DATELINE: SEYMOUR, IN, 6:15 p.m. EST
Miles Today: 350
OK, so today wasn't a long work day by usual trucking standards, but I sure got tired by the last hour. Must be the whole 2 weeks I've been out on the road weighing down on me. Anyway, I just need to make 2 stops tomorrow to get rid of the load in my trailer, then it's home for the holidays! Woo-hoo! Can't wait.
My first stopoff tomorrow is a 9:15 a.m. appointment, and the site is just across the highway from the TA where I'm parked tonight. It's literally 1/4 mile away, if that far. So that'll start off the day quickly. However, it will be a live unload since they only get a portion of what's on there. (Meaning I can't just drop the trailer and go.) So I don't know how long that part's going to take. Hopefully not too long.
After that delivery's done, I haul the rest of the load to another Distribution Center ("DC") for the same company, this one in Coldwater, MI. I'm pretty sure that one'll be a drop-and-hook since I've dropped other loads there a couple of times before. So that one ought to be nice 'n quick so I can hit the road for home base. I sure am looking forward to ~10 days at home (I'll head back to the truck on Jan. 2).
This may be my last update to this blog for the year, and if so, have nothing but the happiest of holidays--all of 'em. Thanks for following along as I related my trials, tribulations, and some happy moments this year. The best part of keeping this blog going is getting comments and questions from you all, so please keep 'em coming. All my best to you for the coming year, and keep on truckin'.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Some Excitement
DATELINE: OAK GROVE, MO, 2:00 a.m. CST
Wow, it's been a long day. But the trucking part was not why it was so long. (Well, it is why it started so early.) So let me get that out of the way quickly and move on to the good stuff.
I got up by 4:30 this (well, yesterday now) morning so I could roll at 4:45, when my break hit the 10-hour mark. Yada, yada, drove across the state, drop-and-hook delivery, drove to a nearby Flying J to wait for my next gig, got it after a little more than an hour. Next up: a pickup Monday morning back over just north of St. Louis.
Well now, that gives me lots of free time this weekend. (With this economy and at this time of year, freight has really slowed down, hence my long waits for assignments and free days on the weekends.) So first up I headed over to the Petro truck stop in this town. It's at a well-commercialized exit, so there are plenty of choices for dining. So I spent most of my free time this afternoon in the theater watching the movies they were showing. I caught the tail end of "Flight Plan" with Jodie Foster, then "The Bucket List" (Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman), and "21" with Kevin Spacey. I highly recommend "The Bucket List" if you haven't seen it yet; a good flick and terrific performances by a couple of our best actors.
"21" ended just a bit before 7:00 (CST) toni--er, last night--and that gave me just enough time to get back to my truck, fire up my laptop, and enter a tournament on PokerStars. This tourney, which they hold nightly at 8:00 EST, is becoming one of my favorites (when I don't have to get up real early the next morning). It's a regular No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em event with a 50-cent entry fee. Well, allow me to spare you all the details and tell you that I finally had my first big breakthrough in one of these multi-table tournaments.
Tonight the event had 2804 entrants and paid prizes to the top 549 finishers. I managed to play a mostly conservative game (I've decided the poker gods will not allow me to play aggressive poker--successfully, at least) and finally avoided getting unlucky, as is usually my downfall. I even got lucky and caught a couple of game-saving river cards (the last one turned over in a hand) to stay alive or win pots when I wasn't all-in. Anywho, long (and I mean L-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-N-G, just over 7 hours before I crashed and burned) story short, I raked in a 4th place finish! That turned my 50-cent entry into a $56.09 bump to my poker bankroll! Yaaaa-hooooo! That more than tripled the balance. I'd been treading water with that lately, unable to create a new high-water mark for a while. But this gives me encouragement.
Anyway, that's my day in a nutshell. I've been up for over 22 hours now, so I'd best be getting on to sleep. Well, as soon as the "Poker Success High" cools off a bit. At least I don't have to keep to any set schedule tomorr--er, today--since all I gotta do is cross back to the east side of the state to a truck stop closer to Monday's pickup site. That'll probably be back to Wentzville, from whence I started today's doings. (Oh, and the load I'll be picking up will be bound for 2 stops on Tuesday, in Seymour, IN and Coldwater, MI, after which I go home for the holidays!!!!! My regular 3 days of hometime--since I'll have been out here for 3 weeks--plus my week of paid vacation for the year. I can't wait!!!!)
Thanks for checking in today. Let me hear from you now and then, and keep on truckin'.
Wow, it's been a long day. But the trucking part was not why it was so long. (Well, it is why it started so early.) So let me get that out of the way quickly and move on to the good stuff.
I got up by 4:30 this (well, yesterday now) morning so I could roll at 4:45, when my break hit the 10-hour mark. Yada, yada, drove across the state, drop-and-hook delivery, drove to a nearby Flying J to wait for my next gig, got it after a little more than an hour. Next up: a pickup Monday morning back over just north of St. Louis.
Well now, that gives me lots of free time this weekend. (With this economy and at this time of year, freight has really slowed down, hence my long waits for assignments and free days on the weekends.) So first up I headed over to the Petro truck stop in this town. It's at a well-commercialized exit, so there are plenty of choices for dining. So I spent most of my free time this afternoon in the theater watching the movies they were showing. I caught the tail end of "Flight Plan" with Jodie Foster, then "The Bucket List" (Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman), and "21" with Kevin Spacey. I highly recommend "The Bucket List" if you haven't seen it yet; a good flick and terrific performances by a couple of our best actors.
"21" ended just a bit before 7:00 (CST) toni--er, last night--and that gave me just enough time to get back to my truck, fire up my laptop, and enter a tournament on PokerStars. This tourney, which they hold nightly at 8:00 EST, is becoming one of my favorites (when I don't have to get up real early the next morning). It's a regular No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em event with a 50-cent entry fee. Well, allow me to spare you all the details and tell you that I finally had my first big breakthrough in one of these multi-table tournaments.
Tonight the event had 2804 entrants and paid prizes to the top 549 finishers. I managed to play a mostly conservative game (I've decided the poker gods will not allow me to play aggressive poker--successfully, at least) and finally avoided getting unlucky, as is usually my downfall. I even got lucky and caught a couple of game-saving river cards (the last one turned over in a hand) to stay alive or win pots when I wasn't all-in. Anywho, long (and I mean L-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-N-G, just over 7 hours before I crashed and burned) story short, I raked in a 4th place finish! That turned my 50-cent entry into a $56.09 bump to my poker bankroll! Yaaaa-hooooo! That more than tripled the balance. I'd been treading water with that lately, unable to create a new high-water mark for a while. But this gives me encouragement.
Anyway, that's my day in a nutshell. I've been up for over 22 hours now, so I'd best be getting on to sleep. Well, as soon as the "Poker Success High" cools off a bit. At least I don't have to keep to any set schedule tomorr--er, today--since all I gotta do is cross back to the east side of the state to a truck stop closer to Monday's pickup site. That'll probably be back to Wentzville, from whence I started today's doings. (Oh, and the load I'll be picking up will be bound for 2 stops on Tuesday, in Seymour, IN and Coldwater, MI, after which I go home for the holidays!!!!! My regular 3 days of hometime--since I'll have been out here for 3 weeks--plus my week of paid vacation for the year. I can't wait!!!!)
Thanks for checking in today. Let me hear from you now and then, and keep on truckin'.
Friday, December 19, 2008
OH -> IN -> IL -> MO
DATELINE: WENTZVILLE, MO, 8:30 p.m. CST
Miles Today: 487
Another short report tonight, as it's been a long day after too short a night of sleep, and I gotta' get up and rolling early tomorrow. So right to it.
Up this morning in Vandalia, OH a little after 6:00 EST and on the road by 6:45. Got to my delivery just to the southwest of Indianapolis by 9:45. Thankfully, the weather was warm enough down where I was that we just had rain (quite heavy for a while) instead of the ice and show reported up to the north. So driving was not treacherous at all. It was a fairly quick live unload, and my next assignment came in fairly quickly afterwards.
My next pickup was in Lebanon, IN, just northwest of Indy. That one was a drop-and-hook, but took an hour nonetheless. And now I'm on my way with the load to it's destination in Harrisonville, MO, which is a tad south of Kansas City. Delivery time is set for 9:00 a.m., so I gotta get up and boogie-ing as soon as I've had 10 hours of break tonight.
Let's see, I parked here (the TA in this town, a little bit west of St. Louis) at 6:45 p.m., so I'll be rolling at 4:45. (Both times CST.) I still have over 200 miles to go, so we'll see if I make it on time or not. This one's gonna' be a drop and hook, so I don't think it'll be too terrible if I'm a few minutes behind schedule. Besides, this was one of those runs with little "wiggle room" in the schedule, most of which was eaten up by rush-hour traffic on the bypass around St. Louis.
OK, I've had my dinner (Popeye's Chicken), brushed my teeth, Facebooked, talked with Mrs. R.T. on the phone, and blogged, so I guess it's time to hit the sack. Thanks for your interest today. Keep them comments and questions coming, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 487
Another short report tonight, as it's been a long day after too short a night of sleep, and I gotta' get up and rolling early tomorrow. So right to it.
Up this morning in Vandalia, OH a little after 6:00 EST and on the road by 6:45. Got to my delivery just to the southwest of Indianapolis by 9:45. Thankfully, the weather was warm enough down where I was that we just had rain (quite heavy for a while) instead of the ice and show reported up to the north. So driving was not treacherous at all. It was a fairly quick live unload, and my next assignment came in fairly quickly afterwards.
My next pickup was in Lebanon, IN, just northwest of Indy. That one was a drop-and-hook, but took an hour nonetheless. And now I'm on my way with the load to it's destination in Harrisonville, MO, which is a tad south of Kansas City. Delivery time is set for 9:00 a.m., so I gotta get up and boogie-ing as soon as I've had 10 hours of break tonight.
Let's see, I parked here (the TA in this town, a little bit west of St. Louis) at 6:45 p.m., so I'll be rolling at 4:45. (Both times CST.) I still have over 200 miles to go, so we'll see if I make it on time or not. This one's gonna' be a drop and hook, so I don't think it'll be too terrible if I'm a few minutes behind schedule. Besides, this was one of those runs with little "wiggle room" in the schedule, most of which was eaten up by rush-hour traffic on the bypass around St. Louis.
OK, I've had my dinner (Popeye's Chicken), brushed my teeth, Facebooked, talked with Mrs. R.T. on the phone, and blogged, so I guess it's time to hit the sack. Thanks for your interest today. Keep them comments and questions coming, and keep on truckin'.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
What? Ohio Again?
DATELINE: VANDALIA, OH, 9:45 p.m. EST
Sorry for missing last night, gang. 'Twas one of those nights lacking blogger motivation. But I did get to deliver that load in the Columbus area a day early and picked up another assignment. After delivering the load and getting my next assignment, I spent the night at the Pilot in Hebron, OH, just east of Columbus.
I picked up the load I'm currently working this morning in Willow Island, WV. I got up at 4:30 this morning to make the 2-hour drive to Willow Island by the 7:00 pickup time. Pickup was a drop-and-hook, but it still took an hour to complete. I have a 10:00 a.m. delivery appointment tomorrow in Plainfield, IN, which is by Indianapolis, so I opted to stop at our terminal here in Vandalia for the night. It's only 1-1/2 to 2 hours from here to the delivery, so I'll get up in time to get rolling at about 7:00. That ought to get me there fashionably early.
I got here to the terminal around noon, so I've been working on my lack of poker skills most of the afternoon. It's definitely a grind when you're not a "card magnet". But so far I'm marginally ahead for the day. I'm currently trying desperately to hang on into the money in a tournament...getting close but running short on chips. It doesn't help being card-dead, too.
So that's the story for today and yesterday. Thanks for looking in on my journeys, and keep on truckin'.
Sorry for missing last night, gang. 'Twas one of those nights lacking blogger motivation. But I did get to deliver that load in the Columbus area a day early and picked up another assignment. After delivering the load and getting my next assignment, I spent the night at the Pilot in Hebron, OH, just east of Columbus.
I picked up the load I'm currently working this morning in Willow Island, WV. I got up at 4:30 this morning to make the 2-hour drive to Willow Island by the 7:00 pickup time. Pickup was a drop-and-hook, but it still took an hour to complete. I have a 10:00 a.m. delivery appointment tomorrow in Plainfield, IN, which is by Indianapolis, so I opted to stop at our terminal here in Vandalia for the night. It's only 1-1/2 to 2 hours from here to the delivery, so I'll get up in time to get rolling at about 7:00. That ought to get me there fashionably early.
I got here to the terminal around noon, so I've been working on my lack of poker skills most of the afternoon. It's definitely a grind when you're not a "card magnet". But so far I'm marginally ahead for the day. I'm currently trying desperately to hang on into the money in a tournament...getting close but running short on chips. It doesn't help being card-dead, too.
So that's the story for today and yesterday. Thanks for looking in on my journeys, and keep on truckin'.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Economical Prose
DATELINE: MT. AIRY, NC, 8:30 p.m. EST
Miles Today: 400 on the nose
Sorry gang, too tired tonight for a wordy update. Just the basics, if you please.
- Delivery in Maxton, NC
- 2-hour wait for next assignment
- Pickup in Fayetteville, NC, bound for Lockbourne, OH (just south of C-bus), delivery due on Thursday
- The par-for-the-course "anomalies" at delivery and pickup to make things "interesting" (including the welt and probable future discoloration on the back of my right index finger)
- Waiting to hear back from my 2 queries if I can deliver early, since I can get there on Wednesday
- Lotsa' weather variations today, from dense fog in the morning to mostly clear and warm in the early afternoon to colder and rainy shortly thereafter.
- S----L----O----W 'net connection tonight, exacerbating my physical and emotional fatigue. I wanna get done (with this and other pressing online tasks) so I can get to bed!
So that's that. Thanks for perusing my quickie tonight, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 400 on the nose
Sorry gang, too tired tonight for a wordy update. Just the basics, if you please.
- Delivery in Maxton, NC
- 2-hour wait for next assignment
- Pickup in Fayetteville, NC, bound for Lockbourne, OH (just south of C-bus), delivery due on Thursday
- The par-for-the-course "anomalies" at delivery and pickup to make things "interesting" (including the welt and probable future discoloration on the back of my right index finger)
- Waiting to hear back from my 2 queries if I can deliver early, since I can get there on Wednesday
- Lotsa' weather variations today, from dense fog in the morning to mostly clear and warm in the early afternoon to colder and rainy shortly thereafter.
- S----L----O----W 'net connection tonight, exacerbating my physical and emotional fatigue. I wanna get done (with this and other pressing online tasks) so I can get to bed!
So that's that. Thanks for perusing my quickie tonight, and keep on truckin'.
Monday, December 15, 2008
To the South
DATELINE: KENLY, NC, 9:30 p.m. EST
Miles Today: 491
Gonna keep this short tonight, 'cuz I'm a bit tired after a longish day. Not too bad a day though, mostly drivin'. But my pickup this morning had a couple of anomalies.
First of all, I arrived at the company and went to their Shipping & Receiving door. However, the guy there told me that pickups are handled at their other facility about a mile away. He said that I was the 3rd or 4th driver who showed up there this morning for a pickup. He and I both don't know why our pickup assignments can't have the right address on them. So I cruised on over to the proper facility.
I checked in there and was assigned a dock door right away. So I drove around the back of the building where my door was and...another trailer was already in the door. (Just the trailer, no cab.) So I had to circle back to the office and ask for a new door assignment. No biggie, but I'm just waiting for any pickup or delivery to be completely anomaly-free. But once docked, loading went mucho pronto. So all in all it wasn't bad at all.
Once underway south (this load is going to Maxton, NC), the drive went just fine, though long and tedious (as always). Just the normal stops for weighing the truck, fuel, and leg-stretching. I stopped for the night at a TA here in Kenly. It's at the Truck Stop Road exit off of I-95, and there are 3 truck stops at this exit. A Flying J across the highway, and the TA and a Wilco Hess across the street. I've stopped here a few times before on my way past, though not always overnight. (This TA used to be an approved fuel stop.)
So I have a bit more than 100 miles to go tomorrow morning to reach my delivery. That appointment's at 9:30, so I'll probably get rolling sometime during the 6:00 hour. Which means I need to get to bed shortly. I am currently fighting my way through another Texas Hold 'Em tournament, getting close to the "bubble" (the point at which the remaining players make the money). My stack is getting short and the dealer's not giving me very good cards, so I may be done with that very soon.
Anyway, thanks for checking up on me today. I look forward to your comments and questions, so keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 491
Gonna keep this short tonight, 'cuz I'm a bit tired after a longish day. Not too bad a day though, mostly drivin'. But my pickup this morning had a couple of anomalies.
First of all, I arrived at the company and went to their Shipping & Receiving door. However, the guy there told me that pickups are handled at their other facility about a mile away. He said that I was the 3rd or 4th driver who showed up there this morning for a pickup. He and I both don't know why our pickup assignments can't have the right address on them. So I cruised on over to the proper facility.
I checked in there and was assigned a dock door right away. So I drove around the back of the building where my door was and...another trailer was already in the door. (Just the trailer, no cab.) So I had to circle back to the office and ask for a new door assignment. No biggie, but I'm just waiting for any pickup or delivery to be completely anomaly-free. But once docked, loading went mucho pronto. So all in all it wasn't bad at all.
Once underway south (this load is going to Maxton, NC), the drive went just fine, though long and tedious (as always). Just the normal stops for weighing the truck, fuel, and leg-stretching. I stopped for the night at a TA here in Kenly. It's at the Truck Stop Road exit off of I-95, and there are 3 truck stops at this exit. A Flying J across the highway, and the TA and a Wilco Hess across the street. I've stopped here a few times before on my way past, though not always overnight. (This TA used to be an approved fuel stop.)
So I have a bit more than 100 miles to go tomorrow morning to reach my delivery. That appointment's at 9:30, so I'll probably get rolling sometime during the 6:00 hour. Which means I need to get to bed shortly. I am currently fighting my way through another Texas Hold 'Em tournament, getting close to the "bubble" (the point at which the remaining players make the money). My stack is getting short and the dealer's not giving me very good cards, so I may be done with that very soon.
Anyway, thanks for checking up on me today. I look forward to your comments and questions, so keep on truckin'.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me
DATELINE: HARRISBURG, PA, 11:00 p.m. EST
Well, I'm just winding up a full day off from driving, so it's time to bring you up to speed with my latest trucking exploits. I hope I can keep this report civil, because it's been one he** of a frustrating week, and though today was a day off, the frustrations continued. Since I had the whole day free, I spent most of it online trying to grow my poker bankroll. And as always happens when I have the whole day to do that, it was a complete and utter disaster. I have no idea what I've ever done to offend the Poker gods that they would treat me so badly. But you're not here to read about me complaining about my Poker misfortunes, you're here to read about me complaining about my trucking misfortunes. So I'll get right to that.
Let's see, where did I leave off? Oh yes, I was in Walcott, IA after a long day that started off with a 4-hour wait at a pickup in Louisville, KY. That was on Wednesday. Thursday started off much better, even though I did have to get up early (4:30 a.m.) to get to my Des Moines delivery by 8:00. Which I did, arriving at 7:45. Lo and behold I checked in, docked, got unloaded, and was out of there in just over 30 minutes! That's how my stops all should be. Afterwards I drove over to the Pilot a mile up the highway to fuel up and wait for my next load assignment.
Can you guess where this is going? Yup, I waited. And waited. And waited. An waited some more. It was a slow day for loads in Iowa, and I didn't get my assignment for nigh on 7 hours! I think that's a new record for futility. Anyway, the pickup was at 6:00 that evening in Waterloo, about 120 miles away. Naturally, my 14-hour window for that day would end at 6:45, but I figured I'd get there a few minutes early (which I did), get loaded in an hour or so, and bop over to one of the truck stops in town for the night.
Can you guess where this is going? Yup, loading my trailer there took over 4 hours! So it was after 10:00 p.m. by the time I got out of there. Fortunately, I did find a spot at the second truck stop I pulled into and hit the sack.
Friday morning I woke up to 2-degree weather. Brrrr! I wasn't ready for that! But at least it was bright and sunny. My load was bound for York, PA, a 900-plus-mile trip, so Friday was all about cranking out the miles. I managed 597 of 'em and finished up at a Service Plaza along the Ohio turnpike, just west of Cleveland.
Yesterday I had to crank out a bunch more miles to get to my York delivery by 2:00 p.m. And I made it there about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. I'd delivered to that site once before, a drop-and-hook. But this time I was scheduled for a live unload. Can you guess where this is going this time? Yup. I don't know what it is, but all of a sudden Shipping and Receiving departments are having a hard time being prompt in their work. This time it took 'em over 3 hours to unload my trailer. Gee, short by comparison to other recent stops. But they're still supposed to get us drivers in and out within 2 hours.
Oh well. When they were finally done I drove over and parked at a nearby diner with truck parking. There I waited over an hour and a half for my next load. Lo and behold, more waiting was built into the assignment. The pickup wasn't (isn't) 'til tomorrow (Monday) morning at 10:00. Hence my free day today. The pickup's in Reading, PA and I'll be taking it to southern NC for a Tuesday morning delivery. That's just over 500 miles, so I'm hoping for a quick load so I can get on my way quickly. But we'll just see about that, eh?
So that catches you up with me. It's time for me to hit the sack, so thanks for dropping by. Please drop some questions and comments by, too, and keep on truckin'.
Well, I'm just winding up a full day off from driving, so it's time to bring you up to speed with my latest trucking exploits. I hope I can keep this report civil, because it's been one he** of a frustrating week, and though today was a day off, the frustrations continued. Since I had the whole day free, I spent most of it online trying to grow my poker bankroll. And as always happens when I have the whole day to do that, it was a complete and utter disaster. I have no idea what I've ever done to offend the Poker gods that they would treat me so badly. But you're not here to read about me complaining about my Poker misfortunes, you're here to read about me complaining about my trucking misfortunes. So I'll get right to that.
Let's see, where did I leave off? Oh yes, I was in Walcott, IA after a long day that started off with a 4-hour wait at a pickup in Louisville, KY. That was on Wednesday. Thursday started off much better, even though I did have to get up early (4:30 a.m.) to get to my Des Moines delivery by 8:00. Which I did, arriving at 7:45. Lo and behold I checked in, docked, got unloaded, and was out of there in just over 30 minutes! That's how my stops all should be. Afterwards I drove over to the Pilot a mile up the highway to fuel up and wait for my next load assignment.
Can you guess where this is going? Yup, I waited. And waited. And waited. An waited some more. It was a slow day for loads in Iowa, and I didn't get my assignment for nigh on 7 hours! I think that's a new record for futility. Anyway, the pickup was at 6:00 that evening in Waterloo, about 120 miles away. Naturally, my 14-hour window for that day would end at 6:45, but I figured I'd get there a few minutes early (which I did), get loaded in an hour or so, and bop over to one of the truck stops in town for the night.
Can you guess where this is going? Yup, loading my trailer there took over 4 hours! So it was after 10:00 p.m. by the time I got out of there. Fortunately, I did find a spot at the second truck stop I pulled into and hit the sack.
Friday morning I woke up to 2-degree weather. Brrrr! I wasn't ready for that! But at least it was bright and sunny. My load was bound for York, PA, a 900-plus-mile trip, so Friday was all about cranking out the miles. I managed 597 of 'em and finished up at a Service Plaza along the Ohio turnpike, just west of Cleveland.
Yesterday I had to crank out a bunch more miles to get to my York delivery by 2:00 p.m. And I made it there about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. I'd delivered to that site once before, a drop-and-hook. But this time I was scheduled for a live unload. Can you guess where this is going this time? Yup. I don't know what it is, but all of a sudden Shipping and Receiving departments are having a hard time being prompt in their work. This time it took 'em over 3 hours to unload my trailer. Gee, short by comparison to other recent stops. But they're still supposed to get us drivers in and out within 2 hours.
Oh well. When they were finally done I drove over and parked at a nearby diner with truck parking. There I waited over an hour and a half for my next load. Lo and behold, more waiting was built into the assignment. The pickup wasn't (isn't) 'til tomorrow (Monday) morning at 10:00. Hence my free day today. The pickup's in Reading, PA and I'll be taking it to southern NC for a Tuesday morning delivery. That's just over 500 miles, so I'm hoping for a quick load so I can get on my way quickly. But we'll just see about that, eh?
So that catches you up with me. It's time for me to hit the sack, so thanks for dropping by. Please drop some questions and comments by, too, and keep on truckin'.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Filler: The Sequel
DATELINE: HARRISBURG, PA 9:15 p.m. EST
Just another quick note tonight to let you know I'm too tired for a full recap of events of the last 3 days. I delivered a load this afternoon and now have nothing 'til a pickup Monday morning, so I'll have ample time tomorrow (Sunday) to write up a good report for y'all (unless I get too tied up at the poker tables). Thanks for lookin' in, sorry I don't have more for you tonight. But keep on truckin'.
Just another quick note tonight to let you know I'm too tired for a full recap of events of the last 3 days. I delivered a load this afternoon and now have nothing 'til a pickup Monday morning, so I'll have ample time tomorrow (Sunday) to write up a good report for y'all (unless I get too tied up at the poker tables). Thanks for lookin' in, sorry I don't have more for you tonight. But keep on truckin'.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Filler
DATELINE: AMHERST, OH, 10:00 p.m. EST
Sorry, not a real update tonight. I'm on my way to York, PA tomorrow (after being as far west as Des Moines, IA and spending last night in Waterloo, IA) with no spare time in my schedule. Yesterday and today have both been long and tiring, and I need to get to bed. Perhaps tomorrow I'll have time to fill in the story. Check back to find out. But thanks for checking today, and keep on truckin'.
Sorry, not a real update tonight. I'm on my way to York, PA tomorrow (after being as far west as Des Moines, IA and spending last night in Waterloo, IA) with no spare time in my schedule. Yesterday and today have both been long and tiring, and I need to get to bed. Perhaps tomorrow I'll have time to fill in the story. Check back to find out. But thanks for checking today, and keep on truckin'.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Waitin' In the Dock All The Day (Seemingly)
DATELINE: WALCOTT, IA, 8:00 p.m CST
Miles Today: 463
Ya' know how yesterday I wrote that my pickup this morning would probably be a drop-and-hook and I'd quickly be on my way to Iowa? Yeah, right! So much for me predicting the future! Turns out that this time my pickup at that place was a live load. And because of the type of load it is, they needed to wait for an inspector to OK it before they could put it in my trailer.
Notice the word "wait" in that last sentence? I use that a lot lately, don't I? Well, this time I was at that site for 4 *&%**%ing hours, eating up valuable driving time (and potential free time at this end). By the time I was cleared to leave, I had only 9 hours of time left to drive before my 14-hour window for the day would expire. So I'm about 100 miles short of where I should have reached today. Therefore I'll have to get up and drive an extra 2 hours early in the morning to get to the Des Moines delivery on time.
On the other hand, the driving was clear all the way and I had just enough time today to get to one of my favorite truck stops, the Iowa 80 TA, a.k.a. "The World's Largest Truck Stop", here in Walcott. They gots a Taco Bell in their food court, so dinner was cheap tonight. (Other options: Pizza Hut Express, DQ, & Wendy's, along with their regular restaurant.) Whenever you get the chance to travel out this way (I-80 about 25 miles east of the IA/IL border), stop in for a look-see.
Well, like I mentioned, I'll have to arise early in the mornin' and today was a long one, so it's time to wrap this report up and set off for the land o' nod. Thanks for pointing your browser this way today. Keep them cards 'n letters--er, comments and questions--coming, and keep on truckin'.
Miles Today: 463
Ya' know how yesterday I wrote that my pickup this morning would probably be a drop-and-hook and I'd quickly be on my way to Iowa? Yeah, right! So much for me predicting the future! Turns out that this time my pickup at that place was a live load. And because of the type of load it is, they needed to wait for an inspector to OK it before they could put it in my trailer.
Notice the word "wait" in that last sentence? I use that a lot lately, don't I? Well, this time I was at that site for 4 *&%**%ing hours, eating up valuable driving time (and potential free time at this end). By the time I was cleared to leave, I had only 9 hours of time left to drive before my 14-hour window for the day would expire. So I'm about 100 miles short of where I should have reached today. Therefore I'll have to get up and drive an extra 2 hours early in the morning to get to the Des Moines delivery on time.
On the other hand, the driving was clear all the way and I had just enough time today to get to one of my favorite truck stops, the Iowa 80 TA, a.k.a. "The World's Largest Truck Stop", here in Walcott. They gots a Taco Bell in their food court, so dinner was cheap tonight. (Other options: Pizza Hut Express, DQ, & Wendy's, along with their regular restaurant.) Whenever you get the chance to travel out this way (I-80 about 25 miles east of the IA/IL border), stop in for a look-see.
Well, like I mentioned, I'll have to arise early in the mornin' and today was a long one, so it's time to wrap this report up and set off for the land o' nod. Thanks for pointing your browser this way today. Keep them cards 'n letters--er, comments and questions--coming, and keep on truckin'.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Short, Strange Trips
DATELINE: BROOKS, KY, 6:50 p.m. EST
Well then, today was "interesting". I'd say "unique", but as you regular readers know, many things happening to my detriment in one day (well, two, since it all started yesterday) is nothing new or unique. So I'd best get right to my tale.
I didn't post anything here on Sunday 'cuz it was my off day and I had nothing substantial to write about, 'cept for a slight increase in my online poker bankroll. That was disappointing 'cuz when I have a day off, I'd like to make a substantial increase to the bankroll. But I guess I'm not allowed that kind of success. Just gotta' keep grinding it out.
Yesterday morning I got up and headed to my pickup in Seymour, IN, arriving at 6:30 for what I'd been told was a 7:00 pickup time. Naturally, when I got there, the sign on the door said shipping hours started at 7:30. Grrrr! More good info from Dispatch. So I had to wait an hour for the place to open up. But once they did, loading up went pretty quickly and I was soon on my way to the load's destination in Sidney, OH.
As I made my way north along I-65 in IN, it began to rain. And with the temperature below freezing, that made for some tricky conditions. I didn't have any troubles handling my truck, but others (cars and pickups--what we big rig pro's call "4-wheelers") did, and I had to slog through a multi-mile backup caused by a small pickup that had flipped in the median. So that put me behind schedule a bit, and I arrived at the delivery about 45 minutes late.
But nobody was concerned about that, and the delivery was a quick drop-and-hook, after which I boogied on over to our Vandalia, OH terminal. Then I had another wait. This time it took nearly 3 hours for my next assignment to come in. The pickup was 80-ish miles away in Loveland, OH (just north of Cincy) at 10:00 p.m. Now, nobody in Dispatch appears able to compute "time math" keeping drivers' hours of service (HOS) rules in mind. There was no way I could make that pickup time either within my 14 hours from the time I started work for the day (which would have ended at 7:30 p.m.) or by counting a 10-hour break from the time I finished my delivery (1:00 p.m.) before heading over there. So everybody seemed cool with me going over for the pickup after I completed my break, as long as I could make the delivery in Louisville, KY by 6:00 this morning. So I hit the sack for a few short hours of nappage before starting an overnight shift.
Because of my need to follow the DOT HOS regulations, I headed out from Vandalia at 11:30 p.m. and didn't arrive at the shipper 'til 12:30 a.m. and found the place all closed up and dark. What nobody had bothered to think of, or think to tell me, was that the shipper closed at midnight. So I wound up camping out on the street in front the place 'til they opened at 8:00. (At least I got some unexpected sleep!) All the while my 14-hour clock was ticking. By the time I was loaded and rolling towards Louisville, it was 9:00 and I had but 4-1/2 hours left to work for that shift.
Fortunately, Loo-ville is only a 2-hour drive from the Cincinnati area, so I had plenty of time to get there. But en route the heavens opened up and I had to drive through some heavy rains. I'm quite glad the weather had turned a bit warmer--in the 50s--so I had no ice concerns this time. That would be bad in the hills on I-71 in KY. But the company to which I delivered the load was small and had a quite small area for maneuvering my truck into the dock. Which was exacerbated by other vehicles--trucks in the other 2 docks, employee cars along the periphery. But I finagled my beast in there. While they were unloading the trailer, I surveyed the situation some more and concluded that, with no room to turn my truck around in the lot, I'd have to back out into the street when it came time to leave. Always a joy.
But all went well and I had just enough time left to head over to the Pilot here in Brooks, just south of the big city. Just when I got here and into a parking space, my next assignment came in. Tomorrow morning I'm heading back into town to pick up a load bound for Des Moines, IA. (I've picked up a load at that place once before, so I'm pretty sure it's going to be a quick drop-and-hook pickup.) I've yet to check the weather forecast for that route, but I hope it's free of winter storm watches and warnings.
Oh, more about today's joys. I needed to handle some paperwork for a real estate deal with some partners from my previous life. So with my free (or rather, "available"--there was nothing free about it) time this afternoon I had to call one of the partners to give him the fax number for this Pilot; wait for then pay for the fax ($14); find a Notary Public, which I determined to be at a UPS Store somewhat in the vicinity; call for a taxi, then wait over an hour for it; ride on over to the UPS Store; sign the document, get it notarized, and send it overnight to another one of the partners ($27 + change); and take the taxi back (round trip + tip: $65). Oy veh! Unpleasant but necessary to close out the whole shebang by the end of the year.
Well, I've come to the end of my sorry tale. Hopefully things will go smoothly tomorrow for a change--a quick pickup and then just drive, drive, drive. The pickup's at 7:00, so I'll be getting up around 5:15 to hit the shower before hitting the road. So it's soon off to bed for me.
Thanks for looking in today. I do love to see comments and questions from my readers, so send 'em early and send 'em often. (You know, pretend you're voting in Chicago. Or pretend I'm the Illinois Governor and you want the President-Elect's Senate seat.) And, as always, keep in truckin'.
Well then, today was "interesting". I'd say "unique", but as you regular readers know, many things happening to my detriment in one day (well, two, since it all started yesterday) is nothing new or unique. So I'd best get right to my tale.
I didn't post anything here on Sunday 'cuz it was my off day and I had nothing substantial to write about, 'cept for a slight increase in my online poker bankroll. That was disappointing 'cuz when I have a day off, I'd like to make a substantial increase to the bankroll. But I guess I'm not allowed that kind of success. Just gotta' keep grinding it out.
Yesterday morning I got up and headed to my pickup in Seymour, IN, arriving at 6:30 for what I'd been told was a 7:00 pickup time. Naturally, when I got there, the sign on the door said shipping hours started at 7:30. Grrrr! More good info from Dispatch. So I had to wait an hour for the place to open up. But once they did, loading up went pretty quickly and I was soon on my way to the load's destination in Sidney, OH.
As I made my way north along I-65 in IN, it began to rain. And with the temperature below freezing, that made for some tricky conditions. I didn't have any troubles handling my truck, but others (cars and pickups--what we big rig pro's call "4-wheelers") did, and I had to slog through a multi-mile backup caused by a small pickup that had flipped in the median. So that put me behind schedule a bit, and I arrived at the delivery about 45 minutes late.
But nobody was concerned about that, and the delivery was a quick drop-and-hook, after which I boogied on over to our Vandalia, OH terminal. Then I had another wait. This time it took nearly 3 hours for my next assignment to come in. The pickup was 80-ish miles away in Loveland, OH (just north of Cincy) at 10:00 p.m. Now, nobody in Dispatch appears able to compute "time math" keeping drivers' hours of service (HOS) rules in mind. There was no way I could make that pickup time either within my 14 hours from the time I started work for the day (which would have ended at 7:30 p.m.) or by counting a 10-hour break from the time I finished my delivery (1:00 p.m.) before heading over there. So everybody seemed cool with me going over for the pickup after I completed my break, as long as I could make the delivery in Louisville, KY by 6:00 this morning. So I hit the sack for a few short hours of nappage before starting an overnight shift.
Because of my need to follow the DOT HOS regulations, I headed out from Vandalia at 11:30 p.m. and didn't arrive at the shipper 'til 12:30 a.m. and found the place all closed up and dark. What nobody had bothered to think of, or think to tell me, was that the shipper closed at midnight. So I wound up camping out on the street in front the place 'til they opened at 8:00. (At least I got some unexpected sleep!) All the while my 14-hour clock was ticking. By the time I was loaded and rolling towards Louisville, it was 9:00 and I had but 4-1/2 hours left to work for that shift.
Fortunately, Loo-ville is only a 2-hour drive from the Cincinnati area, so I had plenty of time to get there. But en route the heavens opened up and I had to drive through some heavy rains. I'm quite glad the weather had turned a bit warmer--in the 50s--so I had no ice concerns this time. That would be bad in the hills on I-71 in KY. But the company to which I delivered the load was small and had a quite small area for maneuvering my truck into the dock. Which was exacerbated by other vehicles--trucks in the other 2 docks, employee cars along the periphery. But I finagled my beast in there. While they were unloading the trailer, I surveyed the situation some more and concluded that, with no room to turn my truck around in the lot, I'd have to back out into the street when it came time to leave. Always a joy.
But all went well and I had just enough time left to head over to the Pilot here in Brooks, just south of the big city. Just when I got here and into a parking space, my next assignment came in. Tomorrow morning I'm heading back into town to pick up a load bound for Des Moines, IA. (I've picked up a load at that place once before, so I'm pretty sure it's going to be a quick drop-and-hook pickup.) I've yet to check the weather forecast for that route, but I hope it's free of winter storm watches and warnings.
Oh, more about today's joys. I needed to handle some paperwork for a real estate deal with some partners from my previous life. So with my free (or rather, "available"--there was nothing free about it) time this afternoon I had to call one of the partners to give him the fax number for this Pilot; wait for then pay for the fax ($14); find a Notary Public, which I determined to be at a UPS Store somewhat in the vicinity; call for a taxi, then wait over an hour for it; ride on over to the UPS Store; sign the document, get it notarized, and send it overnight to another one of the partners ($27 + change); and take the taxi back (round trip + tip: $65). Oy veh! Unpleasant but necessary to close out the whole shebang by the end of the year.
Well, I've come to the end of my sorry tale. Hopefully things will go smoothly tomorrow for a change--a quick pickup and then just drive, drive, drive. The pickup's at 7:00, so I'll be getting up around 5:15 to hit the shower before hitting the road. So it's soon off to bed for me.
Thanks for looking in today. I do love to see comments and questions from my readers, so send 'em early and send 'em often. (You know, pretend you're voting in Chicago. Or pretend I'm the Illinois Governor and you want the President-Elect's Senate seat.) And, as always, keep in truckin'.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
The Return
DATELINE: MEMPHIS, IN, 6:15 p.m. EST
TA DA! I'm back! Many humblest apologies for my disappearance from the blog waves these last few weeks. The major factors that kept me silent were:
1. USA's been keeping me busy, with long days and tight schedules that left me little spare free time to compose daily updates for y'all. I've had to limit most of my nightly breaks to 10 hours in order to keep the delivery and pickup schedules. So with the long days, I've needed to spend most of that break time sleeping.
2. The whole grind of the job and other pressures of life have been getting to me lately, and when I have had some spare time, I haven't been in the proper frame of mind to write these reports. (And here's a secret: I'm very slow at writing them. It takes me a long time to form up these word things just the way I want them to be.)
Anyway, I am back now after a long, hard truckin' week. I had the good fortune to have a couple extra days at home for Thanksgiving because the yard where I park my truck during home time was closed over the weekend. It reopened at midnight Sunday night, so Mrs. R.T. drove me back there then. I had been sitting on a load over the weekend that was due at 5:00 Monday morning in Findlay, OH, so after getting things squared away in the truck, I headed out. (Did I mention that I had had a long, busy day on Sunday and was therefore pulling an all-nighter? That made for a fun work day.) The delivery went fine (a drop-and-hook)...you know what, I'm getting tired again, so I don't feel I can sustain a blow-by-blow account of my work week. Suffice to say that it's been all run-run-run, and I'm still working on correcting the sleep deficit with which I started out the week. But here's a summary.
Monday: 351 miles, Romulus, MI to Findlay (delivery), Columbus (pickup), and Lima (another delivery), OH. Parked for the night in Beaverdam, OH.
Tuesday: 565 miles. Picked up a load at our Vandalia, OH terminal and started the long trek to its Uxbridge, MA destination. Stopped for the night in Bloomsburg, PA.
Wednesday: 594 miles. Delivery in Uxbridge, pickup in Townsend, MA, destination: West Jefferson, OH. Stopped for the night in Newburg, NY.
Thursday: 586 miles. Finished the long drive to West Jefferson and delivered the load. Parked in London, OH.
Friday: 453 miles. Pickup in Marion, OH, drive to and deliver in Glasgow, KY. Park in Smith's Grove. KY.
Today: Dropped my empty trailer at another company in Glasgow, bobtailed to Clarksville, IN to pick up another empty trailer. Because my hours are running short, I need a 34-hour break. So my next pickup is Monday morning in Seymour, IN and I'm at a Pilot in here in Memphis (IN, not TN) for the weekend. Whew! Do I ever need that break!
Well, it's 7:30 now, and I'm definitely feeling very tired. I'm set on the rise-very-early-get-to-bed-early schedule these days, so that's to be expected. So I'll wrap this up now. Begging your pardon once more for my lengthy absence from this blog. I hope to do better at keeping a near-daily update schedule here. Send me your best thoughts that I can manage it.
Thanks for continuing to check up on my during my blog break. Let me hear from you, and keep on truckin'.
TA DA! I'm back! Many humblest apologies for my disappearance from the blog waves these last few weeks. The major factors that kept me silent were:
1. USA's been keeping me busy, with long days and tight schedules that left me little spare free time to compose daily updates for y'all. I've had to limit most of my nightly breaks to 10 hours in order to keep the delivery and pickup schedules. So with the long days, I've needed to spend most of that break time sleeping.
2. The whole grind of the job and other pressures of life have been getting to me lately, and when I have had some spare time, I haven't been in the proper frame of mind to write these reports. (And here's a secret: I'm very slow at writing them. It takes me a long time to form up these word things just the way I want them to be.)
Anyway, I am back now after a long, hard truckin' week. I had the good fortune to have a couple extra days at home for Thanksgiving because the yard where I park my truck during home time was closed over the weekend. It reopened at midnight Sunday night, so Mrs. R.T. drove me back there then. I had been sitting on a load over the weekend that was due at 5:00 Monday morning in Findlay, OH, so after getting things squared away in the truck, I headed out. (Did I mention that I had had a long, busy day on Sunday and was therefore pulling an all-nighter? That made for a fun work day.) The delivery went fine (a drop-and-hook)...you know what, I'm getting tired again, so I don't feel I can sustain a blow-by-blow account of my work week. Suffice to say that it's been all run-run-run, and I'm still working on correcting the sleep deficit with which I started out the week. But here's a summary.
Monday: 351 miles, Romulus, MI to Findlay (delivery), Columbus (pickup), and Lima (another delivery), OH. Parked for the night in Beaverdam, OH.
Tuesday: 565 miles. Picked up a load at our Vandalia, OH terminal and started the long trek to its Uxbridge, MA destination. Stopped for the night in Bloomsburg, PA.
Wednesday: 594 miles. Delivery in Uxbridge, pickup in Townsend, MA, destination: West Jefferson, OH. Stopped for the night in Newburg, NY.
Thursday: 586 miles. Finished the long drive to West Jefferson and delivered the load. Parked in London, OH.
Friday: 453 miles. Pickup in Marion, OH, drive to and deliver in Glasgow, KY. Park in Smith's Grove. KY.
Today: Dropped my empty trailer at another company in Glasgow, bobtailed to Clarksville, IN to pick up another empty trailer. Because my hours are running short, I need a 34-hour break. So my next pickup is Monday morning in Seymour, IN and I'm at a Pilot in here in Memphis (IN, not TN) for the weekend. Whew! Do I ever need that break!
Well, it's 7:30 now, and I'm definitely feeling very tired. I'm set on the rise-very-early-get-to-bed-early schedule these days, so that's to be expected. So I'll wrap this up now. Begging your pardon once more for my lengthy absence from this blog. I hope to do better at keeping a near-daily update schedule here. Send me your best thoughts that I can manage it.
Thanks for continuing to check up on my during my blog break. Let me hear from you, and keep on truckin'.
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