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!