Still in Indiana

I'm starting to see the pattern. Hurry up and wait. Last night, Steve asked if I preferred getting up early, as in 5am early, or waiting until after Chicago traffic cleared to head out. Seeing as how we had until 2pm to deliver and it's really early and really cold at 5am, I suggested we sleep in. What's that? We're leaving at 5? Ok then, I hope my opinion was entertaining because it obviously wasn't very meaningful. No problem. Sweet vindication was on the horizon, though I wasn't aware at the time. The first clue was that the truck engine had a hard time starting last night when it was time for the heat to come on. The second clue was that during the night, as a safety precaution, the truck shut itself down. I noticed that when I woke up freezing. So, at 5am, despite the warning buzzer and the truck shutting itself down (which only occurs during engine overheats or low oil pressure), Steve pulls out of the truck stop. The one that has maintenance on site. He made it across the street to the on-ramp before the truck shut down again. Here's the good part: Our company maintenance crew doesn't come in until 7am. So after waiting a couple hours, they tell us to try to limp back to the truck stop, which involves a 6 mile trip up the interstate to turn around and 6 miles back. Our truck only ran about 300ft before shutting down, so we ended up calling a tow truck to take us straight to the Freightliner shop in Gary, IN. Turns out we had a bad fuel injector. No problem, they say, it will be fixed by the end of the day. The end of the day arrived and they informed us that they had to order a part and the truck wouldn't be ready until tomorrow. Thanks for the advance notice. So, we're staying at a Best Western tonight. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Dinwiddie, IN

Yeah, I'd never heard of it either, but that's what the map says.

So today I witnessed the reason we are instructed to check our mirrors 57654 times per minute (we're supposed to check our mirrors A LOT). We were driving in the far right lane and were passed on the right by a minivan. No traffic jam, no exit to race to and get off at, just felt like driving on the shoulder to pass a truck. Well, I'll be dang - Steve was right.

I also saw a semi on the side of the interstate (fortunately not the side I was on) that was burnt down to the frame. I don't know what happened, but it was an interesting sight.

I should be in Wisconsin and off the truck by this weekend.

Pioneer, TN

It's great when things work out your way. We delivered this morning and went back to the truckstop since our next load wasn't scheduled to pick-up until 10pm, which would have meant 800 miles in about one day to make our Thursday morning appointment. Steve had the wonderful idea to call the shipper and check on the load around 2pm. It was ready. Sweeeet! The plus side for me was that since I drove to the receiver this morning and didn't get a ten hour break in last night, my 14-hour clock expired before lunch, meaning Steve had to drive all day today.

We had to stop this morning for a quick trailer repair. One of the door handle latches had broken off, so we needed a replacement. Of course nothing can go 100% smoothly, so it was no surprise that the nuts were stuck to the bolts. As the mechanic, wearing zero eye protection, is attempting to cut the bolt with an air-powered cutting blade, he turns to us and says, "I've got to watch this blade. These things will shatter and fly apart." So, that's when I turned and walked away. Apparently, all that is required to prevent permanent catastrophic injuries...to the eyes...is to watch...with the eyes. Ha.

Today consisted of a delivery in Shelby, NC, a pick-up in Catawba, SC, and now we have stopped for the night near Pioneer, TN.

Back in the saddle

I can be awake all day, come on duty at 10pm, and drive all night. Perfectly legal. Good thing the FMCSA is looking out for drivers' safety. Knowing I was going to have to drive tonight, I tried to take a nap this afternoon, but it didn't last long. Cats walking on my head and whatnot.

We're in Shelby, NC for the night, about 6 miles from the consignee.

Lawrenceville, GA

I made it back in time to see Wicked - which was absolutely incredible - but, it wasn't easy. We arrived at the shipper this morning around 7am. We backed up to the dock and waited to get loaded. They put a few bales of scrap metal in our trailer, then some local drivers pulled in, so they left us to go unload them. A few more bales on our trailer, then some cardboard on another trailer. Yeah, take your time guys, we don't have anywhere to be. So, about two hours later, we're loaded and the guy tells us to pull around to the scale and then we can pick-up our paperwork in the office. Great, we're about 500lbs under gross weight, which is 80k lbs. That's too close, so I ask her if we can get individual axle weights in addition to the gross weight. Sure enough, we're about 3k lbs over on our trailer axles. We can't slide our tandems back far enough to accommodate that weight, so they have to fix it by removing some weight (much faster for us) or redistributing the weight by reloading the entire trailer (please, noooo!). They ended up taking two bales off the rear of the trailer, which came out to a little over 4k lbs, so we were good to go. Three hours to get loaded put us a little behind schedule, but I made it home around 4:30pm and Steve continued on to Alabama. All in all, a good start to the weekend.

Are we there yet?

No, we are not. In fact, I'm sitting in the same truck stop I was in last night. I was sleeping soundly before the alarm went off at 6:30 this morning. After waking up, we made our way to the receiver without too much trouble, getting there just after 7am. We were back here at the truck stop by 9am. And then, we waited. And waited. And waited. Tom Petty said it best, "the waiting is the hardest part." The Qualcomm finally beeped around 4pm with our next load assignment. The good news is I'll be home tomorrow! The downside is we can't pick-up until the morning, so here I sit.

Obviously, not a very productive day. I watched some tv, listened to the radio, and tried to take a nap. Now I'm going to try again.

Wednesday 10/22/08

At first, I thought it silly and unnecessary to have to learn how to parallel park a truck. Well, tonight it was necessary. Last spot available. Good times.

Today was a nice drive down memory lane. We ran down I-75 through Kentucky and as we passed through Corbin and came across Jellico Mountain, I remembered Grandma talking about her trips to Kentucky and having to drive up Jellico. Then we crossed into Tennessee and I saw a sign for the Green McAdoo Museum. Hey, I know where we're at now! I wondered if Nana was working. Unfortunately, with no time to spare, we kept rolling. Oh, look! I-40W. Once again, I had to fight to keep the truck from exiting. Continuing on, we drove past the former East Town Mall before stopping for a break at exit 417, where, once upon a time, "bags of stuff Bret doesn't need" were quietly passed from one vehicle to another.

It's always good to be home.

Tuesday 10/21/08

Chicagoans. Are. Crazy. Those people are all in a big hurry, they don't know what a turn signal is, and they all seem to want to be in the same exact spot at the same time. Yes, I'm allowed to make broad generalizations about entire city populations. It wasn't even rush hour and it took about an hour and a half to get from the north side to the south side going down I-94. We ended up making it to Newpoint, IN tonight.

The plan is to be home Thursday pm or Friday am. I'm supposed to see Wicked on Friday night, so I'm really hoping we get through ATL before then.

It's cold up here

We had a long night last night getting up to Carol Stream, IL. I had to call it a night around 10pm and we stopped to grab a few hours of sleep. Since I was on my 10 hour break, Steve got up around 2am and drove us to the consignee. On the two hour ride up there, I was supposed to be sleeping in the bunk. It sure is hard to sleep when your body is touching the bed one second and isn't the next. Why bother with the asphalt, Illinois? Might as well save the taxpayers money.

After our delivery this morning we got a load going to Menasha, WI. Our consignee has two plants up here, one on each side of the river. Silly me for thinking we should go to the one our instructions specify. They didn't have an open dock, so it was much easier for them to say, "we just wanted to waste your time - take it to the plant you passed 15 minutes ago". That's what I heard anyway. There was supposed to be an empty trailer for us to pick up there, too. The guard has other plans and tells us to go up the road to grab a trailer. The guard up the road gives us a trailer number and says it's right where we just came from. So back to guard #1. "We're here to pick up trailer #whatever." Oh, it's broken? Any others by chance? Didn't think so. A brief telephone conversation might have saved us half an hour, but whatever. We can't pick up tonight anyway.

We're in Little Chute, WI for the night. We'll be picking up a load tomorrow morning going to North Carolina.

Chi-town bound

I got back on the road today. We have a load going to the Chicago area. Weekend driving is great - no traffic, no hassles. It also means there isn't much to report. We've stopped in Kentland, IN to get some sleep.

Home again!

I'm finally home! I'm enjoying the travels, but I must say, it feels good to be back in the South.

Tuesday 10/14/08

We left the yard this morning around 7am intending to make a quick run around the road test course so I'd be familiar with it, then head over to a drop lot to grab an empty trailer, get loaded in Wausau, and be on our merry way south. Enter Murphy. My trainer was unsure of the...well let's face it, he didn't know where in the hell he was going. So our 20 minute road course trip took over an hour. Our empty trailer was supposed to be nearby. Nope, not in the drop lot. Maybe its at one of our regular shippers right up the road. Nope. After discussing with dispatch, we were told there was indeed an empty trailer available. In the company yard.

So we finally get to the shipper and get our assigned dock and a guy walks out to tell us they're about to go to lunch, and the brooms are inside the door so make sure the trailer is swept out before we load you. We, and by "we" I mean "I", swept the trailer out before going across the street to grab some lunch. It wasn't ten minutes after we got back that a guy came out with our paperwork. Beautiful. With that, we were finally able to get on the road. US-51S was pretty much our route today. I hit some rush hour traffic, but it cleared up pretty quick.

Oh yeah, I'm going home tomorrow!! My trainer is going to drop me off on the way down and pick me up whenever he comes back through. Sweet!

Live! From Amherst, WI!

We made our deliveries this morning with plenty of time to spare, though it was a bit of a cluster. The first drop was no problem, however the second drop took a little more time. First, our instructions sent us to the wrong entrance gate, then we were told we needed to drop our empty trailer, hook to a loaded one, and bring it back to the company yard for another driver to pick up. The good news is, while we were doing all that...we got a load going south!!! Florida, to be exact. We don't pick up until tomorrow, but at least we got it. I'm not sure if I'll get dropped off in ATL on the way there or on the way back. Hopefully, the former.

My trainer and I met up with another trainer/trainee team here at the yard and we all took a company car out to dinner and played some pool afterwards. It was nice to get away from the truck for a while.

Wisconsin is pretty nice, especially this time of year. There are old farms nearby with rolling, tree-covered hills. It's not too cold (yet) and the leaves are still changing colors. Ah, the fall is a wonderful time of the year.

The Land of Cheese

We made it. We're sitting in Oshkosh, WI about half an hour from our drop, which we have until noon tomorrow to complete. Home-time can't come soon enough.

The Land of Oz

We've stopped for the night just outside Emporia, KS. I believe it's right near The Middle of Nowhere, KS. Only 700 or so miles to go tomorrow, so we might actually make our appointment on time.

We got on the road bright and early this morning. Actually, it was still dark. We started out on I-40W to Tucumcari, NM and then got on US-54E, which took us through the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles before hitting KS. We caught US-283 up to Dodge City, which is where we hit US-50 to I-35. The point being, we spent most of the day on 2-lane highways looking at thousands of acres of farmland and suffering through the acrid fumes associated with thousands of our favorite bovines being confined together while awaiting their death.

A message to Kansas natives: It's not your fault. You didn't ask to be born there. It is alright to pack up and leave - no one will blame you. Especially if they've driven through Kansas before.

10/10/08

Today was pretty much all you could ask for in this job. No shippers, no receivers, light traffic, and plenty of drive time. My trainer is an early bird, so he got our day started as the sun was coming up and I took over around 1:30 in Bellemont, AZ. We stopped to grab a shower and got back on the road before stopping here in Albuquerque for the night.

Help me do the math on this one. Our trip from CA to WI is just over 2,000 miles. We started with 4 days to complete the trip. Yesterday, because we got loaded so late, we only made it about 200 miles. Now we're left with 3 days and 1,800 miles, yes? Let's think about this. That means we have to average 600 miles per day to get to WI Sunday so we can get our 10 hour break Sunday night and deliver Monday morning or afternoon. Our truck is governed at 64mph, so we're lucky if we can average 60mph with traffic, construction zones, and whatever else that slows us down. So, if we drive for 10 hours each day for the next 3 days, we should be in good shape. That is running hard to get the job done. Today, even though my 14 hour clock doesn't expire for another 6 hours, we did about 500 miles before Steve decided to stop for the night. Last time I checked, 500 does not equal 600. Now we're behind the ball and have to run even harder to stay on schedule. Or so it seems to me. Steve appears less concerned. Another late delivery in the near future? Stay tuned.

Made in China

For those of you who don't know, I occasionally moan and complain about the abundance of Chinese consumer goods that line the shelves at so many of the stores we frequent. And I probably wouldn't if China wasn't in the news every week for painting toys with lead or adding industrial chemicals to food products, or evidencing some other utter lack of quality control and regard for human health, but hey, at least it's cheap, right? Anyway, that load I'm hauling? Imported from China.

And it's going to WI, so it looks like I won't be getting home until next week at the earliest. I still have hope.

I wondered how long it would take, and now I know. After being out here for 10 days, I'm ready to sit at home on my couch and watch my t.v. And then I want to sleep in my bed. Sharing a truck with somebody isn't as difficult as I thought it might be. It's certainly close quarters, but as long as we don't both try to run in circles, we can manage.

Alright, I've got my sock full of hammers ready. Time to attempt to sleep.

Tuesday 10/07/08

So much for going east. We picked up a load this morning going to Corona, CA. Steve called the consignee and asked if they had overnight parking and course they didn't, but the guy told us we could park on the street outside the facility. That was okay with Steve, so we took our time driving over here, thinking we would just wake up and get unloaded. Wrong. We get to the place and there are "No Parking" signs all up and down the street, so I hop out and ask the guard if she knows where we might be able to park and she recommends the TA off I-10. You know, the one we passed on the way here.

Hey, Steve, remember about 300 miles ago when I suggested we stop at a truckstop outside of Corona so we could get our 10 hour break and deliver in the morning?

Now we have drive back up the interstate and try to find parking at the TA. As soon as we pull in, we notice cops ticketing drivers that have parked on a side street. Not a good sign. Luckily, we manage to make a spot for ourselves in the parking lot. Now it's 9:30pm and our appointment is at 7:30am. Exactly 10 hours, meaning we're going to be late.

Hey, Steve, remember about 300 miles ago when I suggested we stop at a truckstop outside of Corona so we could get our 10 hour break and deliver in the morning?

Today marks a career milestone - save for about 400 miles, I've driven from Raleigh, NC to Corona, CA. Pretty sweet.

Monday 10/06/08

Today was another solid day with just under 9 hours of driving. Pretty respectable for a new guy, if I do say so myself. We dropped our trailer at the consignee and bobtailed about 15 miles back up I-40 and grabbed a parking space for the night.

So, we got to the consignee, and after checking in with the security guard, who was apparently in a state of permanent unhappiness, I followed the guard's directions to the drop lot. On the left are the rows of trailers that we are dropping our trailer in. On the right are the warehouse docks with a few trailers in them. After setting up for the back just as my trainer had officiously instructed, I got out and observed as he demonstrated how (not) to back. I admit, I watched with some self-satisfaction as the truck brushed against a trailer-stand by the docks. He obviously didn't see it when we pulled into the lot and set up, but I stopped him before he actually ran over it. I've decided that we each have our own style of backing and I've accepted that. I'm not sure that my trainer has.

After a week of consistently receiving pre-plans, our luck has run out. We don't know where we'll be going next, so we get to sit here until dispatch sends us a load assignment. I'm holding out hope for a load heading back east so I can get home for a couple of days. We shall see.

Sunday 10/05/08

Today was very productive. After picking up in Cherokee, AL yesterday, we made it to West Memphis , AR and stopped early for the night. Steve got up early and drove us to Ozark, AR. I drove from Ozark to Tucumcari, NM.

I started out in Arkansas, but I don't remember much. I held the wheel with one hand and my nose with the other and kept the pedal to the floor as I tried to get out of there before they tried to convert me to whatever it is they do in Arkansas.

Oklahoma was full of cows, hayfields, and windmills. Texas was kind enough to open up the floodgates and provide us with a brief downpour as we drove through. More cows, hayfields, and windmills.

By the time we reached New Mexico, it was dark and I was counting down the miles to our stop for the night. So, here we sit at the Flying J. We should be at our destination by tomorrow evening.

I've taken a few pictures but it's a pain to post them from my phone, so I'll try to post them all at once when I get home.

Wild wild West

I'm getting paid to do this. Ha. I had my first taste of mountain driving today as we came into Tennessee from North Carolina on I-40. Just west of Lake Junaluska is a steep up-grade that took me about 10-15 minutes to ascend going 30mph in 7th gear. Oh yeah, our gross weight is over 75k lbs on this load. Okay, so going up isn't too difficult-you put it in a gear that will pull up the hill and keep the pedal down.

So, there is one good thing about going back to Alabama...getting out. We found out this morning that we're picking up a load in AL going to AZ. Since this is my first road trip out West, I'm pretty excited. In addition to the scenery, I'll get some major driving time without all the loading/unloading.

Well, we've stopped for the night, so I'm going to try to get some sleep.

Downtime

We've parked for the day because our load doesn't deliver until tomorrow, even though it's only an hour away. We'll get to relax for the day, do some laundry (which is not the relaxing part), and best of all, watch the VP debate tonight!