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.