The Yard - Amherst, WI

Chicago rush hour

...so was everybody going through downtown Chicago

7 miles of traffic

Some days you're the hammer and some days you're the nail. Everybody coming out of Illinois on I-80/94E happened to be the latter.

Russell, IL

When I last left you, road service was on the way - within an hour, I was told. Since I had some time to kill, I bundled up and tried to sleep a little. About three hours later, 2am if you lost track, the guy showed up. A quick fix of the battery cables and the truck was up and running. Only, by that time, I was on my 10-hr break and couldn't go anywhere. Nothing like spending the night on the shoulder of a busy interstate.

After fighting traffic all day, including a jaunt through Chicago rush hour, I've called it a night here in Russell.

Brokedown, Somewhere

It all started off so wonderful. I got to sleep late, no alarm, took a shower and ate breakfast. I picked up my load to Wisconsin this afternoon in Augusta, GA and was planning on stopping in Franklin, KY, which is less than an hour away. My truck had other plans, see, as it decided to shut down while I was driving through downtown Nashville. So I'm parked on the shoulder waiting for road service to show up. And my 14-hr clock expires in an hour. Good. Times.

Cayce, SC

Rewind to Friday. I'm not sure what they're putting in the water over in Alabama, but it appears to be causing old men in little cars to play chicken with young men in big trucks. The shipper in Cherokee is in an isolated industrial area with very little traffic, so when I leave I usually pull over in the center turn lane to do my paperwork and slide my tandems. Like I said, very little traffic. As per usual, I put my four-way flashers on and began slowing to a stop in the turn lane, only this time I see an oncoming car approaching in the same lane. Mind you, there is nothing back here except the paper plant which the road dead ends into, so there is no place to turn. The car is simply driving in the turn lane. Well, I'm big so surely he'll see me and get back in his lane. He's probably just playing with the radio. Any second he's going to get back in his lane. Any second now. Holy crap, he's going to run straight into me! As I was reaching for the air horn, he slows abruptly and cautiously moves back into his lane, then proceeds to drive by my truck at 5 mph like it was a police car with it's lights on or something. It was then that I noticed he probably grew up with Herbert Hoover. I'm thinking his field of vision only included whatever was 30ft in front of him, because that's about when he apparently saw my truck and decided he didn't want to play chicken anymore. The rest of the trip was much less exciting, fortunately.

Until today. I'm almost ashamed to tell this on myself, but hey, I'm here for your entertainment, so enjoy. I got to the truck today and was going to start it up before I put all my stuff in it. Hmm, that's interesting. The key is in the on position. Hmm, that's interesting. Nothing happens when I turn the key. That's because the batteries are dead, dead, dead, and dead (there are four, ha). An attempt to jump-start them from another truck was fruitless, so a wrecker was called in to perform a pull-start. For those unfamiliar with vehicles with manual transmissions, it is possible to start their engines by getting the vehicle rolling and releasing the clutch while the transmission is in gear. It's a great idea, but if your vehicle has air brakes and no air pressure in the tanks to release the parking brakes because it's been sitting all weekend, the process is a bit more challenging. Fortunately, that's why the tow-truck driver gets the big bucks. He was able to hook a hose from his truck to my tanks to get them pressurized. Next, he hooked a chain to the front of the truck to pull it with. My job, as he explained, was to release the brakes, put the truck in gear, and release the clutch after the truck started rolling. Oh yeah, and not to run into the back of his truck after the engine started. The trick worked like a charm and I managed to avoid trading paint, for which the tow-truck driver shook my hand. Apparently, he hasn't been so lucky in the past.

I was able to drop my load Sunday night and made it to a truck stop a few miles down the interstate, which is where I now sit. I don't have another load yet, which is fine by me - I don't have to set an alarm for the morning.

Capleville, TN

I had a very short, but wonderful Christmas, and am now back at work. Well, the Christmas part was good. The whole leaving the family in the middle of opening presents on Christmas morning and barely being home long enough to pack my bags was not so good. But I was pleasantly surprised upon arriving at the truck and finding I had a load picking up in Cherokee, AL going to Columbia, SC that will get me back home today, hopefully. So, I've got that going for me, which is nice.

What I don't have going for me is a trailer with a securely attached service brake line. It's real fun to be driving seventy-four thousand pounds down the road at sixty-five miles per hour and watch as nothing happens when you press the brake pedal. I still had tractor brakes, but those aren't enough. I actually discovered this little issue Tuesday after I picked this trailer up. The air line from the tractor to the trailer disconnects from the trailer while I'm driving down the road, thus leaving me without trailer brakes. So, I have to pull over and reattach the air line every couple hours or so. Therein lies another problem. With the hose disconnected, if the brakes are applied, air will just leak out the hose and drain the air tanks. When the pressure in the tanks gets too low, the emergency spring brakes activate, locking the wheels. Anyway, with the help of the engine brake, I am able to gear down to about 10 mph, which is slow enough to use the brakes to stop. Good thing I'm dumping this piece of junk after I deliver.

I wanted to make sure I had as much time as possible to get home today, so I managed to find a truck stop that's five minutes from my delivery. I'll even get to sleep late. Beautiful.