Brother, can you spare a dime?

More shop time...

Yep, I'm back at it. Back on the road after several days of R&R at home. I apologize to anyone I didn't see while home, I really needed some serious down time "drool time" I like to call it.


Being an over the road (OTR) driver requires me to keep a log book, and in this log I have to account for every minute of every day. On the surface, this may not seem like such a big deal, and if you keep up on the book, it really isn't all that hard, but try keeping track of your entire day for a week and you will begin to understand the pleasure of not having to do it all the time. Feel like making a quick trip to the store? Just hop in the car and go...wonderful!!!

I'm having more work done on the truck right now, so I am hanging out in a hotel room in Seville OH. My delivery needs to be made tomorrow morning, the shop says the truck should be ready this evening, and I am only about 300 miles from my destination. Will I make it? I sure hope so. I took most of last week off, and when the wheels aren't turnin' I ain't earnin'. The paycheck is going to be a big fat $0.00 until I get some deliveries made.

I'm still working on the video stuff. What I'm thinking about doing is recording little video clips during the week, then stitching them all together for a video compilation, and posting that at the end of the week.


A in theory, hopefully not an F- in execution...

Testing Testing...

Well, seems like a good time for a little video test. Just a little something I shot in the cab of the truck.




I'm working on the learning curve here, bear with me!

Home again

It's been nice to be home for a few days now, I will be here till Sunday morning when I will head back out again. I am taking my six days at home, and plan on enjoying every one of them! Gawd, 40 days in a truck is a long time from home, and I will not be doing that kind of run again!

The good thing is that trucking is a little slow this time of year, so nobody is complaining that I wanted an extra day at home (after 40 days, I've earned it, but you know how corporate America can be...)

I'm taking a little home time to do some updates on the BLOG. Nothing like a little paint and paper to pretty things up a bit. I also found an awesome deal on a little video camera made by Flip Video http://www.theflip.com/ I have wanted to get one of these for a while now, especially before the wedding, so now I can easily upload videos to the BLOG which will hopefully add to the multimedia of things. Very cool little camera, all the editing software is built into the camera. Plug it into a USB port and all the video and editing is available at once. Take it to someone else's computer, plug it in, and all the same things are available there too!

The only bummer about this time at home is that Linda has to work during the week, and I am at home with the dog during the day. The little guy can wear me out!

3lbs of terror...

I feel a nap coming on, time to let you people who work for a living get back to it!

Slow but steady

I've made it back to Carlisle, PA to pick up a load going home! Hannaford needs something and I'm just the guy to give it to 'em. I'm not going to get too complicated in how the D.O.T. rules work, but I can only work 70hrs every seven days, this is a rolling number, so on the 8th day, I get back the hours I worked seven days earlier.

I mention this because of my mad dash to Minnesota, which used up a whole bunch of hours. the problem now is I can't go anywhere until tomorrow, where I can only drive for 9 hours before I hit my max 70 hours in 7 days thing again, so, if all goes well I will be home by Sunday morning. The logistics of getting me home for time off is difficult to say the least, so I roll with the punches. After six weeks of driving, I'm not going to fight the issue.

On a good note, I took a three hour nap today, I think I could keep sleeping, but that would ruin a good nights sleep. When you think about it, working 70 hours a week (seven days) no matter what you do for a living, is a lot of time at work! Best to take the downtime before I do something dumb.

I started my day around 2am in Buffalo NY to get here. If you look on a map, there is no interstate that runs from Buffalo to Carlisle/Harrisburg PA. That leaves US 15 south.

A very pretty drive I'm sure during the day, with no snowstorm...

It is a steep mountainous pass that was covered with snow. Future I-99 written on signs I passed, well that will be WAY in the future I'm sure! For those of you that know anything about our interstate system, that would put I-99 in the Atlantic ocean somewhere! crazy...

I passed an overturned tanker on the north side of the road, which had that side of the road closed for miles. I made it without incident, but it was slow going. That's probably why the nap was in order as well.

Well, time to sit back and think about how I'm going to spend the money the President is going to give all of us... (subtle joke here)

Can't wait to get home.

blah blah blah...

I would really like to have something noteworthy to say here, but this was just another day at the office. I made it to Minnesota with my westbound load, met up with a driver who had an eastbound load, swapped trailers with him at a truckstop, and now I'm heading to Rhode Island. Driving through MN and WI is kind of like spending 6 hours in "The County", (Northern Maine for you from away...)

Made it through Chicago, and now I'm at a Schneider Operating Center in Gary IN. (Chicago North for you NOT From Away!)

Workin' my way home, hope to be there around the 18th or so. I really can't wait to get out of this truck for a while...

Illinois has awesome rest areas!

The bad news, Illinois will toll the crap out of anyone passing through.

The good news, the rest areas, called an oasis, are awesome. I have settled down here for the night where I have good parking, a Starbucks, McDonalds, Subway, Pretzel Store, and wireless Internet! The building also bridges both the east and west lanes of I-94, so the views are neat.

I have travelled 1,000 miles in the last two days, this is good travelling for this time of the year, and driving through Chicago, so I should be able to put another 5-600 miles on this load before I get it relayed to another driver, and start my trip home. Having only been home for two days in the last six weeks, I am ready to konk out for a while. I'm beginning to feel like the home world is passing my by. I'm ready to get out of the sleep-drive-sleep-drive schedule. Because I have been gone soooo long, I will get six days off when I do get home instead of my usual five.

I am "riding the bubble" again with the weather. I'm actually driving towards a storm that is brewing in the Pacific Northwest, and getting past the Great Lakes before a low drops down from Canada and heads east. I hope to turn around and head east in front of the west coast storm, and drive behind the biggie storm in the east. I can't say I'm sorry about being gone when a foot of snow hits home!

Enjoy the cold white stuff!

Well, I finally got back to an Internet connection! Since my last post I have been to Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and back to Ohio en route to Seattle Wa.

I won't be completing this run, but I will grab as much of the 2800 miles from it as I can. I have been joking with my dispatch planner that I always get these fantastic loads a few days before I'm supposed to go home...crazy. I wish I could get a run like this when I first leave the house for my 3 week run. The good news is however far west I get it delivered, I need to drive the same distance to get home. More miles= more money!

My New York stop was interesting. I got to the stop on time at 9am expecting a 1 hour unload. nine hours later, I was done and underway. This poor place had two guys working at it, and no loading dock. They had to unload each truck by hand, and I was fourth in line.

I get extra pay for stops like this, called detention pay, but it still is frustrating to walk into a deal like this. Oh well, it's not just a job, it's an adventure!

East Bound and Down

Here it is, 6am in Fond Du Lac Wisconsin, 5am local time when one considers the time change. I keep myself on east coast time all the time, I find it makes keeping track of time more sane. On my way to Ohio with a 44,000 lbs load of paper. I like paper loads, they are heavy, and I always stop at a truck stop and put the truck on the scales to make sure I’m legal, better to spend $8.50 at a truck stop than a lot more to the DOT! But I have run enough of these loads now where I can set it up legally without checking and feel comfortable if I wanted to. I can’t start driving until about 8am to make my delivery window on time, so I figured I would write a few words now, then copy and paste into the blog when I stop for fuel in Gary, IN. Today’s drive is around 530 miles, so I have to be efficient with my time.

FYI, with this kind of load, I am almost 80,000 lbs when you include the tractor and trailer, that’s about 35 times heavier than the average sedan on the road. Think about that the next time you cut in front of an 18 wheeler!

It’s been really foggy here, and surprisingly warm in the high 40’s during the day. Wisconsin in January should be a little colder than that, and the cold weather is on it’s way back, but the fog has held the heat in for a few days and I’m not complaining! I ran pretty hard last week and was really short on hours that I could legally run this weekend, so I took advantage of a couple of short work days and caught up on some much needed sleep.

I also got a chance to see some of the HBO miniseries “From the Earth to the Moon”. It’s a story of the US space race in the 60’s. I got the DVD set for Christmas. I have always wanted to see this miniseries. I watched three hours of it yesterday and it is fantastic. It’s amazing what can be done with enough brain power, ambition, and money! It’s a four disc, twelve part series, so I will be watching this for a while. Highly recommended.

This run takes me off the interstate system quite a bit. US 41 in WI is a fantastic road, and I will run US 30 through Indiana and Ohio. US 30 runs parallel to I-80 but without having to pay the tolls, which I think are about $60-70.00 for a semi. I really enjoy US 30, especially the Ohio end. If you ever want to avoid the I-80 toll, or are just looking for a change of scenery, give US 30 a try!

Keeping the Home Fires Burning

Time for the brain dump on the goings on of the last few days, but first, I need to do a little shout out.

You're gonna be home when??!

My family seems to have the gift of prose, my dad has written me letters that will bring tears to your eyes. My mom will send very heartfelt thank you notes at the drop of a hat, and I'm convinced that my sister should be writing books for a living.

Forgive me if I try to wax a little poetic for a few minutes, I'll get to the good stuff, I promise!

My job keeps me away from home for weeks at a time, and when I do get home, it is only for a few days before I hit the road again. This is a little hard on my fiance', Linda. I really didn't have much of a time at home this Christmas. I made it for the 25th and I had the 27th off, but ended up working Christmas eve, and running an "emergency" load on the 26th. I was tired, and probably not the type of home body Linda was expecting.

Samantha was home from California for the holidays, so we had a house full for a while, but time moves on, and now Linda has the house to herself again, and I think that the transition from lots of people to an empty house has been a little hard. I had a tough time getting back in the truck myself this time. It was great to see everyone, but it seemed way to short, as it usually does, but it is hard to leave knowing that the tree is still up for someone else to have to deal with.

Linda has been very supportive of my career decision, and she deserves to be recognised as one of those behind the scenes rocks that I lean on all the time. We find a way to talk every night, which if you know me and the way I ignore the telephone, is a major operation!

Way to go honey! Thanks for all you do. I love you, I miss you, and hope to see you soon!

OK OK OK Time for NEWS!

I'm one of those guys who had a car before I had my license, I passed my commercial drivers license at 19, and have been driving all sorts of cars and trucks through every type of weather imaginable. I'm not a pro at OTR driving yet, but I do have a point of reference about driving.

I left Carlisle PA heading for Nitro W VA at 2am heading for I-68 west. Driving through Maryland was fine, and I was making great time, as one can do in the wee hours of the morning. As I got closer to West Virginia, the winds picked up and the temperature, went down.

Obviously I was driving towards some really nasty weather while driving on a mountain highway. Needless to say, I was concerned. Then the snow started falling...HARD. Maryland had plow trucks out, salt and sand were being spread, and things were under control. I was still at about 35 mph being very careful, but the wheels were rolling, and that is always a good thing.

Then I crossed into West Virginia...

No plowing done, no salt and sand on the roads, I was passing cars off in the ditch, you know the drill. I was beyond concerned at this point, so I did what anyone would do at this point.

Found a rest area and took a five hour nap!

Not quite heaven...West Virginia

For me, taking a nap half way through the day is not a good idea, I'm a little groggy for the rest of the day. I pushed on for a few hundred more miles and shut down for the day. My delivery had been rescheduled for the following morning, so the pressure was off. I had to come up on a tanker rollover which had the whole highway shut down. I must admit I have encountered more traffic tie ups this time of the year than any other. Looks like all the stats are right about holiday travelling and bad weather. Be safe out there!

Imagine that...Stuck in traffic in West Virginia!

Hoping for no snow in West VA

All is well in the world of Edison, N.J. They have a shiny new trailer load of toilet paper courtesy of me. Afterwards, I had to go to one of my least favorite drop lots, South Kearny N.J. which is a little north of Newark. As usual traffic was horrible, and the roads will pound you to a pulp, but I had to get an empty trailer to take to another company in North Brunswick N.J. so I could get my next load, which is going to West Virginia.

Half the work of this job is the logistics of getting trailers where the stuff is that needs to be loaded in them, and then doing the deliveries. It's all extra miles for me, and that helps fatten the paycheck. It did take most of the day to get three trailers moved, so I am back in Carlisle for the night. I will get up tomorrow morning around 2am to make my delivery time in W VA. Driving in Jersey is not as bad as NYC, but it still takes a lot out of me. Best if I wait till the morning to hit the road again!

Can you believe it? Stuck in stopped traffic on the Jersey Turnpike...

Round Robin

I'm back in Carlisle, PA. The same place I was two days ago when I last posted. I have come back from Kentucky where I dropped off a load of lawn tools, and picked up a load of toilet paper headed for New Jersey. I know there is a really funny joke about t.p. going to Jersey, but I'll leave that for you.

I have been trying to dodge the bad weather again. This is a constant battle. The more time I can spend moving, be it day or night, surely beats sitting out a storm somewhere. It looks like I will get to Jersey on time for my delivery. Maybe it is more important for the people living there? I'm just saying...

Anyhoo, had some blue sky on I-64 in southern Indiana. I was bobtailing from Louisville to my pickup location, and decided to find a truck stop and grab some lunch. I have a small book I keep near me showing all the truck stops in the country my state and interstate exit number, very handy seeing as though parking one of these things at your local McDonalds will usually clog up the whole lot.

I find a stop in my book at the exit I'm getting off at, so all looks good, my book tells me that it is an AMBEST (Americas Best for short) which is a chain store like a Pilot or Travel Centers of America, so I'm expecting a "reputable establishment".

When I pull off the interstate, all I find is a big deserted parking lot with a porn store and a topless restaurant. Now, I have nothing against this, 1st amendment and all that, but one cannot look discrete driving an 13 foot tall orange Freightliner, and all I wanted was a place to park.

I found another place to park...

One thing I've learned this year, even the best information can be incorrect. My truck stop guide is only a year old, but this is the third truck stop that has been out of business when I got there. I did have to turn around in their lot to get going in the right direction. This was when the midget with the crutches came out and tried to flag me down, seriously. I couldn't shift fast enough to get out of there! Maybe after drinking a case of beer or something, this place might be entertaining?

I thought they put these things FAR AWAY from the highway!