Roadside Manners

Sick

2010-06-05T08:42:00.000-04:00

Stayed home from work today due to strep throat. I have been fighting this for a couple of days now, but this thing needs to run it's course without me working 12hr days, so I'm taking my antibiotics and trying to get some rest. We have had two new guys start at work, which is relieving some of the workload from the rest of us and that's a good thing. Rumor has it that there are three more people training and coming to our store in the next few weeks, my guess would be one out of the five will stick around for any length of time. That seems to be about normal.

It's raining really hard here right now. Thunder and lightning and all the fun stuff. I think I picked a good day to call out sick!

I just wish I wasn't really sick...

well well...

2010-05-31T19:07:00.002-04:00

OK, so it's been a while since I posted here, my bad. I spent seven months out of work before I found a job driving for a local lumber company. I have been there for almost a year now, and am finally getting my financial house back in order.

Trust me, paying for a wedding AND leaving one's job at the same time is very poor planning...

Of course the good news is that I'm driving again and I get to be home at night, both of these things I love, the not so great part is I'm driving straight frame class B trucks, and I have to unload them by hand. I'm glad the overtime is good because heavy lifting in extreme heat and cold really sucks, never mind snow and rain...

So I am going to try to get back into the blog again, it feels a little like an abandoned child to me and that makes me feel guilty!

Summer's almost here, be careful out there on the roads!

Too much time on my hands

2008-12-17T12:49:00.002-05:00

Well, the wedding was fantastic, the Florida honeymoon was fantastic, and married life is treating me well. With that said, I left Schneider after all the wedding hoopla determined to find something closer to home to earn a living.

This has not worked out so well yet...

Work is slim pickins' right now. I had expected this, but not quite to the extent that it really is. I have spent the last month and a half looking for work and have come up dry so far. Even the part time work hasn't panned out yet.

The money is all gone, and thank God Linda is working, because that is the household income at the moment. GRRRR My timing has not been so great for leaving my job, but between the low miles, and the driving to PA to get to my truck, the cost was getting out of control.

I'm determined to be home at night, and not be in a sleeper cab anymore, that is a rough life that I never intended to do forever. Linda and I had agreed to 1yr of over the road driving, and I actually spent 18 months out there, so my objective of OTR experience was fulfilled. The obvious problem now is that the economy is soooo bad that everything is slowing down. No need to preach to the choir about this problem, y'all know the tune!

Anywhoo, I'm getting back to the job searching, and will try to keep the posting updated!

woo sa...

2008-10-25T17:58:00.005-04:00

OK, Having cleansed my political "colon" of it's bile, and having another payday come, let's get back to the truckin' stuff!

After a slow start, I have been able to log some miles this week, including a bunch of HAZMAT miles, which will pay well. Who would of thunk that concentrated carwash chemicals would be considered hazardous? EEEEK! giant bubbles on the highway! No matter...it's good for the paycheck, heck anything will be better than the last few checks!

I also had the chance to drive a Kenworth T2000 that belongs to an owner/operator. He an I were both stuck in PA last weekend, and we ended up hanging out for a while, it's the truck in the center of the photo. Very cool ride!

Schneider also gives me a new pair of boots every year, very nice of them yes, but it is to help eliminate slip and fall accidents. We can pick from many different choices from the "boot truck" that shows up on site. This year I went with the Michelin's. Who knew they made boots, er, who knew some company in China makes boots and stamps Michelin on them. Anyhoo, they are very comfortable, steel toe'd, and should see me through the winter.

Being a company driver usually means I hook to a lot of trailers during my three week on the road. Drop and Hook is the term used for picking up a trailer at one point and droping it somewhere else. I will normally hook to three or more trailers in a given week. These last two and a half weeks I have hooked to only two trailers. Most of my freight has been live loaded, meaning I take an empty trailer somewhere, back it up to a dock and have it loaded, or unloaded, while I wait. This is more time consuming for me, and therefore not as profitable, but with freight being the way it is, I'll take what I can get. It's just very unusual to use the same trailer for 11 days.

Did I mention I got my truck back? During my "vacation" weekend I got back to normal.

Just another tight loading dock in MA.

I'm looking forward to getting home for the wedding. I'm excited to see family and friends that I haven't seen for a while. Currently I'm in Seville OH with a load that takes me to PA on Monday morning. From there, it looks like I will be shutting this circus down for a while and heading home.

Lets see....show up on time....don't say no.... I got this wedding thing covered!

Find me in the middle...a little to the right

2008-10-19T08:36:00.003-04:00

Man, it seems like everyone in the blogosphere has a lot to say about politics these days. How does everyone become such a political expert every three and a half years, and then expect that everyone, no make that anyone, really gives a damn about what they have to say about it.

Funny political system we have here, but it is the best system out there. Freedom of speech, God bless it.

So in my best non-narcissistic way that I can muster for your consideration, here is my "OFFICIAL POLITICAL RANT" entry. Do it once and shut the hell up about it.

I believe in God and the separation of church and state.

Anything that can be done by the private sector can be totally screwed up by the Government.

Government oversight on portions of our society is critical, read: financial, transportation, education, energy, food and health care. I'm sure I've missed a few, but it's my rant and I'm allowed.

The private sector will progress faster than Government regulations, making them old and outdated before anyone notices. "There is never a problem until there is a problem".

Tom Allen has done more damage to the state of Maine over the last 10 yrs than global warming.

We were all ranting 8 yrs ago about how the "outsider" George Bush was going to be a fresh start after being exhausted with all the Clinton scandals, bringing decency back to the white house. Or how Clinton was going to bring change to the White House after "Bush 41", or how Regan was going to bring change after the Carter administration. etc...etc...Why do we all have 7.5year memories??!! SSDD.

I didn't like Baldiacci at first, but I have gotten used to him now. He got handed a bum deal from the start, and played a pretty good hand with it.

I would vote for the Palin/Biden ticket just like I would have voted for the Cheney/Liberman ticket. Why do the VP candidates interest me more than the top of the ticket?

I don't have a horse in this Prez. race, but I am voting for Collins and Snowe for as long as they want to run for office. Chellie Pingree? See Tom Allen rant above.

The more abusive we are on our politicians the worse the caliber of the candidate. Human nature I know, I know...

I struggle with the argument that the country can evolve, but the Constitution cannot, although I still believe the Constitution is not an evolving document.

Abortion is murder.

My last paycheck was $33.00, and I got a wedding coming up soon. Guess I'm getting a little edgy.

Have a nice day!

2008-10-13T13:26:00.002-04:00

After a few hectic days at home working on wedding plans, and an unexpected brake job on the car, I'm back in the truck. The problem is, I have a big orange tractor with no big orange trailer, this is not a cash generating scheme. Freight is REALLY slow right now, I mean beyond slow.

It's the kind of slow that makes me think something is wrong with the economy or something...huh.

My tractor was lent out as a loaner while I was on my time at home, and it hasn't returned yet, so I am in a loaner while mine works it's way back from wherever it may be. I don't take all of my stuff out when I park for home time, but I do take out most of the important things. Fortunately I have myself setup in my temporary digs well enough to run for the week. I have asked my team to just run me for as long as they can before returning me to PA and swap into my "Proper" truck.

Besides, I've snagged another auto tranny to play with. Maybe the novelty will wear off soon, but I do enjoy driving these things. Much less cruise control work!

Slow Start

2008-09-24T18:53:00.001-04:00

The problem with getting paid by the mile is that when the wheels aren’t moving, I don’t get paid, period. Sure there are detention payments, and token amounts of money that are nice little extras when my paycheck needs a little pick-me-up, but the real pay in this job is rolling miles down the highway.

The second issue is the “how I roll” so to speak, which is three weeks on the road, five days at home. This makes for three good paychecks, and one crummy one. Again five days with no miles makes for a crummy paycheck, and I accept this with the offset of three better checks.

Now, it doesn’t take much thinking to realize if I have my five days at home, and then the truck breaks down, I’m in a world of hurt on the paycheck side, and this is what has happened to me this week. I had put the truck in the shop before I went home for a bad starter, it wouldn’t stop cranking over even if I took the key out! Five days later I get back in the truck and go on my merry way. One day on the road, the starter won’t start the truck, DOA I had to have a very large wrecker come…twice… and give me a pull so I could pop the clutch and get going. Not my bill, but it took hours out of my day.

Leaving the truck in the OC in Carlisle, PA I was able to get a loaner truck for a couple of days. A vacationing driver had parked his rig at the OC. The cool part was it was an automatic transmission. Having driven Eaton 9 and 10 speed sticks for many years, I have nothing to prove to anybody about my shifting, and can honestly say I LOVE this thing! It is actually a hybrid of an automatic and a manual. There is a clutch and actual gears shifting around in there, so unlike a normal car, One doesn’t just hop in, put it in “D” and hit the highway, a few hours of training are required, more down time, but it adds another arrow to my experience quiver.

Where's the shifter??!!

I ran a couple of short hauls with “auto orange” but knowing I had to return to Carlisle to drop this truck off and get mine back meant no good miles coming my way until this musical chairs was done.

All in all, I ran about a thousand miles last week, which is WAY down from a normal week for me. All this happening right after time spent at home. All this happening a few weeks before the wedding, All this happening when Samantha made it home with Jarrid (the youngin’).

Glad I bought an extra box of pop-tarts for this run, because that’s about all I can afford to eat right now!

Laredo

2008-08-26T08:36:00.004-04:00

Well, I'm currently stuck in Laredo, TX waiting for a load to get me out of here. Laredo is a hard place to explain, it is much better experienced. Laredo is on the southern part of Texas, bordering Mexico and it's sister city Nuevo Laredo on the Mexican side.

The truck to car ratio here must be about 4:1. Between the US carriers bringing things to the border, the companies that shuttle the trailers across the border, and the Mexican drivers who make the deliveries on their side "of the fence", it is a semi-city if there ever was one!

There is really only one way in and out of here, I-35. Because of this, I have to wait for a load that is coming north from Mexico back into the states to get me rolling again. With the economy being a little slow, Laredo has become a FIFO location, First in First Out, there are about 40 Schneider trucks here ahead of me, so I wait my turn. At least I can shower, clean up, eat, and hang out online.

I have mentioned the food here on my previous postings, the locals will park their somewhat homemade kitchens outside of the OC's and cater to the drivers with fantastic Mexican food.
Taco Bell's got nuthin' on these people!

Well, I'm gonna brave the heat and go check the computer in my truck for a work order, hopefully, I'll be out for here soon!

Crazy Weather Night

2008-08-05T07:14:00.003-04:00

We had a huge weather front come through the Chicago area last night. The storm went on for hours, especially the lightning, quite an awesome sight.

So Far So Good...

2008-08-03T20:59:00.006-04:00

Well. I'm over half way through this run without incident (knock on wood) I am keeping my run time more under control, and am trying not to stress over the lost bonus check. Water under the bridge, so to speak...

I am just finishing up a run that had me in Oklahoma for several days. I can tell you from experience that it is HOT down there right now! It is one thing to be somewhere hot and go inside a building to beat the heat. It is a very different world sitting in an aluminum cab sitting on a blacktop parking lot trying to keep your cool. Although idling the truck is discouraged due to fuel use, big trucks burn about an hour a gallon at idle, I ran the truck for many hours trying to get a good nights sleep. This is a little unproductive for me due to the fact that I don't sleep well with the truck running, but I sleep even worse when I'm in a puddle of my own sweat.

My trip out took me through Joplin, MO again. This time I had a chance to walk around a little bit. I couldn't find a retail type store for the Chrome Shop Mafia, I'm sure there is one, but walking around a lot in 103 degree heat was not my idea of a good time, so I grabbed a photo of their sign. I swear this is the rig they used to "ambush" some of the original Trick My Truck participants.

Joplin is a nightmare to drive in. There are four major chain truckstops, and at least two small local ones with the "Mafia" in the middle of all of it. Everybody and their couzin Cooter are trying to see this place, so there are rv's, semi's, minivans, and cars full of people all trying to occupy the same place at once, kinda like driving in Atlanta or NYC, jeez... Makes me glad to be back near Chicago!

Back at It

2008-07-24T22:30:00.004-04:00

Well, greetings from the road. After spending some well deserved time at home, I'm back in 'da truck trying to make a buck or two. Many thanks to Mom and Dad for coming to pick me up in PA, it was an enjoyable ride home. Now that I'm "commuting" to work, I hope to take advantage of some back roads I've been dying to check out on the way home, It's hard to putter the back roads when driving 70' long and 13' 6" high!

Linda and I went camping for a three days. We went to a campsite in Old Orchard Beach, which is about 15 minutes from our home, but it felt like a million miles away. Yes it rained, but we were prepared, and stayed very dry. Like all Maine weather, just wait a minute and it will change. The rain passed through very quickly.

It was nice to break up the routine for a couple days. I had forgotten how much I enjoy camping. Both of us were in need of some decompression after my last disaster of a run. We both agreed that this needs to be done more often. We have tossed around the idea of a small pop-up camper being a good upgrade from the tent, but time (read: money) will tell. Until then we have a very nice 6 man tent setup, which is perfect for two people!

Finding my wall...and hitting it

2008-07-13T09:41:00.002-04:00

Writing is an art, no doubt about it. One either continues to write and gets better, or one doesn't write, and watches the skill atrophy. I remember watching an interview on TV with Billy Joel saying he practiced songwriting and playing the piano every single day, just to keep getting better. I, for one, believe he has succeeded and will probably continue to improve.

Looking at my last few posts I notice my writing has kinda sucked for a while. My life balance has been a little out of kilter lately, drive...call Linda...sleep...drive...call Linda...sleep...etc, and everything else has suffered, including the writing of the BLOG.

I have been on the road for ten straight weeks this time. My last time home was only three days, which obviously means I drove for four days that week. The fatigue is settling in, along with the homesickness, I'm getting a little cranky, and am beginning to make little mistakes that have added up to blowing my quarterly bonus. So much for the extra money I could have really used...

I lived in Utah for four years about a decade ago. I stayed until I felt in my heart of hearts it was time to go home. It was a fun place to live, but it wasn't home. After ten weeks on the road those same feelings are creeping back into me. I've been away for too long.

It's hard when the biggest reason for being out here is to make the bonus check bigger gets out of balance with the reality that (1) One can only do so much before One needs a break, and (2) I'm not eighteen anymore, and the time between those needed breaks seems to be increasing...

I have successfully defeated my whole purpose for being out here this long.

Back to the balance thing. Lesson learned, I guess... I'm getting myself reset to a three week out, five days at home after this run. It involves my leaving my tractor in Carlisle, PA and driving home, which I bet is the biggest commute to work you have ever heard of, but it increases my home time, which I guess has been the whole point of this post, is becoming more important to me that chasing the elusive "more money". As I have just proven to myself, again, to much of anything is self-defeating.

Hey! Look! an update!!

2008-07-02T20:23:00.003-04:00

I'm still chugging along out here, I made my delivery from Washington state to Michigan on time (2200 miles! $$$), this should make for a 4000 mile paycheck this week. Let the good times roll.

I have learned the hard way that five weeks on the road, then three days at home, then another five weeks on the road is not good for my disposition. I am working on doing my three week runs again wit five days at home. Five days is enough time to get home, pass out for a day, do something for a couple days, then spend a day getting ready to hit the road again. Three days compresses this schedule into a mad dash with no "me" time and that is unacceptable.

Funny story time, as you may recall, I swapped trucks a couple months ago and left my remote controls for my TV and DVD player in the old truck. I figured "old orange" would be left to rust in peace in PA, and I could just pick them up next time I ran through the OC, well I haven't been back to PA since I picked up the new truck so I had basically written off my remotes, bummer...
Fast forward to last week, I'm in our drop lot in Seattle WA, and look to my left, there is my old truck! with a couple of guys in it! I couldn't help but walk up to them and ask if they found my remotes in there, and if they still had them, Yep, they had both of them!

What are the odds that I would see my old truck on the opposite coast, and that the new drivers would still have my remotes! Good thing it was a nice day, I probably would have been struck by lightning next!

Anyhoo, time for bed, I'm off to WI tomorrow with a bunch of car parts.

Iowa isn't all underwater

2008-06-21T18:46:00.006-04:00

Well, It's been so long that it would be impractical to give you the last month and a half, so let's try and work from the not so distant past and go from there. I am at an I-80 rest area near Victor Iowa where I am bedded down for the night, man I love rest areas with a web connection! It is safe to say from my run through Iowa today that the state is not all drowning, it has been a blue sky day from Illinois to Des Moines where I delivered 45,000lbs of synthetic rubber to the Firestone plant this afternoon. Next stop, Washington state.

I have been to two OC's in the last six weeks on the road, so connections to the Internet have been non existent, My adventures in NYC and Virginia Beach will have to be updated at another time, but I have been logging some really good miles out here, and that is the whole point of this kind of job. The home time thing is really getting to me lately, and I doubt that this is going away any time soon. I've been home for three days in the last seven weeks, and that is just not enough time out of this tin can.

Another "Trick my Truck" I saw in our West Memphis OC last month

Pretty run through Arizona last month.

They make this stuff in Texas across from the Ocean Spray cranberry plant, love this stuff!

I'm beginning to realize my BLOG posts aren't as long and witty as they were about six months ago, nor are they as frequent, for this I apologize. For as much of the country that I have seen, and am quite comfortable running in now, I am being dispatched in new directions away from my "normal" routes. This is good because it pushes my boundaries, and I always think that is a good thing, but it is requiring more time to trip plan, and more brain power to put it all together without driving off the road, there's not as much left of me at the end of the day right now. Oh yeah, and something about a bad economy that has really tightened up my delivery times not leaving as much fluffy times for things like this.

That's a shame because I like blogging, and keeping a record of the big 'ole world out here, ao I will keep trying to bang the keys whenever possible!

See ya on the highway!

Pointed towards Colorado...that's west

2008-05-23T19:50:00.002-04:00

Just a quickie update before I hit the hay. I decided to splurge for the 4.95 that the truckstop charges for a day on Internet connection to get a few things done online. I'm in Omaha Nebraska for the night, and the weather is overcast and windy. This is not one of those places I like to stay put in what with it being part of tornado alley and all, so I will be glad to push out of here in the morning.
Today marks my one week in the new truck. I have logged a little over 3,000 miles this week, and still like it. I have found some things that bother me, but nothing is perfect, and I will adjust to my new surroundings. Funny how things we call discomforts at first just become no big deal over time!
Schneider doesn't have much of a presence in the Midwest, so my next few days will be truckstop days. I'm fine with that, but Pilots are my preferred choice due to keeping the truck fueled (I really dig Sapp Bros. but they are few and far between) and there aren't as many Pilots out west. This can make fuel a bigger part of the driving equation, miss a fuel stop and it could be two hundred miles to the next one! I, for one don't feel like "pushing the pumpkin" anywhere...
No new cool pictures yet, I really have been keeping super busy. For those in the know, I have not taken a 34hr restart in the last 22 days, and I have been dancing on the edge of my 70hrs for a while now, but I haven't been over it. I have a great relationship with my dispatch team, and they have given me just as many miles as I can legally run. Nice to see some good paychecks again. You know...for that October wedding! :)

Out with the Old

2008-05-19T19:18:00.007-04:00

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!

Writers Block...Or somethin'

2008-05-05T19:27:00.004-04:00

Well, I'm back from a month of honestly not giving a damn about the BLOG. My apologies to anyone who listens to my rants and raves, it has been a roller coaster of emotions for me lately. Funny thing is, I have been collecting photos and ideas to write about, but as the song goes "my give-a-damn's busted".

April brought not only my birthday, but also my one year anniversary with Schneider.I had promised myself, and more importantly, Linda, my Fiance' that this would be a one year commitment to over the road driving. I have had my CDL since '87, but there aren't many well paying local or regional jobs for someone without over the road experience, hence the OTR job.
The problem is that I really love what I do, at least for now, and don't let anyone kid you, first year pay for truck driving is not great relative to the trucking world. Linda and I have had many conversations about what my next move in life should be, we both agree that more time at home is a must no matter how this happens it HAS to happen for both of our sanities'.
We figure the smart move is for me to stay put for right now. It's a good job with benefits and a solid company. Not every trucking company can say that right now!

Secretly, I'm lusting to drive flatbed for TMC mmmm shiny black Peterbilts!

Secondly, April was, quite honestly, a crappy run for me. I got stuck at a truck stop in Arkansas for three days waiting for a load. No load no pay... Then I got stuck in New Hampshire for a day and a half to deliver a load. Wheels ain't turnin' I ain't earnin'.
A slow economy and trying to get a load home to Maine compounded to kill my miles last month.

Have I mentioned Linda and I are getting married in Oct? $$$$$$$!

The good part of my down time in AK, was a chance to read a fantastic book I received for my birthday "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle. It was an Oprah book club recommendation, which made me cringe, but I have honestly taken a lot of information out of it. It is a deeply spiritual book for those so inclined to such reading.

My truck rolled over the 900k mark on the odometer, that was exciting! I wish I had written down the mileage when I first started driving it, but I have driven about 120k miles this year, which is respectable for a first year over the road, I hope to do at least as well this year.

Currently I'm at our OC in West Memphis, Arkansas taking my break for the night. I had walked over to a local Dairy Queen for a Blizzard, and while waiting in line a well dressed middle aged black man was waiting in front of me and we struck up a conversation. (If you haven't heard on the news the National Weather Service recorded 10 tornadoes in AK this weekend) In the usual small talk of strangers he asked me how I was and I asked him the same. He leaned in to me and told me how he had just lost his house and possessions in one of the storms this weekend. His wife had been in the house while it was being destroyed by the storm, but she walked away without a scratch. "So I feel pretty good!" he said to me with a big smile, and a small tear.

That's what finally made me want to sit down and BLOG a little.
Sometimes everything we all do on a daily basis needs to be put into perspective, and this was it for me.

Thanks for the B-Day messages!

2008-04-12T22:17:00.002-04:00

Yep, another year has come and gone for me. I'm at home for the moment getting ready to leave for another two week run tomorrow. My home time schedule is changing from three weeks out and five days at home to something like two weeks out and three days at home. This is not by choice, but the powers that be don't like my old schedule, so it is changing. Company drivers gotta roll with the punches sometimes. Besides, it will give me more frequency of time at home, and that is a good thing. Three weeks gone is a long time, so I'm ready to mix it up a little.

I passed my HAZMAT test, now I just have to get through the background check and the fingerprinting, which cost something like $85.00, so this will be taken care of after my next paycheck. This should help bring more miles to me, and I think I'm ready to run HAZMAT now. Looking back on my last year on the road, I think it was a smart move not to tackle that until now. It's not like I'm going to be carting toxic waste or anything, but there are very strict rules about this kind of driving around big cities, and I for one really want to keep out of jail. I hear the food is awful, but the health care is fabulous!

Anyhoo, I'm feeling much better than I did last week, so I'm going to try to keep up on the old BLOG better than my last trip out. Miles are picking up, and that can only mean that the first quarter is over YAY!

Be safe out there.

Phoning it in...

2008-04-02T18:24:00.003-04:00

Still feeling crummy, so here is a video from a few days ago, as I listen to it, I think I hear my cold coming on!

Howdy...

2008-03-30T10:54:00.003-04:00

Wow, I really need to update the BLOG!

This has been an unusual run for me, not a lot of time with an Internet connection nor a lot of time for being colloquial.
After five wonderful days at home, I hit the road with my usual load of paper heading out of Maine, this time to Ohio. Due to this being the first quarter of the year, and the crappy economy, my runs have had more urgency put on them than last years. I can tell that the sales and dispatch teams are working overtime just to keep the wheels rolling. My current drive schedule has me running late into the night, and as anyone who understands DOT regulations on driving will tell you, once you get into a driving schedule, it is hard to get out of it. I, for one, do not like driving at night especially after driving all day. I don't mind driving early in the morning darkness and finishing up my day while the sun is going down, but that is not happening at the moment. Oh well, my wheels are still turnin' a lot!

I go for my HAZMAT endorsement test on April 10, hopefully that will go well. My ace in the hole at the moment is I don't mind running Canada, that is usually good for some extra miles, the HAZMAT can only add to my collection of loads. I already have my tank endorsement, so who knows... maybe I'll go for Schneider Bulk division...Nice pay raise there!

On top of all this, I have a head cold going on which is making life more difficult, but it is the season what with warmer days and cooler nights, this is the time of year when my ass gets kicked around by a cold.

This to shall pass...

Someone having a bad day...

2008-03-19T21:02:00.003-04:00

I figured out that this was a truck that loaded after me in Arkansas. We were both loading and going to West Virginia. Nice guy, but he was running some real old equipment. Oh well, I've seen newer trailers broken in half on the side of the highway, at least he could get unloaded, and roll out to a repair shop.

I'm home for a few days, see y'all next week.

Breakfast in Dallas, Dinner in Laredo

2008-03-10T17:59:00.003-04:00

I am definitely getting around this trip out. Usually I stay in one area more or less when I do my 3 week runs, but this time I have been from Canada to the Mexico border. I am in Laredo Texas right now, where the temp is 77 degrees, and the locals are wearing coats and hats. Man, I'm dying in a T shirt!
My delivery in San Antonio was at 6:30 this morning, so I had to leave Dallas around 2am to get there on time, and it was raining, hard. I have never seen rain like I've seen in Texas, I have driven through four rainstorms here in the past year where you just can't see anything in front of the windshield. Slow and steady wins that race, even if the people in around me don't see it that way.
I'm headed to Arkansas next, where I understand the weather has improved somewhat over the last week.
I almost forgot to mention, on my way to Texas last week, I stopped at the Petro in Joplin, MO. to fuel up. Some of you may be going "cool!" and some of you may be going "WHAT?" For the uninformed, that is the location of the Chrome Shop Mafia, and the Petro is where each episode of "Trick My Truck" is started from. The Mafia boys have their shop just across the street. "cool huh?"
OK, another quick video clip...

Lazy day in Dallas

2008-03-09T18:39:00.003-04:00

I'm enjoying a warm, sunny, lazy day in Dallas today and not feeling all that inspired to write today, so here is a video I shot in January at a truckstop. I'm headed to San Antonio tonight, and from there...who knows. The great thing is that my miles are up, so the paycheck will begin to look respectable again! YAY!

Riders of the Storm

2008-03-05T08:48:00.006-05:00

It's been a while since I have been able to get to an Internet connection, and have some free time to post, so let's see how much I can catch you up on.

I have made a run through Canada, delivering widgets to one place, and bringing whatnot back to the States. Most of this was done in ice and snow, and would qualify as no fun in my book, but I know the drill. At least this was done with loaded trailers which don't slide around as much as the empty ones do.

My run out of Canada took me to Belleville N.J. Can I just say that if one has to go to New Jersey for ANY reason, don't make it Belleville. It looked more like Tijuana what with the narrow streets and broken wires hanging from the phone poles. For those of you that can appreciate a blind back on a one way street, uphill to a broken loading dock, with 78,000lbs of truck, you will get my drift!

Anyway, I spent the night at our South Kearny drop lot and had fabulous parking! I usually don't get to park so close to the facilities, but luck be a lady tonight, there I was in the front row! The good news was the weather was 67 degrees and blue sky, man I haven't seen a day like this in a while, amazing what a little sunshine will do for the spirit.

I picked up a load in Jersey City, another not fun place to cruise in a semi, and am on my way to WI. via the Seville OC, which is where I am right now waiting out some bad weather. Things are supposed to clear soon, but this run takes me off the interstate (US 30, one of my favorite drives!) and I want to give the road crews a chance to clean things up before I leave.

Sorry about the audio, still on the learning curve with that!

The forecast is calling for more of the white stuff everywhere it seems, so be safe out there. Remember, you may be driving home from work, but the truck driver beside you in traffic is still AT work.

Back to reality

2008-02-28T20:48:00.003-05:00

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

2008-02-27T14:14:00.002-05:00

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

2008-02-19T18:05:00.004-05:00

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'

2008-02-16T15:28:00.007-05:00

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

2008-02-13T20:09:00.004-05:00

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...

2008-02-11T16:52:00.000-05:00

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!

2008-02-06T15:50:00.000-05:00

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...

Brother, can you spare a dime?

2008-01-30T16:51:00.000-05:00

More shop time...

2008-01-29T10:19:00.000-05:00

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...

2008-01-24T16:38:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-23T13:02:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-18T14:33:00.000-05:00

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...

2008-01-15T21:10:00.000-05:00

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!

2008-01-13T18:08:00.000-05:00

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!

2008-01-12T19:54:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-07T12:34:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-05T08:50:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-02T16:49:00.000-05:00

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

2008-01-01T15:04:00.001-05:00

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!

Watching the wheels go round and round...

2007-12-29T12:01:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-24T23:26:00.000-05:00

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?

2007-12-22T14:34:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-21T14:22:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-18T21:22:00.000-05:00

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...

2007-12-15T19:23:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-14T14:43:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-13T15:03:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-11T17:53:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-22T12:06:00.000-05:00

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'

2007-10-20T19:50:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-20T14:56:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-10-17T20:59:00.000-04:00

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'

2007-09-21T08:23:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-17T19:23:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-01T20:32:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-08-30T19:18:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-08-25T21:55:00.000-04:00

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.

2007-08-22T07:47:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-08-18T09:31:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-07-30T21:53:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-28T16:06:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-26T13:46:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-07-26T13:39:00.000-04:00

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?

2007-07-22T17:49:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-22T17:48:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-07-21T19:13:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-17T08:22:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-07-14T09:57:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-07-09T22:28:00.000-04:00

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!"