Thursday, August 28, 2008

Carlisle, PA

Tonight we're at the Schneider OC in Carlisle.

After dropping our JCP stuff in Statesville our next work assignment was to go to the Charlotte OC and pick up a relay load going to Buck, PA that had originated in Statesville, NC. How dumb is that ?

Anyway we picked it up, grabbed a shower and headed out. We headed up to Roanoke, VA and spent the night at an Idle Aire. Had a d/a parked next to us that ran all night long. Didn't bother me, I'm half deaf anyway but it (sort of) bothered the Funny Lady. Oh well, she got a nap today anyway.

We were hauling 17,000 pounds of worn out tires that are going to be recapped. We dropped them in Buck and our next w/a is to come over to the OC and pick up a load headed back to Salem, VA - right next to Roanoke. We're certainly wearing out I81...

Coming over the mountains on I64 in WV we noticed that some of the trees there were already turning colors and some even dropping their leaves. Gonna be fabulous.

Ten days till TAH, we're ready.

Bob

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

NITRO...

We're back in Nitro, WV going east. Planning on the breakfast buffet at Tamarack. Just can't keep the Funny Lady away from there.

I have misplaced my battery charger for the camera so I can't take any pictures.

We hauled our paper out to Mt. Olive, IL. Then picked up a load of denim scraps back at the
Edwardsville OC ( just outside of St. Louis) and took them to Franklin, OH. You will never believe what they do with them. A whole warehouse full of the stuff. We walked through the plant. They pulp it up and make sheets that they ship to Boston and the company there makes our US currency paper. They also had black and red material scraps that they do the same for European and Indian paper. They also had some fluffy, like wool, stuff they did the same for Asian currency. Cool beans. Now we've got a load of sportswear headed for Statesville, NC. Maybe will be calling Ron tomorrow if we can get closer to Charlotte.

We're down to 12 days before our next TAH in Oklahoma. We're ready...

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Shelbyville, KY

See, the Funny Lady isn't any better at keeping our blog updated than I am !!!

We, dropped our load of Calcium Carbonate at a chemical plant in Axix. AL The Funny Lady had to wait in the guard shack - no dead beats in the gate, HAH. Had to change into long sleeve shirt and long pants. Hotter than heck. While closing the doors I checked the trailer to see if it needed to be swept out. Good luck, it looked like it was covered in sheet rock dust. On the way to our next shipper I stopped and had it washed out.

We stopped in at a company that makes the recycle bags for Ace Hardware in Mobile and were destined for Prince George, VA. Go figure, they can't make recycle bags in VA so they have to be hauled in from Alabama. Oh well, that's what keeps the wheels rolling. We dropped that Friday morning and by 11 we were at a truck stop around the corner from the Ace place. The QC indicated that freight was slow so we read for awhile and took a nap. When I woke up the QC said it's time to roll. Pick up a load of brown paper in Big Island, VA, which isn't an island at all, and take it to Mt. Olive, IL.

Oh, forgot, we found the best rest area. In terms of surroundings not facilities. It's the first rest area going north on I85 in South Carolina. It's on a lake, not a pond a lake. Tall pines, real nice.

We picked up our paper. The rolls are over six feet tall and this load is 41,000 pounds heavy. Tough to pull over the WV mountains.

We stopped in at Tamarack and had breakfast/lunch/dinner all in one meal. Got to say, they have real good food. Atlantic Salmon and 6 sides of vegetables that we split. YUM.

We're in Shelbyville, KY tonight. Walked over to the Dairy Queen for a blizzard. I would guess that it had not been open more than six months. Can you believe they don't have any chocolate ice cream. For a couple of chocoholics that was tough to swallow... but we toughed it out.

We're headed for the Schneider OC outside of St. Louis tomorrow and will deliver in Mt. Olive on Monday.

See you in Illinois. Bob

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

A FIRST !!!

Greetings from the Funny Lady,

I'm writing to you today because right now the Funny Man is driving and when he stops driving all he wants to do is read. Reading is pretty much what I do when I'm not looking at the scenery and/or napping. Funny because reading in kinda like yawning, so there you have it.
We decided instead of letting all our fans down, I would write during the afternoon, then Bob could finish up and post swiftly in the evening.

We left off riding bikes on Jacksonville Beach, then we chatted w/ the hunky lifeguards at the oldest Red CrossLifeguard building on the east coast (really interesting).
Finally got a load on Friday at noon going to Grovepoint, OH.Drove to pickup in Savana at the Georgia Port Authority. Sorry no pics, but was really cool being deep inside w/ all the freighters, cranes, railroads, trucks, etc. Heavy duty security as they searched the contents of the cab, all storage areas, and mirror searched all around and bottom of truck and trailer. We passed and picked up Kmart lawn/garden products probably shipped from China.

The night before we picked up the trailer we bobtailed to historic downtown Savana. Walking to Paula Dean's "Lady and Sons" restaurant, saw smoke and flames coming from a manhole cover. Saw lots of hunky fireman and policeas they cordoned of the last two streets for a 9 block stretch. Everything was fine until the power went out, but our food was already done so we ate and still had a wonderful Friday evening down on the wharf watching people (mostly foreigners).
Honked to Ron and family on our way thru Charlotte.

Delivered in OH late Sunday afternoon and picked up another load right away from WalMart distribution center (ginormous!) goingto Tampa, FL by Wed 8am. We'll if you were watching the weather channel, you know hurricane Faye was heading that way and going to hit land on Tuesday. So Monday afternoon, we got redirected to drop the load at Atlanta OC, which we did this morning (Tues). Made our run to WalMart for groceries and now are taking a 44,000 lb load with sacks of calcium carbonate (any guesses what it's for?) to Mobile, AL.
And there you have the first report from the Funny Lady !

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Two In A Row - Take That...




Well, as you know rumors can be true. Delivered and 7:30 this morning and entered my status on the Qualcomm. I waited about an hour (reading) and then called in to see what was up.




NOTHING. Or darn. So we drove out to A1A in Jacksonville and checked into a Best Western on the beach, that's it in the middle. Got a balcony looking out on the beach. We're roughing it now.

We rented bikes and rode along the beach
and then through the neighborhood
on 1st Avenue.
Here's the Funny Lady, we're out on the pier.
We're headed out for another stroll on the beach as the sun goes down. We've been watching the Olympics and want to be back in the room for them.
We'll see what tomorrow brings, but for now we're having a really great time !!!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Weekly Blog Update... I''ll do better

We had a great weekend with our international traveler, we were very happy to see her.
Here's the Funny Lady with Tracie.






Tracie and Christina gave a presentation on their efforts to implement LEAN productivity improvements in the facility they were interning in. Seemed like they learned a lot and had a great time. This is a group picture of all of here co-interns that went to Ireland. Cute group of gals - and bright, too.












We spent (and were spent) the day at Great America in Gurnee.
There's the Funny Lady with her typical YMCA stance. They enjoyed all the rides and I started and finished a James Patterson book - "I Warned You."

Great fun.











While getting ready on Friday morning I had a bit of a funny tragedy.

Usually, when I cut my hair I use a #3 whatever they call it to keep my hair about 3/8 inches long. Of course Teresa was hurrying me... Have to blame someone. Anyway I grabbed the razor and made one quick pass and realized, uh-oh. This can't be good!!!






I tried to use the #1 and feather it... to no avail. So, I had to shave it all. Sorry, you don't get to see that one !!!

Well, we're back on the road again. Did a quick pick and drop in Chicago then picked up a load of plastic stuff for Sysco - restaurant supplies and dropped in Atlanta this morning and are in Jacksonville, FL tonight. Rumor has it freight is slow so maybe we won't get another load too fast and can go to the beach tomorrow.




The Funny Lady caught this picture of me at a rest area in Georgia today... see the haircut.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

TAH 0 8/7 - 8/10

Heard from Tracie this evening. She arrived back from Ireland today. They are having a "return" conference at the Big Ten Conference Center in Chicago tomorrow. We scheduled this TAH to coincide with her return. Then Saturday the Funny Lady and the girls are headed to Great America and their water park. So far I'm not going, just the girls.

After dropping the cardboard in Springfield, MO. we headed over to Coffeeville, KS and picked up 41,000 of copper wire to take to a shop in Cedar Rapids, IA. We spent some time checking out the damage from the floods. The city and FEMA have taken over several stores in Westdale Mall. There were over 6,000 residences damaged for 200 million dollars and 1500 commercial sites with 170 million dollars of damage. Of course it was raining while we were there. Kind of put the residents on edge. You could still see the river was way high.

After dropping our wire we got a work assignment to pick up in Cedar Rapids and take it on down to Texas. Whoops, that won't work. Can't get to TX and back to Gary for our TAH. So I declined. They took it well and gave me another load to pick up and it was supposed to go to NC, but we were able to drop it in Gary for someone else to take on to NC. That was Monday.

Tuesday the next work assignment came to pick a load of pallets in Joliet and take them out to Purina in Davenport, IA. I was in getting coffee about 6 am and an announcement came in looking for a volunteer to run a load out to the Chrysler plant in Belvidere, IL. I figured why not. So I grabbed some tea for the Funny Lady and went to wake her up and hit the road. Then we came back to Joliet and dropped in Davenport. So, if you know your Illinois geography we came across Illinois on I80 east on Monday then West/East/West Tuesday then East on Wednesday.

Finally our last load was to pick up a full load of pillows from Pacific Coast Feather in Maquokete, IA and take them out to Kmart in OHIO. Needless to say we dropped that load in Gary also.

So we're off now through Sunday and I'll get to rest while the girls play.

GET OFF MY BACK, RON... not really. Thanks for the email.