Rolumus, Michigan: Terminal

While I have been sitting around here today, I have visited the mechanics twice. The first time was earlier this morning when I got three mirrors adjusted and fixed due to broken and missing nuts, and just being hard to adjust on my own. I also got a new pigtail, it handles the electricity for any trailer I haul. Now after sitting for a while, I noticed a puddle of coolant under my truck. I was lucky in that all it needed was a couple of clamps tightened, but it is still irritating to have to go back and get something else done in the same day. It does explain why my coolant was so low this morning though. I also got a new license plate light. It isn't essential, and they rarely replace them, but at night in the rain if I am bobtailing, it is one more light on the back of my cab. It also comes in handy while dropping or hooking a trailer, keeps me from stepping in puddles while pulling the fifth wheel pin or cranking down the trailer's landing gear.

Back to waiting for them to get me out of here. My break will be over in a little less than an hour, but it seems doubtful that they will let me move before four this afternoon.

Romulus, Michigan: Terminal

I got here shortly after three this morning, and am now waiting for my ten hour break to be done shortly after one this afternoon. It was an easy run, deadheading from Austintown, Ohio, to my pick-up in Mansfield, Ohio, three hours later I dropped the trailer here in the Romulus Yard. I managed to get a few minor things fixed on the truck, hopefully I will not be in this truck long enough for the larger issues that are just starting out, to become a problem. My hope is that sometime in the next two weeks I will be able to get back into my truck and leave this one with a page of write-ups for repairs.

Right now it is just a matter of killing time until I can get the heck out of here

Austintown, Ohio: TA

All I can say is typical, at least I should be home this weekend. After sitting for most of the day, the only load they come up with is one that picks up tonight at 11 PM in Mansfield, Ohio, at the GM Stamping plant there. Then I get to run it up to Romulus, Michigan, for someone else to take it into Canada. Which means that my fourteen hours will be up at around ten thirty tomorrow morning. Since I doubt they will have anything else for me at that time, I am hoping that they will just let me deadhead home. Otherwise I won't get out of there until that evening.

Now for the hard part, convincing my body to sleep enough to be able to do this tonight. Coke will be my friend, with its lovely seasoning of caffeine to go with it.

Youngstown, Ohio: TA

Due to the holiday I ended up with Monday off, which means I had to wait until Tuesday to get the needed permits and paperwork faxed to me. It took a few minutes to come up with a fax number, but eventually my brain kicked into gear and I called up my cousin at his business and asked to borrow his. After picking up the paperwork that afternoon it was all a matter of waiting for a load. So I was more than a bit surprised to get a phone call from my dispatcher's supervisor to give me the third degree on why I wasn't on a load. First she started with last week when my truck got shut down in Romulus, Michigan to go to Cummins and the International dealer for repairs. Then she went onto this week wanting to know why I wasn't on a load right then. She used the phrase wasn't available for a load, as if all this was somehow my fault. Almost every question she asked, after I answered she would put me on hold to verify my response. Once she found out about my waiting for permits she tried to switch me to someone else to get them, I managed to stop her before she did to let her know that I had them. Then again she was on about why wasn't I on a load. She seemed puzzled by my answer that no one had given me one. She then wanted to know who hadn't given me one, I just said who ever plans the loads, then I said Jason was my dispatcher ask him. After that she switched me to the night dispatcher and got me set up on a Beer Run out of Columbus. Which I delivered yesterday and here I sit. Yippie, 300 some miles to sit at a truck stop, a great reason to get moving this week.

The plant I picked up at in Columbus was Anheuser-Busch and it was huge. The smell made me more than a little thirsty, and I hate Budweiser. I ended up getting a load of Bud Light to take over to a distributor in Boardman, Ohio. The loading docks were about what you expected, except they have a lot of automation in place there. Robot lifts bring the beer from the line to each dock and stage it on rails for the loaders to grab from with their forklifts. Even the loading is computerized with the inbound weight distribution telling the loader how many plastic bulkheads to put in the front of the trailer to keep the weight off the drive axles. I got right in and out, but apparently there are times when the system can't keep up with the flow of trucks causing loading delays.

New Truck

Well new to me. Friday I looked at the third truck that was available, and even though it was last used by a smoker, it was a lot better than the previous two. It only took about three hours of cleaning to get it to be something I would be willing to sleep in, the last truck I had to clean up took six hours. I only went through two buckets of clean water versus the six the other one took.

It still has a few things wrong with it mechanically, but only one thing that is potentially serious, a major wobble in a steer tire. It feels like it is unbalanced. I also need to do some serious adjusting to the nose mirrors, one is way to low, and the other only shows me the truck. The worst things have been taken care of already, it just had a service done on it. The engine is also spotless after having a head gasket replaced as Cummins, which is where I picked it up from.

They are still saying that I will be able to get my other truck back once it is fixed, but I will believe that when I see it. Now if this truck goes faster I might keep it, other wise I will probably still want my truck back.

Romulus, Michigan: Falcon Terminal

It turns out that I was right all along about the EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) going bad in my truck. Unfortunately that means it needs to go to Cummins to be repaired. For what ever reason they won't let me take it to the one in Maumee, Ohio, it has to go up here to get fixed. After that it needs to go to an International dealer to get the transmission repaired, it apparently has an electronic fault of some sort. Between the two I won't be driving this truck for a while. They offered me a truck up here, which is geared for a Flatbed (no high air cone on roof). That truck was even filthier than the truck I am currently in was when I got it. I managed to talk them into letting me check out two trucks down in Toledo, hopefully they are cleaner. Now I am just waiting for my fiance, Tisha, to come up and pick up my stuff and I. I did make it clear that I want this truck back when it is fixed. Hopefully with everything repaired on it, it will be a while before I have another problem with it.

This whole thing is just frustrating because this is the fourth truck I have driven at this company, and I haven't even been here for a year yet. That does not even count all of the other trucks I drove for a day or so while one of my trucks was getting repaired. I just can't get over how disgusting these trucks are after some of these drivers.

Bellville, Michigan: Red Roof Inn

It is fairly amazing that I am actually in a hotel right now, I wasn't sure that they would actually give me one considering the new policies in effect right now. The only reason I did get one was that my truck is currently being worked on at the Romulus Terminal. At long last I will have a fuel gauge that works, they are even replacing the step that was crushed when I picked up the truck. I tried to get that replaced in Toledo, but it was deemed nonessential and not safety related. Hopefully they manage to get my Geologic's software updated as well, I am so tired of having to call in for everything. The main reason that my truck is in the shop is for a service, only over due by a couple thousand miles, but that is a lot better than many of the trucks from the Toledo area right now. They are still short staffed up here, so even though they started the truck last night, they are still working on it this morning, and are not certain when it will be fixed. The only thing I had was call back at noon and see how things are going. One thing may require it going to Cummins to get it taken care of, but the first guy to check for it wasn't able to find the problem, the day shift was going to try to find it now.

Buffalo, New York: Loaded and Broken Down

Just when things start to see like they are going well, something happens. In this case a brake chamber on my trailer decided to blow. In a parking lot, not a bad thing, but if this had happened on the road, the two tires that just got replaced would likely need replacing again. As fast as the air went out of the system, I likely would have needed another six as well. I would have been leaving a trail of black rubber and smoke as I tried to get over to the side of the road.

What makes this really bad, is that if it takes too long to fix me I will end up missing out on a thousand mile run tomorrow to Spring Hill, Tennessee. One of the runs I used to do as a dedicated driver. That would have made a horrible week into something decent at least. So this break down is really frustrating right now. Hopefully this won't take too long to repair, but they have to get here first, with 42,000 pounds on, I am not dragging this trailer anywhere.

Cheektowaga, New York

Yup, still here, though I do have a load to get me out of here finally. The good news is that it will get me home, the bad is that once again it will be a poor week for miles. I will not actually be delivery on this since it need to be delivered on Saturday near Chicago, but if it gets me where I need to go, it works for me.

The showers here were about par with the rest of the truck stops. The towels were a bit worn, but they were clean and the floor wasn't scary either. Right now I am just killing time watching Jeff Dunham on Netflix, I used to love watching him on Comedy Central. The weird part is that yesterday I watched some of him on YouTube, while Tisha was watching these videos on Netflix. A very strange connection there.

Cheektowaga, New York: Jim's Truck Plaza

I am at a real dive of a truck stop, next to a Kmart that doesn't like trucks in their lot. Looking at the number of cars in their lot, if it wasn't for truck drivers buying things from them they would have closed long ago, so their dislike of trucks is puzzling. Talking to another driver the food in the diner, too seedy to call it a restaurant, is pretty good, and the bathrooms are clean. They also have showers that supposedly are pretty good.

Yes, once again I do not have a load, not even one for tomorrow. So far this week, the only money I have made was the trip here, barely four hundred miles, pitiful. Looking at my average pay for the year, it just keeps dropping lower by the week. I am not sure how much longer I can stay with a sinking ship, they may have new customers, but I am not getting much benefit from them. I think next week, once the truck is out of the shop, I will see how they do with just a week out. It isn't like they can keep me moving when I give them two weeks of running. At least that way I will be home more rather than sitting somewhere. It will also give me more time to look into the other local companies in the area. Browsing online is fine, but nothing compares to talking to someone in person. At this point I wouldn't recommend anyone work for Falcon Transport as a driver or as anything else. A driver won't get the miles they need, and everyone else would never know when they might end up getting fired.

Across an extremely busy street with six lanes of traffic is a nice looking mall, The Walden Galleria. If I had a death wise I might attempt to cross the street to window shop for a few hours. Especially since it looks like I am here for the night. It is a two story mall, with a movie theater and quite a few restaurants in it, seems to be a very easy way to blow some money I can't afford to spend. Definitely much safer to stay here and eat at the cheesy diner tomorrow morning. Even if they have seven different showings of the new Star Trek movie between now and midnight to choose from, at the bargain price of $9.50. Yes, I think resisting will be easy, even if resistance is futile.

Depew, New York: Unloading

Right now I am getting my trailer unloaded at my destination. The way I had to drive to get to here from Virginia wasn't bad for the most part, except for US 219 from Du Bois, Pennsylvania, to near Springville, New York, where it turned into a four lane highway. The rest was a lot of driving through towns, slowing down for curves and going up and down hills. In the dark or in bad weather this would have truly been a nightmare of a run.

Once I am unloaded it will once again be the waiting game for my next load. They are already looking, but my uncertainty in my arrival time here didn't help matters. Yesterday I was having serious doubts as to if I would even get here today due to the thin red line that is US 219. Even though it turned out better than expected, I definitely don't want to drive it again any time soon.

Breezewood, Pennsylvania: TA

I am in the truck stop capital of America, at least that is what all the t-shirts say at the souvenir shop. I finally got a load at almost one o'clock this afternoon, loading out of Barryville, Pennsylvania, and going to Depew, New York (near Buffalo). It isn't a lot of miles, but it got me out of Virginia finally. I doubt I will get many more miles before the end of the week, since I plan on being home this weekend. The only real challenge will be to make it to the place I deliver tomorrow before 3 PM, after that I may have to wait until Thursday morning to get rid of this load.

Elkwood, Virginia: Shell Station

I got done with my delivery at 10:30 this morning, and true to form I am still waiting on a load out of here. Hopefully this won't be longer than one day to get a load, but it is more than a bit ridiculous that almost every Monday that I empty out here, I end up sitting for a day or more.

Ashland, Virginia: TA

This is my second night at this TA, yesterday I had to get a few lights fixed on the truck and tires for the trailer. Today it has been just laundry, watching Netflix, and wandering the area. Within walking distance there are quite a few restaurants and shops, so I had some fun this afternoon going through a few. I had an early supper at a Mexican restaurant that was pretty good, but a bit more expensive than the ones in the Toledo area. Tomorrow morning I will again be up early to get to my delivery, but I can't get there before seven-thirty AM, apparently the security there will not like it. Looking on Google maps, there isn't much in the area, but the street view car wasn't allowed to drive down the country road that I am driving down to get there, so who knows what is actually there.

Prescott, Arkansas: TA

The load I ended up getting is heading towards Norfolk, Virginia, a decent number of miles. Unfortunately it doesn't deliver until Monday morning. I will be getting to the area in decent time in order to take my 34 hour break, but it will be a long weekend stuck in a truck stop. The weight of the load will make it difficult to go anywhere other than a truck stop. I might look into finding a drop lot, but that will be decided when I get there.

The only interesting thing I saw today was something I took action on. While driving back East on I-30 I started smelling something burning. I kept looking around the cab and at my wheels to see if I could spot where the smell was coming from. It wasn't until I passed a military convoy that I found the cause. One of their trailers had smoke coming from one of the wheels. When I got up the the truck pulling the trailer, I rolled down my window, pulled the horn, and yelled your trailer is smoking while pointing back and down. The convoy slowed down immediately and then pulled off to the side. I have no idea what caused the smoke, but it smelled like brakes to me. Hopefully they caught it in time, while they were traveling with a tow truck, the trailer would have to be put on another trailer if it had serious problems.

Rockwall, Texas: TA

I got to this TA yesterday around five PM and have been hanging out here while I wait for them to find me my next load. Yesterday I started out in Stanton, Tennessee, and it was raining almost the entire way here. One part of I-30 near Little Rock, Arkansas, was partially closed due to water flooding onto the road way. Fortunately that was on the East bound side so it didn't effect me at all. I think the back-up was at least five miles long, with no really good way around it.

Last night I once again walked around to the shopping in the area. I found a place called Ladybug Scrubs, where I picked Tisha (my fiance) up a pair for Mothers Day. It won't be a surprise since I had to call her for size and preference. I also had to make certain that they would take a delayed return if it came to that. Since she has worn this brand before I think we are safe. Then I found a Chipotle to eat dinner at, it was a lot better than Burger King, and a lot cheaper than the TGI Fridays that I ate at last time I was down here. Then it was off to waste some time in the local Best Buy, where I only bought one DVD. Though the digital TV receiver for a laptop was tempting, somehow I resisted, I think it was the $90.00 price tag. The DVD was a lot cheaper for areas that I have a poor broadband connection and can't view video. All four Nightmare on Elm Street movies for ten dollars. It seems like a good way to kill four hours of time.

The air was so humid out last night that the truck was covered in moisture from having the air conditioning on last night. It is is a lot cooler today, but even more humid, you can almost swim in this air.

Now it is just a waiting game.