Boy, what a dreary rain filled morning I woke up to today! UGH!!! After a week on the cruise I am NOT liking this weather! LOL
When J took over last night he only had 567 miles to go to our receiver. I sent off for directions and wrote them down for him so that he would know where he was going. The directions also said that we could park there overnight so we didn't have to worry about finding a place here in Massachusettes to park since we knew we would get there long before our 0700 appt. As it turns out, J got us in around 0230, even though he had to deal with driving in the rain the last 150 miles or so.
Around 0700 they had him back up to a door and since he couldn't hang anymore, he woke me up and he crawled into bed. C&S Wholesale Grocers, where we delivered at, is a busy little place. I don't think they even started unloading me until around 0800. But by about 0915 they were done and I went in and got my paperwork.
Since I figured we wouldn't have a load right away, I pulled back around the building to the staging area and sent my depart message and then took Smokey for a walk. I waited about an hour with no message from dispatch other than sales was trying to book some loads. So after that hour I decided to move about 25 miles south down to the Pride Travel Center off x6 on I-90. The directions to the receiver said the lot was only open till 1300 so I knew I would have to move before then. I figured the sooner tha I moved, the better chance I had of getting a parking spot as close to the truck stop as I could. Normally that isn't a big deal, but when it is pouring rain outside, I want as close as I can get.
I probably do need to go do laundry, but I am just not motivated to get out in this rain! Maybe I will get around to it if the rain slacks off here a little later. It is about 1230 local time, on a Saturday, so I am really beginning to wonder if they are going to find us a load today. Or over the weekend for that matter. I hope we aren't stuck here until Monday. Yuck! Keep your fingers crossed that we get moving soon!
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Girard,OH
Folks, I don't have much to report today! J got me to a rest area about 50 miles west of the IN state line just outside of Chicago and that is where I took over.
We have plenty of time on this load, about an extra 30 hours. Yesterday our fill-in FM said that he would try to get the appt moved up for us. Finally around 1200 today we got a message saying that they will take us at 0700 in the morning instead of having to wait until 0500 on Sunday morning. So that makes us really happy. Right now it is about 1540 hours and we only have about 550 miles left to to so it should be a breeze. The directions say the yard is open and we can park overnight so we are going to head on in and see if by some chance they can even unload us early.
The one BIG thing I do need to report today though is that our son Justin graduated from his final class in the Navy before being assigned to his permanent submarine. He graduated from Nuclear Missle Tech school, meaning that he will be working on the missles on a submarine. He will have some much needed time off to spend with family and his fiance before he reports to his base on December 9th up in Bangor,WA. I can't even begin to describe how proud of him we are. For those readers that are ex-military or have children in the military, you know exactly how we feel. He had grown up and matured so much in the last year and a half since he joined. He went in as a boy and we have watched him become a fine young man. It is amazing to watch that transformation in your children!
So that is where we are right now. We are going to be out on the road until around Christmas and then we will take about 10 days off to spend with family in Lubbock and then go to Las Vegas to ring in the New Year with our friends there. IF we can get a load to Vegas that is in between Christmas and then. If not, then we will just either hit the road again or stay in Lubbock. We don't want to drive that far unless we get paid to!
We have plenty of time on this load, about an extra 30 hours. Yesterday our fill-in FM said that he would try to get the appt moved up for us. Finally around 1200 today we got a message saying that they will take us at 0700 in the morning instead of having to wait until 0500 on Sunday morning. So that makes us really happy. Right now it is about 1540 hours and we only have about 550 miles left to to so it should be a breeze. The directions say the yard is open and we can park overnight so we are going to head on in and see if by some chance they can even unload us early.
The one BIG thing I do need to report today though is that our son Justin graduated from his final class in the Navy before being assigned to his permanent submarine. He graduated from Nuclear Missle Tech school, meaning that he will be working on the missles on a submarine. He will have some much needed time off to spend with family and his fiance before he reports to his base on December 9th up in Bangor,WA. I can't even begin to describe how proud of him we are. For those readers that are ex-military or have children in the military, you know exactly how we feel. He had grown up and matured so much in the last year and a half since he joined. He went in as a boy and we have watched him become a fine young man. It is amazing to watch that transformation in your children!
So that is where we are right now. We are going to be out on the road until around Christmas and then we will take about 10 days off to spend with family in Lubbock and then go to Las Vegas to ring in the New Year with our friends there. IF we can get a load to Vegas that is in between Christmas and then. If not, then we will just either hit the road again or stay in Lubbock. We don't want to drive that far unless we get paid to!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Greenwood,NE
Sorry it has been a few days but as soon as we left out the damn charger for the computer went on the fritz! UGH! It was torture not being able to get on the laptop. Luckily we both have the internet on our phones, but you can only do so much on a phone. No way would I try to blog from it! LOL
Time to catch you up. After making the local delivery we got a pick up in Fort Worth at Kraft going to Denver. We picked it up on Monday evening and off we went. It had a Thursday delivery but it is only around 700 miles to Denver. No way we needed all the time they were giving us. We were able to get them to move our appointment up and we made it into Denver around 1230 on Wednesday.
I sent our depart and we headed to our yard there to grab a shower. While we were enrt they sent us a message to deadhead to Salt Lake City,UT and they would load us out of there. So they got a nice message back from me saying that we weren't deadheading that far without a load assignment. They like to deadhead us there and then try to find something once we get there. I'm not driving 600 miles without a load. Plus, I want to make sure it is worth it to drive that far just to pick up a load. When we came back out from our showers, they had given us a load up to Rexburg, ID to pick up the next morning.
Here is what is irritating. If we had just driven to Salt Lake we would have gotten there and then maybe been assigned this load. However, we would have driven about 200 miles out of the way to get there. So I am glad that I told them we werent moving until we had a load picking up that direction. What could have been about a 770 mile trip ended up being only a 580 mile trip. Roughly. You have to be smarter than the average bear when dealing with dispatch and sales. I know they are just doing their jobs, but my bottom line isn't their priority. But it is mine.
We headed out and J got us into Rock Springs,WY where I took over. We headed up US191 then took US89 over to Alpine,WY where we hooked into US26 that took us into ID and our destination. It was an extremely windy road for about a third of the way. I figured it was a beautiful drive, but it was dark when I passed through there so I couldn't tell.
I was about 30 minutes late to my first pickup because I had run into some ice on the road over in WY and had slowed down some. But I made it there by 0730 local time and was loaded pretty fast. From there I drove the 14 miles to our second and last pickup and repeated the process. I was talking to a Stevens Transport driver while getting loaded and we were both headed back to the East Coast. He wasn't familiar with the area and mentioned that as soon as he was loaded that he was going to figure out how to get out of the area. I knew where to go since I was backtracking the route I had driven in. Once I got scaled and had my paperwork in hand, I hollered at him on the CB and he followed my lead. I know I looked smart leading the way, but really, it is easy when you have just driven that route. Oh, and a GPS is nice. :) LOL I did lose him somewhere along the way because he pulled over in the mountains. Probably had to take a break for the restroom or something. But we stopped in Alpine,WY to get a coke and I saw him make the turn onto the right road. So I felt good that I had at least helped him get to the right road.
We really enjoyed the drive back through that part of ID and WY. The portion that I missed that morning was beautiful drive coming back during the daylight. I wouldn't mind living up there. The road we were on followed the Snake River and we drove right along the Palisades Reservoir and Palisades Dam. Beautiful, beautiful country.
I had been up since around 0130 on Wednesday morning to drive us into WY and by the time we got back to Rock Springs,WY (J was driving by this time) it was almost 2000 hrs. I was exhausted. We stopped at the Flying J and grabbed some dinner and then I hit the sack.
J woke me up this morning in Sydney,NE where he had stopped at around 0300. He stopped at a Walmart and had went in and was able to find a charger with the right connection for the laptop. YES!! Then he chilled and watched a movie and let me sleep in. He got me up at 0600 and we meandered around Walmart doing some grocery shopping. By 0720, we had the truck loaded back up and I was pulling out of the parking lot.
Since I hit the road so late this morning, I only managed a mere 363 miles. Yep, I was slacking! But we have been driving 55 mph since we picked up this load because it is heavy. Our fuel mileage has sucked since we got the 8 new tires. I really wasn't sure if it was the new tires or the winter blend fuel. Or maybe just a combination of things. But going 55 mph now, we are averaging 7.52 for the whole trip since we left Denver to go pick it up. So I don't know what the deal is. But I am happy!
Today I stopped at the Greenwood Travel Plaza in Greenwood,NE on I-80 at x420. From here we only have 1409 miles to go to our destination in Hatfield,MA and this load isn't due until Sunday at 0500. Sheesh. This is Thursday. We could easily be there by around midnight tomorrow night. That is FRIDAY night. We are going to see if we can get the delivery appointment moved up. If not, then we will head on in and we will both be able to get a restart on our hours.
That is where we stand folks! More to come tomorrow!
Time to catch you up. After making the local delivery we got a pick up in Fort Worth at Kraft going to Denver. We picked it up on Monday evening and off we went. It had a Thursday delivery but it is only around 700 miles to Denver. No way we needed all the time they were giving us. We were able to get them to move our appointment up and we made it into Denver around 1230 on Wednesday.
I sent our depart and we headed to our yard there to grab a shower. While we were enrt they sent us a message to deadhead to Salt Lake City,UT and they would load us out of there. So they got a nice message back from me saying that we weren't deadheading that far without a load assignment. They like to deadhead us there and then try to find something once we get there. I'm not driving 600 miles without a load. Plus, I want to make sure it is worth it to drive that far just to pick up a load. When we came back out from our showers, they had given us a load up to Rexburg, ID to pick up the next morning.
Here is what is irritating. If we had just driven to Salt Lake we would have gotten there and then maybe been assigned this load. However, we would have driven about 200 miles out of the way to get there. So I am glad that I told them we werent moving until we had a load picking up that direction. What could have been about a 770 mile trip ended up being only a 580 mile trip. Roughly. You have to be smarter than the average bear when dealing with dispatch and sales. I know they are just doing their jobs, but my bottom line isn't their priority. But it is mine.
We headed out and J got us into Rock Springs,WY where I took over. We headed up US191 then took US89 over to Alpine,WY where we hooked into US26 that took us into ID and our destination. It was an extremely windy road for about a third of the way. I figured it was a beautiful drive, but it was dark when I passed through there so I couldn't tell.
I was about 30 minutes late to my first pickup because I had run into some ice on the road over in WY and had slowed down some. But I made it there by 0730 local time and was loaded pretty fast. From there I drove the 14 miles to our second and last pickup and repeated the process. I was talking to a Stevens Transport driver while getting loaded and we were both headed back to the East Coast. He wasn't familiar with the area and mentioned that as soon as he was loaded that he was going to figure out how to get out of the area. I knew where to go since I was backtracking the route I had driven in. Once I got scaled and had my paperwork in hand, I hollered at him on the CB and he followed my lead. I know I looked smart leading the way, but really, it is easy when you have just driven that route. Oh, and a GPS is nice. :) LOL I did lose him somewhere along the way because he pulled over in the mountains. Probably had to take a break for the restroom or something. But we stopped in Alpine,WY to get a coke and I saw him make the turn onto the right road. So I felt good that I had at least helped him get to the right road.
We really enjoyed the drive back through that part of ID and WY. The portion that I missed that morning was beautiful drive coming back during the daylight. I wouldn't mind living up there. The road we were on followed the Snake River and we drove right along the Palisades Reservoir and Palisades Dam. Beautiful, beautiful country.
I had been up since around 0130 on Wednesday morning to drive us into WY and by the time we got back to Rock Springs,WY (J was driving by this time) it was almost 2000 hrs. I was exhausted. We stopped at the Flying J and grabbed some dinner and then I hit the sack.
J woke me up this morning in Sydney,NE where he had stopped at around 0300. He stopped at a Walmart and had went in and was able to find a charger with the right connection for the laptop. YES!! Then he chilled and watched a movie and let me sleep in. He got me up at 0600 and we meandered around Walmart doing some grocery shopping. By 0720, we had the truck loaded back up and I was pulling out of the parking lot.
Since I hit the road so late this morning, I only managed a mere 363 miles. Yep, I was slacking! But we have been driving 55 mph since we picked up this load because it is heavy. Our fuel mileage has sucked since we got the 8 new tires. I really wasn't sure if it was the new tires or the winter blend fuel. Or maybe just a combination of things. But going 55 mph now, we are averaging 7.52 for the whole trip since we left Denver to go pick it up. So I don't know what the deal is. But I am happy!
Today I stopped at the Greenwood Travel Plaza in Greenwood,NE on I-80 at x420. From here we only have 1409 miles to go to our destination in Hatfield,MA and this load isn't due until Sunday at 0500. Sheesh. This is Thursday. We could easily be there by around midnight tomorrow night. That is FRIDAY night. We are going to see if we can get the delivery appointment moved up. If not, then we will head on in and we will both be able to get a restart on our hours.
That is where we stand folks! More to come tomorrow!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Fort Worth,TX
We FINALLY made it back out on the road today! We got up this morning and were running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Which makes me wonder. Has anyone actually ever seen a chicken running around with it's head cut off? Hmmm
So we were up and on the road at 0640 this morning to go pick up the truck from our storage facility. Once I dropped J off there he headed to pick Smokey up from the kennel and I headed back to Michelle's to finish rounding our stuff up. J got there about 30 minutes behind me and we got everything back in the truck and we were off. Our first stop was over in Saginaw,TX to pick up a loaded trailer so we could make a local delivery. We made it, just barely, but then sat for about three and a half hours while they unloaded us. That is one of the longest unloads we have had in a while.
As I was sitting there we got a pre-plan which has us picking up at Kraft here in Ft Worth tonight at 1800. It is only about 3.5 miles away so we will start that direction in about 30 minutes. This load will be going to Denver,CO and we will deliver it tomorrow afternoon at 1400. It is nice to get a short run out of here because it will make our payroll cutoff tomorrow afternoon. After that, who knows where we will be going!
So we were up and on the road at 0640 this morning to go pick up the truck from our storage facility. Once I dropped J off there he headed to pick Smokey up from the kennel and I headed back to Michelle's to finish rounding our stuff up. J got there about 30 minutes behind me and we got everything back in the truck and we were off. Our first stop was over in Saginaw,TX to pick up a loaded trailer so we could make a local delivery. We made it, just barely, but then sat for about three and a half hours while they unloaded us. That is one of the longest unloads we have had in a while.
As I was sitting there we got a pre-plan which has us picking up at Kraft here in Ft Worth tonight at 1800. It is only about 3.5 miles away so we will start that direction in about 30 minutes. This load will be going to Denver,CO and we will deliver it tomorrow afternoon at 1400. It is nice to get a short run out of here because it will make our payroll cutoff tomorrow afternoon. After that, who knows where we will be going!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Cruise Pics 2
Progreso,MX 
One of my favorite pics of the sunset
No mas Tequila!!
Acting like tourists LOL Cozumel,MX
Taken from Senor Frogs in Cozumel,MXCruise/Halloween Pictures
Joe looking all groovy....Love the wig!
Our Cabin. We upgraded to a Penthouse Suite. Super nice.
Another view of bed and sitting area.
Michelle, Joe and Me. Rocking the disco look!
Standing out on the balcony before we left Galveston.Allen,TX
I have COMPLETELY been slacking! But I have been thoroughly enjoying myself. We just came back from a cruise and I'm so relaxed it isn't even funny. I think if I stood up right now that I would just fall down like a wet noodle. And I'm not kidding!
I am going to post some photos that we took while we were on the cruise. We left on Oct 31st so there were a ton of people dressed up for Halloween. We went with friends and we decided to go with the 70's Disco as our costumes. OMG they were hilarious! I think you will enjoy those pics when I get them on here. I will probably add another post with just the pics.
Tonight we are going to go to the Guns N Hoses fights. They have it annually here in Mesquite,TX. It is boxing between the Police Departments (Guns) and the Fire Departments (Hoses) in the area. If anyone is in the Dallas/Ft Worth area, it is at Resistol Arena I believe in Mequite. It is always a lot of fun. I will also get to see quite a few of my officers that I used to work with that I haven't seen since we have been out on the road so it will be great seeing them and getting to catch up. I also know of one of my officers that is boxing so I hope he kicks some serious Fire Department ass! LOL!!
We are planning on heading back out on Monday. Last time we went on a cruise we were ready on Sunday morning but the didn't have any loads over the weekend. We figured no since in getting all ready just to sit and wait so we decided to be available on Monday. I will let you know on Monday where we are headed!
I am going to post some photos that we took while we were on the cruise. We left on Oct 31st so there were a ton of people dressed up for Halloween. We went with friends and we decided to go with the 70's Disco as our costumes. OMG they were hilarious! I think you will enjoy those pics when I get them on here. I will probably add another post with just the pics.
Tonight we are going to go to the Guns N Hoses fights. They have it annually here in Mesquite,TX. It is boxing between the Police Departments (Guns) and the Fire Departments (Hoses) in the area. If anyone is in the Dallas/Ft Worth area, it is at Resistol Arena I believe in Mequite. It is always a lot of fun. I will also get to see quite a few of my officers that I used to work with that I haven't seen since we have been out on the road so it will be great seeing them and getting to catch up. I also know of one of my officers that is boxing so I hope he kicks some serious Fire Department ass! LOL!!
We are planning on heading back out on Monday. Last time we went on a cruise we were ready on Sunday morning but the didn't have any loads over the weekend. We figured no since in getting all ready just to sit and wait so we decided to be available on Monday. I will let you know on Monday where we are headed!
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