Pictures for first of 2010

Here are the pictures I have been taking for the first part of the year starting at the end of January. Have some pictures from Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and NE New York. All were cold, but Minnesota was coldest with highs below zero. Hearty bunch up there.

Final pictures are of last time home when I finally got the living room finished except for painting the trim and putting up some curtains. Got the furniture in there and out of storage was the main thing. Took 3 years from the time David and Dick helped me tear out the walls and replace the windows until now. Lot under the bridge in that time. Next time home I am going to set in the recliner for 3 days straight. The next time home I will decide what I do next. Maybe take a vacation.

Now back to the Tennessee Vols/Ohio State game....

All right Vols on to the elite 8 for the first time. Way to go.

Back out

Have not updated since going home almost 2 weeks ago. I stayed out long enough last time to get the ok for an extra day off. I was home a total of 5 days and finally managed to finish remodeling my living room that I tore out 3 years ago with the help of David and Dick. Seems like every time I came in there was always something else that I needed to do or take care of and was hard to make the time to just finish it. Little by little I got it though. This time I had my son and grandson corraled to help. Good thing too, my right knee was locked up and I believe I cracked/broke a rib on my left side. Getting old sucks!!

Went back to work last Friday and have been moving 10 to 11 hours every day. Over to Georgia, up to Indiana and back to Arkansas. I deliver to Ft. Smith this afternoon and then will have to shut down to let my hours build back up again. Have some pictures and if I can get a strong enough signal for my computer I will get them loaded up.

Another Long Week

Kinda catches up to me. I had meant to add to this blog more than I have. When I started it freight wasn't all that heavy, but it has picked up some, at least enough to keep me rolling. I have been away from home 31 days now and will be going home on Friday.

I had made my delivery in Dandridge, TN last Monday and they ran me over to Newport 17 miles away to pick up a load at Conagra, used to be Bush's Beans, and the load went up to Tomah, WI to a Walmart DC there. I remember growing up in East Tennessee, that when we would go home to Texas for a visit mom picked up 2 cases of Wolf Brand Chili to bring back to Tennessee. In the 60's they didn't have decent chili in Tennessee.

In 1996 I went into the Bush's plant in Newport, TN and picked up a full load of Wolf Brand Chili and took it to Texas. Times change. Couldn't get Mexican food in Tennessee back then, now you can get it in Canada.

After I dropped my load in Tomah they sent me over to Oshkosh, WI to pick up a load of paper packages going to Kelloggs in Omaha, NE. As I left to go to Oshkosh my signal lights went out on my tractor. So back in the shop again. Found a wire that had been rubbing against the frame and had shorted out.

After delivering in Omaha they sent me downtown Omaha to pick a load of paper bags going to Conagra flour mill in Columbus, OH. Was interesting here because it was supposed to be a drop and hook on Saturday morning. When I got there there were no empty trailers and they were refinishing their floor and couldn't unload the trailer. I got to drop it in their dock and just drive about 2 miles to our terminal in Columbus and picked up an empty trailer there. I went up to Lima, OH and picked up a load at Procter & Gamble going to Walgreens DC near Greenville, SC.

I was supposed to go down to Knoxville, TN and across to Asheville, NC on I-40 and then down to Greenville, but I-40 is closed through the Smoky Mountain Gorge because of a rock slide couple of months ago. The detour is up to I-26 near Kingston, TN and through the mountains to Ashville which is an extra 45 miles. Which I don't get paid for. Doesn't matter if roads are closed or not, they only pay what the rate miles are, and that is all the driver gets.

I delivered the load to Walgreens this afternoon, now I go to Columbia, SC tonight and pick up a load to run over to Target DC in Tifton, GA. Hopefully work my way home from there.

Too Cold

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.

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.

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.

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.