DATELINE: SPARTANBURG, SC, 9:15 a.m. EDT
Miles Friday: 492
Miles Saturday: 428
And things had started out so well on Thursday, as I reported that night. Since then, well, I just keep facing "challenge" after "challenge".
On Friday, as I drove southward, nearing Atlanta, I was getting some honks and points from other drivers, and I could see a light smoke trailing behind me. So I pulled over on the shoulder to check it out. I couldn't find anything obvious, and no smoke was coming from anywhere, so I hopped back in the cab and continued on.
A bit further on, a guy in a pickup with "Mobile Truck Service" painted on its side waved me over, so once more I pulled onto the shoulder. He found the source right away: a clamp holding two parts of the exhaust system was broken. That allowed exhaust to escape from there, beneath my cab, instead of heading up the stack. Not a huge deal, but it also caused the exhaust components to run hot. I called in to Breakdown, and they just advised me to continue on to my delivery, then they'd probably send me to an International (my truck's brand) dealer for repairs. However, it being Friday afternoon, it looked like I'd probably be shut down for the weekend. Terrific. But I did finish up the drive (another 90 minutes or so) to my delivery in Midland, GA. But I was about an hour behind schedule by then. (Remember Thursday's update when I mentioned that my schedule had no "wiggle room" in it?)
At the delivery I got to dock right away, and while they were unloading I got a chance to get a good look at the "broken" clamp. Now, I'm not a mechanic, but I was able to determine that the clamp wasn't broken; instead it had just come loose. With some careful reaching around hot parts and through small areas, I managed to wiggle the clamp back into place and tighten it down. Problem (hopefully) solved, so instead of sitting around waiting for repairs, I'd get another load and rack up more paying miles.
My next assignment came in pretty quickly after I completed the delivery. I was to drive over to Eufala, AL, and grab a load bound for Pharr, TX. Pickup time was set for 3:00 p.m, but I didn't get the assignment 'til after 2:30 and Eufala was over 60 miles away. PLUS I'd need to stop and get an empty weight for my truck (an instruction fr this pickup). So off I went.
I arrived at the shipper at about 4:15--to find their gate closed and chained. Uh-oh. Yep, turns out they closed at 4:00 for the weekend. I eventually found one guy locking up as he was leaving, and found out from him that the load I was supposed to pick up wasn't even supposed to be ready for pickup 'til Monday afternoon. Chalk another one up for the office gang at USA Truck.
Now, Eufala is another one of those towns in the middle of nowhere--that is, it's a long way from any interstates, with no truck stops for miles and miles and miles around. So I couldn't just "bop over" to a convenient place to park. Since it was late in my work day and I had no idea yet which way Dispatch would send me next, I had to just stay in the shipper's parking lot for my 10-hour break. Yippee! Actually, it wasn't all that bad--quiet, in the back of an industrial park, well off the beaten path--and I was too tired to do anything (like blogging) anyway, so I just went to bed.
Around midnight my next assignment message came in and woke me up. They gave me a pickup in Cartersville, GA, about 40 miles north of Atlanta. The load's destination is Spartanburg, SC. Pickup time was 9:00 a.m., so I could grab a few more hours of shut-eye before hitting the road. The interesting part of the assignment was the delivery time was 8:00 a.m. THE SAME DAY! With the governor they put on my truck when I had it in for maintenance in Vandalia, that just wasn't going to be possible.
A stipulation for this pickup was that my trailer had to be swept out. I've been to numerous sites that asked the same thing, and they have ALWAYS had brooms and stations available to do that. But to be safe, I stopped at a couple truck stops on the way to see if I could buy a push broom. Neither had any for sale. So I showed up at the shipper right on time with a dirty trailer, ready to sweep it out there. Nope. No brooms there. I'd have to head over to a nearby truck stop (there are a Pilot and TA at the highway exit I used to get to the company) to either buy or borrow a broom there.
So I stopped over at the TA. (I've stayed there a couple of times in the past, coincidentally.) No push brooms for sale, but I managed to borrow one from their shop and got the trailer all cleaned out. After all that I arrived back at the shipper one hour behind schedule. Not too bad, all things considered.
So I got checked in with Security there, got directions where to drop my empty trailer and which loaded trailer I'd be picking up, and how to use their scales to make sure my new trailer was street legal before checking out. And there was the next snag.
This company (a well-known adult beverage producer) likes to get as much product onto their loads as possible. So the trailer I picked up was extremely heavy. It took me several "weigh-adjust the tandems-reweigh" cycles to get the weight distributed among the axles as closely as possible. However, because I had a full load of fuel in my tanks (I had filled up on my way over), I actually was just a tad overweight on a couple of the axles. But I figured after burning a few gallons off, I'd be fine. (What was I supposed to do, refuse the load? Sure, in truck driver class they said that'd be the thing to do, but in the real world try getting that one past a dispatcher.) So I took my heavy (46,000+ pounds) load
and hit the road.
First I stopped at the Pilot to use the rest room and grab some grub. I had gotten a message that the actual delivery time was 3:00 that afternoon, so I also had to alert Dispatch that, based on the distance--200+ miles--and the current time--now 11:30--that I'd never make it on time. I'd be 30 to 60 minutes late. After getting some food to go (I opted for Taco Bell in the TA across the street) and returning to my truck, I had a message that the delivery customer closes at 3:00, and that if I couldn't get there on time I'd probably have to drop the load at our Spartanburg, SC terminal. But nothing definite yet.
The drive to Spartanburg was uneventful, except for the hoards of Georgia and Alabama fans that passed me driving to the game to be played in Athens, GA that night. But it was obvious that I wasn't gonna get to the delivery on time. I did luck out in that the weigh stations in GA and SC on my route were closed. I knew I'd be in trouble if I'd have to cross their scales with my current load.
And I do say "current load" because I still have it. I drove by the company when I reached Spartanburg yesterday, and their gate was closed and chained. They have a sign that reads, "DELIVERIES TUES - SAT, 7 am - 3 pm". So I figured I'd just be dropping the load at our terminal in town. Nuh-uh. One idiot dispatcher sent me message to go ahead and deliver:
1) Last night. I was out of hours and couldn't do it then (legally), then
2) Today. So I did get up and head back over there at 7 this morning. Closed. Locked. Nobody around.
Back at the terminal I let messaged Dispatch to let them know that delivery was not possible. They replied that they'd have the Account Managers try to reach the company to see if they could arrange anything. Yada yada, long story short, nobody could reach anybody and I'm still stuck here with the load, at least 'til tomorrow (and my guess is probably Tuesday). Apparently I can't just drop it here either because this is not a secure location and this load requires one for a drop. Hence my free time for blogging for y'all.
At least one thing brightened my mood a bit. When I got here to the terminal yesterday, I eventually found my way to the drivers' lounge (they have a good one here--big, LOTS of soft, leather recliners, big screen TV) and found the Michigan-Wisconsin game on ESPN. (Nobody else was in the lounge, so I could channel surf freely.) Now, it was still in the 1st quarter when I turned it on, and the Wolverines were already down 6-0, and the rest of the 1st half did nothing to improve my state of mind. But the 2nd half sure did! Way to go, Blue!
But that's been dampened a bit by my "black hole" situation here today. Guess I'll have to decide how I want to spend my time today. Options:
1. Watch NFL games in the lounge
2. Poker online (for some unknown reason I'm lacking motivation for that right now)
3. Walk around and see if anything's in the area
4. Go for a run sometime. (There are showers here, so I can clean up afterwards.)
5. Mindlessly surf the 'net.
At this point, I just don't know what I want to do. Suggestions?
And now on to this question from reader andy, "What do you listen to while driving? Do they give you Sirius or XM, or do you have to twiddle the radio dial constantly? CD player? Books on tape?"
Well, I usually try to have some audiobooks with me. I borrow them from my father-in-law who has a large collection. However, these last couple of times out I haven't had time to run over to his house to replenish my stock, so I've just been listening to some music CDs I have along with me and/or "twiddling the radio dial" when the repetition of those CDs has lost its charm.
And that's today's report. Wish I coulda' gotten that load to TX; it woulda' saved a lot of grief (and added 1000+ paying miles) for this weekend. I guess somehow I displeased the gods of the road, so this is my penance. But thanks for looking in today, and keep on truckin'.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Southward Rush
DATELINE: SMITH GROVE, KY
Miles Today: 520
Back on the road, and I'm gonna have to make this a quick update again 'cuz I'm on one of those loads with no spare time built into the schedule. Which means I gotta get up and boogie as soon as my break reaches 10 hours. So I need to get you up-to-date good 'n quick-like, then hit the sack. So with no further ado, let's get right to today's story.
(Aside: When one says, "With no further ado...", is that in itself further ado?)
The wonderful Mrs. R.T. returned me to my truck this morning on her way to work. She had a little extra time, so after unloading my gear into my truck and sending in my "Back-to-Work" message to initiate the search for a load for me, we zipped across the street to McDonald's for a quick breakfast. When I got back to my truck 15-20 minutes later, I already had an assignment waiting for me. I think that's a speed record for a response to my back-to-work.
My assignment was a pickup in Sturgis, MI, 20-ish miles west of Coldwater. It was at a company where I once delivered a load, so I knew the route. The drive over and loading went nice 'n smoothly, and the load went quickly, too. So a good start to this tour of duty. My schedule is to deliver this load tomorrow (Friday) afternoon in Midland, GA, a 750-ish-mile drive. (Midland, BTW, is in the western part of the state, a tad south of I-85.) From the time I departed the pickup to the delivery appointment at 1:00, I have about 25-1/2 hours to complete this mission. Averaging 50 MPH, that make 15 hours of driving. Toss in the requisite 10-hour break, and you see I have very little "wiggle room" in this run for things like fuel stops, leisurely meal breaks, and traffic jams, (which are strong possibilities as I need to get through Nashville and Atlanta on my way over to Midland). So despite the good start to the trip, it does have strong stress potential.
I've stopped for the night at a Mom 'n Pop truck stop in this burg 38 miles north of the TN line. It's been a gorgeous day for a drive, full sun the whole way. I sure hope the great weather holds for a while. (And I hope it's god wherever you are, too!)
As I mentioned up top, I need to get rolling early (well, relatively early--as soon as I've rested 10 hours), so time to wrap this up. Thanks for your continued interest in my road warrior (road worrier?) doings. Please drop me a line to let me know what you're interested in me telling you about, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 520
Back on the road, and I'm gonna have to make this a quick update again 'cuz I'm on one of those loads with no spare time built into the schedule. Which means I gotta get up and boogie as soon as my break reaches 10 hours. So I need to get you up-to-date good 'n quick-like, then hit the sack. So with no further ado, let's get right to today's story.
(Aside: When one says, "With no further ado...", is that in itself further ado?)
The wonderful Mrs. R.T. returned me to my truck this morning on her way to work. She had a little extra time, so after unloading my gear into my truck and sending in my "Back-to-Work" message to initiate the search for a load for me, we zipped across the street to McDonald's for a quick breakfast. When I got back to my truck 15-20 minutes later, I already had an assignment waiting for me. I think that's a speed record for a response to my back-to-work.
My assignment was a pickup in Sturgis, MI, 20-ish miles west of Coldwater. It was at a company where I once delivered a load, so I knew the route. The drive over and loading went nice 'n smoothly, and the load went quickly, too. So a good start to this tour of duty. My schedule is to deliver this load tomorrow (Friday) afternoon in Midland, GA, a 750-ish-mile drive. (Midland, BTW, is in the western part of the state, a tad south of I-85.) From the time I departed the pickup to the delivery appointment at 1:00, I have about 25-1/2 hours to complete this mission. Averaging 50 MPH, that make 15 hours of driving. Toss in the requisite 10-hour break, and you see I have very little "wiggle room" in this run for things like fuel stops, leisurely meal breaks, and traffic jams, (which are strong possibilities as I need to get through Nashville and Atlanta on my way over to Midland). So despite the good start to the trip, it does have strong stress potential.
I've stopped for the night at a Mom 'n Pop truck stop in this burg 38 miles north of the TN line. It's been a gorgeous day for a drive, full sun the whole way. I sure hope the great weather holds for a while. (And I hope it's god wherever you are, too!)
As I mentioned up top, I need to get rolling early (well, relatively early--as soon as I've rested 10 hours), so time to wrap this up. Thanks for your continued interest in my road warrior (road worrier?) doings. Please drop me a line to let me know what you're interested in me telling you about, and keep on truckin'.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The Long Way Home
DATELINE: HOME!
Many apologies for not reporting for you the last few days. They were "non-standard" days: long, late (and early morning) hours, lengthy waits at customer sites and for assignments, the inability of Dispatch to get me home on the day I requested (Monday), and a REALLY bad streak of luck at the poker tables. So for those main reasons I had neither much time nor the right mind-set to write up blog reports. But I did get home yesterday, have all day today free, and head back to the road tomorrow morning. So here's a quick update of last weekend.
On Friday morning I finally got my truck in the shop at the Vandalia, OH terminal for its regular maintenance. After my 3-hour wait for that, I got underway at 11:00 a.m. with a load bound for Springfield, MA. Just after I left, I got a call from Dispatch: they wanted me to give a driver a ride to Bethel, PA so he could pick up his new truck. (Note: the company has recently closed the Bethel terminal, but is keeping it as a drop yard.) So I circled around, picked him up, and we headed east.
Picking up the other driver was a big help, because by letting him do some of the driving, I could fit in a break and still get to the Springfield delivery by the 8:00 a.m. appointment on Saturday. Without the temporary co-driver, I never could have gotten there on time. (At least not within DOT hours of service regulations.) We rolled into Bethel around 9:00 p.m., and I squeezed in a few hours of sleep before I had to get rolling to Springfield around 2:00 a.m.
On Saturday I finished the drive to Springfield. At this site I had to park my trailer, unhook it and park my cab in a waiting area, wait for them to pull my trailer to a dock and unload it before returning it. I had a 2-hour-plus wait before they finished up, then I drove over to a nearby truck stop to wait for my next assignment. That wait was almost 1-1/2 hours, and the pickup was in Montville, CT, 60-ish miles away.
Because of the lengthy drive in the morning and the time I had spent waiting, by the time I got to that next pickup, I had only 2 hours left of my 14-hour window before I'd have to take a 10-hour break. I've picked up a load at that company once before, but that time the pickup was a drop-and-hook. However, this time it would be a live load. Also, they were loading at only one dock, and 3 trucks were already waiting in line ahead of me, besides the one already in the dock. Uh-oh.
Long story short, I was there for 3 hours. (Once I got in the dock, the load was very quick, less than 30 minutes--I don't know why all the other trucks weren't that quick as well.) Despite being "overtime", I still needed to get to a place to spend the night. So I drove over to a Pilot Travel Center in Milford, CT. After a long day, I was ready for bed.
My load from Montville was destined for delivery at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday in Biglerville, PA, which is in the south-central part of that state. That allowed me to sleep in "late" and not get rolling 'til 6:00. Even starting then, I arrived at the delivery 30 minutes early. That delivery went quickly, too, despite one other truck ahead of me (again a single-dock operation). Afterwards I drove up the road to the Flying J in Carlisle, PA, expecting to get a load assignment to get me home on Monday. Nuh-uh.
It took several hours and two or three prompts to Dispatch to get a reply that I had an assignment. However, that assignment was a pickup in Delaware City, DE at 8:00 Monday morning. Dispatch told me that it was the only load they could find that was headed to MI, Ferndale in this case. That meant there was now way I could get home on time. Oh well. At least there wasn't any specific event I was aiming to get home for. And I could still get home early on Tuesday.
And so I did. Pickup in DE was easy and quick. I'd made that run--pickup at that company and taking it to the Ferndale company--once before, so I was familiar with it. After the pickup, I headed east. I stopped for the night in Somerset, PA at the turnpike Service Plaza there. (Actually, I stopped for the afternoon, 'cuz I stopped at 3:00, just too tired to continue. I had had a short night of sleep the night before, due to "disappointment" with the news that I wouldn't get home on time.) With an early start--2:00--on Tuesday morning, I'd still get home reasonably early.
My delivery in Ferndale was actually scheduled for Wednesday morning, but I got the OK to deliver the load when I could get there on Tuesday. That turned out to be 11:30 a.m. Unloading there went quickly, too, thankfully, and afterwards I made for the Dexter TA to park my truck for my time at home. Many thanks to my brother-in-law for picking me up in Dexter and giving me a ride home.
So now you're once again caught up with me. Thanks for your patience while I've been non-communicative. I hope my schedule in the future will allow me the time and energy to post updates every day, 'cuz I know you do want to keep up with me. Thanks for looking in today. Send me your comments and questions, and keep on truckin'.
Many apologies for not reporting for you the last few days. They were "non-standard" days: long, late (and early morning) hours, lengthy waits at customer sites and for assignments, the inability of Dispatch to get me home on the day I requested (Monday), and a REALLY bad streak of luck at the poker tables. So for those main reasons I had neither much time nor the right mind-set to write up blog reports. But I did get home yesterday, have all day today free, and head back to the road tomorrow morning. So here's a quick update of last weekend.
On Friday morning I finally got my truck in the shop at the Vandalia, OH terminal for its regular maintenance. After my 3-hour wait for that, I got underway at 11:00 a.m. with a load bound for Springfield, MA. Just after I left, I got a call from Dispatch: they wanted me to give a driver a ride to Bethel, PA so he could pick up his new truck. (Note: the company has recently closed the Bethel terminal, but is keeping it as a drop yard.) So I circled around, picked him up, and we headed east.
Picking up the other driver was a big help, because by letting him do some of the driving, I could fit in a break and still get to the Springfield delivery by the 8:00 a.m. appointment on Saturday. Without the temporary co-driver, I never could have gotten there on time. (At least not within DOT hours of service regulations.) We rolled into Bethel around 9:00 p.m., and I squeezed in a few hours of sleep before I had to get rolling to Springfield around 2:00 a.m.
On Saturday I finished the drive to Springfield. At this site I had to park my trailer, unhook it and park my cab in a waiting area, wait for them to pull my trailer to a dock and unload it before returning it. I had a 2-hour-plus wait before they finished up, then I drove over to a nearby truck stop to wait for my next assignment. That wait was almost 1-1/2 hours, and the pickup was in Montville, CT, 60-ish miles away.
Because of the lengthy drive in the morning and the time I had spent waiting, by the time I got to that next pickup, I had only 2 hours left of my 14-hour window before I'd have to take a 10-hour break. I've picked up a load at that company once before, but that time the pickup was a drop-and-hook. However, this time it would be a live load. Also, they were loading at only one dock, and 3 trucks were already waiting in line ahead of me, besides the one already in the dock. Uh-oh.
Long story short, I was there for 3 hours. (Once I got in the dock, the load was very quick, less than 30 minutes--I don't know why all the other trucks weren't that quick as well.) Despite being "overtime", I still needed to get to a place to spend the night. So I drove over to a Pilot Travel Center in Milford, CT. After a long day, I was ready for bed.
My load from Montville was destined for delivery at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday in Biglerville, PA, which is in the south-central part of that state. That allowed me to sleep in "late" and not get rolling 'til 6:00. Even starting then, I arrived at the delivery 30 minutes early. That delivery went quickly, too, despite one other truck ahead of me (again a single-dock operation). Afterwards I drove up the road to the Flying J in Carlisle, PA, expecting to get a load assignment to get me home on Monday. Nuh-uh.
It took several hours and two or three prompts to Dispatch to get a reply that I had an assignment. However, that assignment was a pickup in Delaware City, DE at 8:00 Monday morning. Dispatch told me that it was the only load they could find that was headed to MI, Ferndale in this case. That meant there was now way I could get home on time. Oh well. At least there wasn't any specific event I was aiming to get home for. And I could still get home early on Tuesday.
And so I did. Pickup in DE was easy and quick. I'd made that run--pickup at that company and taking it to the Ferndale company--once before, so I was familiar with it. After the pickup, I headed east. I stopped for the night in Somerset, PA at the turnpike Service Plaza there. (Actually, I stopped for the afternoon, 'cuz I stopped at 3:00, just too tired to continue. I had had a short night of sleep the night before, due to "disappointment" with the news that I wouldn't get home on time.) With an early start--2:00--on Tuesday morning, I'd still get home reasonably early.
My delivery in Ferndale was actually scheduled for Wednesday morning, but I got the OK to deliver the load when I could get there on Tuesday. That turned out to be 11:30 a.m. Unloading there went quickly, too, thankfully, and afterwards I made for the Dexter TA to park my truck for my time at home. Many thanks to my brother-in-law for picking me up in Dexter and giving me a ride home.
So now you're once again caught up with me. Thanks for your patience while I've been non-communicative. I hope my schedule in the future will allow me the time and energy to post updates every day, 'cuz I know you do want to keep up with me. Thanks for looking in today. Send me your comments and questions, and keep on truckin'.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Oh Why, Oh Why Ohio?
DATELINE: VANDALIA, OH, 7:15 p.m. EDT
Miles Today: 553
Finally a chance to sleep in, and I wasn't betrayed by my body wanting to wake up early. Although I did wake up by 6:30, I got to sleep early last night so I had scads of sleep for once. And boy, it felt good. In response to reader nancyr's query about what's the worst part about switching between day and night shifts, it's definitely the fatigue brought on by the discombobulated sleep schedule. It's like going to school the day after you've pulled an all-nighter. Except a little more is on the line when you're driving a rig with a GVW (gross vehicle weight) of up to 80,000 pounds. It's especially exciting in those mountainous states.
Anyway, back to today's happenings. Nothing much exciting, except for 2 free lunches. Well, 2 free sandwiches; I didn't get whole meals. Both were free with my Pilot Driver Payback points; the first a 6" sub at Subway in Erie, PA, the second a chicken sandwich at an Arby's in Ohio. (Both food outlets were, of course, inside Pilot Travel Centers.)
Otherwise, I just drove and drove and drove. 9-3/4 hours of driving. And a good bulk of that in Ohio--egad! But I made it here to our terminal uneventfully. I'll get to sleep in again tomorrow morning relatively late 'cuz I have a 7:00 appointment for my truck's maintenance. We'll see how early I can make myself get to bed tonight to add more to my sleep bank.
That's all I can think of to report for now. Thanks for checking up on me. Let me know what you want me to vamp about in future posts, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 553
Finally a chance to sleep in, and I wasn't betrayed by my body wanting to wake up early. Although I did wake up by 6:30, I got to sleep early last night so I had scads of sleep for once. And boy, it felt good. In response to reader nancyr's query about what's the worst part about switching between day and night shifts, it's definitely the fatigue brought on by the discombobulated sleep schedule. It's like going to school the day after you've pulled an all-nighter. Except a little more is on the line when you're driving a rig with a GVW (gross vehicle weight) of up to 80,000 pounds. It's especially exciting in those mountainous states.
Anyway, back to today's happenings. Nothing much exciting, except for 2 free lunches. Well, 2 free sandwiches; I didn't get whole meals. Both were free with my Pilot Driver Payback points; the first a 6" sub at Subway in Erie, PA, the second a chicken sandwich at an Arby's in Ohio. (Both food outlets were, of course, inside Pilot Travel Centers.)
Otherwise, I just drove and drove and drove. 9-3/4 hours of driving. And a good bulk of that in Ohio--egad! But I made it here to our terminal uneventfully. I'll get to sleep in again tomorrow morning relatively late 'cuz I have a 7:00 appointment for my truck's maintenance. We'll see how early I can make myself get to bed tonight to add more to my sleep bank.
That's all I can think of to report for now. Thanks for checking up on me. Let me know what you want me to vamp about in future posts, and keep on truckin'.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Full Recap
DATELINE: CHITTENANGO SERVICE PLAZA, NY STATE THRUWAY, 6:00 p.m. EDT
Miles Today: 504
Ho hum, another night, another NY Thruway Service Plaza. The 3rd in 4 nights. Actually, this is the same one where I parked on Saturday for my break before heading to my early Sunday morning pickup. Since I mentioned that, I might as well start there and bring you up-to-date on my travels and travails.
Saturday night/Sunday morning I got up at 12:30 in order to get rolling at 1:00. My 2:00 a.m. pickup was in Baldwinsville, NY, just to the northeast of Syracuse. I got there right on time, checked in at the guard shack, parked and unhooked my empty trailer in a heavy downpour, and headed to their drivers' lounge to wait for them to get my loaded trailer ready. (Why it wasn't at my scheduled pickup time is a mystery to me.) They have a computer monitor in the lounge that displays the outbound orders and associated trailer numbers that are ready to go, so I just had to wait for my order number to appear on the list. Well, I waited in there for 3 hours, watching the late-night/early morning dreck on the TV in the lounge, which only received the local stations--no cable or satellite hookup. I finally gave in walked back to my truck for a nap before I'd check the list again. (There were a bunch of other trucks parked in the waiting area, too, and at least those other drivers were smart enough from the get-go to know they'd have a lengthy wait and didn't bother with the monitor watch.)
Long-enough story short, about 8:45 a.m. my load appeared on the monitor, just after I had seen one of the company's yard jockeys (or, more correctly, "spotters") pulling a USA trailer from a dock and take it to the trailer staging lot. Yep, that one was the one for me. So I hooked it up, checked out, and headed west.
I was very close my 70-hour limit, so I couldn't go very far before I'd have to stop for a 34-hour break to reset my 70-hour counter. I wound up making it to the Rochester, NY area, to the Seneca Service Plaza along the Thruway. (I had stopped at a Petro truck stop on the way to fuel up and earn--and use--a shower credit, so I was good 'n clean for my break.) Now, Rochester is very near where my brother and his wife (and one son, daughter-in-law, and 3 grandkids) live in Canandaigua. So I called them and made arrangements for my bro' to pick me up and take me over to his house for dinner and a short visit. A good time was had by all (I think), as I got to meet the grandkids for the first time. After just a few too-short hours I had to make them take me back to my truck so I could hit the sack.
On Sunday afternoon, before my bro' could make it over to pick me up, I finally had a chance to return to the virtual felt and play some online poker. I've resorted to almost exclusively playing 9-person sit-n-go ("SNG") tournaments, and I've had some pretty good success at it. "Success" to me in those--and any tournament--is finishing in the money (in the top 3 in these SNGs), not necessarily winning. (Although winning is always the "Nuts"!) But once the tourney's down to the top 3, it pretty much comes down to who catches the right cards at the right times, so winning can be a crapshoot. (There are strategic moves you can--and should--make, but if you have 3 equally proficient players, nobody has a real edge unless s/he comes into 3-way play with a huge chip lead.) Anyway, this isn't my poker blog, and I'm getting too much into that discussion. I just want to brag that, despite my 2-month layoff from the game, in the 4 SNGs I played on Sunday, I won 2, took 3rd once, and bombed out early in the other.
On Monday I woke up earlier than I wanted to (remember, I was in the midst of my 34-hour break, and could have slept in as long as possible) and wasn't feeling like I could get back to sleep. That was around 6:30. So I heated up some grub for breakfast and started my day. I spent the rest of the morning hours slogging through e-mail that had been piling up during my offline period. In the afternoon I entered 7 more SNGs, but this time with lesser success. I only "monied" 4 of the 7, with 2 seconds, 2 thirds, and no wins. It was one of those days when the poker gods were just toying with me, giving my opponents miracle river cards to knock me out when I got my chips in with the lead, when I even got goods cards to begin with. And that didn't happen very often, either. (Look up "card-dead" in the poker dictionary, and you'll see my picture.) But I eked out a whole 60-cent profit for the session, and all-in-all I think I made correct decisions for the most part, so all was not lost.
After poker, I needed to nap for a bit before I'd have to get back to work. My break would be complete right around 10:00 p.m., and I'd have to hit the road right then to get to Clarksburg, WV for a 6:00 a.m. delivery. So I did nap, albeit far less than I really needed. But I was up and rolling right on schedule.
The overnight drive actually felt like it went fairly quickly for an 8-hour slog. I was listening and singing along to some of my favorite music CDs that I have along with me, so that kept my mind off the tedium. The drive was just 2 highways--I-90 west and I-79 south--and I tell ya', these days I-79 is just one construction zone after another. 'Twas hard to make good time, and some of those c-zones felt mighty narrow, especially in the dark of night. But the fun part was getting to the customer within Clarksburg.
Now, the town is obviously an old one, and my route in (and out afterwards) was along narrow, winding streets. It's always "fun" to turn a big rig from one two-lane road around a 90-degree corner onto another two-laner, either right or left. Or to drive along narrow winding roads with telephone poles right along the curbs. Such assignments ought to come with hazardous duty pay. But I managed without any damage to life, limb, or property, and the delivery went just fine.
Afterwards, my next assignment was a pickup at another site in Clarksburg. But this one was in an industrial park just off the highway, not into town. (Between delivery & getting the pickup assignment I had retreated to a rest area just a couple miles from the Clarksburg exit off of I-79.) The load I was picking up was headed just about right back to where I had just come from, Rome, NY. (Rome is right by Marcy, where I had delivered a load on Saturday.) So it would be back up I-79 and east on I-90. However, I only had an hour left on my current shift, so I only got as far as Mt. Morris, PA (where I wrote yesterday's update) before stopping for the night.
My Rome delivery was scheduled for 1:00 p.m. today, and at around 400 miles would be about 8 hours of driving, give or take. I originally wanted to get up at 1:00 a.m. to start driving and deliver early, but when my alarm sounded then, I just couldn't make myself get moving. I did have the luxury of a little bit of extra time in that load's schedule, so I allowed myself the extra time to sleep 'til 2:50. By hitting the road at 3:00, that still left me 10 hours for the 8-ish-hour trip. And I even had time to stop en route at a Pilot for a shower and shave. So with the pit stop, a fuel stop, construction zones, a traffic jam around Buffalo, and a missed turn due to incomplete directions (and the resulting backtracking), I still managed to arrive only 13 minutes behind schedule. Close enough. 'Twas a drop-and-hook, so it went quickly.
The company to which I delivered today is in an industrial park in Rome, so there was room for me to park along the street while I waited for my next assignment to come along. And wait I did. It took over an hour before I got word of where I'd be going next. And by that time my 14-hour clock for today's shift was down to 2 hours. Fortunately, the pickup was at another company in the same industrial park, probably within a mile away. So I zipped right over. (Interesting aside: The main street in that industrial park is named Ellsworth Road, same name as the major road that the street on which my house sits turns off of.)
Loading at the pickup, thankfully, went lickety-split, and I was rolling again by 4:00. (My 14-hour window for the shift would end at 5:00.) That left me just enough time to get back to the Thruway from town and 13 miles west to this Service Plaza. So here I be. My load is headed to Goddard, KS, just west of Wichita. However, its delivery date is Monday, the same day when I'm due home next. So the plan is for me to drop it at our Vandalia terminal, which I should be able to reach tomorrow with a good tail wind. I've taken advantage of that by scheduling a maintenance appointment at the terminal for my truck for Friday morning (they didn't have any appointments available Thursday evening).
It's about time; I'm only 16,000 miles overdue for its first maintenance because Dispatch has kept me running everywhere except past a terminal with a shop. In fact, the Maintenance Department had set me up for an appointment at the Van Buren, AR terminal over a month ago when I was in that area. I was supposed to bop over to the terminal after making a delivery about 50 miles east of there. But before I could leave that delivery, Dispatch had assigned me another pickup in the other direction. (That story leads to a rant about my Fleet Manager and Dispatch not being able to figure out how to get me home on time--for my wedding anniversary, no less--but I don't want to delve into that now.) So my truck's finally gonna get the attention it deserves. Not that I'm having any problems with it, but reg'lar maint will help keep problems from cropping up.
OK, now you're all caught up. I'm still running a couple quarts (OK, maybe a couple gallons) low on sleep, so it's time to log off and hit the sack. I won't have to get up and rolling early tomorrow, so I can work on refilling my sleep reserves. Thanks for being patient with my low blog output these last few days. Submit some questions and/or comments so I'll have some material to riff on next time. And, as ever, keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 504
Ho hum, another night, another NY Thruway Service Plaza. The 3rd in 4 nights. Actually, this is the same one where I parked on Saturday for my break before heading to my early Sunday morning pickup. Since I mentioned that, I might as well start there and bring you up-to-date on my travels and travails.
Saturday night/Sunday morning I got up at 12:30 in order to get rolling at 1:00. My 2:00 a.m. pickup was in Baldwinsville, NY, just to the northeast of Syracuse. I got there right on time, checked in at the guard shack, parked and unhooked my empty trailer in a heavy downpour, and headed to their drivers' lounge to wait for them to get my loaded trailer ready. (Why it wasn't at my scheduled pickup time is a mystery to me.) They have a computer monitor in the lounge that displays the outbound orders and associated trailer numbers that are ready to go, so I just had to wait for my order number to appear on the list. Well, I waited in there for 3 hours, watching the late-night/early morning dreck on the TV in the lounge, which only received the local stations--no cable or satellite hookup. I finally gave in walked back to my truck for a nap before I'd check the list again. (There were a bunch of other trucks parked in the waiting area, too, and at least those other drivers were smart enough from the get-go to know they'd have a lengthy wait and didn't bother with the monitor watch.)
Long-enough story short, about 8:45 a.m. my load appeared on the monitor, just after I had seen one of the company's yard jockeys (or, more correctly, "spotters") pulling a USA trailer from a dock and take it to the trailer staging lot. Yep, that one was the one for me. So I hooked it up, checked out, and headed west.
I was very close my 70-hour limit, so I couldn't go very far before I'd have to stop for a 34-hour break to reset my 70-hour counter. I wound up making it to the Rochester, NY area, to the Seneca Service Plaza along the Thruway. (I had stopped at a Petro truck stop on the way to fuel up and earn--and use--a shower credit, so I was good 'n clean for my break.) Now, Rochester is very near where my brother and his wife (and one son, daughter-in-law, and 3 grandkids) live in Canandaigua. So I called them and made arrangements for my bro' to pick me up and take me over to his house for dinner and a short visit. A good time was had by all (I think), as I got to meet the grandkids for the first time. After just a few too-short hours I had to make them take me back to my truck so I could hit the sack.
On Sunday afternoon, before my bro' could make it over to pick me up, I finally had a chance to return to the virtual felt and play some online poker. I've resorted to almost exclusively playing 9-person sit-n-go ("SNG") tournaments, and I've had some pretty good success at it. "Success" to me in those--and any tournament--is finishing in the money (in the top 3 in these SNGs), not necessarily winning. (Although winning is always the "Nuts"!) But once the tourney's down to the top 3, it pretty much comes down to who catches the right cards at the right times, so winning can be a crapshoot. (There are strategic moves you can--and should--make, but if you have 3 equally proficient players, nobody has a real edge unless s/he comes into 3-way play with a huge chip lead.) Anyway, this isn't my poker blog, and I'm getting too much into that discussion. I just want to brag that, despite my 2-month layoff from the game, in the 4 SNGs I played on Sunday, I won 2, took 3rd once, and bombed out early in the other.
On Monday I woke up earlier than I wanted to (remember, I was in the midst of my 34-hour break, and could have slept in as long as possible) and wasn't feeling like I could get back to sleep. That was around 6:30. So I heated up some grub for breakfast and started my day. I spent the rest of the morning hours slogging through e-mail that had been piling up during my offline period. In the afternoon I entered 7 more SNGs, but this time with lesser success. I only "monied" 4 of the 7, with 2 seconds, 2 thirds, and no wins. It was one of those days when the poker gods were just toying with me, giving my opponents miracle river cards to knock me out when I got my chips in with the lead, when I even got goods cards to begin with. And that didn't happen very often, either. (Look up "card-dead" in the poker dictionary, and you'll see my picture.) But I eked out a whole 60-cent profit for the session, and all-in-all I think I made correct decisions for the most part, so all was not lost.
After poker, I needed to nap for a bit before I'd have to get back to work. My break would be complete right around 10:00 p.m., and I'd have to hit the road right then to get to Clarksburg, WV for a 6:00 a.m. delivery. So I did nap, albeit far less than I really needed. But I was up and rolling right on schedule.
The overnight drive actually felt like it went fairly quickly for an 8-hour slog. I was listening and singing along to some of my favorite music CDs that I have along with me, so that kept my mind off the tedium. The drive was just 2 highways--I-90 west and I-79 south--and I tell ya', these days I-79 is just one construction zone after another. 'Twas hard to make good time, and some of those c-zones felt mighty narrow, especially in the dark of night. But the fun part was getting to the customer within Clarksburg.
Now, the town is obviously an old one, and my route in (and out afterwards) was along narrow, winding streets. It's always "fun" to turn a big rig from one two-lane road around a 90-degree corner onto another two-laner, either right or left. Or to drive along narrow winding roads with telephone poles right along the curbs. Such assignments ought to come with hazardous duty pay. But I managed without any damage to life, limb, or property, and the delivery went just fine.
Afterwards, my next assignment was a pickup at another site in Clarksburg. But this one was in an industrial park just off the highway, not into town. (Between delivery & getting the pickup assignment I had retreated to a rest area just a couple miles from the Clarksburg exit off of I-79.) The load I was picking up was headed just about right back to where I had just come from, Rome, NY. (Rome is right by Marcy, where I had delivered a load on Saturday.) So it would be back up I-79 and east on I-90. However, I only had an hour left on my current shift, so I only got as far as Mt. Morris, PA (where I wrote yesterday's update) before stopping for the night.
My Rome delivery was scheduled for 1:00 p.m. today, and at around 400 miles would be about 8 hours of driving, give or take. I originally wanted to get up at 1:00 a.m. to start driving and deliver early, but when my alarm sounded then, I just couldn't make myself get moving. I did have the luxury of a little bit of extra time in that load's schedule, so I allowed myself the extra time to sleep 'til 2:50. By hitting the road at 3:00, that still left me 10 hours for the 8-ish-hour trip. And I even had time to stop en route at a Pilot for a shower and shave. So with the pit stop, a fuel stop, construction zones, a traffic jam around Buffalo, and a missed turn due to incomplete directions (and the resulting backtracking), I still managed to arrive only 13 minutes behind schedule. Close enough. 'Twas a drop-and-hook, so it went quickly.
The company to which I delivered today is in an industrial park in Rome, so there was room for me to park along the street while I waited for my next assignment to come along. And wait I did. It took over an hour before I got word of where I'd be going next. And by that time my 14-hour clock for today's shift was down to 2 hours. Fortunately, the pickup was at another company in the same industrial park, probably within a mile away. So I zipped right over. (Interesting aside: The main street in that industrial park is named Ellsworth Road, same name as the major road that the street on which my house sits turns off of.)
Loading at the pickup, thankfully, went lickety-split, and I was rolling again by 4:00. (My 14-hour window for the shift would end at 5:00.) That left me just enough time to get back to the Thruway from town and 13 miles west to this Service Plaza. So here I be. My load is headed to Goddard, KS, just west of Wichita. However, its delivery date is Monday, the same day when I'm due home next. So the plan is for me to drop it at our Vandalia terminal, which I should be able to reach tomorrow with a good tail wind. I've taken advantage of that by scheduling a maintenance appointment at the terminal for my truck for Friday morning (they didn't have any appointments available Thursday evening).
It's about time; I'm only 16,000 miles overdue for its first maintenance because Dispatch has kept me running everywhere except past a terminal with a shop. In fact, the Maintenance Department had set me up for an appointment at the Van Buren, AR terminal over a month ago when I was in that area. I was supposed to bop over to the terminal after making a delivery about 50 miles east of there. But before I could leave that delivery, Dispatch had assigned me another pickup in the other direction. (That story leads to a rant about my Fleet Manager and Dispatch not being able to figure out how to get me home on time--for my wedding anniversary, no less--but I don't want to delve into that now.) So my truck's finally gonna get the attention it deserves. Not that I'm having any problems with it, but reg'lar maint will help keep problems from cropping up.
OK, now you're all caught up. I'm still running a couple quarts (OK, maybe a couple gallons) low on sleep, so it's time to log off and hit the sack. I won't have to get up and rolling early tomorrow, so I can work on refilling my sleep reserves. Thanks for being patient with my low blog output these last few days. Submit some questions and/or comments so I'll have some material to riff on next time. And, as ever, keep on truckin'.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
More to Come
DATELINE: MT. MORRIS, PA, 9:00 p.m. EDT
Oops, sorry I missed a couple of days. I had some free time and occupied it with other pursuits, such as sleeping and, finally, some online poker. Not to mention visiting my brother and family at their place. (A happy coincidence that my necessary 34-hour break wound up occurring in their neck of the woods near Rochester, NY.)
I'm afraid I won't be giving you much of a report today, either. My schedule these days is upside-down, and I had some connectivity problems earlier when I did have time to write more (must be a bad cell area). Now I need to lay me down to sleep for a few more short hours of sleep before I need to get up around 1:00 a.m. to hit the road again. I'm hauling a load to Rome, NY, and I have to get it there by 1:00 tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon. I'll write up a full catch-up report when I complete my work day tomorrow.
Thanks for checking in, and I again apologize for the scarce content today. Drop me a line, and keep on truckin'.
Oops, sorry I missed a couple of days. I had some free time and occupied it with other pursuits, such as sleeping and, finally, some online poker. Not to mention visiting my brother and family at their place. (A happy coincidence that my necessary 34-hour break wound up occurring in their neck of the woods near Rochester, NY.)
I'm afraid I won't be giving you much of a report today, either. My schedule these days is upside-down, and I had some connectivity problems earlier when I did have time to write more (must be a bad cell area). Now I need to lay me down to sleep for a few more short hours of sleep before I need to get up around 1:00 a.m. to hit the road again. I'm hauling a load to Rome, NY, and I have to get it there by 1:00 tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon. I'll write up a full catch-up report when I complete my work day tomorrow.
Thanks for checking in, and I again apologize for the scarce content today. Drop me a line, and keep on truckin'.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Pause in NY
DATELINE: CHITTENANGO TRAVEL PLAZA, NY THRUWAY, 7:00 p.m. EDT
Miles Today: 376
So, up early once again. (Actually, I do prefer to start early so I can get done early in the day, but it'd be nice if my work days were a little shorter so I could get a bit more rest each day.) This time I did get most of 8 hours of sleep, so I was nearly fully rested. Enough so that I woke up on my own a few minutes before my alarm would have done the job at 3:30. But I had to wait 'til 3:45 when my break reached its full 10-hour point before I could hit the road, though.
Driving north through PA and NY (along I-83, then I-81) in the dark wasn't a problem, despite the hilly, twisty terrain. But in northern PA things got a bit interesting. I came to a construction zone where the roadway was down to one lane. What made it "interesting" was the dense fog. Always fun to drive through on hills, pulling a 42,000-pound load on narrow, winding roads in the dark. But I overcame and made it through to my delivery. This delivery was another drop-and-hook, so it went quickly. And I had my next assignment before I even got my new empty trailer hooked up.
I'm short on hours after this busy week (down to 4-1/2 as of this writing), so I won't be able to go very far with my next load before I need to take a 34-hour break. But the pickup is right by Syracuse, not far (less than an hour) from where I delivered this morning. However, the pickup is scheduled for 2:00 a.m. So I stopped here at this Travel Plaza along the Thruway on my way back to Syracuse to spend the interim. I grabbed some lunch at the place's Sbarro, then returned to my truck for a nap 'cuz I was still quite tired from a week's worth of short nights.
That 4- or 4-1/2-hour nap sure felt good. Now I'm up to report to y'all and catch up with the news of the world. I may or may not catch some more sleep before getting rolling at around 1:00 tonight to go make that pickup. Afterwards I'll head to Binghamton, where there's a Pilot and a TA where I can take my 34-hour break. That's about how far I'll be able to get with the hours I have left. The load I'm picking up is due for delivery at 6:00 Monday morning in Clarksburg, WV, so I don't know yet if they'll have me just sit on the load and deliver it when I can after my break, or if Dispatch'll set up a swap. Check back tomorrow for news about that.
As for now, it's time to decide if I want to grab some dinner, try some more napping, or play some Poker for the first time in a couple of months.
Note to reader nancyr (aka Mrs. R.T.): The Pilot Payback Points are only good at select fast food outlets within Pilot Travel Centers. So, sadly, I can't use them to treat you to a free lunch at any ol' Wendy's. Bummer.
Thanks all for taking a look-see at today's report. Send me your comments and questions, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 376
So, up early once again. (Actually, I do prefer to start early so I can get done early in the day, but it'd be nice if my work days were a little shorter so I could get a bit more rest each day.) This time I did get most of 8 hours of sleep, so I was nearly fully rested. Enough so that I woke up on my own a few minutes before my alarm would have done the job at 3:30. But I had to wait 'til 3:45 when my break reached its full 10-hour point before I could hit the road, though.
Driving north through PA and NY (along I-83, then I-81) in the dark wasn't a problem, despite the hilly, twisty terrain. But in northern PA things got a bit interesting. I came to a construction zone where the roadway was down to one lane. What made it "interesting" was the dense fog. Always fun to drive through on hills, pulling a 42,000-pound load on narrow, winding roads in the dark. But I overcame and made it through to my delivery. This delivery was another drop-and-hook, so it went quickly. And I had my next assignment before I even got my new empty trailer hooked up.
I'm short on hours after this busy week (down to 4-1/2 as of this writing), so I won't be able to go very far with my next load before I need to take a 34-hour break. But the pickup is right by Syracuse, not far (less than an hour) from where I delivered this morning. However, the pickup is scheduled for 2:00 a.m. So I stopped here at this Travel Plaza along the Thruway on my way back to Syracuse to spend the interim. I grabbed some lunch at the place's Sbarro, then returned to my truck for a nap 'cuz I was still quite tired from a week's worth of short nights.
That 4- or 4-1/2-hour nap sure felt good. Now I'm up to report to y'all and catch up with the news of the world. I may or may not catch some more sleep before getting rolling at around 1:00 tonight to go make that pickup. Afterwards I'll head to Binghamton, where there's a Pilot and a TA where I can take my 34-hour break. That's about how far I'll be able to get with the hours I have left. The load I'm picking up is due for delivery at 6:00 Monday morning in Clarksburg, WV, so I don't know yet if they'll have me just sit on the load and deliver it when I can after my break, or if Dispatch'll set up a swap. Check back tomorrow for news about that.
As for now, it's time to decide if I want to grab some dinner, try some more napping, or play some Poker for the first time in a couple of months.
Note to reader nancyr (aka Mrs. R.T.): The Pilot Payback Points are only good at select fast food outlets within Pilot Travel Centers. So, sadly, I can't use them to treat you to a free lunch at any ol' Wendy's. Bummer.
Thanks all for taking a look-see at today's report. Send me your comments and questions, and keep on truckin'.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Shortfall
DATELINE: PA REST AREA/WELCOME CENTER ALONG I-83, SOUTH OF YORK, PA
6:30 p.m. EDT
Miles Today: 513
Today sure didn't end up like I was hoping. I ran out of time far short of where I expected when I started out this morning, for two main reasons:
1. Instead of the listed 152 miles to my pickup this morning, I actually had to drive 220. (Guess which figure I get paid for.) So that ate up at least an extra hour of drive time I was expecting to use hauling the load after pickup.
2. It took my last 2-1/2 hours of available drive time to go perhaps 50-ish miles, due to heckacious rush-hour traffic approaching, circling, and heading away from Baltimore.
So now I've barely made it into southern PA, while I was expecting to get at least to the northern side of the state. Oh well, the best laid plans...
At least I did have time to stop for a shower and another free lunch at a Pilot just south of Richmond, VA. I had to stop there anyway to fuel up and weigh my truck, so I took the necessary time to clean up and fuel myself up, too. Lunch was courtesy of my Pilot Driver Payback points, and that place had a Wendy's. A cheeseburger and Caesar Side Salad with Chipotle Ranch dressing just hit the spot!
After my intermission at that Pilot, the rest of the day was all driving, all the time. Did I mention we also got rain while creeping around Baltimo'? Nothing torrential, but fairly heavy nonetheless.
OK, I'm really bushed tonight, and I do have to get rolling right away as I fulfill my 10-hour break early in the morning so I can at least get close to reaching the delivery by the 10:00 appointment. (I'll hit the road at 3:45.) So I do need to post this now and hit the sack. Thanks as ever for following along, send me some clever comments and questions, and keep on truckin'
6:30 p.m. EDT
Miles Today: 513
Today sure didn't end up like I was hoping. I ran out of time far short of where I expected when I started out this morning, for two main reasons:
1. Instead of the listed 152 miles to my pickup this morning, I actually had to drive 220. (Guess which figure I get paid for.) So that ate up at least an extra hour of drive time I was expecting to use hauling the load after pickup.
2. It took my last 2-1/2 hours of available drive time to go perhaps 50-ish miles, due to heckacious rush-hour traffic approaching, circling, and heading away from Baltimore.
So now I've barely made it into southern PA, while I was expecting to get at least to the northern side of the state. Oh well, the best laid plans...
At least I did have time to stop for a shower and another free lunch at a Pilot just south of Richmond, VA. I had to stop there anyway to fuel up and weigh my truck, so I took the necessary time to clean up and fuel myself up, too. Lunch was courtesy of my Pilot Driver Payback points, and that place had a Wendy's. A cheeseburger and Caesar Side Salad with Chipotle Ranch dressing just hit the spot!
After my intermission at that Pilot, the rest of the day was all driving, all the time. Did I mention we also got rain while creeping around Baltimo'? Nothing torrential, but fairly heavy nonetheless.
OK, I'm really bushed tonight, and I do have to get rolling right away as I fulfill my 10-hour break early in the morning so I can at least get close to reaching the delivery by the 10:00 appointment. (I'll hit the road at 3:45.) So I do need to post this now and hit the sack. Thanks as ever for following along, send me some clever comments and questions, and keep on truckin'
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Runnin' Hard
DATELINE: HARRISONBURG, VA, 8:00 p.m. EDT
Miles Today: 565
Oy veh! Such another long day! And yet another early start tomorrow! I think my Fleet Manager is trying to squeeze every mile outta' me as he can. (FMs get paid commissions for the miles the drivers under their care rack up.) Anyway, on to today's recap.
Up and rolling early (4:00) from Jessup, MD (a few miles south of Baltimore) to head for my delivery in Lumberton, NJ. With a fuel stop en route, that took just over 3 hours. The trip and the delivery--a drop-and-hook--went reasonably well. Afterwards I headed up the NJ Turnpike to a Petro truck stop to scan in my paperwork for the trip. (USA uses a third-party company to receive the scans--basically a fax--and send them the info so they can bill the customer, and thus pay the drivers. So I gotta' scan in the bills of lading, log pages, and any reimbursable receipts, such as scale and toll receipts, along with a cover page for every load I haul.) When I was done with that and returned to my truck, my next assignment was waiting for me.
Next up was a pickup in North Brunswick, NJ right away, with delivery in Mount Crawford, VA today. The delivery time was set for 11:59 tonight, but I'd have to take it right over in order to deliver it today as was required. Midnight was well beyond my 14 hour window for today, and I couldn't fit in a 10-hour break without going past the deadline. So haulin' a** the 300+ miles with the load was necessary.
The pickup was one for the books. First of all, my directions said that the company was the first one along the road once I turned onto it. So I pulled into the first driveway. Lo and behold, trucks making pickups were supposed to pull into the second driveway for the company. Woulda' been nice to have either that instruction OR helpful signage at the driveways. So I had to turn around in the lot and pull back onto the street to head over to the proper lot.
Once I parked there (as a helpful sign indicated), I headed into the security office to check in (also indicated on the helpful sign). They sent me walking around the corner and down the side of the building to the shipping office. No problems there as the nice lady gave me my bills and directed me back to the security office where they would instruct me on where to drop my empty trailer and pick up the loaded one.
It turns out that I had to take my empty to one lot, and the loaded one was in another lot. However, the empties lot was a mile up the road (US highway 1), and the loadeds lot was a couple miles back the other direction down 1. Why? I dunno. Makes no sense to me. Anyway, the whole shebang took at least an hour, time I coulda' used hightailing it to Virginny.
Ya' see, by the time I was ready to leave the shipper, I had 7 hours left on both my 11-hour drive time and my 14-hour work window for the day. And it was registered as 328 miles from point-to-point (and those mileages are ALWAYS on the shy side). PLUS I would have to stop to weigh the load before getting too far. (At 44,000+ lbs., I had to make sure all of the truck and trailer axles were in compliance with weight restrictions.) All in all, I didn't have ANY time for dilly-dallying.
Long story (and drive) short, I made it to the delivery right at my 14-hour mark. That was another drop-and-hook delivery, so it went quickly. And, fortunately, I found a truck stop less than 3 miles away where I've found refuge for the night. (If an activity takes less than 7-1/2 minutes, I don't have to log it, since we log our time in 15-minute increments. So the quick drive from the delivery to this truck stop fell into that black hole.)
I've already received my next gig: I have to drive 150 miles to an 8:00 pickup in the morning (in Kenbridge, VA, south of Richmond), then haul the load 560 miles to Marcy, NY, which is kinda' near Syracuse. That delivery (to a site I've delivered once before) is at 10:00 Saturday morning, so I don't have to drive the whole way tomorrow--which would be impossible, anyway, while observing the DOT hours-of-service regulations. But I'll make a goodly number of miles, anyway. I'm looking at another early-starting L-O-O-O-O-N-G day. But at least tomorrow I'll have some flexibility (after the pickup, anyway) in terms of pacing, meal breaks, and the like.
So that's the story of another day in the exciting life of this over-the-road trucker. I hope I've enthralled you. Thanks for taking a look, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 565
Oy veh! Such another long day! And yet another early start tomorrow! I think my Fleet Manager is trying to squeeze every mile outta' me as he can. (FMs get paid commissions for the miles the drivers under their care rack up.) Anyway, on to today's recap.
Up and rolling early (4:00) from Jessup, MD (a few miles south of Baltimore) to head for my delivery in Lumberton, NJ. With a fuel stop en route, that took just over 3 hours. The trip and the delivery--a drop-and-hook--went reasonably well. Afterwards I headed up the NJ Turnpike to a Petro truck stop to scan in my paperwork for the trip. (USA uses a third-party company to receive the scans--basically a fax--and send them the info so they can bill the customer, and thus pay the drivers. So I gotta' scan in the bills of lading, log pages, and any reimbursable receipts, such as scale and toll receipts, along with a cover page for every load I haul.) When I was done with that and returned to my truck, my next assignment was waiting for me.
Next up was a pickup in North Brunswick, NJ right away, with delivery in Mount Crawford, VA today. The delivery time was set for 11:59 tonight, but I'd have to take it right over in order to deliver it today as was required. Midnight was well beyond my 14 hour window for today, and I couldn't fit in a 10-hour break without going past the deadline. So haulin' a** the 300+ miles with the load was necessary.
The pickup was one for the books. First of all, my directions said that the company was the first one along the road once I turned onto it. So I pulled into the first driveway. Lo and behold, trucks making pickups were supposed to pull into the second driveway for the company. Woulda' been nice to have either that instruction OR helpful signage at the driveways. So I had to turn around in the lot and pull back onto the street to head over to the proper lot.
Once I parked there (as a helpful sign indicated), I headed into the security office to check in (also indicated on the helpful sign). They sent me walking around the corner and down the side of the building to the shipping office. No problems there as the nice lady gave me my bills and directed me back to the security office where they would instruct me on where to drop my empty trailer and pick up the loaded one.
It turns out that I had to take my empty to one lot, and the loaded one was in another lot. However, the empties lot was a mile up the road (US highway 1), and the loadeds lot was a couple miles back the other direction down 1. Why? I dunno. Makes no sense to me. Anyway, the whole shebang took at least an hour, time I coulda' used hightailing it to Virginny.
Ya' see, by the time I was ready to leave the shipper, I had 7 hours left on both my 11-hour drive time and my 14-hour work window for the day. And it was registered as 328 miles from point-to-point (and those mileages are ALWAYS on the shy side). PLUS I would have to stop to weigh the load before getting too far. (At 44,000+ lbs., I had to make sure all of the truck and trailer axles were in compliance with weight restrictions.) All in all, I didn't have ANY time for dilly-dallying.
Long story (and drive) short, I made it to the delivery right at my 14-hour mark. That was another drop-and-hook delivery, so it went quickly. And, fortunately, I found a truck stop less than 3 miles away where I've found refuge for the night. (If an activity takes less than 7-1/2 minutes, I don't have to log it, since we log our time in 15-minute increments. So the quick drive from the delivery to this truck stop fell into that black hole.)
I've already received my next gig: I have to drive 150 miles to an 8:00 pickup in the morning (in Kenbridge, VA, south of Richmond), then haul the load 560 miles to Marcy, NY, which is kinda' near Syracuse. That delivery (to a site I've delivered once before) is at 10:00 Saturday morning, so I don't have to drive the whole way tomorrow--which would be impossible, anyway, while observing the DOT hours-of-service regulations. But I'll make a goodly number of miles, anyway. I'm looking at another early-starting L-O-O-O-O-N-G day. But at least tomorrow I'll have some flexibility (after the pickup, anyway) in terms of pacing, meal breaks, and the like.
So that's the story of another day in the exciting life of this over-the-road trucker. I hope I've enthralled you. Thanks for taking a look, and keep on truckin'.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Back Towards the Northeast
DATELINE: JESSUP, MD, 6:45 p.m. EDT
Miles Today: 481
Another long day--11.5 hours of work (10.25 driving + 1.25 "on-duty/not driving" hours) over an elapsed 13.5 hours. The day's mileage is down beacuse the lion's share of my diving today was along US highway 29, with all of the in-town slowdowns and stoplights en route. But let me recap my day and my current load.
I got up at 3:30 this morning, got cleaned up, and hit the road at 4:15. It took me 2-1/4 hours to reach my delivery customer in Randleman, NC, and it didn't do me any good getting there 1/2-hour early. First of all, another USA driver was already there (he also had a 7:00 appointment), and he was docked in the one door the company uses to unload the product we brought in (rolls of paper). Secondly, the company isn't a 24/7 operation, and they didn't start work 'til 7:00. So I had an hour-long wait before I could dock and get unloaded. But I didn't mind that too much.
Once that delivery was complete, my next assignment was to zip up to the town of Brown Summit, NC, a trip I completed within an hour. The load I picked up there ('twas a drop-and-hook pickup) is due in Lumberton, NJ tomorrow (Thursday) morning at 7:00. So from the time I left the pickup, I have 21 hours to make the 429-mile drive and include the required 10-hour break. Despite a rush-hour slowdown circling Washington, DC, I'm on target to get to the delivery on time. Of course, with 132 miles yet to go from here (according to Mapquest), I do still need to get rolling early in the morning again.
Except for the first 30-ish miles in NC, this trip is completely along the route I took with my load to Maine a couple weeks ago: US-29 north to east I-66 to I-495 around DC's northwest corner to I-95 north. So it's familiar territory. Funny, I'd been on this job for over a year-and-a-half without ever needing to use "29", and this is my 4th trip on it in the last couple of months. (US-29 bisects VA from Danville in the south-central part of the state to the DC area.)
Now let me vamp on a big change the company has imposed on its drivers. Recently the company issued a new fuel network booklet (list of authorized places we can stop to fuel up our trucks). The new network is almost exclusively Pilot Travel Centers. Gone are ALL of the Flying Js and Petros and most of the TAs. What that means is I won't be able to earn shower credits at those places (one earns a shower by buying 50 or more gallons of fuel and swiping his/her loyalty card for that chain). I can still park at Js, Petros, and TAs, but I won't be able to shower there in the mornings before starting work. (Well, to be accurate, I could BUY showers, but at $10 a pop, that's not an attractive option.)
Of course, I do earn shower credits at Pilots when I fill up there, but Pilots are lower on my preference list for overnight parking because:
1. They generally have smaller, tighter parking lots, and
2. They don't have drivers' TV lounges a la Flying Js, TAs, and Petros.
On the other hand, USA Truck has an arrangement with Pilot where we earn double "Payback Points" on our loyalty cards for each fuel purchase. We can then redeem our points at the fast food outlets--Wendy's, Arby's, Subway, among others--in many of the Pilot locations. I did that today for a free meal (each point = 1 cent towards the purchase) at the Arby's in the Danville, VA Pilot.
Now on to answer a couple of questions posed by reader andy's kids:
1) What's the truth about truckers, gallon jugs, and rest stops?
Why, I have no idea what you're talking about. Whatever do you mean?
2) If you pass a school bus or station wagon full of kids giving the honk-your-horn signal, what do you do?
I just ignore 'em. Honking is supposed to be saved for appropriate traffic situations. Don't want to confuse or alarm the motoring public with unnecessary horn blasts. Besides, my new truck doesn't even have an overhead cable for honking the air horn; it just has a button on the steering wheel instead.
Well, as I mentioned above, tomorrow's gonna be yet another early start, so it's once again time to wrap this up. Remember, I love getting comments from my loyal readership, so let me have 'em. Thanks for checking in today, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 481
Another long day--11.5 hours of work (10.25 driving + 1.25 "on-duty/not driving" hours) over an elapsed 13.5 hours. The day's mileage is down beacuse the lion's share of my diving today was along US highway 29, with all of the in-town slowdowns and stoplights en route. But let me recap my day and my current load.
I got up at 3:30 this morning, got cleaned up, and hit the road at 4:15. It took me 2-1/4 hours to reach my delivery customer in Randleman, NC, and it didn't do me any good getting there 1/2-hour early. First of all, another USA driver was already there (he also had a 7:00 appointment), and he was docked in the one door the company uses to unload the product we brought in (rolls of paper). Secondly, the company isn't a 24/7 operation, and they didn't start work 'til 7:00. So I had an hour-long wait before I could dock and get unloaded. But I didn't mind that too much.
Once that delivery was complete, my next assignment was to zip up to the town of Brown Summit, NC, a trip I completed within an hour. The load I picked up there ('twas a drop-and-hook pickup) is due in Lumberton, NJ tomorrow (Thursday) morning at 7:00. So from the time I left the pickup, I have 21 hours to make the 429-mile drive and include the required 10-hour break. Despite a rush-hour slowdown circling Washington, DC, I'm on target to get to the delivery on time. Of course, with 132 miles yet to go from here (according to Mapquest), I do still need to get rolling early in the morning again.
Except for the first 30-ish miles in NC, this trip is completely along the route I took with my load to Maine a couple weeks ago: US-29 north to east I-66 to I-495 around DC's northwest corner to I-95 north. So it's familiar territory. Funny, I'd been on this job for over a year-and-a-half without ever needing to use "29", and this is my 4th trip on it in the last couple of months. (US-29 bisects VA from Danville in the south-central part of the state to the DC area.)
Now let me vamp on a big change the company has imposed on its drivers. Recently the company issued a new fuel network booklet (list of authorized places we can stop to fuel up our trucks). The new network is almost exclusively Pilot Travel Centers. Gone are ALL of the Flying Js and Petros and most of the TAs. What that means is I won't be able to earn shower credits at those places (one earns a shower by buying 50 or more gallons of fuel and swiping his/her loyalty card for that chain). I can still park at Js, Petros, and TAs, but I won't be able to shower there in the mornings before starting work. (Well, to be accurate, I could BUY showers, but at $10 a pop, that's not an attractive option.)
Of course, I do earn shower credits at Pilots when I fill up there, but Pilots are lower on my preference list for overnight parking because:
1. They generally have smaller, tighter parking lots, and
2. They don't have drivers' TV lounges a la Flying Js, TAs, and Petros.
On the other hand, USA Truck has an arrangement with Pilot where we earn double "Payback Points" on our loyalty cards for each fuel purchase. We can then redeem our points at the fast food outlets--Wendy's, Arby's, Subway, among others--in many of the Pilot locations. I did that today for a free meal (each point = 1 cent towards the purchase) at the Arby's in the Danville, VA Pilot.
Now on to answer a couple of questions posed by reader andy's kids:
1) What's the truth about truckers, gallon jugs, and rest stops?
Why, I have no idea what you're talking about. Whatever do you mean?
2) If you pass a school bus or station wagon full of kids giving the honk-your-horn signal, what do you do?
I just ignore 'em. Honking is supposed to be saved for appropriate traffic situations. Don't want to confuse or alarm the motoring public with unnecessary horn blasts. Besides, my new truck doesn't even have an overhead cable for honking the air horn; it just has a button on the steering wheel instead.
Well, as I mentioned above, tomorrow's gonna be yet another early start, so it's once again time to wrap this up. Remember, I love getting comments from my loyal readership, so let me have 'em. Thanks for checking in today, and keep on truckin'.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Truckin' Southeasterly
DATELINE: MAX MEADOWS, VA, 7:15 p.m. EDT
Miles Today: 557
(Yesterday's total was 406...I forgot to note that in yesterday's posting.)
Well it's been another long day with another short night coming up. I've noticed that since I got my new Fleet Manager a few months back that my load assignments tend to have very little "wiggle room" for relaxation time. The time between pickup and delivery appointments tends to be just enough to drive the mileage at a 50 MPH average plus necessary 10-hour break period(s). This current load fits that bill; I have to get rolling again tomorrow morning just about as soon as I complete my 10-hours after stopping tonight.
Tonight I'm at a Love's Travel Center down here in southern VA, and I have about 100 miles or so to go to get to tomorrow morning's 7:00 delivery. So I'll get up early enough (3:30) to grab a shower and shave (gotta look presentable for those customers) before hitting the road between 4:00 and 4:30.
The upside of these tight schedules is I get to rack up the paying miles. The downside is those 10 hours don't leave much time for other activities if I want to get a good night's sleep. If I do sleep 8 hours, that leaves about 1 hour on each side to squeeze in among the following:
- Dinner
- Blogging
- Exercise (usually neglected because of the time crunch)
- Showering and shaving
- Poker
- Breakfast (if I don't just resort to munching Pop Tarts as I drive in the morning).
Therefore I generally have to keep these posts shorter, less in-depth and insightful, and less prosaically proficient than I'd like.
Anyway, that's enough to catch you up-to-date for today, as I am quite tired and ready to make preparations for bedtime. Thanks for coming back to the fold and looking in today. Keep in touch, and keep on truckin'.
P.S., A 5-state day today. I coulda' driven another 35-ish miles into NC to hit the 6-state mark, but I need a shower & shave in the morning and I can do that for free here with a shower credit from having filled up my truck's tanks. Ain't no such places in the area I woulda' had to stop in NC.
Miles Today: 557
(Yesterday's total was 406...I forgot to note that in yesterday's posting.)
Well it's been another long day with another short night coming up. I've noticed that since I got my new Fleet Manager a few months back that my load assignments tend to have very little "wiggle room" for relaxation time. The time between pickup and delivery appointments tends to be just enough to drive the mileage at a 50 MPH average plus necessary 10-hour break period(s). This current load fits that bill; I have to get rolling again tomorrow morning just about as soon as I complete my 10-hours after stopping tonight.
Tonight I'm at a Love's Travel Center down here in southern VA, and I have about 100 miles or so to go to get to tomorrow morning's 7:00 delivery. So I'll get up early enough (3:30) to grab a shower and shave (gotta look presentable for those customers) before hitting the road between 4:00 and 4:30.
The upside of these tight schedules is I get to rack up the paying miles. The downside is those 10 hours don't leave much time for other activities if I want to get a good night's sleep. If I do sleep 8 hours, that leaves about 1 hour on each side to squeeze in among the following:
- Dinner
- Blogging
- Exercise (usually neglected because of the time crunch)
- Showering and shaving
- Poker
- Breakfast (if I don't just resort to munching Pop Tarts as I drive in the morning).
Therefore I generally have to keep these posts shorter, less in-depth and insightful, and less prosaically proficient than I'd like.
Anyway, that's enough to catch you up-to-date for today, as I am quite tired and ready to make preparations for bedtime. Thanks for coming back to the fold and looking in today. Keep in touch, and keep on truckin'.
P.S., A 5-state day today. I coulda' driven another 35-ish miles into NC to hit the 6-state mark, but I need a shower & shave in the morning and I can do that for free here with a shower credit from having filled up my truck's tanks. Ain't no such places in the area I woulda' had to stop in NC.
Monday, September 8, 2008
I Have Returned
DATELINE: TEKONSHA, MI, 9:30 p.m. EDT
FINALLY back online! It's been a L-O-O-O-O-O-O-N-G time coming, but I finally have a setup in my truck that provides AC power to my laptop. Many thanks to a loyal reader who provided a proper (i.e., matching the original equipment) replacement transformer for my machine. I'll let him retain his anonymity unless he begs for the deserved attention. But it's been a long day and I have to get started early tomorrow, so I'll get right to a quick update of my last month and a half on the job.
In my offline period I've been everywhere from Laredo, TX to Maine; from Orlando, FL to Oklahoma and Kansas. My trip to Maine, 2 weeks ago, was noteworthy for a couple of reasons:
1. I now have trucked in all of the states east of the Mississippi River--New Hampshire and Maine being the last holdouts--and
2. When I drove into that state, it was the 9th state I'd been in that day (MD, DE, NJ, NY, CT, RI, MA, NH, ME). You've read my mentions before about having 4- and 5-state days, always missing that elusive 6-state day. But I blew that out of the water with the 9-stater. And I followed that up with an 8-stater (ME, NH, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, PA) the next day.
I started a new tour of duty today, after having been home for nearly 48 hours over the weekend. I had one short run--a pickup in Wyandotte, MI this morning for a delivery in Upper Sandusky, OH (which is NOT near the Sandusky with Cedar Point) early in the afternoon--then another pickup this evening in Battle Creek, MI. I'm taking that load to Randleman, NC for a Wednesday morning delivery. I've stopped for the night at an independent truck stop--er, Travel Plaza--by this small town along I-69 in the south-central part of the state. I'll have to make serious tracks tomorrow--that is, drive a lot of miles--to get in position to make Wednesday morning's 7:00 a.m. delivery appointment. However, a lot of those miles will have to be on US highways instead of Interstates in order to take the most direct route. So my overall MPH is going to be a bit lower than if a direct Interstate route was available. Oh well, I'll just do the best I can.
Like I wrote earlier, I gotta get started early tomorrow, so I need to wrap this up and hit the sack. I hope to have ample time to blog a bit more in-depth in the days to come, but at least we now know that my online access is back. Thanks for checking in, I apologize (and deeply regret) my lengthy absence from the airwaves. Drop me a line to let me know you're back with me, and keep on truckin'.
FINALLY back online! It's been a L-O-O-O-O-O-O-N-G time coming, but I finally have a setup in my truck that provides AC power to my laptop. Many thanks to a loyal reader who provided a proper (i.e., matching the original equipment) replacement transformer for my machine. I'll let him retain his anonymity unless he begs for the deserved attention. But it's been a long day and I have to get started early tomorrow, so I'll get right to a quick update of my last month and a half on the job.
In my offline period I've been everywhere from Laredo, TX to Maine; from Orlando, FL to Oklahoma and Kansas. My trip to Maine, 2 weeks ago, was noteworthy for a couple of reasons:
1. I now have trucked in all of the states east of the Mississippi River--New Hampshire and Maine being the last holdouts--and
2. When I drove into that state, it was the 9th state I'd been in that day (MD, DE, NJ, NY, CT, RI, MA, NH, ME). You've read my mentions before about having 4- and 5-state days, always missing that elusive 6-state day. But I blew that out of the water with the 9-stater. And I followed that up with an 8-stater (ME, NH, MA, RI, CT, NY, NJ, PA) the next day.
I started a new tour of duty today, after having been home for nearly 48 hours over the weekend. I had one short run--a pickup in Wyandotte, MI this morning for a delivery in Upper Sandusky, OH (which is NOT near the Sandusky with Cedar Point) early in the afternoon--then another pickup this evening in Battle Creek, MI. I'm taking that load to Randleman, NC for a Wednesday morning delivery. I've stopped for the night at an independent truck stop--er, Travel Plaza--by this small town along I-69 in the south-central part of the state. I'll have to make serious tracks tomorrow--that is, drive a lot of miles--to get in position to make Wednesday morning's 7:00 a.m. delivery appointment. However, a lot of those miles will have to be on US highways instead of Interstates in order to take the most direct route. So my overall MPH is going to be a bit lower than if a direct Interstate route was available. Oh well, I'll just do the best I can.
Like I wrote earlier, I gotta get started early tomorrow, so I need to wrap this up and hit the sack. I hope to have ample time to blog a bit more in-depth in the days to come, but at least we now know that my online access is back. Thanks for checking in, I apologize (and deeply regret) my lengthy absence from the airwaves. Drop me a line to let me know you're back with me, and keep on truckin'.
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