Last night J got me to within 30 miles of where we were to deliver today. So this morning I get up at 0530 and head over to where we deliver. Found it with no problems. Got in there and got backed up and they guy comes out and tells us that we have to unblock the product while they use the forklift to get it out. It said that on the paperwork but I didn't notice it. So we have to take care of that. Get that done and when we were done we still didn't have a load. We were only about 15 miles off of I-95 so I headed back to I-95 then went south about 15 miles to a Pilot we passed. Parked there and we went inside and grabbed a shower. By the time we came back out we finally had a load. THANK YOU Thom, for he got us a load to Fontana,CA. FINALLY we are headed back south.
At this point, J lays back down and I take off. I have to get from Middletown,DE to Lititz,PA. And of course it can't be easy. Nothing back east is. For one thing, the shortest route ANYWHERE around these parts is going to include a state route and a US Highway. Both of which will be two lanes, no shoulder, maximum speed of 45, 12.5% grades (yes, I had those today) and many Amish carts. Hence why it took me almost 2 hours to go 46 miles. Also, there is a detour from MD222 that says to take 276 to 275 and apparently I missed something somewhere because I ended up driving along the banks of some river and there was NO other truck traffic. I really started getting worried thinking I shouldn't be where I was, but there were not any "NO TRUCK" signs. So the detour was apparently more for the ease of things because I definitely went the tight-ass hard way. Came across a rail road tressel that I had to go under that was marked 13'6" and that was close. The town I went through, well one of them, had houses practically ON the street, with NO sidewalks and you couldn't park on the street or cars couldn't get through. Power lines were extremely low and at one point, there was a LONG extention cord out a window, across the 2 lane street, and to a RV for power. I saw that and just knew I was going to pull it down. But the good Lord was watching over me because I made it through without incident. I did go through a few other small downtowns where I had to make turns on the US routes and cars were having to back up for me so that I could make the turns and I was using ALL of my space. Not my most favorite trip because of how tight it was, but the Pennsylvania and Maryland country side is gorgeous. I meant to take pictures, especially of the Amish cart I passed, but the road had no shoulders so I couldn't pull over anywhere and get the camera out.
Mark, if you happen to read this, we are taking this load to Fontana. We should be there sometime Saturday night. If you are still there, I know you finish class on Friday, but if you are there waiting on a TE or something, maybe we will see you Sunday morning.
Not much else to post at the moment. I am about to get ready to head out to the truck and hit the sack. I will wake J up here in about an hour and then he can deal with the wiper and the trailer. :) My work day is done!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Guess what I saw this morning?
When J woke me up at 0230 to get up and get ready to drive, I looked out the window, and I saw SNOW! You know, I really just have to laugh about it.
So we picked up yesterday in Fort Worth and delivered today in Plainfield,IN. I got there about 45 minutes late. I couldn't get out of the gate at Edwardsville because there was a typo from when they were entering the trailer we have assigned to us. Then I ran into an accident where the interstate was closed down and they had us take a detour to go around it. Then with the blowing snowk, I was going a little slower than normal, and I had to cross Illinois at a mind-numbing 55. Although I did do 60 most of the way. But I got there at 1050 for a 1000 appt. They got me unloaded and by 1145 I was out of there. We left and headed to the Indy OC and while enrt there we got our next load. We picked up a relay from the OC which worked out great and by 1245 I had that load and was leaving. Stopped down the road at mthe Pilot to scale the load and then took off again. Drove J as far as London,OH and stopped there at 1515. I had been behind the wheel since 0300 so I am worn out. And with the live unload and picking up another load I still managed to get in 500 miles. Sweet. This load delivers between 0800-1000 tomorrow in Delaware and J should get there sometime around 0300 so that will be nice and we can get some good non-moving sleep.
So that is it for today. I'm exhausted and going to bed.
So we picked up yesterday in Fort Worth and delivered today in Plainfield,IN. I got there about 45 minutes late. I couldn't get out of the gate at Edwardsville because there was a typo from when they were entering the trailer we have assigned to us. Then I ran into an accident where the interstate was closed down and they had us take a detour to go around it. Then with the blowing snowk, I was going a little slower than normal, and I had to cross Illinois at a mind-numbing 55. Although I did do 60 most of the way. But I got there at 1050 for a 1000 appt. They got me unloaded and by 1145 I was out of there. We left and headed to the Indy OC and while enrt there we got our next load. We picked up a relay from the OC which worked out great and by 1245 I had that load and was leaving. Stopped down the road at mthe Pilot to scale the load and then took off again. Drove J as far as London,OH and stopped there at 1515. I had been behind the wheel since 0300 so I am worn out. And with the live unload and picking up another load I still managed to get in 500 miles. Sweet. This load delivers between 0800-1000 tomorrow in Delaware and J should get there sometime around 0300 so that will be nice and we can get some good non-moving sleep.
So that is it for today. I'm exhausted and going to bed.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Actually have a load
About 1015 or so this morning our computer beeps and we get a load. Heading to Indiana again. Seems like this is the run we get almost every time we come back out from time at home. At least the last three times we have had this load. The only thing I don't like about it is that since we deliver in Indiana close to Indianapolis, we are up north on I-70 and we always always always get sent to the north west from here. This should be interesting. I am going to have to remember in the morning to send our trip planner Thom a message and beg him to send us to California or something so we can get in the I-40 freight lane.
Dinner is almost ready and we will be stopping in the next hour. Tonight we are having lemon pepper chicken, brown and wild rice and a salad. I'm telling you, this Burton Stove is the shit! The chicken was boneless skinless breast cooked in a slow cooker bag with butter and lemon pepper seasoning. The rice is the kind that is in a bag and you put it in the microwave for 90 seconds. We don't have a microwave, but we are stopping at a Love's Truck Stop and I will cook it there. Then the salad is pretty simple. Pour it out of a bag. I am starving and can't wait to eat!
Dinner is almost ready and we will be stopping in the next hour. Tonight we are having lemon pepper chicken, brown and wild rice and a salad. I'm telling you, this Burton Stove is the shit! The chicken was boneless skinless breast cooked in a slow cooker bag with butter and lemon pepper seasoning. The rice is the kind that is in a bag and you put it in the microwave for 90 seconds. We don't have a microwave, but we are stopping at a Love's Truck Stop and I will cook it there. Then the salad is pretty simple. Pour it out of a bag. I am starving and can't wait to eat!
Back on the road.....Kinda
Well, we are ready to head back out and are in the truck, but we don't have a load yet. The only thing that sucks about that is that I got up at 0600 to grab a shower and eat breakfast here at the OC before we were available, at 0800, and still nothing. If I would have know, then heck, I would have slept in. I didn't sleep well last night and could already use a nap. It was just one of those nights where I had wierd dream that had nothing to do with anything that has happened recently. Just wierd dreams.
We saw several people we know inside the OC this morning. I felt like quite the social butterfly. LOL Ran into Richard and LouAnn who have bought their own super nice T-660. Richard has been driving for Schneider for a year and a half and LouAnn is just finishing up her training so they can team. She had CDL prep today and will probably test with DPS tomorrow for her permanent CDL and then they will be ready to go. I'm really excited for them. We ran into another guy that did our Winter Training drive test. For the life of me I can't remember his name and I hate when that happens. But his wife went through class with LouAnn and they are going to be teaming also. Then we say Steve who did our CDL Permit prep when we were in class, we saw Don who was J's truck instructor and then we ran into Rob who did our CDL test with us. We couldn't hardly get out of there! Also met Fred who was just finishing up training and had his CDL prep today. We know him through pumpkindriver.com and it is always great to meet people that we know from that website. We have met some really great people that way.
We didn't do a whole lot at home on our time off. J got some trash and tree limbs and leaves burned while we were there. We had to pick up a lot of trash because the trash service didn't show up when we left last time to go out and so the neighborhood dogs have had 3.5 weeks to make a complete mess of our trash. Also, some other person dumped their trash in our trash bin so that was an even bigger mess for us to clean up. J was going to call them and complain, but I had to point out that someone could have stolen their trash and went through it looking for Identification Information to steal their identity and then just dumped their trash at our house. Believe me, that is not uncommon out in the freaking boonies where we live. So I was able to deter him from calling them or from cancelling all their utilities since we had the bills in our trash. :)
We went over to a friends house on Saturday and had dinner then went out with her and some other friends for another friends birthday so that was fun. We were also able to take Bandit with us because Bandit has stayed at this friends house and played with her dog Chewey so that worked out good.
I guess that is about all that is going on with us. Still nothing on a load yet so I will just hang out here until I find out something.
We saw several people we know inside the OC this morning. I felt like quite the social butterfly. LOL Ran into Richard and LouAnn who have bought their own super nice T-660. Richard has been driving for Schneider for a year and a half and LouAnn is just finishing up her training so they can team. She had CDL prep today and will probably test with DPS tomorrow for her permanent CDL and then they will be ready to go. I'm really excited for them. We ran into another guy that did our Winter Training drive test. For the life of me I can't remember his name and I hate when that happens. But his wife went through class with LouAnn and they are going to be teaming also. Then we say Steve who did our CDL Permit prep when we were in class, we saw Don who was J's truck instructor and then we ran into Rob who did our CDL test with us. We couldn't hardly get out of there! Also met Fred who was just finishing up training and had his CDL prep today. We know him through pumpkindriver.com and it is always great to meet people that we know from that website. We have met some really great people that way.
We didn't do a whole lot at home on our time off. J got some trash and tree limbs and leaves burned while we were there. We had to pick up a lot of trash because the trash service didn't show up when we left last time to go out and so the neighborhood dogs have had 3.5 weeks to make a complete mess of our trash. Also, some other person dumped their trash in our trash bin so that was an even bigger mess for us to clean up. J was going to call them and complain, but I had to point out that someone could have stolen their trash and went through it looking for Identification Information to steal their identity and then just dumped their trash at our house. Believe me, that is not uncommon out in the freaking boonies where we live. So I was able to deter him from calling them or from cancelling all their utilities since we had the bills in our trash. :)
We went over to a friends house on Saturday and had dinner then went out with her and some other friends for another friends birthday so that was fun. We were also able to take Bandit with us because Bandit has stayed at this friends house and played with her dog Chewey so that worked out good.
I guess that is about all that is going on with us. Still nothing on a load yet so I will just hang out here until I find out something.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Finally headed home
Thank goodness! Last night we stopped at the Petro in Joplin,MO for the night. It worked out well because another team that is just starting out that we know ended up there for the night. So we all got up and the crack of dawn and went inside and were able to visit for close to two hours. If you guys read this, I know it was early for you to get up, but we really enjoyed it. Try to stick it out, because I promise, it DOES get easier. The first few months will try your patience but it will smooth out after that. I hope you got some more sleep after we left and have a safe trip the rest of the way to your destination.
So we headed out of Joplin around 0730 this morning. It is raining, raining, raining! I guess it does beat the snow though so I'm not going to complain. We should get in around 1500 this afternoon and then we will head over to pick Bandit up and then head home. We have a lot of phone calls and stuff to make this time while we are at home. We have to do a lot of serious thinking and talking to decide what we are going to do about becoming Owner/Operators. It is a definite step that we want top take, we just have to figure out if now is the time to do it. Freight is slow, but it IS starting to pick up. Plus, if we get started now, we have all summer to run hard and get a little saved up for when it gets slow again this time next year. We ran into a team in Auburn last week that just got their truck in October and she said they have been busy still averaging close to 6000 miles a week all through the winter. That is some good news for us. Granted our miles hasn't been the problem, it has been the weather. But maybe we will have a little more say in where we go as O/O since we have no say so at all right now as company drivers. But I will keep you updated on what happens and what we decide whenever we are able to make that decision.
That's all folks!
So we headed out of Joplin around 0730 this morning. It is raining, raining, raining! I guess it does beat the snow though so I'm not going to complain. We should get in around 1500 this afternoon and then we will head over to pick Bandit up and then head home. We have a lot of phone calls and stuff to make this time while we are at home. We have to do a lot of serious thinking and talking to decide what we are going to do about becoming Owner/Operators. It is a definite step that we want top take, we just have to figure out if now is the time to do it. Freight is slow, but it IS starting to pick up. Plus, if we get started now, we have all summer to run hard and get a little saved up for when it gets slow again this time next year. We ran into a team in Auburn last week that just got their truck in October and she said they have been busy still averaging close to 6000 miles a week all through the winter. That is some good news for us. Granted our miles hasn't been the problem, it has been the weather. But maybe we will have a little more say in where we go as O/O since we have no say so at all right now as company drivers. But I will keep you updated on what happens and what we decide whenever we are able to make that decision.
That's all folks!
A sad loss...
I was talking to a friend of mine that I used to work with at the police department this morning. Another of our co-workers just lost her 12 year old step-daughter due to this "flu" that has been going around. I don't know all the details, but apparently she had been sick for about two weeks and they thought it was just a cold or possibly the flu that she just couldn't shake. Again, not knowing all the details, I know they took her to the doctor and possibly the emergency room. In the end, she died from it. I can't stress enough to people to take care of yourselves out there. I know we have been sick also, and if at any point I would have felt like it was an out of the ordinary kind of sick, I would have stopped the truck and gotten to a doctor. I truly believe that a person knows their own body and will know if is something more severe than just a head or chest cold. I just ask that anyone who is of a mind to, keep this family in your prayers. They are going through a very rough time right now.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Bolingbrook,IL
Tonight we are going to stay at the lovely I-55 Truck & Travel Plaza in Bolingbrook,IL. We originally stopped at the Lake Forest Oasis and had some dinner, but there is so much traffic in and out of those things that we didn't want to stay the night there. J had a little more drive time so we headed on down here. It was only about 45 more miles and it is on the south side of Chicago. So that is good for in the morning so we don't have to fight rush hour traffic in Chicago.
Today we got up at 0500 and headed out fron Burke,WI to our drop in Milwaukee. Made it in about 30 minutes early and got unloaded by about 0930. Then we headed up to Green Bay where we picked up our next load. Missed seeing you Bob. I just really didn't want to get you or anyone else sick. We will try again next time! But we will eventually meet up!
That is all for tonight folks. I'm worn out and going to bed.
Today we got up at 0500 and headed out fron Burke,WI to our drop in Milwaukee. Made it in about 30 minutes early and got unloaded by about 0930. Then we headed up to Green Bay where we picked up our next load. Missed seeing you Bob. I just really didn't want to get you or anyone else sick. We will try again next time! But we will eventually meet up!
That is all for tonight folks. I'm worn out and going to bed.
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