Watching the wheels go round and round...

Hello from the road, I am back behind the wheel after a rather exhausting time at home. This was supposed to be a three day stop for Christmas on the 24th through the 26th. Unfortunately, I had to drive from midnight to 7am on the 24th to get home on time. The 25th is always a mad dash to see everyone and eat way too much good food, which leads to nappy time!

On the 26th I was asked to help save a load that had been left at a truck stop in Maine. It only had to be delivered 100 miles or so north, but the original driver had left it to go home for the holidays. For reference, this is a fantastic way to lose your job! I was asked if I could complete the run, and I agreed to do so. The hard part was it needed to be delivered at 8am I had to get up around 3am to make this work, so nappy time from Christmas day was cut a little short. I drove to the truckstop and coupled to the trailer, which the original driver had left pushed against a snowbank, and pulled it out a few feet to get to the rear of the trailer to check my lights. I went to drive away, and all I did was spin. I had parked on a sheet of ice.


Did I mention it was about 10 degrees? Brrrr. %$#@! trailer.


After 30 minutes I got underway, and made it to my stop, thankfully on time for a live unload. This is where I back up to a loading dock and people unload the trailer while I wait. This was a load of windows that had to be carried by hand off the truck which took hours to complete.

I got back home that afternoon, and took the rest of the day off. The next morning, Linda and I were up at 3am to go to Boston to pick up Samantha at the airport, another early morning, followed by a fabulous nap! Even my days at home are surrounded by being on the road.

So, here I am, back in the truck. I picked up a load of paper in Maine, which I delivered to the OC in Pennsylvania.



It's good to be back to work....maybe I can get some sleep!

Back in the "pumpkin patch"

Merry Christmas to all

I made it home safe and sound. It took some night driving, and a little crazy traveling, but I'm back in Maine for the holiday. Only a three day stop this time, but I'm not complaining, I totally escaped all the bad weather that has been hampering the country, and I would like to catch up on some money now.

Gonna get some sleep now, I've been awake for about 30 hrs. and I don't roll like that anymore.

Does anyone else see the humor in this?

Well, here it is, Christmas time, and I'm off to Bethlehem...

PA that is....

I'm definitely not Joseph, so I must be one of the wise guys (er...men)
maybe it's a load of frankincense?
sometimes I crack myself up!

I'm still in OH, waiting for a trailer to be delivered here for me to take to PA. It is supposed to be here today, and all looks good for another 300+ mile run east for me very soon. This will definitely put me within a days drive from home. The timing is getting a little tight on being home for the full day on the 24th, only time will tell on that front.

As I've said before, if there is a bright side to being home a little late, it is that Samantha will be home after Christmas, and my current time at home will make me miss her trip by a day. If I get home a little late, my time will overlap with hers for a day, and that would be nice. Linda and I have talked on the phone to her, but I haven't seen her since she left for Cali. and it would be good to have everyone home for at least one day!

I've been going through some of my old photos I have taken over the last year and trying to upload them to the BLOG. My one rule about the blog photos it that they all come from my camera phone. All of my previous postings are pictures taken from my phone. I kinda like the challenge of working with a simple device and trying to make the best with it. Quite frankly, I really like some of the shots. I have an awful lot of really good camera gear at home, but this has been fun to work with, and easy to cary around.

Texas does their rest areas up right!

I'm thinking my real trick is that I still have a little bit of shopping left to do. It looks like I will be making a mad dash at the last minute to finish it up. Oh well, I shop well under pressure, it looks like this year will be no exception to that...

miles and miles

I'm in Seville Ohio, this is a good thing. Having spent many a night here at the OC. I know that I am only a day and a half drive from home. I have made it from here to CT. in a day, the only thing stopping me now is a load heading that way. My dispatch people will have to put that together, so that part is out of my hands, I will wait here for the go ahead.

I made it to Indiana on time yesterday for my unload, then did a quick drive up to Michigan to drop off my empty trailer, and spent the night in Toledo. I have really run some miles since I my Dallas misadventure, and that is a good thing, unfortunately, it won't show up on my paycheck until next week due to the time it takes to process the paperwork. I also had to front the cash for the two days in the hotel, I will be reimbursed for that, but not until next weeks check. Needless to say, this check was kinda small.

I have been able to add Wyoming and Nebraska to my list of truck driving states now. I have driven through there before, but not in the big truck. I have also finally travelled all of I-80 from San Fran to New York. I was missing Wyoming I-80 from previous drives out west. Chalk up another milestone!

Texas Cotton...Who knew???

Truck stop neighbor's attack poodle...

Greetings from Nebraska

Well. I'm working my way home. I dropped my Oregon load in Centerville UT, which was a load of appliances going to the Lowes distribution center. Those of you who know me know I used to work in the Lowes delivery dept. These were the easiest appliances I have ever delivered! (and probably the most profitable)

Wyoming is looking a lot like Christmas. 50 mph winds and drifting snow makes for SLOW going. Just like anywhere else that gets snow and wind, snow drifts across the road and freezes, making for a slippery fight against a nasty crosswind. Taking ones time is the key to navigating this weather. It's not as if there is a lot of traffic out there!

I'm in between storms as I head east and I plan to stay in this bubble as long as possible. My dispatch team is really trying hard to get me home for Christmas, and I'm hoping Mother Nature holds up her end of the bargain too.

See you all soon!

Big state ya' got here Mr Texan...

Got all loaded up this morning, and am headed to Oregon. I wonderful 2200 mile delivery that I will never be able to complete. This really is some kind of twisted karma, you see, if I take this all the way to Oregon, I won't make it home in time for Christmas.

Having missed every holiday this year, I'm digging my heels in on this one. I already have the time off from the 24-26th, and I plan on opening presents and being overly holly and jolly....

GRRRRR, I'm gonna have to relay this somewhere for another driver to finish, probably in Colorado or something. They told me to take it as far as I feel comfortable time-wise and work out the details on Monday. Okey Dokey, I'm gonna drive the crap out of this load and make up some lost miles.

Honestly, my goal is to drive it as far as I can before the chain requirement happens. That would be around Denver. I HATE putting chains on these trucks, never mind driving with them on. I am definitely an east coast snow driver.

Guess what? Texas has free Internet at their rest areas! This post comes to you courtesy of Texas. I took a look on Skype, but there is no one home. Y'all must be out shovelling. It's about 33 degrees here, will probably get colder as the sun goes down. I am almost into mountain time so there is still a little daylight out there.

Still in Texas

Old man winter is really beginning to cramp my style. My two day layover in Texas is becoming a "three hour tour" on a deserted island. It's good to not be driving in the messy weather that seems to have gripped most of the country, and I am at a location with food, showers, and a great Internet connection, but them big wheels, they aren't turnin' (proud Mary just ain't burnin'), so the paycheck will continue to shrink for this week. I sure am glad the bills are caught up, and Christmas is paid for!

It's about 50 degrees, overcast and light rain. No shovelling going on here. It's just cold enough for me to be spending most of the day in the building, and not in the truck. The only problem is that there are about 50 people in the OC at any given time, and it gets really loud. This is a training location for student drivers, just like what I did in PA, and there are a lot of student "war stories" told over and over. It's becoming like water torture, so I have retreated to the truck, and put a coat on!

I'm going to do some web surfing, and hook up the SKYPE hardware www.skype.com and make the best of a boring situation.

Along came a Schneider

I'm back in the truck again, for as much as I trust the work the shops do to the truck, I always do a good once over to make sure they didn't forget to do something. Looks like they did a filter change, everything except the air filter, which seems odd to me. I see lots of new grease on the fittings, which is a good sign. Overall, things look good. I did go back and pickup some new wiper blades. They asked me if I wanted them installed, I said I think I can handle installing them myself, which I did.

Seeing how backed up the shop is, I'm sure a wiper blade change would take them about five hours.

I don't know where I'm going next, I have made myself available tomorrow morning at 5am in the computer. The worst part about getting the truck back in the late afternoon is wanting to get back to work right now and drive for 10-11 hours. "wheels are turnin' driver is earnin'". The problem is that will set me up for night driving for many days. This is not appealing to me, especially this time of year when the days are short. I will start my day early tomorrow morning, and keep to a daytime drive schedule.

Doing some quick math on my down time for repairs on the truck for the last seven month I have had it shows I have lost seven drive days sitting hotels and operating centers. When you figure and average drive week for me is around 2700 miles, that is roughly a grand in income lost to maintenance issues. I do hope that I have seen the last of the wrench turners for a while!

As always, it is nice to spend some time in a hotel room where I have some room to stretch, and take a few long hot showers, but I'm beginning to understand the downside to a high mileage truck.

Can't wait to see where the road takes me next!

OK,OK, I'm not dead...honestly

Wow, it's been a while since I have updated here, my bad...

I'm sitting in a hotel room in Dallas, TX watching it rain outside. Got a little Michael Buble' playing in the background, and am glad not to be in the ice and snow that is covering most of the country right now. My tractor needed it's annual vehicle inspection, basically a new inspection sticker, and another oil change. It's hard to believe I have put over 70k on that rig since last April!

I was in San Antonio yesterday delivering calcium to a chemical plant, and got the word that freight was a little soft, so I ended up deadheading, delivering an empty trailer, to the Dallas Schneider operating center. I get paid for those miles just like a regular load, so I had a 250 mile cruise up I-35. I was in no rush, so I set the cruise around 60mph and boosted my avg MPG up a little bit. I don't make any extra bonus for doing this, but I do enjoy making my numbers look good. My average MPG is showing a very respectable 6.6 mpg for my last 3000 miles. No kidding, this is really good, seeing as though all my loads have been over 40,000 lbs!

I was supposed to be heading to Arkansas today, but after one look at the weather, I decided truck maintenance looked like a fantastic idea. I'll sleep through this storm in a company paid hotel room.

I did one run last month I found cool. I delivered an old worn out trailer to a shredding yard in Chicago. They shred the trailers and recycle the steel. Now, I work with some big equipment, but this stuff was mammoth. They had one machine that would pick up the trailer, flip it over and pull the axles out from under it then stack the boxes for "processing". These people are smart enough to save the wheels and tires for resale later. Everything else gets recycled. Scary place to spend a night in Chicago I'm sure.

Hoffa could be in there...?

I have been running hard these last three months, good for the paycheck, and a pace I'm getting used to, drive 10-11 hrs, and take a 10 hr break. That usually consists of 8 hrs sleep 1 hr to eat, and 1 hr to call home. Just a little tight on the BLOG time, but now that I have my laptop back from the kind people in Canada, I should be able to speed up the posts.

Be safe out there!

Turkey Day on the road

Well, It's been way too long since my last post. I'm In Carlisle PA at the moment heading to N.C. in a few minutes. I was hoping to be home for the holiday, but things didn't work out like that.

So...

Gonna hit the road and do a nice big blog update tonight.

Still Waitin'

Got to the shop and my tractor was ready, new tires, cold A/C, I'm a truckin bubba again!

Wait a minute, no power on the Qualcomm Computer, big time dead..

So, I'm back in the OC, and the truck is back in the shop.

The Great White North with no A/C

I'm going to be here for at least tomorrow morning. The mechanics have found the problem with the electrical system. Without getting to geeky, there is a sensor that detects when the battery voltage drops to low. This sensor will cut power to all non-essential systems to ensure that the truck will start, and not leave me stranded somewhere. Well, as some of you know, I have had to jump start the truck, and have had to put a battery charger on it when I go home for a few days to get 'er started again.

This sensor is broken, and is actually causing a constant current draw. The troubleshooting on this is taking a lot of time. There is a leak somewhere in the A/C lines, which is going to take more time to find and fix. Never mind the oil and filter changes going on.

More time.....

So I'm hanging out at the operating center with a fabulous high speed Internet connection. Cell phone calls cost a fortune up here, which has made Skype a godsend www.skype.com for those who haven't checked it out. videoconferencing over the web for FREE!

I hope to hit the road back to the U.S. tomorrow morning. I already have a load going to southern Jersey.

Texans LOVE to give the finger...

Hi,

Sorry it has been a while on the updates, I have moved off the 0-90 day dispatch board, and moved into "real" employee land. My loads are spaced closer together, and time not behind the wheel is at a premium, (read: sleeping). While this is good for the paycheck, it is harder on the blogging time. I should have a better balance on this in a few weeks (I hope!).

I left the house a week ago, and headed straight to Kansas City, MO with a load of paper. Gotta love paper loads, they are heavy, and make hill climbing a challenge. My company not only governs the speed on the trucks, but also dials the power down on them. This is good for fuel consumption, and longevity of the engines, but most of my adventures you have probably noticed start with the saying "I was passed by..." Honestly, there are very few times I would like to go faster than I can, I believe in keeping the rubber side down forever.

I headed to South Carolina with a load out of Missouri, I stayed at a real truck stop the other night. I say real because it wasn't one of those chain "travel Centers" that I usually go to. This was a regular mom and pop owned, got a greasy spoon diner attached, mostly dirt lot, can fit 50 tractors but has about 65 in the lot kinda place.

I should have seen it coming, but after a 500 mile day, a bear of a loading dock to get into, oh, and my A/C has quit again, I got blindsided by a man talking to me in the parking lot. Seemed nice enough, when all of the sudden he pulls out a rag and some rubbing compound and starts polishing the wheels on my rig. He goes into the story of his pregnant wife needs money, and his crack head brother was looking to turn his life around...

"shit...walked right into this one" I somewhat think the joke was on him. I only had $4.00 in my pocket, which I ended up giving to him. He looked quite disappointed, and didn't even finish the polish job. He did, however leave polishing wax on the wheels. I was more than happy to finish the job!

OOOOOO...Shiny Wheels!

Well, Like I said, It's been really hectic on the road. It's 9:30 and I'm going to bed. Getting up early to run a load to Canada. I'm looking forward to this, I haven't been to the land of the maple leaf for a couple months now. I hope I remember how to do my border paperwork!

Don't taze me bro'

ahh, the new tagline for the decade, I've been waiting anxious for that to show up. Sure sounds more hip than can't we all just get along? I've heard the audio for days now, but I just saw the video. It was funnier in my head, kinda like reading a book vs. watching a movie.

Back to the road. I'm in Charlotte right now, getting ready to head out to Ohio. I have moved off the "newbie" dispatch board, and have moved up to the normal board. Pay raise to follow in a month or so. That's good news.

I've made my way through Seville OH, and got my winter training out of the way. That's a mandatory classroom and road evaluation we all have to do every spring and fall. Drove to Philly, and dropped a trailer, which led me to North Carolina, and back to Ohio. I like Ohio, it's growing on me, lots of wide open spaces, and very few low bridges!

Well, my satellite is beeping at me, back to work... more to follow later.

Back on the Road

Sept 16, 2007

I’ve been working my way west since I left on the 14th. I’ve moved paper to Mass, and Tissues to Ohio, I am beginning to notice a theme here! Pretty uneventful stuff really, except that I’m losing my muffler. Now, a car can sound bad when the baffles fall out of it’s muffler, but this thing brings on a whole new meaning to LOUD, especially when using the engine brake, I can be heard for miles coming to a stop with that thing on!

I have requested that my next stop take me through an operating center to get that looked at. I mean Jeesh, I can’t even hear my Barry Manilow tapes over that noise!

(Laugh track here…)

Never wanting to be one to buck pop culture, I have a new companion along for the ride. Friends were “kind” enough to give me a ceramic gnome to accompany me in my travels. You know, like a gnome that roams…or something like that. If he doesn't wander off at some truck stop, or get caught under my wheels, he may have a good time.

Well, it’s off to watch a little TV, and enjoy a little down time. I don’t get unloaded until tomorrow morning, so I can hang out for a while in nowhere, oops I mean Alvada OH.

Amarillo by Morning

Howdy from Plainsville TX.

Just a quick update today. I woke up this morning in Utah, and drove 600+ miles to TX to drop a trailer. Hopefully my next load will take me home, but I kinda doubt it.

Anyhoo, for those of you who don't know, today is the first day Mexican nationals can legally drive commercial vehicles into the states to make deliveries. Yes Mexican licensed trucks and drivers can now cross the border and run in the States.

A Feb. article, today Sept. 1, the trucks started rolling across the border.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54411

No I do not think this is a good idea, especially letting them drive hazardous material loads. Having spent some time in Laredo TX, which is on the Mexican border, and having ridden in a Mexican cab some years ago, the idea of these guys on American interstates scares me half to death.

Thank the President and the Senate for this one. The House tried to block it, with no success.

Putting Mexican trucks on American interstates on Labor Day weekend?? Sounds like a big bad accident waiting to happen.

Sorry for the rant, I think this is a really bad idea, especially with me sitting here in Texas.

The camera adds 10 lbs...

Unscripted and unedited, what? You say you couldn't tell? gee, that's awful nice of you to say... George Lucas ain't got nothing on me! I promise to do a better job in the future!

My trip brought me through southern Utah. If you have never been through Moab, I highly recommend it. My multimedia machine consists of a camera phone that can take marginal photos, and even worse video. Pictures don't really do justice for just how BIG the deserts in the west are. Of course, the deserts are followed by the mountains. Fortunately, my load of chips was very light, and I had no problem getting here.

Having lived in Utah for four years, I was excited to come back and see all the changes that have taken place. I left before the Olympics happened here, and there has been a lot of construction going on, that's for sure!

I Found my way to my destination with no trouble, I didn't even need Edith to point the way, That may be a first!

Funny thing, when I lived out here, my commute took me past a large truck stop called Sapp Brothers, I always wanted to go there, but at the time I had a "real job", and felt like that would be a foolish thing to do. Well, my first stop when I dropped my trailer was said truck stop, which is where I am now. It is a nice place to spend the afternoon. My next pickup is tomorrow morning, I will spend the night here with my free Internet connection. Back to Texas in the morning!

Hot Temps and a cool load...

I've finally made it back to a web connection, this one in West Memphis AR, so the saga can continue.

I made it to Chester PA in good time, dropped a trailer and waited to hear from the dispatch gods where I was going next, and waited, and waited.

I figured this would be a good time to get some grocery shopping done, I fired up Edith, and she showed me a supermarket less than a mile from my location. "Awesome" I thought "I'll just walk it, I could use the excercise". Well after walking past several burned out houses and abandoned house lots, I got to the "supermarket", which was basically a house converted to a mom and pop store where pop had left years ago. They sold chips, soda, and toilet paper. Not needing any of these staples, I decided to walk back to the truck and wait it out there.

Yes, the walk did require me to pass a state prison. Not a good neighborhood...

Getting back underway, I headed to Paulsboro NJ. OK sis, a made a trip to the Jersey shore just for you! and loaded for Nitro West Virginia. This took me through western Maryland, which is beautiful country but it is steep and slow going. When I reached the West VA side, I found the sun! Haven't seen the big orange ball for days, and this was a welcome sign.

Got to Nitro, and got unloaded which led me to what has been my favorite stop to date.

There is a Kellogg plant in Kimper KY. This was my next pickup. I pull into the lot and see this river of water running out of one of the loading doors. Having worked at a dairy for a while, I'm used to seeing some water used to wash the production floors, but this was a river. Obviously something was wrong in this building I was about to walk into.

Getting inside the Shipping area, I can see through a locked door that there is a huge lake forming in the middle of the warehouse. People are running around trying to figure out what to do, and someone passes me saying It'll be a minute before they can help me.

I cannot do the Kentucky/southern accent justice, so just ad lib your own through this story.

Another trucker comes in, He's from Texas, nice guy with a really big mouth who starts in with "Y'all got a problem in there." no kidding.

The shipping manager finds a couple minutes to help me out, but the pickup number I give him doesn't match anything in his system, He starts helping the other driver out while I go to the truck to call and get confirmation on my pickup. Fortunately, I know the trailer number I am supposed to pickup, and I see it in the lot. Unfortunately, my trailer has yellow caution tape run around it like a college TP party. Now I'm concerned. I go back inside Lake Kellogg, where now there are suits and ties looking at the big puddle. Going back to the shipping office, I give the man my new number, which still doesn't match anything in his computer. He now explaines to me that a woman on a forklift accidently hit the water main for the fire supression system, this is like a 6-8" diameter high pressure water pipe, and that is where all the water is coming from.

"OK" I say, not knowing exactly what I can do to make that situation better, "Now about my load to pickup. I know it is the trailer covered in caution tape."

At this point the guy's eyes light up "Well why didn't you say so!" (KY accent please) "I got that paperwork right here!"

Before he hands it to me, One of the people working on the broken pipe comes out and grabs the Shipping guy away from me. Seeme the valve for the water pipe is locked out and cannot be turned off. Sounds like a job for someone from shipping to me...

Getting back to me, he hands me the paperwork, 23,000lbs of pop tarts. It's the pop tart factory! I still don't know the meaning of the yellow caution tape, and probably never will, but as I'm about to walk out the door, the guy says (in your best KY accent please)

"Hey, Yew want some pop tarts?"

"Yes, yes I do Please" I said very calmly. He proceded to give me four big boxes of them.

These were the happiest people I've met. Great spirit working hard, and laughing non-stop. I mean, hey, I'ts a pop tart factory. Feel comfort in knowing that the next box of pop tarts you buy was made by very happy people.

I made it through most of KY before I bedded down for the night at a rest area. I was back on the road by 6am feeling good about getting an early start, when I was passed by a fire truck which I was hoping was not making it's way to the Kellogg plant 300 miles away. Nope, for right in fromt of me traffic had stopped. A minivan that had rolled over and the LifeFlight helicopter had landed in the southbound lanes. So much for an early start to my day. I was there for an hour and a half waiting for traffic to clear. Most of us were out of our vehicles walking around, and I had a good conversation with many of the people surrounding me.

View in front all stopped...

View Behind me

Every day is a new adventure out here!

Back in PA.

I've been on a roundabout trip these last few days. My last entry was uploaded in Indianapolis, since then I have headed north to Wisconsin, and made it back to PA. where I will drop a trailer today.

Glad I have finally got Chicago figured out. That place is busy all the time. I have been chasing this rainstorm east since I left Wisconsin. Heavy rain tends to slow down my traveling, and for good reason. I passed a rollover in Ohio, and I-81 was closed in PA due to an accident with a fatality. I'm keepin' Big Orange outta trouble!

My planned time at home is around Sept 5th, so I still have a bunch of days and miles to go on this run, stay tuned!

Long Time Gone...

OOPS...









I've been letting this blogging thing get away from me for a while, what with time at home two weeks ago, and not being able to find a good Internet connection for the last week on the road. Anyhoo, time to bring things back up to date, I will do this in one update vs. the multiple updates I did before.









Got back in the ruck on Aug 11, headed to Rumford to pick up paper headed for Newport News VA. I made it through NYC and settled down for the night in my favorite New Jersey rest area. (This is a funny joke, there is nothing in my world that is a favorite anything in Jersey). Headed out the next morning headed for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, when somewhere near Onancock I hear this big BOOM! Looking in my mirror I see that I am throwing pieces of a tire all over the road. Let me tell you, there are some really dumb drivers out there that like to tailgate big trucks. Blowing out a tire and covering them with rubber will back them WAY back! Gee, If only I could do that trick on demand...







Because of my somewhat remote location, when I called the roadside assistance help line, they told me it was going to take a while to get someone out to change the tire.







No, I don't carry a spare.







Three hours later, I was rolling again. Made it to the bridge/tunnel, Paid my $35.00 toll, and headed to my stop. By the time I got there, the receiving dept. had closed for the day, and I got stuck at the port for the night. They were kind enough to let me park and sleep there.





The next morning was beautiful weather, I had an ocean view, and it was a blue sky morning. I got myself up and drove the 50 yds to the loading dock where they got me unloaded, and I was on my way to my next pickup.



After carrying a heavy load of paper for 750 miles, my next load was a pleasure, 1,700 lbs of foam packing. To put this in perspective, I carry more weight in fuel than this whole load weighed! It filled the trailer though.



This load got me to Eatonton GA, a hot place to be right now. I was glad to get this unloaded and move on to another paper mill in Krannert GA. Another big heavy load of paper going to Lexington NC. This trip put me through Atlanta GA. Why is there so much traffic in Atlanta? Day or night, the place is non stop traffic! Sorry, Random Rant...Anyway, I digress...



That was an uneventful trip. Pick it up, drop it off. I'm getting into the mojo of the short trip at this point. 300-500 mile trips are a days drive, They tend to be more physical work than the long hauls where I am sitting behind the wheel, but I'm OK with that. It's not like I'm lifting refrigerators or something!



From Lexington, I headed to Greensboro for a load, and am on my way to WI. I must admit that I am looking forward to some cooler temps, and less humidity. This load is not to be delivered for a couple days, and I'm already 350 miles from Where I need to be, so this may just be a day off for me! One doesn't get too many of these on the road, so I think I will take advantage of a very nice day in the Midwest.

Hey Dad, here is a photo of the antenna mount. Hoping to get the whole setup working today.

Toasty!

Made it to Laredo today. Needless to say it is HOT here, at least it is for me. Having been in Canada less than a week ago, it is quite a change. Not sure where I go from here, but at least I know it will be northeast, I can't go any further south.

In a perfect world, I will be home on Thursday, but the odds are it will be Friday or Saturday at this point. After three weeks out here, I'm ready to be home for a while!

Rolling Thunder

July 27, 2007

Well, this was another interesting day. I have been given a great run, I’m headed from Detroit to Texas. This is around 1200 miles, as I’ve said before, I get paid by the mile so this is a good thing.

I left Detroit early this morning, and all was going well until I got to I-69 south in Indiana, north of Indianapolis. Chatter on the CB was that there had been a bad accident ahead, two motor homes had collided and one of them had rolled on its side in the median. I-69 south was closed. I pull out my handy truck stop guide and find a place to pull over and try to wait it out in a restaurant, not sitting bumper to bumper on a freeway.

I’m feeling awful clever at this point, I’m also listening on the CB to some truckers talking about a detour around this accident. I look up the detour on my atlas and it is a legitimate truck route. You guessed it I went for the detour.

This would have worked out fine, route 13 south to route 36 south to the Indy beltway. 15 miles and I am back on track. That’s when I came upon a house fire than had rt 36 closed. The house was on one side of the road, and the hydrant was on the other side, so the fire dept had to close a four-lane road down to run the water hoses across it.

Eventually, after about 30 minutes of watching this house burn down, a long line of trucks had collected behind me. It would be safe to say I wasn’t the only one listening to this “shortcut” on the CB!

A cop came over and got us all backed up and turned down a different route. Things would normally be OK at this point, but I-70 is closed in Indianapolis, and there is a NASCAR race in town this weekend. Traffic is a nightmare and the 465 beltway was bumper to bumper. Grrrrrrr…

I got to the closest rest area, and called it a day. Only a 269 mile day, but a day.

Did I mentioned this all happened in the pouring rain?

I need a nap.

Back in the States

July 26

Spent the last few days in Canada, I'm in Detroit now. Delivered a load of car parts to a warehouse here. I know, it's hard to believe there are car parts in Michigan, but honestly, there are a whole bunch of them!

While I was at the Toronto Operating Center, the Schneider ride for pride showed up. This is the truck I mentioned in a previous post. I got a good look at it, and the paint job is fantastic. They were letting people drive it around the lot, but I was on a really tight schedule, and the line was long, so I settled for a good look around the outside.

This is the seventh truck done to memorialize American soldiers. It travels the country (and Canada!) going to car shows and events for veterans. It is a big hit wherever it goes.

Time to find a shower and something to eat. I will be heading towards home soon, should be there by next Thursday. I always like that feeling. Three weeks on the road is a long time.

Don't Tailgate!

Catsup tastes better in Canada...

July 24, 2007

Hello from Ontario Canada. Yep, I’m back in Canada without losing anything at the border.

This was a really cool delivery, I think. It was a big load of titanium. It was very heavy and very expensive! This is a perfect example of why I don’t say where I’m going or what I’m carrying until after the load is done. Some things don’t need to be broadcast on the web or anyone to read.

Anyhoo, I haven’t introduced my sidekick in my travels, Edith. Edith is my Garmin GPS unit. When it comes to trip planning, keeping track of left sided exits, and making this job a lot less stressful, Edith is da bomb! OK, so you’re thinking “Why Edith?” First of all naming my talking GPS makes more sense if you think of Wilson from the movie Castaway. We all need to talk to somebody. Secondly, the first two names to come to my mind were Edith and Ethel, Edith stuck for no particular reason. More on Edith later…

If all goes to plan, I should be back in the States by Thursday.

Roll On!

hello..hello?? any internet out there?

Boy, finding internet on the road can be a challenge. I have been creating blog entries in Word for the last few days, and have finially found a somewhat stable (and free!) connection. I'll use this for now.

Currently I'm in Ohio. Just dropped a load of water I picked up in TN two days ago. Water is HEAVY! My maximum weight is 80,000 pounds, or 40 tons, when I fueled up, and put this thing on a scale, it was 79,600 pounds.

This can be tricky to get down the road legally. If you have ever looked under the trailer part of a semi, you will see where the rear wheels, called the tandems, can slide forward and back and lock in place with four round pins. Sliding the tandems not only makes this thing managable in, say, New York City, because it shortens the turning radius, but it also shifts the weight around so you don't overload an axle. On a light load this in not rally important, but when the legal weight limit is staring you in the face, one wants to make sure things are set right, or risk a fine from the DOT.

I made it to Wintersville OH with no trouble. Beautifull day here, and I'm glad to have a bunch of miles under my belt early on in the week just in case the wheels fall off driving for the rest of the week.

Time for a new week

July 19

This was a better day then yesterday, I got my load completed at 6am this morning, and hit the road for northern Ohio. It rained like crazy, but traffic was light, and I trucked right along (pun intended…) There is an O.C., or Operating Center, for Schneider in Seville, which is where I am now. Almost all of he O.C.’s have free Internet access; I have learned tonight that Seville does not! So you will have to wait yet another day for my updates! I’m sure you are all gathering around the computer for the fireside blog…

When I got here, they did offer me a free meal. Not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I had a nice Salisbury steak with green beans and mashed potatoes. It may not sound that exciting, but to sit at a table, and use utensils is a small luxury on the road!

I think I’m finally getting my schedule, the delivery schedules, and my sleep schedule back in sync again. This is harder than it sounds. The DOT will only let truck drivers work a fixed number of hours per day, and within a fixed amount of time to work it in, so if you get yourself into a night driving situation, you can get stuck there for a week or two. I for one would rather drive during the day, and sleep at night. My problem lately has been needing to get up at 4am to start my day. Most people who know me are laughing out loud at that thought. Maybe they are thinking being on the road with me at 5am is not such a good idea too!


I’m off to Kentucky tomorrow once I get loaded in Ohio, OK OK, get the TRAILER loaded that is…
Keeping the round side down across America!

Best Laid Plans...

July 18, 2007

Today was a shining example of a bad day in trucking. I got underway about 9am this morning to make a two hour drive to my first stop. Today’s load was a little complicated, I stopped at a warehouse in one town to pick up half my load, then at another warehouse in another town to pick up the other half.

I’m southeast of Philly for the first stop, a location I don’t have very good maps for, and of course I get lost, and late for my pickup. I was only 15 minutes late, that’s an easy mistake to make up for. In all honesty, just finding a place to turn this thing around can take that long!

So I get loaded, and head to my next pickup location a few towns over, again I get lost but a little worse this time. I call the customer, get directions and get there 15 minutes ahead of my pickup time, or so I think…

It’s quarter till three, I am behind two other trucks loading, and the parking lot is a nightmare, gotta back down the whole lot, through employee parking, and two loading zones for two other companies that share this lot. I get backed up to the door at 3:10, and the pimply faced loading “dude” says he is done for the day, the loading crew goes home at three. He doesn’t have a drivers license, so he has to catch a ride with one of his buddies. I can feel that deer in the headlights feeling coming over me. I’m backed up to the dock, the four pallets I’m picking up are ten feet from the door, and this kid won’t load them, he walks away… I am quite capable of loading these things myself, but it would be useless to do without any paperwork.

Long story short, I’m now stuck at this loading dock till 6am for the morning crew to finish loading me. Calling my dispatcher, I find that I needed to be there no later than 3pm, which I was, and I had talked to the shipping manager before 3pm when I got there, and I did exactly as I was told…

The “Hotel Freightliner” will be at a local mall parking lot for the night.


Some days just don’t work right no matter how hard you try. This is my sixth day in a row of not having things go right. Can’t quite get the mojo in sync with the rest of the world. I’ve only run about 1,000 miles this week. I usually run around 3,000. When you get paid by the mile, this is obviously a slow week.

I’m looking on the bright side though, I’m headed to Ohio, where there is good freight to move long distances, my tractor has had all it’s maintenance done, and I’m ready to rumble. We shall see how Ohio treats me.

Maintenance Day

I'm back in PA today, getting a "PM", or a preventative maintenance service done on my truck. Just like your car, one has to keep these things running well, only my oil changes come every 20,000 miles. The service department takes the truck for as long as they need, so I am in a hotel room in Carlisle waiting for he OK to hit the road.



Was in Ohio for the last two days dropping off my NYC load, and picking up some paper to bring to Breinigsville PA. Next stop...back to Ohio by the 18th to move some hardware!



Ohio is commonly known as SLO-HIO in the trucking world. max speed is 55mph for trucks. This is a painfully slow state to drive across, big and flat for the most part. Cars are going about 70 in the passing lane, so the speed differential makes it hard for a big truck to get in the passing lane and pass gram and gramps who are out for a 45mph Sunday drive. This usually causes a quarter mile clog on the highway behind said passing truck. The great thing is that Ohio is big, wide open space, a wonderful place to drive big things.



Heading west on I-70 the other day, I passed a huge car cruise going East. It must have been the HOT ROD power tour or something like it. There must have been 500 old cars heading towards PA. Included in the cruise was the Schneider Ride for Pride, a veteran memorial truck that cruises the country for PR, and also pulls freight just like the rest of the fleet.



http://www.wfrv.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=7a075d8d-3fae-4a1b-ae19-e1250fb2a46f



As I said above, I was headed west and all of this was heading east, so getting a picture of any of this was out of the question. Oh well, maybe next time. Of course, as I was heading east on I-70, I passed Dale Jr.'s nextell fleet, and the Budweiser Clydesdale's heading west!

See you on the road

Already forgetting my Password...

Here it is Sat. the 14th, a sunny day in PA. Thank god... I loaded in Brooklyn N.Y. yesterday. As I'm sure some people know, driving a car in Brooklyn is hard enough. Driving something almost 70 feet long, and over 13 feet high in there is a nightmare. I had to pick up a load of clothing at what I'm sure is some kind of sweat shop.

All these little trucks are darting in and out of this place, and here comes big orange! ready to clog up a whole city street for what turned into a three hour loading. The drivers in New York were patient and pleasant, as only people from New York can be.

This is my first load in NYC. Hopefully my last for a while!

You will have to excuse the photo quality, I am using my phone to take them. maybe I will step it up in the future.

Yep, that's my big 'ole nose poking out in the street!

This is a good idea...really...

Well, my sister has been bloging for a while, and the idea seems simple enough, sooo, here we go. I drive an 18 wheeler around the country for a living. "Freedom of the open road" is more like freedom to get stuck in every rush hour jam in anywhere USA, but I digress, this is the kind of job many people think about doing, but know nothing about. I'm going to try to shed some light on how this lifestyle works for the next year.
Currently I have been over the road for two months. I'm beginning to understand how this all works, so come share in my (mis) adventures. "Life is a Highway!"