Iowa isn't all underwater

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

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

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'

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!

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.