Out with the Old

Cash or charge??

Jeez...

I finally get my mojo back to do some bloggin', and I get busy, really busy! I've been running hard for the last 18 days straight with no slow down in sight. For the moment, I have stolen a couple hours at our Seville OH operating center (OC) to go to the grocery store and reload my food stores, take a shower, and do some much needed blooging!

Of course, every computer program on the laptop has noticed the Internet connection, and everything is trying to live update at once, so this could take a little while to actually post! I'm going to do a big brain dump here since I don't know when my next update will be.

The big change has been my time at the operating centers, where it web connection is free. More of my time has been spent at truckstops due to a restructuring of the way we are fueling our trucks. One can only assume that Schneider has struck a "killer deal" with the Pilot chain of truckstops, because that is where they are telling me to fuel now. The good news is I get free stuff using my frequent filler card, the bad news is a lack of a free web connection...

Anyhoo, I was fortunate enough to get a different truck! I had to swap into it while I was delivering a load, so is was a mad dash to take everything out of one truck and put it into the other. Comparing this to moving out of an apartment is not far from the truth. I spent over six hours moving stuff, and only now am I realizing I forgot the remotes for my tv and dvd player! grrr.... Everything else made the transition just fine though.

"New Orange" has roughly 380,000 miles on it, this is around 530,000 FEWER miles than "Old Orange" which had at my last count 907,000 miles on the clock. Holy crap! what a difference a half a million miles makes! My "new" truck is a 2005, and has all of the interior trim, the lumbar support works in the drivers seat, and the bunk has a box spring and a much firmer mattress! Not only am I more comfortable driving, but my sleep has improved as well. Then there is the drivetrain, the FYI the break-in period for a truck like this is about 300,000 miles, so this girl is just hitting her stride! The engine is super quiet, and the gearbox is so tight, I'm having to readjust my shifting technique! That is a good thing. Anyone who has spent time in an OLD tractor can appreciate the upgrade!

Let's see, in the last week, I have gone from GA to AR to WI to OH to GA to AL to OH, or something like that. Funny how small the country becomes after doing this job for a while. This is a nice place I loaded at in WI. Granted, backing into the loading dock door I am at here is a little tight, what with the river and all, but hey, it's a pretty place on a sunny day!

OK one more story before I hit the hay. I was at a truckstop in Birmingham the other night. There are a lot of down and outs that hang out at most truckstops begging for money or something to eat, and a good portion of the time I will give them something if they really look the part, so this guy flags me down after I have spent the last dollar in my wallet and asks for a buck or two. Being broke, but remembering I still have a Canadian five from my last run up north, I offered it to him, if he was really hard up he could make this thing work. He takes it, looks at it, and says "no man this must be something special for you or somethin'' and hands it back to me! Wow, even the bums don't want Canadian money! Seems funny now that it is probably worth 10.00 American or something absurd considering our current exchange rate!

Of course, I'm thinking I have finially found some "bum Kryptonite"! I'm gonna use that trick again!