Back On

Well my load is now back on, so off to Carlisle. It doesn't deliver until Tuesday at two so I will have plenty of time to get some laundry done while at home.

It is a Monday

I just got back into my hotel room from loading up the truck after my paid weekend of doing nothing in Allentown. After pretripping and starting up the truck the Qualcomm beeped with a message, my load for today is cancelled. All I can say to that is fantastic, at least I found out in time so I haven't checked out of the hotel room yet. So now I am just waiting to find out what they come up with for me now.

Last night I had dinner at the Red Robin that is next to the hotel. I had a really good burger, fries and two ice teas. Now for anyone that has eaten with me, the two ice teas is a sign, usually I will drink almost a pitcher at a meal in a restaurant. The sign is of poor service, it is rare that i don't tip, but the service this time around just did not warrant a tip. I don't know if he was just too busy, or new, or both, but I only saw him a total of three times. Someone else greeted me, took my order, and brought me my tea. He got me one refill, brought out my food, and dropped off the check. When he dropped off the check, he didn't ask if I wanted anything else, refill on my tea, more fries, or dessert (all of which I would have liked). So I just paid the bill and left, with a large line through the tip amount. I think that this was only the third time in my life that I have done that.

Well I think I will just lay back and doze a bit while i wait for them to figure out how to get me out of here. Probably a load straight into the ice storm that is coming.

Taste of Italy Ristorante

I just ate at a fantastic Italian restaurant, Taste of Italy Ristorante (two websites), apparently a very popular one as well. I was in there at around three thirty and by the time I left at four fifteen the place was packed. I started with ice tea as usual, unfortunately it was the strongest tea I have ever had. It tasted like there were tea leaves still in it, and was just undrinkable. Switching to water was the best option there. The entree was chicken giardino, and it was delicious. I finished with a dish of tiramisu, again delicious. They have won several awards over the past few years and their menu makes it almost impossible to decide, it all looks so good. So if in the area, definitely plan on trying this place out, a little warning, it is a lot of food, and it is not inexpensive. Though there are lower priced items on the menu, most things start at around twenty dollars, at least the most interesting dishes that is.

Allentown, Pennsylvania: Red Roof Inn

And this is where I will be all weekend. I was unable to pick up my next load until Monday morning, so this weekend I am basically stuck not working. So three nights here in Allentown, but fortunately I am near a lot of things within walking distance, and even more when I drop my trailer. Usually I don't do that, but I refuse to be stuck in one spot if I don't have to be.

Today I have had a nice brunch, well lunch but it was 10:30 so brunch is more appropriate. It was at a Friendly's restaurant in front of the hotel. I got the special, mix and match meal that came with a sundae for $9.99. Which is a lot better value than getting something off the regular menu and adding a drink. I did add a cup of clam chowder to my ginger chicken salad, so it was a little more, but still good value. All of it was really good, but when one gets the ginger chicken salad, start with only half of the dressing, when you use the entire thing it gets way to gingery by the end of the salad.

I then dropped my trailer and headed to the Autozone that was down the street. I needed a new headlight and I had my best chance of picking up a sealed light there. They actually had three of them, all with a slightly different model number than what I was looking for, but the $8.99 one worked just fine. I can't figure out what made the $19.99 one so much better, but I am guessing it is one of the ones that has the blue tint to the light. Looking at their website, it appears that the twenty dollar light is worth it, but since I would have two different lights, it just doesn't seem worth it. When I have to replace the headlights in my car, I may upgrade to the Silverstar lights, but not for the truck. I do get reimbursed for buying the light, I don't get paid for replacing it, but not replacing it can cost me a nice amount of money in a ticket.

I did find a laundry mat down by the Autozone and may do some laundry tomorrow morning. I just don't feel like it today, that and I will need to locate a Huntington ATM soon to replenish my cash supply. I could always get a cash advance, but have never liked borrowing from future paychecks, that is how drivers get behind. Once you take a cash advance, a lot of times you will have to do it again to cover that money you took out of next weeks check.

The rest of today will be spent watching TV, reading, playing games on my computer, or watching TV on the computer. Basically wasting time, while getting paid a little bit to do it.

Still here

Still waiting, though I am finally in a dock, now it is just a matter of getting unloaded. I called to find out what my next load was, and the first surprise was that they had one. The second surprise was that it doesn't pick up until Monday morning, in Carlisle. So nothing to do for the next three nights but sit in a hotel, how thrilling.

The worst part is that I knew this was going to happen, and I have just about had it with going East and then sitting for a couple of days. I think I will either start splitting these loads off so I sit closer to home or just refuse them. Because now all I will do is sit and spend money to eat at a hotel. If I am lucky there will be something like an Applebees nearby, if not, fast food all weekend.

Breinigsville, Pennsylvania

I made it here about when I planned to, unfortunately they are unable to take me until my appointment time. Which basically means that I am seven hours early. Fortunately I can check in a bit later to see it they can take me a bit earlier, thought at this point it may only be a few hours earlier.

From the size of the lot I seems that I could have come straight here and slept, but I don't think that would have gotten me in any sooner. So staying where I did and getting a good shower and decent breakfast seems worth while. The only good thing is that I have a decent signal, and a fast connection, so will be able to game or watch some video while waiting, rather than being stuck browsing news articles.

The late unload is bad in another way, it will make getting reloaded today a real difficulty. So we will just have to wait and see what the day brings.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: TA

I am about an hour away from where I deliver tomorrow, hopefully earlier than scheduled. The appointment time is for five in the afternoon, but then I was supposed to pick this load up at four today. Since the pick-up was flexible I am hoping to get rid of it early at the consignee. Then it will just be a matter of waiting to see what is next. They say I will have a load, I hope they are right. Otherwise it will be three nights in a hotel this weekend while I get paid for a layover.

LockBourne, Ohio

It was almost like a miracle, I was almost back to the truck stop in Sonora when the Qualcomm beeped and had a load for me. It picks up here and heads back East to deliver tomorrow in Breinigsville, Pennsylvania. Before I did anything else I looked up where these two places were and then called my dispatcher. My experiences the past two weeks on getting out of that area have been extremely bad, so I let her know how upset I would be if I got stuck there over the weekend.

Though if I do get stuck over the weekend, I can always get a hotel room for the three nights, and get paid layover pay. It just would be really annoying to not be doing anything and be away from home. I don't mind driving and being away, but this sitting has got to stop.

This load doesn't deliver until five tomorrow afternoon, but like the pick-up scheduled for four this afternoon, I plan on getting rid of it early.

Sonora, Ohio: Love's Travel Stop

I am now within fifteen minutes of where I will be delivering tomorrow morning. Which is the way I prefer to be positioned with a load typically. This way I can unload and get on with the next one, though I won't hold my breath on there being a next one right away. I would be willing to bet that I am right back here at the truck stop by noon waiting for a load. Though I could be wrong, I did get a load to Texas a while back out of here.

Now I did make one small mistake on the way here, I missed the exit for the detour around the Pennsylvania turnpike. I have two excuses, the sun was in my eyes and when I realized that I needed to get over, there were two cars going straight rather than exiting. Which was really odd since this meant they were riding next to me on the side of the road where break downs usually sit. Now neither of these excuses really hold much water, but they are both true and they really did happen. I hate driving West in the afternoon, especially in the winter, the sun just hangs in the driver's door window. Now taking the turnpike saved me at least half an hour, perhaps even forty-five minutes, and with the amount of time of mine they have wasted this week, I am not really feeling to bad about it.

Trenton, New Jersey

Just before eight this morning I got a call telling me that I had a load, finally. This is apparently a load we have picked up before, so I am half wondering if this wasn't what they had planned all along, and just didn't want to tell me.

It is a load of pallets going to the Colgate-Palmolive plant in New Concord, Ohio. A fairly easy run and the dodges they want me to make to avoid the Pennsylvania turnpike aren't all that extreme. According to Google maps I will only add four miles to the trip by taking a slightly southerly route to Harrisburg.

Now I am just waiting to get into a dock at this pallet place. Hopefully it doesn't take to long, because I want to drive almost the entire way before stopping tonight. If they kill my fourteen by holding me to long to load this, then I will simply be late tomorrow morning delivering.

Some Pictures: December near Buffalo, New York

Here are some pictures that I have meant to post for some time and just haven't gotten around to it. Sitting around doing nothing gives me plenty of time so I no longer have an excuse. These are all from December of 2008 when I was stuck in a Red Roof Inn near Buffalo, New York. The ones with more trucks in them are from the Falcon Terminal near there.

Trucker Stories: New York City

Now I have heard this one before and it was always a friend of a friend, or I heard it from this driver from another driver. Last week I actually talked to a person in the Romulus Falcon terminal that had done it and another that had his trainer do it. Both of the experiences happened several years ago, so how current this information is unknown.

Now the story always starts the same the driver, sometimes with another truck following, is in New York City somewhere and has to make a right turn. A tight right, and a car is illegally parked against a yellow curb.

Sometimes a police officer is there writing the car a parking ticket, and sometimes they come later.

In the version with the officer there, the driver is told to complete his turn or he will get a ticket for impeding traffic. The reason the driver stopped was because his trailer would hit, run over, or otherwise take out the illegally parked car. So after being told to keep moving the rear tandems do damage to the car, by ripping off the bumper, rolling over the hood, or some other expensive repair.

The officer then finishes writing the ticket and puts it on the window of the now destroyed car. While the truck goes on to make its delivery.

The version when the officer comes after the damage was the one told to me by the driver that had it actually happen to him. According to him they came up to the turn and the driver of the car was just getting out after illegally parking it. When they asked her to move the car she flipped them the bird and went on her merry way. So they did what any driver would do, tried the turn and ended up tearing off her front end. The woman then came tearing back and called the police about the accident. When the policeman arrived and looked at the car, looked at the truck and saw where the car was parked. He then proceed to write the irate woman a ticket and hand it to her for parking illegally and told the truck driver to move along before they got a ticket for impeding.

The whole moral here is don't park illegally or at the very end of a street in New York City.

One thing I never understood was how the trailer always escaped damage, I feel if I tried to do something like that, I would end up blowing at least one and possibly two tires on the trailer. That is if I didn't roll the entire thing as it climbed the car.

Maybrook, New York: TA, still

Once again I find myself living at a TA during the beginning of the week. Hopefully I will be getting a load tomorrow morning, but I will not be holding my breath. The load planning department at Falcon is leaving a lot to be desired at this point. If this keeps up I might not be able to hold out until GM restarts and have try out another carrier. Hopefully the issue will resolve itself with the inauguration now done, but if it doesn't I will take another look at Werner.

Now in my eyes the proper way for a planning department at a trucking company to work is that one group works on drivers that need to be moved right now, and another works on loads for those drivers once it is known where they are going. This way a load is already set up, hopefully, once a driver gets unloaded and they can just keep moving. One thing that hampers this type of planning is a lack of knowledge on the planners part of exactly how many hours a driver has available to work with on the next load. This can be worked around by using good estimates of what is needed and leaving some time between unload and reload.

For example the load that got me here was acquired by Falcon on Friday in the early afternoon. Once they got that load they should have immediately had someone looking for something for me to pick up near here on Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. Now I have no idea if this happened or not, but with over a thousand trucks to plan for, and very few regular runs, it seems likely that all the van drivers are being planned for as they empty at a location, not prior to being empty. So what is likely is that they started looking Monday afternoon, if they even got around to looking for me at all.

This style of planning creates a lot of scrambling and extra expenses. One example of this is fuel being burned to idle the truck or run the bunk heater, the use of Idle-Aire is also an expense to worry about. Both of these costs would be moot if I was rolling on a load. Another expense is an increase in company paid for showers. If I am not running, I am sitting in one location, and free showers only accumulate with stopping places for fuel. So right now the company is paying more for me to sit at this truck stop than if I was sitting in a forty dollar a night motel room. Now I am able to get a room once a week, but prefer to hold on to it until I really need one, either due to a lack of truck stops or just needing a break form the truck.

I have mentioned a willingness to work at the main place and help out with the planning, but I doubt that they will take me up on it, to many toes to step on. Besides, I only have a two year degree in business, most of a four year degree in supply chain (which is basically logistics and purchasing rolled into one), a co-op in the materials and purchasing department of Hayes-Lemmerz, and previous dispatcher and planning experience. So I would be definitely not be qualified to offer a new perspective on the problem. Please note the sarcasm there, the worst of this is that not only am I not making money, but the company isn't either, so we both get to take a spin down the porcelain money cycle if this keep up.

Maybrook, New York: TA

Once again I am hanging out at a TA, and will be plugging into an Idle-Aire for the night. Which means that there was no new load for me today. At this point they haven't found one for tomorrow either. One thing to remember with this horrible record on keeping me moving is the fact that Falcon Transport is a really big GM carrier. Until the economy crashed and GM shut down almost all of my prior loads were dedicated for GM in some way. The few that weren't were either at the very beginning of driving here, or covering a run for Ford.

I never did any of the many runs we used to cover for Chrysler, but at least at the Toledo Jeep plant we were a major player there until June or July of last year. That was when Falcon dropped Chrysler as a customer, apparently they were behind in paying their bills. If one looks back, shortly after that was when the rumors of GM and Chrysler merging were floating around. The main reason floating was Chrysler's supposed pile of cash. So if they had this cash, then why were they not paying us? I don't think the cash has been around for some time now, which would explain not paying. I am still not certain if they ever paid Falcon what was owed.

Tonight in the Country Pride restaurant at the TA, I will be having the all you can eat ribs. I saw someone with them before and they looked good. Usually I will get the buffet or something usual off the menu, but tonight I felt like ribs. They are here now, and they smell good. Don't worry, they come with the soup and salad bar as well, so it isn't all meat tonight.

Brookville, PA: TA

This is actually the exit where you would get off of I-80 to head south and say hello to Phil. You know Phil don't you? Short in stature, a little pudgy, and has a lot of hair. He ends up on television yearly as well. Haven't figured it out yet? Well it is Punxsutawney Phil of course, the groundhog that predicts the end of winter. I wonder if he will see his shadow this year.

It turns out that my almost two hour delay didn't really lose me as much time as I though it would. Apparently the road got shut down about ten miles short of this exit due to an accident earlier tonight. So I would have ended up hung up and losing time either way. This is about an hour and a half of driving away from where I originally planned to stop at, so I will have close to five hours of driving tomorrow morning rather than three.

One thing that was a bit amusing along the way was a particular CB advertisement. It was for a strip club off of I-80 at exit 42, the Interstate Body Shop. To entice the truckers they announced free showers, free cocktails, a laundry room, plenty of parking, and of course live nude girls, like there were some clubs with dead nude ones. The girl on the radio then asked people who were interested to head to another channel, to keep the main channel, 19, clear of the ads. there they went on to say that they had a new dancer, never done it before tonight on stage, with such enticing descriptions of long blond hair down to her butt and her measurements, which meant nothing to me. All I could think was TANSTAAFL. The cover must be ridiculous to pay for all the freebies, because There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.

Falcon Terminal: West Middlesex

Last week I ended up getting out of Chardon, Ohio, with a load that took me to Taylor, Michigan, on Friday morning. So I got to spend a quiet night at home before taking off to deliver a load of construction adhesive. Once empty it was once again the waiting game, eventually I moved over to our Romulus terminal for some more waiting. Then much to my surprise they had a load for me out of Port Huron, Michigan. I zipped up there and was loaded quite quickly, then back down to Perrysburg for the weekend.

Today when I got to the yard I was surprised to find out that my truck was running, and apparently had been running since Friday after I left or Saturday. I think it was around a hundred degrees in the cab when I got into it.

The plan was to drive for about six hours today and make it to Lamar, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately while fueling at our terminal here in West Middlesex, the inspection found a leaking wheel seal. Which is what I am waiting for right now. If it takes too long I will move just a bit further down the road and take my break. Hopefully I will get moving quickly though, the mechanic estimated about an hour.

Still here: Chardon, Ohio

Well I delivered a load here this morning, and moved to a Walmart to wait for the next one. That was before ten this morning, it is now almost two. This week has just not been a good one at all.
I can say that the Walmart here is nice and modern, complete with a Subway and skylights for lighting on bright days. It is also something I can't wait to get away from.
If I don't get a load I have located a Red Roof Inn in Willoughby, that is not far from here, relatively speaking. The funny and really sad part is that both the company and I have probably spent more money than we made this week. At least my money was only on food, a greatly lesser expense than fuel or time hooked to the Idle-Aire or a hotel room that they are spending. I actually think it might be cheaper for them to let me drive home tonight than to put me up in a hotel room.

Chardon, Ohio: Walmart

It isn't a truckstop, but it is the closest thing around to one there is. Once again I am waiting for a load. The one I picked up yesterday was delivered at nine o'clock this morning, since then I have wnadered the Walmart aimlessly, sort of like mall walking with window shopping thrown in. I also picked up some Subway from the restaurant in the Walmart. Basic economics, get a footlong, cut it in half, and have two heathy meals for five bucks.

I spent last night at the TA in Youngstown, of course hooked to an Idle-Aire system. One thing I did last night that I don't usually do, is turn it off before going to sleep. I did that because of the strong exhaust smell coming in. So I turned on the bunk heater, it runs off of the diseal, and slept fairly well. The main reason I switched was to avoid ending up like a couple that ended up with carbon monoxide poisoning because of someone idling near them. The Idle-Aire is supposed to be sealed against exhaust, but apparently the seal doesn't hold that well. I have already sent an email about the incident to Idle-Aire, it will be interesting to see what kind of response I get back.

Now I know

I know for certain that I will be sitting here until tomorrow. The good news is that I have a load tomorrow, that delivers to Akron on Thursday, so it is more okay news. Once again I will be doging tolls, but I am not going to be following the route that they give me, I will stick mostly to the interstates. I have no desire to drive that stretch of 322 again, and will likely save some time avoiding the small towns I had to wander through. Looking at the routing on Google, it doesn't look like it will take much more time than actually using the toll route. It also avoids the worst of 322.

So another night here in the truck stop then wait and see what they come up with for me tomorrow, hopefully split this and onto something else, but I doubt it.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: TA

It has now been over twenty-four hours since I delivered my load in York, and I have no idea at this point when I will be moving again. I moved myself here yesterday afternoon after getting lunch at a diner off of I-83, aptly named the I-83 diner. I waited there for about four hours before double checking with dispatch about moving to a truck stop. That late in the day any load they found would have been loading today anyway. So I plugged myself into the Idle-Aire system for heat and electricity and spent a decent night after a long hot shower.

Today I slept in a bit and then went for breakfast. I did unhook from the Idle-Aire long while away to save some money and then hooked back in to get the fifty cent per hour discount that they offer for starting it between nine and noon. That will take me to around seven tonight, and if I am still here I will have to call and get more money put on the card or just wait until midnight when the card recharges. Fortunately none of this is my expense, but obviously I am not making any money either at this point.

Guess I will just be online, watch some tv or movies and continue to wait. Hopefully I will be moving soon, but who knows really.

York, Pennsylvania

The drive on Sunday was not to bad, except for the first twenty miles of US 322, that was hair raising. If you picture a country road, then make it weave back and forth like a drunken sailor, then add hills and mountains, you have the first forty miles on US 322 for me. I especially liked the fact that you couldn't see more than a few hundred feet in front of you, in the dark, on snowy roads. I already informed my dispatcher that I may start splitting these loads in our West Middlesex yard. All this extra driving to avoid the Pennsylvania Turnpike is getting ridiculous, and it isn't like I am getting paid for those miles either. I get paid as if I took the turnpike.

I spent last night at a fuel stop that had four parking places, all of which were taken by the time I got there. I managed to grad one of the last unmarked sections of pavement to spend the night at this place called Rutters.

Now I am being unloaded at a place that recycles plastics. Fortunately I had clean cardboard in my load, scrap plastic would have been a mess. I have no idea where I will be going next, because the load planner doesn't either.

Today's Load

They have a load for me coming out of Hesston, Kansas. Unfortunately it is a Hazardous Materials load, but it sounds like it won't be to bad. They are empty containers that just have residue in them, not loaded containers, so the risk is much less, whatever it is.

I will be picking it up as soon as I get there then head for Chicago, probably for tomorrow morning delivery. Fortunately there are a lot of truck stops in the Chicago area.

Topeka, Kansas

Topeka is where I am spending the night tonight, but how I got here is a bit of a tale. Last week I delivered the load to Strasburg, Virginia in the early morning, and then waited, and waited, then waited some more. It was finally eleven in the morning before they decided that there were no loads that could keep me going that day. Since it was a Friday, and the load that brought me there was a paid round trip, I was allowed to drive back home. I did make it home that day, but only with a half hour to spare, which means one accident or slow up along the way and I would have been sleeping on the road that night.

They tried to get me to do some short runs over the weekend, but after being ready to keep running, then ending up heading home I had already changed my mindset to things that needed doing at home. It worked out well enough.

Monday the load that they found me loaded in Perrysburg, just north or where I live. Unfortunately between the delays there and finding two holes in the roof, it took almost five hours to get the load. By that time, I decided to leave the truck the the yard long enough to go home for dinner, then headed on my way. That night I made it to Eaton, Ohio, and spent the night at the TA there attached to an Idle Aire.

Tuesday I covered quite a few miles and made it to Oak Grove, Missouri. I spent the night at the Petro, where I had a so-so dinner of chicken parmesan with the salad bar. The buffet looked good form a distance, but up close over half of it was deep fat fried, considering almost half of it was the salad portion, that was a lot of fried food.

That night around 1:30 AM there was a knock at my door, I really need to stop getting up for these knocks. Peaking out the window I found a lizard, a lot lizard, hoping to earn some money from me. I just shook my head and waved her off, not only do I need every penny, I will also never touch a lizard. She didn't look to thrilled to be out there anyway.

I had three deliveries today, starting in Belton, Missouri, the second in Olathe, Kansas, and the last here in Topeka, Kansas. By the time I was done I had spent $250.00 in lumper fees, and was finally done at 3:45PM. A lumper is a person that unloads trailers for money, most grocery warehouses have them and make it so that it is almost impossible to get unloaded with out them. Fortunately these fees are paid for by the broker or the shipper, but they are still a pain. Not to mention that one raid from Immigration would shut any one of these services down. I really doubt that any of the people besides the guy in charge is in the country legally.

Once again there was no new load for me tonight, and for some reason there are no truck stops around Topeka. So it was off to find a hotel, and I wasn't interested in looking hard, or driving far. Which brought me to a Holiday Inn with a nice large lot to park the truck in. The price for the room started out at over $80 a night, but through some negotiations on my part, the price dropped to $59 plus tax. It also came with a complementary drink and a free hot breakfast, so I definitely came out ahead. Though the only drink I had was iced tea, the food was excellent and I can't wait to try breakfast.

Check out time is noon tomorrow, so there is plenty of time for them to find me a load, and even more time for me to head to a decent truck stop if I need to.

Tonight I will just enjoy the cable in the room and relax in this really comfortable bed. The first movie tonight is The Golden Compass, and it is actually pretty good.

Clear Brook, VA

I am at the Flying J in Clear Brook, VA, tonight. The drive down was extremely nice, very few cars and even fewer trucks were on the road until I got to Maryland. That was were it got busy again. Now it is just a matter of waiting to deliver this load tomorrow morning. This truck stop is less than thirty miles away from there, so a quick drive to get rid of this, then back home again. Unless they find a broker load to somewhere, then I will be working over the weekend. I am a little mixed as to actually doing that though. I just feel like being lazy, and while I really need the boost in miles, just don't want to do anything other than head for home tomorrow.

There is one tunnel along I-70 in Pennsylvania, the Allegheny Tunnel, going through it was like traveling through to another world. On the side I went in on the sun was up and bright, and when I came out the other side, it was behind the mountains, leaving everything in shadows. I didn't see the sun again after going through that tunnel.

The food at the buffet here was really a mixed bag, some was really good, and some was just horrible. The goulash, at least I think that is what it was, was pretty good. So were some steak patties, but the soup was simply awful. It tasted like over boiled, just nasty. The cooked greens were even worse, and thinking about it one may become the other, but that is something I just do not want to think about.