Tuscumbia, AL

"On your mark, get set.....wait." That pretty much sums up my day. I didn't feel like dealing with ATL rush-hour traffic this morning, so I headed over to west Georgia last night to get a jump start on my trip. A valiant effort, if I do say so myself, to deliver my load earlier than scheduled, with the hope of getting another load today, went without reward.

I did get a preplan, though I'll have to wait until tomorrow to pick-up, and that's if I'm lucky. Since I dropped my last trailer, I have to find an empty one to take with me, and the odds of finding one of those gems around here are pretty slim. When I do get one, I'll be going 80 miles away to pick-up scrap paper and going right back to Cherokee. A whopping 160-mile trip. The race for miles this week is off to a slow start.

Almost back

No doubt you have noticed my extended absence these past few days - I have been enjoying some restful hometime this past week, though I should be back on the road very soon.

Surprise

So, as I was being unloaded this morning, my dispatcher told me I could pick-up my next load and take it to the house. Fantastic. I wasn't planning on being home this early in the week, but I'll take it. Speaking of being unloaded, 9am delivery appointments are great. Especially when you're only 30 minutes away. Have I mentioned I prefer not to get up early?

When I arrived and checked-in, you'd have thought I'd asked the lady for her only child in exchange for the goods on my trailer. I thought she was going to fall on the ground and start crying. Usually, the loads like the one I had today are full-trailer floor loads, meaning the trailer is loaded from front to back, top to bottom, and all the boxes are on the floor without pallets. Basically, it's a pain in the you-know-what to unload. The trailer was sealed shut when I picked it up, so I didn't know for certain if it was or not. Nonetheless, upon looking at the shipping papers, the lady assumed it was and acted like she was going to have to unload the whole thing by herself. Upon opening the doors, I discovered the load was palletized. Crisis averted. She worked in the office, so I'm not sure what her deal was, but the drama was an entertaining start to my morning.

My current load is scrap paper going to Cherokee. I have plenty of time to deliver, so I'll be enjoying some hometime this week.

Temple, GA

Oh, he almost got me again. That Murphy is a persistent little bugger, but I was having none of it today.

I checked in with the shop this morning to get an idea of how much time I was going to waste today. "Should be ready by lunch. I'll call ya." Sure enough, he called around 11am and said it was ready. Knowing I had a relatively short drive to Georgia ahead of me, I grabbed lunch before heading over to get the load. Same deal: hook up, pre-trip, brake test.....still no trailer brakes. So I called the shop back, but had to leave a message. I figured I'd poke around the brakes myself while I waited for a return phone call. I couldn't tell what he had replaced, but judging from the abundance of fresh blood on the ground under the trailer, it put up a pretty good fight. When he finally shows up, he's sporting a blue latex glove on his left hand. "I didn't have time to test the trailer. I kinda had to leave in a hurry - damn near cut my thumb off." So I'm thinking maybe he went to the hospital and that's why nobody answered the first time I called. "Went back to the shop and glued it back together. I don't do all that doctor (stuff)." Guess not.

Injured thumb be damned, he got under there again and, after some troubleshooting, managed to find the problem and fix it. Granted, we had to wait almost an hour for the parts guy to show up with a new brake chamber. Now, I haven't seen detailed schematics for all the valves, air lines, etc. of the air brake system, but I have an understanding of how the system operates. How clamping the service line to one brake chamber suddenly made the other three work, I do not know. But it did, and upon replacing the faulty brake chamber, all the trailer brakes worked. That's voodoo magic. Since the mechanic was in front of me, I thought I'd ask: So, how does that fix the problem? "Air pressure." Oh dear. Please get me the hell out of Alabama.

With a complete set of functioning brakes, and before I lost any more brain cells, I hit the road. I'm about half an hour from my delivery in the morning, so all-in-all, it turned out to be a pretty decent day.

Tuscumbia, AL

Son of a...

Murphy: +3

I got to the shipper this morning, ready to hook up to my load and get to Georgia for a nice relaxing evening before delivering tomorrow morning and awaiting my next assignment. I almost got away with it, too.

I checked in with the guard and was told which trailer I was supposed to grab. Ah, right on the front row. Nice. After hooking to a trailer, standard operating procedure is to give the trailer brake valve a tug to make sure the trailer will stop when you want it to. 'Cause that's important, you know. So I did, and it didn't. Hmm. Maybe I just didn't pull hard enough. Still rolling. Maybe the air line is loose. Nope. Maybe there's a leak somewhere. Nope. Maybe...nope. What if....nope. Wonderful. All of the easy fixes have been ruled out; it's time for a call to road service. About an hour later, the guy shows up and soon decides there's an inoperative air relay valve on the trailer. Which means I'm not going to Georgia tonight. Being that it's Sunday, I'll have to wait for the parts stores to open in the morning before the boys can get to work on the trailer. Such is (a trucker's) life.

Birmingham, AL

The alarm went off at 5am and I actually got out of bed. I was even half-way awake. Upon awakening fully and realizing it was Saturday and I didn't feel like driving, I went back to bed. It was great.

I noticed yesterday that a light on my trailer was out, so I figured I'd be the good guy and get it fixed, rather than leave it for the next driver to deal with. I pulled up to the shop this morning and was told the mechanic wouldn't be in for 45 minutes (the company pays for this stuff, so I let them). Oh well, I tried. The ride into Georgia was trouble-free and I even found a T/A truck stop south of Atlanta that was able to replace the trailer light. Me: +1.

After getting back on I-75, I soon found myself at the tail end of what turned out to be a 15-mile long traffic jam. A full hour of my life, gone. Murphy: +1.

Upon arriving at the receiver, I dropped my trailer and was told I'd have to wait for them to unload a trailer because they didn't have an empty one for me to take. Murphy: +2.

I sent a message to the weekend dispatcher to keep him informed and his response was "BT" - bobtail. Sweet. I get to drive to Cherokee with no trailer. Me: +2.

After being rather impressed the other week with the ol' Flying J in Birmingham, I decided to give it a shot tonight since I had the hours to drive up here. To my delight, there was plenty of parking. Me: +3.

Tomorrow, I'm supposed to pick up a load in Cherokee that should be ready by midnight tonight. Hopefully Murphy won't catch up with me.

Reddick, FL

I think I was the only person in Miami today that doesn't speak Spanish.

After spending four hours at the receiver this morning, I headed up the road for my drop and hook. Afterward, I retraced my route from the previous day and had a pretty smooth ride, though there was quite a bit of traffic. I should be able to deliver this load in Alabama tomorrow.

Miami, FL

Does anyone else find it odd that West Palm Beach is on the Atlantic coast? The things you notice when you're bored enough to study an atlas. Actually, I was trying to figure out how to get to my next pick-up, which is in Pembroke Pines. Turns out, West Palm Beach is in the coastal area due west of, you guessed it, the city of Palm Beach. But we mustn't let such facts get in the way of our curiosity. I digress.

So I (obviously) made it to Miami, where I will deliver in the morning a mere 6 miles away. In my limited experience driving in Florida, sufficient parking seems to always be a concern, so I dragged myself out of bed good and early this morning and hit the road. According to my truck-stop guide book, there was a small Citgo near my delivery, so the idea was to get there in the early afternoon with the hope that I might find parking. Sure enough, there was plenty of parking. Beautiful. I capped off my log book for the day and got settled in for the rest of the afternoon. I might have pretended not to notice the small "Tow-Away Zone" sign, had it not been supplemented with two huge "No Overnight Parking" banners strung up at the edges of the parking lot. Great. Not wanting to risk falling asleep, only to be awakened by someone pounding on my door to tell me what I already knew, I decided to try my luck at the pay-to-park truck stop a few miles down the road. Two front-row spots to choose from - my lucky day. After getting the O.K. from the amigo in charge, I grabbed my spot.

I'm set to deliver first thing in the morning, then I'll pick-up my load heading to Alabama.

Tifton, GA

Today, Georgia. Tomorrow, the world...err, Miami. Yes. Tomorrow, Miami. But first, sleep.

Huntsville, AL

I am finally rid of the load that was supposed to deliver Saturday. Good riddance. The next load on the agenda was...Dalton to Cherokee. At this point, it's practically a dedicated run for me. At just under 220 miles, it's an easy run, though I've yet to complete it in one day. I get held up on the delivery before going to Dalton, or have to deal with being overweight after loading at Dalton, or in today's case, simply get held up while loading. I pulled into the shipper and noticed another Wolding truck was already on the scales, so I waited for my turn. After I had gone inside to check-in, I pulled around back to claim my spot in line. The other Wolding driver had gotten the last open dock. I knew I shouldn't have stopped at McDonald's when I fueled up. Oh well, at least I had a Southern-style chisandwich to keep me occupied while I waited. A dock soon became available and I backed in to get loaded. Meanwhile, three more trucks had arrived. The typical 30-minute loading turned in to almost 3 hours, leaving my fellow drivers and I plenty of time to socialize. There was a Wolding driver that didn't care if he got loaded today because he wasn't scheduled to pick-up until tomorrow. A driver for another company didn't seem to mind the wait. And the last driver was an owner-operator that was lamenting over how much things have changed in the trucking industry and how difficult it can be to turn a profit. It made me glad I don't have to worry about paying for a bunch of truck repairs. Yikes. What I do have to worry about is getting up early tomorrow morning. Good night.

When it rains....

Man, did I sleep good last night. By the time I finally rolled out of bed and peeled the curtains back, it was almost time for Car Talk on NPR. Yep, looks like it's going to be a good day despite the dreary weather. With the understanding that I didn't have to deliver until 4pm, which was confirmed by the broker and my pre-plan, I spent the morning and early afternoon relaxing at the truck stop. 'Cause, you know, there's not much else to do. I generally like to arrive about an hour early for my appointments, so I headed out after lunch and arrived just before 3pm. Not bad, right? Well, you see, there are several ways to ruin an opportunity to spend your Saturday relaxing at home. Turns out, one of them is waiting all day at a truck-stop to make your afternoon delivery, only to arrive for your delivery appointment 9 hours late. After being informed by the guard that receiving hours were from 6am-2pm and I was supposed to be there at 6am, any protest I had to their refusal to unload me pretty much became inconsequential. I made a call to the broker, who spoke with the receiver's customer service department, but ultimately the appointment has to be rescheduled. Oh well. They told me to be there by 4pm and I was. I informed the weekend dispatcher, who told me to go home as scheduled.

The wound was pretty deep, but that wasn't good enough for Atlanta. Apparently Atlanta ran out of salt to pour on my wound (must've been all that snow and ice), but there was no shortage of traffic. Maybe it was just a twisted way to welcome me home, but sitting in stop-and-go traffic on I-285 doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Despite the hang-ups, I parked the truck and made it home, where I'm sure to enjoy my time even more now.

Tallapoosa, GA

The idea of driving 160+ miles out of the way, just to swap loads with my colleague, wasn't much incentive to get up early this morning. So I didn't. Not long after I got rolling, the other driver called to get my e.t.a. After mentioning I was still in Mississippi and reiterating that I was planning on taking I-20 all the way across Alabama and into Georgia, he began to see the virtue in meeting at a crossroads. Looks like the day may turn out alright afterall. After a quick swap at my favorite truck stop in Birmingham (actually, this one wasn't so bad), I made the drive over to Georgia. An eight hour work day followed by twenty-four hours of down time. Sweet.

McNeill, MS

I drove east on I-10 today. On purpose. I managed to get to Baton Rouge just in time for rush hour, which ruined my chance to make it to Hattiesburg. Thus, McNeill Travel Center is home for the evening.

My itinerary has changed slightly. Surprise. I am now supposed to swap loads with a driver in Moulton, AL tomorrow. That load should get me home this weekend.

Houston, TX

Today was a "wake up and drive all day" affair. Those are usually great days. As long as you don't drive east on I-10 when you need to be driving west. I hear that can add an extra hour to your day. I wouldn't know, but that's what I hear.

I'm starting to miss the cooler temperatures already; my windshield is seemingly more effective than a score of bug zappers. If you have a bug problem just hang a truck windshield on your porch and every bug in a 3 mile radius will fly straight into it. Yep. Not much else to report. I'll deliver in the a.m. and pick up my load to Alabama.

Winona, MS

These three day weekends are going to ruin me. But they sure are nice.

I noticed last week that my fifth wheel was getting dry, so I stopped at a truck stop this weekend to pick up some grease. After eyeing a tube of grease, for which I had no grease gun, one of the shop guys recommended "grease packs" - about the size of a handwarmer, you just put these packs on top of the fifth wheel and when backing underneath a trailer, the friction tears the packs open and spreads the grease. In theory. I made my drop in Cherokee this afternoon and since I was picking up another trailer, figured it was a good time to make use of the grease packs. I slapped them down on the fifth wheel, per the instructions, and backed under the trailer. I must say, I was a bit surprised to find both packs on the ground when I got out of the truck to check. Despite now being hooked up to the trailer, I wasn't going to give up so easily. I unhooked the trailer and pulled forward. With my gloves on, I picked up the now grease covered packs and set them atop the fifth wheel again. Hoping to avoid a repeat performance, I raised the trailer slightly before backing under it. My second effort garnered moderate success - neither pack was on the ground, though one had been pushed to the front of the fifth wheel and was visible. The things cost $1.50 a piece and the tube of grease I could have purchased was significantly more. Further proof that you get what you pay for. So, when I stopped here at the Pilot tonight, I bought a tube of grease. And it doesn't even require a grease gun.

I'm scheduled to deliver in Houston on Thursday morning. Then I'll pick-up a load, also in Houston, going back to Alabama.

3/6/09

After waking up at 7am, I promptly came to my senses and turned the alarm off. And went back to sleep. I managed to get out of bed about an hour and a half later and called the shipper to make sure the load was ready. "Oh yes, it's ready." I have a sneaking suspicion it was ready Thursday, but sensed they don't want to work too hard in one day. Who can blame them? I pulled into the docks behind the building and once again faced the same problem I had the day before - there was no entrance to the building on the back side. Looks like it's time for a hike. After a lengthy trek around the huge warehouse, I found the main office entrance. I checked-in and was assigned a door. It only took about an hour to get loaded and I was ready to roll. I had about a three and a half hour drive to get home, where I'll enjoy some time off before delivering my load to Cherokee next week.

Charlotte, NC

Fortunately, this morning morning was the last time I had to get up before dawn for at least a few days. I was rolling by 6:30am and had a three hour drive into Fayetteville. A quick drop at the Wal-Mart DC followed by a three hour drive to Charlotte, and my day was done.

Turns out, my memory of US-74 between I-95 and Charlotte seems to have been a little sugar-coated. The first half of the journey was just as I'd remembered - great. Limited access highway, future interstate corridor, and 65mph all the way. Then, all that ended and it became a traffic-filled, speed zone laden, red-light infested highway. At least it wasn't rush hour. I made it to Charlotte and pulled in to the receiver, after having missed the entrance the first time and having to drive around the block. Say again - I can't pick up the load until tomorrow? Ah well. It was worth a shot. I noticed a small truck stop about a half-mile before the shipper on my way in, so I headed back up the road to get settled in for the rest of the day.

I'll get to sleep in tomorrow morning and should be home in the evening. Another full weekend at home to top off my four day work week. Nice.

Batesburg, SC

I made it through another day. I dropped in Cherokee this morning and picked-up in Decatur. I've stopped here for the night and will deliver near Fayetteville, NC in the morning.

My first pre-plan got cancelled this morning. I drove past the shipper today. Twice. A recreational vehicle almost side-swiped my truck.

On the plus side, I knocked out almost 600 miles today, even with two stops and a shower break. And I didn't have to fight for parking.

Huntsville, AL

I headed over to Athens this morning and arrived about an hour early. As I pulled in to the parking lot, I noticed it was almost entirely covered in snow. Where there wasn't snow, there was black ice that used to be snow. Always a fun way to start the day. After getting momentarily stuck on a patch of ice as I paused to let one of their local delivery trucks out, I cautiously made my way around to the back, where the docks were. The picture shows the gift that awaited me - a small snow and ice covered parking lot. On a hill. I waited until 8am, when the place opened, and a dock worker told me to back in to the far dock (on the other side of the truck in the picture - which, by the way, is the edge of the pavement). I didn't have anything better to do besides getting stuck in an ice-covered parking lot, so I decided I'd entertain his fantasy that it was somehow
possible to maneuver a 70' long articulating vehicle on a hill covered in ice. Predictably, I got stuck. A couple bags of oil dryer (basically, kitty litter) later and I had managed to back-up the hill, but was only able to get to the near dock. You know, the one that I couldn't use. "Just pull straight ahead, down there to the bottom of the hill, and then you can shift it over." Down there? Where that huge patch of ice is? Experience is the best teacher, some say. This guy still hadn't learned his lesson, and I felt obliged to give him some experience. Athens doesn't see much snow, afterall. So, down the hill I went. I really didn't have any other choice, because I couldn't make it any farther back up the hill. And, I'm stuck again. One guy brought out a huge tarp to put under the wheels. I hope it wasn't important, because it tore to shreds as my wheels spun, chewing it up on one side and spitting it out the other. Next, they bring out a couple more bags of oil dryer. Wise choice. I was able to get up the hill far enough to maneuver into position. And then the unloading process began. It took long enough for me to take a short nap, and that's all that mattered. I headed up to Dalton and picked-up a load of scrap paper that was miraculously not overweight.

Due to my adventure in Athens, I wasn't able to make it to Cherokee tonight, so I'll drop this off in the morning.

Snow Day

I went to bed Thursday planning on picking-up my load Friday morning. Friday morning turned into Friday afternoon, and finally, the load was ready at 3pm. I was set to deliver at 8am this morning, so two full days at home was still alright by me. However, that plan didn't last long; as you might have noticed, the South got a little snow yesterday. Upon attempting to return to the truck last night to get settled in, I experienced my first encounter with black ice. Not yet half-way to the truck, my rear-wheel drive car was sliding around at every turn. That little adventure was all it took to convince me to return home for the night. I called the night dispatcher to let him know I wouldn't be in Athens at 8am, drove home, and went to bed. My dispatcher called this morning to find out when I would be leaving and implied that it should be soon. "The weather looks clear and sunny down there." And it was. It was also 28 degrees outside and there was still black ice on the roads. Eventually, the ice started to thaw, so I called the receiver to make sure they were open (several Athens area businesses, in addition to the University, were closed today, according to the news). No answer. Repeated attempts by myself and my dispatcher were fruitless, so it was decided that I would just try to deliver in the morning.