Ta-dah !!! Back in Gary

Picked up my load in Osh Kosh and dropped it iat the drop yard n Neenah - a whole 13 miles. Twenty thousand pounds of bananas -(Harry Chapin) no not really, napkins. Pretty rough day yesterday, 600 miles, so I didn't mind a break. Took a walk with my ankle weights carrying my dumb bells. I guess I look pretty silly but it's good exercise.

After my walk I finished my book and then figured. OK, that's enough. I called Charles and put a fire under him. Picked up an empty trailer there in the drop yard and headed for my next load. Toro for lawnmowers in Plymouth. They are going to Canada but they wanted them in Gary so some Canadian drivers could take them home.

Came right past Allstate at exactly 5:00 pm today - in case anyone there heard a honk, it was me... you know "honk if you're ..." well I honked as I went by.

Got my shower in and am doing laundry. Should be done at about 9:30 and I am debating going over to the casino. They are about 5 - 7 miles away. But, it's raining now, so I have another excuse not to go.

Planning to get rolling about 6 am tomorrow. Run out to Elgin and get our mail and come back. I left a Qualcomm message that I would be available at 11:00. We'll see how that works out.

Teresa tried to make my famous BBQ Chicken Pizza tonight. Her only comment was that "she really misses my cooking" I guess that's one good reason to miss me, HAH.

A little catching up

I'm not sure which to blame my lack of writing on, lack of internet, tired or lazy but it's Thursday night and I'm just south of Green Bay in Osh Kosh, WI. Since Saturday, hmmm... it's really hard to recollect five days.

The short story is; I headed to Atlanta, GA then to Jackson, TN, then to Columbus, OH and today 560 miles to Neenah, WI. I am short on hours and it looks like I will do a little shuffling of trailers tomorrow up here then we'll have to see what the weekend holds.

I had great pot roast at the Plainview truckstop tonight. I was too pooped and hungry to do anything but let someone else set my food in front of me. After which I came back to the truck, about 5 pm and promptly fell asleep. I feel much better now, sated and rested so I can hang out tonight and catch up on a few things.

Almost another week without an incident - it was quite a learning experience for me. Learned a lot about driving and probably a lot more about myself.

Teresa and I are anxious to get on through the next 2 weeks and get my time at home, and then being together again, in the truck. I'm not sure how it will work but it will be wonderful to have her chearful Pollyanna personality with me again. We're not used to being apart.

Truck battery is popping so I got to run.

Back in the Saddle

Made it back to Gary about 6 pm yesterday and signed on to the Qualcomm to let them/it know I was back. Soon as I signed in I got my next work assignment starting out in the morning. Cool, I'm picking up 44,000 pounds of aluminum and taking it to Mableton, GA, just outside of Atlanta. Bet I get to put on my shorts down there !!!

I'm parked in the IdleAire just north of Louisville, KY and will drive most of the rest of the way to Atlanta tomorrow and be ready to deliver AT 8:45 am. I can hope my next load stays south, right ?

Looks like I'll have a rider in May. Our plans yesterday were to go out for breakfast with Teresa's dad at 8:00 and then come back throw together a lunch, shower and hit the road. Turns out Teresa had a different idea. Seems she didn't sleep much and cried much more. She's ready, no needs, for us to be together, and I'm certainly all for it. I got up at 5;00, as seems to be my unbreakable habit and went out to get coffee. When I got back she cam down and booted me. Saying she couldn't sleep with me there knowing I was leaving and thought she would rest better if I left. Well how can you argue with that. Anyway that's when we concluded that we had to go all the way. We have always been glued at the hip so why change that now ?

Andrea is supposed to do her graduation walk at the University of Illinois on 5/11 and we plan to move all of our stuff down from Elgin to Ponca City on that weekend while I have another 5 days off. When I head back to Gary that time I won't be alone. Hurray...

I am parked at the IdleAire, but I'm sitting in the McDonald's across the street using their internet for free and I'm going to get a movie out of the "Big Red Box" just outside for a buck.
As you can see, I'm a cheap date, and it's a good thing my date is cheap, too.

Will be headed through Nashville and Chatanooga on my way to Atlanta, honk if you see me.

Hiatus Again

Finished delivering my load on Monday morning and issued the requisite commands on the Qualcomm computer indicating I was out of work about 8:00 am. I got out and sat in the sun and waited and waited. Finally I called in to my dispatcher and said - "you know, since I'm almost out of hours for the 7/70 rule I could just start my Time at Home today and come back Friday night." He says "why not." So off I go to Gary to drop off my trailer, take a shower and head to Oklahoma.

Got here last night about 10 and Teresa got home from work at 12. So use your imagination next.

Anyway, unless I win the lotto or win big at Texas Hold'em this week I will pretty much be incognito until Saturday.

Drop me an email and let me know if there are other things about my travels that I should cover for you.

Bob

Another First

I'm in the IdleAire in Monee now, not without a little entertainment. Last week, on Sunday, I got a CB while in Baltimore and got it working. Don't seem to listen to it much but today it came in handy. Rumbling up I65 out of Indianapolis this fella pulls up beside me and waves his CB mike at me. I get the picture he wants to tell me something, geez someone on this lonely road wants to talk to me. Is it 'cause I'm doing something wrong, or just because I'm so handsome.

No, he tells me I've got a flat tire on the trailer and it's throwing rubber pieces off behind. I tell him thanks and he continues on. I wanted to ask him "so what do I do now" but though better of it. That would be a little to rookie-ish, even though at the moment it was true. I traveled on up I65 to the next exit and pulled off to take a look. Yep it was flat, I didn't really doubt it, but I thought I should at least verify it. Hmmm... we don't carry spares, it's throwing rubber and therefore not safe. Hmmm... I call Schneider Emergency Services and after a few minutes on hold, it is Sunday after all. The operator answers and I tell her my story. She says "run it till they all fall off" and my butt immediately puckers up. Then she laughed one of those belly laughs and I knew she knew she got me.

She summons up a tire repair fella at a truck stop down the road and comes back to tell me he'll be there in an hour - cool, I'm not in any big hurry today, or anymore.

Now understand I've got 40,000 pounds of glassware on the truck.. .

Again, dumb me, I didn't get his name. But he did a quick job.

He observed me watching him, taking it all in and taking the pictures and says to me "haven't you ever seen a truck tire changed before" and I say "not in the three weeks I've been driving." He laughs and says "well this is my first road change, I guess we're both new." Nice guy... I gave him one of my Trucking Funks cards so he could check out the pictures back at the shop.

Why is it still so cold here in Illinois... 38 degrees out ?

On the road again...

I think I'm getting out of the proverbial dog house, bit by bit. But back to "the incident" we'll call it for now. Although I would like to blame it totally on being tired, in restrospect I can see that I had become over confident and therefore careless in my handling of the truck. Obviously you can't allow that to happen. 'Nuff said.

Friday morning I got my next load. Go to Sauk Village and pick up a trailer and run to Monee and drop it and pick up another ( I know this sounds funny, but you need to leave a trailer at the customer so they have one to load up) in Monee. The directions provided by the computer were both flat wrong so it took me a bit extra to get going.

During my training on Thursday I got some insight on how better to manage my time. Thanks, Pauletta. I think this is going to work a lot better.

Anyway I picked up the load and was to deliver this morning in Charleroi, PA. I stopped at 7 last night and headed back out at 5 this morning. Gave me time to take a walk, enjoy what I thought was my original motivation for trucking in the first place. Got to the the site - World Kitchens and dropped the trailer. Picked up another load to take back to World Kitchens in Monee. Fancy that.

I told Teresa today that I really do like the driving and seeing part - so that's a good thing.

I stopped today at 5:00 at one of those KOA for trucks I talked about (IdleAire) and hooked up the tv and computer. So, just like home, relaxing, watching the Masters and blogging. It's raining out, so a walk will have to wait. But for now, it's cool.

I'm certainly looking forward to my time at home, Thurs - Sun coming up - and yes THAT is one of the reasons, but not the only one. I am smitten with my dear Teresa and can't wait to hug and hold her.

Among the many things I have seen in the 7,145 miles I have driven in 20 days is the large number of crosses set up on the roadsides in memory of love ones that have died there. Sad.

Bob

Not Everything is Perfect

Many things went correct on Wednesday... but not everything. I made it to Gary by 7 am, No problem. Took a nap, it turned out to be just two hours. So, I'm starting off the day pooped. Headed for South Elgin and got our mail. Again, no problem. I need to transfer my Wisconsin driver's license to Illinois. I figure while I've got some time I'll stop by the DMV and see what I have to do... Even though I took all of the tests 3 months ago, because I got a new license in WI that invalidated all Illinois activity so I have to take all of the tests over, No problem. An hour later I walk out with my new CDL from IL. It's about noon and I'm headed back to Gary to snooze until about 6 so I can be rested ( pay attention, that's important ). On the way my pickup truck starts running badly. Bad enough that I was not sure I would make it.

I got on the phone looking for a Ford dealership and the only one is in Merrillville, Art Hill Ford. So I head there. There were very attentive. Replace an ignition coil and cleaned the fuel injectors. Running very good now, although $435 dollars poorer. No problem, now I'm even more pooped and head for Gary. I get back about 4 pm and lay down to rest and get up at 5:30 to prepare and head out ( still paying attention ?).

On the road at 6 and head up 294 to Wisconsin. Not much traffic going north and NONE coming south. Finally I see why. At mile post 15 a vehicle had caught fire and the emergency vehicles were there and had the entire southbound side blocked. Now, this is 6 pm and the traffic is backed up for 12 miles and getting worse.

Got into the Wal-Mart distribution center at 10 pm and dropped my load and picked up another trailer and head out... No problem. Now I'm to headed to Milwaukee and drop this trailer and pick up a load headed to Lancaster, PA. No problem, but I'm getting more pooped.

I pulled into the drop lot to drop my empty trailer and pick up the next load. Here's the problem... I made a bad turn and my trailer smashed the front end of another tractor !!!

I called the insurance folks and went ahead and dropped/picked up and headed for Gary. I get in at 3:30 and got awakened at 8am to go see the safety boss, he is understandably not happy. He says there is $10k worth of damage. They take me out of service and schedule me for a meeting to discuss any retraining requirements. Did that from 2 - 6 today. I think I'm back in service, I indicated on the computer that I am available for 6 am tomorrow.

I must say they overall handled the whole situation better than I did. I feel horrible about it. I did not, at the time, consider how unsafe I would be in the over tired state I was in. But I am sure that at least contributed to it. I don't think I would have made the mistake I did if I was fresh.

Thanks to Teresa for helping me stay sane through the day today it means so much to me. With your help I made it through.

I understand now, through this discussion with the OSR that I CAN manage my available time so that I do not get to that whipped state again. Even when I had not gotten the rest I had planned for during the day I could have requested a delay and got my rest Wednesday night and precluded the whole thing from happening. I was not aware that I could, but feel better that I can, now. Better late than never, and no one got hurt.

One too many challenges, I guess.

New Jersey is tough

Quick update while I finish laundry and head for bed.

I dropped my load in Cherry Hill and was sent to a drop lot in South Kearny, NJ. Got "misplaced" twice, severely once. I do stop and ask for help and sometimes that can be a bad thing. I found a place to stop and ask and this nice fellow said to follow him he was going close to the street. I was looking for Central Ave. He very nicely took me to Central Ave in Jersey City and I followed it to the end... What I needed was Central Ave in South Kearny. Oh my... that was real tough. But I persevered... Spent the afternoon waiting for the next load. It came in at midnight. But I couldn't leave until 3:00 am. I got up anyway, sleeping is a total waste of time ! I'm going to a WalMart supplier in Jersey City to pick up and take to Beaver Dam, WI. I actually got there at 4 am without getting lost and headed out.

I am now at the OC in Seville, OH - 500 miles later showered and doing laundry and will head out at about 1 am. After I get to Gary, IN I'm going to run over to South Elgin and pick up our mail while I am on my next 10 hour break. Get to drive my Ford !!! Funny what you look forward to.

I am to deliver in Beaver Dam at 11:00 pm tomorrow. Going to be tight, but I think I can make it. Like I always say, love a good challenge.

Bob

More Sunday Stuff

I got on 6 miles down the road. It's a strange feeling, you drop off the interstate at an exit and you can't see anything but trees. I wondered to myself... what's around that corner. You just don't know. I'm north bound I95 in Maryland at exit 41a. Yep it's a truck stop all right. But first you've got to pay $12 to park, small surpise. I figure since I need potties and stuff for the next 24 hours it's not too much. I cruise around the lot and all the easy to get into spots are still taken. I still look for easy ones to get into.

So I pull into one of these spots. If you can tell from the picture (click it to enlarge) each of the spots has a little umbillical cord that goes into your window. On the end is a little module that has A/C power, internet access, heater/air conditioning and TV. You can even order movies and play games. It's called IdleAire, like a KOA for trucks. Six months costs $1o plus $1.85 per hour for the services, but, you get free parking for $20 of usage. I figure if I use it from 1 - 11 today it will cost me about 7 bucks. For all it offers I took it.

I figure it's time for a walk and put on my ankle weights ( 5 pounds I think) and head out. I'm looking for a grocery store as I've run out of Kaschi Go Lean Crunch cereal and need a haircut.

It's Sunday so the haircut is iffy, I guess. Guess what I found, "the Barber Shop" and Cedric the Entertainer was there... cool place and great guys/gal. One of the customers was also a trucker - he's the one with the afro and getting braids. I am embarrassed to say I forgot my barber's name but he took the more care than I have ever had. I know it's a simple buzz cut, but he sculpted it, real nice job.

And I found Mom's Organic store which had my cereal for the same price as WalMart... lucky me.

Now I'm back to my truck, watching Hockey and waiting for Golf to come on so I can have cheese and triscuits and then maybe take a nap.

I guess I can't complaing too much, can I ?

Bob

Ubiquitous WIFI

Sunday morning - you would think I was in a little paradise. It's a Maryland rest stop, quite nice.

Before I start rambling I need to add in a very much thanks to Debbie F. for the spaghetti and meatballs/sausage leftovers she sent along last week and the brownies, too. Both were wonderful and I hoarded the brownies for 3 days eating them sparingly each night. THANKS, Debbie.

Friday started off nicely. Headed for Piedmont, SC. Know where that is ?
Course not. Doesn't matter but I had a bunch of tractor stuff headed for 5 places in SC. Mind you these aren't big places, just medium sized tractor shops. At the first place I said "there is no way I can get this truck back there..." the guy says to me "they do it all the time!" Well if you know me, that was an open challenge. Actually turned out to not be as bad as I expected. They sell and service John Deere commercial lawn tractors for the golf courses. That's big business in SC. I don't think the locals golf much but a lot of people come to SC to golf, so it works.

The seccond place looked about the same, so I didn't balk this time. The guy says follow the trail, head to the back and you'll see the loading dock. Whoa... it's a dirt mound in the middle of the field. Geez, got to get a picture of this stuff.

So I head to the third place and decide to call and see if they can take it on Friday instead of Saturday as is scheduled (along with the next two stops) and he tells me, in his SC drawl, "we don't take no dlvrys (that's the way he said it) on Satrdy, and besides we got big doins at the hosptl on Satrdy... so get on the phone to dispatch. Ultimately they decide to put the last three off and tell me to head back to Charlotte. Now I'm already on back roads and I'm supposed to get on smaller back roads back across the SC to Charlotte. I didn't get lost (guys are never lost, sometimes miss directed, but not lost) but I did ask for directions 3 times.

This is getting to be a long story. It's still Friday and I've been on the road for about 6 hours and get back to Charlotte and figure I'm going to have a nice evening maybe even eat some real food again, Debbie and Ron spoiled me, it's their fault. Anyway the QC beeps and says - get fuel, run over to this other place (6 miles away) pick up a trailer and run to (120 miles)Mountain Home, NC. Argh, another challenge, I think they are figuring out how to "work" me.
I think Ron must be FOS (you figure that out). We worked together for 7 years, me in Chicago and him in Charlotte and he ALWAYS bragged about how great the weather was. I can tell you that it has rained for 90% of the time I have been in NC, and that's a lot lately. Anyway heading to Mtn. Home I see lightning headed south on I-85 and figure it's going to rain soon. I didn't rain, it wasn't even cats and dogs, WORSE. Traffic was down to 25 mph on the freeway for about 45 minutes.

Trying to shorten the story, I made it up to Mtn Home, dropped my trailer picked up a loaded trailer of 44,000 pounds of Tangerine juice - you drink tangerine juice - me neither. I got to the truck stop about 3 miles away with no hours to spare.

I had to wait until 10 am to take of on Saturday but got in 510 miles by 9 pm and am going to take an hours reset until 7 am Monday morning, here.

Bob

Staying East

Funny, I've got to go back and read my last blog to see what I've missed since the last update.

Disclaimer: I usually try every day to find a place to update but sometimes I just can't get Internet access. Tuesday was on the road and Wednesday night I was in the OC in Carlisle, PA and their service sucked.

Anyway on to the update.

I got up at about 3 am to head over, you know I am always early. I dropped the load of expensive Illinois water in Raeford, SC and headed to find a parking spot and eat some breakfast. It took about 10 miles before I could find a place big enough to park this big orange thing. Since I hadn't got any load from the computer I then took a nap. About 2 hours later, nice nap too, I got the update from the Qualcomm. Go back to Raeford and pick up a load and take it to Carlisle, PA. No problem. As far as I can tell it was out dated products to be disposed of.

I got to a Pilot truck stop at the upper end of North Carolina and decided to eat and sleep. That was about 3 pm - Monday I think. I was cleaning up all of my paperwork and heard an ambulance go by. No big deal, we hear them all the time, right ?

About a half hour later I'm done and figure to go eat and get on the computer in Mickey D's. WRONG. The ambulance was there. The whole truck stop was shut down and noone was allowed in or out. Apparently two truck drivers had an argument inside and one knifed the other, he died and the knifer fled in his truck. They caught him running up I95. Anyway they had the whole place locked down solid because it was a crime scene.

Understand, I'm out of hours - can't move until the next morning and now I'm hungry and got to use the bathroom. No such luck.

Twice later the cops came around waking and interviewing all the truck drivers for info. But I didn't see anything... just need to use the bathroom.

They finally opened back up about midnight.

I dropped at Unilever in Carlisle and headed for the OC which was about 10 miles away. My DBL (driver business leader) decided since I was there I should hang out until the morning and take what they call Spring Training. No big deal done by 11 am.

So the next load is some John Deere lawn tractors headed for South Carolina. Get to make 5 stops at small shops and drop them off. I think I get extra pay for each stop, but don't know for sure.

On the way to Charlotte I got stuck behing traffic held up as a truck had driven off the road and was upside down off the embankment. That will wake you up !!!

I got into Charlotte at 10:15 last night and am planning to head out about 10 today.

That's enough for now.

Hey Mike - thanks for the email update.

Bob