Back to reality

Life goes on, and I'm still rolling down the road. Currently, I'm at our Operating Center (OC) in Gary, IN preparing for my run to Canada. This has become routine at this point, I know how to prepare the paperwork and get things in order for the Customs people, so this should be just another day at the office.

Linda and I had a conference call with Samantha last night. Amazing to think I'm sitting in my truck in Wisconsin, Linda is in Maine, and Sam is in a hospital in California, and we are all talking like we are in the same room. (1970's technology, I know I know, but still really cool!) we could hear Jarrid in the background having a few words about wanting extra cheese on his pizza, or something like that... Again, very cool to hear the young 'un in the background. 10 fingers and 10 toes, everything else is academic.

I ran through some rough weather yesterday. I, for one, will be glad for spring! Not that I have had to shovel or snowplow much this year, but I think I have my own war stories from this winter.

I understand my sister is having some fun at my expense...

As with any sibling dump on..er..rivlary, time should be taken to plan my response. I do believe time is on my side here. I may be the proud grandparent, but she is still the ELDER of the two of us, and I can certainly understand her jealousy of my new-found status in life.

BFK and I are consulting at the moment to plan our next move...

A child is born

So I was driving across Indiana yesterday, keeping a close eye on my cell phone, and waiting for the "bing" meaning a text message has arrived. Oh, and also keeping myself on the road during a windy lake-affect snowstorm.
Sure enough, the message comes in saying Samantha had her baby boy, Jarrid.

I understand that this is a time to focus on Mother and Child, but it has become an interesting time for me, at least in my little brain. Linda and I are getting married this year, which makes Sam my daughter, and Jarrid my grandson.

WOAH, grandson, holy crap!

Not that this is new news, we have had a few months to contemplate this whole deal, but now it is really here. It's kind of like having your drivers permit, you know you are going to get your license soon, but it doesn't feel all that real until it is in your grubby little fingers. The same logic applies to graduating High School or College. Granted I didn't have to put in the sweat time for Jarrid like I had to for the previously mentioned three, but the feeling of a fundamental life change taking place has still occurred.

I still don't know what that change will bring, but I do know that it will be for the better for everyone involved. I, for one, am looking forward to whatever challenge this next phase of life brings to me, and us.

Way to go Samantha, I know all you had to do was lay there and push a little, kinda like all I do is sit and drive around all day. I'm proud of you,

You're gonna be a great mom!

Good to be home

I'm posting from one of my favorite places to be, at my desk, at home.

Of all my 3 week runs I have done, this one ranks at the top for being the most difficult. The weather was awful, I had more mechanical problems than ever, and my miles were way down. Such is February in America, everyone just hunkers down and waits for spring, or at least for their tax returns, to get in the warmer weather spirit. So be it, sometimes life sucks and you just get over it...

My last run kept to the model of the entire run. I picked up a loaded trailer in Rhode Island to take it to PA and drop it off for another driver to take it to KY, this is called a relay load. The trailer I picked up was not a company trailer, it was a white box with no name on it. This is odd, but not out of order, especially with a slow economy, sometimes we move trailers that belong to a manufacturer that has their own fleet of trailers. I was told this was mine to pick up by the shipper, and the paperwork matched my load request, so I sent a message to my dispatch team letting them know about the white box, and went down the road.

I had four drive hours left on my day, but it was getting late, and I knew about an accident on 95 south in CT, so I drove for 2 hrs and found a rest area to call it a day. This also let me run NYC very early in the morning on a Saturday, which is much better than attempting it on a Friday night.

I sailed through NYC around 3:30am the next morning, and made it to Carlisle PA without issue. When I went in to our OC, I received a message saying that this isn't oue of our trailers (no kidding...) and that it would have to go back to Rhode Island and be transferred to one of our trailers. Oh yeah, the shipper isn't open on weekends, gonna have to get it there on Monday.

Fortunately for me, I had done my job right. I confirmed with the shipper that I was to take this trailer, I contacted my team to let them know about the trailer, and I held the trailer a relatively short distance from the shipper for over 10 hrs for my DOT required break. I got paid to bring it back to RI. None of this changes the situation that somebody got yelled at and got in trouble for not picking up on this earlier, and I feel bad about that. I'm not out here trying to make anybody's life hard, or waste a bunch of company money. I've been self-employed before, twice, and wasting company money has been beaten out of me the hard way.

I love the smell of New York City in the Morning!

Monday was supposed to be my first full day at home, but it became a half day, and will get me an extra day off on Saturday, so I guess that is a good thing. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to my March run to get my mojo back, and a little extra cash in hand. Until then, I'm gonna be driving my little pickup around Maine, doing my taxes, and paying bills.

See you in a few days...

Ice Road Truckin'

I really needed to take a brief time-out before this post to compose myself. I figured the last post would keep people occuipied for a day or two.

I'm sitting here in Carlisle PA enjoying a sunny Saturday, looking forward to going home soon, and reflecting on my last weeks travels. My job is fun, and I enjoy it, but it is a job, which means there are days that are going to be harder than others. This whole three week run has been plauged with equipment failures and bad weather. I will take the equipment failures 10 times out of 10 over last weeks weather.

Soybean Loading at the Co Op, had to have a tractor pull my ass out of the drainage ditch that had iced over and I slid into...

My run through southern MO was a sheet of ice, black ice, the kind of ice you can only see by the reflections in oncoming cars headlights on the shiny pavement. I-55 was so slippery, the big trucks couldn't climb the hills on the highway. God bless the Maine DOT guys, nothing had been done out here. This meant stopping at the bottom of a hill, using the lowest gear possible, and two trucks would climb the hill at a time, with impatient and anxious four wheelers trying to get around the whole mess. When I exited at US 60 west it was so slippery, that my empty trailer kicked out from behind me by about 15 dergees, and was sliding in the passing lane, I was going about 5 mph and still had no way to stop if I wanted/needed to. Be mindfull that a semi, at 70feet long and 10 feet wide can't just pull off the road anywhere, you may never get moving again or you may be causing a big roadblock for others to crash into.

Things improved with 45,000lbs of soybeans in the trailer.

Saw a LOT of this...

I poked my way to Seville OH, where we have an OC. While eating dinner there, I overheard a handfull of drivers talking about their drive across I-80 in PA, and just how bad that had been.

"huh..." I was thinking "you should have been where I was yesterday boys..." Being the good Mainer that I am, I don't start bragging about who had it worse than me, because karma has a twisted sense of humor about such things. I kept my mouth shut and listened...

The next day I was driving I-80 east to my destination in MA. The wreckage was everywhere. This place must have been a special kind of hell to drive in. I couldn't compose myself to take shots of the really bad wrecks I saw, like the semi hanging from a bridge abutment, but I think you will get the idea from these.

I laugh on with others about how all I have to do is sit and drive every day, how hard could that be... well, some days will scare the absolute hell out of ya.

Thank You Wal Mart

I'm taking a time out from talking about the breakdowns and bad weather that have been conspiring against me this month to give you my perspective on big business, namely Wal Mart.

These guys always seem to get bad press about crushing the little guy, or having strong-armed business tactics. You know, how some mom and pop operation goes out of business, and mom and pop end up working at Wal Mart for minimum wage etc...

I deliver a lot of stuff to Wal Mart and Sams club distribution centers (DC's), and one thing I have noticed is the infrastructure that grows around these centers. To begin with, their DC's are HUGE places, the property taxes and utilities on these places must be staggering. Surrounding each of these centers is a collection of truck stops and restaraunts catering to the people bringing in deliveries (me) and the people who are employed by Wal Mart. Heck, the one I was just at in Arkansas had a bunch of shopping malls surrounding the DC.

Having grown up in a mill town, I can understand the impact a large facility can have on a small town, but just like how I believe a local coffee shop can actually charge MORE for it's products when a Starbucks comes to town, due to the implied perception that "gourmet coffee" demands a premium, and anybody that can convince the public that they are "gourmet" can demand that premium, I also believe that business is about competition, and ultimately the consumer wins when product prices can be held down. It alows more people to afford a better life, and that is a good thing. Trust me, the trucking industry is absolutely cut-throat, and that helps out you, the consumer.

My job is a far cry from minimum wage, and there are a lot of truck drivers putting food on the table delivering Wal Mart products.

Just a quick observation from my side of the windshield...

Short and Sweet...

OK, just a quick update. Like most of the country, I'm sitting out a snowstorm in the Operating Center (OC) in St. Louis. Yes, the bad weather has caught up with me again. I will do a propper update when I get computer, camera phone, and video camera in one place at the same time.

I left Georgia bound for Arkansas with a Wal Mart load to be dropped off, when I lost another air line in the tuck, and had to have a local dealership come and fix it so I could get the brakes unlocked, spent the night waiting for an empty trailer to pickup and take to my next stop, which was at a paper company in western GA, dropped the empty, got my loaded trailer which had a flat tire.

Roadside assistance to the rescue (again...)

Delivered that load to St. Louis and here I sit, waiting for the weather to clear. At least nothing is broken for the moment. I'm slowly building up some miles this week, sooner or later things will get rolling again.

Will all of you go out and buy a bunch of crap already! I got some delivering to do!

My truck doesn't suck!

OK, to all you people dumping on my truck, it doesn't suck...anymore...OK!!??

The Ohio shop is really the place to go to get work done, they fixed more things than I ever expected.. Funny how one get's used to things that are broken or out of alignment after putting up with them for a long time. They fixed everything on my list, and then some, so I am very pleased with the work they did, even though it took a month of Sundays to complete!

Canada was not so much fun this time. Bad paperwork, and worse weather combined to make for a challenging run that didn't have a lot of miles attached to it. I was glad to get back into the States, and will hopefuly be running a bunch down here.

When the miles are good, I don't mind Canada, but little things, like not knowing where the truck stops are, or dealing with currency issues tend to make it more challenging than driving to Alabama, for example. I actualy like the way people drive up there, except in the city during a blizzard! Then they are just like any other city I have driven in, impatient and reckless.

Needless to say I was glad to cross the border into New York, I cleared the border, and pulled over for the night. This trip out has been nothing, if not exausting and frustrating. It has NOT been very profitable, but at least I'm still rolling miles, and there are many Drivers this time of year, and in this economy, that are not so lucky, so I will count my blessings. I did talk to my dispatch team about picking up some more miles in the next week, and it looks like things will get better once I get into the south.

Time will tell...