Kennebunk,ME

Guess what I woke up to this morning? You guessed it! More rain with a little fog mixed in just to make it messier. This is how my day started.



J woke me up at the Service Plaza between Kennebunk and Lewiston,ME. He did so good last night and got me just short of 23 miles from our destination. Seeing as we were delivering to a Walmart, I knew we could be an hour early, but no more, so I went ahead and got ready and headed on in. Thankfully this was an easy place to find. When I took the ramp off of the tollway, there was a sign that pointed right indicating the Walmart DC. I love places that do this. It makes it so much easier to find.



Once I got there and made the turn into the actual Walmart DC, I realized it was a good thing I left when I did. There were about 5 trucks in front of me waiting to get in. Unfortunately, Walmart is not the quickest places to get in and out of. We were probably in line for about 15 minutes before I finally made it to the front of the line where I could get out and check in. By that time I had counted 9 trucks that were back behind me. Yep, good thing I got there a little earlier. See, Walmart is funny about their deliveries. They consider you arriving once you have got in the gate, parked your trailer and checked in at the office. When you actually arrive at the gate with the guard doesn't count. I personally think that is stupid. Since that is actually the time you arrive there. And there have been times where we have waited in line close to 45 minutes to even get to the guard shack. I can remember one time, although I don't remember which Walmart it was, but by the time we got through the gate, backed into the dock that they assigned us at the gate, unhooked and parked, and walked the paperwork in, we were 3 freaking minutes late. And you HAVE to dock the trailer, unhook and park BEFORE you check in or they won't take you. That one time they considered us late and put us to the back of the line. Said they would get us unloaded whenever they could fit us in. Now tell me, is 3 freaking minutes really worth all of that when we sat at the gate trying to get in for almost an hour? You can best believe I gave that lady a piece of my mind. LOL I only wish J had told me he had done the same thing while I was in the restroom and I wouldn't have said anything. But since he went to the restroom after I came out and didn't tell me, I had to let her know what a crock of shit that was. I told her that if they could get competent people working the gate to get trucks in and out faster, this wouldn't be a problem. Not my proudest moment, but I was pissed. At least I didn't cause a huge scene or cuss at her like I have seen other drivers do. But I definitely let her know how I felt about that.



Anywho..... I got checked in and then went back out to the truck to wait. J finally headed to bed after we had a bowl of soup and I chilled and read a book. I know, soup for breakfast? Well, it was his dinner and I was just hungry. Besides, all the rain outside just made it a soup kind of morning. I would have rather have had some hot oatmeal, but I didn't have any of that with me, so I settled for some pretty darn good vegetable beef soup!



I kept hearing them call people on the CB but I never heard them call me. Finally, I went in and checked and sure enough, I was ready. They said that they had tried to call me but I didn't answer. My CB is a piece of crap and it only gets reception when it wants to so it didn't surprise me when I didn't hear them call. I headed out to the truck, sent my depart, hooked back up to the trailer and headed to the gate.



After I stopped at the gate to let them see that the trailer was empty, I shut the doors and got back in. That short 2 minutes that I was out of the truck is when we got our next load assignment. No one was behind me, so I stayed there for a sec checking out our next load.



I know being up in Maine means no freight and I knew we would have to go south to get something. Turns out that I don't have to go far though. I am heading 116 miles south down I-95 to Methuen,MA to pick up a load going to Murfreesboro,TN. The load doesn't pick up until 2000 hrs tonight though. I decided to go ahead and drive a ways down and park at the service plaza in Kennebunk,ME and just chill out here. From here, itis only 64 miles to the shipper. This way J can get some really good non-moving sleep today and he can even sleep in. I figure we don't have to leave here till around 1800 to give us plenty of time to get down to make the pick-up. And this is a nice little service plaza. They have a Starbucks, Burger King, Sbarro's and a little convenience store. So I am set. Now if they only had laundry facilities, I would be estatic! But, given that this load is only going 1081 miles and doesn't deliver until Saturday afternoon, we will have time to stop tomorrow or Saturday and do laundry.



I talked to our friends that drive for Schneider today. They are picking up in Kearney,NJ tonight and headed down I-81 to South Carolina I think. Or was it North Carolina? One of the Carolina's. Since we will be heading down I-81 also to get to Tennessee we are going to probably meet up with them somewhere along the way tomorrow and have lunch. I am guessing somewhere in Virginia. They are in no rush on their load so they said they can take all the time they need. They are just dropping it at a drop lot since it doesn't deliver until the 18th.



They also told me they found another carrier to go and work for. They got the call last night saying they were hired. They just aren't getting the miles they need. She said there have been times they go two weeks without a paycheck or more. They just can't find freight for them. That was one of the reasons that we left Schneider. We weren't getting loads. But the outfit is based close to where they live and mainl y runs freight lanes from the Dallas/Ft Worth area out to California and back. And the best part for them is the trucks they have are Pete's that have automatic transmissions. She can drive a 10-speed, that is what she was taught on in the school. But she is much more comfortable in an automatic. And they are currently in an automatic with Schneider so I know she doesn't want to go back to the 10-speed. I can't blame her! When we left Schneider we had an automatic and LOVED it. I definitely took us some getting used to when we had to go back to the 10-speed. Oh, and the company is a reefer outfit. I know he really wasn't wanting to go reefer, but dry van obviously can't keep them busy right now. As I have said before, people aren't buying the stereos and clothes right now with this economy, but they still have to eat. So the reefer side of the industry is staying steady.



I guess here in a little while I am going to have to call Carnival and give them some more money for the cruise we are taking Jessica on for graduation. Then I need to book an RV for April when we are taking my mom on vacation. There are some places she wants to see in California, like the Hearst Mansion, the Winchester Mansion, Gilroy Gardens and the Redwood Forest, so we are going to rent an RV for a week and take her. I will say that one of the nice things about driving a truck and not having a house is that you can really save money. No way we could take her and Jessica on vacations like this if we were still working for the police department and sheriff's department. Not only would money be an issue, but getting the time off would be an issue also. Now we don't have to worry about that. It is really nice running your own business and being your own boss!