, eh?) Wasn't much exciting going on over the weekend. On Saturday I drove from Caddo Mills, TX to the West Memphis, AR terminal. I had added up my hours and discovered I didn't have enough left to take my load all the way to its final destination, so dispatch had me drop the load there and take a 34-hour break to reset that 70-hour counter.
So I spent Saturday night and all day yesterday working on my Poker prowess. I played exclusively in tournaments (no cash games), single-table sit-n-gos and big, multi-table tourneys. Things went pretty well on the virtual felt Saturday night, as I increased my bankroll by over 10%. (Sounds good 'til you realize just how small my bankroll is, even after the increase.) Then Sunday came along. Fortunately, my skills are fairly decent. Unfortunately, I had one he** of a run of being card-dead (not getting good cards at all) and, when I did get a decent hand, I took about every bad beat imaginable. So by last night I was in a pretty foul state of mind, in no mood to compose a report for y'all.
This morning I got up early and sent in my "back to work" message to trigger dispatch to send me a load assignment. It took a couple hours before I got one: Grab a loaded trailer at the terminal and take it across Tennessee to the town of Loudon, just south of Knoxville. Delivery is tomorrow (Tuesday) at 11:00 a.m., so I've come to the TA on the south side of Knoxville for the night.
I got here just after 5:00 in the evening, so I had some more free time to see if the Poker gods would be willing to smile on me today. I started out with a couple of multi-table tournaments, and found results similar to Sunday's. Then I went back to 6-handed sit-n-gos, played in 2 of those, and won 'em both. So my mood's a little better now (though I do have quite a stress headache from the earlier frustrations).
It's just about bedtime now, so I'm gonna wrap up and hit the sack. Thanks for dropping by. Drop me a question and/or comment and, as ever, keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 383
Miles Yesterday: 0
Miles Saturday: 404
Oops, missed a couple of days, there. Sorry 'bout dat. (Then again, I didn't see any reader comments to my last update, so we're even, eh?) Wasn't much exciting going on over the weekend. On Saturday I drove from Caddo Mills, TX to the West Memphis, AR terminal. I had added up my hours and discovered I didn't have enough left to take my load all the way to its final destination, so dispatch had me drop the load there and take a 34-hour break to reset that 70-hour counter.
So I spent Saturday night and all day yesterday working on my Poker prowess. I played exclusively in tournaments (no cash games), single-table sit-n-gos and big, multi-table tourneys. Things went pretty well on the virtual felt Saturday night, as I increased my bankroll by over 10%. (Sounds good 'til you realize just how small my bankroll is, even after the increase.) Then Sunday came along. Fortunately, my skills are fairly decent. Unfortunately, I had one he** of a run of being card-dead (not getting good cards at all) and, when I did get a decent hand, I took about every bad beat imaginable. So by last night I was in a pretty foul state of mind, in no mood to compose a report for y'all.
This morning I got up early and sent in my "back to work" message to trigger dispatch to send me a load assignment. It took a couple hours before I got one: Grab a loaded trailer at the terminal and take it across Tennessee to the town of Loudon, just south of Knoxville. Delivery is tomorrow (Tuesday) at 11:00 a.m., so I've come to the TA on the south side of Knoxville for the night.
I got here just after 5:00 in the evening, so I had some more free time to see if the Poker gods would be willing to smile on me today. I started out with a couple of multi-table tournaments, and found results similar to Sunday's. Then I went back to 6-handed sit-n-gos, played in 2 of those, and won 'em both. So my mood's a little better now (though I do have quite a stress headache from the earlier frustrations).
It's just about bedtime now, so I'm gonna wrap up and hit the sack. Thanks for dropping by. Drop me a question and/or comment and, as ever, keep on truckin'.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Tourin' Texas
DATELINE: CADDO MILLS, TX, 8:00 p.m. CST
Miles Today: 478
Well the sun has rose and the sun has set,
And I ain't out of Texas yet.
'Tis a long way to get out of Texas when you start from Laredo, especially when you need to leave through the northern part of the state, as I do with this load. (Well, it wouldn't be that long if you went south or west.) Actually, I could have made it today had I pushed the pace and used all of my allotted driving hours, but I have plenty of time and could use a "shorter" day. So I only drove for 8-3/4 hours today. Most of my route today was straight up I-35 from Laredo, passing through San Antonio, Waco, Austin, and more 'til I hit Dallas and headed east on I-30. I could have made it to Texarkana, AR in another 2 hours, but the truck stops there woulda' been getting full by then. Instead, I stopped here at a Pilot where I've spent the night before.
The weather today was grey with some intermittent misty rain, but no real rainfall. But it was warm enough to walk around outside in just a T-shirt and jeans; not chilly at all. Much better than the weather has been back home, from what I hear. But I'm sure I'll be back in that soon enough.
For the rest of this missive I'll respond to reader nancyr's comments and questions.
1. I don't agree that it's "goof" that I didn't have to wait until 1:00 am to drop my load in Laredo. I actually think it was quite good. (Hey, she nailed me on a typo before, so I gotta call her on hers, right?)
2. Q: Is "netizen" a made-up word? I haven't seen it before.
A: I believe I have encountered it before. I'm sure it is a made-up word, but I didn't make it up. (When you get down to it, weren't ALL words "made-up" at one point or another?)
3. Q: You're driving through a lot of Texas these days. Is there much difference between one area of Texas and another? It's a huge state - but do the different regions feel distinct?
A: Yes.
Oh, you want me to expand on that last answer? OK. The tourist info centers at the rest areas in this state proclaim 7 or 8 distinct regions, from Piney Woods to Prairie. I haven't studied them or remember all of them, but y'all can do some research to find out more. From the parts I've driven through, mainly the eastern half of the state (skipping the obvious differences between urban and "middle of nowhere" areas), the one feature that sticks out as the same to me is the wide open sky. As a Michigander, I'm used to lots of tall trees making it difficult to see much of the horizon. Here in TX, most places have quite expansive horizons. But there are differences from region to region in the amount the ground rolls, and the plant life that dominates. But it all feels like "Texas".
Thanks again for taking time to read about my meandering. Comment away, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 478
Well the sun has rose and the sun has set,
And I ain't out of Texas yet.
'Tis a long way to get out of Texas when you start from Laredo, especially when you need to leave through the northern part of the state, as I do with this load. (Well, it wouldn't be that long if you went south or west.) Actually, I could have made it today had I pushed the pace and used all of my allotted driving hours, but I have plenty of time and could use a "shorter" day. So I only drove for 8-3/4 hours today. Most of my route today was straight up I-35 from Laredo, passing through San Antonio, Waco, Austin, and more 'til I hit Dallas and headed east on I-30. I could have made it to Texarkana, AR in another 2 hours, but the truck stops there woulda' been getting full by then. Instead, I stopped here at a Pilot where I've spent the night before.
The weather today was grey with some intermittent misty rain, but no real rainfall. But it was warm enough to walk around outside in just a T-shirt and jeans; not chilly at all. Much better than the weather has been back home, from what I hear. But I'm sure I'll be back in that soon enough.
For the rest of this missive I'll respond to reader nancyr's comments and questions.
1. I don't agree that it's "goof" that I didn't have to wait until 1:00 am to drop my load in Laredo. I actually think it was quite good. (Hey, she nailed me on a typo before, so I gotta call her on hers, right?)
2. Q: Is "netizen" a made-up word? I haven't seen it before.
A: I believe I have encountered it before. I'm sure it is a made-up word, but I didn't make it up. (When you get down to it, weren't ALL words "made-up" at one point or another?)
3. Q: You're driving through a lot of Texas these days. Is there much difference between one area of Texas and another? It's a huge state - but do the different regions feel distinct?
A: Yes.
Oh, you want me to expand on that last answer? OK. The tourist info centers at the rest areas in this state proclaim 7 or 8 distinct regions, from Piney Woods to Prairie. I haven't studied them or remember all of them, but y'all can do some research to find out more. From the parts I've driven through, mainly the eastern half of the state (skipping the obvious differences between urban and "middle of nowhere" areas), the one feature that sticks out as the same to me is the wide open sky. As a Michigander, I'm used to lots of tall trees making it difficult to see much of the horizon. Here in TX, most places have quite expansive horizons. But there are differences from region to region in the amount the ground rolls, and the plant life that dominates. But it all feels like "Texas".
Thanks again for taking time to read about my meandering. Comment away, and keep on truckin'.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Across the South in 2 Days
DATELINE: LAREDO, TX, 9:45 p.m. CST
Sorry, gang, for missing a couple of days there. USA's been keeping me busy, and I've been too tired and/or in the wrong mood for creative writing at the end of those long days. I'm a-gonna make this update quick, too, 'cuz today has also been long, as will tomorrow.
On TUESDAY I finished the drive to my delivery in SC. It was a drop-and-hook, so it went nice 'n quick once I got there. My next assignment came in in record time, too, and I was on my way south across the state to North Augusta, SC (by Augusta, GA) for my next pickup. This time the pickup was a live load, and I had a goodly wait there 'til the dock door they assigned me even opened up (i.e., the truck already in it finished up and left). But once in the dock, the load didn't take too long (45-ish minutes), then I was on my way for another hour or so before stopping for the night. By the way, my new load was headed here, to USA Truck's terminal in Laredo.
WEDNESDAY was just a lot of driving PLUS two hours at a weigh station in Georgia for a DOT inspection. All that time for a clean bill of health--no violations whatsoever. It just put me behind schedule and used up a valuable chunk of my 70 work hours. I made it from eastern GA all the way to Breaux Bridge, LA, just east of Lafayette, in my allotted driving hours for the day.
TODAY (THURSDAY) I continued the long drive, making it all the way here to Laredo in 10 hours of driving. My delivery time was scheduled for 1:00 a.m. on Friday, but since I could get here today, I did. I'm spending the night here at the terminal 'cuz my next assignment is another loaded trailer I'll pick up here in the morning and haul to northern Kentucky. Besides, I only had 1 more driving hour available, so I wasn't going to get very far anyway. (Plus any truck stops I'd come across would have a good chance of being full by the time I'd get there.)
That's all I can manage for now; I gotta get me to bed. Thanks for taking a look at this update. PLEASE send me a comment and/or question...I do look forward to seeing input from my fellow netizens. And, as always, keep on truckin'.
Sorry, gang, for missing a couple of days there. USA's been keeping me busy, and I've been too tired and/or in the wrong mood for creative writing at the end of those long days. I'm a-gonna make this update quick, too, 'cuz today has also been long, as will tomorrow.
On TUESDAY I finished the drive to my delivery in SC. It was a drop-and-hook, so it went nice 'n quick once I got there. My next assignment came in in record time, too, and I was on my way south across the state to North Augusta, SC (by Augusta, GA) for my next pickup. This time the pickup was a live load, and I had a goodly wait there 'til the dock door they assigned me even opened up (i.e., the truck already in it finished up and left). But once in the dock, the load didn't take too long (45-ish minutes), then I was on my way for another hour or so before stopping for the night. By the way, my new load was headed here, to USA Truck's terminal in Laredo.
WEDNESDAY was just a lot of driving PLUS two hours at a weigh station in Georgia for a DOT inspection. All that time for a clean bill of health--no violations whatsoever. It just put me behind schedule and used up a valuable chunk of my 70 work hours. I made it from eastern GA all the way to Breaux Bridge, LA, just east of Lafayette, in my allotted driving hours for the day.
TODAY (THURSDAY) I continued the long drive, making it all the way here to Laredo in 10 hours of driving. My delivery time was scheduled for 1:00 a.m. on Friday, but since I could get here today, I did. I'm spending the night here at the terminal 'cuz my next assignment is another loaded trailer I'll pick up here in the morning and haul to northern Kentucky. Besides, I only had 1 more driving hour available, so I wasn't going to get very far anyway. (Plus any truck stops I'd come across would have a good chance of being full by the time I'd get there.)
That's all I can manage for now; I gotta get me to bed. Thanks for taking a look at this update. PLEASE send me a comment and/or question...I do look forward to seeing input from my fellow netizens. And, as always, keep on truckin'.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Rainy Days and Mondays
DATELINE: CORBIN, KY, 11/27/07, 4:15 a.m.
Miles Yesterday: 422
Greetings from back on the road! I'll just make this quick this morning before I get ready and rolling again. I'm writing prior to work this morning because I was plumb tuckered out when I stopped last night, and just went straight to bed. Anyway, here's what's going on now.
Mrs. R.T. drove me back to my truck early yesterday morning, before 6:00 a.m. Just before 8:00 my assignment came in: pick up a load just down the road in Romulus, MI (about 2 miles from where I park my truck), at a place I've made pickups 3 times before. Then lug that load to Fountain, Inn, SC (just east of Greenville) for a noon delivery on Tuesday (today).
I scooted on over to the pickup, which went nice 'n quickly--I was done there well within 30 minutes of arriving. Then it was onto the Interstate system for my trip south. Other than brief stints on I-94 and I-275 to get to my main route, yesterday was all southbound I-75. 'Twas a lousy day for driving; rain pretty much the whole way, including a couple of heavy downpours. Add in some traffic jams around Dayton and in Cincinnati, and that Ohio stretch just continues to be magical. (Don't let the dripping sarcasm splash you.)
I made it as far as this town in southern KY before fatigue helped me decide to pack it in for the night, even though I had another 2 hours available for driving. With the darkness and rain making visibility difficult, the fatigue was the deciding factor for stopping. I've spent the night at a Pilot truck stop--er, Travel Center--like I mentioned, going to sleep upon arrival. I had planned to get up this morning at 5:15, but after getting to bed so early last night, I woke up a wee bit earlier, 3:30-ish. Oh well, that's to your benefit since I have time to post this report before starting my workday. I'll hit the road around 6:00 and should have plenty of time to get to my delivery on time. I have about 260 miles to go.
Thanks for checking back in. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Drop me a line, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Yesterday: 422
Greetings from back on the road! I'll just make this quick this morning before I get ready and rolling again. I'm writing prior to work this morning because I was plumb tuckered out when I stopped last night, and just went straight to bed. Anyway, here's what's going on now.
Mrs. R.T. drove me back to my truck early yesterday morning, before 6:00 a.m. Just before 8:00 my assignment came in: pick up a load just down the road in Romulus, MI (about 2 miles from where I park my truck), at a place I've made pickups 3 times before. Then lug that load to Fountain, Inn, SC (just east of Greenville) for a noon delivery on Tuesday (today).
I scooted on over to the pickup, which went nice 'n quickly--I was done there well within 30 minutes of arriving. Then it was onto the Interstate system for my trip south. Other than brief stints on I-94 and I-275 to get to my main route, yesterday was all southbound I-75. 'Twas a lousy day for driving; rain pretty much the whole way, including a couple of heavy downpours. Add in some traffic jams around Dayton and in Cincinnati, and that Ohio stretch just continues to be magical. (Don't let the dripping sarcasm splash you.)
I made it as far as this town in southern KY before fatigue helped me decide to pack it in for the night, even though I had another 2 hours available for driving. With the darkness and rain making visibility difficult, the fatigue was the deciding factor for stopping. I've spent the night at a Pilot truck stop--er, Travel Center--like I mentioned, going to sleep upon arrival. I had planned to get up this morning at 5:15, but after getting to bed so early last night, I woke up a wee bit earlier, 3:30-ish. Oh well, that's to your benefit since I have time to post this report before starting my workday. I'll hit the road around 6:00 and should have plenty of time to get to my delivery on time. I have about 260 miles to go.
Thanks for checking back in. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Drop me a line, and keep on truckin'.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Home Early for T-Day
DATELINE: HOME!!!
Miles Yesterday: 355
Miles Monday: 262
Miles Sunday: 584
Many apologies for the lack of updates the last few days. Somehow I just wasn't in the right mood for blogging. Probably due to having been away from home for 4 weeks and closing in on my next home time. But I am home now--early, in fact--and ready to catch you up on my truckin' job. (Pardon the implied cursing there.)
On Sunday I just made the long drive from Oklahoma City to Effingham, IL. It's a good, full-day trip, and it went without a hitch for me. Nothing notable about the day. I got up early, hit the Sonic for a Steak, Bacon, & Egg Burrito for breakfast, then hit the road around 6:45. I stopped for the night at the Flying J in Effingham once again.
Monday morning I sent in a message to my Fleet Manager asking if the plan was for me to keep my load 'til its delivery on Wednesday or to drop it at the Vandalia, OH and pick up another load to get more miles. If the former, I was going to swing by home for a day, since the delivery would be just outside Toledo, about an hour from home. That would mean turning north at Indianapolis on my way by. But I was instructed to head to Vandalia, which meant continuing east past Indy.
I completed the 5-ish-hour drive from Effingham to Vandalia, parked and unhooked my loaded trailer, and waited for my next assignment. That came in fairly soon; I was to grab another loaded trailer from the yard and deliver it at 11:00 Tuesday morning just outside of Columbus, OH. Actually, that was the first stop of 2 for the load. The second isn't 'til December 3, so after making the first stop on Tuesday, I would take the trailer up to the yard in Romulus, MI where I leave my truck during my time home, park there, then head home. A DAY EARLY! (I wasn't due to go home 'til Wednesday.) That was the assignment because the Romulus yard would close for the Thanksgiving weekend late Tuesday night, so I'd have to be there before then or else try, at the last minute, to find somewhere else secure to leave my truck.
I spent most of the remainder of Monday in my truck having horrendous luck at the online poker tables. Tuesday morning I headed over to make the delivery, arriving there about 30 minutes early. I was slightly dismayed by a sign at the place informing drivers that live unloads could take anywhere from 2 to 6 hours. Fortunately, once they started unloading the portion for this stop, it didn't take them very long. But they didn't start 'til I had been there over 2 hours.
All in all, I was only there for about 3 hours, then on my way home. I reached the yard at 8:00. Many thanks to reader jerry for giving me a ride home, since Mrs. R.T. was working. And now I'm home, working on overeating for the weekend. I'll be back to work Monday morning, probably 'til right before Christmas. Then I'm eligible for my 1-week vacation. WOO-HOO! But now I'll take a couple minutes to answer reader dennis the accompanist's latest question.
Dennis asks, "Sometimes I see semis on the road with things (like building supplies) strapped down to a flatbed trailer. Do you haul stuff like that? Or do you only get enclosed trailers?"
Well, Den, USA Truck drivers only haul the enclosed, 53-foot trailers, what are known as "dry vans". That's fine by me, 'cuz those "strap-down" loads are a bunch more work for the drivers. But, as I understand it, those drivers do get paid a little more for that work. However, at my advanced age and late entry into this profession, I think I'd rather leave that extra work to others.
Thanks all for taking a peek at my blog today. Have a very happy Thanksgiving, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Yesterday: 355
Miles Monday: 262
Miles Sunday: 584
Many apologies for the lack of updates the last few days. Somehow I just wasn't in the right mood for blogging. Probably due to having been away from home for 4 weeks and closing in on my next home time. But I am home now--early, in fact--and ready to catch you up on my truckin' job. (Pardon the implied cursing there.)
On Sunday I just made the long drive from Oklahoma City to Effingham, IL. It's a good, full-day trip, and it went without a hitch for me. Nothing notable about the day. I got up early, hit the Sonic for a Steak, Bacon, & Egg Burrito for breakfast, then hit the road around 6:45. I stopped for the night at the Flying J in Effingham once again.
Monday morning I sent in a message to my Fleet Manager asking if the plan was for me to keep my load 'til its delivery on Wednesday or to drop it at the Vandalia, OH and pick up another load to get more miles. If the former, I was going to swing by home for a day, since the delivery would be just outside Toledo, about an hour from home. That would mean turning north at Indianapolis on my way by. But I was instructed to head to Vandalia, which meant continuing east past Indy.
I completed the 5-ish-hour drive from Effingham to Vandalia, parked and unhooked my loaded trailer, and waited for my next assignment. That came in fairly soon; I was to grab another loaded trailer from the yard and deliver it at 11:00 Tuesday morning just outside of Columbus, OH. Actually, that was the first stop of 2 for the load. The second isn't 'til December 3, so after making the first stop on Tuesday, I would take the trailer up to the yard in Romulus, MI where I leave my truck during my time home, park there, then head home. A DAY EARLY! (I wasn't due to go home 'til Wednesday.) That was the assignment because the Romulus yard would close for the Thanksgiving weekend late Tuesday night, so I'd have to be there before then or else try, at the last minute, to find somewhere else secure to leave my truck.
I spent most of the remainder of Monday in my truck having horrendous luck at the online poker tables. Tuesday morning I headed over to make the delivery, arriving there about 30 minutes early. I was slightly dismayed by a sign at the place informing drivers that live unloads could take anywhere from 2 to 6 hours. Fortunately, once they started unloading the portion for this stop, it didn't take them very long. But they didn't start 'til I had been there over 2 hours.
All in all, I was only there for about 3 hours, then on my way home. I reached the yard at 8:00. Many thanks to reader jerry for giving me a ride home, since Mrs. R.T. was working. And now I'm home, working on overeating for the weekend. I'll be back to work Monday morning, probably 'til right before Christmas. Then I'm eligible for my 1-week vacation. WOO-HOO! But now I'll take a couple minutes to answer reader dennis the accompanist's latest question.
Dennis asks, "Sometimes I see semis on the road with things (like building supplies) strapped down to a flatbed trailer. Do you haul stuff like that? Or do you only get enclosed trailers?"
Well, Den, USA Truck drivers only haul the enclosed, 53-foot trailers, what are known as "dry vans". That's fine by me, 'cuz those "strap-down" loads are a bunch more work for the drivers. But, as I understand it, those drivers do get paid a little more for that work. However, at my advanced age and late entry into this profession, I think I'd rather leave that extra work to others.
Thanks all for taking a peek at my blog today. Have a very happy Thanksgiving, and keep on truckin'.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
On My Way Out of the South
DATELINE: OKLAHOMA CITY, OK, 9:45 p.m. CST
Miles Yesterday: 364
Miles Today: 474
Well I guess I'd better get y'all an update here, since I missed yesterday. Wasn't much to write about yesterday; I just drove to Lubbock and spent the night at the Flying J there. Although that was all a new part of the country for me, it was still a pretty dull drive, just mainly the prairie. But I can now say I've been to Amarillo and Lubbock. Woo-hoo!
This morning I arose early--intentionally this time--and headed out at 6:00 towards my delivery. This was an unusual delivery, because it was to a construction site--I'm guessing some sort of oil plant. It was west of the small town of Sundown, TX, in the middle of tabletop-flat land sprouting nothing but scrub brush and oil pumps--lots of both. In fact, the only address I had was, "4 Miles West of FM301". (It actually should have said, "4 Miles West of Sundown on FM301.) "FM301" is the name of the road. But dispatch had gotten the directions ahead of time and provided them to me, so I found it with no trouble. The drive over took just about exactly one hour.
The delivery was also unusual because there wasn't a building nor any loading docks. I had to park alongside a materials staging area at the construction site and they had to unload with a fork lift built for reaching into the trailer from the ground, rather than driving into the back of the trailer. My load was 12 big, industrial ventilation fans. But all went well, although slow. It took over 2 hours from my arrival 'til my departure. But, as you regular readers know, I've spent much more time than that at many other sites, so it wasn't too bad.
After completing the delivery, I drove the hour back to the Lubbock Flying J. I expected that anywhere I'd have to go to make my next pickup, I'd have to go from there since it was the middle of nowhere. And I was right. My next assignment message came in soon after I arrived at "the J": drive 250 miles (300+ if you include the mileage from Sundown to Lubbock) to Lawton, OK to pick up a load bound for northern Ohio.
The route from Lubbock to Lawton was US-82 east to Wichita Falls, TX, then I-44 to Lawton. I gotta say that (most of) the drive along 82 was fascinating, topographically. It started out as flat prairie and farmland--mostly cotton fields. LOTS of cotton fields. (I expect that satellite photos of the area look like the ground is pure white because of all the cotton.) After a while of flatlands, all of a sudden the road descended into a canyon. Nothing like the Grand Canyon, of course, but obviously a gouge in the ground caused by water erosion. It must have been at least 10 miles across before the road came up on the other side to yet more flatlands. Not too long after that, though, the terrain became more rolling, showing that it had been carved by more erosion, rather than from uplifting of the earth's crust. Add the huge, unbroken sky and it all made for some pretty spectacular views for a Michigan boy. I highly recommend the drive for anyone who hasn't seen that part of the country yet. Anyway, back to my workday.
The Lubbock-to-Lawton transit took me 5 hours. My pickup was at a site I've been to on 3 or 4 previous occasions now, so I know the routine well. It was a drop-and-hook pickup, and I was in and out of there fairly quickly. Then I made my way up here to Oklahoma City yet again. This time I've stopped for the night at my "usual" OKC haunt, the Flying J with the Sonic across the street. (I'm sure I'll grab breakfast over there in the morning.) I had another couple hours available to drive, but I'd been on the go for almost 12 hours since starting this morning, and I was getting a bit tired. Besides, there wouldn't be any good places to stop around where my hours would run out. And, this load isn't due for delivery 'til Wednesday morning, so I'm in no rush.
I plan to reach Effingham, IL tomorrow, then on to our Vandalia, OH terminal on Monday. Since the load doesn't deliver 'til Wednesday, I plan to lobby my Fleet Manager to let me drop it in Vandalia so I can get another load to get some more miles before I head home on Wednesday. (Home. Sigh! I haven't been there for almost 4 weeks now. In fact, I haven't been north of Vandalia since, either. This tour of duty has been all across the south, including 4 trips into Texas.)
Well, it's been a long day now and I'm good 'n tired. Thanks for taking a peek at today's update. Send in a question and/or comment, and keep on truckin.
Miles Yesterday: 364
Miles Today: 474
Well I guess I'd better get y'all an update here, since I missed yesterday. Wasn't much to write about yesterday; I just drove to Lubbock and spent the night at the Flying J there. Although that was all a new part of the country for me, it was still a pretty dull drive, just mainly the prairie. But I can now say I've been to Amarillo and Lubbock. Woo-hoo!
This morning I arose early--intentionally this time--and headed out at 6:00 towards my delivery. This was an unusual delivery, because it was to a construction site--I'm guessing some sort of oil plant. It was west of the small town of Sundown, TX, in the middle of tabletop-flat land sprouting nothing but scrub brush and oil pumps--lots of both. In fact, the only address I had was, "4 Miles West of FM301". (It actually should have said, "4 Miles West of Sundown on FM301.) "FM301" is the name of the road. But dispatch had gotten the directions ahead of time and provided them to me, so I found it with no trouble. The drive over took just about exactly one hour.
The delivery was also unusual because there wasn't a building nor any loading docks. I had to park alongside a materials staging area at the construction site and they had to unload with a fork lift built for reaching into the trailer from the ground, rather than driving into the back of the trailer. My load was 12 big, industrial ventilation fans. But all went well, although slow. It took over 2 hours from my arrival 'til my departure. But, as you regular readers know, I've spent much more time than that at many other sites, so it wasn't too bad.
After completing the delivery, I drove the hour back to the Lubbock Flying J. I expected that anywhere I'd have to go to make my next pickup, I'd have to go from there since it was the middle of nowhere. And I was right. My next assignment message came in soon after I arrived at "the J": drive 250 miles (300+ if you include the mileage from Sundown to Lubbock) to Lawton, OK to pick up a load bound for northern Ohio.
The route from Lubbock to Lawton was US-82 east to Wichita Falls, TX, then I-44 to Lawton. I gotta say that (most of) the drive along 82 was fascinating, topographically. It started out as flat prairie and farmland--mostly cotton fields. LOTS of cotton fields. (I expect that satellite photos of the area look like the ground is pure white because of all the cotton.) After a while of flatlands, all of a sudden the road descended into a canyon. Nothing like the Grand Canyon, of course, but obviously a gouge in the ground caused by water erosion. It must have been at least 10 miles across before the road came up on the other side to yet more flatlands. Not too long after that, though, the terrain became more rolling, showing that it had been carved by more erosion, rather than from uplifting of the earth's crust. Add the huge, unbroken sky and it all made for some pretty spectacular views for a Michigan boy. I highly recommend the drive for anyone who hasn't seen that part of the country yet. Anyway, back to my workday.
The Lubbock-to-Lawton transit took me 5 hours. My pickup was at a site I've been to on 3 or 4 previous occasions now, so I know the routine well. It was a drop-and-hook pickup, and I was in and out of there fairly quickly. Then I made my way up here to Oklahoma City yet again. This time I've stopped for the night at my "usual" OKC haunt, the Flying J with the Sonic across the street. (I'm sure I'll grab breakfast over there in the morning.) I had another couple hours available to drive, but I'd been on the go for almost 12 hours since starting this morning, and I was getting a bit tired. Besides, there wouldn't be any good places to stop around where my hours would run out. And, this load isn't due for delivery 'til Wednesday morning, so I'm in no rush.
I plan to reach Effingham, IL tomorrow, then on to our Vandalia, OH terminal on Monday. Since the load doesn't deliver 'til Wednesday, I plan to lobby my Fleet Manager to let me drop it in Vandalia so I can get another load to get some more miles before I head home on Wednesday. (Home. Sigh! I haven't been there for almost 4 weeks now. In fact, I haven't been north of Vandalia since, either. This tour of duty has been all across the south, including 4 trips into Texas.)
Well, it's been a long day now and I'm good 'n tired. Thanks for taking a peek at today's update. Send in a question and/or comment, and keep on truckin.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Westward Expansion
DATELINE: OKLAHOMA CITY, OK, 5:15 p.m. CST
Miles Today: 381
How about this? Two updates in one day! (Don't miss this morning's report, below.) Since I caught up on a lot in that earlier update, this one'll be nice 'n short. And I'll answer reader dennis the accompanist's deer-in-headlights question, too. So let's get right to my workday.
Picking up from where I left off this morning, I headed down the road to my pickup in Jacksonville, AR. 'Twas a smallish company, number-of-loading-docks-wise, but they had a huge lot and getting my truck lined up to back into the dock was easy. The loading process went nice and smooth, and I was on my way in about 45 minutes.
I made a stop about 1-1/2 hours later at a Flying J en route so I could get cleaned up. I hadn't had a chance for a shower the previous couple of mornings, and my pickup this morning had a gravel lot, so I was feeling dusty and grungy, and my face was scratchy. There was a waiting list for the showers, so I ambled over to their restaurant area and grabbed a slice of pizza. (Most Flying Js have pizza counters under the name of "Pepperoni's". Some also have "Magic Dragon" Chinese food stands, too.) My number for the shower was called just as I was finishing my slice (Hawaiian--ham and pineapple) in a burst of good timing.
All cleaned up, I was back rolling westward. Another 90 minutes later I reached the Fort Smith area and pulled into our Van Buren terminal to get some diesel in my tanks. After that, I just made my way over here to OKC, which was my goal for the day, about halfway on my journey to the Texas panhandle. I intended to stop at a Flying J here (not the one where I usually stop in this city; that one is a bit out of my route) that is on the company fuel network list. However, as I was reaching the designated exit, I noticed there's a TA at the same exit, and it has a Popeye's Chicken. 'Nuff said; I parked at the TA. I've already had my chicken dinner, too--as I was ordering at the counter I realized that I was getting shaky from hunger, another burst of good timing. And now I'm here telling y'all about it.
Tomorrow I'll hit the FJ for some more fuel before continuing my trek into the as-yet-unexplored-by-me west. I'm looking forward to seeing some new country, and will stop somewhere near Lubbock for the night (not a lot of truck stops in that area in my directory).
Now on to Dennis' query, "Have you had any encounters of the deer kind?"
First, Dennis, let me say I'm glad your run-in didn't cause any injuries or damage. Such accidents can be very catastrophic, and not just for the deer. Good to read that you're OK. As for my experiences, I have had one or two instances where I've had to jam on the brakes. A particular one I remember vividly was along I-71 in northern Kentucky at night back while I was driving with my trainer. In that instance, I caught sight of some dusky shapes in the middle of the road, and as I neared the shapes resolved into deer. Fortunately, they decided in time that they didn't want grill marks on their hides, so they lept out of the way. Other than that time, I really haven't had any deer problems. I've seen them along the side of the highway at times, and a couple of times recently some with antlers (though not very big racks). But no other close calls or actual hits. (Bugs are another matter. I've euthanized them by the thousands.)
And that's this evening's report. Check back tomorrow for some western OK/northern TX news. Thanks for pointing your browser here. Drop me a question and/or comment, and keep right on truckin'.
Miles Today: 381
How about this? Two updates in one day! (Don't miss this morning's report, below.) Since I caught up on a lot in that earlier update, this one'll be nice 'n short. And I'll answer reader dennis the accompanist's deer-in-headlights question, too. So let's get right to my workday.
Picking up from where I left off this morning, I headed down the road to my pickup in Jacksonville, AR. 'Twas a smallish company, number-of-loading-docks-wise, but they had a huge lot and getting my truck lined up to back into the dock was easy. The loading process went nice and smooth, and I was on my way in about 45 minutes.
I made a stop about 1-1/2 hours later at a Flying J en route so I could get cleaned up. I hadn't had a chance for a shower the previous couple of mornings, and my pickup this morning had a gravel lot, so I was feeling dusty and grungy, and my face was scratchy. There was a waiting list for the showers, so I ambled over to their restaurant area and grabbed a slice of pizza. (Most Flying Js have pizza counters under the name of "Pepperoni's". Some also have "Magic Dragon" Chinese food stands, too.) My number for the shower was called just as I was finishing my slice (Hawaiian--ham and pineapple) in a burst of good timing.
All cleaned up, I was back rolling westward. Another 90 minutes later I reached the Fort Smith area and pulled into our Van Buren terminal to get some diesel in my tanks. After that, I just made my way over here to OKC, which was my goal for the day, about halfway on my journey to the Texas panhandle. I intended to stop at a Flying J here (not the one where I usually stop in this city; that one is a bit out of my route) that is on the company fuel network list. However, as I was reaching the designated exit, I noticed there's a TA at the same exit, and it has a Popeye's Chicken. 'Nuff said; I parked at the TA. I've already had my chicken dinner, too--as I was ordering at the counter I realized that I was getting shaky from hunger, another burst of good timing. And now I'm here telling y'all about it.
Tomorrow I'll hit the FJ for some more fuel before continuing my trek into the as-yet-unexplored-by-me west. I'm looking forward to seeing some new country, and will stop somewhere near Lubbock for the night (not a lot of truck stops in that area in my directory).
Now on to Dennis' query, "Have you had any encounters of the deer kind?"
First, Dennis, let me say I'm glad your run-in didn't cause any injuries or damage. Such accidents can be very catastrophic, and not just for the deer. Good to read that you're OK. As for my experiences, I have had one or two instances where I've had to jam on the brakes. A particular one I remember vividly was along I-71 in northern Kentucky at night back while I was driving with my trainer. In that instance, I caught sight of some dusky shapes in the middle of the road, and as I neared the shapes resolved into deer. Fortunately, they decided in time that they didn't want grill marks on their hides, so they lept out of the way. Other than that time, I really haven't had any deer problems. I've seen them along the side of the highway at times, and a couple of times recently some with antlers (though not very big racks). But no other close calls or actual hits. (Bugs are another matter. I've euthanized them by the thousands.)
And that's this evening's report. Check back tomorrow for some western OK/northern TX news. Thanks for pointing your browser here. Drop me a question and/or comment, and keep right on truckin'.
Fun (?!) Times
DATELINE: BEEBE, AR, 6:30 a.m. CST
Miles Yesterday: 160
Miles Tuesday: 109
Sheesh! My next paycheck is gonna suck! I've had too many low-mileage days lately. Today I'm here to tell you about the last 2. At least Tuesday started with some success.
As you recall from my last post, I was engaged in a $1-entry online Hold-Em tournament, planning to go deep into the field. Well, I did. Out of 421 entrants, I finished 9th! The tournament paid the top 54 places, and I turned my $1 into $7.58. Woo-hoo! Playin' for the big bucks now! ;-) Anyway, my real job hasn't been as fun since.
After wrapping up the tourney, I got ready to start my work day. I set out for the delivery early, hoping to get that over and done with and on to my next assignment. (By the way, the 10 miles I get credit for that drive was more like 30.) I arrived at the customer--a big distribution center for a grocery chain--and checked in at the gate around 6:15 p.m. (my delivery appointment was at 8:00). Naturally, I was directed to wait until summoned, so I pulled into their "Truck Staging Area" lot, backed into a spot, and sat. And read. And read some more. Finally, sometime after 8:30, they called me forth to enter the grounds.
Unfortunately, there had been a shift change at the gatehouse. The new guard apparently didn't understand a word I was saying when I told him I had already checked in and they had called me to head to the docks. He had me pull back out into the street to park and check in. OK, so I did, then had to wait outside the shack while he dealt with another couple of drivers. Finally it was my turn and I managed to get him straightened out about my status. He gave me my assigned door number, I got back in my truck, and headed to the dock.
Docking was fine, then I went inside to the Receiving Office and checked in there. Yadda, yadda, wait, wait. Long story short, I didn't get out of there 'til after midnight. Afterwards I pulled out to the street in front of the place and parked along the curb (this was in an industrial park) to wait for my next assignment. I expected it'd be a while, so I stretched out on my bunk to catch some rest. (Remember, I was operating on 4 hours of sleep from the previous night, and a couple other short nights before that.)
I woke up around 5:30 a.m., still without a load assignment. So I sent in a message asking if one was forthcoming. It came in soon after: pick up a load at 10:00 at a site just a few miles away. Well, I couldn't drive 'til I'd completed a 10-hour break, which would be at 10:30. I sent that info in to dispatch, and my Fleet Manager replied for me to get there when I could, no problem.
When I was in Trucker School, the instructor taught us that if an activity takes less than 7-1/2 minutes, we don't have to account for it in our log. (Our time is broken down into 15-minute increments.) I didn't want to spend my whole 10-hour break on the street (although plenty of other trucks were parked there, too), so I took 5 minutes to drive over to a nearby Pilot truck stop. I hadn't done that after the delivery because at that time of night the parking spots would have been full. But now, after 6:00, spots would be open. And plenty were. After a quick breakfast, I hit my bunk again to catch up on some more sleep before having to get another work day started.
I got up at 10:00, hoping to catch a shower at the truck stop (I have a couple shower credits at Pilot). I got on the waiting list, but 10:30 was rapidly approaching, and I had to get to work. So no shower.
It took me only 15 minutes to reach my next pickup. I checked in there and got assigned a door right away--this place had, like, 20 dock doors, and only 2 or 3 were filled at that time. Which is why I'm mystified that it took 2 hours before they even started loading my trailer. In the meantime, it started raining.
A couple weeks earlier, when I had my truck's regular maintenance done at the Vandalia, OH terminal, they replaced my driver's side windshield. Apparently they didn't get it sealed completely, and it started leaking at the top, where water from the cab's big, sloping roof was pouring over it. So while I was waiting I called in to Maintenance and got an appointment to get that fixed up at the West Memphis terminal after I was done with the pickup. (By the way, this load was headed for a midnight delivery in Searcy, AR, only about 100 miles away, so I had plenty of time to stop by West Memphis for the repair.)
Fortunately, they finally loaded my trailer and I was out of there in just enough time to get to the terminal just at my 3:00 appointment time. Of course, there, the shop clerk let me know that it would be at least 4:00 before they could get to my truck. Yadda, yadda, another long story short, I was done there and on my way by 6:00 p.m.
My delivery with this load was a drop-and-hook, rather than a live unload, so being early would not be a problem this time. I arrived there around 8:15, dropped my loaded trailer in the assigned slot ('twas a narrow space between 2 other trailers, so it took a few minutes of nice, slow, work), found the lot with the empty trailers, found an acceptable USA empty, hooked up to it, and headed out.
I had to go about 15 miles down the highway (US67, northeast of Little Rock, if you're keeping score at home) to this town to find a truck stop. This one's just an Exxon station with truck parking spaces in back, but it'll do. I snagged the last open spot. I got my next assignment before too long and, fortunately, it's for a pickup this morning in Jacksonville, AR, another town not very far from here. That meant I could just stay here and grab some sleep, rather than having to keep working into the night.
So this morning I woke up around 5:30 again, nearly fully refreshed, and unable to catch even a few more Zs. So I got outta' bed, hit the McDonald's for breakfast (FINALLY! A Steak, Egg, 'n Cheese Bagel! Haven't had one in a while!), and had time to compose this update for ya'. But now it's time for me to get back to work. After I make my pickup I'm headed with the load back out west, farther west than I've been on this job before: Sundown, TX, just west of Lubbock. I deliver there Saturday morning, so it won't be a huge rush to get there.
Well, gotta' go. Thanks for your readership, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Yesterday: 160
Miles Tuesday: 109
Sheesh! My next paycheck is gonna suck! I've had too many low-mileage days lately. Today I'm here to tell you about the last 2. At least Tuesday started with some success.
As you recall from my last post, I was engaged in a $1-entry online Hold-Em tournament, planning to go deep into the field. Well, I did. Out of 421 entrants, I finished 9th! The tournament paid the top 54 places, and I turned my $1 into $7.58. Woo-hoo! Playin' for the big bucks now! ;-) Anyway, my real job hasn't been as fun since.
After wrapping up the tourney, I got ready to start my work day. I set out for the delivery early, hoping to get that over and done with and on to my next assignment. (By the way, the 10 miles I get credit for that drive was more like 30.) I arrived at the customer--a big distribution center for a grocery chain--and checked in at the gate around 6:15 p.m. (my delivery appointment was at 8:00). Naturally, I was directed to wait until summoned, so I pulled into their "Truck Staging Area" lot, backed into a spot, and sat. And read. And read some more. Finally, sometime after 8:30, they called me forth to enter the grounds.
Unfortunately, there had been a shift change at the gatehouse. The new guard apparently didn't understand a word I was saying when I told him I had already checked in and they had called me to head to the docks. He had me pull back out into the street to park and check in. OK, so I did, then had to wait outside the shack while he dealt with another couple of drivers. Finally it was my turn and I managed to get him straightened out about my status. He gave me my assigned door number, I got back in my truck, and headed to the dock.
Docking was fine, then I went inside to the Receiving Office and checked in there. Yadda, yadda, wait, wait. Long story short, I didn't get out of there 'til after midnight. Afterwards I pulled out to the street in front of the place and parked along the curb (this was in an industrial park) to wait for my next assignment. I expected it'd be a while, so I stretched out on my bunk to catch some rest. (Remember, I was operating on 4 hours of sleep from the previous night, and a couple other short nights before that.)
I woke up around 5:30 a.m., still without a load assignment. So I sent in a message asking if one was forthcoming. It came in soon after: pick up a load at 10:00 at a site just a few miles away. Well, I couldn't drive 'til I'd completed a 10-hour break, which would be at 10:30. I sent that info in to dispatch, and my Fleet Manager replied for me to get there when I could, no problem.
When I was in Trucker School, the instructor taught us that if an activity takes less than 7-1/2 minutes, we don't have to account for it in our log. (Our time is broken down into 15-minute increments.) I didn't want to spend my whole 10-hour break on the street (although plenty of other trucks were parked there, too), so I took 5 minutes to drive over to a nearby Pilot truck stop. I hadn't done that after the delivery because at that time of night the parking spots would have been full. But now, after 6:00, spots would be open. And plenty were. After a quick breakfast, I hit my bunk again to catch up on some more sleep before having to get another work day started.
I got up at 10:00, hoping to catch a shower at the truck stop (I have a couple shower credits at Pilot). I got on the waiting list, but 10:30 was rapidly approaching, and I had to get to work. So no shower.
It took me only 15 minutes to reach my next pickup. I checked in there and got assigned a door right away--this place had, like, 20 dock doors, and only 2 or 3 were filled at that time. Which is why I'm mystified that it took 2 hours before they even started loading my trailer. In the meantime, it started raining.
A couple weeks earlier, when I had my truck's regular maintenance done at the Vandalia, OH terminal, they replaced my driver's side windshield. Apparently they didn't get it sealed completely, and it started leaking at the top, where water from the cab's big, sloping roof was pouring over it. So while I was waiting I called in to Maintenance and got an appointment to get that fixed up at the West Memphis terminal after I was done with the pickup. (By the way, this load was headed for a midnight delivery in Searcy, AR, only about 100 miles away, so I had plenty of time to stop by West Memphis for the repair.)
Fortunately, they finally loaded my trailer and I was out of there in just enough time to get to the terminal just at my 3:00 appointment time. Of course, there, the shop clerk let me know that it would be at least 4:00 before they could get to my truck. Yadda, yadda, another long story short, I was done there and on my way by 6:00 p.m.
My delivery with this load was a drop-and-hook, rather than a live unload, so being early would not be a problem this time. I arrived there around 8:15, dropped my loaded trailer in the assigned slot ('twas a narrow space between 2 other trailers, so it took a few minutes of nice, slow, work), found the lot with the empty trailers, found an acceptable USA empty, hooked up to it, and headed out.
I had to go about 15 miles down the highway (US67, northeast of Little Rock, if you're keeping score at home) to this town to find a truck stop. This one's just an Exxon station with truck parking spaces in back, but it'll do. I snagged the last open spot. I got my next assignment before too long and, fortunately, it's for a pickup this morning in Jacksonville, AR, another town not very far from here. That meant I could just stay here and grab some sleep, rather than having to keep working into the night.
So this morning I woke up around 5:30 again, nearly fully refreshed, and unable to catch even a few more Zs. So I got outta' bed, hit the McDonald's for breakfast (FINALLY! A Steak, Egg, 'n Cheese Bagel! Haven't had one in a while!), and had time to compose this update for ya'. But now it's time for me to get back to work. After I make my pickup I'm headed with the load back out west, farther west than I've been on this job before: Sundown, TX, just west of Lubbock. I deliver there Saturday morning, so it won't be a huge rush to get there.
Well, gotta' go. Thanks for your readership, and keep on truckin'.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Shifting
DATELINE: WEST MEMPHIS, AR, 11:30 a.m. CST
Miles Yesterday: 482
I guess my shift has shifted now. My work day yesterday was from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. this morning. Today I pick up a load here at 6:00 p.m. and take it all the way over to Memphis, TN to deliver at 8:00 p.m. After that I'll probably get another load to haul somewhere overnight. Sheesh! Just what I don't want. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me tell you 'bout yesterday.
Being used to waking up early, my body did it to me again. I woke up around 5:30 a.m., even though I could have slept in a good, long while yet. Since I was unable to get back to sleep, I just got up, got dressed, then headed into the truck stop building to grab a Steak and Egg Burrito breakfast at their Carl's Jr. Tasty! After that, I returned to my truck and headed back to the virtual felt.
Flush from the previous day's online poker success, I first--well, this is a truck driving blog, not a poker one, so I'll gloss over the details. Suffice to say that I played a couple of 6-handed cash games and a couple of 6-handed sit-n-go tournaments. By the time I was done, I was $9.45 ahead, having won one of the sit-n-gos and hit a big hand at the cash table. Not a bad start to the day.
Next it was time for work. I hit the road in plenty of time to reach my 2:00 delivery early--in fact, I had to stop at another Love's truck stop near the customer to avoid getting there too early (they don't want drivers showing up more than 30 minutes early). So I arrived just after 1:30. Less than an hour later I was done there and back on the road.
I just headed to another nearby truck stop to await my next assignment. (The same truck stop where I waited after my last delivery in Ennis, just over a week earlier.) Again I had a long wait. At one point I sent a message to dispatch asking for an ETA of my next assignment. My Fleet Manager replied back that I was, "like 85th on the board." That wasn't a good sign. So I stretched out on my bunk to rest awhile.
Eventually (just before 5:00) the assignment came in: just deadhead (drive empty) back to the West Memphis terminal, a 459-mile drive. Good enough for me; I get paid for those empty miles just as much as the loaded ones. Coincidentally, the driving time to West Memphis would be just about exactly the amount of time I had left in my 14-hour window for this shift. Unfortunately, that meant driving deep into the night--until 1:30 a.m. Which is when I arrived and parked. I finished up some paperwork, then went right to bed, too tired to blog.
Again this morning my body wouldn't let me sleep. I woke up at 6:22 (that's when I looked at my watch) after getting to sleep at 2:00. But again I couldn't get back to sleep. This time I did some reading and 'net surfing before heading into the terminal to eat and take a shower. After that I returned to my truck. I still hadn't received a new assignment, so I sent in a "back to work" message to stimulate the system to send me one. It came in shortly thereafter, the West Memphis-to-Memphis route. Since it's an evening run, I'll likely need to grab a nap this afternoon, but for now I'm playing in a $1 entry tournament that just started. This one attracted 451 entrants, so we'll see how I do. I plan on getting deep into it.
That's the news for now. Thanks for taking a look, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Yesterday: 482
I guess my shift has shifted now. My work day yesterday was from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. this morning. Today I pick up a load here at 6:00 p.m. and take it all the way over to Memphis, TN to deliver at 8:00 p.m. After that I'll probably get another load to haul somewhere overnight. Sheesh! Just what I don't want. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me tell you 'bout yesterday.
Being used to waking up early, my body did it to me again. I woke up around 5:30 a.m., even though I could have slept in a good, long while yet. Since I was unable to get back to sleep, I just got up, got dressed, then headed into the truck stop building to grab a Steak and Egg Burrito breakfast at their Carl's Jr. Tasty! After that, I returned to my truck and headed back to the virtual felt.
Flush from the previous day's online poker success, I first--well, this is a truck driving blog, not a poker one, so I'll gloss over the details. Suffice to say that I played a couple of 6-handed cash games and a couple of 6-handed sit-n-go tournaments. By the time I was done, I was $9.45 ahead, having won one of the sit-n-gos and hit a big hand at the cash table. Not a bad start to the day.
Next it was time for work. I hit the road in plenty of time to reach my 2:00 delivery early--in fact, I had to stop at another Love's truck stop near the customer to avoid getting there too early (they don't want drivers showing up more than 30 minutes early). So I arrived just after 1:30. Less than an hour later I was done there and back on the road.
I just headed to another nearby truck stop to await my next assignment. (The same truck stop where I waited after my last delivery in Ennis, just over a week earlier.) Again I had a long wait. At one point I sent a message to dispatch asking for an ETA of my next assignment. My Fleet Manager replied back that I was, "like 85th on the board." That wasn't a good sign. So I stretched out on my bunk to rest awhile.
Eventually (just before 5:00) the assignment came in: just deadhead (drive empty) back to the West Memphis terminal, a 459-mile drive. Good enough for me; I get paid for those empty miles just as much as the loaded ones. Coincidentally, the driving time to West Memphis would be just about exactly the amount of time I had left in my 14-hour window for this shift. Unfortunately, that meant driving deep into the night--until 1:30 a.m. Which is when I arrived and parked. I finished up some paperwork, then went right to bed, too tired to blog.
Again this morning my body wouldn't let me sleep. I woke up at 6:22 (that's when I looked at my watch) after getting to sleep at 2:00. But again I couldn't get back to sleep. This time I did some reading and 'net surfing before heading into the terminal to eat and take a shower. After that I returned to my truck. I still hadn't received a new assignment, so I sent in a "back to work" message to stimulate the system to send me one. It came in shortly thereafter, the West Memphis-to-Memphis route. Since it's an evening run, I'll likely need to grab a nap this afternoon, but for now I'm playing in a $1 entry tournament that just started. This one attracted 451 entrants, so we'll see how I do. I plan on getting deep into it.
That's the news for now. Thanks for taking a look, and keep on truckin'.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Shreveport Shake-Up
DATELINE: VAN, TX, 9:00 p.m. CST
Miles Today: 265
Another short work day. I went to bed relatively early last night, so I woke up (on my own, w/o benefit of alarm) around 4:30 this morning. I figured I might as well get my day started so I'd get it over with sooner, so I got up and did that. After a shower, shave, and breakfast, I was on the road around 5:30.
En route I stopped in at our terminal in Shreveport, LA--my first time there. I made use of the fuel pumps, then parked to go inside and check out the facility. I walked in the main door, walked along the short hallway, and turned the corner (to the right)--and had quite a "whoa!" moment. Apparently this building and the one at the West Memphis terminal were patterned after each other, because looking down the hallway sure felt the same as looking down the corresponding hallway in West Memphis. The drivers' lounge is on the right side, the laundry room and men's room on the left, offices towards the end of the hallway. I went into the men's room and it even smelled the same as the one in West Memphis.
OK, there are many obvious differences between the 2 buildings, but the general layout is about the same. Shreveport's seems nicer, though; cleaner and a better paint job.
I only stayed at the terminal for about 30 minutes, then I resumed my drive. I eventually reached the Love's truck stop in this town. I've stopped here 2 or 3 times before to grab meals at the Carl's Jr. burger joint inside. This time I decided to spend the night so I can get one of Jr.'s Steak & Egg Burritos for breakfast tomorrow. Besides, I only have about 100 miles or less to go to get to my delivery tomorrow from here, so I can leave around noon and get there right on time.
I've been playing some more online poker tournaments this afternoon, and I had a fairly good day (compared to recent results). I played two six-handed sit-n-gos, finishing 3rd in one (out of the money) and 2nd in the other (in the money). I also played in two $1.00 buy-in tourneys (all no-limit Texas Hold-Em, of course). In the first one I cashed in at 39th place out of 592 entrants. In the second I grabbed 53rd place out of 1109, also for small cash winnings. I also played in a freeroll (no entry fee) tourney, but was card-dead throughout and only managed to hang on for 194th place out of 2700. I wish I had gotten some good cards in that one 'cuz of the ridiculous calls some other players were making. Oh well, mebbe next time.
Well, it's been a long day now, considering when I woke up, so I'll be signing off and starting to work on some shut-eye. Thanks for looking in, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 265
Another short work day. I went to bed relatively early last night, so I woke up (on my own, w/o benefit of alarm) around 4:30 this morning. I figured I might as well get my day started so I'd get it over with sooner, so I got up and did that. After a shower, shave, and breakfast, I was on the road around 5:30.
En route I stopped in at our terminal in Shreveport, LA--my first time there. I made use of the fuel pumps, then parked to go inside and check out the facility. I walked in the main door, walked along the short hallway, and turned the corner (to the right)--and had quite a "whoa!" moment. Apparently this building and the one at the West Memphis terminal were patterned after each other, because looking down the hallway sure felt the same as looking down the corresponding hallway in West Memphis. The drivers' lounge is on the right side, the laundry room and men's room on the left, offices towards the end of the hallway. I went into the men's room and it even smelled the same as the one in West Memphis.
OK, there are many obvious differences between the 2 buildings, but the general layout is about the same. Shreveport's seems nicer, though; cleaner and a better paint job.
I only stayed at the terminal for about 30 minutes, then I resumed my drive. I eventually reached the Love's truck stop in this town. I've stopped here 2 or 3 times before to grab meals at the Carl's Jr. burger joint inside. This time I decided to spend the night so I can get one of Jr.'s Steak & Egg Burritos for breakfast tomorrow. Besides, I only have about 100 miles or less to go to get to my delivery tomorrow from here, so I can leave around noon and get there right on time.
I've been playing some more online poker tournaments this afternoon, and I had a fairly good day (compared to recent results). I played two six-handed sit-n-gos, finishing 3rd in one (out of the money) and 2nd in the other (in the money). I also played in two $1.00 buy-in tourneys (all no-limit Texas Hold-Em, of course). In the first one I cashed in at 39th place out of 592 entrants. In the second I grabbed 53rd place out of 1109, also for small cash winnings. I also played in a freeroll (no entry fee) tourney, but was card-dead throughout and only managed to hang on for 194th place out of 2700. I wish I had gotten some good cards in that one 'cuz of the ridiculous calls some other players were making. Oh well, mebbe next time.
Well, it's been a long day now, considering when I woke up, so I'll be signing off and starting to work on some shut-eye. Thanks for looking in, and keep on truckin'.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
West Across the South
DATELINE: TALLULAH, LA, 6:30 p.m. CST
Miles Today: 529
Yes, that's really the name of the town. It's on the eastern side of the state along I-20.
Just a driving day today. Once I hit the road at 6:30 (EST) this morning, I just kept on going, only making rest stops every couple of hours. I didn't make any extended stops 'til I needed fuel about an hour before I finished up for the day. I made the fuel stop just outside Jackson, MS, and bought a couple of small sandwiches for lunch while there. (I only ate one of 'em while continuing my drive; the other's for later.) But that also was a fairly quick stop so I could just make tracks before shutting down for the day.
I halted at this town for the night 'cuz they have a TA. I had driven for 9 hours today, so I could have driven for 2 more, but I'm in no rush. You recall from yesterday's update that I don't have to make my delivery 'til 2:00 Monday afternoon, so I do have plenty of time to get there. Shreveport's still 150+ miles away, so I wasn't going to be able to get to our terminal there within my allotted hours today anyway. I'll stop by there tomorrow for fuel and to check it out.
So that's all there is about my truckin' today. Now I'll move on to answering a couple questions from my fan mail bag.
First, from reader nancy r: "Do you ever see any husband-wife driving teams?"
Yes I do. Well, I assume when I see a man and woman in or coming out of a truck, they're a married couple. It could be they're just an unrelated team, or a trainer and student. But I suspect most of the time male-female teams are husband and wife. I know that it is quite common. Funny thing along those lines; this morning I stopped at a rest area. When I was walking back to my truck, I noticed another parked in the lot. Painted on the sleeper berth's window was "JUST MARRIED". Quite the romantic honeymoon, eh?
Second, reader Jim the Baritone wants to know, "I see a lot of trucks with just about every edge lined with lights - amber, green, red. What gives? Is this some sort of cult thing?"
It's just a personal style thing, the way some people like to "trick out" their cars, to make 'em look "cooler". You can bet those trucks with the extra lighting are owner-operators; company trucks tend to stay uniformly unadorned. USA Truck has a fairly strict policy against extra adornments on its equipment.
Another possible reason for all the extra lights is safety. It can be hard to make out a trailer's full dimensions in the dark, and many people have gotten hurt (and worse!) driving into or under trailers they didn't see that were in their way at night. So all the extra lights do define the trailer's outline to other motorists.
That's all I have to say--er, type--for today. Thanks once again for checking my reports out. Drop me a comment and/or question, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 529
Yes, that's really the name of the town. It's on the eastern side of the state along I-20.
Just a driving day today. Once I hit the road at 6:30 (EST) this morning, I just kept on going, only making rest stops every couple of hours. I didn't make any extended stops 'til I needed fuel about an hour before I finished up for the day. I made the fuel stop just outside Jackson, MS, and bought a couple of small sandwiches for lunch while there. (I only ate one of 'em while continuing my drive; the other's for later.) But that also was a fairly quick stop so I could just make tracks before shutting down for the day.
I halted at this town for the night 'cuz they have a TA. I had driven for 9 hours today, so I could have driven for 2 more, but I'm in no rush. You recall from yesterday's update that I don't have to make my delivery 'til 2:00 Monday afternoon, so I do have plenty of time to get there. Shreveport's still 150+ miles away, so I wasn't going to be able to get to our terminal there within my allotted hours today anyway. I'll stop by there tomorrow for fuel and to check it out.
So that's all there is about my truckin' today. Now I'll move on to answering a couple questions from my fan mail bag.
First, from reader nancy r: "Do you ever see any husband-wife driving teams?"
Yes I do. Well, I assume when I see a man and woman in or coming out of a truck, they're a married couple. It could be they're just an unrelated team, or a trainer and student. But I suspect most of the time male-female teams are husband and wife. I know that it is quite common. Funny thing along those lines; this morning I stopped at a rest area. When I was walking back to my truck, I noticed another parked in the lot. Painted on the sleeper berth's window was "JUST MARRIED". Quite the romantic honeymoon, eh?
Second, reader Jim the Baritone wants to know, "I see a lot of trucks with just about every edge lined with lights - amber, green, red. What gives? Is this some sort of cult thing?"
It's just a personal style thing, the way some people like to "trick out" their cars, to make 'em look "cooler". You can bet those trucks with the extra lighting are owner-operators; company trucks tend to stay uniformly unadorned. USA Truck has a fairly strict policy against extra adornments on its equipment.
Another possible reason for all the extra lights is safety. It can be hard to make out a trailer's full dimensions in the dark, and many people have gotten hurt (and worse!) driving into or under trailers they didn't see that were in their way at night. So all the extra lights do define the trailer's outline to other motorists.
That's all I have to say--er, type--for today. Thanks once again for checking my reports out. Drop me a comment and/or question, and keep on truckin'.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Another Southern Swing
DATELINE: COMMERCE, GA, 7:00 p.m. EST
Miles Today: 336
Not quite as long a work day today, but I have the luxury of extra time with my new load to stop early today for some rest. Here's how my day went.
I got up at 5:00 this morning, got ready for the work day, and hit the road by 5:30. As you recall, my first task was to drop my Michigan-bound loaded trailer at a drop yard in Hickory, NC. My drive there took a little under an hour, and I found the place pretty easy (a good set of directions!). I parked, unhooked the trailer, sent in my "empty call" message, and waited for my next assignment.
That came in about 30 minutes later: head down to Shelby, NC to pick up a load bound for Ennis, TX. Yes, the town I where I just was a week ago, though this load is for a different customer. Anyway, the pickup was scheduled for 2:30 p.m., it was just about 7:00 or so, and Shelby was only about 45 miles away. I obviously wasn't going to wait all that time, so I hooked up an empty trailer at the yard and set out to get there early.
But I did have plenty of time for a side trip over to a Pilot truck stop in Charlotte to fuel up the truck. My tanks were getting low, so the detour was necessary because that was the nearest one of USA's network fuel stops.
Fuel situation taken care of, I headed west from Charlotte over to Shelby. A little while later I found the shipper and drove in. I checked in with the guard at the gate, who directed me to the Shipping Office towards the back of the complex (big company, big property). I dove over and checked in over there, and the guy there gave me directions and sent me to one of their warehouses a couple miles away. I just love it when they do that. So I made that drive.
Once at the proper facility, I checked in and found out they were loading the trailer I was to pick up right then. They had me back my empty trailer to one door, unhook that one, the move over and hook up to the one they were loading. 30 minutes later they finished up, gave me my paperwork, and I was on my way.
As I mentioned, I'm taking this load to Ennis, which is 20-ish miles southeast of Dallas. Delivery is set for 2:00 Monday afternoon, so I have plenty of time to get there. Hence my decision to stop somewhat early today. I pulled into the TA here in Commerce (I've been here before--it's another company network fuel stop) around 3:30, bought some more diesel (remember, I've been having trouble with my cab being heavy, so I don't fill my tanks all the way; I only get 50 or 60 gallons at a time--the tanks hold over 100 gallons), and parked. Though it was a "short" work day, I still recorded 9 work hours: 7-1/2 hours of driving, 1-1/2 hours of other "on duty, not driving" time.
A note on this load's Bill of Lading says not to arrive more than 30 minutes before the delivery appointment, so I'll have to start my work day kind of late on Monday. But I'll worry about that when the time comes. For now I have a couple of long days of driving over the weekend. I figure I'll drive into Louisiana tomorrow, after crossing GA, AL, and MS, before stopping for the night. Maybe if all goes well I can get to Shreveport and check out our terminal there--I haven't been there yet, but I have seen it from the highway on my way past on a couple other trips. Then Sunday I'll drive to the Ennis area, poised for Monday's delivery. By the way, I'm following I-85 to Atlanta, and from there I'll take I-20 all the way to Dallas, in case you want to follow my route on a map.
Another reason I stopped early today is 'cuz I'm tired. When I get fatigued my eyes find it hard to focus, so stopping was pretty necessary. So I'm going to wrap up now and get ready for bed. I'll answer reader nancyr's and jim's questions tomorrow when I'm not so tired. Thanks for your readership. Drop me a line, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 336
Not quite as long a work day today, but I have the luxury of extra time with my new load to stop early today for some rest. Here's how my day went.
I got up at 5:00 this morning, got ready for the work day, and hit the road by 5:30. As you recall, my first task was to drop my Michigan-bound loaded trailer at a drop yard in Hickory, NC. My drive there took a little under an hour, and I found the place pretty easy (a good set of directions!). I parked, unhooked the trailer, sent in my "empty call" message, and waited for my next assignment.
That came in about 30 minutes later: head down to Shelby, NC to pick up a load bound for Ennis, TX. Yes, the town I where I just was a week ago, though this load is for a different customer. Anyway, the pickup was scheduled for 2:30 p.m., it was just about 7:00 or so, and Shelby was only about 45 miles away. I obviously wasn't going to wait all that time, so I hooked up an empty trailer at the yard and set out to get there early.
But I did have plenty of time for a side trip over to a Pilot truck stop in Charlotte to fuel up the truck. My tanks were getting low, so the detour was necessary because that was the nearest one of USA's network fuel stops.
Fuel situation taken care of, I headed west from Charlotte over to Shelby. A little while later I found the shipper and drove in. I checked in with the guard at the gate, who directed me to the Shipping Office towards the back of the complex (big company, big property). I dove over and checked in over there, and the guy there gave me directions and sent me to one of their warehouses a couple miles away. I just love it when they do that. So I made that drive.
Once at the proper facility, I checked in and found out they were loading the trailer I was to pick up right then. They had me back my empty trailer to one door, unhook that one, the move over and hook up to the one they were loading. 30 minutes later they finished up, gave me my paperwork, and I was on my way.
As I mentioned, I'm taking this load to Ennis, which is 20-ish miles southeast of Dallas. Delivery is set for 2:00 Monday afternoon, so I have plenty of time to get there. Hence my decision to stop somewhat early today. I pulled into the TA here in Commerce (I've been here before--it's another company network fuel stop) around 3:30, bought some more diesel (remember, I've been having trouble with my cab being heavy, so I don't fill my tanks all the way; I only get 50 or 60 gallons at a time--the tanks hold over 100 gallons), and parked. Though it was a "short" work day, I still recorded 9 work hours: 7-1/2 hours of driving, 1-1/2 hours of other "on duty, not driving" time.
A note on this load's Bill of Lading says not to arrive more than 30 minutes before the delivery appointment, so I'll have to start my work day kind of late on Monday. But I'll worry about that when the time comes. For now I have a couple of long days of driving over the weekend. I figure I'll drive into Louisiana tomorrow, after crossing GA, AL, and MS, before stopping for the night. Maybe if all goes well I can get to Shreveport and check out our terminal there--I haven't been there yet, but I have seen it from the highway on my way past on a couple other trips. Then Sunday I'll drive to the Ennis area, poised for Monday's delivery. By the way, I'm following I-85 to Atlanta, and from there I'll take I-20 all the way to Dallas, in case you want to follow my route on a map.
Another reason I stopped early today is 'cuz I'm tired. When I get fatigued my eyes find it hard to focus, so stopping was pretty necessary. So I'm going to wrap up now and get ready for bed. I'll answer reader nancyr's and jim's questions tomorrow when I'm not so tired. Thanks for your readership. Drop me a line, and keep on truckin'.
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