Slow Start

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

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

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...

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

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!