A night with the Kentucky DOT

Wednesday night I was heading back North along I-65 when something happened that I have never had happen before. While going through the weigh station the sign flipped to park from back to I-65, so to the back I went. This was going to be my first time having to go into a weigh station so as I updated my log and got together all the required paperwork, all I could wonder was why. For that matter why was I the second Falcon truck back there.

When I got inside I found out why, and that I forgot the trailer registration. The why was that while looking at our trucks with an infrared camera, it views heat in black and white, they noticed that one or more of our trailer brakes were cool compared to the rest of them. Watching the camera as other trucks when by, the glowing white brakes were quite obvious to see, so a dark one would be just as glaringly obvious. The paperwork check didn't take long as everything was in order, once I grabbed the trailer registration that is.

Then it was time for me to pull it into their inspection barn. It was here that I found out that all sorts of things were wrong with the underside of the truck, steering, suspension, and the two brakes that were misaligned. So I was now shut down until repairs were made and the sheet was signed off on by the mechanic. Looking at the clock it was at this point that I knew I would be spending the night here rather than at a truck stop two miles down the road, I was almost out of hours to drive, bumping the 14 hour limit.

The mechanic was there fairly quickly and got the other truck rolling just as fast, then it was my turn. As he was checking all the parts marked off by the DOT, he became more and more confused, since according to him all that he found was the brakes needed adjusting. So with a lot of phone calls to my breakdown department and his boss, and some more checks, he adjusted the brakes and signed off on the sheet that I was good to roll. By this point it was now a good hour or two after my 14 hour limit, so no driving on for me. I was stuck there for ten hours. The only thing remotely close to facilities a small porto pottie off in a corner, lovely.

Waiting

Of course now it is a waiting game. For some reason they never plan to far out on loads unless it is a regularly scheduled run. So here I am with my 14 hours up at 2:15 PM and 5 hours left to drive, killing time while my next move is calculated. According to the trip information I got, this was supposed to get here at around 5 PM today, like I am going to take that long to drive it up here from Glendale, KY (344 miles) . Round trip it wasn't bad over a thousand paid miles, but I wanted to get going as soon as I got here. What will most likely happen is that I will be taking a ten hour break and then start out again, on what I don't know.

Driving at night though Kentucky along I-71 I saw several groups of does and fawns along the highway nibbling at the grass. It looked as if they had mowed it recently, so they were probably after the new growth that mowing causes. The interesting thing is that even when I blew my air horn as I passed they barely flicked an ear. It is no wonder there are so many deer/vehicle accidents, we lay out a buffet and then wonder why they come to eat it.

Driving at night the past few months has also made me realize that for some reason newer cars have fewer reflectors on them. If you compare a car made even five years ago there is a significant difference between them. Going back even further it is even more pronounced. Then have people covering the most reflective part of their car, the license plate, you end up with vehicles that are basically invisible until you are already on them. There is no doubt in my mind that is a cause of a lot of accidents as well. I know on the Ohio Turnpike they will put two reflective pylons behind a disabled vehicle to make it more visible at night.

That is it until I find out what is going on next.

I have been to Saturn

The car company, though the other would be fun too.

After several weeks of a dedicated run from Bay City, MI to Parma, OH on a run going to the GM Powertrain plant there, I am now back to doing what ever I am assigned, over the road. I started this week late Sunday night with a load of engines out of Canada heading to Spring Hill, TN. I was able to get a decent amount of sleep prior to the run so only had to stop to get a quick 15 minute power nap once.

I arrived at my destination about an hour early, fortunately they allow you to be up to an hour early, otherwise I would have had to wait. The size of this plant is just staggering, from the gate it took me almost ten minutes to get to where I was going, and the longest section of that was at a posted 35 mph. Compared to the size of the Jeep plant in Toledo, the Jeep plant is small. Of course they had a lot of room to spread out down here, and they sure took advantage of it. They even have some sections leased out to farmers for crops since they didn't need the land yet.

Anyway I am now in the midst of my 10 hour break in Glendale, KY at the Petro there. IT was close making it here with my hours, since dispatch wanted me to start the run so early, but I made it ok and am now in the air conditioned comfort of Idle Aire, waiting for midnight when I will head back to Toledo with this return trailer of empty racks heading back to Canada. When I called earlier they didn't know what I was doing next yet, so I might be doing this again, or something else entirely, we shall see.

For some reason I am not getting as good a connection here as I have in the past, no idea why but it is irritating not being able to watch hulu for some good old fashioned tv.

First Week Driving....

Monday 21st --- nothing moving, waiting on truck assignment.

Tuesday 22nd --- assigned truck, did a thorough check on it and put it in the shop for repairs. The two biggest things were a new windshield and a seal leak in a drive axel. Then was able to do five rounds from the local GM transmission plant to a CLI, a shipper that combines loads of parts for GM assembly plants.

Wednesday 23rd --- I did one round the same as yesterday, then was able to get a run to Texas from Romulus. This is empty dunnage and racks on the way down and parts bound for Canada on the way back up.

Thursday 24th-- Covered a lot of ground on my way down to Texas. In Tennessee I was treated to the sight of a beautiful sunset, all pastel pink shades. I also got to see a true hillbilly type driving an old station wagon almost as dirty as his kids were in the back seat. He was truely god fearing, with a cross hanging from his mirror and a dusty bible on the dash.

Friday 25th -- Arkansas, which is where the above bad picture was taken. It is a little rough getting the camera to focus correctly through the windshield some times. But it is of a rice paddy, in Arkansas.

Saturday 26th -- Laredo, ended up doing a drop and hook in the drop yard there due to timing and hour issues. Unfortunitly the work I did prior to this run ended up messing me up a little for this run. Anyway I was able to get a bit north before stopping for the night.

Safety and Skills Center (SSC)

The past week was spent in West Middlesex, PA. This is basically a week long final exam testing everything we were supposed to have learned the past few weeks of training. It makes complete sense to make certain that every person that comes through here knows what they need to before setting them loose on their own in trucks.

Over all when compared to the training I got from Werner back in 2000, there really is no comparison. They truly do want you to knowledgeable about everything to do about their operation. There were about seven people from my original orientation class at this session at SSC. Which is a good indication of how well we all performed. I even got my original roommate from orientation, we both figured that at least we knew how each other was so why not do it again.

I got to know another driver a bit better as well, we had gone a few places in Gary, to get out of the hotel, and here it wasn't much different. Even gave him a ride to Toledo to get him home a day earlier than Greyhound from there would have taken. Also made sure that he tried out Tony Packo's before catching his bus, you just can't visit Toledo and not try the original Packo's Hungarian Hot Dogs.

One place we ate at twice was Quaker Steak and Lube. My roommate had mentioned them in orientation, and told us that the original was near where we were staying. They had an excellent all you can eat wing buffet on Wednesday. We all over ate, it was so good. Then Thursday it was a discount on ribs, those were really good as well, but I wouldn't have wanted to pay the full price, they weren't that good.

Our entire group was passed through with flying colors, we were told that we were one of the better groups they have had. Which I am sure they have said before, but might actually have been true this time. At least no one hit anything or killed a truck, cones on the other hand we killed a plenty.

Last Week with a Trainer

This past week I was lucky enough to work locally again. We did several local runs up to the Detroit area to pick up and Twinsburg, OH to deliver. Since he is a trainer he still had a road truck, but it only had a single bunk for when a trainee from out of town needed to spend the night.

Monday his dedicated run was cancelled so we did a lot of short local moves, repositioning equipment for service. This was my first day trying out an automatic. Fortunitly a bit of the video we watched in Orientation stuck with me, so getting it moving wasn't a problem. It felt really odd not having to shift or use a clutch, but it did free the mind to other driving problems while driving, especially when turning.

The trainer shortage is still happening. There was another training class here in the terminal with four guys in it. I felt a little bad for two of them since they were in my group last week. However they should have very few problems backing once they are done due to the amount of practice they are getting. A small consolation, but it is likely to serve them well once they are out on their own.

Next week for me it is off to West Middlesex , PA for the final week of training. It is a course called SSC, Safety and Skills Center. Again I will be driving myself just to keep clear of the dreaded Greyhoud bus. That and keep my options open for dinner and other activities after class is over for the day.

The Week of the Fourth

This was a week of working in the yard, backing skills mostly. We also had time to work on the giant homework project that was given to us in orientation. This project basically an exercise in trip planning, logging and filling out the correct paperwork for a load. It would have been a bear to have to do in a truck. It was much easier being able to spread it out all over a table or the floor to work on it.

So I was really able to refine my backing skills, well blow the rust off them the rest of the way in a more realistic fashion than what we did in classes. Next week it sounds like I will be with my final trainer than off to my final week of training and evaluation. So two more weeks and I will be out on my own.