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.