We're back in cold country again - Des Moines, IA and headed for Mason City.
We had a nice TAH, though because of the ice storm that went through OK and AR we were shut in most of Monday and Tuesday. We stayed and Grandma and Grandpa's both days. Teresa got a lot of sewing done and got us all ready to go to Cancun - 23 days.
I read a bit and napped a bit. Both Teresa and I have been reading Jeffery Deaver and Stephen White books. Each have written about 15/20 books and we have almost finished all of them. They are excellent writers. We tried to read them chronologically but didn't find them all in that sequence. I used to read John Grisham and Dan Brown, but these days they have been a little slow on the production end. Somebody talk to their editors about that, please.
I saw Mr. Grisham on the Today Show this week so I guess he's got a new one, I think it was "The Associate." I'll have to wait until it comes out in paperback and ends up at a half price store. We don't save the books we've read. Can you see it - we each read about 2 a week... how many shelves would it take to hold them all. We read and then leave them at the next OC we visit. Sometimes we even score a new book to read at the same time. In addition to being team domestic Teresa is also I our librarian. She makes me sign each book out as I read them. That way when I ask for my next book she's ready. Funny, I always wanted to make love to a librarian. Now I have one 24/7.
We sat for most of Wednesday waiting for our next w/a. About 1500 it came in. Up to Hutchinson, KS and pick up a load of salt and deliver it to Kraft Foods in Mason City. Yesterday we picked up and made it to Des Moines last night. Showered and headed out to the truck to watch CSI. We can do that now we have all the remotes and power cords. Don't want to leave those behind again!!!
Grandma watches the game shows and Grandpa watches all things western. Interesting that Tuesday night we watched "Wild Bill Hickock.". He spent a lot of time in Kansas and it seemed we passed through many of the areas that he was in. Seemed a bit of a historical ride for me. That's one of the ways I occupy my mind on those 500 mile days.
We're hoping for a w/a south after our delivery today. Keep your fingers crossed for us.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
TAH - Ponca City
We were pretty busy last week. Down to Houston, up to Athens over to Clarksville, AR and Morrilton. Then back to Tulsa to drop off the trailer and head home Friday night. I don't have my pumpkin pad with me to detail it all, but I know we were running pretty good. Freight might be slow, but we didn't feel it the last two weeks.
We sure enjoyed the warmer temperatures down there. Now that we're back in Ponca City it's been running a little chilly. Not Minnesooota chilly but chilly none the less.
We're sorting and packing our bags for our trip to Cancun next month. Enjoying family, resting and eating... What else do you do after running hard for over three weeks ?
Not much else to report, will begin to update ( more regularly ) once we're back on the road Wednesday. In the meantime, I think I'll take a nap.
We sure enjoyed the warmer temperatures down there. Now that we're back in Ponca City it's been running a little chilly. Not Minnesooota chilly but chilly none the less.
We're sorting and packing our bags for our trip to Cancun next month. Enjoying family, resting and eating... What else do you do after running hard for over three weeks ?
Not much else to report, will begin to update ( more regularly ) once we're back on the road Wednesday. In the meantime, I think I'll take a nap.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
We're Burning Up Here
We're burning up here... we arrived in Dallas to 71 degree weather. That is basically a 94 degree temperature change from last week. Gotta love it. After delivery in Cedartown we dead headed over to a Penny's distribution center in Atlanta and dropped our salt covered trailer.
That's the hard working ol' girl there. No, not the Funny Lady...
While in Minnesooota we spotted this ice covered lake with a bunch of ice huts on it. Looked interesting. Teresa asks "so why do they like to do that?" If anyone knows, please tell us.
Saturday morning we went back to the Penny's lot and picked up a "hot" load headed for Dallas, and here we are.
Our TAH is scheduled for Saturday so I figure they're going to run is around Texas for awhile then send us home. We're starting our count down till we head for Cancun, 33 days. I'm preparing already.
Who wants a beard on the beach ? I was beginning to look pretty scruffy so I figured I should lose it all.
Pretty clean AND handsome - right ?
Teresa's doing laundry and then we're going to take a walk.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Pooped in Gary
You want to know how cold it can get in Minnesooota ? Tuesday morning it was -12 degrees. Now that's cold. I'm pretty sure those folks living up there are hearty but... man I couldn't handle that all winter long.
We made our MUST delivery on Monday morning at 0800 and got our next w/a while dropping the trailer. Head out to Sleepy Eye, MN and pick up some Rid-Ice and take it to Mills Fleet and Farm in Germantown, WI - 42,000 pounds. We spent the night Monday in St. Charles, MN. Another cold night of -12. We delivered yesterday about noon and got another w/a to pick up a relay load in Sturtevant, WI and deliver it to an O'reilly's auto parts on the north side of Milwaukee. I figured it would be a distribution center. No such luck... We drove past it first. The parking lot was full of everything to outfit a store. Apparently it was being converted from a Checker Auto to an O'reilly's.
I called to confirm they were expecting me... yep, just pull in the lot, they do it all the time. An hour and a half to get in. Snow banks everywhere, cars everywhere. And they wanted the trailer dropped off. At one point the trailer looked like the trailer was going to roll over. Thanks to my Funny Lady for directing me and traffic. Could not have done it without her. Not sure I should have anyway, but it's there. I know, should have got some pictures, but we were both a little preocupado.
This morning we picked up a very light of paint supplies from Sheboygan, WI and are headed to Cedar, GA, thank goodness a little warmth for these old bones.
Today, from Sheboygan to Gary we saw at least 100 cars slid out - and ironically 1 salt truck overturned in downtown Milwaukee. We saw plenty in Minesooota, too, but most of them there were flipped. I could only reason that they must drive faster there.
Traffic was less than crawling on I80 going east, so we said enough! and came on into Gary to fuel the truck, fuel ourselves, shower and do laundry.
You may recall that we had misplaced our power brick and remotes for the tv and sat dish. Monday Joe called to tell us he had found them (where I put them) in his garage. The point is that since we haven't had a TV for two weeks, Teresa is glued to the one in the TV room here at the OC. I think she's getting laundry done, too. I'm pretty sure she'll be leaving with me in the morning. She's looking forward to getting out of the snow as much as I am.
It's snowing like crazy out there, next note from sunshine.
We made our MUST delivery on Monday morning at 0800 and got our next w/a while dropping the trailer. Head out to Sleepy Eye, MN and pick up some Rid-Ice and take it to Mills Fleet and Farm in Germantown, WI - 42,000 pounds. We spent the night Monday in St. Charles, MN. Another cold night of -12. We delivered yesterday about noon and got another w/a to pick up a relay load in Sturtevant, WI and deliver it to an O'reilly's auto parts on the north side of Milwaukee. I figured it would be a distribution center. No such luck... We drove past it first. The parking lot was full of everything to outfit a store. Apparently it was being converted from a Checker Auto to an O'reilly's.
I called to confirm they were expecting me... yep, just pull in the lot, they do it all the time. An hour and a half to get in. Snow banks everywhere, cars everywhere. And they wanted the trailer dropped off. At one point the trailer looked like the trailer was going to roll over. Thanks to my Funny Lady for directing me and traffic. Could not have done it without her. Not sure I should have anyway, but it's there. I know, should have got some pictures, but we were both a little preocupado.
This morning we picked up a very light of paint supplies from Sheboygan, WI and are headed to Cedar, GA, thank goodness a little warmth for these old bones.
Today, from Sheboygan to Gary we saw at least 100 cars slid out - and ironically 1 salt truck overturned in downtown Milwaukee. We saw plenty in Minesooota, too, but most of them there were flipped. I could only reason that they must drive faster there.
Traffic was less than crawling on I80 going east, so we said enough! and came on into Gary to fuel the truck, fuel ourselves, shower and do laundry.
You may recall that we had misplaced our power brick and remotes for the tv and sat dish. Monday Joe called to tell us he had found them (where I put them) in his garage. The point is that since we haven't had a TV for two weeks, Teresa is glued to the one in the TV room here at the OC. I think she's getting laundry done, too. I'm pretty sure she'll be leaving with me in the morning. She's looking forward to getting out of the snow as much as I am.
It's snowing like crazy out there, next note from sunshine.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Baby it's REAL Cold Outside
We arrived in Clear Lake, IA Sunday about 1730 at 18 degrees. Now it's 12. Surely you recall the event that occured here ? Eerie that while coming up I35 the Buddy Holly song "Peggy Sue Got Married" was playing on the Sirius radio. So what am I doing at here at 0300? Well I just haven't gotten the hang of sleeping while the engine is running. My body figures if the engine is running I'm supposed to be in the driver's seat... Not funny. When it's down below 15 you're supposed to keep the engine running, so it is and I am.
On Thursday we spent the evening at the Rosemont oasis headed north. Felt a bit like the Tom Hanks movie The Terminal, not the Hotel California version. We weren't alone for sure, many other folks were spending the evening there. We even observed other folks meeting there. I would recommend it to hole up for a bit.
Friday with 3 drops IN Chicago had it's challenges. We caught all but one bridge lower than 13' 6" before we were committed and had to make one challenging turn around - I didn't say u-turn. One of our addresses was 1360 Ashland. The instructions didn't say north or south but our fuel solution map took us to south. Guess what - there is nothing at south. Another turn around. When we finished at the north address we headed north on Ashland to the 90/94 freeway, but no can't do that, a low bridge. Should have got some pictures, but honestly I was a bit busy... For the record, you also cannot get to I94 north from I90 going east. There's a 13' bridge there, too. You have to go past to, like Addison, and cross over and go back west to go north. Would never have believed that. At least it's marked about a mile in advance.
We finished with the Kmarts at 3:30 and then had to go out to West Chicago in traffic for a pick-up. That was no treat - 2 hours for about 40 miles. That load was headed for Marietta, OK. Hurray, warm weather. On the way through Missouri the temps climbed to 67. Ok, time to bring out the shorts, right ? No way - by Saturday morning it was down into the twenties. We dropped the trailer there, which is just across the border from Dallas on I35, about 3:30 then ran up to Jenks, OK, that's a suburb of Tulsa and picked up a load of toilet paper. Yep, love those. Fully loaded trailer of 15,080 pounds.
This load MUST be delivered at 0800 in Minneapolis, MN this morning. We covered 557 miles to get here to Clear Lake, IA and am leaving at about 4:30 to get to the Target distribution center by 0800. Not particularly fond of this schedule. Hopefully we'll get a bit of a nap some time this morning after delivering, Teresa will make sure of that, don't worry. Not really sure why toilet paper has to be on such a tight schedule... Mostly I think it's service level agreements, regardless of what's in the load. But you would think you were delivering organs for transplant.
On Thursday we spent the evening at the Rosemont oasis headed north. Felt a bit like the Tom Hanks movie The Terminal, not the Hotel California version. We weren't alone for sure, many other folks were spending the evening there. We even observed other folks meeting there. I would recommend it to hole up for a bit.
Friday with 3 drops IN Chicago had it's challenges. We caught all but one bridge lower than 13' 6" before we were committed and had to make one challenging turn around - I didn't say u-turn. One of our addresses was 1360 Ashland. The instructions didn't say north or south but our fuel solution map took us to south. Guess what - there is nothing at south. Another turn around. When we finished at the north address we headed north on Ashland to the 90/94 freeway, but no can't do that, a low bridge. Should have got some pictures, but honestly I was a bit busy... For the record, you also cannot get to I94 north from I90 going east. There's a 13' bridge there, too. You have to go past to, like Addison, and cross over and go back west to go north. Would never have believed that. At least it's marked about a mile in advance.
We finished with the Kmarts at 3:30 and then had to go out to West Chicago in traffic for a pick-up. That was no treat - 2 hours for about 40 miles. That load was headed for Marietta, OK. Hurray, warm weather. On the way through Missouri the temps climbed to 67. Ok, time to bring out the shorts, right ? No way - by Saturday morning it was down into the twenties. We dropped the trailer there, which is just across the border from Dallas on I35, about 3:30 then ran up to Jenks, OK, that's a suburb of Tulsa and picked up a load of toilet paper. Yep, love those. Fully loaded trailer of 15,080 pounds.
This load MUST be delivered at 0800 in Minneapolis, MN this morning. We covered 557 miles to get here to Clear Lake, IA and am leaving at about 4:30 to get to the Target distribution center by 0800. Not particularly fond of this schedule. Hopefully we'll get a bit of a nap some time this morning after delivering, Teresa will make sure of that, don't worry. Not really sure why toilet paper has to be on such a tight schedule... Mostly I think it's service level agreements, regardless of what's in the load. But you would think you were delivering organs for transplant.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Back at it
We're on the road again... had an uneventful 11 hour 700 mile trip back to Ponca City on Saturday. Sunday we booked on down to Dallas to pick up the truck. Guess what - of the 200 trucks sitting there ours was "loaned" out. Not really a big deal, just annoying. After all it is Schneiders truck, although it is also our house. Nothing much disturbed but we are "missing" a few things, most unimportant.
As we were setting our house back in order we realized we could not find the power cord for the tv or the remote for it and the Direct TV. We figured that we must have left it at home. Our next work assignment came in during the evening - to pick up a relay load there at the Dallas OC and take it to 3 Kmart stores in downtown Chicago. Instead of traveling the normal way I20 - I40 and up I57 we thought we would go I35 and get close to Ponca City. Joe and Grandpa came over to the Loves truck stop at mm211 on I35 and picked us up. Short story is we still can't find them but we had a great mexican dinner at Enrique's with Grandma and Grandpa, thanks. They hauled us back to the truck later that evening.
Yesterday we made it on up to Des Moines, IA. We haven't quite picked our spot for tonight yet. We have an AT delivery for 0900 at the first Kmart and you know Chicago traffic. We want to be close enough not to get hung up in it, but there aren't really any good and safe places to park downtown. Right now I'm thinking the oasis on I90 by the Allstate arena or the oasis on I290 by Rosemont. In either case we'll have the pleasure of listening to the airport - real close and not much else. At least they have a sitting area. I'm thinking maybe we can slip by a Best Buy and pickup the power cord. It's one of those that converts to 16v dc.
It's pretty cold here in Des Moines, a few flurries.
We're hopeful a load south is in our future after delivering tomorrow.
Bob
As we were setting our house back in order we realized we could not find the power cord for the tv or the remote for it and the Direct TV. We figured that we must have left it at home. Our next work assignment came in during the evening - to pick up a relay load there at the Dallas OC and take it to 3 Kmart stores in downtown Chicago. Instead of traveling the normal way I20 - I40 and up I57 we thought we would go I35 and get close to Ponca City. Joe and Grandpa came over to the Loves truck stop at mm211 on I35 and picked us up. Short story is we still can't find them but we had a great mexican dinner at Enrique's with Grandma and Grandpa, thanks. They hauled us back to the truck later that evening.
Yesterday we made it on up to Des Moines, IA. We haven't quite picked our spot for tonight yet. We have an AT delivery for 0900 at the first Kmart and you know Chicago traffic. We want to be close enough not to get hung up in it, but there aren't really any good and safe places to park downtown. Right now I'm thinking the oasis on I90 by the Allstate arena or the oasis on I290 by Rosemont. In either case we'll have the pleasure of listening to the airport - real close and not much else. At least they have a sitting area. I'm thinking maybe we can slip by a Best Buy and pickup the power cord. It's one of those that converts to 16v dc.
It's pretty cold here in Des Moines, a few flurries.
We're hopeful a load south is in our future after delivering tomorrow.
Bob
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