Last night we got to the Dallas OC at 1810 hours. Dropped our trailer and went in to grab a shower. We got a call from Justin (J's son) when we were almost there and he was at the tattoo shop gettin his tattoo that his girlfriend got him for his 19th birthday. Things worked out that when they were finished with it, they were able to come up to the OC and show it to us. Timing worked out real well because they got there about 20 minutes after we got out of the shower. It was Justin, his girlfriend Stehanie and Jessica (J's daughter) so it was nice to see all of them even if it was just for a few minutes. The tattoo turned out really nice and the guy that did it did a really good job. We tried to get him to go to the guy that does our tattoos but it was a little too far for them to drive. Apparently they work with a guy and it is his brother that does the tattoos so they knew someone who could vouch for his work.
Well, visited with them for a while and they left so we headed out to the truck around 2100. We finally had a load but it didn't pick up until 1230 today. It was nice that I got to sleep in this morning. :) I headed over to pick up the load after an hour of dealing with our box planners. I know all the stuff they send us is automated, but my goodness it is a pain in the ass. If I tell you there is ONE trailer available, then why would you send me a message assigning me a different trailer?? Just assign me the one that I am already hooked up to after 45 minutes of looking for it! ARGH!
So, after that fiasco, I made it to the consignee. When they came out to seal the trailer, I wet to shut the door and I almost thought that the trailer was empty! I think this is the smallest load we have ever hauled. Only 5300 lbs. I really think it is something that could have been out in a straight truck if not a van. But, whatever. It is getting me paid, so that is all that is important to me. I did noltice on the trailer though that the tires are shit. Hopefully I won't end up with another flat. That would be just my luck. Haha I probably just jinxed myself.
I guess I better go and check on dinner. Got some Mac N Cheese cooking in the stove. Yummy!
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3 comments:
Hi T-Net,
We've been following your snow travels. Sounds like you'll have nerves of steel by the end of the winter.
We just returned from a New York - Florida - New York road trip. The drive is more enjoyable now that we know more about the industry, the companies and the trucks.
We're wondering how you've been enjoying your new bed? You mentioned around Thanksgiving that you had invested in a Temperpedic-style mattress. Has it smoothed out the bumps in the road? Have you added any other touches of home or conveniences?
Now that you're provisioning the truck and cooking aboard, how are you dividing up the non-driving duties? Cooking, cleaning the sleeper, laundry, trip planning, checking weather and Google Earth, etc.?
We enjoy your blog and check in almost every day.
Wishing you "bare and dry" roads and good tires.
City Mouse
Forgot to mention, check out the website www.roadcookin.com written by a husband/wife team. She's a nutritionist, he has trucking industry experience. They have recipes for the lunchbox oven.
Cheers,
CityMouse
Thanks for that website! I will defintely look into it. Anything new to try in the truck is awesome.
We LOVE our mattress. We actually went and bought a 2nd one for the top bunk. We have the 4" memory foam topper and we got them at Walmart. I think they were $89.97 each. Definitely worth the money in my opinion. They really soak up a lot of the road vibration. It is sometimes hard to turn over though because they suck you in! I mean, your body sinks down and makes a mould in the mattress. But it really is one of the best investments we have made. I did hang a shoe rack (one of the plastic/vinyl kind) between the bed and the cabinet behind the passenger seat. That helps with the shoes. We still have to put the big boots in the bottom of the cabinet, but it helps putting tennis shoes and sandals in the shoe rack.
We usually try to eat our big meal of the day when we switch shifts at 1500. So J will take over driving and I will throw dinner together. When it is ready, we will hit a rest area or truck stop so we can stop for a few and eat. We give the truck a good cleaning when we are at home and then again when we take our restarts out on the road. The rest of the time, we just make sure the trash gets thrown out each day. Especially with this winter weather, it is too hard to worry about dusting and getting the dirt off the floor every day. Laundry varies. If we get to an OC in the middle of the night and J is driving and still wide awake, he will go in and do it. Same thing if I get to one mid morning and he is still awake, then I'll go in and do it. But sometimes we are both up and will both go in. We do try to do the laundry though when we take our restarts. We try to take one of those a week because we try to run hard. This time out, I have worked every single day since Jan 2nd and J has had two restarts. Just the way things worked out with the roads shutting us down in Wyoming those couple of times.
Trip planning, well, we really don't do it. LOL!! We just look at the computer and see how many miles it is, divide that by 55 mph and that is how many hours it will take us. We just send in that we will be there at whatever time that works out to be, and then we take off. We also have GPS so we tend to rely pretty heavily on that. I will match those directions up with what SNI sends us, and if they look basically the same, I just take off. Aother thing we do is this. The computer work assignment give an estimated time of arrival (when they think we will make it there) and then it gives us a delivery window (which is when it has to be there. Either an AT appointment, ON a certain date or BY a certain time) so in that case, I just send in a message saying we will be there at whatever time the Delivery Window shows us we need to be there. If we are making good time, then I send another message updating our delivery time when we see we will make it before the time they show. Some loads literally have 2 extra DAYS built into them and others you can barely make it on time.
Oh, checking weather. Depending on where we are headed, I will pop up the weather on the computer before I take off. If it iswinter and I am heading to southern California, I don't worry about it. But if they are sending me to PA or WA then I will check it. I will usually check it again for J at the end of my shift. Sometimes we will stay put for a few hours to let a storm pass, and sometimes we haul ass to get out in front of it. Just depends on the storm. :)
I am glad you had a good trip to Florida! What I wouldn't give to be back in warm weather! But we are headed home this week and it is supposed to be in the 70's in Dallas from what I've heard, so we will see!
Take care!
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