Spent the night in Hudson, WI just across from Minnesota. I had stopped here to fuel and then went to bed. I had been adding fuel additive to my tanks the day before to keep fuel from gelling up on me because the temperatures had been around zero even during the day. Even with the truck stops treating their fuel, I don't trust it at the temperature.
I got up the next morning and added my last jug of additive before leaving out because it had gotten down below zero that night and I thought it was supposed to stay in the upper teens. Surprise to me. I took off about 4 am headed east to Indiana and about 50 miles down the road I started bogging down on the hills. I was losing power and on every hill I was dropping 2 extra gears over what I normally would have. I knew pretty quick I had a fuel filter clogging up.
Had to go into a shop to get the filter changed in Tomah, WI (Ft. McCoy is about 20 miles away, where Hollis Cloyd joined up with the 76th Division in August 1942). Sure nuff I had ice crystals stopping the fuel line, the mechanic added additive to clear them out. I had added the fuel additive I had too late and should have put it in when I fueled the night before. Should have watched the weather report closer.
Went on down through Chicago to around Gary, IN and spent the night there. I delivered the load early Friday morning and they had me run over to Valparaiso, IN to pick up product going up to Milwaukee, WI to deliver to a Coca Cola bottling company there at 4pm that afternoon.
Once I delivered that load I ran up the road about 10 mile north of Milwaukee to nearest truck stop. I picked up a load of cans Saturday morning about a mile from where I delivered the load Friday evening going to Dandridge, TN for delivery on Monday morning. They will be used for Bush's Baked Beans there.
Tonight I am in Richmond, KY just south of Lexington, KY. I will stay here until early Monday morning and drive on down to make my delivery. Only in the 20s so maybe can thaw out. Will be high 30s tomorrow, may have to lay out and get a tan.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
North Woods & Icy Ponds
After delivering my load Monday morning in Camp Hill, PA I went down to Carlisle, PA to pick up a load of tires going to Brainerd, MN. This is about 60 miles north of St. Cloud, MN, sort of dead center of Minnesota. Had a few snow showers across northern Indiana and up in Wisconsin, but for the most part it was a good trip.
Spent the first night on the Ohio toll way south west of Cleveland. The next night I made it over near Eau Claire, WI. Cold front came through that night and dropped the temperatures from a nice sunny 38 degrees to -6 degrees Wednesday morning.
I got up at 4am and headed over into Minnesota, got through the Twin Cities before rush hour and was up at St. Cloud by sunrise. The winds had died down over night with the passage of the cold front so the negative temperatures were not nearly so bad. Have to take care to treat my diesel fuel in these temperatures to keep it from gelling on me. The truck stops will treat their fuel for the cold temperatures, but I will add my own additive when the temperatures get into the low single digits and lower. Feel safer that way. Never been stuck on the side of the road with jelly in my fuel tanks and don't care to start.
After delivery in Brainerd, MN this morning, they sent me over to Wahpeton, ND, which is 40 miles or so south of Fargo, and I picked up a load of particle board material going to northern Indiana. It was a beautiful trip over the 2 lane roads to North Dakota. Frozen lakes and woods, farm land (it was frozen too) all snow covered. The roads were completely dry and had a bright sunny sky. Easy to see how snow blindness could be a problem. Drive for miles and go through a small farming town ever so often with a population of about 75 people. Who the heck lives up here!!! High temperature for the day is 3 degrees.
When I arrived they had one of our trailers already in the dock and almost had it loaded. I was hooked up and gone within the hour. Drove back over into Minnesota and hopped on I-94 headed back east to the Twin Cities again. I got just over into Wisconsin, got fuel at my fuel stop and shut down for the night. It will be back down to a low of about 5 degrees tonight, not quite so cold. At least I'm not over in eastern Pennsylvania again, nor'easter went through there today, another one.
Spent the first night on the Ohio toll way south west of Cleveland. The next night I made it over near Eau Claire, WI. Cold front came through that night and dropped the temperatures from a nice sunny 38 degrees to -6 degrees Wednesday morning.
I got up at 4am and headed over into Minnesota, got through the Twin Cities before rush hour and was up at St. Cloud by sunrise. The winds had died down over night with the passage of the cold front so the negative temperatures were not nearly so bad. Have to take care to treat my diesel fuel in these temperatures to keep it from gelling on me. The truck stops will treat their fuel for the cold temperatures, but I will add my own additive when the temperatures get into the low single digits and lower. Feel safer that way. Never been stuck on the side of the road with jelly in my fuel tanks and don't care to start.
After delivery in Brainerd, MN this morning, they sent me over to Wahpeton, ND, which is 40 miles or so south of Fargo, and I picked up a load of particle board material going to northern Indiana. It was a beautiful trip over the 2 lane roads to North Dakota. Frozen lakes and woods, farm land (it was frozen too) all snow covered. The roads were completely dry and had a bright sunny sky. Easy to see how snow blindness could be a problem. Drive for miles and go through a small farming town ever so often with a population of about 75 people. Who the heck lives up here!!! High temperature for the day is 3 degrees.
When I arrived they had one of our trailers already in the dock and almost had it loaded. I was hooked up and gone within the hour. Drove back over into Minnesota and hopped on I-94 headed back east to the Twin Cities again. I got just over into Wisconsin, got fuel at my fuel stop and shut down for the night. It will be back down to a low of about 5 degrees tonight, not quite so cold. At least I'm not over in eastern Pennsylvania again, nor'easter went through there today, another one.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Sunday Rest
OK, snow doesn't actually stink, unless it is yellow.
Got up the next morning and the high winds and snow had moved on. West Virginia had gotten their roads cleared off over night so I had wet and dry roads on down to Kentucky. I made my delivery in London on Saturday morning early and they sent me up to get some cardboard packaging materials in Nicholasville, KY which is just south of Lexington.
Sun was out and temperatures back up in the 40's, which is nice. The load is going right back to Harrisburg, PA for a Monday delivery. I made it to Hagerstown, MD by 7pm Saturday night. I am about 70 miles from my delivery and have enough time to just set for the day. Supposed to be some snow showers moving in in the morning, but with temperatures rising it is going to change back to rain for a change. That will be nice. Rain has been hard to find lately even in the south.
I'm not planning on going home until around March 12th. Corey (grandson) is supposed to come up during spring break. Try to be home while he is there. Be almost spring time by then, I hope.
Got up the next morning and the high winds and snow had moved on. West Virginia had gotten their roads cleared off over night so I had wet and dry roads on down to Kentucky. I made my delivery in London on Saturday morning early and they sent me up to get some cardboard packaging materials in Nicholasville, KY which is just south of Lexington.
Sun was out and temperatures back up in the 40's, which is nice. The load is going right back to Harrisburg, PA for a Monday delivery. I made it to Hagerstown, MD by 7pm Saturday night. I am about 70 miles from my delivery and have enough time to just set for the day. Supposed to be some snow showers moving in in the morning, but with temperatures rising it is going to change back to rain for a change. That will be nice. Rain has been hard to find lately even in the south.
I'm not planning on going home until around March 12th. Corey (grandson) is supposed to come up during spring break. Try to be home while he is there. Be almost spring time by then, I hope.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Stinking Snow
Trip across New York was fairly easy going, actually once got past Buffalo it was sunny to partly cloudy all the way to Albany. Got a parking place just north of Albany on I-87 about 2 hour drive from Plattsburgh, NY. Got an early start next morning and got there with 2 hours to spare then settled in to wait for customer to come to work.
After unloading I was offered a good load to Illinois and after figuring my hours I came up about 1 to 2 hours short having enough hours to make an on time delivery so I lost the load. Got another one going to Harrisburg, PA to deliver Wednesday night at 9pm to a grocery warehouse. Hit snow in Newburgh, NY just north of New Jersey and went ahead and stopped for the night. I was only a 4 hour drive from my destination from there and since it was a late night delivery I could sleep late and leave after lunch. The last 3 mornings I had gotten up at 1 am to make sure I made the delivery appointment on the load in Plattsburgh, so the relaxed morning was welcome.
Wednesday morning the snow had moved off and it was up to 42 degrees so had clear sailing to Harrisburg. Got into the customer at 8pm which was a hour early. Turns out they did not open receiving window until 9pm and it was first come first serve when they did. When I walked in there at 8:30pm to check in there was already 7 drivers standing there. It was 3am before I finally got unloaded, don't like that place much. Now I was out of hours and had to find a parking place, which isn't easy at 3am in a big city. Luckily we had a terminal about 15 miles away and I went there knowing I would be able to park.
They gave me a load going to Michigan for delivery at 6am on Friday morning, but my hours wouldn't allow me enough time to make it so they took me off of that load and gave me one going to London, KY that could deliver anytime on Saturday. Well this load got me into a mess in Maryland. Once I dropped down to I-68 in Maryland, which goes across the Maryland panhandle through the mountains, I hit snow. I was running out of hours for the day and there's only 3 little truck stops on that 80 mile stretch and no rest areas. Every one of the truck stops had trucks piled into them and I made the mistake of going in to one to try and find a spot and took me almost a half hour to get out again it was so crowded. Other 2 stops were the same.
I was running out of hours and headed into West Virginia where they were saying they hadn't worked on the roads at all and they were badly snow covered. It was dark, winds were blowing 30 mph on top of the mountain. At the state line there is a welcome center and rest area so at the last minute I decided to risk running through there to see if I could find a spot. Found one spot I could squeeze into at the very end up against a snow bank. I will have to try and back out in the morning, but I'm at least stopped. The wind is blowing so hard I can sing "Rock a Bye Baby" while going to sleep and see if I can get off this mountain in the morning.
After unloading I was offered a good load to Illinois and after figuring my hours I came up about 1 to 2 hours short having enough hours to make an on time delivery so I lost the load. Got another one going to Harrisburg, PA to deliver Wednesday night at 9pm to a grocery warehouse. Hit snow in Newburgh, NY just north of New Jersey and went ahead and stopped for the night. I was only a 4 hour drive from my destination from there and since it was a late night delivery I could sleep late and leave after lunch. The last 3 mornings I had gotten up at 1 am to make sure I made the delivery appointment on the load in Plattsburgh, so the relaxed morning was welcome.
Wednesday morning the snow had moved off and it was up to 42 degrees so had clear sailing to Harrisburg. Got into the customer at 8pm which was a hour early. Turns out they did not open receiving window until 9pm and it was first come first serve when they did. When I walked in there at 8:30pm to check in there was already 7 drivers standing there. It was 3am before I finally got unloaded, don't like that place much. Now I was out of hours and had to find a parking place, which isn't easy at 3am in a big city. Luckily we had a terminal about 15 miles away and I went there knowing I would be able to park.
They gave me a load going to Michigan for delivery at 6am on Friday morning, but my hours wouldn't allow me enough time to make it so they took me off of that load and gave me one going to London, KY that could deliver anytime on Saturday. Well this load got me into a mess in Maryland. Once I dropped down to I-68 in Maryland, which goes across the Maryland panhandle through the mountains, I hit snow. I was running out of hours for the day and there's only 3 little truck stops on that 80 mile stretch and no rest areas. Every one of the truck stops had trucks piled into them and I made the mistake of going in to one to try and find a spot and took me almost a half hour to get out again it was so crowded. Other 2 stops were the same.
I was running out of hours and headed into West Virginia where they were saying they hadn't worked on the roads at all and they were badly snow covered. It was dark, winds were blowing 30 mph on top of the mountain. At the state line there is a welcome center and rest area so at the last minute I decided to risk running through there to see if I could find a spot. Found one spot I could squeeze into at the very end up against a snow bank. I will have to try and back out in the morning, but I'm at least stopped. The wind is blowing so hard I can sing "Rock a Bye Baby" while going to sleep and see if I can get off this mountain in the morning.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Nebraska
Got up next morning and all of the interstates were open except for I-78, which is the one they closed right after I came down it. They didn't open it again until late in the day. By that time I had made my delivery in Wintersville, OH.
Went over the river to Wellsburg, WV to pick up a load going to Norfolk, NE (Johnny Carson's home town). This was Thursday and was not supposed to deliver until Monday. I got into Norfolk on Saturday morning and since this was a small company I gave them a call and lucked out that they were open and out of the product I had. Needed it so I was able to get unloaded that morning. They gave me another load right there in Norfolk going to Plattsburgh, NY - whoopee!! Plattsburgh is on I-87 just a few miles south of Quebec, Canada. Wonder if anyone is getting down to Miami, FL, certainly not me.
In order to make the delivery appointment on Tuesday morning at 6am, I have been getting up at midnight each night to drive 10 hours. The last leg of the trip I will need to be as close as I can be and get up at 2am to get there. Anyway, have to work out my schedule with the few hours I am picking up on my logs to make it work out. Only thing that may blow my schedule is if I hit snow along the New York Thruway tomorrow. I beat the last storm pretty much this morning by leaving Des Moines, IA at midnight before the full force of the storm had hit. I got out in front of it and it moved on to the south. What I will see in New York will be lake effect snow. It doesn't need a front to stir that stuff up.
Happy Valentine's Day All.
Went over the river to Wellsburg, WV to pick up a load going to Norfolk, NE (Johnny Carson's home town). This was Thursday and was not supposed to deliver until Monday. I got into Norfolk on Saturday morning and since this was a small company I gave them a call and lucked out that they were open and out of the product I had. Needed it so I was able to get unloaded that morning. They gave me another load right there in Norfolk going to Plattsburgh, NY - whoopee!! Plattsburgh is on I-87 just a few miles south of Quebec, Canada. Wonder if anyone is getting down to Miami, FL, certainly not me.
In order to make the delivery appointment on Tuesday morning at 6am, I have been getting up at midnight each night to drive 10 hours. The last leg of the trip I will need to be as close as I can be and get up at 2am to get there. Anyway, have to work out my schedule with the few hours I am picking up on my logs to make it work out. Only thing that may blow my schedule is if I hit snow along the New York Thruway tomorrow. I beat the last storm pretty much this morning by leaving Des Moines, IA at midnight before the full force of the storm had hit. I got out in front of it and it moved on to the south. What I will see in New York will be lake effect snow. It doesn't need a front to stir that stuff up.
Happy Valentine's Day All.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
2010 Nor'easter/Blizzard
The trip over to my delivery in Breinigsville, PA was fairly easy. It didn't really start snowing until 10 or 11pm. There was 3" on the ground when I pulled out. Biggest problem is the customers want you to slide your trailer tandems all the way to the rear of the trailer for safety reasons, keeps the rear of the trailer from bouncing so much when they are going in and out with fork lifts. With the tandems all the way to the back it stops it from teetering like a see saw behind the tandems. Sliding them on snow is nigh near impossible especially with a load. I was lucky that the dock I backed into was bear concrete where they had just pulled out a trailer. I used the dry concrete to slide the tandem and made it easier.
I was also fortunate that the next load I had to pick up was another customer just across the street. I had a 4 hour wait so I eased just down the street and found a spot to park and wait. Pulling an empty trailer on slick roads is very dangerous, nothing to hold it down, nor can you get traction with your drive tires. I was thankful not to have to drive to far empty.
Once I got the load I headed out toward Harrisburg, PA to get on the Pennsylvania turnpike over to Pittsburgh. Up to 8" to 10" have fallen by this time and still coming down hard. Got some ice build up on my drivers side windshield in the upper right corner that pushed the wiper blade up...and it froze in that position. The blade was u-shaped and I could only see out of the lower left corner. No place to pull off because only had one lane with ruts in it, and they came and went. Got to my exit for my fuel stop and trucks were lined up a 1/4 mile trying to get off. Needless to say I didn't stop in the middle of the road, I went around and on down 20 miles to our terminal in New Kingstown and got fuel there...no waiting and finally got the wiper blade snapped back in place so would clean windshield. By this time all of the interstates were being closed down by the state, including the ones I had just come down from Allentown. I drove from the terminal 4 miles to the nearest truck stop and took 20 minutes to get in and back out...no parking and trucks circling the lot looking. I drove back to the terminal and parked there. Just have to eat out of the truck.
Snow is supposed to be ending and hopefully they will start getting the roads cleared off over night. Will try to get over to Steubenville, OH and drop the load by tomorrow afternoon.
I was also fortunate that the next load I had to pick up was another customer just across the street. I had a 4 hour wait so I eased just down the street and found a spot to park and wait. Pulling an empty trailer on slick roads is very dangerous, nothing to hold it down, nor can you get traction with your drive tires. I was thankful not to have to drive to far empty.
Once I got the load I headed out toward Harrisburg, PA to get on the Pennsylvania turnpike over to Pittsburgh. Up to 8" to 10" have fallen by this time and still coming down hard. Got some ice build up on my drivers side windshield in the upper right corner that pushed the wiper blade up...and it froze in that position. The blade was u-shaped and I could only see out of the lower left corner. No place to pull off because only had one lane with ruts in it, and they came and went. Got to my exit for my fuel stop and trucks were lined up a 1/4 mile trying to get off. Needless to say I didn't stop in the middle of the road, I went around and on down 20 miles to our terminal in New Kingstown and got fuel there...no waiting and finally got the wiper blade snapped back in place so would clean windshield. By this time all of the interstates were being closed down by the state, including the ones I had just come down from Allentown. I drove from the terminal 4 miles to the nearest truck stop and took 20 minutes to get in and back out...no parking and trucks circling the lot looking. I drove back to the terminal and parked there. Just have to eat out of the truck.
Snow is supposed to be ending and hopefully they will start getting the roads cleared off over night. Will try to get over to Steubenville, OH and drop the load by tomorrow afternoon.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Hometime
Next morning from Memphis I waited until around 10am and then headed out. The ice came right up to the white line on the shoulder, but the two main lanes were dry so I made it on down to Dallas with no problem. Saw 7 semi's in the median between Memphis and Little Rock that didn't make it though.
I delivered the load early on Monday without having to wait until Tuesday and headed on to the house. Worked on some fence around the pasture on Tuesday, had eye exam and teeth cleaning on Wednesday. Started working on taxes on Wednesday night through Thursday and to town to restock the truck on Friday.
Saturday morning got load of rolled paper from Evadale, TX to Grand Rapids, MI. Delivered that on Monday morning and then picked up a load from Kelloggs in Grand Rapids that morning going to Allentown, PA. Pushed hard and got into Allentown before noon on Tuesday and now waiting for the winter storm to hit. Can't deliver the load until 4am in the morning and no telling how much snow will be on the ground by then. Expecting 8" to 18" by Wednesday afternoon. Supposed to be two separate storms pushing through within 24 hours. Fun day tomorrow, but at least I am within 5 miles of my delivery in the morning and will make that ok, I reckon.
I delivered the load early on Monday without having to wait until Tuesday and headed on to the house. Worked on some fence around the pasture on Tuesday, had eye exam and teeth cleaning on Wednesday. Started working on taxes on Wednesday night through Thursday and to town to restock the truck on Friday.
Saturday morning got load of rolled paper from Evadale, TX to Grand Rapids, MI. Delivered that on Monday morning and then picked up a load from Kelloggs in Grand Rapids that morning going to Allentown, PA. Pushed hard and got into Allentown before noon on Tuesday and now waiting for the winter storm to hit. Can't deliver the load until 4am in the morning and no telling how much snow will be on the ground by then. Expecting 8" to 18" by Wednesday afternoon. Supposed to be two separate storms pushing through within 24 hours. Fun day tomorrow, but at least I am within 5 miles of my delivery in the morning and will make that ok, I reckon.
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