Yesterday pretty much turned into a waste of time. Around four in the afternoon I found out about my replacement load, which I picked up this morning. I had just enough time left on my fourteen hour clock to get to a Flying J in Carney's Point, New Jersey, to spend the night. Then up bright and early to slip into Aston, Pennsylvania to get loaded. The bad part of this is that I deliver in Freedom, Pennsylvania tomorrow at noon. So this week I will have driven a grand total of three hundred ,or so, miles in three days. The initial delivery doesn't count since those miles will be paid on last weeks check. I did try to get them to relay the load to someone else for the delivery to keep me moving, but they weren't able to find anyone.
My next load might as well be towards home, since this week has pretty much turned into a waste of time. Well next week I will be available to work over the weekend, so we will see what happens.
One good thing about the load I delivered Monday, was that it finally got me into Delaware. It was one of the few states in the lower 48 that I have not been to yet. That just leaves me with a list of 8 states that I haven't been to: Maine, Vermont (I think), Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. I might get to knock off the first two driving for Falcon, but the rest are highly unlikely. We really don't go that far West, ever.
Well now I will just kill time here until I take off tomorrow for Freedom, Pennsylvania, with a load of pizza boxes for Papa Johns Pizza.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Cancelled Load
They just called and told me that the load has been cancelled, great. So now I am stuck at a turnpike rest area while I get to wait for them to figure out where to send me next. I can't drive after 6:45 PM tonight due to the fourteen hour restriction. While I have had a nap, I haven't had enough sleep to call myself rested, at this point I have had just enough sleep to make it impossible to go back to sleep. Technically I will have had a ten hour break by nine tonight, just because I haven't been driving or working, hopefully it won't be something that has me driving tired.
I just grabbed some food from inside, while the fries and drink were fine, the burger is just sitting there like a lump in my stomach. I definitely should have gone with my instincts and not eaten anything here, but I felt like something hot.
I just grabbed some food from inside, while the fries and drink were fine, the burger is just sitting there like a lump in my stomach. I definitely should have gone with my instincts and not eaten anything here, but I felt like something hot.
New Jersey Turnpike: Woodrow Wilson Rest Area
I got rid of my load on time this morning, and was surprised by the fact that I had another load right away. Unfortunately it picks up tonight at midnight about a half hour drive from here. So now I am trying to wind myself down enough to get some sleep this afternoon to be able to drive all night. This is going to relay at a Petro truck stop in Glade Spring, Virginia tomorrow. Ultimately this will be delivering in Houston, Texas, on April 1st. They have apparently set up three drivers including me to get it there by then.
It is a good thing I stayed in Harrisburg last night, otherwise I would end up two days without a shower rather than just one. I might grab a shower at the TA in Baltimore, Maryland, when I fuel tomorrow, it will depend on how crowded they are when I get there.
It is a good thing I stayed in Harrisburg last night, otherwise I would end up two days without a shower rather than just one. I might grab a shower at the TA in Baltimore, Maryland, when I fuel tomorrow, it will depend on how crowded they are when I get there.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Hess Travel Center
Actually I am writing this from the Perkins restaurant inside the travel center, plaza, whatever. This is my first time staying here and so far it looks like a good choice. I was going to try and stay at the Pilot down the street, I have a free shower there, but the lot only holds ten or so trucks, so I had my choice of here or the TA that I usually stay at. I am not at the TA because Saturday morning I was informed that Falcon was no longer reimbursing for using IdleAire anywhere that there aren't anti-idling laws. I did manage to get reimbursed for the receipt I was calling about, but this changing of the rules without telling anyone has got to stop. My terminal manager was surprised about this as well and planned to check on it, and several other reimbursable items, on Monday. I wonder if my driver manager even is aware of this.
I am about a two hour drive from where I deliver tomorrow morning, and since I have no idea how long I will be stuck out there tomorrow, I wanted to start the day with a shower. Which is why I didn't try and get any closer tonight. I am sure I could have found some place to park at, but I doubt that it would have had facilities more advanced than possibly a toilet and sink, if that. So I chose the safe place to stop and will find out tomorrow if there are decent places closer.
Saturday we took our Motorola phones into the Verizon store to see why they had such horrible battery life. It turned out that they needed a software update, which took about an hour to do. As we left the store to kill the hour we both realized that we would have no idea when to come back since we both use our phones as clocks. So far the battery life has been better, but part of that was because the bluetooth was turned off. Now that I know how to turn the bluetooth on and off without opening the phone, I might be able to make the battery last a bit longer. We will just have to see how it goes this week.
I am about a two hour drive from where I deliver tomorrow morning, and since I have no idea how long I will be stuck out there tomorrow, I wanted to start the day with a shower. Which is why I didn't try and get any closer tonight. I am sure I could have found some place to park at, but I doubt that it would have had facilities more advanced than possibly a toilet and sink, if that. So I chose the safe place to stop and will find out tomorrow if there are decent places closer.
Saturday we took our Motorola phones into the Verizon store to see why they had such horrible battery life. It turned out that they needed a software update, which took about an hour to do. As we left the store to kill the hour we both realized that we would have no idea when to come back since we both use our phones as clocks. So far the battery life has been better, but part of that was because the bluetooth was turned off. Now that I know how to turn the bluetooth on and off without opening the phone, I might be able to make the battery last a bit longer. We will just have to see how it goes this week.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Walcott, Iowa: Iowa 80 Truckstop
It has been a while since I have been in this truck stop, and it is as big as ever. The number of different lights, chrome pieces, and other dodads that one can buy for a truck will never cease to amaze me, and I think they have at least one of every one of them here. The parking lot is enormous and it is at least a quarter mile from the restaurant to the service department, with fuel pumps and a truck wash in between the two.
I dropped my trailer for the night at a shop in Rock Island, Illinois. I will be picking up a food load tomorrow heading for Newark, Delaware, and I can't have any leaks in the trailer. I found out at my first stop this morning that the door seals were leaking a bit, and those can be a chore to replace. Unfortunately the shop here declined to do them due to a lack of parts and a fear that there might be more damage they aren't equipped to deal with underneath. So a half hour drive and I drop the trailer for it to magically become fixed for me tomorrow. It is actually fairly close to the route I was going to take to my pick-up tomorrow in Fort Madison, Iowa.
The only bad thing is that I ended up sitting most of today and will be picking up at noon tomorrow, so will have wasted a full day of driving by the time I get the load. Then the load doesn't deliver until Monday morning, so I have plenty of time to get it there. Swinging by the house would be possible, but would take me out of route. I might spend a night in Columbus again. It will just depend on how far I can drive Friday after I get the load.
Dinner tonight was the buffet, a bit more than I needed but I didn't feel like anything else on the menu.
I dropped my trailer for the night at a shop in Rock Island, Illinois. I will be picking up a food load tomorrow heading for Newark, Delaware, and I can't have any leaks in the trailer. I found out at my first stop this morning that the door seals were leaking a bit, and those can be a chore to replace. Unfortunately the shop here declined to do them due to a lack of parts and a fear that there might be more damage they aren't equipped to deal with underneath. So a half hour drive and I drop the trailer for it to magically become fixed for me tomorrow. It is actually fairly close to the route I was going to take to my pick-up tomorrow in Fort Madison, Iowa.
The only bad thing is that I ended up sitting most of today and will be picking up at noon tomorrow, so will have wasted a full day of driving by the time I get the load. Then the load doesn't deliver until Monday morning, so I have plenty of time to get it there. Swinging by the house would be possible, but would take me out of route. I might spend a night in Columbus again. It will just depend on how far I can drive Friday after I get the load.
Dinner tonight was the buffet, a bit more than I needed but I didn't feel like anything else on the menu.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Waiting
I am now empty and waiting for my next load, the skies are gray and it is drizzling.
Bettondorf, Iowa
I am now tucked into an alley and backed to a dock at an auto glass replacement place. It will be interesting to see how long it takes them to get this unloaded. I am definitely glad to be here early, because this is a down town area and looks like it could get quite busy during the day. Once I am done here the rest of this load goes to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Bloomington, Illinois: TA
I am about two and a half hours away from my delivery tomorrow morning in Bettondorf, Iowa. It is a bit farther than I would like, but I would have had to stop before I got to another decent selection of truck stops. Some of the small independent truck stops can be quite nice, but there is no guarantee that it even exists. I have found at least three that were listed in my truck stop guide that are gone. Some are just closed up, and some have been bought out and converted to retail space. Then there is the second stop with this load tomorrow, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. After that I get to find out where I am going to next. I am going to try and keep running over the weekend, but that seems to be catch as catch can.
I did manage to cut my eating expense down today. They had a spaghetti special with salad for $4.99, and I didn't get my usual iced tea either, just water. I think the salad was almost as big as the meal, but that just means I am definitely full.
So far the new Verizon phone has been working out pretty good, and the blue tooth ear piece is able to handle the truck noise. So I can hear just fine, though apparently a lot of truck noise gets sent along as well. I might have to check out other head sets in the future, but for now this works. My sister mentioned that she has had difficulties with the battery life on Motorola phones in the past, and it seems like this one will be no different. The battery is half gone after taking it off the charger at around one this morning. My call volume hasn't been to excessive, but I had talked a bit. My old phone would not be this far down at this point in the day.
We should save a lot with my switching to my fiances' Verizon plan. Eliminating charged minutes just for the calls between the two of us will be good, but eliminating my calls to dispatch as well will really be great. I included them in my friends and family section. To get the friends and family for two phones we had to go with the 1400 minute plan, and we figure that the calls not included in the plan will use maybe a hundred minutes of that.
I will be hooking up to the Idle-Aire tonight, so should be extremely comfortable as all my electronics charge up.
I did manage to cut my eating expense down today. They had a spaghetti special with salad for $4.99, and I didn't get my usual iced tea either, just water. I think the salad was almost as big as the meal, but that just means I am definitely full.
So far the new Verizon phone has been working out pretty good, and the blue tooth ear piece is able to handle the truck noise. So I can hear just fine, though apparently a lot of truck noise gets sent along as well. I might have to check out other head sets in the future, but for now this works. My sister mentioned that she has had difficulties with the battery life on Motorola phones in the past, and it seems like this one will be no different. The battery is half gone after taking it off the charger at around one this morning. My call volume hasn't been to excessive, but I had talked a bit. My old phone would not be this far down at this point in the day.
We should save a lot with my switching to my fiances' Verizon plan. Eliminating charged minutes just for the calls between the two of us will be good, but eliminating my calls to dispatch as well will really be great. I included them in my friends and family section. To get the friends and family for two phones we had to go with the 1400 minute plan, and we figure that the calls not included in the plan will use maybe a hundred minutes of that.
I will be hooking up to the Idle-Aire tonight, so should be extremely comfortable as all my electronics charge up.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Spending on The Road
I was able to take some time today to look at what I have been buying while out on the road. Besides a once daily meal at a truck stop, most of my other major purchases have been drinks and food for in the truck. Most of the food has been bought in grocery stores, but the drinks have been from truck stops. Anything at a truck stop store is at least fifty percent more expensive than the same item from a grocery store. This is because they know they have a captive audience. So I am going to have to try and get more of my drinks in bulk from Sam's or Costco to limit my purchases. I would just buy a liter of apple juice, but that is inconvenient to use while driving. This will means I will have to purchase individual bottles and store the extra in the truck, until it is time to toss them in the cooler.
Milk is another big purchase for me, but hauling individual bottles would be impossible to keep them all cold, and a gallon just is inconvenient to drink while driving. So for the foreseeable future, I will have to keep buying milk from truck stops.
I would love to cut back on the number of meals that I buy will out on the road, but the size of the cab makes it extremely difficult to carry enough food to make this less of an expense. Lunch and Breakfast are easy to work out, but dinner takes some space.
Milk is another big purchase for me, but hauling individual bottles would be impossible to keep them all cold, and a gallon just is inconvenient to drink while driving. So for the foreseeable future, I will have to keep buying milk from truck stops.
I would love to cut back on the number of meals that I buy will out on the road, but the size of the cab makes it extremely difficult to carry enough food to make this less of an expense. Lunch and Breakfast are easy to work out, but dinner takes some space.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Highland Park, Michigan: Unloading
I am at the beer distributor with my load of Molson, and am getting it unloaded now. After this I can head straight South for home. Then the first thing on my list of things to do will be to get my glasses fixed. Then plow through all my mail, or was it crawl into bed and sleep?
Driving in the early morning hours is always a play on colors and today was no different, except for the complete lack of clouds as far as I could see. Leaving the truck stop at five in the morning it was completely dark, but the glare of headlights drowned out what ever stars there were. As I drove East the sky was constantly getting a lighter shade of blue, but if you looked up you could almost see it shaded in layers, light at the horizon to midnight black in my mirrors.
For the longest time there was a stripe of orangish red going across the sky along the horizon, then a stripe of yellow, then the blue. I am not certain when it showed up, but that stripe lasted a long time, slowly getting wider as time went on. Like little white accent marks the contrails of planes in the distance were the things that were white in the sky.
This time there was no gradual emergence to the sun, instead as I crested a hill it was suddenly there. It seemed like it was resting on the road, perfectly centered between the trees that line the highway at the top of the next hill. It was a giant ball of orange fire just resting there, blinding me as I scrambled for my sun glasses.
The rest of the trip here was done squinting through my sun glasses, hoping for the moment the sun would finally be high enough in the sky for my visor to do some good. Now it is just warming the inside of the cab as I sit here, tapping away at my computer.
Driving in the early morning hours is always a play on colors and today was no different, except for the complete lack of clouds as far as I could see. Leaving the truck stop at five in the morning it was completely dark, but the glare of headlights drowned out what ever stars there were. As I drove East the sky was constantly getting a lighter shade of blue, but if you looked up you could almost see it shaded in layers, light at the horizon to midnight black in my mirrors.
For the longest time there was a stripe of orangish red going across the sky along the horizon, then a stripe of yellow, then the blue. I am not certain when it showed up, but that stripe lasted a long time, slowly getting wider as time went on. Like little white accent marks the contrails of planes in the distance were the things that were white in the sky.
This time there was no gradual emergence to the sun, instead as I crested a hill it was suddenly there. It seemed like it was resting on the road, perfectly centered between the trees that line the highway at the top of the next hill. It was a giant ball of orange fire just resting there, blinding me as I scrambled for my sun glasses.
The rest of the trip here was done squinting through my sun glasses, hoping for the moment the sun would finally be high enough in the sky for my visor to do some good. Now it is just warming the inside of the cab as I sit here, tapping away at my computer.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Gary, Indiana: TA
I finally have the load that I will be able to go home after. Running the quick beer run over to Rockford, Illinois, only took up about five hours of my day. Unfortunately making certain that I had a load after that one that got me home took an hour or two in the morning that I can't replace now. My fourteen hour clock was up at 7:15 PM, and I parked myself here at the TA at 7 PM. So pretty much all of my driving to deliver this load will be happening tomorrow. I have a decent sized window open for the delivery, so should have no problems getting unloaded. Then it will be time to head for home. I might stop and get the truck washed on the way, but I doubt it.
One More Day
I am going to do the load to Rockford, but only because they have another one to Highland Park, Michigan, then home after that.
Off to Gary to do a BEER RUN!!!!! or two..
Off to Gary to do a BEER RUN!!!!! or two..
Three Rivers, Michigan: Meijer
Unloading this morning was easy, even though I needed to back to two different docks to off load my three pick-ups. I got there a bit early, 6:30 AM, for my delivery and was the second truck there. This turned out to be a good thing since the driveway rapidly filled with trucks, the last one in line was stuck sitting on the street. Unloading went very quickly, and I was out of there by eight. I am now sitting in a Meijer parking lot with a couple of restaurants nearby if I feel the need to eat something other than what I have in the truck.
Last night they tried to get me to agree to do a load to Rockford, Illinois. A beer run like I did two weeks ago, unfortunately at this point if it isn't a load home I am not taking it. My dispatcher is understanding, but she has to push against the load planners and the people above her to get things moving. If they had let me get home for a bit this past weekend, I would be fine to keep running, but I still haven't gotten my glasses fixed, and I have a lot of other things piling up that need done.
Last night they tried to get me to agree to do a load to Rockford, Illinois. A beer run like I did two weeks ago, unfortunately at this point if it isn't a load home I am not taking it. My dispatcher is understanding, but she has to push against the load planners and the people above her to get things moving. If they had let me get home for a bit this past weekend, I would be fine to keep running, but I still haven't gotten my glasses fixed, and I have a lot of other things piling up that need done.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Fremont, Indiana: Petro2
Once again I am positioned about an hour away from my delivery, this time in Three Rivers, Michigan. I could have gotten closer, but not had the facilities that are available here. For some reason I have gotten used to showering in the morning, and don't plan on giving that up unless I have to.
The delivery tomorrow should be fairly easy, the problem after that is what will get me back home tomorrow. There was a mention of a possible beer run tomorrow, which wouldn't be to bad if it went to Perrysburg to deliver. The fun part here is the fact that the dead head to get the beer run is about the same as if I went to Toledo. So either way I am driving about two hours to get where I am going.
My glasses are still broken, and I think they will be unfixable tomorrow to make getting home even more important. After all, if I lose a contact, there is no way I can drive anywhere with one eye. I think I would die laughing if that did happen, since they would have to get another driver out to where ever I am to get me and the truck home, and I would insist on home and not the closest yard.
The delivery tomorrow should be fairly easy, the problem after that is what will get me back home tomorrow. There was a mention of a possible beer run tomorrow, which wouldn't be to bad if it went to Perrysburg to deliver. The fun part here is the fact that the dead head to get the beer run is about the same as if I went to Toledo. So either way I am driving about two hours to get where I am going.
My glasses are still broken, and I think they will be unfixable tomorrow to make getting home even more important. After all, if I lose a contact, there is no way I can drive anywhere with one eye. I think I would die laughing if that did happen, since they would have to get another driver out to where ever I am to get me and the truck home, and I would insist on home and not the closest yard.
Barberton, Ohio: Still Waiting
Through the word is that the payment should go through soon, so hopefully I will be able to get out of here and on to the next stop fairly soon. I did get to watch a decent movie on Netflix during this break, Black Ops. Interesting premise, so so execution, and of course they leave a possibility of a sequel.
Barberton, Ohio: Loading
They added a pick-up to my day and pushed back the delivery until tomorrow morning at 7 AM. They also do not have someone that can deliver this for me. So it looks like I will be taking this all the way to Three Rivers, Michigan. Then my prediction is that I will sit until I am almost out of hours on my fourteen tomorrow then they will let me go home. I am hoping that this will not be the case, but I wouldn't bet against it happening.
The load is ready to go here, but they are waiting for payment before being able to load it. I don't blame them, the automotive industry is teetering right now like a house of cards. If one place doesn't get money for their parts, then it all may fall. Of course the reverse is true, if all of the parts places demand payment up front they all may fall the other way as well.
Either way I am sitting here eating lunch while watching a movie on Netflix.
The load is ready to go here, but they are waiting for payment before being able to load it. I don't blame them, the automotive industry is teetering right now like a house of cards. If one place doesn't get money for their parts, then it all may fall. Of course the reverse is true, if all of the parts places demand payment up front they all may fall the other way as well.
Either way I am sitting here eating lunch while watching a movie on Netflix.
Reno, Pennsylvania: Loading
Well eventually I will be loading. The dock is waiting on the paperwork for the load. Hopefully this doesn't take to long, but you never know.
For some reason both Barkeyville, and Reno have anti-idling ordinences. Which is really funny since they have a truck stop in Barkeyville, with no IdleAire. The weather was mild enough that it didn't really matter if I had the truck on, but in the summer or the dead of winter, huge issue.
For some reason both Barkeyville, and Reno have anti-idling ordinences. Which is really funny since they have a truck stop in Barkeyville, with no IdleAire. The weather was mild enough that it didn't really matter if I had the truck on, but in the summer or the dead of winter, huge issue.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Barkeyville, Pennsylvania: TA
I got to go somewhere, only about an hour away from where I have been sitting all day, but it isn't another Walmart parking lot. I have a load that picks up tomorrow morning in Reno, Pennsylvania, then has two deliveries. The first in Perrysburg at 3 PM and the second in Three Rivers, Michigan at 5 PM. My first question was, so after I deliver in Three Rivers will I be able to dead head home and that answer was I don't know. Then the second question was can one of the local guys deliver this and I just get it to the Perrysburg yard, and she will have to check on it. So I might be home tomorrow, or I might be stuck somewhere in Michigan waiting for them to figure out how to get me back home. Either way, annoying.
Gibsonia, Pennsylvania: Walmart
Yes, I am still here, one episode of Private Practice and three episodes of Life on Mars later. I am about a four hour drive to home from here, and my fourteen hour clock is up at seven-thirty tonight. So unless I leave at three-thirty I will definitely not be home tonight. Of course I still don't have a load so that is fairly definite anyway.
In a little while I will be moving to a truck stop in Youngstown, Ohio. Closer to home, but still will be stuck waiting for a load. At least I will be able to get that far, since I have about an hour drive to any truck stop at this point. The area around Pittsburgh has very few places for a driver to stay at, and a Walmart parking lot doesn't count.
I just realized something, if I stayed here till eight tonight I will have had an ten hour break, with little to no sleep, but a legal break none the less. Not that I will stay that long, I am heading to a truck stop as soon as they let me go.
In a little while I will be moving to a truck stop in Youngstown, Ohio. Closer to home, but still will be stuck waiting for a load. At least I will be able to get that far, since I have about an hour drive to any truck stop at this point. The area around Pittsburgh has very few places for a driver to stay at, and a Walmart parking lot doesn't count.
I just realized something, if I stayed here till eight tonight I will have had an ten hour break, with little to no sleep, but a legal break none the less. Not that I will stay that long, I am heading to a truck stop as soon as they let me go.
Gibsonia, Pennsylvania: Walmart
The drive up to my delivery this morning wasn't to bad, until I got onto I-279 through Pittsburgh. It is a two lane road that moved at basically a crawl for most of the time, until you got to the tunnel. Then the speed picked up a lot, until I got out the other side and found out that I needed to be three lanes to the left to not get off the interstate and continue going north. The signs to tell you this were basically right over the exits, so tossing on my blinker, and slowing way down was my only option. I am still not sure how I managed not to exit at that point. After negotiating through several more poorly marked exits and on ramps I got to the place in Indianola at 7:15 AM.
Parking there was a treat in its own right. I took the pictures after I was parked, the cars to the left of the RAV4 were not there, good thing too since I needed that space to get to the dock.
After getting unloaded I discovered how truck unfriendly the town was, and all I wanted o do was go to Denny's and eat some breakfast. I hid myself next to Target's loading dock for a while, before needing to move. I had to drive fifteen minutes West on the turnpike to find a place I could park at, a Walmart. I thought there was a truck stop here, but it is either south on SR-8 or has since been torn down for more profitable retail establishments.Now I am just playing the waiting game, hoping for that final load towards home. Someone mentioned that I was starting to sound a bit like the beginning of a Quantum Leap episode when I say it that way. I have no idea what they mean...
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Valley Grove, West Virginia: TA
I am about an hour and a half away from my 8 AM delivery tomorrow morning in Indianola, Pennsylvania. There was one more truck stop about fifteen minutes further down the road, but I was felt like stopping here instead. There was really no advantage in going that extra bit today. Apparently it was a good choice, the buffet has a lot of good stuff on it today.
When I hooked back up to my trailer in our drop lot today I was a little surprised to find out that the seal had been broken and that someone had been in the trailer. Fortunately they only opened one box to see what the load was, otherwise I could have had some real troubles delivering tomorrow. I could still have some difficulties tomorrow, but a lot of times they don't even check the seals on loads. Of course with my luck it will be a place that will freak out that the seal was broken.
On the way inside, I stopped by the IdleAire shack to see what their hours are. They are lightly manned like the rest of them, but an option has been added to the sign out screen to have a copy of the bill sent to your email. So I will no longer have to worry about getting a copy in person to get my reimbursement. It will be nice to be able to use it again easily.
When I hooked back up to my trailer in our drop lot today I was a little surprised to find out that the seal had been broken and that someone had been in the trailer. Fortunately they only opened one box to see what the load was, otherwise I could have had some real troubles delivering tomorrow. I could still have some difficulties tomorrow, but a lot of times they don't even check the seals on loads. Of course with my luck it will be a place that will freak out that the seal was broken.
On the way inside, I stopped by the IdleAire shack to see what their hours are. They are lightly manned like the rest of them, but an option has been added to the sign out screen to have a copy of the bill sent to your email. So I will no longer have to worry about getting a copy in person to get my reimbursement. It will be nice to be able to use it again easily.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Columbus, Ohio: The Old Bag of Nails Pub
I just got back from meeting some friends for dinner at The Old Bag of Nails Pub. The food was reasonably priced and really good. In fact if there was a way to get this chain up in the Toledo area, I think it would do fairly well. It isn't a franchise, but they do have a lot of locations in the Columbus area. It was a lot of fun getting to see some old friends and make a few new ones. It also got me out of the hotel for a while, which was more than greatly appreciated. Now I just need to make some friends in the other random spots I get trapped in hotels at and I will be all set.
Reynoldsburg, Ohio: Red Roof Inn
It is another exciting day in a hotel for me. Fortunately I got rid of my trailer so I was able to easily run to Andersons right down the road. It is hard to describe what the Andersons is to a non-Toledoen, but it just seems to be the best of the local hardware store, with a great deli and a fantastic meat market thrown in. It has a little of everything and is a lot friendlier than a Walmart to shop in. The deli makes these fantastic sub sandwiches, which I got for lunch. As well as some other food for in the truck the next couple of days.
I was hoping to find a cord to charge my razor today, instead I ended up picking up a package of razors and some shaving cream. I have to admit, I get a much closer shave when I do it this way, it just seems to take forever though. I was just feeling too scruffy to let it keep growing.
Netflix is once again my friend, as well as getting caught up on the network shows that are available online. I already let them know that once I unload this I am expecting a load home on Monday. If I wanted to be out on the road for long periods of time, I wouldn't have gone with this company. I know at this point I should just feel lucky to have a job, but it is still aggravating not getting home this weekend.
I was hoping to find a cord to charge my razor today, instead I ended up picking up a package of razors and some shaving cream. I have to admit, I get a much closer shave when I do it this way, it just seems to take forever though. I was just feeling too scruffy to let it keep growing.
Netflix is once again my friend, as well as getting caught up on the network shows that are available online. I already let them know that once I unload this I am expecting a load home on Monday. If I wanted to be out on the road for long periods of time, I wouldn't have gone with this company. I know at this point I should just feel lucky to have a job, but it is still aggravating not getting home this weekend.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Reynoldsburg, Ohio: Red Roof Inn
I am checked into the hotel, even though it says truck parking in the guide, it really doesn't have any. I dropped my trailer in the local yard about fifteen minutes away from here as a precaution, and it turned out to be a good one. Even bobtail my truck takes up four spots in a parking lot. I also wanted to be able to get around if I wanted to, and that is a lot easier without a trailer. There is an Andersons just down the road, so I will be able to pick up some lunch stuff for tomorrow, and fresh food for in the truck, as well as some batteries for my mouse. They might even have a spare cord for my razor.
I prefer to bring what I can to save money on food while on the road, but there is not a whole lot of room in the truck I am driving when compared to some of the other ones out there. So I can't fit in everything that I did in the past, while driving for Werner. Otherwise I would have frozen meals that I could heat up in my lunch box oven. I would also be carrying a gallon jug of milk with me. Both of these things would save me a huge amount of money. If I keep going over the road I think I will find a way to squeeze it all in there, just to save the money.
Tonight I am staying in, but tomorrow I will be reconnecting with an old friend, at what looks to be a really good restaurant at an affordable price. I can't wait to see what the food is like since the menu already has me drooling.
Jeffersonville, Ohio: Flying J
I stopped here because I was hoping for a relay in Columbus to get me home this weekend, instead it looks like I will be spending it at another hotel. Rather than drive over towards the Pittsburgh area and spending the weekend there, I will grab a Red Roof some where near Columbus. Probably the one in Reynoldsburg, since it seems to have truck parking. I will make a reservation after I eat lunch.
Coming up through Kentucky was extremely pleasant this morning. The rain that I went through yesterday turned to snow along I-65. Fortunately it didn't leave any on the roads so it was just a nice white layer hiding all the ice storm damaged trees that still line the road. That early in the morning the traffic was extremely light and the early dawn twilight gave it a bit of a glow.
Two weekends away from home does not make me happy, and my next load will be to home. I have things that need to be done and am getting a bit too furry. I am really regretting not bringing the charging cord for my razor this time. Since I was only planning on a week out, I figured it would have a good enough charge.
At least I will be getting caught up on sleep, I have been running a bit sleep deprived since doing laundry in New Caney, Texas. Even though I stopped early that night and slept in a bit, I just have been dragging a bit on my get up and go.
Coming up through Kentucky was extremely pleasant this morning. The rain that I went through yesterday turned to snow along I-65. Fortunately it didn't leave any on the roads so it was just a nice white layer hiding all the ice storm damaged trees that still line the road. That early in the morning the traffic was extremely light and the early dawn twilight gave it a bit of a glow.
Two weekends away from home does not make me happy, and my next load will be to home. I have things that need to be done and am getting a bit too furry. I am really regretting not bringing the charging cord for my razor this time. Since I was only planning on a week out, I figured it would have a good enough charge.
At least I will be getting caught up on sleep, I have been running a bit sleep deprived since doing laundry in New Caney, Texas. Even though I stopped early that night and slept in a bit, I just have been dragging a bit on my get up and go.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Leighton, Tennessee: TA
I am about 718 miles away from my delivery in Indianola, Pennsylvania. Which means I will not be making it there before Saturday morning. Between a truck that only goes 65 MPH and Ohio's truck speed limit of 55 MPH, it would take some creative driving and logging to get it there tomorrow before they close.
Most of my drive today was in rain, and it is still sprinkling outside right now. The only interesting thing I saw was a convertible that tried to merge onto I-40 while not paying attention to a wide load that was in the lane they wanted. The wide load won, and the convertible had the left side of its top taken off. The funny thing is that they had to have come on in front of the load and then put on the brakes for this accident to happen. All of the damage was back to front. It was probably another case where if they had been paying attention and either accelerated faster or slowed to come on after the truck they would have been fine.
I wasn't really impressed with this TA's selection for dinner, but its breakfast menu looks half way decent. They seem to love the fried food here, so I had a Reuben. It is really difficult to mess up a Reuben, so it is usually a fairly safe choice when you can't decide. It will be an early start tomorrow so off for some sleep.
Most of my drive today was in rain, and it is still sprinkling outside right now. The only interesting thing I saw was a convertible that tried to merge onto I-40 while not paying attention to a wide load that was in the lane they wanted. The wide load won, and the convertible had the left side of its top taken off. The funny thing is that they had to have come on in front of the load and then put on the brakes for this accident to happen. All of the damage was back to front. It was probably another case where if they had been paying attention and either accelerated faster or slowed to come on after the truck they would have been fine.
I wasn't really impressed with this TA's selection for dinner, but its breakfast menu looks half way decent. They seem to love the fried food here, so I had a Reuben. It is really difficult to mess up a Reuben, so it is usually a fairly safe choice when you can't decide. It will be an early start tomorrow so off for some sleep.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
New Caney, Texas: Flying J
I am back where my day started. It took forever this afternoon for dispatch to get me a load, then it was hurry up and get there. I am half convinced that the load was available all day, and they finally found it after lunch. Then once they booked it they just handed it over to my over worked dispatcher, who then forgot about it for a while. I can understand how that could happen, mainly because I have been a dispatcher, and when the phone keeps ringing, it is easy for things to get forgotten or buried. It is a big problem though, since today was basically a waste as far as driving goes, it seems unlikely that I will be able to get rid of my current load before Monday. Which makes getting home more difficult, though not impossible. I will start applying pressure tomorrow morning with an email. I will be done with my ten hour break at 5:15 tomorrow morning, but since I am currently doing my laundry, it seems likely that I will be sleeping a bit past that.
Planning ahead for tomorrow, it looks like I will make it to somewhere between Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee, before I will have to stop. I will have to fuel somewhere along the way as well, since my tanks are definitely low, though I am unsure how low since my fuel gauge doesn't go below a half, ever. I figure I probably have between an eighth and three eighths of a tank left. It doesn't sound like much, but when you are starting out with around 226 gallons as full, it isn't that bad.
The place I picked up at today was a bit funny, the dock workers barely spoke English because they were all Hispanic, and the office people barely spoke English because they were all Asian. It make one wonder how anything gets done there. Other than that I did get loaded fairly quickly, and it was a lot easier dock to get into than this morning's fiasco. I also got to enjoy the evening rush hour getting out of Houston tonight. Dealing with traffic and the long wait, just made me not care about the possible extra two and a half hours I could have driven tonight. Of course then I would be down to my last set of clean clothes, (well I do have some spares, but no jeans). So stopping here is really the best option.
Planning ahead for tomorrow, it looks like I will make it to somewhere between Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee, before I will have to stop. I will have to fuel somewhere along the way as well, since my tanks are definitely low, though I am unsure how low since my fuel gauge doesn't go below a half, ever. I figure I probably have between an eighth and three eighths of a tank left. It doesn't sound like much, but when you are starting out with around 226 gallons as full, it isn't that bad.
The place I picked up at today was a bit funny, the dock workers barely spoke English because they were all Hispanic, and the office people barely spoke English because they were all Asian. It make one wonder how anything gets done there. Other than that I did get loaded fairly quickly, and it was a lot easier dock to get into than this morning's fiasco. I also got to enjoy the evening rush hour getting out of Houston tonight. Dealing with traffic and the long wait, just made me not care about the possible extra two and a half hours I could have driven tonight. Of course then I would be down to my last set of clean clothes, (well I do have some spares, but no jeans). So stopping here is really the best option.
Houston, Texas: Loading
I finally got a load, and it wasn't far away from where I unloaded at. I do wonder what took so long to get it out to me though. It is a load of plastic garbage bags going to Indianola, Pennsylvania. Not very exciting, but it gets me back in the right direction. Running over to there is about twenty-three hours of driving, so the soonest I can get there at this point is Saturday. Which means one of several things, I will be able to unload this on Saturday, it won't deliver until Monday, or I will be able to split this somewhere. If it delivers on Monday, I am going to try to get home for the weekend. If it delivers on Saturday it seems likely that I will be stuck in another hotel until they figure a way to get me home. I am not going to go out for another week without going home for a while.
I am not even going to try and make it far tonight, at this point my goal is the Flying J I spent last night at. I know I can do laundry there and get a decent meal and shower. Then I will be able to drive Thursday and Friday. I found out yesterday that I forgot to pack my razor's recharging cord, and that died this morning. So I will definitely have a bit of fuzz on my face when ever I finally do get home.
I am not even going to try and make it far tonight, at this point my goal is the Flying J I spent last night at. I know I can do laundry there and get a decent meal and shower. Then I will be able to drive Thursday and Friday. I found out yesterday that I forgot to pack my razor's recharging cord, and that died this morning. So I will definitely have a bit of fuzz on my face when ever I finally do get home.
Houston, Texas: Consignee
I managed to battle through the Houston rush hour traffic a bit faster than I thought I would, getting to my delivery at 9:45 this morning. Unfortunately that was the only easy part about this morning.
Once I got to the place I found out that the docks only were accessible from one direction, and it wasn't the direction I entered the place from. Getting turned around was fairly easy, but the next part was anything but. On the left is a picture of the dock I was supposed to get in to, and the ones below show how tight the place truly was for my truck. The very last picture was taken over an hour after arriving at this location. I talked them into letting me use the shipping dock which is a lot better placed for a truck my size. This is the first dock I have not been able to get myself backed into, ever. I still don't believe that it can be done with a 53' trailer and a sleeper cab.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
New Caney, Texas: Flying J
Milage wise I am very well positioned to make my delivery tomorrow. Unfortunitly most of those miles are straight through the Houston area. I will be moving early enough to miss the worst of the morning rush hour, by like five minutes if I am lucky.
It is in the seventies here and really humid, so I won't be able to shut the truck off like I did last night. I know from experience that I don't sleep well in humid conditions. I was looking forward to sleeping with the windows cracked open again tonight though, so a bit disappointing. One thing I was not expecting, though I really should have, was the number of bugs that were going to be out and about. The front of the truck looks liked someone took a bug gun and just started blazing away at it. I think I will have to swap my windshield wipers out, since the winter blades see to be having real trouble with the bug guts.
If you were ever wondering how Neosorb (sorbitol) is transported to get to where they put the sweetener into things, well it is carried on trucks in blue steel drums. Since that is what this is a load of, pallets of blue steel drums.
My frames aer still being made, apparently I first got them four and a half years ago. Even the person I was talking to was amazed that they were still being made. Usually the life of a frame is only a few years on the production line. So a new frame has been ordered and they will give me a call when they come in. My contacts are from a slightly more recent prescription, but it looks like it is time to make an appointment with the eye doctor, just to get myself updated and perhaps order some new lenses for this new frame.
It is in the seventies here and really humid, so I won't be able to shut the truck off like I did last night. I know from experience that I don't sleep well in humid conditions. I was looking forward to sleeping with the windows cracked open again tonight though, so a bit disappointing. One thing I was not expecting, though I really should have, was the number of bugs that were going to be out and about. The front of the truck looks liked someone took a bug gun and just started blazing away at it. I think I will have to swap my windshield wipers out, since the winter blades see to be having real trouble with the bug guts.
If you were ever wondering how Neosorb (sorbitol) is transported to get to where they put the sweetener into things, well it is carried on trucks in blue steel drums. Since that is what this is a load of, pallets of blue steel drums.
My frames aer still being made, apparently I first got them four and a half years ago. Even the person I was talking to was amazed that they were still being made. Usually the life of a frame is only a few years on the production line. So a new frame has been ordered and they will give me a call when they come in. My contacts are from a slightly more recent prescription, but it looks like it is time to make an appointment with the eye doctor, just to get myself updated and perhaps order some new lenses for this new frame.
Matthews, Missouri: Flying J
It took the entire day, but I am out of Illinois, finally. It can take forever to get anywhere in a state that has a 55 MPH speed limit on trucks. Of course breaking free of Chicago traffic was an almost two hour task in itself.
I am almost twelve hours away from where I deliver on Wednesday, but can't get any further tonight due to bumping up against my fourteen hour limit. So I will end up having a little bit of driving to get to the final delivery after driving my eleven hours tomorrow. There were a lot of ifs that could have gotten me further than here tonight, if they had loaded me right away, if traffic wasn't horrible in Chicago, if I could have gone south instead of north to check my weight, and the final if the trailer had been water tight before I grabbed it. Though the last only took about half an hour to fix with some really expensive trailer tape and a mechanic at a TA.
I am almost twelve hours away from where I deliver on Wednesday, but can't get any further tonight due to bumping up against my fourteen hour limit. So I will end up having a little bit of driving to get to the final delivery after driving my eleven hours tomorrow. There were a lot of ifs that could have gotten me further than here tonight, if they had loaded me right away, if traffic wasn't horrible in Chicago, if I could have gone south instead of north to check my weight, and the final if the trailer had been water tight before I grabbed it. Though the last only took about half an hour to fix with some really expensive trailer tape and a mechanic at a TA.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Getting Rolling
Well I am off to pick up this mornings load. When I next post it will be from Missouri or Alabama, or even Mississippi, if the traffic up here isn't to bad.
I managed to get my glasses to hold together well enough with good old Elmer's glue. The super glue just wasn't working with the small surface area I had to work with. I have basically put layer after layer of Elmer's to form a blob around the break to hold it for now.
It is going to take longer than expected to find out if I can get another of the same frame, I found out this morning that the place had a death in the family. I found this out by calling next door to find out why they weren't picking up. I am going to miss seeing JP when I next go to John P Lynch Opticians to get my frames. I just saw him a few weeks ago to get my glasses adjusted, hard to believe that now he is gone. The funeral is today, he will be missed.
I managed to get my glasses to hold together well enough with good old Elmer's glue. The super glue just wasn't working with the small surface area I had to work with. I have basically put layer after layer of Elmer's to form a blob around the break to hold it for now.
It is going to take longer than expected to find out if I can get another of the same frame, I found out this morning that the place had a death in the family. I found this out by calling next door to find out why they weren't picking up. I am going to miss seeing JP when I next go to John P Lynch Opticians to get my frames. I just saw him a few weeks ago to get my glasses adjusted, hard to believe that now he is gone. The funeral is today, he will be missed.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Deerfield, Illinois: George's Whats Cooking
George's Whats Cooking is where I ate dinner tonight. The front desk had some 10% off coupons, and it was a short walk from the hotel, making my decision to eat there easy. I usually hit restaurants around four in the afternoon when crashing at hotels. This lets me combine lunch and dinner into one meal, lunner or maybe lupper (spell check hates both versions). It looked like a fairly popular spot since the lot was packed last night when I pulled in.
Anyway there were only two tables taken when I got there, and as I ate my salad it became apparent that I had found the local equivalent of Millers Restaurant in Toledo, Ohio. We used to go there when I was growing up, but Millers is no longer there and the similarities were amazing. Not only the selection of food and friendly atmosphere, but the fact that I was the youngest person there besides the staff. If you counted just the patrons I think the average age was around seventy.
The food was really good, and the portions were astounding. To start they brought out a basket of rolls, and they didn't give me less for just being one person. I could have just eaten all that bread and had a meal, not to mention the layer of saltines and other crackers supporting the bread in the basket. The salad was normal sized, but my chicken parmesan came with three chicken breasts, as well as two vegetables. I definitely should have gotten the smaller sized dish for a few dollars less, but big plate and slightly smaller plate means nothing until one eats there. I think that if Tisha was eating with me that one plate would have fed us both just fine.
Now one of the vegetables was something that I was unfamiliar with, but tried, and it was really good. When I asked the waitress what it was, she said it was a sweet potato. My response, but I hate sweet potatoes. She had no idea how they cooked it, but it was obviously peeled and baked. So I think I will have to try some recipes when I am home to see if I can recreate the edible sweet potato.
After dinner I went for a walk along the strip mall next door. A feeble attempt to get some exercise after laying in bed watching movies online all day. I blame the rain for not letting me out sooner. At the very end was a local grocery store, where I picked up some tape and another type of glue, since the super glue just doesn't seem to be working out. As I walked in there was a sign on the door advertising shots at the pharmacy, shots of what I don't know, but I was hoping tequila. I was greatly disappointed that they were closed already. As I was checking out the first question the cashier asked me was if I had one of their discount cards, of course the answer was nope. When he asked if I wanted to sign up for one I replied nope again, and that I doubt I would be back any time soon. This cashier and another couldn't seem to get enough of my hat though. Both seemed to really like it, kept saying that this part of the store was there little Texas, obviously an inside joke somewhere in there, but still humorous.
Anyway, back to wasting time online, and hopefully my next attempt at repair will be more successful.
Anyway there were only two tables taken when I got there, and as I ate my salad it became apparent that I had found the local equivalent of Millers Restaurant in Toledo, Ohio. We used to go there when I was growing up, but Millers is no longer there and the similarities were amazing. Not only the selection of food and friendly atmosphere, but the fact that I was the youngest person there besides the staff. If you counted just the patrons I think the average age was around seventy.
The food was really good, and the portions were astounding. To start they brought out a basket of rolls, and they didn't give me less for just being one person. I could have just eaten all that bread and had a meal, not to mention the layer of saltines and other crackers supporting the bread in the basket. The salad was normal sized, but my chicken parmesan came with three chicken breasts, as well as two vegetables. I definitely should have gotten the smaller sized dish for a few dollars less, but big plate and slightly smaller plate means nothing until one eats there. I think that if Tisha was eating with me that one plate would have fed us both just fine.
Now one of the vegetables was something that I was unfamiliar with, but tried, and it was really good. When I asked the waitress what it was, she said it was a sweet potato. My response, but I hate sweet potatoes. She had no idea how they cooked it, but it was obviously peeled and baked. So I think I will have to try some recipes when I am home to see if I can recreate the edible sweet potato.
After dinner I went for a walk along the strip mall next door. A feeble attempt to get some exercise after laying in bed watching movies online all day. I blame the rain for not letting me out sooner. At the very end was a local grocery store, where I picked up some tape and another type of glue, since the super glue just doesn't seem to be working out. As I walked in there was a sign on the door advertising shots at the pharmacy, shots of what I don't know, but I was hoping tequila. I was greatly disappointed that they were closed already. As I was checking out the first question the cashier asked me was if I had one of their discount cards, of course the answer was nope. When he asked if I wanted to sign up for one I replied nope again, and that I doubt I would be back any time soon. This cashier and another couldn't seem to get enough of my hat though. Both seemed to really like it, kept saying that this part of the store was there little Texas, obviously an inside joke somewhere in there, but still humorous.
Anyway, back to wasting time online, and hopefully my next attempt at repair will be more successful.
Deerfield, Illinois: Red Roof Inn
It is still raining here, and the super glue only partially worked. I will try a bit more when I actually get out of bed and stop watching Netflix online. The funny part is that there is a movie sitting at home that i wanted to see, but since I haven't been home I can't. Between Tisha and I the online viewing is definitely getting a work out though. That alone is worth the monthly $8.99 (plus tax).
Nothing else going on, just being lazy.
Nothing else going on, just being lazy.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Deerfield, Illinois: Red Roof Inn
Today started out well enough, laying in bed watching episodes of Ghost in the Machine Stand Alone Complex, then I decided to clean my glasses. I did nothing new or different, simply held them under running water, then grabbed a clean towel to dry them off. The result of this was very different than the usual clean glasses though, today I ended up with them in two pieces. My glasses had broken right where the bridge over the nose meets the frame around the lens. So now I have something that could be fixed with tape, back when the frames were more substantial than a thin wire. Now if I tried tape I would end up covering part of the right lens. So instead I am trying super glue. I got it to stick well enough to be able to move them as one piece, so now I am hopefully strengthening the bond by covering the gap with another layer of glue. I might do it one more time before I try and wear them. I hope this works because I really want to take my contacts out, but I also want to see as well, quite the quandary.
Hopefully this frame is still being made, so I can just order a new one from J.P., my optician. If not, I will have to get in for an eye exam so that whatever new glasses I get are with an up to date prescription. The fun part is getting in to get this done, I am hoping that if I need an exam I can get an appointment in two Mondays. I should be back from Houston by then, and will be able to delay leaving out on a run for a day to get my eyes checked.
This afternoon I spent my time shuttling trailers from our Gary yard to a new account in Le Porte, Indiana. It really didn't take long to go back and forth between the two places, and I was able to stop at a Walmart while bobtailing back to the yard the second time to pick up some super glue, and food for another week out. Then I grabbed a light trailer and headed up to here for the rest of the weekend. The hotel is about a half hours drive away from where I am supposed to pick up on Monday. I am glad I came up here tonight, the drive from Gary took forever with all the traffic. I shudder to even consider how bad it would be to try and make the drive on Monday morning.
I also tracked down a local laundry that I wash my clothes at tomorrow. It will be cheaper to do it there than to wait and do it at a truck stop later in the week.
The rest of tonight will be spent chilling online and watch tv, while crossing my fingers that I will be able to fix my glasses some how.
Hopefully this frame is still being made, so I can just order a new one from J.P., my optician. If not, I will have to get in for an eye exam so that whatever new glasses I get are with an up to date prescription. The fun part is getting in to get this done, I am hoping that if I need an exam I can get an appointment in two Mondays. I should be back from Houston by then, and will be able to delay leaving out on a run for a day to get my eyes checked.
This afternoon I spent my time shuttling trailers from our Gary yard to a new account in Le Porte, Indiana. It really didn't take long to go back and forth between the two places, and I was able to stop at a Walmart while bobtailing back to the yard the second time to pick up some super glue, and food for another week out. Then I grabbed a light trailer and headed up to here for the rest of the weekend. The hotel is about a half hours drive away from where I am supposed to pick up on Monday. I am glad I came up here tonight, the drive from Gary took forever with all the traffic. I shudder to even consider how bad it would be to try and make the drive on Monday morning.
I also tracked down a local laundry that I wash my clothes at tomorrow. It will be cheaper to do it there than to wait and do it at a truck stop later in the week.
The rest of tonight will be spent chilling online and watch tv, while crossing my fingers that I will be able to fix my glasses some how.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Hoffman Estates, Illinois: Red Roof Inn
Today was definitely a long one, I woke up at about 1:30 in the morning and was rolling out of Effingham, Illinois, by 2:45. Around three and a half hours later I rolled into the yard in Gary, dropped my trailer, picked up an empty and fueled the truck. At 7:30 I was backing into the dock to pick up my load of beer and it was a heavy one, 45,ooo pounds. Finished loading at 9:45 and off towards Rockford to deliver. I stopped for lunch along the way at one of the rest areas along I-90, in Illinois they are called an Oasis and usually are built over the highway to share the facilities with both sides of the highway. At noon I was backing into the dock at the beer distributor and by one I was empty and hanging out in an empty lot to find out what I was going to do next. I rolled into the hotel at 4:15, and for some reason am still up. The nap after unloading must be keeping me going right now.
I haven't decided where I will stay at for Saturday and Sunday night, but I do know it will be in a hotel, and I will probably track down a laundry mat to get my stuff done at a lower price than at a truck stop. So while my parents hang in Vegas this weekend, I get to wander the Chicago area. I think they are having more fun.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Effingham, Illinois: Petro
Well I either convinced my dispatcher that the relay was silly, or I bugged her enough that she made it so I could run it all the way to our yard in Gary, Indiana. Either way I will be taking this load all the way to the yard, then I get to track down an empty to load up for a beer run:
B-double E double R U-N beer run
B-double E double R U-N beer run
all we need is a ten and five-er,
a car and key and a sober driver.
B-double E double R U-N beer run
-Todd Snider Beer Run
We have a new account hauling beer out of Hodgkins, Illinois, to where ever they need it taken. In my case I will be going to Rockford, Illinois. It isn't a huge distance, but it is paid, and that is what is important.
Tonight's dinner is from the Iron Skillet here at the Petro, of course. I decided to eat off the buffet tonight, a decision made easier by the fact that they were going to be having steak and shrimp on the bar. Unfortunately the first two steaks I grabbed were done, well weren't done. They were basically seared on the outside and raw in the middle, I didn't test to see if the center was even warm, but there was no way I was eating them. So I grabbed two from another bin that were done well, well over done, but at least they were cooked all the way through.
Tomorrow will be an early one, just to make certain I can get to Gary in plenty of time for my eight AM pick-up. It really is not good to be late on this, and with the fighting of Chicago traffic it will be a lot of fun I am sure.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Shreveport, Louisiana: Petro
I just woke up from my nap and have slept enough that I can't get back to sleep yet. If I can doze off again I will get going at around four in the morning again. If I can't I might take off at midnight, just to get it over with. Either way I will be at my relay point long before I need to be, so hopefully I will be able to get the relay changed or even canceled. My main reasoning on this is that a relay is supposed to keep a load moving at a faster pace than a solo driver can, much like a team run but cheaper than actually using a team. However if a solo driver gets ahead of their plan, then that means the plan was not very well thought out, especially if they can make a relay point with enough time to take a ten hour break before the relay is even supposed to take place.
Once again I am using my Sprint Broadband card to connect, and I am noticing a definite lag in the connection speed tonight. Supposedly it is connected at a speed of 230 kbps, yet looking at the networking speed it tops out at half that when trying to watch video. Either the connection speed is a lie, or Sprint is restricting my broadband card tonight. I am not certain which might be going on, but it is making more and more of a case for switching to Verizon. I have been using Sprint phones for over eight years now, and it just is costing too much money not switching to something that offers free cell to cell calls. Since both my fiance, her family, my sister, and her family are using Verizon, it is just looking like I am being stubborn about switching. The new feature of being able to add ten numbers to call for free would further cut my phone bill, so now the only question is when will I get out there and do it?
Once again I am using my Sprint Broadband card to connect, and I am noticing a definite lag in the connection speed tonight. Supposedly it is connected at a speed of 230 kbps, yet looking at the networking speed it tops out at half that when trying to watch video. Either the connection speed is a lie, or Sprint is restricting my broadband card tonight. I am not certain which might be going on, but it is making more and more of a case for switching to Verizon. I have been using Sprint phones for over eight years now, and it just is costing too much money not switching to something that offers free cell to cell calls. Since both my fiance, her family, my sister, and her family are using Verizon, it is just looking like I am being stubborn about switching. The new feature of being able to add ten numbers to call for free would further cut my phone bill, so now the only question is when will I get out there and do it?
Shreveport, Louisiana: Petro
What an exhausting day, I left Hayti, Missouri at four this morning and made it down to Shreveport by eleven-thirty for my delivery. That was the easy part, the hard part was all the waiting to get unloaded at GM, then I had to go to another place to finish getting unloaded (I was lucky this time and it all got unloaded at GM), and then to another dock at the second location to get reloaded. I was finally done with all this at three-thirty this afternoon. By that time I only had a little more than two hours left on my fourteen to work. So I decided the heck with it and just moved myself just down the street to the Petro to take my ten hour break. All I can say is this is probably the reason that this run is relayed to get down here. Just to make certain that it arrives at both ends on time.
I will likely leave here early in the morning just to get the drive over with. It is supposed to relay at the same place again tomorrow, but I am going to try and get them to let me take it all the way somewhere; either Gary, Indiana, or Toledo, OH. I doubt it even needs to be in Mishawalka, Indiana until Monday morning anyway, even if it was due there Friday, I could easily make it there.
One funny thing about this Petro, is that they have a Casino kind of attached to it. There is a walkway between the two, and the roof doesn't touch, but they were definitely built the same way. It isn't a full service casino, it only has slot machines, but they have at least thirty machines in there.
Dinner tonight is going to be kind of dull, I was hoping that they would have some Cajun food here, but unfortunately it is just the standard Petro fair. Nothing looked good so I ended up with a BLT and fries, with unsweet iced tea of course.
I will likely leave here early in the morning just to get the drive over with. It is supposed to relay at the same place again tomorrow, but I am going to try and get them to let me take it all the way somewhere; either Gary, Indiana, or Toledo, OH. I doubt it even needs to be in Mishawalka, Indiana until Monday morning anyway, even if it was due there Friday, I could easily make it there.
One funny thing about this Petro, is that they have a Casino kind of attached to it. There is a walkway between the two, and the roof doesn't touch, but they were definitely built the same way. It isn't a full service casino, it only has slot machines, but they have at least thirty machines in there.
Dinner tonight is going to be kind of dull, I was hoping that they would have some Cajun food here, but unfortunately it is just the standard Petro fair. Nothing looked good so I ended up with a BLT and fries, with unsweet iced tea of course.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Hayti, Missouri: Pilot
It doesn't sound like I traveled far, but I really did. This morning I drove down to Southaven, Mississippi, and delivered the load I had. Then I drove back here to wait for a load that will be relayed for me to deliver tomorrow in Shreveport, Louisiana, about 422 miles away. Since most of my time will be spent in states that allow trucks to do 65 or 70 MPH, using an average speed of 60 will make it a trip of about seven hours. The load is due there at 12:30 PM tomorrow, and I want to get there about an hour early so I will likely leave here at around 3AM. Which gives me plenty of time to sleep between now and then, as long as I can fall asleep after sleeping well last night.
Looks like it is time to try out the Netflix account via my Sprint broadband card. I have managed to view other video just fine with it, so Netflix should just be expanding my options in viewing.
Looks like it is time to try out the Netflix account via my Sprint broadband card. I have managed to view other video just fine with it, so Netflix should just be expanding my options in viewing.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Matthews, Missouri: Flying J
Tonight I find myself spending the night at a Flying J in Matthews, Missouri. I picked up a load in Decatur, Indiana, this morning and will be delivering it in Southaven, Mississippi, in the morning. The fun thing about this load is that it weighs almost nothing. If I didn't watch them put the six crates in, I would have never noticed the three thousand pounds they added to the trailer.
I am not as close as I would like to be right now, but with only an hour left to drive tonight, this was the best place to stop. Getting closer would not have changed the arrival time at all either, since with my ten hour break included, the soonest I can get there is around nine tomorrow morning.
Right now I don't have another load for Tuesday, but hopefully I won't be stuck sitting like I do on the East coast, where I went in December and January most of time. At least I will be well rested and clean for the morning.
I am not as close as I would like to be right now, but with only an hour left to drive tonight, this was the best place to stop. Getting closer would not have changed the arrival time at all either, since with my ten hour break included, the soonest I can get there is around nine tomorrow morning.
Right now I don't have another load for Tuesday, but hopefully I won't be stuck sitting like I do on the East coast, where I went in December and January most of time. At least I will be well rested and clean for the morning.
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