Much to Catch Up On

Got to Augusta Tuesday night and rented a car to drive down to Savanah, GA. Had dinner at Paula Dean's Lady and Son's restaurant. Great southern food. Nice place recommend it highly. Wandered around the riverfront for awhile and headed back to Augusta. Next morning delivered the TP to KC and then picked up a load of (you got it) TP to take to the Publix warehouse in Lakeland, FL. Scooted down to Ocala to spend the night and then delivered Thursday morning. Got the next work assignment to pick up some boat stuff from Bradenton, FL and then head to Conover, NC and take it all to Little Falls, MN, Got down to the shipper and found they had canceled the load. So now what ??? No problem for us adventurers. We were about 10 miles from Manatee Beach so---

Look, there's that funny lady again, I think she must be following me around the country.

While eating lunch got my next W/A - go up to Palatka, FL and pick up a load of paper - 37,000 pounds and take it to Brownsville, TX.

Enroute spent last night literally on the beach in Biloxi, MS. We were actually just outside the Grand Casino across the street where they are building a new casino. Spent the night in the lot where there used to be houses but are no more due to Katrina.

Drove past the devastation still remaining of Katrina in New Orleans - not much progress has been made since we were down there two years ago.

In the Houston operations center finishing laundry. Put the truck in the shop to get another oil change and it won't be ready until tomorrow afternoon... So we're going to a La Quinta hotel tonight and will have to drive most of tomorrow night to make the delivery on Monday at 0700.

Got to take care of some details... more later.

Just so you know, I do still do some work... 500 miles yesterday.

Back in Memphis

Dropped our TP in Jenks on Sunday had to wait until this morning to pick up the next load. Beth wasn't feeling well so the folks didn't come over. Instead went to the movie in Bixby, OK and parked in their parking lot. About 3:30 am a big thunderstorm came barreling through. I got up to shut the windows and called to see if the load was ready - it was... Now loaded and back in West Memphis and taking this load to KC in Beech Island, SC.

Seems like a good time to rent a car and take a ride to the gulf coast on Wednesday after delivery.

Not much else to report today... HOT though. In the Idle Aire, makes it OK.

Thank you, thank you very much !!!

Dropped the load in McDonough, GA and hoped for another long load out. NOT ! Had to run up to north east GA to Georgia Poultry and pick up a load to bring to the Atlanta OC. In concept that should not be a problem but in reality it's Friday - Memorial Day weekend - I'm running out of hours for the day. Oh well, it's not the destination it's the journey. Saw a lot of GA then and back to the OC at 6:30, one-half hour over my 70 hour max for 7 days, which left me short for today.





So the next work assignment was to pick up a load of ------- toilet paper, again, a whole load of TP and take it to Tulsa, OK. Cool, called Grandma and Joe and asked if they wanted to come on down to Tulsa Sunday afternoon for dinner. I think they're excited about it, I am.





Covered 399 miles in 7 hours and 30 minutes. Amazing how that worked out, right to the minute - maybe a little creative accounting, but it works.





Got into the Memphis OC about 2:30. Plenty of time to do something, but what you ask ?





Here's a couple of picks to let you know...



What a funny lady in front of Graceland.


Tomorrow is Tulsa. Having a blast.

Thursday

Spoiled or whipped, I'm not sure...

Made it to Shreveport, LA last night. In keeping with the nature TV program I mentioned in a previous blog I can report that the on the species lotus lizardus is alive and well. We observed them in full force last night. Headed out nice and early this morning. you know before 5 am. While I was debating taking 220 around Shreveport all traffic was directed south on I54 I think it was. That put a kink in the works... Hold on, I'm being paged to the pool - the pool you say ? You'll have to hold on for the rest of the story. Be back shortly.


Apparently a big rig had overturned on I20 in Shreveport so the state police had both directions closed. Got on through downtown and out the east side and back on I20 headed east. Covered about 350 miles to Tuscaloosa, AL. On I20 I didn't see a single dead dear, just little dead alligators wandering away from the bayous.


By 3 in Tuscaloosa and hungry enough to eat an alligator. Stopped at a Red Lobster and ate salmon and shrimp instead, ummmm. By the way, Ron, I used the last of the gift card you sent me for Red Lobster, ready for a new one. Called an Econo Lodge here and asked if they had a pool and big rig parking and yahoooo here we are and you know who is like a 5 year old in the pool.


During my first two months out alone I think I lost about 10 pounds, well I think that's about to change. But I'm happier for it anyway.


There's a mall across the street so I think it's time for a walk.

Back again. Here's a picture of me and my walking outfit...

Ankle weights and dumb bells - no I'm not one of the dumb bells.

I forgot about this place... it's a truck stop in eastern Texas on I20. Great decor, nice people and great bar-b-que... Not as good as b-in-law Joe's, but good.

It's Hot in Dallas

For the record - T will remain anonymous for now, most will know why.

Left Gary early Monday and headed to Warsaw, IN to drop our 20 tons of paper. When I opened up the trailer I saw that it was glossy paper for an Eddie Bauer sales printing. The drop was at a RR Donnelly printing plant. So when you get your copy you can think I delivered it specially for you, HAH. There were 4 other Schneider trucks ahead of me to unload, but the warehouse folks were fast - out in about an hour and a half.

Immediately got my next load. Pick up a relay in Gary from Canada and take it to Waxahatchie, TX. From the papers it looks like 38,000 pounds of iron powder. I have no idea what it is to be used for.

Generally, we see lots of dead deer on the roads here in the midwest. On Monday morning we saw a coyote getting his breakfast off of one. That was a first - just like on a nature tv program.

Anyway picked up the load in Gary and headed south on I-57. Made it down to the Mt Vernon, IL, TA. The folks there are really nice. The reason we stopped there is Dancing With the Stars was on. You can figure the rest out.

From there this morning we went 597 miles and are now in the outskirts of Dallas, also a TA with Idle Aire... and of course you know why - DWTS Finale. oooohhhh..... But at least I can blog a bit.

Like the title says HOT. Stopped at a Flying J in Texarkana and it was 88 degrees and I thought, "shoot, I'll never get to sleep in this heat" so headed on down to this Idle Aire. It was a little further than I wanted to go, but we're here and will unload by 8 am tomorrow.

If you're following along you know we're headed for CA in June to see my kids and grandkids and a new born... So today we talked about going to Valdez, Alaska for our July time-at-home.

Rough life !!!

Sated, sleep and spoiled

It's Sunday evening and we're back in Gary. Dropped the load in Joliet and got the next work assignment - dead head to Biron, WI - 260 miles and pick up news print to drop at Warsaw, IN tomorrow. Got back here at 3:00 took showers and headed for Chicago. We ate at a Greed restaurant - Athena, Jackson & Halsted. Great lamb chops and beef kabobs. They were having some sort of party while we were there. We were not necessarily invited but they had good desserts so we sampled.

Ran into team Schneider drivers - Sharon and Ed up in Madison, WI where we spent last night. Got the blood rolling again to team drive.

In the meantime - having a blast.

Friday...

Got back to Gary Wednesday night and got "the new stuff" moved in. Then headed off to the grocery store for perishables. Signed into the Qualcomm at about 9 pm and got the next work assignment - take a loaded trailer out of Gary (Chrysler auto parts) and take it to Memphis, TN. Got to Caruthersville, MO and got fuel and took a walk. Realized there was a riverboat casino nearby. They offer a shuttle from the Pilot Travel Center, cool, took a ride. We spent about an hour there. Walked out on the upper deck overlooking the "Big Muddy" Mississippi River.
Netted up 1 buck, except for the tips to the shuttle driver. So it was great, nice little town - 6,760 residents.

Got on down to Chrysler in Memphis at 9 am. Oh I forgot, I had asked dispatch to look out for some south or west or southwest loads since I have been driving the east since I started. Charles is the dispatch dude and said he would. So on the way to Memphis got my next work assignment - Kissimme, FL another cool. BUT as I was unloading I got a change to pick up a relay load and take it up to Joliet, IL. AHHHHH. Oh well, in an Idle Aire in Mt. Vernon, IL now and will deliver about noon tomorrow. Then we'll see what the next load holds...

Having more fun now... so far so good.

TAH -

It's Monday already, one more day off and then another all day ride back to Gary but at least I'll have a partner.

Friday I got all the 6 x 12 u-hual and got everything loaded out of storage. Picked up Tracie and Andrea at 6:00 am on Saturday and headed out. Seemed like everything was going really well until we got to Joplin, MO. We got there at about 5 and got gas. The wind was blowing so hard the truck would not shift into overdrive. It was like climbing a hill for 2 and 1/2 hours. I was really stressing over it, and burned an entire tank of gas covering 200 miles instead of the almost 350 miles I usually get per tank. I know it's silly but I get anxious when I over work my vehices. Today I took the truck to Ford and got the oil changed and the transmission fluid flushed. I can tell it feels better !!!

Teresa and I got everything out of the trailer and into the new storage down here in Ponca City.
Now we've got to get all of the stuff out of Joe's and Grandma's places and put into storage and then grab a few things for the road.

Great weekend with Joe, Beth, Grandma and Grandpa and Andrea and Tracie.

The next adventure begins tomorrow morning when Teresa and I head for Gary.

Wednesay in Gary

Sat and sat and sat after getting unloaded in Northbrough, MA. Got my next load at 0700 on Tuesday - dead head ( empty trailer ) to Leonia, NJ and get loaded and head for Neenah, WI.

No problem, I just came through NYC on Sunday, should be a breeze and it would have been except there was an accident on the GW bridge which I have to go over and more mile. It took 3 hours to go 8 miles.

Got loaded and headed west. Got to Lamar, PA and made it to Gary 535 miles today.

Two truck accidents enroute. I understand from others that there is nearly 1 accident everyday involving Schneider drivers. Last week one involved a fatality.

I will head to Neenah early tomorrow so I can miss Chi town traffic and should be in Neenah by 12. Then I hope to get turned around quickly so I can start my time off on Sat.

Lots of stuff to do Saturday plus 750 miles to Oklahoma and Teresa.

Sitting in Charlton, MA

If you know much from my blog you know that I am habitually an early riser. I religiously set my alarm ( drives Teresa nuts ) for 5:00 am est and never make it. This morning up at 4:30 and showered and hit the road. I am now sitting in Charlton, MA my delivery is for 2:00 and is an AT time which means exactly AT that time. I called the consignee and they hemmed and hawed and said I could come up and wait there but this service plaza is actually quite nice. I figure to check things out on the computer a bit then go out and read in the sun. Also, I got a note on the Qualcomm indicating they didn't know when/where my next WA (work assignment) would be. I'm actually quite OK with both circumstances.

As to the "lot lizards" I've never seen one. I do hear on the CB some "inquiries" taking place but I never see anything.

Friday is supposed to be my last day on the road. Saturday I will pick up a U-Haul trailer and head for So. Elgin to pick up all of our stuff in storage. I hear Andrea will be available to help load stuff up. Then we'll head to Champaign to pick up Tracie and scoot on down to Teresa in OK.

For our next TAH ( 6/11 - 15) - we're flying to Monterey, CA to see Adam and Claire. Claire is having baby number two in a couple of weeks, so we'll get to see the new baby and everyone else.

Later,

Spanked by Mike Y.

Got a call this morning from Mike Y, he wondered if everything was OK and why had I fallen of the blog wagon. Since I am sort of prone to accidents the question wasn't without merit. For the record things are peachy ( I'll explain later).

I meant to bring my log book with me for this blog but forgot... anyway from last Friday starting at Gary I picked up a relay load and took it to Virginia - 40,000 pounds of paper over I64. That's rough and slow !!! Then I picked up 35,000 pounds of packaging paper and took it to Sturgis, MI. Then a load of Disney stuff from Carol Stream and down to Augusta, GA where after I dropped that trailer I had to get across SC to Cheraw and get a load of empty cans headed for Baltimore. That was a nice easy load 6500 pounds but totally full.

I'm done for the day in Milford, CT headed for Northborough, MA with guess what - 42,000 pounds of paper. Paper so far seems to be the heaviest load taking up the smallest space that I have hauled so far. Love those aluminum cans though.

One side note; I can tell you where Elton John, Sheryl Crow, Barry Manilow and Chubby Checker are appearing in May - all different places - if anyone is interested. Not Chicago, though.

Got to get electricity fast...

Darn, I just typed for 20 minutes and apparently lost the signal and everything I put in. It's supposed to automatically save the drafts periodically. Guess not today.

I'll reenter a few thoughts.

While the computer was charging, so was I. I asked for directions to a shopping area and this guy instead of giving me directions takes me to a Barnes and Noble. So I got a couple of books and ate and walked about a mile back to the truck stop. Then took a nap. So we're charged...

Do you watch Friday Night Lights ? We do, and like it. It seemed Friday night I was in the same Dillon, TX town as in the TV program. I was awakened at a little after midnight by a bunch of kids and cars, hollering and carrying on, cruising I figured. Then about 1:30 again by the sounds of cop cars. If you have never been stopped by a cop at midnight you might not know the sounds, I do. Moving on, I woke up again about 4:00 and got up for a roadie coffee. When I went back into the Huddle House ( where I had dinner ) the place was filled to over capacity by high schoolers. Eating, screaming, laughing all that. Anyway it really looked like the set of FNL.

So it did it again... I'm done for the time being. Am I out of the doghouse yet, Mike ?