North Pole

I had to wait until Monday morning for them to get an appointment set for me to deliver. My worst nightmare and it happened, got a 10pm appointment. Hate those after setting up all day long. I can't sleep in the daytime remember, especially after getting a good night's sleep. I went over to drop the load and then search for an empty trailer, that took almost a hour to find one.

They next gave me a load setting on their drop yard in Macungie, PA that needed to deliver in Mahwah and Clifton, NJ the next morning. It had to drops on it and I had to pick up the load and drive to the first stop in Mahwah, which is on the New York line in far northern New Jersey, and luckily they had enough room I could park at 2am and wait for them to open. I got about 1 or 2 hour nap in before they showed up to unload the first half of the trailer. I had until 3pm to deliver the second half of the load so I stayed at the customer until I had a 10 hour break in and then finished the load.

I was given a Budweiser load out of Newark, NJ next. It was going to Traverse City, MI. Never been in this area of Michigan before. Very northwest tip across the lake from the upper peninsula of Michigan. Further north than Toronto, Ontario. I figure it is the winter vacation spot for Santa's elves and they needed the beer for the big party after Christmas Eve. Here it was my delivering there on Christmas Eve and it looks closer to the North Pole than home. Couldn't hitch a ride with Santa so not making it home.

Starting out with the load I discovered that I had a ground problem with the trailer lights. Fairly new trailer too. When you turned on the lights the brake lights came on and stayed on. So had to find a shop in Penn. to get it fixed, by the time I got that done I had to get some sleep, it was 11pm by then. I was a little tired.

Next morning had sunny skies and moderate temperatures and headed west and try to make it as close to the my delivery as possible. I was lucky that the temperatures Thursday in Traverse City was near 30 degrees, couldn't believe my luck. It was actually colder in Indiana and Illinois than where I was. Pretty country up there, and the town was a resort area on Lake Michigan. Didn't see any elves though, course they were still working I'm sure.

Picked up a load of water about 100 miles south of there near Grand Rapids that I will deliver in Rockford, IL on Saturday morning. I am spending the night in Gary, IN tonight and it is raining hard outside. Same system that was dropping 2' of snow west of here, just a little warmer here for some reason. Supposed to change over to snow tomorrow afternoon, but I'm going to be sitting in Rockford by then.

WI-MI-PA

I delivered my load to Jefferson, WI on Friday morning. I had to drive up from around Springfield, IL to make my 10am appt. Left at 330am. Got there with one hour to spare. Roads were in good condition although it is always hard getting in and out of customers at times because they don't spend as much time cleaning the ice and snow out of their parking lots and docks. When I went to back into their dock I was sitting on ice and there was a 12" high clump of snow and ice in front of the dock door. Backing up I got up against it with my trailer tires about 6" or so from the dock. My tractor tires were spinning on the ice, to get it all the way back I had to pull forward some and get some speed to get up on the ridge of snow. Just caused a problem of slamming the dock really hard because I couldn't stop the momentum.

After getting empty I was sent over to Pleasant Prairie, WI, which is between Milwaukee and Chicago on the state line. I picked up a load of blue trays going to a Pepsi plant in Howell, MI. Got loaded and headed south around Chicago. It is 100 miles from the north side of Chicago around to Gary, IN. Traffic all the way. Had a mixture of snow and rain when I started out and it had stopped about half way down. Made it over near Kalamazoo, MI for then night.

Started out the next morning and was having light snow. The right lane of the freeway was pretty good shape but the left lane was snow and ice covered still. It was 5 am when I left the truck stop. Had another idiot passing me on the ice and just as they got up along side my tractor they lost traction on the ice. I'm sitting here watching this joker starting to slip my way backing off my accelerator and moving over right on to the icy shoulder, he steers right, then back left, right, left .... back ass wards in the ditch. OOPS! Missed me, all I care about. Two miles down the road they had both lanes cleared off...impatience and stupidity strikes again.

Delivered the load to Pepsi, then over to Grand Rapids, MI to pick up a load going to near Allentown, PA. Blizzard (nor'easter) coming right up I-95. Those are fierce ones coming out of the south like that. We experienced a couple of those before back in the 90s. I came all the way across I-80 this morning in Pennsylvania and was wet/dry roads all the way.

I'm stopped north of Allentown about 50 miles and will wait until Monday morning until dispatch tells me what my appointment time is. Seems they didn't get it set over the weekend.

Houston

I delivered my Oklahoma loads and was sent up to Sapulpa, OK near Tulsa to pick up a load going to Houston. Had a full load of new empty beer bottles going to a warehouse across from Anheuser Busch. I delivered that Tuesday evening and picked up a load from Clorox plant and delivered out to Walmart DC west of Houston in Sealy on Wednesday morning. Then drove into Deer Park, TX and picked up a load going to Jefferson, WI. It is an additive that goes into dog food. I deliver the load Friday morning. Should be halfway decent weather, at least not in single digits.

Iowa Blizzard

Well that was a fun trip...not!!

I sat most of the day Wednesday because I-80 west bound was closed between Iowa City and Des Moines, IA. Seems a set of doubles had jack knifed and blocked the road at the 175 mile marker. Couple of other trucks too. The winds were blowing at up to 30 mph with gusts to 60 mph in places. That is not fun when you have a light load or are running empty. A van trailer like I have acts like a sail on a boat and if you are sitting on ice you are like a feather on the wind on Forest Gump...you go where it blows you. I had 45,000 pounds on my trailer and on slick roads, heavier is better.

I had contacted dispatch and told them the road was blocked and was waiting. I was getting the information off of the computer where Iowa has a 511 site. This is supposed to be a nationwide emergency road system that is put up by each state. Most of the states where you have snow areas have the system in place. If they would update it now and then it would work better. I combine that with checking with drivers going east on the conditions. You have to learn to read those reports because there are many drivers on the road today that are not very professional. They like to give false reports just to mess with the minds of rookie drivers. Over the years I have come to be pretty good in weeding out phony reports. I have complete confidence in my driving abilities in any conditions. What you cannot predict is what others do around you, because quite frankly, most of them have no ability at all.

So in watching the 511 site all day it kept saying I-80 was closed, talking to drivers coming east I learned it was open and had been since noon. It just took them until 3pm to get to where I was in Atalissa, IA. At 3:30pm I left headed west. Blizzard conditions were still going on with the high winds and blowing snow. Temperatures were dropping and down to 10 degrees. Near Iowa City I put myself in a bad situation by not letting off the accelerator soon enough. Braking you don't do on ice. Was following a truck in front of me and keeping around 10 seconds of following distance. Coming into Iowa City we were going up an incline. I was watching traffic coming up on my left side because you have to watch everyone who gets close to you. More on that later. When I looked back to the front the truck in front of me had slowed dramatically going up the incline and had never touched his brakes. Touching my brakes it just slid so let off and steered to the shoulder because 2 cars were in the left lane and coming up on me quick. If I had pulled left they wouldn't have been able to stop and would have been in it too. Had to steer gently to keep from jack knifing and just missed the right rear of the trailer in front of me by inches. Thank God the shoulder was clear, I just kept going up the shoulder because if I had stopped going up the hill on that ice I couldn't get going again. The truck that was causing the problem in front of the one in front of me was only doing about 5 mph. I had to pass 2 trucks and a car in between them and pulled back in to the right lane in front of them. Telling them while I was passing on the right what I was doing. That came out all right no accidents caused.

Further toward Des Moines I had stopped to get fuel and pulled back out on the road going west again. It was dark and about 7 pm. Roads were ice covered but the winds had finally died down and could see. I was going down a hill about 30 mph and a couple of cars came by me on my left side. The last one, a large Continental, lost it a couple of hundred feet after he got by me. He started doing 360's in front of me. It reminded me of a NASCAR race. Here I'm going down an icy hill trying to slow down and he is sliding sideways in my lane, I was getting ready to wake up Leroy. As the joke goes, because he has never seen an accident like this before...

Well again, there was another car on my left side which limited my choices. Right at the last moment that car on my left cleared me and he had enough sense to keep going on past the sliding guy, I started gradually steering left and finally just before I got to this guy he slid off into the right hand ditch. What I mean, you can't protect yourself against the stupidity of others when your outs are limited. You have to work constantly to keep as many outs around you as possible whether you need them at the moment or not.

I finally made it to Des Moines and out the other side. You find in conditions such as this that they pull the snow plows off the highway, because as soon as they pass an area the winds cover it back up again. In a populated area it is a losing battle because the larger than normal traffic packs the snow into an icy glaze that takes time to remove. Once I got 20 miles out west of Des Moines the roads cleared off and had smooth sailing to Council Bluffs, IA across the river from Omaha.

I went to our terminal there and let dispatch know I got there and didn't have enough time to take my 10 hour break and make the 7am appointment Thursday morning. They let me drop it and would try to get another driver to deliver it next morning. Well my night wasn't over because once I dropped that trailer and pulled out I got stuck. A bobtail tractor gets stuck on ice every time and their parking lot was full of snow and ice. They had over 12" that day and hadn't gotten it removed yet. I had tried to back into a spot where a trailer had been parked all day. It was dry there but blowing snow had left a drift on each side of the space. I had backed up against the drift which was about 12" of loose snow. There was a slight ridge in the ice in front of me and I was blocked front and back. I had to get out and hack the ice with a crow bar and scoop out with my hands in front and back of all 10 tires. I did this continually and rocked the truck back and forth until I finally started moving a few inches after each hack job.

Took me close to 1 hour to get moved over to another area out of the drive. The temperature was down to -1 degree and was glad the wind had stopped blowing. Next morning they had given the load to another driver, but he was stuck in front of the trailer I had dropped. Dispatch sent me a note to get back on the load and deliver it because this driver was stuck. Well until he got unstuck I couldn't get to the trailer. Shop workers came in and got him moved with shovels and cat litter. I drove over to the trailer and went past it up the hill. I put it in reverse and started backing down to it blowing my horn. Bouncing over the snow ridges and right up under the trailer.

Well I delivered the load 2 hours late but I got it there. They gave me a load from Omaha to Chicago. Had to go back across I-80. The only place I had a problem was getting back through Des Moines which was still icy. They had 10+ car pile up coming into town that closed the freeway and had to wait about 1 hour for them to push the cars off into the ditch. They don't tow in weather like that. They let all the ice melt before they start towing. Tow truck drivers were going to get rich as soon as they let them out there. Lost count of the number of semis and cars off the road.

I delivered to downtown Chicago area Friday morning and then picked up a load of T-posts in the area going to Oklahoma for Monday. Stopped at our terminal in Ottawa, IL on the way out and they serviced my truck Friday night. Made it to Muskogee, OK Saturday night and will set here until Monday morning.

Long Couple of Weeks

Got call at 7am Monday Nov. 23rd from my brother Charlie, Mom and wife Pat all within 10 mins that Dad had just passed away. I was 30 minutes from my delivery in Laredo. Had to get with terminal to get routed to the house which is not easy. They won't just deadhead you 400 miles to the house for anything, life of a trucker. Had to pick up a load Monday afternoon and take all the way to Dallas to drop it on the yard there for someone else to deliver. I left Laredo and made it to San Antonio Monday night and was out of hours. I left there at 4:30am Tuesday and drove straight through to Dallas and dropped the load at 9am. Picked up an empty trailer and made the 3 hour drive home. I got home at 1pm Tuesday.

We loaded up the pickup and I showered and hit the road at 3pm. Went to town to pickup a prescription for Pat and headed out to Athens, TN for the funeral. They got it set for 8pm Wednesday night so I would have time to get there and the grave side ceremony on Thursday morning, Thanksgiving Day. I drove straight through getting to Athens around 7am Wednesday. Eastanalle Baptist Church fixed lunch for the family at 1pm. We had private viewing around 3pm. The visitation that night at 6pm to 8pm with the services afterwards. I got to bed at 10:30pm after having been up 42 hours. Slept pretty good. I remember having the cell phone in my hand setting the alarm so I could get up early and found it laying under me the next morning. We had the graveside that morning at 10am and then lunch at Calhoun's Methodist Church at noon.

We left Friday afternoon headed home. Got to Meridian, MS spending the night there. Got home Saturday at 3pm or so. Crashed pretty soon afterward.

Spent the rest of the week trying to finish the living room to the point I could at least get it painted. Did that and got some trim up. Next time in need to get the flooring down, finish the trim and work on taxes. Yep that time again. Since I only get 4 days a month at home I have to get early start.

Went to Houston on Saturday the 5th to eat lunch with grand kids. Then back home and watched Alabama get by Florida. Hated that. Don't like either but like Alabama less. Then the Texas/Nebraska game. That was a good one and what a defensive battle. See if Texas can pull off an upset of Alabama next.

Left home on Sunday Dec. 6th, my birthday, picking up a load in Kilgore going to Lexington, KY. Load of aluminum jar lids going to Smuckers. Then a load Monday night out of just south of Lexington going up to Terre Haute, IN which I delivered at 9am this morning. Only had 2 pallets to deliver to Kelloggs there.

Then they gave me a load from Terre Haute going to Omaha, NE. Bummer because a blizzard coming through there. I got up just west of Davenport, IA and the roads were ice and snow covered and night time, and temperature dropped to 30 degrees and I parked it. Still have 300 miles to go and it won't be fun tomorrow. Will still be snowing and wind gusts up to 45 mph which means blowing snow. Temperature will be down in the teens too. Probably 8 to 10 hours to get over there if can get there at all. We will see tomorrow.

This Week

Once unloaded in Paducah they deadheaded me 178 miles to St. Louis, MO to pick up a load of Budweiser going to Ft. Wayne, IN to deliver the next day, Thursday. They had the load ready to pick up by the time I got to St. Louis so I was able to drop and hook and be gone in 30 minutes. This was good because it was already 4pm and Budweiser sits on the Mississippi River near downtown. I was able to get out of there and back across the river before traffic got to bad. Got over to Brazil, IN by the time my hours ran out which got me within 3 1/2 hour drive of Ft. Wayne.

I delivered to Ft. Wayne and got a load from over near Gary, IN on the other side of Indiana going to Rock Island, IL. It was a load of doors from Masonite. I delivered this Friday morning at 8am. It came off real quick too. My next load was only 3 miles away from where I delivered. I picked it up and it is a HazMat (Hazardous Materials) load going to Laredo, TX. It delivers on Monday morning early. I don't get HazMat loads very often, maybe one per year. My company doesn't pull a lot of them.

The law now is that every driver has to have a FBI background check before they renew their CDL (Commercial Drivers License) if it has a HazMat endorsement. You have to have this endorsement on your CDL in order to pull a HazMat load. Each time you renew your CDL you have to take and pass a HazMat test to requalify. The FBI checks is a new law since 9/11. I had mine done this past time home and just got notification that I was cleared yesterday. They say it can take up to 60 days or more, but I had my notification back within 3 weeks.

Southern Loads

After delivering in Houston I got a load of Clorox product out of downtown Houston going to a WalMart in Pauls Valley, OK. I dropped that the next morning and they gave me a load out of Nestle Purina in Edmond, OK to pick up Saturday morning going to a Winn Dixie warehouse in Hammond, LA. This ran over the weekend and just stayed in Shreveport Saturday night thru Monday morning. The delivery appointment wasn't until 2pm on Monday. A nice cold front passed through Monday with lots of rain. I kept running through it and then out in front of it and when I would stop it would catch up to me again.

After dropping the load in Hammond they gave me a load out of Arabi, LA, which is a suburb of New Orleans, to pick up Tuesday morning. I left a little early to get there since I had to drive all the way across New Orleans to get to this place. Was pretty smooth sailing really. Since Katrina hit, the rush hour traffic is not near what it used to be. You see signs of the devestation still with lots of vacant buildings still setting around. They have most of the garbage cleaned up though.

The load was supposed to load at 7:45am, but when I got there at 7am they said the pick up number I had was no good. I had to leave the premises because they are so tight there is no room for extra trucks. It took 1 1/2 hours for them to decide I did have the right number and someone had screwed up by not getting it to the security guard at the gate. The load is going to Paducah, KY and delivers Wednesday around noon.

The docks were very tight at the shipper, this is Domino Sugar which has been there forever. I had to back into the dock with a truck already in the dock on either side of me. When I got in there my mirrors had cleared the other trucks mirrors about 1/2" on the right side and just barely touched the one on the driver's side. Since the trucks and trailers were all the same length, I found I could not open my door on either side. It would open about 3" and hit the mirror on the other truck. I had to get the driver on the left side to open his passenger door so his mirror would swing forward and I could swing mine in behind his mirror. It gave me just enough room to squeeze out the door. The problem I had was the Swift driver was Mexican and could not understand English very well. He did not know what I was asking him to do. Was starting to get frustrating getting out of there until another Swift driver explained it to him. I was about ready to give him an English lesson.

Texas

I delivered the one drop in Huntsville, AL at 8am Monday morning and they had it off in about 30 minutes. I next had to drive to Nashville for my 12pm appointment at the second drop. I got there at 11:15am and only had 3 air conditioners to come off there. The last drop was only a half mile away, so I was finished by 1pm.

I sent maintenance a message that my opt idle system was not working right. That is the control that turns the truck on to cool and heat the cab, and also to recharge the batteries if they get low. If it stops working the truck won't idle more than 2 minutes before it shuts down. That can be a real problem if it gets really cold or uncomfortably warm when trying to sleep. Hard to sleep if getting up every 2 minutes to turn the truck back on.

They gave me a load from Wilson Sporting Goods there in Nashville going to the south side of Atlanta. I dropped that early Tuesday morning in a driving rain which was the leading edge of Tropical Storm Ida. Then I drove carefully back the other side of Atlanta to Marietta to our terminal there. I got there at 7:45am and it was 8pm that night before they finally got me in the shop. Took them 10 minutes to pull a sensor out and replace it. Works fine now.

Picked up a load of insulation Wednesday going back to Houston which I deliver in the morning. Now that I sit in Houston and they have a no idling law. It is over 80 degrees in the sleeper and close to 7pm at night it is going to be miserable sleeping.

I did get a load home from Kansas City. Was to load at 8pm Friday night, they didn't have the load ready until Saturday morning at 6am. The load went to the WalMart DC in Palestine which is 55 miles from the house. I dropped it Sunday morning and headed to the house.



Monday morning I had to spend all day cutting down a dead pine in the back yard. Well wasn't that dead, but it was right next to the storage building in the back yard and if it did get weak and a wind brought it down then it would take out the storage building or at least the fence on two sides of it.

I went out and stood out couple of hundred feet and measured the height of the tree with a stick then laid the stick horizontal to the ground to see how far out the tree would reach. Came within about 10' of the fence near the house. I only had a range of 10' to left or right that I could bring it down without tearing up something.

I drug out the chain saw and filled it up. I walked up to the tree from the direction I wanted it to fall and run my hands down both sides to mark where I wanted to put the "V". Started the "V" and cut it into the tree less than half way through and about 18" up from ground. Once I had it cut I took a sledge hammer and knocked out the wedge of wood. Then I got behind the tree and made a cut downward at a slight angle into the back of the "V". Then the tree dropped right smack down right where I wanted it. Imagine that. It was 72' tall and the top went out right where I thought it would. The limbs even missed the sprinkler head in the yard. Pictures of the tree are below.

Also some pictures of some leaves changing in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Tennessee during October.

I just left home Friday with a load out of Houston going to Huntsville, AL with one drop and 2 drops in Nashville, TN for Monday.

Back to Texas

After delivering the load in Newport, TN they sent me down the road to Chestnut Hill, TN to pick up a load of Bush beans going to Sam's DC in New Braunfels, TX. Was another good run, this has been a pretty good month for me in miles. Thanks to WalMart loads mostly.

I delivered there this morning and they sent me over to Pasadena, TX on SE side of Houston to pick up a load going back to Kansas City. Most I have seen that city in one month that I know of. I will deliver there Friday morning. Time I got the load picked up this afternoon I was caught up in rush hour traffic and on the wrong end of town. Since I only pickup 2 hours at midnight tonight on my logs, I shut it down. I need every hour to make my delivery at 7am Friday. Will only have 9 hours to work tomorrow as it is.

I am feeling some better. Seems the drainage in my head is still there but no sore throat or other pains. Just some coughing now and then. Guess it is going to hang on for 2 or 3 weeks. Supposed to be headed back home by Monday for 4 days off.

Week gone by

Well this whole week has been rough. I have been working and working through a cold/flu whatever. Unlike anyone else I can't stop when I get sick, unless I am about dead. I can't take meds anyone else can take for colds either. It is illegal to even have them on the truck. If you get in an accident and you have anything on the truck for colds that even cause drowsiness in a field mouse you are toast and off to jail. I get to take something akin to Claritin D non drowsy formula and hope for the best. It is 24 hr deal and ain't near enough. Rarely get a good nights sleep for all the drainage etc.

Plus it has gotten cold up here dog gone it. Went from Texas up to Indianapolis with a load of insulation. Then picked up there waiting 6 hours for them to get the load ready. Then when it was ready found the pin on the trailer tandems was broken so had to take it to our shop in Indy. That took the rest of the day into the night. Had to leave there first thing in the morning to make the delivery appointment over in NW Illinois at a Wal Mart DC in Sterling by 3:30pm. Once that was off they gave me a load to pick up that night at another Wal Mart DC in Spring Valley, IL. The heavy rains had set in and had to go 65 miles on 2 lane roads in northern Illinois in a driving rain and make it in one hour with a 61 mph truck. I fudged it but made it. Got the load and went to bed. Feeling super miserable now with the cold wet weather.

This load was going to another Wal Mart DC in Ottawa, KS just outside Kansas City. Made that delivery Friday afternoon and then got a load out of Kansas City, KS this morning going to northeast corner of Tennessee for Monday. Starting to feel some better and the drainage is slowing down. A little time to recuperate I hope.

Listened to the Vols almost beat Bama today, oh so close. Don't believe they could have blocked that without being off side. Must be them baseball umps reffing college football too. Texas is whupping Missouri. I came through Columbia, MO where they played the game tonight this afternoon about 3pm. Traffic was bad and real bad accident right at the exit for the stadium. Had the whole freeway shut down, glad it was on the other side of the road.

Iowa

Keep getting behind here.

Dropped my load at 6am Wednesday in Topeka and they gave me a load to pick up out of the same plant going back to Petsmart in Ennis, TX to deliver Thursday morning at 6am.

After unloaded I went by the terminal in Wilmer, TX again to pick up a new log book for November/December. Was going to get some fuel additive to keep my fuel from gelling, but they didn't have any in yet. That's nice, since it is well below freezing already in the upper midwest. And guess where my next load went.

Well, not quite that far north. Picked up a load from Wal Mart in De Soto, TX going to the Wal Mart DC in Mt. Pleasant, IA. They had it to drop on Saturday, but with Wal Mart you can drop anytime at most of the DC's, so I got in there Friday morning.

After dropping the load they gave me a load out of Oskaloosa, IA going to Texas out southwest of Ft Worth. I got the load because it was very heavy. The driver that got into Wal Mart ahead of me was still waiting for a load and they had to pass him over. He had a new International tractor which is almost 2000# heavier than the Freightliner I drive. He was too heavy to pick up the load so I got it instead. Good for me.

I am in Weatherford, TX until Monday morning. I will leave here early Monday and go deliver. Maybe it will allow me time to feel better. I have a sinus infection or cold and feel pretty miserable. I never get sick this time of year. Oh well...

On the Road Again

Went into Wilmer terminal south of Dallas on Wednesday after delivering in Ennis about 20 miles south of there. I had to get my annual DOT physical and get my truck serviced before heading home. I had to start out at midnight on the south side of Little Rock, AR to make it to my delivery by 7am. So I had a long day.

My physical went OK. Just had to list my right ear closing up again since I had been to the ENT last July. The fibrous displasia has returned and closed up the ear canal. I have lost my hearing in my right ear now and have to report that. Although regulations say you have to hear a forced whisper from behind you in your best ear, a lot of doctors who give physicals think it reads in both ears. I have come across that before. So it stresses me out every time I have to go through this with one not knowing how he reads the regs. So I argued with him awhile and got through it. Still took 7 hours by the time I got the physical, got back to the terminal, they faxed it to home office in Lincoln, NE to safety. Then they have to review it and call back and say it is OK for me to work. Well, every year safety never calls back. So a half hour wait stretches into 2 1/2 hours. Finally was released by 4pm, truck was serviced and had to go to bed and take a break before I went home since my 14 hour clock had run out at 2pm.

Won our case in court against the roofer on Thursday.

Left home Monday and went to Hawkins, TX north of Tyler to pick up load of water going to Ochelata, OK which is north of Tulsa. Delivered that this morning early and now have a load I picked up in Pryor, OK going to Topeka, KS. I will deliver that in the morning early.

Visit to Mom and Dad

After getting loaded in south Georgia I got to stop off at Charlie and Jewel's to visit for a bit on Saturday. Charlie was off with scouts but got to visit couple of hours with Mom,Dad and Jewel. Also got a free lunch. Took a few pics posted here of the new bedroom addition with basement.

I made it up to London, KY for the night. My delivery tonight is at 6pm and I still have about a 5 1/2 hour drive. I have to wait as long as I can before leaving here so that I will still have time on my 14 hours to pick up a preload they have for me in Columbus, OH at 10pm tonight. The preload takes me to Dallas area where I will get my physical on Wednesday, get truck serviced and then head home for 3 days.

Amarillo, Alabama, Florida

After unloading in Denver I got a load of Budweiser out of Ft. Collins, CO going to Amarillo. Since I had been sitting all day and had the hours they gave me that load and it had to be delivered the next morning. So I had to drive all night to make it and then once delivered had to take my break in the day time. I was up 26 hours and only got 2 hours sleep. Just can not sleep in the daytime no matter how tired.

I picked up a load of copper that afternoon in Amarillo going to near Huntsville, AL to deliver Thursday morning. Unloading it I ran on into Huntsville and picked up a load of empty beer kegs from a Budweiser distributor going back to the brewery in Jacksonville, FL. I delivered that at 10am today and was given my next load to pick up over west of Valdosta, GA.

This is a load of cat litter and was real lucky. 90% of the trucks sitting there were waiting on a shipment to come in that had product they needed for their loads. My particular load was a straight load and they had mine ready to go. I got to go ahead of 12 trucks to the front of the line and was loaded and gone in one hour. The truck came in with their product as I was getting loaded, so that saved me at least 4 or 5 hours.

I will deliver this load in Zanesville, OH Sunday night and they have me preplanned on a load out of Columbus, OH that night going to Ennis, TX just south of Dallas. From there I will get my DOT physical done at home terminal, truck serviced and be home Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.

Denver

I left Boise early in the morning and wanted to try and get over into Wyoming as close to Denver as possible with the 9 1/2 hours I had to drive for the day. I got as far as Wamsutter, WY which is 70 miles east of Rock Springs. That left me a 5 hour drive on into Denver. Was going to try to take a 34 hour break when I got there since I did not deliver until 7pm Monday night. Didn't quite work out so I will work the week with the hours I have.

Pictures posted are from Idaho to Denver. Came over I-80 to Cheyenne and turned south on I-25. It is only 9 miles from I-80 to the Colorado state line, and when I crossed the line I looked to my left and saw several Elk standing along the hillside beside me grazing. Tried to snap the picture but could not get a focus on it fast enough. Got one but hard to see them.

Coming down I-25 to Denver runs parallel with the mountain range on my right. West of Ft. Collins is the Rocky Mountain National Park. To my south and east are rolling prairies of farm and grass lands. I reached Denver and got my fuel and a parking place where I wait for my delivery appointment tonight.

East To Denver

Drove into Portland, OR this morning to pick up my load. We had 2 other company trucks at the shipper when I arrived. The first one had just backed into the dock. I was in the shipping office when I heard a loud bang. I looked out and the trailer they were loading had broken in half. It must have had a cracked rail in the frame. They had loaded about half the load in and it snapped and the fork lift slid over to the right wall of the trailer. It was a fairly new trailer too. Glad it wasn't mine. That poor driver was going to have a long day with them trying to figure out how to get that stuff out of there.

I left and took a few pictures of Portland. The bridge is the I-5 bridge through town. Then the Columbia River Gorge headed east. When I got out to Pendleton, OR again and headed up Cabbage Hill I have several shots coming to the Hill. Up on top there is a rest area at Deadman's Pass. Part of the Oregon Trail. Got its name back in 1840s when a teamster was found dead from an Indian attack at that spot. There were also wagon ruts still in the woods, so I walked up into the woods to find them. The pics show the washout area where the wagons came through. You can tell by the areas being lower in that spot and wagon width. Interesting anyway. Also in the pictures are a few of Mt. Hood which is just east of Portland. On a clear day like today, you can see the peak from atop Cabbage Hill which is 150 miles away. Off to its north you can see Mt. St. Helens in Washington. Couple of years ago I came out this way in January and you could see both peaks from atop Cabbage shining bright and covered in snow.

I made it to Boise, ID for the night and will probably stop in Ogden, UT tomorrow afternoon. Then Denver Sunday morning. I don't deliver until 7pm Monday afternoon.

Oregon

After unloading Wednesday morning in Nampa, ID they gave me a load to pick up from a driver at a Flying J truck stop about 9 miles away. He was either out of hours or trying to get home, not sure which. The load was going to Albany, OR just south of Salem on I-5. This was the first time I had been in the Salem/Portland, OR area since around 1996. It was still there.

I took close to 65+ pictures on the 8 hour drive. It is a very pretty drive which goes across I-84 from Ontario, OR to Portland. This follows the original Oregon Trail and also the Lewis and Clark expedition through the Columbia River Gorge. This is a beautiful drive. They have built special upstream troughs at the dams on the river for the salmon to swim up stream during spawning.

In Portland I turned south on I-5 to near Salem where I spent the night. I didn't unload until 2pm Thursday. After finally getting unloaded after 3 1/2 hours, they next gave me a load to pick up in Portland for Friday morning that delivers in Denver on Monday afternoon. After that dispatch is supposed to route me directly to the home terminal in Wilmer, TX for my annual physical.

The pictures posted are not the best. The sun was bright which left a glare on the windshield which really showed up all the bugs I couldn't seem to get rid of for very long. That happens a lot when going through farm country.

Idaho and first snow

Left out of Amarillo with 69 degrees at 3am Sunday morning. Headed up US-287 into Colorado and hit the cold front around Lamar, CO. Got into some rain and temperature dropped into the low 40s and rain and 30 mph winds. When I got on up to Fort Collins, CO I started up over the mountains to Laramie, WY. When I topped over into Wyoming the snow started and the temp was down to 32 degrees.

I got in to Laramie and stopped to get fuel. I had to call fleet manager to adjust my fuel solution. They had me only getting 62 gallons in Laramie and I still had 700 miles to go. Computer doesn't recognize the combination of heavy load, 30mph head winds and mountains. I was only getting 4.7 mpg and normal is 6 or better. They let me fill up. I stopped for the night in Sinclair, WY which got me the other side of Elk Mountain and into dry roads.

I drove on up to Nampa, ID today. The starting temp this morning was 22 deg, by the time I got to the Boise area it was up in the low 80s. I deliver here in Nampa in the morning and go again. The pictures are from the last 3 weeks and will add some caps to them later.

Out again

Been a while since got a post up. Laptop computer screen started getting lines across it and I had to get it repaired when got home this past week. Couldn't find one from the wholesale warehouses because my Dell laptop was built one month too soon. Following month when the newer screens were built. Go figure. Anyway, got one from Dell and had them over night it so I could get it before I left home on Saturday.

They shipped it on Wednesday for overnight. Not sure I like these tracking sites they give you. They shipped the package out of Houston, which is a tad over 100 miles from my house. That was fine figured would get it next day for sure. Next morning I look at the tracking and the thing was in Memphis, TN at 4am. I'm thinking this ain't going to work. Shreveport, LA at 6:30am, still trying to figure that one out. Didn't go by truck. To Nacogdoches by 8am and then out for delivery, total of 1400 miles or so. Does FedEx really make a profit?

Left out Saturday morning and picked up another load of paper from Inland in Orange, TX going to Boise, ID. Will deliver up there on Wednesday morning. I am in Amarillo, TX tonight. Get some pictures up as soon as get another good signal for broadband. Today ain't cutting it on signal.

Illinois

I delivered the load in Charlotte, NC that I picked up in Red Boiling Springs, TN on Tuesday morning. Had a nice drive through the Smoky Mountain Gorge on I-40 on Labor Day. They tried to give me a load to Connecticut but it had to be picked up in Kingsport, TN by 9am. It was already 430am and it was a 205 mile trip up there from Charlotte. I told them I could not make that with a 61 mph truck. Plus since I needed to be home on Monday, going to the northeast was a bad move 5 days before.

The load they gave me was 20 miles away in Gastonia, NC and it delivered this morning in Manteno, IL. They gave me a load out of Elwood, IL going to Olathe, KS which I deliver Friday morning. That is getting me closer to home and not the opposite direction. Got more pictures to download from the past week and try to get that on this weekend. Should be home by Monday for 4 days.

Labor Day

Hope everyone had a nice and safe Labor Day.

I delivered the load of glass Sunday morning and was given a load of water to pick up in Red Boiling Springs, TN this morning. That is back in the hills north of Cookeville. From where I was at near Richmond, KY, there was no easy way for me to get there. Extremely narrow winding roads down to the place. Plus it was raining off and on. Made it in there ok but once I got that heavy load of water it worked me hard getting out of there and down to I-40. One stretch of road of about 30 miles I couldn't get over 30 to 40 mph. I was taking my half out of the middle, going through the gears like a NASCAR driver on a road course, at 30 mph no less. That's curvy. Glad no one was out on the road yet this morning.

The load is going to a grocery warehouse in Charlotte, NC and I deliver there at 4am in the morning. The trip over was not bad for a Labor Day, traffic not near as heavy as would be the norm on Labor Day in the past. Just tells you how much the economy is hurting every one.

Back to Kentucky

I went over and picked up the load in Ashtabula, OH at 10pm Sunday night. I had two drops on the truck. The first drop was in Dunbar, WV on Tuesday morning. I drove down on the south side of Canton, OH to make sure I wouldn't have morning traffic to deal with Monday morning. I laid down to sleep for about 5 hours and still had enough time on my 14 hours to make it to near Dunbar Monday. Tuesday morning I had a 10 minute drive to my first stop.

I was carrying a load of vinyl siding which is loaded on the floor in the trailer. It takes a while to get it unloaded. I deliver quite a few of these loads and they are normally multi drops. It takes the customers 3 to 5 hours to unload half a truck. The problem with these loads is that they work a few minutes unloading and then have to stop to help customers, then back to the load. They got me unloaded in 4 1/2 hours. I took off to Lexington, KY where I had my last drop on Wednesday morning. It took another 4 hours to unload there. Everything after first 2 hours is detention time and I get paid by the hour, sometimes.

After unloading they gave me a load to pickup in Kingsport, TN, it was 213 miles deadhead to pick it up. I was supposed to be there by 4 pm but informed dispatch it would be at least 5 or 6pm before I could make it with the roads I had to travel through the mountains to get there. It was 530pm when I arrived. I was picking up 6 rolls of paper weighing 7000# per roll. The load delivered to DuBois, PA Thursday as soon as I could get there.

The trip was hard because of the roads through the mountains of West Virginia and Western Pennslyvania. They were new roads to me though. Highlight of the trip was going through Punxsutawney, PA, the home of Punxsutawney Phil. If you remember the movie "Groundhog Day" you will remember the square where the groundhog kept popping out of its hole each day. I passed right by the thing and didn't know it until it was too late to get a picture. Phil wasn't there though. Beautiful town though. It is approximately 20 miles south of I-80 near DuBois, PA.

I made it to DuBois at 230pm and was unloaded in about 15 minutes. They gave me a load to pick up in Meadsville, PA for the next morning that delivers Sunday near Richmond, KY south of Lexington. So back to Kentucky. Kind of expect once unloaded I will be sitting through Labor Day before get another load. Holidays can mess you up on loads if you don't unload at the right time of the weekend.

Not So Fast

Yeah, right pick up the load Saturday morning and deliver by 6pm that afternoon. Well I pulled into the shipper at 50 minutes before my appointment time of noon. There are 4 more of our trucks sitting there, they all had the same appointment time as I did and all going to the same place in Solon, OH, and no one was getting loaded. Turns out the machine broke down that night and they didn't get it up and running again until that morning. So all these rolls of paper hadn't been made yet. The rolls are 6' in diameter and about 4' of depth. They weigh approximately 4,500# each and they load 9 rolls on each truck. But no rolls no load. They took down all our cell phone numbers and then sent us down the street to their drop yard to wait. It was 7pm that night before I got loaded.

Once I pulled out of the dock I had to stop to help one of our drivers close the door on his trailer. He had loaded just ahead of me and when he pulled out from the dock he had to squeeze between a truck in a dock beside him and a railroad tanker sitting on the left side of him. His doors were open and latched to the side of the trailer and he caught his driver side trailer door on the rail car. The door is held on by 5 hinges, and he broke all of them but the very top one, and it was hanging by the one hinge. We had to gently lift and pull around in place to get it latched shut. He was supposed to go by a shop in Ft Wayne, IN to get it fixed.

I didn't deliver my load until 10am this morning and they gave me a load that picks up late tonight and I deliver part of load in West Virginia on Tuesday morning and the other half of load in Lexington, KY on Wednesday morning. At least get out of Ohio even if it is a short load.

August Pictures

Finally got my pictures downloaded that I have been taking last couple of weeks. Have taken some pictures of old barns in the midwest. Starting in Kentucky and up through Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Ohio. The beautiful sunset at the end was along I-80 west bound around Morris, Ill. This is west of Chicago area. The peak that looks like a nipple is of Pilot Mountain near Mt. Airy, NC. If you remember the Andy Griffith show and them talking about Mount Pilot all of the time. That is the peak that they used to name the fictional town.

I went from Cedar Falls, IA back down to Des Moines to pick up a load going over to Cedar Rapids, IA for the next morning. Then down to Oskaloosa, IA to get a load from Church & Dwight going to Church & Dwight in Old Fort, OH. Running through some good hard rains along I-80 most of the way. After delivering in Old Fort Thursday morning I picked up a load in Fostoria, OH about 20 miles away that was from a Church & Dwight warehouse that went over to Pendleton, IN. This is on the outskirts of Indianapolis. Leaving Ohio this morning going that way I had to travel over some 2 lane back roads working my way over to I-69 in Indiana.

I got within 10 miles of the interstate and the highway ahead was closed. The detour went up toward Ft. Wayne which was 20 miles in the wrong direction. So I turned south to go down to the next highway west to the interstate. I got about 8 miles south and that road was closed ahead. The only option was to turn back east toward Ohio again for 8 miles to pick up a main highway that ran toward Indianapolis. Only problem was this road wasn't much better than a pig trail. The trailer I had picked up on this load tracked so far to the right I could see the red stripe all the way down the right side of the trailer. Someone had obviously hit a curb pretty hard on the right and pulled the trailer tandems out of line. I had to drive down the center of the road to stay out of the ditch. Finally made it but was a good half hour behind when I wanted to be there.

Once I dropped that load at Tractor Supply they gave a load to pick up in Columbus, IN that was 75 miles away. The appointment was at 10am only 1 hour and 25 mins from that moment, and had to go through Indianapolis to get there. Since I have a 62 mph truck it was a chore to make the appointment. I made it one minute before 10am. It was a live load that took one hour to complete and I had a delivery appointment at 1pm in Fairfield, OH. I had 2 hours to go 95 miles, and the first 38 miles was 2 lane road and through downtown Columbus. I made it to the customer at exactly 1 minute before appointment time. Finally got to pee. Geez! Hate those loads. I will pick up another load just south of Dayton, OH tomorrow that I have to run up near Cleveland, OH and deliver by 6pm tomorrow night. Another rush job.

Manufacturers seem to be picking up since all inventories are drained, so I am doing a lot more running and there are fewer trucks now to pull the loads. A lot of them have gone under in the last year. Keeps me busy which is a good thing.

moving on

Well from North Carolina I went up to New Jersey with a load of toilet paper for the Yankees. I then picked up a load in Edison, NJ going to Cleveland, OH area but they let me drop the load in Allentown, PA drop yard because this was Friday and it did not deliver until Monday.

So I dropped that load at the drop yard, and was given a load of dog food in Allentown going to Crete, NE. The load was not supposed to be ready until 10pm that night, but I went on in there and they had just finished loading it. I was able to get the load and move over to Lamar, PA for then night. I made it to Peru, IL Saturday night and to Council Bluffs, IA on Sunday night.

I got up early this morning and delivered the load to Friskies/Nestle Purina in Crete at 6:30am and let dispatch know that I needed to get my truck serviced. So they let me drive back up to the Lincoln, NE shop and have been here through the morning. They told me may be tonight before they get to it, but actually took the truck into the shop at 11am.

Crete Carrier is a debt free company. They are busy buying new trucks like crazy because no one else can afford to right now. They are getting great deals because the truck manufacturing companies are needing to keep their people busy building them. Same with new trailers. Reason they thought would be late getting me in the shop because everyone here is working on the trade in trucks. Peeling off decals and servicing them to be sold. Also they are moving the new ones in to be decaled and serviced etc.

Shop manager asked me this morning if I did not get them memo not to come to Lincoln for truck service. Duh!! No!! I don't get memos.

Got my truck out and now waiting for a loaded trailer that is in the shop to come out. I have to deliver that load over in Cedar Falls, IA tomorrow.

I have some pictures of a beautiful sunset in northern Illinois and will post soon.

Long Week

Well, I am finally back on the road again. Went to Houston to have CT Scan of right ear and found out that it has closed off again. No surgery this time, will have to live with it. Since it keeps growing back, not much sense in drilling it out again.

I left home on Sunday and picked up a load in Kilgore, TX going to Lexington, KY. Same load I got last month when I left home. Load of jar lids going to J M Smucker.

Unloaded Monday afternoon and picked up a load of scrap paper Tuesday morning going to Middletown, OH, but it had an appointment at noon the next day. Was only 135 miles up the road. Went in and delivered the load of scrap paper and when they finally got me unloaded 3 hours later I was dispatched on a load out of the same plant going to North Carolina. Took in scrap paper and taking out finished rolls of paper.

I will deliver about noon tomorrow, and then off another direction.

Finally

It took some doing, but I finally got a load to the house.

After dropping my load at Scottsville, KY, they gave me two load offers to pick up in Bowling Green, KY. The first went to Richmond, IN, and the second went to South Carolina. Since this was only Friday morning, I figured they would have me something from Indiana to go home with. It was a shorter load and since it was a drop and hook I figured I could get it off Friday night, take my break and have a load home to be there Monday or no later than Tuesday. My CT scan in Houston is on Wednesday morning.

Well nay, nay kemo sabe. (I don't spell in Indian). I dropped at 10pm Friday and they shot me a load offer to pick up Saturday going to Georgia that didn't deliver until Monday. Then the monthly fight began on the qualcom satellite hookup on why I could not do that. It was on my driver screen for dispatch to look at "I have to be home", I send a message leading up to unloading a load to dispatch that I need to go home. I had done all of these things and they ignore it. I guess they keep you running under the premise that you aren't going to complain for fear of being accused of refusing a load. When it comes to going home, I complain. I do my time on the road of 24 to 28 days, time to go home, get me home.

Well, dispatch says I can wait until morning dispatch comes in because they have no Texas freight. I said I would wait. At 1 am they send me another offer, waking me up, that picked up near Dayton, OH going to Chicago. Can deliver on Sunday. I protest again. They say we are just trying to keep you moving until we find something. Yeah right!!

I said I would accept the load but I protested the fact they were sending me further away from the house not closer and restated the fact I had medical tests coming up, and couldn't pick up this load until Saturday night according to the info they sent me. "Then" he tells me "well it is already loaded", I told him fine I would take the load and would get it off Saturday night and try again.

I picked the load up in Brookville, OH and headed out toward Indianapolis and would go from there up to Chicago. I saw the clock ticking on being able to stop this steamroll. This was Saturday and the staff at my home terminal only worked until noon on Saturday. It was 10am. I had sent 3 messages to dispatch that morning telling them I needed to get home and why. I had not received one single reply from them.

I called home terminal. After being on hold for 30 minutes I finally spoke with the fleet manager. I explained the situation, and with 10 minutes I was told to drop my load at the Indianapolis terminal, pick up an empty trailer and then they gave me a load going to Texas to pick up at 8 am on Sunday.

I wonder why I have to go through all that.

Kentucky Next

I delivered my first drop to a Big Lots store. The entire trailer is stacked on the floor front to back top to bottom. They run conveyors into the trailer and roll the cartons out one at a time with about 4 to 5 people working on it. The first half of the trailer came off in a little less that 2 hours. Once they resealed the trailer I drove to the second store about 12 miles away.

The second store was difficult to get into. When you pull into the drive you are facing the dock and very little room to get a 72' rig turned around. I had to turn a sharp corner to the left with posts set up to make sure they damage the trucks coming in before the trucks damage the grass. Once you make the corner, of course they park vehicles in the lot so you will have one more thing to concentrate on besides the posts. Once around the corner, I can back up behind the building and then turn back the way I came so I can get backed into the dock.

While they unloaded the last of the product I walked next door and bought a few groceries for the truck. Once unloaded dispatch gave me a load to pick up in Crete, NE going to Scottsville, KY. Before going down to get the load I stopped by the main terminal in Lincoln, NE and got fuel and had the trailer inspected.

After getting the truck and trailer taken care of I drove the 20 miles to Crete to pick up the load of dog food. I will deliver the load Friday after lunch to a Dollar General DC. Once unloaded I will be looking for that load to the house over the weekend.

North to Nebraska

I was able to drop the load on Monday instead of waiting until Tuesday, so I got an extra day of work in. They gave me a load out of Durant, OK going up to Omaha, NE. It is a load from Big Lots delivering to a couple of their stores there.

I got into Kansas and made it about halfway through before looking for a place to stop for the night. I had my trip planned to stop in a small town with a truck stop that showed in my truck stop directory to have parking for up to 85 trucks. I had just enough hours to get there and when I rolled into this little farming town the truck stop had room for exactly 5 trucks, and since there were 5 bull haulers setting there already and parked crooked to boot, I had no place to park.

This was running through Kansas on a two lane highway, and I wasn't familiar with it so I got in a bad deal. There were only 3 truck stops on the route at all, and had now passed the second one. I had no choice but to continue north to where there was a larger truck stop that I was familiar with, but it was going to stretch my hours razor thin getting there. Luckily about 7 miles north of this small town I came to a small rest area with enough room for about 3 trucks, so I got a parking place for the night without running my hours out.

I got up this morning and made it up to Council Bluffs, IA, which is across the river from Omaha. Got a shower and a meal and now waiting until morning to go into town to make my drops.

Ok OKlahoma

Got into Ardmore, Oklahoma at 3pm on Sunday. Another small place so not much TV or anything else really. I will check with dispatch this morning and see if this customer will let me drop this load to day instead of tomorrow after midnight. Some customers want drops on the day they request them others will take them anytime up to the end of that day. If I get to drop it then I will be moving on today if they have some freight.

I am finding that Eastern Pennsylvania/New Jersey area is the worst place to be right now for freight. When I unloaded up there 2 weeks ago on a Saturday, there was close to 200 of our trucks sitting there over the weekend. Took 3 days to get moving. Since then, I have not had to wait that long. Maine had me a load, then one out of Virginia, then out of St Louis, then South Georgia. Had the loads sent to me not long after being ready for dispatch. It is up and down and just depends on where you are. This company is very good about getting freight. Some places that is just not enough now a days.

Will be headed home by next Monday. Have a couple of doctor appointments in Houston during the week to check out problem with my ear. Going to do a CT scan to see if my head is about to explode yet or not.

Moving South

I made my delivery to Cincinnati early in the morning and they gave me a load that was supposed to be ready at 5pm that evening. Was going to have all day to set so went to nearest truck stop about 15 miles north of town. At noon they sent me a message that the load was ready to go, so I headed into town to pick it up. Turns out it had been ready for about 12 hours and dispatch just found out about it.

The load went to Keebler in Brunswick, GA and delivered on Friday. I got there Thursday afternoon and had time to clean up and rest. I delivered the Keebler load at 8am and they gave me my next load to pick up in Jacksonville, FL later that afternoon going to Ardmore, OK. This load was ready early too so I got it picked up at 2pm. This gave me time to get most of the way across Florida before shutting down.

I woke up this morning with a flat tire on the trailer. Breakdown department sent me to a tire shop in Pensacola, FL and gave me the address and directions. Well I got there and there was a nice big new Church sitting at that address. So I have to call breakdown back, another 10 min wait on the hold. They looked it up on a cross reference and found they had a new place 4 miles back north. I got here a few minutes later and being Saturday morning, they are closed. So another call to breakdown, this time 20 min on hold. Said they would call someone out to fix tire and would send me a message when they would be here. I'm still waiting. Looks like another call coming up, probably be a 30 min wait now. Nice hot and HUMID here in Pensacola I'm telling ya!! Especially after the rain shower that just went over.

Moving Slowly

They finally got me in the shop late Wednesday night and got my service done. They found other things to be repaired so I slept in the truck over night and they took it back into the shop in the morning. Finally got the truck back at noon on Thursday. Got a load about 4pm that afternoon to pick up in Harrisonburg, VA Friday night. So I drove down and waited. It was a 3 hour drive.

The next day I laid around all day and went over early to get the load, about 5 hours early. They had it loaded, but had not finished the paperwork on it yet. That took another 2 1/2 hours to get. I finally got on the road at 8:30pm and drove over just north of Beckly, WV on I-77. Spent the night there and made it to East Saint Louis, IL on Saturday evening at 8 pm. I had 2 drops in northwest St. Louis, MO on Monday morning. I had another day and a half to set.

When unloaded Monday, I was given a load sitting on the drop lot in East St. Louis that had 2 drops. The first is in Indianapolis on Tuesday morning, and the last drop is in Cincinnati on Wednesday morning. Will have 350 miles over 2 days, not much, but at least moving. Seems to be precious little of that lately. Ohio freight has been slow too, so that should be interesting.

Bangor

Picked up the load out of Newark, NJ around 8pm Monday night and had to drive through the night so I could make a 6:30am delivery on Tuesday. Stopped in Milford, CT to get fuel a little before midnight. Found out that when I inadvertently bump into the pump lever and turn off the fueling, I got problems. The fuel island was very narrow at this truck stop, and while trying to clean my mirrors I backed up close to the pump and pushed in the lever turning off the pump with only 49 gallons going into the tanks.

Well this wasn't enough since I needed another 80 gallons to finish filling up. They have this little rule with comdata cards that you can't fuel twice within 2 hours. So I had to call dispatch to have them call comdata to over ride my mistake so I could get the rest of my fuel. Ended up taking 45 minutes on a normal 15 minute fuel stop.

I got into Bangor, ME right at when I needed to, but had to drive non stop from Connecticut to Bangor, a trip of around 6 hours. I got unloaded and they gave me a load of rolled paper out of Skowhegan, ME going back down to Hagerstown, MD. This is pretty much all they make in Maine is paper, lot of trees. This gave me time to take a 10 hour break, but being in the middle of the day, I never got to sleep. Doesn't matter how tired I am, I can't sleep in the day time. I got the load and headed south, rains starting up. I was going to stop along the way and take another break, but my truck started acting up.

I was about 5000 miles overdue for my truck service since I couldn't get by a shop. With these trucks if you go too long after needing service your fuel filter is going to start plugging up...well surprise. A stopped up fuel filter and a heavy load don't go together, especially in hills. I was dragging down to 20 mph going up the hills. Anyway, I got into our terminal in New Kingstown, PA at 6am and had to give up the load and try to get into the shop. So here I sit.

Here are a few pictures along the way just south of Bangor.

Still in PA

Sat near Allentown, PA all weekend. They gave me a load offer last night that picks up later tonight in Newark, NJ. Will still be sitting here all day, and worse will have to drive all night up to Bangor, ME to deliver on Tuesday morning. Don't like over night runs, but really going up I-95 through NYC, Hartford, Boston area, it will be much better at night. Bangor is about the last medium size city going north into Maine. Maybe can get some good New England clam chowder this time up.

Will have to see if I can get a nap this afternoon, usually hard for me to do, but all I can do is try.

Wonderful Pennslyvania

Got the load to Lexington, KY delivered on Thursday morning and had to wait until Thursday night to pick up a load there in Lexington going to Quakertown, PA. This is about 15 miles south of Allentown, not a good place to go.

Dropped the load on Saturday morning and came to a screeching halt. Freight dried up. I am still sitting here on Sunday and got a message from dispatch, nothing going until possibly tomorrow, and right now that didn't look promising. The parking lot has our company trucks sitting everywhere. Will end up sitting here in one place for 3 to 4 days. Economy is really kicking in now looks like.

On the Road Again

Well, I'm back in the truck alone again. Corey and I had a good month together. Worked him hard at home rebuilding the fence behind the house. Couldn't do but about 4 hours a day since was around 102 degrees each day. Took him home on Monday and went to the ENT on my ear ache. Seems my right ear has closed back up again, scarred down as he put it. Kind of thought my hearing had gotten worse over last year. Will have some tests next week and see what to do next.

Picked up a load In Kilgore, TX going to Lexington, KY for tomorrow delivery. Nice up here today, temperature in the 70's, can't beat that. Have a load of bottle caps for jam jars going to JM Smucker Co.

Trip with Corey June/July 2009

Well, we have made it back home. Corey was with me for most of a month this time around. I let him have control of the camera and now will post his pictures. Not consistent on getting some shots everyday, but it shows what he was interested in. Several airplanes for one. Mountains for another. He got some rather good shots in some areas, a little blurry in others.

Since being home I have been mending fences in the back of the property where some trees had cut and laid them down. Our renters have horses on the lot so I needed to get it repaired. Worked two partial days since it has been over 100+ all week. Got it done though. Hope you enjoy Corey's pictures, I will be going to Houston for a Doctor appointment tomorrow and return Corey to his home. I will be leaving out again on Tuesday.

Still in Missouri

This is the day I was supposed to get home, but due to a snafu in the computer world I'm still working 800 miles from home. The way the system works you call your home terminal and give them the day you want to get home. They send you a confirmation on the qualcom satellite system and also place the information of approved home time on your screen so that the dispatchers can see it. Then as it gets closer to time to head home you send a message to the dispatcher in the region you are going into with a message that you need your next load to go home.

Well, it works when the message actually gets on your screen for the dispatchers to see. If that approval message hasn't been put on your screen by your home terminal then you can beg dispatch until you are blue in the face to get home, and you aren't getting there. I should have known that I had a problem when I called the terminal for approval, and the lady I usually talk to handed me off to a new girl that needed the "experience". Well bunk. She took the information and sent me a confirmation, but....she didn't put it on my screen. Then a long holiday weekend. I'm sending messages, I need next load to go home, and I'm getting nothing back from dispatch. They sent me over to Fulton, MO with a load after Harrisonville, MO, and I'm getting concerned because here it is Monday. Supposed to be home Tuesday. Have doctor appointment on Thursday and dentist on Friday. About mid day while waiting for a load I send a message to dispatch "It is on my screen about my home time isn't it?" NO!!!!!! it isn't.

So now I'm on phone to assistant fleet manager at home terminal. He is looking desperately through computer trying to find me something headed home, even loads to swap with other drivers. Nothing. Finally late in the day Monday they give me a load that loads late today going to Houston, but it doesn't deliver until Thursday morning. Can't deliver and go home, and get back to Houston for the doctor appointment. So Pat is on the phone for me trying to reschedule my appointments to fit my time home. Got lucky. Not normally the case, but thank goodness.

It is not normally this much trouble to get home on the day you need to be home. Was a "falling through the cracks" deal that I caught late because of a long holiday weekend. That is usually the time I get messed up on this job, is when I can't get in touch with home terminal for some help.

Still have loads of pictures to upload that Corey has been taking on the trip. My PC card is going bad I believe, I haven't been able to make a good connection for my computer in quite a while, and it is worse than dial up lately. So not much reason to try and upload them until we get home.

Happy 4th of July

Hope everyone has had a happy and safe 4th of July. We delivered the JIT load in Oklahoma arriving about 2 hours early for delivery. After getting unloaded went to a truck stop near by and bedded down until next morning. They gave me a load out of Muskogee, OK going up near Chicago. The load had a Monday delivery and since it was only Thursday I was supposed to drop the load at the drop yard in East St Louis, IL. When I got there there was no place to drop the trailer. Our company had about a dozen spots designated at the drop yard for our trailers and they were all full, and there were other drivers there looking for a place to drop theirs. There was not a single empty trailer there either. After one hour they told me to go ahead and take the load up to Romeoville, IL drop yard, which was only about 1 mile from where the load delivered. I got there at 10am Friday and dropped the load, and no empty trailers there either. After I got there about 5 more of our drivers came in too. I finally got a load to pick up Saturday morning going down near Kansas City, MO in Harrisonville. I am sitting near there now. Will deliver the load to Walmart Sunday morning and do a drop and hook. Hopefully will get a load headed to the house from there.

Indiana, Kentucky, Texas

Picked up a load from a packaging company in Ft. Wayne and took to a Kelloggs plant in Kimper, KY. It is out in the coal country of SE Kentucky about 10 miles out of Pikeville. It was a drop there as is all their inbound loads. Since it is so far off the beaten path, we normally get a load out of there going somewhere else. Just may have to wait a day for it to be loaded. We unloaded early and had to wait 24 hours for our load out. It went down near Athens, GA. It did not deliver until Monday night and this was Saturday, so they let me drop it at the Marietta, GA terminal. That would have been a long wait on a 360 mile load if they hadn't.

We next went down to LaGrange, GA and picked up a load from Kimberly Clark going to Kimberly Clark in Paris, TX. From there down to Mt Vernon, TX with a load out of a Lowe's distribution center going to a Lowe's store in Midland, TX. We are now under a JIT (just in time) load of plastic bottles going to a Coca Cola plant in Oklahoma. It is a load that has to be delivered at a specific time because they take it off the truck and send it straight into the production line. You miss one of these appointments you really upset the apple cart. Everyone gets upset. So I will try to keep everyone happy.

Indiana

I did make it up in time to get through Baltimore and DC before got too bad. Although coming into Baltimore on I-95 the four lanes went down to one for construction. Even at 4am it was a mess. So lost 15 minutes there. Stopped in Baltimore at my fuel stop and was underway by 5:30am, got around DC and down near Richmond where we stopped and cleaned up at a truck stop. Then made our delivery down at Williamsburg, VA at 10am.

As soon as we were unloaded they gave me a load from Anheuser-Busch down the street going to Fort Wayne, IN. It was not supposed to be ready until 11pm at night. I called their automated phone line to check the status of the load and it was loaded at 9am and ready. We went by and picked it up and hit the road. Got to White Sulphur Springs, WV for the night. Very pretty area. Nice restaurant there and got hamburger steak, two vegetables, bread, coffee for $5.50. Don't get a deal like that very often and everything home cooked.

Left out early this morning and made it into Fort Wayne at 3pm. Will deliver load of beer in the morning and go again.

Jersey

Didn't make the delivery to North Carolina on Saturday. When it came my time to load at the shipper they inspected the trailer and found it had a small pinhole where a screw had come out that held the upper marker light in. Some driver before me had covered it with duct tape on the inside and I didn't know it was there. The sun was shining so bright you could see the small light through the tape so they rejected the trailer. Since I was loading rolls of paper they were being pretty picky. So after waiting in line to get loaded for 2 hours I had to pull out and drive 20 minutes away to a trailer shop to get it repaired. Then I returned to the shipper to get loaded again. From time I first got to the shipper until I finally got loaded it took me almost 5 hours. That didn't leave me enough time to make the customer with the load before 2pm then next day. They were open on Sunday too, so I was sitting there when they opened up.

Once I got unloaded Sunday morning they gave me a load sitting on their drop yard in Greensboro, NC going to Edison, NJ for Monday morning delivery. It was drop and hook and got the load drove up around Washington, DC, through Baltimore and to Carneys Point, NJ by evening. Carneys Point is at the base of the Deleware Memorial Bridge separating Deleware and New Jersey.

Delivered the load in Edison this morning at 7am and waited for 4 hours until they gave me a load to pick up in Newburgh, NY. This was another rush job which barely gave me enough time to run up there to get the load before they closed at 2pm. Made it with 10 minutes to spare. Got the load and back down to Maryland and will deliver down in Williamsburg, VA tomorrow as soon as I can get there. Will get up at 3am so can get down through Baltimore and DC before morning rush gets heavy. Corey has been taking loads of pictures, got several of the Empire State Building. Will try to load them in next day or two.

To North Carolina and more May Pics

We delivered a load of aluminum cans from Rome, GA to warehouse next to Anheuser-Busch plant in downtown St. Louis, MO. After getting unloaded they sent us next door to pick up a load of Busch Light beer going to Montgomery, AL. The load was not supposed to be ready until midnight and it was 4:30pm when we got unloaded. Busch has a call in number that you can call before you go in there that is automated. It tells you if the load is ready or not and on what trailer it is loaded. I called the number and it had just finished loading at 4:07pm, so we drove next door and picked up the load.

It was supposed to deliver to the Budweiser distributor on Friday, but since I got the load early we pushed hard to Montgomery. They don't take appointments, they are first come first serve delivery from 8am to 4pm. We got in there at 3:15pm so I was able to get unloaded Thursday afternoon.

After unloading they sent me a load offer, but it didn't deliver until Monday 225 miles away, they quickly sent me another offer saying it would work better. Still delivered Monday 500 miles away. They followed up with 2 offers that delivered over the weekend. It was bam, bam, bam on the offers. They apologized for the confusion, but didn't help my confusion much.

Anyway, ended up with a load that picks up in Demopolis, AL west of Montgomery going to North Carolina and delivers on Saturday.

Below are some pictures returning from the Maine trip. Trip through Connecticut across the GW bridge in NYC, and around loop in Washighton, DC.

May/June Trip Pictures

These are the pictures I took while on the road in May 2009. I did not have my USB cable with me so could not upload the pictures. I stayed out 5 weeks so it covers a lot and I did not take that many pictures except on the northeast trip to Maine and trip to Wisconsin. The pictures of Maine are not that representative of the state. I just went into Portland, ME on the southeast end of the state, and all I got to see was the scenery along I-95 for the most part. Upstate and along the coast are a lot prettier.

I left out on June 14 on this trip out and Corey came with me. At the end of the album is a picture of Corey all ready and excited to go on the morning we left.

Back at it

We got away from home on Sunday, picked up a load of water and delivered in Brookhaven, MS. Then went to Pelahatchie, MS and picked up a load of packaging going to Sara Lee bakery in Rome, GA. I say a load, it was only 5 pallets. Pays the same though. Got that off Tuesday morning and then we picked up a load of aluminum cans there in Rome going to St. Louis that we deliver this afternoon. Getting a lot of next day deliveries and hoping for something a little longer when empty today. Probably not though, once you get into these regional load offers can't seem to get out the whole time I'm out. Go home and hope for better the next month usually.

Working on the pictures from last month and hope to get them up today or tomorrow. Didn't take a whole lot since I didn't have the USB cable with me. It is hard sometimes to remember exactly where the pictures were taken, but believe I still remember the ones I have.

Back to work

I got home on Tuesday and went right to work on the house. Had to go down and purchase a airless paint sprayer, wasn't too much more to buy a good one than to rent it. All the other stuff to go with it though wasn't cheap.

Spent Wednesday scraping and pressure washing the house again. Something I paid another deadbeat to do, and I had to redo. Started in Friday to paint early, but ended up making some more repairs once pulled the skirting down. Ended up after 8 hours getting the first coat on the house. It is all one color now anyway. Went back to work today and have grandson Corey with me.

Have some pictures from last month to get posted later also, and will get some of Corey on here too. First load out I picked up load of Ozarka water in bottles to go to a Walmart DC in Mississippi.

Houston again and home

I got into Houston this afternoon. Got to rest a little this afternoon and have an early morning delivery at the local Keebler distributor. Once done with that will head to the house to make preparations to get it painted. Will be long week at home, and will leave out again on next Sunday so I can get rested again.

GA-TX-GA-TX

After unloading my last drop I was given a load of insulation to pick up in Winder, GA going to Houston, TX which I delivered on Friday morning early. Once empty they gave me a load from Walmart Import center out at Baytown, TX going to their Walmart DC in Brookhaven, MS. Unloaded that this morning and was given a load out of Georgia Pacific in Zachary, LA going back to LaGrange, GA. Supposed to drop that in the morning at another Walmart DC. They supposedly have me preplanned on a load out of just south of there going back to Houston for a Tuesday delivery. This will get me home sometime on Tuesday.

Will have a dentist appointment on Wednesday morning, and then decide how to go about getting the house painted in 3 days. Will leave back out again on Sunday the 13th. Corey should be there by then and going with me. Also have some more fence to work on. May get back to my living room one of these days.

Deliveries

I got up a 2:30 am and drove across the street to the first drop. They have a stop sign going into the place, I stopped then drove into the lot which had very little room to park. I went in to check in and they asked me where my gate pass was, I asked what gate. Seems they have a guard that sits in his pickup out by the stop sign and checks you in and gives you a door to back into. Then you go check in with the lady in receiving. Well, he had taken the moment I arrived to be his bathroom break and was no where around. The sign didn't say "stop and stay" just "stop", I had done that. Well, when I went on in, two more trucks arrived and came right in behind me. That presented a problem because you couldn't back around the curve to get out. The guy that was behind me was backing in and the space is so tight he got into the guard rail protecting the fence. Anyway, being the professionals we are, we got sorted out ourselves and told the keystone guard to go take another break.

I had 5 pallets for the first drop and it took them about 10 minutes to get the pallets off. Took another 75 minutes for the receiver to come around and check in the 5 pallets and sign my paperwork. This almost made me late getting to my second appointment 60 miles away. But I made it. This was a much smaller operation and I was only one of 3 trucks there. They wanted to know if I wanted to hire a lumper to pull the 5 pallets off. I said I can do that, thinking I would earn a few extra bucks to pull the 5 pallets off at this stop. They only give you a manual pump up jack to pull it off with, truck drivers aren't supposed to be intelligent enough to operate an electric jack. Plus if we did that the lumpers wouldn't get their money. Problem was, the trailer was pointed down hill, which meant I had to pull the 2000# pallets up hill. In my younger days I did that a lot with Color Tile. I got 1 pallet up the hill and went and found the lumper. Charged me $50 to pull the other 4 pallets off. The previous place charged $15 to do the same thing. Makes you want to scream. Glad it is the shipper's money.

After this stop I drove over to Marietta terminal and sat the rest of the day, and attended the safety classes today. I will spend another day here on the yard rather than fight my way across Atlanta at 4pm and just leave at 8am to go make last drop. I will head home next week, and Corey (grandson) should be going back out with me for 3 weeks. May have to start painting the house when I get in. What fun.

Georgia

I got up and drove over to our terminal in Marietta Saturday morning and dropped my load off there. They turned around and offered me 3 loads to choose from, every single one of them were 500 or more miles away and delivered on 6/1 or 6/2. Had to remind him I was supposed to be in Marietta on night of 6/1 for the safety class on Tuesday. So they gave me a load off the yard that had been dropped earlier to be delivered to Petsmart DC in Newnan, GA at 8am Sunday morning. So I picked it up, drove to Newnan to a truck stop there and sat until Sunday morning.

I delivered to Petsmart this morning, full load of dog food. They next gave me a load on the Marietta yard again, another dropped load. It has 3 drops on it going to 3 different grocery warehouses, my favorite places. First stop in Athens, GA, just across the street from where I am right now at 4am tomorrow. The second drop is in Suwanee, GA back toward Atlanta at 7:30am tomorrow. After that drop I go back to Marietta, set until get class out of the way Tuesday, then drive back over just down the street from my second drop and drop the final 13 pallets Wednesday morning at 10am. I guess they planned that just for me.

No TV reception in this hick town, so I guess I play solitaire until go to bed.

Long Week

Well, never intended to get this far behind on my blog. When made the last post I was expecting to be sitting for awhile, but they gave me a load to pick up the next morning in Granite City, IL, across the river from St. Louis. It was a Proctor & Gamble load going to a grocery warehouse in Albertville, AL and delivered on Memorial Day. Was a bit surprised by that, usually they are closed on holidays.

Once I delivered that on Monday morning, they gave me a load from Krannert, GA, near Rome, going to Newtown, CT. This was load of rolled paperboard out of International Paper. The rolls are about 3500 lbs a piece and had 13 of them on the truck. Had a fast trip to get there on Wednesday morning.

Once unloaded there they sent me over to Norwich, CT, all the way over on the other side of Connecticut, 88 miles away. It was a load of copper tubing. Expensive stuff. Had 6 pallets of this weighing about 7000 lbs a piece. They put 3 in the nose of the trailer and 3 in the rear so it will even out on the axels. The load went to a customer in Claremont, NC. I made it to Milford, CT around 1pm and was about out of hours for the day, since I had started out at 3am. There are few truck stops in Connecticut, and a lot of trucks looking to park. This one is the last before going through New York City going south. The trucks were lined up out on the street trying to get in. I bypassed them and went to a tiny truck stop next door and found a spot to park. This place was a dump next to the Pilot everyone was trying to get into next door, but I just wanted to go to bed.

I got up at 2am and drove to the Pilot, got my fuel and drove through NYC before traffic got bad. I made it down to Mount Airy, NC (Mayberry) and spent the night. Got up this morning and delivered 80 miles down the road. They then gave me a short load out of Kelloggs in Charlotte, NC going down to Augusta, GA. I picked this load up and delivered it at 3pm, and they gave me another load out of same place going to Missouri for a Monday delivery. Since I have to be in Marietta to take a safety class on Tuesday, I will have to drop the load in the morning in Marietta. I hope to get some short loads over the weekend to keep busy.

They had a Krystal hamburger place next door. Used to love those things when growing up, anyway stocked up on them for supper.

I

Iowa

I got to Walmart this morning early and dropped the load. They had already warned me yesterday afternoon they didn't have any loads. Told me again a bit ago. After dropping my load I had to drive 20 miles north of Mount Pleasant, IA to the nearest truck stop to find parking. Doesn't look good for the weekend. I will probably be stuck here for awhile.

If they don't come up with a load offer before 1 or 2 pm today, it may be Tuesday before I get something. Where I am sitting in Ainsworth, IA, I can see the truck stop I am sitting in and corn fields in every direction. I have 2 tv stations I can pick up and a weak computer signal. I guess I will watch the complete 5 disk collection of Harry Potter this weekend.

Happy Memorial Day. Remember the Veterans this weekend, and especially the ones who gave all their tomorrows so that you may enjoy this day. Take a moment to read about my great uncle and the sacrifice he made for all of us this weekend. PFC Hollis A. Cloyd, the link is below.

http://76thdivision.com/indexhac.html

Green Bay

I got to my delivery in Eau Claire at 3pm this afternoon. Was a drop and hook at Menard's Distribution Center. Was in and out in less than 30 minutes. They gave me another load as soon as I was unloaded. So far I have had 2 good weeks now. They gave me a load that picked up in Green Bay, WI, it is about 200 miles from Eau Claire and I made it to a truck stop about 30 miles from where I pick up.

The load is at Georgia Pacific on Lombardi street about a couple of blocks from where the Packers try to play their football. Ain't the same without Brett Favre.

The load goes to WalMart in Mt. Pleasant, IA and will deliver Saturday morning. Nice and comfortable up here, mostly cloudy with some showers today. High in the upper 60s and down to the 40s tonight. Good sleeping weather. Wisconsin is a beautiful state, especially in the northern areas. The trees are much like the ones in Maine last week. Kind of things that grow where it's too cold to live, at least if you have any sense.

Hello Wisconsin

Made my delivery at Colonial Heights, VA outside Richmond. I was told by dispatch that they opened at midnight Sunday night and you can deliver 24 hours up to Friday at midnight. Since I was parked just down the street I got up at midnight and drove around the block to the customer. Alas!!! They actually opened at 3pm on Sunday for the week, and there were 20 trucks in there. Eight in the docks and 8 waiting. I checked in and parked and waited. Waited. Waited some more. Seems at 1 am every time a truck would pull out of a dock they would stick one of their empty trailers in that dock for loading. They kept doing that until 8 am. I did not get into a dock door until 9am and did not leave the customer until 10:30am. Had been there 10 1/2 hours. Ended up with very little sleep and still had to get down close to Macon before taking my break so I could get to the other customer drop rest of the load, and still have hours to pick up another load.

I made it to Columbia, SC, which is about 6 1/2 hour drive in my truck. Remember my truck only goes 61 mph. Rough when all the southern states have speed limits of 70 mph. Hard not to get run over.

I slept a full 9 hours that night, a rarity for me. Left Columbia around 9 am and got to the customer one hour before my appointment. They put me right into a dock, and since I only had 5 pallets of beer for them, I was done in 15 minutes. One of the cases of Micolob Ultra slid off the top of the pallet and so had to sweep up the broken bottle. Got another load rather quickly picking up down the street from where I was in Macon going to Eau Claire, WI.

This worked out good, because it delivered anytime on Thursday up to midnight. This gave me time to drop by the Marietta terminal and get my truck serviced. They got me done Wednesday morning by 9am and I was off. I made it to Champaign, IL last night and now will go on up to Eau Claire, about 7 1/2 hours, and drop this load.

Virginia

I made it into a Pilot truck stop about 1/2 mile from where I deliver my first drop on Monday morning. In Colonial Heights, VA on the south side of Richmond. I started out from Sturbridge, MA around 4:30am yesterday.

I stopped in Milford, CT for fuel and then came on down I-95 through the Bronx on the Cross Bronx expressway. This is the main road through NYC and leads you to the infamous George Washington Bridge. Some days it has taken me up to one and a half hours to go the 3 or 4 miles across the Bronx, and across the bridge and into New Jersey. Yesterday morning, being a Saturday, I breezed right through. Still have to go reasonably slow though, or the pot holes will knock a wheel off. I must say that it is smoother through there than in years past though.

I have got to get me a transfer cable for my camera to download these pictures I have, maybe this next week sometime.

From NYC I came down the Jersey Turnpike the length of New Jersey, across the Deleware Memorial Bridge, across the 17 miles of Deleware and into Maryland. Stopped just inside Maryland and got me a $5 footlong at Subway using my driver's points at the Pilot. The points that they put on my Pilot card for fueling. They give you 1 point for each gallon of fuel purchased. You can then use the card to purchase things in their store. I usually let mine build up then start cashing them in for footlongs. I can half one and make 2 meals out of it.

Didn't want to stay there too long, because I needed to get on through Baltimore before the traffic got heavy going over to the Preakness. Went through downtown Baltimore around noon, through the McHenry tunnel, 40 miles to Washington, DC and around the loop on the east side and into Virginia. I got to Colonial Heights around 2:30pm with a driving time of 9 hours.

I will deliver my first drop here in the morning, then will drive to Macon, GA to drop my last part of load there on Tuesday afternoon. I did get to watch the Preakness. Mine That Bird almost did it. I thought it was interesting the kick he had to come from behind. He came within 3/4 length of catching the filly, and he was just a gelding. What was he going to do if he did catch her???

Back south

Well I made my delivery last night OK. They had posted on their window in the warehouse what the parking options were around Portland, ME. Wasn't much considering it was midnight when I got out of there. They don't let you park on their city streets.

The first option was a service plaza on the Maine Turnpike back southbound about 20 miles. It was full when I came up north about 3 hours earlier. The second was north on the turnpike about 20 miles. I looked at it on Google Earth and it only had about 5 spaces for truck parking, so I ruled that one out for that time of night. The last was a rest area on I-295 north of Portland. That interstate is not as traveled as the turnpike was, so I headed up that way and hoped for the best. It was a small rest area and had about 10 spaces for trucks, 3 of them available. Lucky me. Ten minutes after I parked the other spaces were gone too.

They finally gave me a load offer about noon today that picked up in Devens, MA which is next to Harvard. Came out of Anheuser-Busch and has two drops, one in Richmond, VA and the last in Macon, GA. Nice sunny drive this afternoon and the traffic around Boston wasn't too bad. No tie ups anyway. Got back to Sturbridge, MA and got a spot for the night and will take off in the morning and try to make it down near Richmond tomorrow afternoon. Will have to go down through NYC in the morning and try getting across the GW bridge again. This time it is Saturday so maybe won't be too bad in the morning.

Have a good weekend.

Missed a few days

I'm not keeping up here, been busy for a change. Actually going to run out of hours tonight, at a bad time as usual.

From Atlanta they sent me down to Columbus, GA to pick up a load from Keebler going to Kelloggs distributor in Gardner, IL. That is south of Chicago on I-55. Got in there on Sunday, was a strange situation. One of the deals where you go in and drop your load and pick up an empty, write on the bills the time and date you dropped it and leave because no one there on Sunday. Problem arose with dealing with weekend dispatch. You can't break Kelloggs seals for any reason and they won't ok it, but the load had to be dropped in the dock, had to break seal to open door and back it in. Sunday dispatcher told me to back the trailer in and drop with doors closed. So I did. I go down to their drop lot pick up an empty trailer and about to leave and the owner of the place drives in, checks the dock comes over and tells me I'm supposed to open the doors and drop in door. Duh!!

Well I told him you sign the bill with seal intact and I will do that. So I dropped empty pulled out the loaded trailer broke seal laid in back, backed in and dropped, pulled out another empty from another dock door, because he asked me to, dropped it in lot, and got my empty back. Now I'm ready to go to a Wal Mart DC near Peru, IL to pick up a load going to Wal Mart DC in Midway, TN which is near Greeneville.

I go in and get the load and get near Bloomington, IL for the night, and down to Middlesboro, KY the next night. This is just below Cumberland Gap, the junction of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee where Daniel Boone widened an Indian trail through the Cumberland Mountains to get to the other side, where the question came from, why did the chicken cross the road?

No cell signal in Middlesboro so did not get on computer. Delivered to Wal Mart the next morning and got a load to pick up at Conagra in Newport, TN going to South Portland, ME. Got the load and made it to Harrisonburg, VA for the night and got up the next morning to try to make it up close to the Connecticut/Massachusetts line. I don't deliver until 10 pm Thursday night, so need to get close enough to drive on in there just before appointment.

Everything going fine until get in to New Jersey and they start talking about the George Washington bridge being closed. Come to find out there was a fuel spill on the upper deck. The deck east bound crosses on, my direction. So have to make hasty decision to go another direction, not a lot of choices to get across the Hudson River in a truck without going many miles. I ran up I-287 north around and across the Tappan Zee bridge north of the GW bridge. Supposed to bring me back down to I-95 which will get me back on my route going up to Maine. Well now they say there was accident up near Milbury, CT, and that it happened over night with fatalities and the freeway had been closed for 12 hours and was still closed. Can imagine what a mess that was going to be. So another route change on the fly. Took I-684 north to I-84 and took that into Hartford, CT, and back on route again. Made it to Sturbridge, MA, about the last truck stop in the northeast before Boston.

The tricky part is that I leave here at 5pm headed up to South Portland, ME. Will be about 3 hour drive or 166 miles through evening traffic and rain. Will have 5 hours to make it so will see. Once unloaded the problem begins, it will be near midnight and only truck stops in Maine are about 50 miles further north. Imagine that. South Maine where all the people and businesses are, no place to park. Go up in the freeking woods with all the meese, and they are speckled around up there.

Usually when I come up here will get a load of paper out up around Bangor, or that direction. If they give me something with a direction that will be great. If they don't will be roaming around Maine til morning. Unless the customer will let me park there after unloaded. Looking at lot from Google Earth, don't look like a possibility. Kind of small. Will see....stay tuned.

Sorry Eric, couldn't find a Zaxbys with truck parking. Why I have to eat turkey sandwiches every day. I did see a sign for one though.