DATELINE: HAW RIVER, NC, 10:00 p.m.
Miles Today: 532
Break time is over. I'm back on the road, this time hauling a load from the Vandalia terminal to a customer in Dunn, NC. I'll deliver it there at 7:00 tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, then get my next assignment and go from there. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
This morning I planned to get up at 6:00, but when my alarm sounded I really wasn't ready to be awake. So I ignored it and stayed in bed. I finally woke up at around 7:30, this time ready to face the world. So I got up, sent in my "back to work" message to trigger my next assignment to come across, and got ready for the day. Soon the assignment came in, and you know from reading up top what it said.
I found the specified trailer in the yard, hooked it up to my tractor, and hit the road around 8:15. My route for this run took me down US35 from Dayton into West Virginia and my previously-proclaimed least favorite stretch of road so far: US35 from the OH-WV border to I-64. But you know what? It wasn't that bad this time, probably because it was broad daylight and I have a lot more experience driving these things.
Anyway, before I got to that stretch, I stopped at a TA en route to weigh my truck (this is a heavy load) and take a shower. (You may recall from my previous reports that the Vandalia terminal doesn't have showers for the drivers. I had spent 2 nights there and I was ready for one.) That stop, which included the shower, 2 weighings (because the load was out of balance the first time), and a bite to eat, took 1-1/4 hours. Time sure flies when you're having fun, eh? Considering I had about 23 hours from the time I hit the road to the delivery appointment, and 600+ miles to go, I really had to make time the rest of the trip. However, with this heavy load, the mountainous route I'm taking makes it impossible to make good time. So my break tonight will be absolutely no more than the required 10 hours.
I've stopped for the night at a Flying J at this town in my dateline, above. I was worried that my somewhat late arrival would mean that it'd be hard to find a parking spot, but this FJ has a larger than usual lot and plenty of spaces were open. In the morning I'll get up, hit the shower, fuel up my truck, and get rolling. I calculate I have about 80 miles to go to reach my delivery, so I need to hit the road by 5:30 at the latest to get to the delivery on time.
So now I need to sign off and get to bed. Thanks again for looking in. Drop me some questions and comments, and keep on a-truckin'.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
All-Nighter
DATELINE: VANDALIA, OH, 12:30 p.m. EDT
Miles Yesterday: 562
Welcome to the middle of my 34-hour break. I won't be driving any today because I used up all of my permitted 70-hours-in-8-days in the first 7 days of this tour of duty. So I'll just sit here 'til I can get back to the grind tomorrow morning. And, so far, the operative word has been "sit".
I arrived here at the terminal around 6:00 p.m. last night after having made the trek from West Memphis, AR. I had an appointment at 7:00 for my truck's regular maintenance, so I dropped my trailer, had some dinner, called home, pulled my truck over to the shop, and turned over the key. I mentioned to them that the drive tires--the 8 of them on the tandem axles at the back of the truck--were getting a bit worn (remember my fun with the DOT inspection last week), and they told me that checking them was part of the maintenance service anyway (which I knew, but I still wasn't convinced they'd necessarily do anything about it). Then I went to the drivers' lounge to wait for them to complete the work and page me. Some good NFL action was on the big screen TV in the lounge.
At 8:30 I walked over to the shop to check on things--the service is usually pretty quick if they don't find anything else to take care of--and my truck was still where I had left it. Back to the lounge for me. Now I got to catch what turned out to be the final World Series game. Good timing for my break 'cuz I hadn't been able to see any post-season Baseball so far.
At 10:00 I checked again; this time they had just moved my truck into the shop to get started. Once more back to the lounge and the rest of the Red Sox ultimate triumph.
Once the game concluded around midnight I headed back to the shop to check on my truck. Nothing conclusive yet; they were still working on it. Back to the lounge and post-game Series coverage and SportsCenter.
2:00 a.m.: Another walk to the shop (and boy, it was getting chilly outside). This time some more definitive news: they were going to take the drive tires off and re-cap (aka "re-tread") them, they were short-handed on mechanics at that time of night, and estimated completion time would be 6:00 a.m. They offered to get me a room at the local hotel where they put up "stranded" drivers, but I figured I'd just wait it out at the terminal. By the time a cab could arrive to take me over to the hotel and I could check in, it'd be 3:30 and I'd only get a couple hours of sleep before needing to get up and head back by 6:00. Not worth the trouble. Besides, I wasn't really overly tired yet. (Kind of surprising after a somewhat short night of sleep the previous night.) So it was back to the lounge and more SportsCenter for me.
I'm sure I've mentioned in previous updates that the Vandalia terminal doesn't have the big, overstuffed, leather recliners found at other terminals--the drivers' lounge here isn't big enough to accommodate them. Here we just have metal (some have padded seats) folding chairs and a couple of round tables. It was during this stretch in the lounge that I tried putting my head down on my hands on a table and catching something approaching sleep. Boy, was that uncomfortable, and mostly unsuccessful. But I think I did actually sleep for a few minutes.
Eventually 6:00 rolled around and I took another stroll over to the shop. (It's not a very long walk--maybe 50-60 yards.) Different news this time: They were putting new tires on all 8 drive wheels AND they were replacing my driver's side windshield (a rock had put a nice round crack at its bottom a little while back--not a big problem to me, but I guess they wanted to remove the possibility of it becoming a problem). The problem was they wouldn't finish the windshield 'til around 8:00, then the adhesive would have to cure for 3 hours before they could release my truck to me. Sheesh! Woulda' been nice to know when they had offered me the hotel room way back at 2:00. So, once more into the fray--er, lounge.
Finally, at 11:15 I made one more trip to the shop. This time the mechanic was just finishing up the paperwork on the job. A few minutes later I had my truck back! Only 16-1/2 or so hours after dropping it off! And now I'm telling you all about it. Surprisingly, I'm not completely exhausted, as I should be by rights. I think I'll slog through the afternoon and early evening so I can keep near my normal (or preferred) sleep-wake schedule.
Anyway, I'm getting hungry, so I'll need to wrap this up so I can do lunch. But first a quick answer to reader Jim the Baritone's query, "Have you ever hauled a "Wide-Load'? Are there special rules for the driver, like more frequent breaks, or less daily driving time when hauling wide loads?"
No, I haven't hauled any oversize loads. We USA drivers just pull the standard 53-foot enclosed trailers; nothing oversize will fit in them. I don't think there are any special hours-of-service rules for drivers hauling such loads, but I can't say for sure.
Now it's really time to wrap up for today. Thanks for your vicarious interest. Drop me a comment and/or question, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Yesterday: 562
Welcome to the middle of my 34-hour break. I won't be driving any today because I used up all of my permitted 70-hours-in-8-days in the first 7 days of this tour of duty. So I'll just sit here 'til I can get back to the grind tomorrow morning. And, so far, the operative word has been "sit".
I arrived here at the terminal around 6:00 p.m. last night after having made the trek from West Memphis, AR. I had an appointment at 7:00 for my truck's regular maintenance, so I dropped my trailer, had some dinner, called home, pulled my truck over to the shop, and turned over the key. I mentioned to them that the drive tires--the 8 of them on the tandem axles at the back of the truck--were getting a bit worn (remember my fun with the DOT inspection last week), and they told me that checking them was part of the maintenance service anyway (which I knew, but I still wasn't convinced they'd necessarily do anything about it). Then I went to the drivers' lounge to wait for them to complete the work and page me. Some good NFL action was on the big screen TV in the lounge.
At 8:30 I walked over to the shop to check on things--the service is usually pretty quick if they don't find anything else to take care of--and my truck was still where I had left it. Back to the lounge for me. Now I got to catch what turned out to be the final World Series game. Good timing for my break 'cuz I hadn't been able to see any post-season Baseball so far.
At 10:00 I checked again; this time they had just moved my truck into the shop to get started. Once more back to the lounge and the rest of the Red Sox ultimate triumph.
Once the game concluded around midnight I headed back to the shop to check on my truck. Nothing conclusive yet; they were still working on it. Back to the lounge and post-game Series coverage and SportsCenter.
2:00 a.m.: Another walk to the shop (and boy, it was getting chilly outside). This time some more definitive news: they were going to take the drive tires off and re-cap (aka "re-tread") them, they were short-handed on mechanics at that time of night, and estimated completion time would be 6:00 a.m. They offered to get me a room at the local hotel where they put up "stranded" drivers, but I figured I'd just wait it out at the terminal. By the time a cab could arrive to take me over to the hotel and I could check in, it'd be 3:30 and I'd only get a couple hours of sleep before needing to get up and head back by 6:00. Not worth the trouble. Besides, I wasn't really overly tired yet. (Kind of surprising after a somewhat short night of sleep the previous night.) So it was back to the lounge and more SportsCenter for me.
I'm sure I've mentioned in previous updates that the Vandalia terminal doesn't have the big, overstuffed, leather recliners found at other terminals--the drivers' lounge here isn't big enough to accommodate them. Here we just have metal (some have padded seats) folding chairs and a couple of round tables. It was during this stretch in the lounge that I tried putting my head down on my hands on a table and catching something approaching sleep. Boy, was that uncomfortable, and mostly unsuccessful. But I think I did actually sleep for a few minutes.
Eventually 6:00 rolled around and I took another stroll over to the shop. (It's not a very long walk--maybe 50-60 yards.) Different news this time: They were putting new tires on all 8 drive wheels AND they were replacing my driver's side windshield (a rock had put a nice round crack at its bottom a little while back--not a big problem to me, but I guess they wanted to remove the possibility of it becoming a problem). The problem was they wouldn't finish the windshield 'til around 8:00, then the adhesive would have to cure for 3 hours before they could release my truck to me. Sheesh! Woulda' been nice to know when they had offered me the hotel room way back at 2:00. So, once more into the fray--er, lounge.
Finally, at 11:15 I made one more trip to the shop. This time the mechanic was just finishing up the paperwork on the job. A few minutes later I had my truck back! Only 16-1/2 or so hours after dropping it off! And now I'm telling you all about it. Surprisingly, I'm not completely exhausted, as I should be by rights. I think I'll slog through the afternoon and early evening so I can keep near my normal (or preferred) sleep-wake schedule.
Anyway, I'm getting hungry, so I'll need to wrap this up so I can do lunch. But first a quick answer to reader Jim the Baritone's query, "Have you ever hauled a "Wide-Load'? Are there special rules for the driver, like more frequent breaks, or less daily driving time when hauling wide loads?"
No, I haven't hauled any oversize loads. We USA drivers just pull the standard 53-foot enclosed trailers; nothing oversize will fit in them. I don't think there are any special hours-of-service rules for drivers hauling such loads, but I can't say for sure.
Now it's really time to wrap up for today. Thanks for your vicarious interest. Drop me a comment and/or question, and keep on truckin'.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Makin' Tracks Outta' Texas
DATELINE: WEST MEMPHIS, AR, 6:15 p.m. CDT
Miles Today: 609
Nothing much exciting today, just a L-O-N-G drive through Texas and across Arkansas. The roads were clear the whole way and I made good time, keeping the pedal to the metal. Since I wasn't under a deadline and really not in any hurry, I did take time to stop a couple of times for bites to eat, to fuel up my truck, and once more for a nap.
My day did start earlier than I had planned, though. I was going to sleep in this morning because I would just be terminal-hopping today and tomorrow. But I woke up around 4:00 and couldn't get back to sleep. So I figured I'd just get going at 5:15, when I'd completed my requisite 10-hour break. Besides, it's pleasant driving in the early morning, catching the sunrise. I've seen doozies these past 2 days: the sky has been completely clear both days, and the Texas landscape has offered unobstructed 360-degree views of the horizon. So I could see the sky slowly changing color in advance of the sun peeking above the horizon, something we don't see in Michigan. True, it wasn't as dramatic as clouds reflecting the many colors of a sunrise or sunset, but still pretty cool.
Well, it's been a long day and my dinner's ready, so it's time to sign off. Thanks for stopping by, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 609
Nothing much exciting today, just a L-O-N-G drive through Texas and across Arkansas. The roads were clear the whole way and I made good time, keeping the pedal to the metal. Since I wasn't under a deadline and really not in any hurry, I did take time to stop a couple of times for bites to eat, to fuel up my truck, and once more for a nap.
My day did start earlier than I had planned, though. I was going to sleep in this morning because I would just be terminal-hopping today and tomorrow. But I woke up around 4:00 and couldn't get back to sleep. So I figured I'd just get going at 5:15, when I'd completed my requisite 10-hour break. Besides, it's pleasant driving in the early morning, catching the sunrise. I've seen doozies these past 2 days: the sky has been completely clear both days, and the Texas landscape has offered unobstructed 360-degree views of the horizon. So I could see the sky slowly changing color in advance of the sun peeking above the horizon, something we don't see in Michigan. True, it wasn't as dramatic as clouds reflecting the many colors of a sunrise or sunset, but still pretty cool.
Well, it's been a long day and my dinner's ready, so it's time to sign off. Thanks for stopping by, and keep on truckin'.
Friday, October 26, 2007
About Face
DATELINE: JARRELL, TX, 7:45 p.m. CDT
Miles Today: 455
Today turned into another of those in which I do a bit of waiting around, then have to use my whole 14-hour limit to get in my work day. Here's how it went.
I got up at 4:30 to shower and shave before breakfasting on a bowl of cereal in my truck. Then I started my workday at 5:15 with my pre-trip inspection of my truck and hit the road by 5:30. As I had figured, it did take me 3 hours to get to my delivery, including a fuel stop just a few miles before that in Laredo. So when I arrived at the company I got in the line of trucks waiting to get in the gate.
When I checked in at the gate, the guard directed me to park over in a side lot to wait for an opening at the dock. 90 minutes later he finally came over and sent me to a dock for unloading. Since most of my load had been taken off at yesterday's delivery, today's unloading didn't take long, and I was soon heading back to the local Flying J (where I had made the fuel stop on the way down) to park and wait for my next assignment.
One thing that's changed in that area since my stop back in February/March is a brand-spankin' new TA right across the street from the Flying J. The TA has a Burger King, Subway, and Taco Bell (along with their usual sit-down restaurant) in their food court, better choices than those at Flying J': their restaurant, Pepperoni's Pizza, and Magic Dragon Chinese. I was in the mood for pseudo-Mexican, so I ambled across the street for some Taco Bell.
Back to my truck after lunch, my assignment hadn't come in yet, so I had time to head into the Flying J to use their Scan-n-Go kiosk to send in the paperwork for the load I had just delivered. (That's how I get paid, letting USA know I've completed a load.) That took a while 'cuz Scan-n-Gos are slow scanners, like small copiers with the light bar that travels across below the glass platform, and I had 12 pages to scan in, one at a time.
Back in my truck again, still no assignment yet. I was just about to send in a message asking for an ETA for the load assignment when my Fleet Manager called, He said that the assignment had been sent, but that the message wasn't getting to my Qualcomm box. (That has happened before.) Anyway, I was to pick up a loaded trailer at USA's yard in Laredo, only a couple miles from where I had made this morning's delivery.
I hadn't been to that yard before, but I figured I could find it. I wound up following another USA truck that had passed me while I was slowly trawling the area and seemed to be headed in the proper direction. That turned out to be a correct assumption, and he led me right to it. There it was just a matter of parking my empty trailer, finding the one I had been assigned, hooking it up to my truck, and heading back out. Which I did.
This new load is headed to Detroit, due for delivery on Monday. HURRAY! Maybe I'll get to stop by home for a night. Wait a minute...I wonder if I have enough of my 70-hours-in-8-days limit left to make it all the way back. Hmmmm. I couldn't pull out my log and add up my hours 'til I stopped for the night. (Well, I could have pulled into a rest area or truck stop to do that, but I wanted to drive as much as I could in the few hours I had left for the day, not waste time crunching numbers. So I let the matter ride 'til my workday ended.) It turns out that as I sit here now, I only have 20 work hours left for the next 3 days. By my calculations I should be able to get to the West Memphis, AR terminal tomorrow, then to Vandalia on Sunday, using up all of those hours. That will leave me none to get the load to its destination on Monday. :-( Drat. Guess I'll be sitting out another 34-hour break in Vandalia on Monday.
Anyway, I've stopped at a small truck stop in this town between Austin and Wacko--er, Waco. I pulled in just at 7:15, exactly 14 hours since I started my workday this morning. I'm surprisingly not completely worn out as I had expected to be, since I'd been "head tired" all morning. Must've been because I didn't get any caffeine 'til lunch today, and I've been guzzling it all afternoon. But I am pleasantly tired, and expect I will fall asleep pretty quickly once I finish this up, check my e-mail, and sign off. So now I'll get started on that process.
Thanks again for checking up on me. Do drop me a line, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 455
Today turned into another of those in which I do a bit of waiting around, then have to use my whole 14-hour limit to get in my work day. Here's how it went.
I got up at 4:30 to shower and shave before breakfasting on a bowl of cereal in my truck. Then I started my workday at 5:15 with my pre-trip inspection of my truck and hit the road by 5:30. As I had figured, it did take me 3 hours to get to my delivery, including a fuel stop just a few miles before that in Laredo. So when I arrived at the company I got in the line of trucks waiting to get in the gate.
When I checked in at the gate, the guard directed me to park over in a side lot to wait for an opening at the dock. 90 minutes later he finally came over and sent me to a dock for unloading. Since most of my load had been taken off at yesterday's delivery, today's unloading didn't take long, and I was soon heading back to the local Flying J (where I had made the fuel stop on the way down) to park and wait for my next assignment.
One thing that's changed in that area since my stop back in February/March is a brand-spankin' new TA right across the street from the Flying J. The TA has a Burger King, Subway, and Taco Bell (along with their usual sit-down restaurant) in their food court, better choices than those at Flying J': their restaurant, Pepperoni's Pizza, and Magic Dragon Chinese. I was in the mood for pseudo-Mexican, so I ambled across the street for some Taco Bell.
Back to my truck after lunch, my assignment hadn't come in yet, so I had time to head into the Flying J to use their Scan-n-Go kiosk to send in the paperwork for the load I had just delivered. (That's how I get paid, letting USA know I've completed a load.) That took a while 'cuz Scan-n-Gos are slow scanners, like small copiers with the light bar that travels across below the glass platform, and I had 12 pages to scan in, one at a time.
Back in my truck again, still no assignment yet. I was just about to send in a message asking for an ETA for the load assignment when my Fleet Manager called, He said that the assignment had been sent, but that the message wasn't getting to my Qualcomm box. (That has happened before.) Anyway, I was to pick up a loaded trailer at USA's yard in Laredo, only a couple miles from where I had made this morning's delivery.
I hadn't been to that yard before, but I figured I could find it. I wound up following another USA truck that had passed me while I was slowly trawling the area and seemed to be headed in the proper direction. That turned out to be a correct assumption, and he led me right to it. There it was just a matter of parking my empty trailer, finding the one I had been assigned, hooking it up to my truck, and heading back out. Which I did.
This new load is headed to Detroit, due for delivery on Monday. HURRAY! Maybe I'll get to stop by home for a night. Wait a minute...I wonder if I have enough of my 70-hours-in-8-days limit left to make it all the way back. Hmmmm. I couldn't pull out my log and add up my hours 'til I stopped for the night. (Well, I could have pulled into a rest area or truck stop to do that, but I wanted to drive as much as I could in the few hours I had left for the day, not waste time crunching numbers. So I let the matter ride 'til my workday ended.) It turns out that as I sit here now, I only have 20 work hours left for the next 3 days. By my calculations I should be able to get to the West Memphis, AR terminal tomorrow, then to Vandalia on Sunday, using up all of those hours. That will leave me none to get the load to its destination on Monday. :-( Drat. Guess I'll be sitting out another 34-hour break in Vandalia on Monday.
Anyway, I've stopped at a small truck stop in this town between Austin and Wacko--er, Waco. I pulled in just at 7:15, exactly 14 hours since I started my workday this morning. I'm surprisingly not completely worn out as I had expected to be, since I'd been "head tired" all morning. Must've been because I didn't get any caffeine 'til lunch today, and I've been guzzling it all afternoon. But I am pleasantly tired, and expect I will fall asleep pretty quickly once I finish this up, check my e-mail, and sign off. So now I'll get started on that process.
Thanks again for checking up on me. Do drop me a line, and keep on truckin'.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
The Gulf to the Alamo (Well, Kinda')
DATELINE: SAN ANTONIO, TX, 6:00 p.m. CDT
Miles Yesterday: 473
Miles Today: 538
Greetings from the "YEE-HAH" state. As y'all know, I'm on my way down to Laredo for a delivery tomorrow morning, after making one this morning in Morgan City, LA. I must apologize for not blogging last night, but when I finished driving for the day I was exhausted and decided to take a nap first. I intended to nap for an hour or so, then get up and get online. However, I wound up sleeping through the night. Or, most of the night; I woke up just before 3:00 a.m. Oh well, the best laid plans of mice and truck drivers...
I don't have much to recap about yesterday, anyway. It was just a long drive. I did have to take the long way around to Morgan City, though. I wanted to take I-10 through New Orleans on the way there, but highway restrictions for certain loads meant I'd have to bypass the city. So I wound up taking the "northern route" around the city all the way to Lafayette, then backtracking to Morgan City via US-90. I didn't get all the way to Morgan City yesterday, though; I stopped at a truck stop in the town of Broussard, about 60 miles from Morgan City. I was just too tired to go farther safely.
This morning I was on the road by 5:00 and arrived at my delivery site around 6:15. Now this was a challenging delivery; a small company with no actual loading dock, a small driveway (small for putting an 18-wheeler into it and backing to the gate in their delivery area), and the need to back in from a fairly busy road. AND, since I was early, doing it in the dark. (Did I mention the site was poorly lit?) But with assistance from their staff, I eventually got backed in and lined up properly with the loading area gate. Whew! That was fun.
Unloading was fairly quick; I was back on the road about 45 minutes after they started. After that it was another case of just putting miles under my wheels. After my delivery this morning I had 9-3/4 hours remaining to drive today, and I used 9 of 'em to get here. I'm at a TA on the east side of the city, and this one's got one B-I-G parking lot. (I guess some things ARE bigger in Texas.) It's no Iowa 80 (the world's biggest truck stop), but it is definitely bigger'n most. 'Tis a lengthy walk up to the building from where I'm parked, and it'll be a challenge if I wake up in the middle of the night (or in the morning) with a "digestive emergency", if you get my drift.
I figure it'll take me about 3 hours to get to Laredo from here in the morning. With my delivery scheduled for 8:00, getting rolling at 5:00 ought to do the trick. (Plus, that'll get me through this big city before rush hour.) I've been to the Laredo delivery site once before and, as I recall, they don't even open their gates 'til 8:30. (I wrote about that before--I arrived way early and had to park in the street and nap 'til they opened. See my update entitled, "A Long One" in March of this year.) 8:30, eh? Perhaps I'll sleep in another 1/2 hour in the morning.
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE...
- In most states in which I drive, the mile markers on the interstate highways get as high as somewhere in the 300's, and sometimes 400's. When I crossed into the eastern end of I-10 in Texas today, the first mile marker read "881". Big state.
- I've seen some pretty amusing place names during my travels down the highways and byways this year, but today I saw the most amusing so far. The sign gave the name of a small waterway just east of San Antonio: "Woman Hollering Creek". My windows were up and I didn't hear her.
So how's that for today's update? Feeling up-to-date? Thanks for checking in once more, and keep right on truckin'.
Miles Yesterday: 473
Miles Today: 538
Greetings from the "YEE-HAH" state. As y'all know, I'm on my way down to Laredo for a delivery tomorrow morning, after making one this morning in Morgan City, LA. I must apologize for not blogging last night, but when I finished driving for the day I was exhausted and decided to take a nap first. I intended to nap for an hour or so, then get up and get online. However, I wound up sleeping through the night. Or, most of the night; I woke up just before 3:00 a.m. Oh well, the best laid plans of mice and truck drivers...
I don't have much to recap about yesterday, anyway. It was just a long drive. I did have to take the long way around to Morgan City, though. I wanted to take I-10 through New Orleans on the way there, but highway restrictions for certain loads meant I'd have to bypass the city. So I wound up taking the "northern route" around the city all the way to Lafayette, then backtracking to Morgan City via US-90. I didn't get all the way to Morgan City yesterday, though; I stopped at a truck stop in the town of Broussard, about 60 miles from Morgan City. I was just too tired to go farther safely.
This morning I was on the road by 5:00 and arrived at my delivery site around 6:15. Now this was a challenging delivery; a small company with no actual loading dock, a small driveway (small for putting an 18-wheeler into it and backing to the gate in their delivery area), and the need to back in from a fairly busy road. AND, since I was early, doing it in the dark. (Did I mention the site was poorly lit?) But with assistance from their staff, I eventually got backed in and lined up properly with the loading area gate. Whew! That was fun.
Unloading was fairly quick; I was back on the road about 45 minutes after they started. After that it was another case of just putting miles under my wheels. After my delivery this morning I had 9-3/4 hours remaining to drive today, and I used 9 of 'em to get here. I'm at a TA on the east side of the city, and this one's got one B-I-G parking lot. (I guess some things ARE bigger in Texas.) It's no Iowa 80 (the world's biggest truck stop), but it is definitely bigger'n most. 'Tis a lengthy walk up to the building from where I'm parked, and it'll be a challenge if I wake up in the middle of the night (or in the morning) with a "digestive emergency", if you get my drift.
I figure it'll take me about 3 hours to get to Laredo from here in the morning. With my delivery scheduled for 8:00, getting rolling at 5:00 ought to do the trick. (Plus, that'll get me through this big city before rush hour.) I've been to the Laredo delivery site once before and, as I recall, they don't even open their gates 'til 8:30. (I wrote about that before--I arrived way early and had to park in the street and nap 'til they opened. See my update entitled, "A Long One" in March of this year.) 8:30, eh? Perhaps I'll sleep in another 1/2 hour in the morning.
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE...
- In most states in which I drive, the mile markers on the interstate highways get as high as somewhere in the 300's, and sometimes 400's. When I crossed into the eastern end of I-10 in Texas today, the first mile marker read "881". Big state.
- I've seen some pretty amusing place names during my travels down the highways and byways this year, but today I saw the most amusing so far. The sign gave the name of a small waterway just east of San Antonio: "Woman Hollering Creek". My windows were up and I didn't hear her.
So how's that for today's update? Feeling up-to-date? Thanks for checking in once more, and keep right on truckin'.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Expect the Unexpected
DATELINE: BIRMINGHAM, AL, 10:00 p.m. CDT
Miles Today: 455
Today certainly didn't turn out the way I had planned. First of all, it was raining all day long (who ever would plan that?). Second, I lost a lot of time having to get a drive tire on my truck replaced. Here's that story.
I slept in a bit this morning and didn't get on the road 'til 8:00. All was going well ('cept for the rain as mentioned above) as I made my way through the Bluegrass State. That was until I came across a weigh station 90 miles from the Tennessee border. I dutifully pulled in line, up the ramp, and across the scales. Suddenly their indicator lights started flashing red, which meant I was to pull to the side and bring all my paperwork inside. I have a heavy load, but I knew I wasn't overweight on any of the axles because I had gotten my truck weighed at a truck stop yesterday and everything was legal. As I was grabbing my paperwork, a state police car pulled up to my truck and the trooper had me hop in the back seat so he could conduct the review there instead of inside the building.
He checked out all of my paperwork--the load's bills of lading, truck and trailer registrations, my driver's license and medical card--and found it all to be in order. Then we got out and he performed a walk-around inspection of my truck and trailer--my first DOT inspection! Everything there was fine except for the one tire--it had a spot where the tread was too shallow, less than the minimum 2/32 of an inch. Fortunately he didn't put my truck out-of-service for that, but he put that violation on the report for me to send in to my company. (No fine is involved, but I wouldn't have had to pay it if there was, it'd be a company expense.)
The inspection episode took between 30 and 45 minutes, eating into the mileage I was expecting to make today. Afterwards, I sent in a message to USA via Qualcomm to let them know about the inspection and tire violation. (They have a "Macro" message--a programmed "form" message for drivers to fill in the blanks for the info they need--to report DOT inspections.) A little while later a response came back, so I pulled into a rest area to read it.
Maintenance had put my truck out-of-service until I could get the tire replaced and gave the the name and phone number of the nearest tire fix-it place for me to go for that. However, I called the number so I could get directions and only got a voice mail message that sounded like a personal phone instead of a business. I wound up taking over a half-hour trying to reach them by phone, then contacting USA's Maintenance department to get either a correct phone number or directions from them. We wound up deciding that I'd continue on my way south and I'd stop at one of the TA truck stops around Nashville to get the tire replaced. (Just about all of the TAs have truck service shops.)
Two hours later (at 2:00 p.m. CDT--I crossed the time zone boundary today) I reached the first one along my route, this one in Franklin, TN. Long story short, I wasn't back on the road 'til 4:30. The actual work only took about 30 minutes; what took most of the rest of the time was getting approval for the work from USA through a computer system called "e-Shop" that's supposed to be easier than the shop calling in for a purchase order (PO) number. Like all such process improvement systems, it's only easier for the company; not for the shop that'll be doing the work or the driver waiting for the work to get done so s/he can get back on the road.
Anyway, once that was done, I managed 3 more hours of driving through the rain before darkness fell completely and I was getting tired. I've stopped for the night at a Flying J here in "Birmingum". I had expected to get a few more miles down the road today, at least into Mississippi, but the multiple delays left me no choice (well, no preferable choice) but to stop here before parking spaces became scarce. As it was, few were left here when I arrived.
So now it's time to wrap this up once more and hit the sack. I want to get up and rolling as I complete my requisite 10-hour break at 5:30 in the morning so I'll get to tomorrow's destination--the closest truck stop to Thursday morning's delivery site--while it's still fairly early. Thanks for looking in once more, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 455
Today certainly didn't turn out the way I had planned. First of all, it was raining all day long (who ever would plan that?). Second, I lost a lot of time having to get a drive tire on my truck replaced. Here's that story.
I slept in a bit this morning and didn't get on the road 'til 8:00. All was going well ('cept for the rain as mentioned above) as I made my way through the Bluegrass State. That was until I came across a weigh station 90 miles from the Tennessee border. I dutifully pulled in line, up the ramp, and across the scales. Suddenly their indicator lights started flashing red, which meant I was to pull to the side and bring all my paperwork inside. I have a heavy load, but I knew I wasn't overweight on any of the axles because I had gotten my truck weighed at a truck stop yesterday and everything was legal. As I was grabbing my paperwork, a state police car pulled up to my truck and the trooper had me hop in the back seat so he could conduct the review there instead of inside the building.
He checked out all of my paperwork--the load's bills of lading, truck and trailer registrations, my driver's license and medical card--and found it all to be in order. Then we got out and he performed a walk-around inspection of my truck and trailer--my first DOT inspection! Everything there was fine except for the one tire--it had a spot where the tread was too shallow, less than the minimum 2/32 of an inch. Fortunately he didn't put my truck out-of-service for that, but he put that violation on the report for me to send in to my company. (No fine is involved, but I wouldn't have had to pay it if there was, it'd be a company expense.)
The inspection episode took between 30 and 45 minutes, eating into the mileage I was expecting to make today. Afterwards, I sent in a message to USA via Qualcomm to let them know about the inspection and tire violation. (They have a "Macro" message--a programmed "form" message for drivers to fill in the blanks for the info they need--to report DOT inspections.) A little while later a response came back, so I pulled into a rest area to read it.
Maintenance had put my truck out-of-service until I could get the tire replaced and gave the the name and phone number of the nearest tire fix-it place for me to go for that. However, I called the number so I could get directions and only got a voice mail message that sounded like a personal phone instead of a business. I wound up taking over a half-hour trying to reach them by phone, then contacting USA's Maintenance department to get either a correct phone number or directions from them. We wound up deciding that I'd continue on my way south and I'd stop at one of the TA truck stops around Nashville to get the tire replaced. (Just about all of the TAs have truck service shops.)
Two hours later (at 2:00 p.m. CDT--I crossed the time zone boundary today) I reached the first one along my route, this one in Franklin, TN. Long story short, I wasn't back on the road 'til 4:30. The actual work only took about 30 minutes; what took most of the rest of the time was getting approval for the work from USA through a computer system called "e-Shop" that's supposed to be easier than the shop calling in for a purchase order (PO) number. Like all such process improvement systems, it's only easier for the company; not for the shop that'll be doing the work or the driver waiting for the work to get done so s/he can get back on the road.
Anyway, once that was done, I managed 3 more hours of driving through the rain before darkness fell completely and I was getting tired. I've stopped for the night at a Flying J here in "Birmingum". I had expected to get a few more miles down the road today, at least into Mississippi, but the multiple delays left me no choice (well, no preferable choice) but to stop here before parking spaces became scarce. As it was, few were left here when I arrived.
So now it's time to wrap this up once more and hit the sack. I want to get up and rolling as I complete my requisite 10-hour break at 5:30 in the morning so I'll get to tomorrow's destination--the closest truck stop to Thursday morning's delivery site--while it's still fairly early. Thanks for looking in once more, and keep on truckin'.
Monday, October 22, 2007
A Journey of 1700+ Miles Begins With...
DATELINE: FLORENCE, KY, 10:30 p.m. EDT
Miles Today: 336
Well, I'm back at it, not so fresh from a couple of days at home. "Not so fresh" because I had lots to do and didn't get to sleep 'til around 2:00 this morning. Then I got up about 2 hours later so Mrs. R.T. could drive me to my truck on her way to work. So fatigue was a big part of the day. Anyway, here's how my day went.
I got back in my truck just a little after 5:00 and sent in my "back to work" message to dispatch. I hoped that perhaps it'd take a while for my load assignment to come in and that I could catch a few winks while waiting. After settling into the truck, putting away some of my clean laundry and such, I finally stretched out on my bunk right around 6:00. Within a minute my assignment message came in, so I had to get to work. Especially because my first pickup was scheduled for 7:00.
That's right, my first pickup; this load includes 2 stops at each end. The pickups were in Wyandotte, MI and Livonia, MI. The deliveries are a bit further away and farther apart: the first is in Morgan City, LA (extreme southern LA) on Thursday morning, the second is in Laredo, TX on Friday morning. That gives me plenty of time (3 days plus) to mosey the 1000-ish miles on down to stopoff1, but I'll really have to haul asterisk to get to Laredo within a day, another 650 or so miles away.
Anyway, the pickups went just fine, although the second took a little long, a bit over an hour. The first was a drop-and-hook. The problem with today, besides the short sleep, was that the most direct route was down I-75 through Ohio. I seriously considered heading west along I-94 through Michigan to take I-69 through Indiana, bypassing Ohio altogether. But I decided to tough it out and take the shorter route.
After I'd been driving a while, my fatigue started reaching a critical mass, so I pulled into a truck stop in North Baltimore, OH for a nap. I was planning on about an hour for that nap, but it actually stretched a bit to 90 minutes. That gave me enough alertness to make it this far, the Rest Area/Kentucky Welcome Center near Florence. I was planing to drive a bit farther today, closer to Louisville, but I got to Cincinnati at rush hour and spent over an hour crawling through the traffic there. That plus heavy rain and dusk settling in led me to decide to shut it down here. (I guess my lack of sleep may have had some part in the decision, too.)
So that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it. Thanks for checking up on me. Drop me a line so I'll know I still have an audience, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 336
Well, I'm back at it, not so fresh from a couple of days at home. "Not so fresh" because I had lots to do and didn't get to sleep 'til around 2:00 this morning. Then I got up about 2 hours later so Mrs. R.T. could drive me to my truck on her way to work. So fatigue was a big part of the day. Anyway, here's how my day went.
I got back in my truck just a little after 5:00 and sent in my "back to work" message to dispatch. I hoped that perhaps it'd take a while for my load assignment to come in and that I could catch a few winks while waiting. After settling into the truck, putting away some of my clean laundry and such, I finally stretched out on my bunk right around 6:00. Within a minute my assignment message came in, so I had to get to work. Especially because my first pickup was scheduled for 7:00.
That's right, my first pickup; this load includes 2 stops at each end. The pickups were in Wyandotte, MI and Livonia, MI. The deliveries are a bit further away and farther apart: the first is in Morgan City, LA (extreme southern LA) on Thursday morning, the second is in Laredo, TX on Friday morning. That gives me plenty of time (3 days plus) to mosey the 1000-ish miles on down to stopoff1, but I'll really have to haul asterisk to get to Laredo within a day, another 650 or so miles away.
Anyway, the pickups went just fine, although the second took a little long, a bit over an hour. The first was a drop-and-hook. The problem with today, besides the short sleep, was that the most direct route was down I-75 through Ohio. I seriously considered heading west along I-94 through Michigan to take I-69 through Indiana, bypassing Ohio altogether. But I decided to tough it out and take the shorter route.
After I'd been driving a while, my fatigue started reaching a critical mass, so I pulled into a truck stop in North Baltimore, OH for a nap. I was planning on about an hour for that nap, but it actually stretched a bit to 90 minutes. That gave me enough alertness to make it this far, the Rest Area/Kentucky Welcome Center near Florence. I was planing to drive a bit farther today, closer to Louisville, but I got to Cincinnati at rush hour and spent over an hour crawling through the traffic there. That plus heavy rain and dusk settling in led me to decide to shut it down here. (I guess my lack of sleep may have had some part in the decision, too.)
So that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it. Thanks for checking up on me. Drop me a line so I'll know I still have an audience, and keep on truckin'.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Home Weekend
DATELINE: PITTSFIELD TWP, MI, 8:30 p.m. EDT
Greetings from home! I apologize once more for missing a couple of days of updates, but I'll catch up tonight.
On Thursday I made my delivery in a small town just west of Indianapolis in the morning, then got my next assignment. That was to make a pickup in another western Indiana town and take it to Bay City, MI, delivery at 9:30 Friday morning. Pickup was scheduled for noon, so I boogied on over there, arriving around 11:15. This was a place that pre-loads trailers, so it'd be a drop-and-hook pickup for me. When I arrived (early), they were just getting started loading the trailer I'd be taking, so I had a bit of a wait ahead of me. Unfortunately, that wait wound up being longer than desired; I wasn't out of there 'til after 2:00.
Once back rolling, my goal for the rest of the day was to make it to my "home" truck stop, the TA in Dexter, MI. Mission accomplished as I arrived at about 8:00 p.m., fueled up my truck, and found a parking space. I was tired and hadn't had dinner yet, so I patronized the Popeye's Chicken there, then hit the sack.
Friday morning I got up early so I'd have plenty of time for a leisurely shower, shave, and breakfast before heading out for Bay City. I hit the road at 7:00 and reached the delivery customer at 9:00. This was yet another drop-and-hook delivery, although I did have to back the loaded trailer to a dock door (instead of dropping it in a lot). Before grabbing an empty trailer and heading home, I had to check with dispatch to find out if they wanted me to pick up a load there (I've been to this customer twice before for pickups) and get it started on its way. It took a few minutes for the messages to get through, but ultimately dispatch just told me to get an empty and head home.
So now I'm home in the middle of this latest all-too-brief hometime. I go back to work Monday morning, then I expect I'll be on the road 'til Thanksgiving. Since I get 1 day at home for every week (7 days) I'm on the road, I need to stay out that long in order to get the full Thanksgiving weekend off. Anyway, check beck on Tuesday to find out where I'm off to next.
For now I'll move on to answering reader Jim the Baritone's question, "Have you made any friends on the road? Or, is the chance of seeing anyone more than once so small that it is just you, the truck, the poker games and the blog?"
Well, Jim, I do pretty much keep to myself on the road. I never run across any other truckers frequently enough to create any friendships. I'm certainly personable enough with other drivers while waiting around in shipping/receiving offices and truck stop (or USA terminal) lounges, but most of the time I do stay in my truck. That's just the way I prefer it.
I've managed to take a LONG time putting this report together (distracted by the Wolverines' game on TV), and it's now getting late. Time for me to sign off and head to bed. Thanks for looking in, drop me some comments and questions, and keep on truckin'.
Greetings from home! I apologize once more for missing a couple of days of updates, but I'll catch up tonight.
On Thursday I made my delivery in a small town just west of Indianapolis in the morning, then got my next assignment. That was to make a pickup in another western Indiana town and take it to Bay City, MI, delivery at 9:30 Friday morning. Pickup was scheduled for noon, so I boogied on over there, arriving around 11:15. This was a place that pre-loads trailers, so it'd be a drop-and-hook pickup for me. When I arrived (early), they were just getting started loading the trailer I'd be taking, so I had a bit of a wait ahead of me. Unfortunately, that wait wound up being longer than desired; I wasn't out of there 'til after 2:00.
Once back rolling, my goal for the rest of the day was to make it to my "home" truck stop, the TA in Dexter, MI. Mission accomplished as I arrived at about 8:00 p.m., fueled up my truck, and found a parking space. I was tired and hadn't had dinner yet, so I patronized the Popeye's Chicken there, then hit the sack.
Friday morning I got up early so I'd have plenty of time for a leisurely shower, shave, and breakfast before heading out for Bay City. I hit the road at 7:00 and reached the delivery customer at 9:00. This was yet another drop-and-hook delivery, although I did have to back the loaded trailer to a dock door (instead of dropping it in a lot). Before grabbing an empty trailer and heading home, I had to check with dispatch to find out if they wanted me to pick up a load there (I've been to this customer twice before for pickups) and get it started on its way. It took a few minutes for the messages to get through, but ultimately dispatch just told me to get an empty and head home.
So now I'm home in the middle of this latest all-too-brief hometime. I go back to work Monday morning, then I expect I'll be on the road 'til Thanksgiving. Since I get 1 day at home for every week (7 days) I'm on the road, I need to stay out that long in order to get the full Thanksgiving weekend off. Anyway, check beck on Tuesday to find out where I'm off to next.
For now I'll move on to answering reader Jim the Baritone's question, "Have you made any friends on the road? Or, is the chance of seeing anyone more than once so small that it is just you, the truck, the poker games and the blog?"
Well, Jim, I do pretty much keep to myself on the road. I never run across any other truckers frequently enough to create any friendships. I'm certainly personable enough with other drivers while waiting around in shipping/receiving offices and truck stop (or USA terminal) lounges, but most of the time I do stay in my truck. That's just the way I prefer it.
I've managed to take a LONG time putting this report together (distracted by the Wolverines' game on TV), and it's now getting late. Time for me to sign off and head to bed. Thanks for looking in, drop me some comments and questions, and keep on truckin'.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Milestone
DATELINE: MONROVIA, IN, 8:00 p.m. EDT
Miles Today: 467
Today I passed a milestone that I've been looking forward to: I passed the 100,000 mile mark since I started driving solo in this truck last December 28. I take the odometer reading on my truck at the end of every day, and when I picked up the truck it had 286,969 miles on it, and today, obviously, it went past 386,969. So that's working out to a bit over 10,000 miles per month, or right on the target goal of 125,000 for the year. Unfortunately, they haven't all been paid miles because of the predetermined-miles-per-trip policy USA uses. But at least I get to be away from home and all the things I like and need to do for most of each month. (I hope you pick up on the sarcasm in that last sentence.) But enough about the milestone, let's move on to today's fun and games.
I arose around 4:15 in order to get on the road at 4:30, when I fulfilled my requisite 10-hour break. The drive to my pickup in WV was dark and foggy, and I arrived around 6:15, just a smidge past my appointment time of 6:00. I stopped at the company's gate and went into the gate house to check in. While doing so, the guard told me that the shipping department doesn't ever have anybody in or the paperwork ready 'til 7:00; she doesn't know why companies keep sending trucks at 6:00. So I had to back up and park alongside their driveway and wait 'til they summoned me after 7:00. In the meantime, I also did have to watch a short safety video they make all visitors watch before being admitted to the facility.
Finally, at around 7:08, they guard waved me in and instructed me where to park my empty trailer and to which building to go to get the paperwork and find out where the loaded trailer I'd be taking was. (Yes, 'twas another drop-and-hook pickup.) All that went fine, and I was back on the road by 8:00.
This is a relatively short trip--only 313 loaded miles from pickup to delivery; thankfully I'll also get paid for 167 empty miles from my previous delivery to today's pickup. And since my delivery appointment isn't 'til 9:00 tomorrow morning, I took the drive nice 'n easy today, even stopping for a 45-minute nap at a rest area east of Columbus. The drive went mostly well; I was forced to follow a detour (following a lengthy traffic jam) off of I-70 near I-75 when, apparently, the police had closed off a portion of the highway. Must have been an accident further ahead. But the detour, although slow because of the massive amount of traffic, wasn't difficult and I easily made it through to the Vandalia terminal for fuel and lunch.
After lunch, I made my way over to this town, just west of Indianapolis, where I've stopped for the night at a TA truck stop (or "Travel Plaza", as these places like to be known these days). Despite the "short" trip, it wound up being a long work day: 9 hours of driving, 1-1/4 hours of other duties, plus the down time for waiting and napping. So overall it was over 13 hours from start to finish.
And that's my tale for today. Now an entreaty: C'mon, people, it's been a few days now without any comments. I need to hear from my public! So please drop me a comment and/or question. Anything you want to know about the trucking life but were afraid to ask? Anyway, I still thank you for reading my drivel, and do keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 467
Today I passed a milestone that I've been looking forward to: I passed the 100,000 mile mark since I started driving solo in this truck last December 28. I take the odometer reading on my truck at the end of every day, and when I picked up the truck it had 286,969 miles on it, and today, obviously, it went past 386,969. So that's working out to a bit over 10,000 miles per month, or right on the target goal of 125,000 for the year. Unfortunately, they haven't all been paid miles because of the predetermined-miles-per-trip policy USA uses. But at least I get to be away from home and all the things I like and need to do for most of each month. (I hope you pick up on the sarcasm in that last sentence.) But enough about the milestone, let's move on to today's fun and games.
I arose around 4:15 in order to get on the road at 4:30, when I fulfilled my requisite 10-hour break. The drive to my pickup in WV was dark and foggy, and I arrived around 6:15, just a smidge past my appointment time of 6:00. I stopped at the company's gate and went into the gate house to check in. While doing so, the guard told me that the shipping department doesn't ever have anybody in or the paperwork ready 'til 7:00; she doesn't know why companies keep sending trucks at 6:00. So I had to back up and park alongside their driveway and wait 'til they summoned me after 7:00. In the meantime, I also did have to watch a short safety video they make all visitors watch before being admitted to the facility.
Finally, at around 7:08, they guard waved me in and instructed me where to park my empty trailer and to which building to go to get the paperwork and find out where the loaded trailer I'd be taking was. (Yes, 'twas another drop-and-hook pickup.) All that went fine, and I was back on the road by 8:00.
This is a relatively short trip--only 313 loaded miles from pickup to delivery; thankfully I'll also get paid for 167 empty miles from my previous delivery to today's pickup. And since my delivery appointment isn't 'til 9:00 tomorrow morning, I took the drive nice 'n easy today, even stopping for a 45-minute nap at a rest area east of Columbus. The drive went mostly well; I was forced to follow a detour (following a lengthy traffic jam) off of I-70 near I-75 when, apparently, the police had closed off a portion of the highway. Must have been an accident further ahead. But the detour, although slow because of the massive amount of traffic, wasn't difficult and I easily made it through to the Vandalia terminal for fuel and lunch.
After lunch, I made my way over to this town, just west of Indianapolis, where I've stopped for the night at a TA truck stop (or "Travel Plaza", as these places like to be known these days). Despite the "short" trip, it wound up being a long work day: 9 hours of driving, 1-1/4 hours of other duties, plus the down time for waiting and napping. So overall it was over 13 hours from start to finish.
And that's my tale for today. Now an entreaty: C'mon, people, it's been a few days now without any comments. I need to hear from my public! So please drop me a comment and/or question. Anything you want to know about the trucking life but were afraid to ask? Anyway, I still thank you for reading my drivel, and do keep on truckin'.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Movin' East, Then South a Bit
DATELINE: SOMEWHERE ALONG I-77 IN OHIO, 7:15 p.m. EDT
Miles Today: 573
Hopefully I can keep this short today. It's been another long day, driving through rain most of the way (my 4th straight gloomy, rainy day). The load I was hauling turned out to be due for a drop at its destination (rather than a live unload), so I was able to just take it there right away upon arrival this afternoon instead of waiting for the 1:00 a.m. delivery appointment.
After making the drop and grabbing a new empty trailer there, I got my next assignment: head down to Willow Island, WV to grab a new load. Pickup is set for 6:00 a.m. tomorrow, so I started heading that way. I only had less than 2 more hours available to drive after dropping the load, so I've had to stop at a rest area along the highway for the night. I'll have to get up early (4:00 a.m.) to complete the trip to the pickup, but even so I'm going to be just a bit late. This is another one of those assignments in which the drive time plus the requisite rest break time add up to slightly more than the time allotted between assignment notification and the pickup appointment. Oh well, I don't want to break any DOT hours of service regulations now, do I?
Anyway, once I gather up the new load in the morning, my task will be to take it to its destination just west of Indianapolis. Delivery is scheduled for 9:00 Thursday morning. It's just over 300 miles for the trip, so I expect I'll get to the Indy area tomorrow afternoon. Then I'll have time for a good rest and get to sleep in Thursday morning. Then again, I may elect to stop for the night at our Vandalia, OH terminal, which is on the way. Check back tomorrow to see what I decided.
That's enough for today. I'm tired and my dinner's ready, so I bid you "Keep on truckin'". (And thanks for looking in.)
Miles Today: 573
Hopefully I can keep this short today. It's been another long day, driving through rain most of the way (my 4th straight gloomy, rainy day). The load I was hauling turned out to be due for a drop at its destination (rather than a live unload), so I was able to just take it there right away upon arrival this afternoon instead of waiting for the 1:00 a.m. delivery appointment.
After making the drop and grabbing a new empty trailer there, I got my next assignment: head down to Willow Island, WV to grab a new load. Pickup is set for 6:00 a.m. tomorrow, so I started heading that way. I only had less than 2 more hours available to drive after dropping the load, so I've had to stop at a rest area along the highway for the night. I'll have to get up early (4:00 a.m.) to complete the trip to the pickup, but even so I'm going to be just a bit late. This is another one of those assignments in which the drive time plus the requisite rest break time add up to slightly more than the time allotted between assignment notification and the pickup appointment. Oh well, I don't want to break any DOT hours of service regulations now, do I?
Anyway, once I gather up the new load in the morning, my task will be to take it to its destination just west of Indianapolis. Delivery is scheduled for 9:00 Thursday morning. It's just over 300 miles for the trip, so I expect I'll get to the Indy area tomorrow afternoon. Then I'll have time for a good rest and get to sleep in Thursday morning. Then again, I may elect to stop for the night at our Vandalia, OH terminal, which is on the way. Check back tomorrow to see what I decided.
That's enough for today. I'm tired and my dinner's ready, so I bid you "Keep on truckin'". (And thanks for looking in.)
Monday, October 15, 2007
Excursion Across the Great Midwest
DATELINE: OAK CREEK, WI, 7:00 p.m. CDT
Miles Today: 476
Miles Yesterday: 0
Welcome back from a day off! I spent yesterday ensconced at the TA in Albert Lea, MN, rather than driving up to the Twin Cities area. I figured I'd just stay put and complete a 34-hour reset so I could go all-out this week, not having to worry about bumping up against my 70-hour limit before heading home for the weekend off.
This evening I bring you greetings from the Dairy State, which I'm passing through on my way from Minneapolis to Warren, OH. I was up early this morning, on the road by 4:45, and reached my delivery on time (6:30). Slight problem: nobody was there to take delivery. The customer is a smaller company, not a big-time round-the-clock operation, so I had to wait for their Shipping & Receiving Department to show up. Finally, at 7:30, I made contact and backed into their dock. They were slow at unloading, too, and I didn't leave there 'til around 8:45.
Shortly thereafter my next assignment came in: Drive down to Bloomington, MN and pick up a load there. Pickup time: 10:30 a.m. So I made the relatively short drive to the southern Minneapolis suburb, arriving there at about 9:30.
Now this place was encumbered by limited geography, meaning they had one real narrow lot. It is a long building and lot, but from dock wall to curb and fence on the other side was perhaps 85 to 90 feet. Now, these trucks we're driving around, cab and trailer combined, measure about 70 feet. That didn't leave much pull-up room to straighten up in front of the dock door. (And just enough room for other vehicles to pass by in front on their way in and out.) Because of that lack of room, the company can only use two dock doors at a time, even though they have several more. There just isn't enough room for more trucks to maneuver into or out of the docks if other trucks are parked at them.
It's a good thing they have a long lot and that their docks are a good ways back. Because of the limited dock accessibility, any "extra" trucks have to line up and wait for an active dock to open up. And this apparently is a busy place, because all the time I was there, at least 4 trucks were in line.) Like I said, it's good that their lot is long to be able to fit that line.) Fortunately, they were quick about loading the trailers; it only took them maybe 15-20 minutes to load up mine.
As I mentioned above, I'm on my way to Warren, OH, which is way over on the eastern side of the state, near Youngstown. My delivery appointment is for 1:00 a.m. (yes, just after midnight) on Wednesday, so I gotta boogie to get there on time. All in all I have about 37 hours to make the trip and squeeze in 2 10-hour breaks. At just under 800 miles, I should be able to make it. Tomorrow, after I complete this break and hit the road around 4:30 a.m., I ought to be able to get to the Warren area with enough time to fit in my next break before having to get moving again on my way to the delivery. That's the theory, anyway.
For now I'm at the Flying J in this town just south of Milwaukee. All of the waiting I had to do today ate into my 14 hours, so I couldn't drive as far as I would have liked, so I'll be hauling backside tomorrow. As such, I'll need to finish this up and get off to bed. Thanks yet again for reading my reports, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 476
Miles Yesterday: 0
Welcome back from a day off! I spent yesterday ensconced at the TA in Albert Lea, MN, rather than driving up to the Twin Cities area. I figured I'd just stay put and complete a 34-hour reset so I could go all-out this week, not having to worry about bumping up against my 70-hour limit before heading home for the weekend off.
This evening I bring you greetings from the Dairy State, which I'm passing through on my way from Minneapolis to Warren, OH. I was up early this morning, on the road by 4:45, and reached my delivery on time (6:30). Slight problem: nobody was there to take delivery. The customer is a smaller company, not a big-time round-the-clock operation, so I had to wait for their Shipping & Receiving Department to show up. Finally, at 7:30, I made contact and backed into their dock. They were slow at unloading, too, and I didn't leave there 'til around 8:45.
Shortly thereafter my next assignment came in: Drive down to Bloomington, MN and pick up a load there. Pickup time: 10:30 a.m. So I made the relatively short drive to the southern Minneapolis suburb, arriving there at about 9:30.
Now this place was encumbered by limited geography, meaning they had one real narrow lot. It is a long building and lot, but from dock wall to curb and fence on the other side was perhaps 85 to 90 feet. Now, these trucks we're driving around, cab and trailer combined, measure about 70 feet. That didn't leave much pull-up room to straighten up in front of the dock door. (And just enough room for other vehicles to pass by in front on their way in and out.) Because of that lack of room, the company can only use two dock doors at a time, even though they have several more. There just isn't enough room for more trucks to maneuver into or out of the docks if other trucks are parked at them.
It's a good thing they have a long lot and that their docks are a good ways back. Because of the limited dock accessibility, any "extra" trucks have to line up and wait for an active dock to open up. And this apparently is a busy place, because all the time I was there, at least 4 trucks were in line.) Like I said, it's good that their lot is long to be able to fit that line.) Fortunately, they were quick about loading the trailers; it only took them maybe 15-20 minutes to load up mine.
As I mentioned above, I'm on my way to Warren, OH, which is way over on the eastern side of the state, near Youngstown. My delivery appointment is for 1:00 a.m. (yes, just after midnight) on Wednesday, so I gotta boogie to get there on time. All in all I have about 37 hours to make the trip and squeeze in 2 10-hour breaks. At just under 800 miles, I should be able to make it. Tomorrow, after I complete this break and hit the road around 4:30 a.m., I ought to be able to get to the Warren area with enough time to fit in my next break before having to get moving again on my way to the delivery. That's the theory, anyway.
For now I'm at the Flying J in this town just south of Milwaukee. All of the waiting I had to do today ate into my 14 hours, so I couldn't drive as far as I would have liked, so I'll be hauling backside tomorrow. As such, I'll need to finish this up and get off to bed. Thanks yet again for reading my reports, and keep on truckin'.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Northward Swing
DATELINE: ALBERT LEA, MN, 6:30 p.m. CDT
Miles Today: 546
Miles Yesterday: 387
My apologies for not posting an update yesterday, but I could not get a connection for my phone card at the place I stopped for the night. I had stopped relatively early and was looking forward to a few hours of online time, but that was not to be. Instead I had to settle for a nap, some time walking, dinner, and catching a movie in the drivers' lounge ("Shooter", with Mark Wahlberg, a good, suspenseful flick). So here's how the whole day went.
I started out in northeast OK and worked my way from there and across MO to St. Louis. It was a bright, sunny day (once the sun had come up) and the drive took about 7 hours, including a stop at a Flying J in Joplin, MO to grab a quick shower. I dropped off my loaded trailer at our drop yard near downtown (just a yard, not a terminal), then waited for my next assignment. That came about 30-45 minutes later and was as I expected; grab another load from that yard and take it to its destination. In this case, the destination is Minneapolis, MN, with a delivery appointment for 6:30 Monday morning.
That gave me 2-1/2 days to make the 600-ish-mile trip, about a day more than I need. (Weekends are a pain that way.) So I decided to make the early stop, about an hour after leaving that drop yard. I stopped at a TA in Foristell, MO that I've been to before. (I don't recall that I've spent a night there previously, but I have had a flat tire fixed there and stopped for a meal another time.) Then I discovered the online signal deficiency and spent the evening as I described above.
This morning I was up at 5:15, hit the shower, and was on the road by 6:00. I wanted to get as many miles in today as I could, making tomorrow a nice, short work day. If I could get to Minneapolis (actually, my goal would be the TA in Rogers), that would be perfect, but I suspected that was just too far away. My route would be I-70 west to Kansas City, then I-35 north from there. My secondary target was where I am now, another TA (a nice, new-ish, big one) in the town of Albert Lea, 11 miles across the state line from IA. I stopped here for fuel once on my very first tour of duty as a solo driver, so I knew it would be a good place to spend a night.
Today's weather was a marked contrast from yesterday's. As I was driving west across MO early in the day, I could see the sky ahead of me not getting lighter as the sun rose. It stayed dark grey and ominous. Eventually the rain started, and became heavy and accompanied by lightning as I neared KC. The heavy downpour lasted a while, but certainly not all day. Most of the time it was cloudy and drizzly, but nothing to make driving hazardous.
Anyway, I have about 90 miles to drive tomorrow, then I'll have lots of free time for the rest of the day. Then I'll have to get up early to get to my delivery on time Monday morning. As for now, I am getting a bit tired and may give in and call it a night good and early. But first I'll respond to reader nancyr's query:
"Here's another question for you. You've been driving these roads for a while now. Imagine you've been blindfolded and just dropped on a highway, anywhere. Take off the blindfold. How look would it take you to figure out where you are? Just by the scenery and terrain, not the road signs. I'm sure some places you could figure out quickly, and some would take you a while. What areas are the most distinctive - the ones you could figure out in a flash? And which places look just like every place else?"
You know, I was just thinking along those lines as I was driving into Missouri from Oklahoma yesterday. It seemed to me that the terrain and scenery in the "show me" state was distinct from that in Soonerland. I think that of the highways I've been down multiple times especially, it wouldn't take me too very long to guess my location, especially if I could roam a few miles and see what the rest area facilities looked like. (Those would be a dead give-away.) I may not be able to discern my exact location, but I think I could reasonably well determine which state I was in.
Well, that's enough for tonight. Thanks for dropping by. Drop me a comment or question to rival nancyr's, and I'll put your name in pixels here, too. And, don't forget...keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 546
Miles Yesterday: 387
My apologies for not posting an update yesterday, but I could not get a connection for my phone card at the place I stopped for the night. I had stopped relatively early and was looking forward to a few hours of online time, but that was not to be. Instead I had to settle for a nap, some time walking, dinner, and catching a movie in the drivers' lounge ("Shooter", with Mark Wahlberg, a good, suspenseful flick). So here's how the whole day went.
I started out in northeast OK and worked my way from there and across MO to St. Louis. It was a bright, sunny day (once the sun had come up) and the drive took about 7 hours, including a stop at a Flying J in Joplin, MO to grab a quick shower. I dropped off my loaded trailer at our drop yard near downtown (just a yard, not a terminal), then waited for my next assignment. That came about 30-45 minutes later and was as I expected; grab another load from that yard and take it to its destination. In this case, the destination is Minneapolis, MN, with a delivery appointment for 6:30 Monday morning.
That gave me 2-1/2 days to make the 600-ish-mile trip, about a day more than I need. (Weekends are a pain that way.) So I decided to make the early stop, about an hour after leaving that drop yard. I stopped at a TA in Foristell, MO that I've been to before. (I don't recall that I've spent a night there previously, but I have had a flat tire fixed there and stopped for a meal another time.) Then I discovered the online signal deficiency and spent the evening as I described above.
This morning I was up at 5:15, hit the shower, and was on the road by 6:00. I wanted to get as many miles in today as I could, making tomorrow a nice, short work day. If I could get to Minneapolis (actually, my goal would be the TA in Rogers), that would be perfect, but I suspected that was just too far away. My route would be I-70 west to Kansas City, then I-35 north from there. My secondary target was where I am now, another TA (a nice, new-ish, big one) in the town of Albert Lea, 11 miles across the state line from IA. I stopped here for fuel once on my very first tour of duty as a solo driver, so I knew it would be a good place to spend a night.
Today's weather was a marked contrast from yesterday's. As I was driving west across MO early in the day, I could see the sky ahead of me not getting lighter as the sun rose. It stayed dark grey and ominous. Eventually the rain started, and became heavy and accompanied by lightning as I neared KC. The heavy downpour lasted a while, but certainly not all day. Most of the time it was cloudy and drizzly, but nothing to make driving hazardous.
Anyway, I have about 90 miles to drive tomorrow, then I'll have lots of free time for the rest of the day. Then I'll have to get up early to get to my delivery on time Monday morning. As for now, I am getting a bit tired and may give in and call it a night good and early. But first I'll respond to reader nancyr's query:
"Here's another question for you. You've been driving these roads for a while now. Imagine you've been blindfolded and just dropped on a highway, anywhere. Take off the blindfold. How look would it take you to figure out where you are? Just by the scenery and terrain, not the road signs. I'm sure some places you could figure out quickly, and some would take you a while. What areas are the most distinctive - the ones you could figure out in a flash? And which places look just like every place else?"
You know, I was just thinking along those lines as I was driving into Missouri from Oklahoma yesterday. It seemed to me that the terrain and scenery in the "show me" state was distinct from that in Soonerland. I think that of the highways I've been down multiple times especially, it wouldn't take me too very long to guess my location, especially if I could roam a few miles and see what the rest area facilities looked like. (Those would be a dead give-away.) I may not be able to discern my exact location, but I think I could reasonably well determine which state I was in.
Well, that's enough for tonight. Thanks for dropping by. Drop me a comment or question to rival nancyr's, and I'll put your name in pixels here, too. And, don't forget...keep on truckin'.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Meet Me in St. Louie, Louie
DATELINE: VINITA, OK, 10:40 p.m. CDT
Miles Today: 493
Boy, I should be more tireder than I am now, considering I got up at 4:30 this mawnin' after a short night o' sleep, then put in a 14-hour work day. (Well, it was only 10-1/2 hours of work, but over a 14-hour period.) Then, after parking here, I went online and played some more poker. I'll probably feel the fatigue tomorrow, though. But enough about my sleep deprivation, let's get on to how the day went.
As I mentioned, I was up good 'n early, then on the road at 5:00. I reached my delivery site by 6:15; just a little early, which is good. I wrote yesterday that I had fears about the tiny lot/docks area at the site, but those fears had no basis today. True, it was still the same small lot, but I was the first truck there and the dock they had me back into was wide open--no other trucks/trailers in the adjoining docks to back around. That made it much easier. Unloading went very quickly, then the only quasi-difficult part came.
The company is having their side parking lot re-built, and today was the day the cement trucks came to pour the lot's surface. Not a problem for getting into the docks area, but the cement trucks had to get to the new lot via the driveway I needed to use to exit. So I had to wait a bit 'til they moved out of my way.
While I was waiting, my next assignment message came in: drive over to Arlington, TX and pick up a load bound for 2 drop-offs in Illinois. So I checked my map, found my route, and headed Arlington way.
My pickup was scheduled for 10:00 a.m., but I got there and checked in at about 7:45. This was a drop-and-hook pickup but, unfortunately, they hadn't loaded the new trailer yet. So I parked the empty trailer I had brought with me where they had indicated, unhooked it, then parked my cab and waited. I did some paperwork, some reading ("Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide, Tournament Edition"--a good book if you're interested in improving your poker game), and some puzzles in a copy of Games magazine I have with me.
They had told me they'd come get me when the trailer was loaded and ready for me. But long about 10:20 or so, I was still waiting. I went in to check on the load's progress. It took the shipping clerk a few attempts to find the proper paperwork, and lo and behold the load was indeed complete and ready to roll. So I hooked up the trailer to my truck and hit the road.
This load doesn't deliver 'til Monday, 4 days hence, and it's only a 2-day drive, so I'll be dropping this trailer at our drop yard in St. Louis on Friday, whenever I can get there. It's still a goodly long drive across Missouri (~300 miles), so I'll use a good portion of my allotted driving hours tomorrow to get there. But I should have enough left to go get another load afterwards.
Anyway, after making the pickup in Arlington, I headed north on I-35 to Oklahoma City, where I picked up I-44 and am taking that northeast to St. Looie. Portions of this highway are turnpike, and I've stopped for the night at a service plaza along the 'pike. I had figured early in my drive that I'd reach here just about as my 14-hour work window was closing, and I was just about dead-on; I made it with 5 minutes to spare.
As I mentioned, after parking (and grabbing dinner at the McDonald's here built over the roadway) I went online to hit the virtual felt. Lately I've found a new favorite game at Full Tilt Poker--the 6-handed Sit-n-Go tournaments. (No-Limit Texas Hold-em, of course.) They go a little faster than the normal 9-handed SnGs, and I think I play a little better at a short-handed (fewer players) table. Not that my luck's any better, as I've been taking an infuriatingly large number of bad beats and suck-outs, and had some long stretches of being card-dead. (If you're not up on poker terminology, I apologize for this deviation from trucking talk. But that's what I feel like touching on right now.) But I do generally last a good long while in each, unless the bad luck hits early.
Back to trucking, reader Dennis the Accompanist inquired about my least favorite intersection/interchange to drive through. (Check his comment after yesterday's post for his exact wording.) I can't think of any one specific place that I "regularly" encounter, but there was one place around Newark that blew my mind. I've only driven that stretch once, but it was a "Spaghetti Junction" with entrance and exit ramps coming and going this way and that, and narrow, potholed roadbeds. I almost read-ended another truck that had stopped completely (all the other traffic was flowing at normal speeds) in order to cross to a ramp. And the signs in the area were confusing, to boot. (A couple different streets with similar names.) So I hope I don't have to go back there.
Well now, it's getting later and later, and I do believe I am now starting to get a bit tired. So I'll wrap this up and say, "Good night!" Thanks once more for following along, drop me a comment, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 493
Boy, I should be more tireder than I am now, considering I got up at 4:30 this mawnin' after a short night o' sleep, then put in a 14-hour work day. (Well, it was only 10-1/2 hours of work, but over a 14-hour period.) Then, after parking here, I went online and played some more poker. I'll probably feel the fatigue tomorrow, though. But enough about my sleep deprivation, let's get on to how the day went.
As I mentioned, I was up good 'n early, then on the road at 5:00. I reached my delivery site by 6:15; just a little early, which is good. I wrote yesterday that I had fears about the tiny lot/docks area at the site, but those fears had no basis today. True, it was still the same small lot, but I was the first truck there and the dock they had me back into was wide open--no other trucks/trailers in the adjoining docks to back around. That made it much easier. Unloading went very quickly, then the only quasi-difficult part came.
The company is having their side parking lot re-built, and today was the day the cement trucks came to pour the lot's surface. Not a problem for getting into the docks area, but the cement trucks had to get to the new lot via the driveway I needed to use to exit. So I had to wait a bit 'til they moved out of my way.
While I was waiting, my next assignment message came in: drive over to Arlington, TX and pick up a load bound for 2 drop-offs in Illinois. So I checked my map, found my route, and headed Arlington way.
My pickup was scheduled for 10:00 a.m., but I got there and checked in at about 7:45. This was a drop-and-hook pickup but, unfortunately, they hadn't loaded the new trailer yet. So I parked the empty trailer I had brought with me where they had indicated, unhooked it, then parked my cab and waited. I did some paperwork, some reading ("Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide, Tournament Edition"--a good book if you're interested in improving your poker game), and some puzzles in a copy of Games magazine I have with me.
They had told me they'd come get me when the trailer was loaded and ready for me. But long about 10:20 or so, I was still waiting. I went in to check on the load's progress. It took the shipping clerk a few attempts to find the proper paperwork, and lo and behold the load was indeed complete and ready to roll. So I hooked up the trailer to my truck and hit the road.
This load doesn't deliver 'til Monday, 4 days hence, and it's only a 2-day drive, so I'll be dropping this trailer at our drop yard in St. Louis on Friday, whenever I can get there. It's still a goodly long drive across Missouri (~300 miles), so I'll use a good portion of my allotted driving hours tomorrow to get there. But I should have enough left to go get another load afterwards.
Anyway, after making the pickup in Arlington, I headed north on I-35 to Oklahoma City, where I picked up I-44 and am taking that northeast to St. Looie. Portions of this highway are turnpike, and I've stopped for the night at a service plaza along the 'pike. I had figured early in my drive that I'd reach here just about as my 14-hour work window was closing, and I was just about dead-on; I made it with 5 minutes to spare.
As I mentioned, after parking (and grabbing dinner at the McDonald's here built over the roadway) I went online to hit the virtual felt. Lately I've found a new favorite game at Full Tilt Poker--the 6-handed Sit-n-Go tournaments. (No-Limit Texas Hold-em, of course.) They go a little faster than the normal 9-handed SnGs, and I think I play a little better at a short-handed (fewer players) table. Not that my luck's any better, as I've been taking an infuriatingly large number of bad beats and suck-outs, and had some long stretches of being card-dead. (If you're not up on poker terminology, I apologize for this deviation from trucking talk. But that's what I feel like touching on right now.) But I do generally last a good long while in each, unless the bad luck hits early.
Back to trucking, reader Dennis the Accompanist inquired about my least favorite intersection/interchange to drive through. (Check his comment after yesterday's post for his exact wording.) I can't think of any one specific place that I "regularly" encounter, but there was one place around Newark that blew my mind. I've only driven that stretch once, but it was a "Spaghetti Junction" with entrance and exit ramps coming and going this way and that, and narrow, potholed roadbeds. I almost read-ended another truck that had stopped completely (all the other traffic was flowing at normal speeds) in order to cross to a ramp. And the signs in the area were confusing, to boot. (A couple different streets with similar names.) So I hope I don't have to go back there.
Well now, it's getting later and later, and I do believe I am now starting to get a bit tired. So I'll wrap this up and say, "Good night!" Thanks once more for following along, drop me a comment, and keep on truckin'.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Heading to Irving
DATELINE: CADDO MILLS, TX, 5:30 p.m. CDT
Miles Today: 409
My goal for today was merely to get somewhat close to the site to which I'll be delivering tomorrow morning. So I got acceptably close, within 60 miles. (I haven't mapped out the exact distance, but I'm within 45 miles of Dallas, on the east side, and my delivery will be in Irving, on Big D's west side. I stopped here (at a Pilot) 'cuz truck stops are in short supply along my route, and this place has a good-sized lot, more parking spaces than others somewhat closer to town. Besides, with a 6:30 a.m. delivery appointment, I plan to hit the road at 5:00 in the morning. That way I'll be tooling around the big city before rush hour starts.
I believe I've been to this customer once before, and I recall it has one of those small lots/dock areas, so I'm looking forward to the "fun" and "excitement" of squeezing my trailer into a tight space. And this time I'll probably get to do it in the dark, too! Woo-hoo! (Please pray for my soul.)
Anyway, today was mostly the boring drive across AR and NE TX. I got up early enough to shower and shave at the West Memphis terminal, and after that had some free time before my requisite 10-hour break had gone the full distance. So I pulled out my little car/truck-vac and cleaned up my cab a bit. I hadn't done that for a while, and the floor in there was getting a bit grungy. It's much better now. Maybe next time I'm feeling similarly industrious and have some down time I'll take the Windex to the windows.
As for today's drive, like I mentioned, it was a bore. I've made that drive quite a few times now, both in the dark and in daylight, and there's just none of the excitement about going somewhere new. I hope my next assignment tomorrow will take me further west into TX, into parts I haven't been to before. (I haven't been west of the line from Dallas down to Laredo--a drive I made earlier this year.)
So that's today's news. Thanks for looking in again, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 409
My goal for today was merely to get somewhat close to the site to which I'll be delivering tomorrow morning. So I got acceptably close, within 60 miles. (I haven't mapped out the exact distance, but I'm within 45 miles of Dallas, on the east side, and my delivery will be in Irving, on Big D's west side. I stopped here (at a Pilot) 'cuz truck stops are in short supply along my route, and this place has a good-sized lot, more parking spaces than others somewhat closer to town. Besides, with a 6:30 a.m. delivery appointment, I plan to hit the road at 5:00 in the morning. That way I'll be tooling around the big city before rush hour starts.
I believe I've been to this customer once before, and I recall it has one of those small lots/dock areas, so I'm looking forward to the "fun" and "excitement" of squeezing my trailer into a tight space. And this time I'll probably get to do it in the dark, too! Woo-hoo! (Please pray for my soul.)
Anyway, today was mostly the boring drive across AR and NE TX. I got up early enough to shower and shave at the West Memphis terminal, and after that had some free time before my requisite 10-hour break had gone the full distance. So I pulled out my little car/truck-vac and cleaned up my cab a bit. I hadn't done that for a while, and the floor in there was getting a bit grungy. It's much better now. Maybe next time I'm feeling similarly industrious and have some down time I'll take the Windex to the windows.
As for today's drive, like I mentioned, it was a bore. I've made that drive quite a few times now, both in the dark and in daylight, and there's just none of the excitement about going somewhere new. I hope my next assignment tomorrow will take me further west into TX, into parts I haven't been to before. (I haven't been west of the line from Dallas down to Laredo--a drive I made earlier this year.)
So that's today's news. Thanks for looking in again, and keep on truckin'.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Brevity
DATELINE: WEST MEMPHIS, AR, 11:15 p.m. CDT
Miles Today: 623
Quick update tonight...long workday...tired...must get to bed.
Woke up at 6:00 EDT in Vandalia...sent in "Back to work message"...went back to sleep while waiting for load assignment...3-1/2 hours later sent message to dispatch asking for ETA of assignment...reply: "Call me, assignment message to you (me) must have been lost in the ether."...called...pickup 30 miles north in Sidney, OH, load going to Irving, TX...drove up to Sidney...drop-and-hook pickup...stopped at rest area 30 minutes later...trailer brake problem when trying to leave rest area...called Breakdown department...waited for mechanic from Vandalia terminal to drive up to help me out...brakes fixed and back on road after 90-minute delay...drive, drive, drive rest of day to get here, using up all of my 11 driving hours for the day...arrived 10:30 p.m. CDT...now it's bedtime.
Thanks for reading...send comments...keep on truckin'. Nighty-night.
Miles Today: 623
Quick update tonight...long workday...tired...must get to bed.
Woke up at 6:00 EDT in Vandalia...sent in "Back to work message"...went back to sleep while waiting for load assignment...3-1/2 hours later sent message to dispatch asking for ETA of assignment...reply: "Call me, assignment message to you (me) must have been lost in the ether."...called...pickup 30 miles north in Sidney, OH, load going to Irving, TX...drove up to Sidney...drop-and-hook pickup...stopped at rest area 30 minutes later...trailer brake problem when trying to leave rest area...called Breakdown department...waited for mechanic from Vandalia terminal to drive up to help me out...brakes fixed and back on road after 90-minute delay...drive, drive, drive rest of day to get here, using up all of my 11 driving hours for the day...arrived 10:30 p.m. CDT...now it's bedtime.
Thanks for reading...send comments...keep on truckin'. Nighty-night.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
End of a Long Work Week
DATELINE: VANDALIA, OH, 2:45 p.m. EDT
Miles Today: 308
Miles Yesterday: 593
Well, I'm back on familiar turf, my "home" terminal in southern OH. I did use up all of the hours remaining from my 70-working-hours-in-8-days-limit in getting here, and since this is only day 7, I'll have to sit out tomorrow and relax here. But I'll have plenty of other work to do concerning my other interests, so I won't just be sitting idly. Anyway, on to the terribly dull recounting of my activities since Friday's update.
Yesterday I allowed myself to sleep in 'til 6:00 a.m., since I was in no rush to get my load anywhere by any deadline. As you recall, I spent the night in Oklahoma City, OK, so that's where I started yesterday's trip. The day's drive, 10 hours' worth, crossed the northeast quadrant of OK, all of Missouri, and half of Illinois before I stopped in Effingham, one of my "regular" haunts. I parked at the Flying J there, as I usually do when I pass by the town nearing the end of a shift. After a leisurely dinner in my cab, I went out for a walk, something I haven't been doing much of lately.
It was 6:30 p.m when I started, and the sun was setting, but the temperature was still 88 degrees. This is October in the Midwest? The truck stop is at a bustling commercial intersection, so I walked past restaurants, hotels, and retail establishments. I was wearing jeans, so I kept my pace nice and casual so I wouldn't get too hot and sweaty, because I wanted to stop at the nearby Wal-Mart on my way back for a couple of supplies.
After the walk/shopping trip, I decided to veg out and spent the rest of the evening in the drivers' lounge watching college football on the big-screen TV. When I finally decided I was tired enough to retire to my truck, I was too tired to compose an update for y'all. Since I knew today would be a short work day, I'd just save the day's news for this bloggage.
So today I slept in once again 'til the 6:00 hour, hit the shower and shaved, then hit the road by 7:00. 6-ish hours later (including an early lunch stop around Indy), I arrived here, filled my fuel tanks, dropped my trailer, and found a parking place in the front row nearest the drivers' building. And now I get to bide my time 'til I can return to work on Tuesday. Which is fine by me; after 6 long work days and one short one, I'm ready NOT to be driving anywhere for a little while. Mayhaps I'll head inside to the lounge and catch today's NFL action--the Patriots/Browns game is on in there currently.
Thanks once more for stopping by for a look-see of my trucking life. Drop me a comment and/or question, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 308
Miles Yesterday: 593
Well, I'm back on familiar turf, my "home" terminal in southern OH. I did use up all of the hours remaining from my 70-working-hours-in-8-days-limit in getting here, and since this is only day 7, I'll have to sit out tomorrow and relax here. But I'll have plenty of other work to do concerning my other interests, so I won't just be sitting idly. Anyway, on to the terribly dull recounting of my activities since Friday's update.
Yesterday I allowed myself to sleep in 'til 6:00 a.m., since I was in no rush to get my load anywhere by any deadline. As you recall, I spent the night in Oklahoma City, OK, so that's where I started yesterday's trip. The day's drive, 10 hours' worth, crossed the northeast quadrant of OK, all of Missouri, and half of Illinois before I stopped in Effingham, one of my "regular" haunts. I parked at the Flying J there, as I usually do when I pass by the town nearing the end of a shift. After a leisurely dinner in my cab, I went out for a walk, something I haven't been doing much of lately.
It was 6:30 p.m when I started, and the sun was setting, but the temperature was still 88 degrees. This is October in the Midwest? The truck stop is at a bustling commercial intersection, so I walked past restaurants, hotels, and retail establishments. I was wearing jeans, so I kept my pace nice and casual so I wouldn't get too hot and sweaty, because I wanted to stop at the nearby Wal-Mart on my way back for a couple of supplies.
After the walk/shopping trip, I decided to veg out and spent the rest of the evening in the drivers' lounge watching college football on the big-screen TV. When I finally decided I was tired enough to retire to my truck, I was too tired to compose an update for y'all. Since I knew today would be a short work day, I'd just save the day's news for this bloggage.
So today I slept in once again 'til the 6:00 hour, hit the shower and shaved, then hit the road by 7:00. 6-ish hours later (including an early lunch stop around Indy), I arrived here, filled my fuel tanks, dropped my trailer, and found a parking place in the front row nearest the drivers' building. And now I get to bide my time 'til I can return to work on Tuesday. Which is fine by me; after 6 long work days and one short one, I'm ready NOT to be driving anywhere for a little while. Mayhaps I'll head inside to the lounge and catch today's NFL action--the Patriots/Browns game is on in there currently.
Thanks once more for stopping by for a look-see of my trucking life. Drop me a comment and/or question, and keep on truckin'.
Friday, October 5, 2007
More Catching Up
DATELINE: OKLAHOMA CITY, OK, 3:00 p.m. CDT
Once again I have a lot of catching up to do here. My apologies for my latest silence, but I've had a very busy--and tiring--few days. (Fortunately, that means I'm getting lots of miles, which means a larger paycheck.) Here's what's been up.
TUESDAY, 546 Miles
As you recall, I was on my way across southern PA, headed for a delivery in Robbinsville, NJ. I got up early enough to reach that delivery on time. That was a drop-and-hook delivery, so I was done there fairly quickly. Then I waited on a side street within the business park there for my next assignment. That came in about 30 minutes later: head up to Kearney, NJ (across the river from Manhattan) and pick up a load there.
The drive to Kearny took a little over an hour. The pickup was another D&H and didn't take much time, either. What was going to take some time was the drive with this load: it was headed for Ardmore, OK, a trip of over 1500 miles. With delivery set for early Friday morning, I had about 66 hours to get there. So off I went.
With the hours I had left to drive that day, I made it to the VA border along I-81. (Aside: That's an interesting stretch of highway along 81; you can visit 4 states in less than 40 miles: Start in PA if you're headed southbound, then cross about 12 miles of MD, then 25-ish miles of WV, then you reach VA. Are there any other such stretches of highway in the country that encroach on 4 states in such a short distance?) Actually, I crossed into VA, then doubled back to the WV welcome center rest area when I found lot at the Flying J in Winchester, VA a complete zoo with nowhere to park. I nabbed the last open spot at the welcome center.
Before bedding down for the night, I hauled out my laptop to compose the day's update for this blog, but I could not get a connection via my Verizon card. (Well, I did actually get a connection, but it was tenuous at best; not stable enough to do any blogging.) Hence the lack of an update for that day.
WEDNESDAY, 659 Miles
Drive, drive, drive. All the way down the western side of VA along I-81 and into TN before picking up I-40 for the directly west portion of my journey. Instead of 4 states in less than 40 miles, today was 2 states in 650+ miles (if we discount the teensy bit of WV I started in), and I only made it about halfway through the second. I reached Fairview, TN, just a bit west of Nashville, and stopped for the night at the Flying J there. I'm sure I could have gotten a good online connection there, but I was plumb tuckered out when I finished my drive. So I just hit the sack.
THURSDAY, 617 Miles
My Fleet Manager had asked me to stop by our Van Buren, AR terminal (also the company's HQ) on this trip for a 30-day, post-orientation review. (Obviously he was just a little tardy in scheduling that; it's been 9-1/2 months since I had orientation.) I got up at 3:00 that morning and was rolling by 3:45 so I could make it to Van Buren (about a 9-hour drive away) while he was still there. (And so I could get to the delivery on time the next morning.)
I did the "terminal hop", stopping at the West Memphis, AR facility for fuel and a bite to eat before crossing the great state of AR to get to Van Buren. The review was 1-1/2 hours of:
- Some waiting (naturally)
- Jotting some notes on a form about how well my fleet manager's doing for me
- Getting a quick tour of a couple of departments in the building, and
- Getting an explanation of how the load coordinators assign loads to drivers.
Such excitement! Afterwards I grabbed a quick bite there and hit the road once more.
I made it as far as a truck stop in Seminole, OK before my available hours for the day ran out. To my dismay, when I tried to blog for you, I could not get an online connection at all.
TODAY (FRIDAY), 385 Miles
I got up this morning at 2:15 and hit the road at 2:30. I had about 150 miles to go to get to my 6:00 delivery appointment, so I knew I had to get going early. (And yes, in case you were wondering, I did get my full 10-hour break in; I have all week.) I made god time and reached the customer by 5:15. This once more was a drop-and-hook delivery, which was a little slower than usual because I had to back my loaded trailer into a fairly tight spot. So it took me 30 minutes at that site instead of 15. Afterwards I retreated to a truck stop back at the highway exit where I had left the interstate (I-35) to get to the delivery. There I waited over 2 hours before my next assignment came in.
This assignment took me back to familiar ground: Pick up a load in Lawton, OK (at a site I've been to 2 or 3 times before) and take it to the Vandalia, OH terminal. I had to take a "back road" to get from Ardmore to Lawton (or at least the interstates that pass by them), but US 70 was a pretty good, fast route. The pickup was once more a drop-and-hook, which disappointed me greatly. I had just picked up a gleaming, must-have-recently-been-brand-spanking-new empty trailer at this morning's delivery, and was hoping to hang onto it for a while. That's the way it seems to go; pick up one of the newer trailers as an empty, then have to swap it for an older, beat-up one at the next pickup. Sheesh! But I digress.
After making that pickup, I headed up to OK City, which is on my route back to Vandalia (I-44 east to St. Louis, then I-70 east to Vandalia). I stopped at the Flying J here to fuel up my truck, then also decided just to spend the night here. I have no deadline to get to Vandalia, because this load doesn't actually deliver until Wednesday morning. Also, the drive to Vandalia is just going to use up my 70-hours-in-8-days limit in just 7 days, so when I get there (which I will do on Sunday, my 7th day on this tour of duty) I'll have to sit out a 34-hour restart anyway. But I hope I can get another week like that; I need the paying miles.
So now you're once again caught up with me. I apologize again for the missing days, and I will do my best to post daily updates. But, unfortunately, that's not always possible. Thanks for following along, please drop me a line, and keep on truckin'.
Once again I have a lot of catching up to do here. My apologies for my latest silence, but I've had a very busy--and tiring--few days. (Fortunately, that means I'm getting lots of miles, which means a larger paycheck.) Here's what's been up.
TUESDAY, 546 Miles
As you recall, I was on my way across southern PA, headed for a delivery in Robbinsville, NJ. I got up early enough to reach that delivery on time. That was a drop-and-hook delivery, so I was done there fairly quickly. Then I waited on a side street within the business park there for my next assignment. That came in about 30 minutes later: head up to Kearney, NJ (across the river from Manhattan) and pick up a load there.
The drive to Kearny took a little over an hour. The pickup was another D&H and didn't take much time, either. What was going to take some time was the drive with this load: it was headed for Ardmore, OK, a trip of over 1500 miles. With delivery set for early Friday morning, I had about 66 hours to get there. So off I went.
With the hours I had left to drive that day, I made it to the VA border along I-81. (Aside: That's an interesting stretch of highway along 81; you can visit 4 states in less than 40 miles: Start in PA if you're headed southbound, then cross about 12 miles of MD, then 25-ish miles of WV, then you reach VA. Are there any other such stretches of highway in the country that encroach on 4 states in such a short distance?) Actually, I crossed into VA, then doubled back to the WV welcome center rest area when I found lot at the Flying J in Winchester, VA a complete zoo with nowhere to park. I nabbed the last open spot at the welcome center.
Before bedding down for the night, I hauled out my laptop to compose the day's update for this blog, but I could not get a connection via my Verizon card. (Well, I did actually get a connection, but it was tenuous at best; not stable enough to do any blogging.) Hence the lack of an update for that day.
WEDNESDAY, 659 Miles
Drive, drive, drive. All the way down the western side of VA along I-81 and into TN before picking up I-40 for the directly west portion of my journey. Instead of 4 states in less than 40 miles, today was 2 states in 650+ miles (if we discount the teensy bit of WV I started in), and I only made it about halfway through the second. I reached Fairview, TN, just a bit west of Nashville, and stopped for the night at the Flying J there. I'm sure I could have gotten a good online connection there, but I was plumb tuckered out when I finished my drive. So I just hit the sack.
THURSDAY, 617 Miles
My Fleet Manager had asked me to stop by our Van Buren, AR terminal (also the company's HQ) on this trip for a 30-day, post-orientation review. (Obviously he was just a little tardy in scheduling that; it's been 9-1/2 months since I had orientation.) I got up at 3:00 that morning and was rolling by 3:45 so I could make it to Van Buren (about a 9-hour drive away) while he was still there. (And so I could get to the delivery on time the next morning.)
I did the "terminal hop", stopping at the West Memphis, AR facility for fuel and a bite to eat before crossing the great state of AR to get to Van Buren. The review was 1-1/2 hours of:
- Some waiting (naturally)
- Jotting some notes on a form about how well my fleet manager's doing for me
- Getting a quick tour of a couple of departments in the building, and
- Getting an explanation of how the load coordinators assign loads to drivers.
Such excitement! Afterwards I grabbed a quick bite there and hit the road once more.
I made it as far as a truck stop in Seminole, OK before my available hours for the day ran out. To my dismay, when I tried to blog for you, I could not get an online connection at all.
TODAY (FRIDAY), 385 Miles
I got up this morning at 2:15 and hit the road at 2:30. I had about 150 miles to go to get to my 6:00 delivery appointment, so I knew I had to get going early. (And yes, in case you were wondering, I did get my full 10-hour break in; I have all week.) I made god time and reached the customer by 5:15. This once more was a drop-and-hook delivery, which was a little slower than usual because I had to back my loaded trailer into a fairly tight spot. So it took me 30 minutes at that site instead of 15. Afterwards I retreated to a truck stop back at the highway exit where I had left the interstate (I-35) to get to the delivery. There I waited over 2 hours before my next assignment came in.
This assignment took me back to familiar ground: Pick up a load in Lawton, OK (at a site I've been to 2 or 3 times before) and take it to the Vandalia, OH terminal. I had to take a "back road" to get from Ardmore to Lawton (or at least the interstates that pass by them), but US 70 was a pretty good, fast route. The pickup was once more a drop-and-hook, which disappointed me greatly. I had just picked up a gleaming, must-have-recently-been-brand-spanking-new empty trailer at this morning's delivery, and was hoping to hang onto it for a while. That's the way it seems to go; pick up one of the newer trailers as an empty, then have to swap it for an older, beat-up one at the next pickup. Sheesh! But I digress.
After making that pickup, I headed up to OK City, which is on my route back to Vandalia (I-44 east to St. Louis, then I-70 east to Vandalia). I stopped at the Flying J here to fuel up my truck, then also decided just to spend the night here. I have no deadline to get to Vandalia, because this load doesn't actually deliver until Wednesday morning. Also, the drive to Vandalia is just going to use up my 70-hours-in-8-days limit in just 7 days, so when I get there (which I will do on Sunday, my 7th day on this tour of duty) I'll have to sit out a 34-hour restart anyway. But I hope I can get another week like that; I need the paying miles.
So now you're once again caught up with me. I apologize again for the missing days, and I will do my best to post daily updates. But, unfortunately, that's not always possible. Thanks for following along, please drop me a line, and keep on truckin'.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Warning! A Long Read
DATELINE: BREEZEWOOD, PA, 6:45 p.m. EDT
Egad! I've let a few days go by without bringing you any word about my happenstances! How did that happen? Well, lemme tell you. Wednesday night I parked at a Service Plaza along the Ohio Turnpike and could not get a good online connection. Thursday was a complicated evening, and I'll fill you in on that below. Friday through Sunday nights I was at home, busy catching up with home stuff that piles up while I'm on the road. Anyway, here's a recap of what you've missed.
WEDNESDAY, 473 Miles
I started this day dark and early, hitting the road at 3:30 to head down the back roads to the small West Virginia town to make my pickup. I tell ya', that would be a great scenic drive during daylight and in a cool little sports car, but in a big rig it's a bit of a taxing drive. Narrow, 2-lane, twisting, turning, state highways with steep grades; I'm thankful I was pulling an empty trailer instead of a heavy load (that would come later). I found my way to the town, Parsons, all right, but couldn't find the company. It's a major, national brand that you'd all recognize if I mentioned it, but I won't here. All I had for an address was "Highway 219, Parsons, WV." I figured they'd have a huge, can't-possibly-miss-it sign to mark their location. Well, after passing all the way through town and not seeing the company, I pulled to the side of the road and called for directions. It turns out that the company is in a large plant that I had seen before reaching the town, a plant with huge signs displaying the name of another national brand that you'd easily recognize (and no sign for the brand I was looking for). OK, all I needed to do was find a place to turn around and head back.
That, it turns out, was much easier said than done. On these narrow 2-lane highways, there usually is no place to turn around, and I wound up driving for an hour (and crossing into Maryland) before I managed it. (I did come across a place much earlier, but another truck was parked in the middle of the space, not leaving me enough room to make the necessary maneuver. Drat!) So after the 2-hour detour, I finally reached the shipper. The pickup was an easy drop-and-hook, and soon I was back on the twisty roads.
This time I did have a very heavy load, so I was driving very carefully 'til I made it back to the multi-lane, limited-access US highways and interstates. The rest of the day was all hum-drum interstate driving 'til I neared my daily hours limit and pulled into the OH Pike Service Plaza for the night.
THURSDAY, 235 Miles
This turned out to be a fairly short work day, but I didn't know 'til late when I'd be done. My delivery was scheduled for 6:00 p.m. in Livonia, MI, so the drive from my starting point just east of Cleveland wasn't tremendously long. I got started just before noon, figuring to make the delivery early, then find out if I'd get another load before heading home on Friday. Along the way I discovered a problem with my truck that I'd need to get repaired (nothing major, but necessary). So in consulting with the Breakdown Department, we decided that after making the delivery I'd head to the TA in Dexter to get the work done.
I arrived at the delivery customer at about 4:00, but guess what. Yup, at that site they don't do any receiving/unloading 'til 6:00. So I had to park and wait a couple hours. (Actually only 1-1/2 hours; check-in started at 5:30, and they assigned dock doors then.) They finally started unloading my trailer at about 6:30, and they finished about 25 minutes later. Then I was on my way to Dexter for the repair work.
The check-in process and the work took all of about 30 minutes, then I was back in the truck, parking in the TA's lot and heading inside to the Popeye's Chicken for some long-overdue dinner. I still had several hours left that I could work that night, so I was also waiting to see if Dispatch would assign me another load, perhaps something I could pick up and haul down to the Vandalia terminal before heading back home for my weekend off. I stayed up waiting for several hours, then gave up as my 14-hour work window started closing.
FRIDAY, 40 Miles
I managed to sleep in good and late (8:30-ish) Friday morning, then sent a message to Dispatch to see if they had anything for me to do. The reply, "Nope, see you Monday." Awwriiight! I still had to drive to the lot in Romulus where I park my truck during my home time, and since my ride from there (Mrs. R.T.) wouldn't be available 'til early afternoon, I just relaxed in my truck and had breakfast and lunch before making the drive.
One reason I wanted to be home for this weekend is this is the time of year when the fruit on the Concord Grape vine we have in our back yard ripens. I've made jelly from them the last 2 years and I wanted to do that--and take a stab at making grape pies, too--this weekend. Boy were those grapes ready! So after getting home Friday afternoon, I picked a lot of bunches (though still a small percentage of those on the vine) and made 2 pies, one with a double crust, the other with a crumb topping. EEEEE-YUMMMMM! By the way, we still have A LOT of grapes left on the vine; if you'd like some (they're really good for just eating raw, too), just contact me or Mrs. R.T. and we'll let you come and pick some for yourself. But act fast before they get too old or the birds get 'em.
SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Weekend stuff; nothing terribly interesting, except maybe the Oktoberfest party our church held out at the school Saturday evening. 'Twas a good time for all. And I turned the rest of the grapes I had picked into juice for making jelly later.
TODAY, 396 Miles
Mrs. R.T. drove me back to my truck early this morning, arriving there a little after 5:30. I immediately sent in my "Back to work" message, then waited for my next load assignment. That didn't come in 'til nearly 3 hours later: Pick up a load in Romulus (at a place from which I've picked up loads twice before, and only about 2 miles from where I was parked) at 9:00 a.m., then take the load to Robbinsville, NJ for a Tuesday morning (10:30) delivery. This is a run I've made once before--same pickup and delivery--so I know where I'm going with this one. Should be a piece of cake. Robbinsville is down by Philadelphia and Trenton, so I won't be dealing with the NYC traffic overload.
The pickup was quick and easy, and the driving was mostly easy (some heavy rain early on, and slowdowns at a couple of construction sites, but otherwise OK). Reader hrr asked me once if I had ever stopped at the big truck stop here (a TA) in Breezewood. I hadn't at the time, though I had driven past it a few times. Since her asking, I have stopped here for fuel on a couple occasions (it's on USA's fuel network list), though I hadn't stopped for the night nor parked long enough to check the place out. Today I had to fuel up here again, and by then it was getting on into the evening (5:30). I had a few more hours available to drive today, but I decided to call it a day and park for the night. I let my curiosity about this place win me over. I still have around 200 miles to go to get to the delivery tomorrow, but since the appointment's not 'til 10:30, I'll just get up early and drive the miles then.
So that ought to be enough to catch you up on my trucking activities. Though this has already been a long post, let me take some time to answer the following query from reader hrr: "I know that big rigs like yours are manual transmission. Did you know how to drive one before, or was that part of your truck driving school curriculum? Assuming you didn't before, how long did it take you to get comfortable using the clutch on something that big?"
Well, hrr, for one thing, there are automatic transmissions for big rigs now, though my truck is a manual. In fact, USA is adding some to its fleet. (Another USA driver was at my pickup site this morning, and he has an automatic. He hates it, says it's prone to rolling backwards on hills. I've heard various concerns and complaints about automatics, how they're not as powerful, responsive, or fuel-efficient as manuals.) And no, I didn't know how to drive a "stick" before (though I had driven one on one occasion 20+ years ago, and that was on a car, not a 10-speed truck). So that was the thing I had the most trouble with early on. It's hard to believe just how S--L--O--W--L--Y you have to release the clutch so you don't stall the engine. I don't think the size of the vehicle was a factor in how long it took to get used to using a clutch, just the fact that I had to get used to clutching and shifting at all. I also have to say that I don't think my truck (an International model 9400i) has the best clutch/shift mechanism, either. Sometimes, especially with heavy loads, it's hard to get the shift lever out of one gear and into the next. In training and testing I've driven other trucks (Freightliners) and their transmissions shifted much more easily. Plus, my clutch is a partiularly "heavy" one.
Well, that's enough for today (whew!). My apologies for the many missing days' worth of updates. But thanks for continuing to check up on me, and keep on truckin'.
Egad! I've let a few days go by without bringing you any word about my happenstances! How did that happen? Well, lemme tell you. Wednesday night I parked at a Service Plaza along the Ohio Turnpike and could not get a good online connection. Thursday was a complicated evening, and I'll fill you in on that below. Friday through Sunday nights I was at home, busy catching up with home stuff that piles up while I'm on the road. Anyway, here's a recap of what you've missed.
WEDNESDAY, 473 Miles
I started this day dark and early, hitting the road at 3:30 to head down the back roads to the small West Virginia town to make my pickup. I tell ya', that would be a great scenic drive during daylight and in a cool little sports car, but in a big rig it's a bit of a taxing drive. Narrow, 2-lane, twisting, turning, state highways with steep grades; I'm thankful I was pulling an empty trailer instead of a heavy load (that would come later). I found my way to the town, Parsons, all right, but couldn't find the company. It's a major, national brand that you'd all recognize if I mentioned it, but I won't here. All I had for an address was "Highway 219, Parsons, WV." I figured they'd have a huge, can't-possibly-miss-it sign to mark their location. Well, after passing all the way through town and not seeing the company, I pulled to the side of the road and called for directions. It turns out that the company is in a large plant that I had seen before reaching the town, a plant with huge signs displaying the name of another national brand that you'd easily recognize (and no sign for the brand I was looking for). OK, all I needed to do was find a place to turn around and head back.
That, it turns out, was much easier said than done. On these narrow 2-lane highways, there usually is no place to turn around, and I wound up driving for an hour (and crossing into Maryland) before I managed it. (I did come across a place much earlier, but another truck was parked in the middle of the space, not leaving me enough room to make the necessary maneuver. Drat!) So after the 2-hour detour, I finally reached the shipper. The pickup was an easy drop-and-hook, and soon I was back on the twisty roads.
This time I did have a very heavy load, so I was driving very carefully 'til I made it back to the multi-lane, limited-access US highways and interstates. The rest of the day was all hum-drum interstate driving 'til I neared my daily hours limit and pulled into the OH Pike Service Plaza for the night.
THURSDAY, 235 Miles
This turned out to be a fairly short work day, but I didn't know 'til late when I'd be done. My delivery was scheduled for 6:00 p.m. in Livonia, MI, so the drive from my starting point just east of Cleveland wasn't tremendously long. I got started just before noon, figuring to make the delivery early, then find out if I'd get another load before heading home on Friday. Along the way I discovered a problem with my truck that I'd need to get repaired (nothing major, but necessary). So in consulting with the Breakdown Department, we decided that after making the delivery I'd head to the TA in Dexter to get the work done.
I arrived at the delivery customer at about 4:00, but guess what. Yup, at that site they don't do any receiving/unloading 'til 6:00. So I had to park and wait a couple hours. (Actually only 1-1/2 hours; check-in started at 5:30, and they assigned dock doors then.) They finally started unloading my trailer at about 6:30, and they finished about 25 minutes later. Then I was on my way to Dexter for the repair work.
The check-in process and the work took all of about 30 minutes, then I was back in the truck, parking in the TA's lot and heading inside to the Popeye's Chicken for some long-overdue dinner. I still had several hours left that I could work that night, so I was also waiting to see if Dispatch would assign me another load, perhaps something I could pick up and haul down to the Vandalia terminal before heading back home for my weekend off. I stayed up waiting for several hours, then gave up as my 14-hour work window started closing.
FRIDAY, 40 Miles
I managed to sleep in good and late (8:30-ish) Friday morning, then sent a message to Dispatch to see if they had anything for me to do. The reply, "Nope, see you Monday." Awwriiight! I still had to drive to the lot in Romulus where I park my truck during my home time, and since my ride from there (Mrs. R.T.) wouldn't be available 'til early afternoon, I just relaxed in my truck and had breakfast and lunch before making the drive.
One reason I wanted to be home for this weekend is this is the time of year when the fruit on the Concord Grape vine we have in our back yard ripens. I've made jelly from them the last 2 years and I wanted to do that--and take a stab at making grape pies, too--this weekend. Boy were those grapes ready! So after getting home Friday afternoon, I picked a lot of bunches (though still a small percentage of those on the vine) and made 2 pies, one with a double crust, the other with a crumb topping. EEEEE-YUMMMMM! By the way, we still have A LOT of grapes left on the vine; if you'd like some (they're really good for just eating raw, too), just contact me or Mrs. R.T. and we'll let you come and pick some for yourself. But act fast before they get too old or the birds get 'em.
SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Weekend stuff; nothing terribly interesting, except maybe the Oktoberfest party our church held out at the school Saturday evening. 'Twas a good time for all. And I turned the rest of the grapes I had picked into juice for making jelly later.
TODAY, 396 Miles
Mrs. R.T. drove me back to my truck early this morning, arriving there a little after 5:30. I immediately sent in my "Back to work" message, then waited for my next load assignment. That didn't come in 'til nearly 3 hours later: Pick up a load in Romulus (at a place from which I've picked up loads twice before, and only about 2 miles from where I was parked) at 9:00 a.m., then take the load to Robbinsville, NJ for a Tuesday morning (10:30) delivery. This is a run I've made once before--same pickup and delivery--so I know where I'm going with this one. Should be a piece of cake. Robbinsville is down by Philadelphia and Trenton, so I won't be dealing with the NYC traffic overload.
The pickup was quick and easy, and the driving was mostly easy (some heavy rain early on, and slowdowns at a couple of construction sites, but otherwise OK). Reader hrr asked me once if I had ever stopped at the big truck stop here (a TA) in Breezewood. I hadn't at the time, though I had driven past it a few times. Since her asking, I have stopped here for fuel on a couple occasions (it's on USA's fuel network list), though I hadn't stopped for the night nor parked long enough to check the place out. Today I had to fuel up here again, and by then it was getting on into the evening (5:30). I had a few more hours available to drive today, but I decided to call it a day and park for the night. I let my curiosity about this place win me over. I still have around 200 miles to go to get to the delivery tomorrow, but since the appointment's not 'til 10:30, I'll just get up early and drive the miles then.
So that ought to be enough to catch you up on my trucking activities. Though this has already been a long post, let me take some time to answer the following query from reader hrr: "I know that big rigs like yours are manual transmission. Did you know how to drive one before, or was that part of your truck driving school curriculum? Assuming you didn't before, how long did it take you to get comfortable using the clutch on something that big?"
Well, hrr, for one thing, there are automatic transmissions for big rigs now, though my truck is a manual. In fact, USA is adding some to its fleet. (Another USA driver was at my pickup site this morning, and he has an automatic. He hates it, says it's prone to rolling backwards on hills. I've heard various concerns and complaints about automatics, how they're not as powerful, responsive, or fuel-efficient as manuals.) And no, I didn't know how to drive a "stick" before (though I had driven one on one occasion 20+ years ago, and that was on a car, not a 10-speed truck). So that was the thing I had the most trouble with early on. It's hard to believe just how S--L--O--W--L--Y you have to release the clutch so you don't stall the engine. I don't think the size of the vehicle was a factor in how long it took to get used to using a clutch, just the fact that I had to get used to clutching and shifting at all. I also have to say that I don't think my truck (an International model 9400i) has the best clutch/shift mechanism, either. Sometimes, especially with heavy loads, it's hard to get the shift lever out of one gear and into the next. In training and testing I've driven other trucks (Freightliners) and their transmissions shifted much more easily. Plus, my clutch is a partiularly "heavy" one.
Well, that's enough for today (whew!). My apologies for the many missing days' worth of updates. But thanks for continuing to check up on me, and keep on truckin'.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)