I had a nice easy day today! Only 455 miles. :) Yesterday after we picked up our load, J headed out and made it to Havasu City,AZ. We did some figuring on the timeline since we will have lots of extra time on this load. We decided we wanted to be able to stop in Springfield for laundry but we didn't want to get there right in the middle of J's sleep schedule and mess him all up. Therefore, we decided to stop for the night in Havasu City around 2100. I was able to get some good non-moving sleep and it would get us into Springfield,MO tomorrow right around the time we switch shifts.
After we get our stuff done in Springfield, we will only have about 1100 miles to go to our destination in NJ. We should get in sometime early Sunday evening, even with stopping in Springfield. So you can see that there is plenty of time for us to be lazy.
I must say that traveling yesterday and today has been much nicer than the two days previous. Having an A/C travelling across the southwest is a lifesaver!
I did however hurt myself today! It was stupid really and it shouldn't have happened, and it wasn't even work related! I was taking Smokey for his morning walk and fell. I was at the rest area just west of Flagstaff on I-40 up in the mountains. There is a lot of rock on the ground between the truck parking and the highway, where I was walking Smokey. It is slightly slanted, the ground, so as we were walking down incline, the rocks just moved under my feet. Small rocks, like gravel I guess you could say. So I slid in a really funny position and my left foot ended up under me. My ankle is pretty sore and is actually a little swollen. But nothing popped, and I can move it, it is just pretty darn sore. J is always telling me not to wear my flip-flops, and he is probably right, (shhh, don't tell him I said that) but I would have fallen even if I were wearing tennis shoes because of the way the gravel moved. Don't worry though! My swollen ankle doesn't effect my fingers, so I can still blog!
Friday, July 10, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Los Angeles,CA
When it rains, it pours, right? We finally got loaded in Henerson with our ice cream load. It was so incredibly hot that we were just miserable. Our A/C just couldn't keep up. We figured it was just the fact that it was over 110 degrees outside. Once we finally got loaded, we headed back to the TA to scale and decided to park for a few hours till my shift started. We were hoping that since it was now dark, that we would finally cool off.
Since I didn't get to sleep till almost midnight, I slept in until 0530 and we were on the road by around 0600. J managed to get to sleepand I headed up out. I cut across south out of Las Vegas on US 93 and hit I-40 in Needles,CA. The sun was already up and my A/C was blowing hot air. Now, since it was early morning and the temps were in the low 90's, I knew there was a problem with the A/C. I made it into Kingman where I stopped at the Petro and decided that I was going to have them check the A/C.
About 4 hours later we finally had an answer. There was a leak in the condensor. Yay! We know what the problem is. It is warranty work so I was ready for them to fix it so I could get back on the road. Well, that wasn't going to work because they didn't have the part. Shit. I called our FM and the only thing we could do was have another team take our load to give us time to get this worked out. So when the other team arrived, they took our load and we took their load that was delivering in Los Angeles at 0800 the next morning. That worked out perfect for us. But I really hated giving up that load because it was a damn good paying load.
From there we knew we only had about 300 miles to go for our delivery the next morning back in LA. So we hooked up to IdleAire for the A/C and got some rest then heade out around 0200 Wednesday morning. Our stop was at Tyson which is in a very old part of LA. The street they are on has no room to turn the truck around. So you have to turn on to their street, get the truck and trailer straight, then back down the road to their docks which are right on the street. They had a guy out there waiting on us so he could guide us back down the street and guide us into the dock. Super tight place, but the gentleman was extremely impressed with my baking skills. I got it on the first try, missed a car by about 3 inches, and had to jump the curb with my left front steer as I was backing, because that is the only way it could be done. He told me that I did an excellent job and even remarked to J how impressed he was. He said most drivers can't get it on the first or even second try. Of course I did have J guiding me on one side, so it was teamwork that got me in there. But I think J was impressed to. As a team, we rock!
Anyway, got unloaed and headed to a drop lot to drop the trailer off and then off to Freightliner we went. Since the place in Kingman,AZ couldn't fix it, we headed to a dealer figuring they would have the part in stock. It is first come, first serve. So even though we got there and got in line at 1100 hours on Wednesday, it wasn't until this morning before they even got the truck in the shop. They said last night it would be a while, either later that night or this morning, so we headed to a hotel. They had flyers on a board for a Red Roof Inn that had rates for truckers and allowed pets AND they had a shuttle service. I placed a quick call and within 10 minutes, before we could gather all our stuff up, the shuttle was there.
We made it to the hotel and got comfy. Boy was it nice to be in a room with cold A/C!! Wd had been sweating our ass off since Monday when we picked up the ice cream. We ordered from Boston's and they delivered. Great bacon cheeseburgers! After that we were lazy and watched TV for a while before calling it a night. I was really tired. The heat will do that to you. I went to bed and slept almost 12 hours last night. I felt really refreshed this morning.
The shuttle service at the hotel doesn't run from 1100-1400 so we were up and ready to go by 1100 so we could catch the shuttle back to Freightliner. There was a mix-up with the paperwork or something, but after about 20 minutes, it was straightened out and they figured out that the truck was indeed ready. Thank goodness! We need to be back on the road making money!
We are currently on the way to Vitorville,CA to pick up a pre-loaded trailer that we are taking to NJ. Thank goodness we have a good FM and he got us a great paying load knowing that we had been down with the truck in the shop. This load is set to deliver on Monday morning so we will have plenty of time to get it there. It sure feels good to be back on the road!
Since I didn't get to sleep till almost midnight, I slept in until 0530 and we were on the road by around 0600. J managed to get to sleepand I headed up out. I cut across south out of Las Vegas on US 93 and hit I-40 in Needles,CA. The sun was already up and my A/C was blowing hot air. Now, since it was early morning and the temps were in the low 90's, I knew there was a problem with the A/C. I made it into Kingman where I stopped at the Petro and decided that I was going to have them check the A/C.
About 4 hours later we finally had an answer. There was a leak in the condensor. Yay! We know what the problem is. It is warranty work so I was ready for them to fix it so I could get back on the road. Well, that wasn't going to work because they didn't have the part. Shit. I called our FM and the only thing we could do was have another team take our load to give us time to get this worked out. So when the other team arrived, they took our load and we took their load that was delivering in Los Angeles at 0800 the next morning. That worked out perfect for us. But I really hated giving up that load because it was a damn good paying load.
From there we knew we only had about 300 miles to go for our delivery the next morning back in LA. So we hooked up to IdleAire for the A/C and got some rest then heade out around 0200 Wednesday morning. Our stop was at Tyson which is in a very old part of LA. The street they are on has no room to turn the truck around. So you have to turn on to their street, get the truck and trailer straight, then back down the road to their docks which are right on the street. They had a guy out there waiting on us so he could guide us back down the street and guide us into the dock. Super tight place, but the gentleman was extremely impressed with my baking skills. I got it on the first try, missed a car by about 3 inches, and had to jump the curb with my left front steer as I was backing, because that is the only way it could be done. He told me that I did an excellent job and even remarked to J how impressed he was. He said most drivers can't get it on the first or even second try. Of course I did have J guiding me on one side, so it was teamwork that got me in there. But I think J was impressed to. As a team, we rock!
Anyway, got unloaed and headed to a drop lot to drop the trailer off and then off to Freightliner we went. Since the place in Kingman,AZ couldn't fix it, we headed to a dealer figuring they would have the part in stock. It is first come, first serve. So even though we got there and got in line at 1100 hours on Wednesday, it wasn't until this morning before they even got the truck in the shop. They said last night it would be a while, either later that night or this morning, so we headed to a hotel. They had flyers on a board for a Red Roof Inn that had rates for truckers and allowed pets AND they had a shuttle service. I placed a quick call and within 10 minutes, before we could gather all our stuff up, the shuttle was there.
We made it to the hotel and got comfy. Boy was it nice to be in a room with cold A/C!! Wd had been sweating our ass off since Monday when we picked up the ice cream. We ordered from Boston's and they delivered. Great bacon cheeseburgers! After that we were lazy and watched TV for a while before calling it a night. I was really tired. The heat will do that to you. I went to bed and slept almost 12 hours last night. I felt really refreshed this morning.
The shuttle service at the hotel doesn't run from 1100-1400 so we were up and ready to go by 1100 so we could catch the shuttle back to Freightliner. There was a mix-up with the paperwork or something, but after about 20 minutes, it was straightened out and they figured out that the truck was indeed ready. Thank goodness! We need to be back on the road making money!
We are currently on the way to Vitorville,CA to pick up a pre-loaded trailer that we are taking to NJ. Thank goodness we have a good FM and he got us a great paying load knowing that we had been down with the truck in the shop. This load is set to deliver on Monday morning so we will have plenty of time to get it there. It sure feels good to be back on the road!
Monday, July 6, 2009
LasVegas,NV
As I sit here and post this, my dash is reading 135 degrees outside! Holy cow!
We had a WONDERFUL weekend with friends here in Las Vegas over the 4th. After catching up with some high school friends on Facebook, they invited us to spend the July 4th holiday with them. We are so glad that we did. We had so much fun and can't wait to get back at some point to visit more.
Unfortunately, the weekend has come to an end and we are having to hit the road again. Right now we are sitting at Good Humor in Henderson,NV waiting for them to call us so that we can get loaded. We have already been here for several hours and I haven't seen but one truck get loaded and leave. They only have one dock they are working off of and there are at least 5-6 more trucks in front of us. I don't even know if they will get us loaded today. It isn't looking good at this point.
I am going to load a few pictures so you can see where we stayed this weekend. I hope you enjoy them! The first pic is of Oz. We stayed with him and Kathy. The second is of me and Kathy. I am the super white one! LOL They live in Vegas and are ALWAYS tan! And the last is of J chilling in the pool!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Dodge City,KS
Just the name of this town has me conjuring up visions of the old west and the long cattle drives when they would bring their cattle to market. Camp fire coffee and beans for dinner. Yummy! Just thinking of that is making me hungry! Although I am sure the cowboys of yesteryear would agree that the boffee, beans and day old bisquits got might old after weeks on the trail. As I sit here, it is a beautiful morning. It isn't very hot outside as it is only about 10 am and there is a nice breeze. Unfortunately, that breeze is blowing around a very unpleasant smell. Cow shit! But what can I expect when I am here to pick up freshly slaughtered cows that will soon be on supermarket shelves or in fine dining establishments?
Yesterday morning J woke me up at the last rest area in Kansas. With an appointment at 2100 last night in Denver, my plan was to head to our yard for the day. I figured while killing time until our appointment that we could get some shopping done for Vegas. We could also grab a shower and do some laundry. When I was about 100 miles out, I got a message that they could unload me whenever I got there. Figuring we can do all that other stuff later, I headed on in. The sooner we get unloaded, the sooner we will have our next load.
I drove straight to Frito Lay and they actually let me drop the trailer instead of getting unloaded. Awesome! Only problem is that they didn't have any empty trailers. I sent in a message and my FM had me to over to USF and grab a trailer from them. When I got there, I found the trailer but there was another Prime driver snatching it. Shoot! I started looking for other empty trailers but there were none to be had. About that time, the other driver walked up and asked if I was a team or solo. I told him I was a team and he said I could have the empty that he had. He was going to go sack out for his 10 hour break and he knew that as a team we would get a load before he did since he was going on break. I thanked him and waved as he headed out.
I hooked up to the trailer and found out that the reefer unit wasn't working. Not a good sign when you are in the refridgerated business. I sent in a message to Road Assist and they had me take it down to the TA to see if they could fix it. The TA was swamped and said that it would be several hours before they could get to it so they just put us in line. J and I headed in to grab some breakfast and then he was heading back to bed. While we were eating, our FM called and was wondering when we would be ready to go. I explained the situation about the trailer and he said that wasn't going to work. He told us to forget about that trailer. Take it back to the yard and he would find us another one. He was needing us to head to Dodge City where we would pick up a load but they were needing empty trailers to get our loads on. I headed back to the yard and dropped the broken one and found an empty there and headed out around 1415 hours.
It is about 380 miles or so to Dodge City. I drove until about 1730 and then woke J up and he drove the last 160 miles. We made it in and dropped the trailer and found out that our load wasn't ready. We weren't really surprised as these meat loads are never ready until the VERY last minute. Our load info said that is was to be shipped any time yesterday with a final departure time of 0600 today. Meaning that is was supposed to be ready no later than 0600 for us to pick up. We spent the night at the Flying J here. I went to bed around 2300, WAY to late for me, and J stayed up calling about every hour to see if it was ready. At 0530 it still wasn't ready so we went in and grabbed a shower and are now back over here at Cargill waiting for the load. If you noticed the time on this post, it is now 1000 hours and still not ready. I messaged in to dispatch and they said what they have been hearing from sales, who is talking to the customer, is that they may not even start loading it until 2nd shift. I'm not sure if their second shift here is the afternoon shift or the night shift. I am guessing probably the afternoon shift. So that means I will be sitting her all day playing on the computer and watching movies. On the bright side, J will have a nice day of good sleep since I will be parked!
Once we do get under way, this load has two stops. The first in the Los Angeles area and the last up in Tracy,CA. We are probably going to deliver the one in the LA area and then have someone else take it up to Tracy for the final delivery. If we take it to Tracy, we won't make it to Vegas when we are wanting. We could, but that would also be about a 500 mile deadhead to get there. So we will probably leave from the LA area. I am hoping that they may find us a load out of there delivering up to Henderson,NV. That would be ideal. It would get us to Vegas and we would get paid to drive up there as opposed to driving nearly 200 miles for nothing. I will keep yall posted!
Yesterday morning J woke me up at the last rest area in Kansas. With an appointment at 2100 last night in Denver, my plan was to head to our yard for the day. I figured while killing time until our appointment that we could get some shopping done for Vegas. We could also grab a shower and do some laundry. When I was about 100 miles out, I got a message that they could unload me whenever I got there. Figuring we can do all that other stuff later, I headed on in. The sooner we get unloaded, the sooner we will have our next load.
I drove straight to Frito Lay and they actually let me drop the trailer instead of getting unloaded. Awesome! Only problem is that they didn't have any empty trailers. I sent in a message and my FM had me to over to USF and grab a trailer from them. When I got there, I found the trailer but there was another Prime driver snatching it. Shoot! I started looking for other empty trailers but there were none to be had. About that time, the other driver walked up and asked if I was a team or solo. I told him I was a team and he said I could have the empty that he had. He was going to go sack out for his 10 hour break and he knew that as a team we would get a load before he did since he was going on break. I thanked him and waved as he headed out.
I hooked up to the trailer and found out that the reefer unit wasn't working. Not a good sign when you are in the refridgerated business. I sent in a message to Road Assist and they had me take it down to the TA to see if they could fix it. The TA was swamped and said that it would be several hours before they could get to it so they just put us in line. J and I headed in to grab some breakfast and then he was heading back to bed. While we were eating, our FM called and was wondering when we would be ready to go. I explained the situation about the trailer and he said that wasn't going to work. He told us to forget about that trailer. Take it back to the yard and he would find us another one. He was needing us to head to Dodge City where we would pick up a load but they were needing empty trailers to get our loads on. I headed back to the yard and dropped the broken one and found an empty there and headed out around 1415 hours.
It is about 380 miles or so to Dodge City. I drove until about 1730 and then woke J up and he drove the last 160 miles. We made it in and dropped the trailer and found out that our load wasn't ready. We weren't really surprised as these meat loads are never ready until the VERY last minute. Our load info said that is was to be shipped any time yesterday with a final departure time of 0600 today. Meaning that is was supposed to be ready no later than 0600 for us to pick up. We spent the night at the Flying J here. I went to bed around 2300, WAY to late for me, and J stayed up calling about every hour to see if it was ready. At 0530 it still wasn't ready so we went in and grabbed a shower and are now back over here at Cargill waiting for the load. If you noticed the time on this post, it is now 1000 hours and still not ready. I messaged in to dispatch and they said what they have been hearing from sales, who is talking to the customer, is that they may not even start loading it until 2nd shift. I'm not sure if their second shift here is the afternoon shift or the night shift. I am guessing probably the afternoon shift. So that means I will be sitting her all day playing on the computer and watching movies. On the bright side, J will have a nice day of good sleep since I will be parked!
Once we do get under way, this load has two stops. The first in the Los Angeles area and the last up in Tracy,CA. We are probably going to deliver the one in the LA area and then have someone else take it up to Tracy for the final delivery. If we take it to Tracy, we won't make it to Vegas when we are wanting. We could, but that would also be about a 500 mile deadhead to get there. So we will probably leave from the LA area. I am hoping that they may find us a load out of there delivering up to Henderson,NV. That would be ideal. It would get us to Vegas and we would get paid to drive up there as opposed to driving nearly 200 miles for nothing. I will keep yall posted!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Concordia,MO
Yesterday things didn't go quite as planned. Turns out that they DID change our appointment to load until today. So yesterday, while sitting there thinking I still had to get loaded, I was signed in and they actually loaded me. The only problem is the load they gave me was for another Prime driver there that was a solo. They wanted him to take the load yesterday to deliver in Denver so that he would have time as a solo to make it there. After figuring out the cluster, I got with the other driver and we switched loads. After that we headed over to a hotel and spent the night there.
This morning I got up and we got out of the hotel and back over to the shipper at 0645. There were already probably 20 trucks there. Crap. I just knew that I was going to be sitting until mid-afternoon before I could get loaded. Knowing what to do I went across the scale so they could get my empty weight then I went inside to check in. Even with all of those trucks there, I was the first one loaded. It had something to do with where the load was going. Since it was the Denver run, it is supposed to be loaded ASAP so I could get on the road. I felt just a little bad since there were obviously a bunch of trucks already there, but not bad enough to offer for them to go first. LOL I had already waited over 24 hours for my load so I wanted to get it and get the heck out of there.
This was a cool place to load at though. I am hauling bulk potatoes. They put them on a conveyer belt and toss them into the back of the truck until they get you as close to a gross of 80,000 lbs that they can. It was fun to watch them being shot in the back of the trailer. The only problem is that since they are just loose in the back, when I hit a big bump or a bumpy bridge, they will move around. I can guarantee that my axle weight now is not what I started out with since I know the potatoes have shifted around. I just hope I am still legal! But I do have a CAT scale ticket showing I was lefal when I left. I can't control the condition of the roads out here!
This place that we picked up at also sets the appointment at the receiver. The appointment they set up for us is Monday at 2100. When I saw this, I got really aggravated. We gave that load yesterday to a solo because it was supposed to be a solo load and this load we picked up today was supposed to be a "team" load, meaning that we had less time to deliver than a solo would. After seeing the appointment time at the receiver that they gave up, a solo could have taken this load as STILL had extra time. ARGH!! Sometimes this is so frustrating! So we were dispatched on this Friday afternoon to pick-up on Saturday morning. They moved the pick-up to Sunday morning and now we deliver on Monday evening. That is three days to go a whopping 978 miles! Sheesh!!!!!!!!!
On the bright side, we are sending the July 4th weekend in Vegas with some friends! So the extra time we have tomorrow before we deliver will work to our advantage. We will be able to get the truck cleaned out and do some shopping. My swimsuit is MIA so I am going to have to buy a new one since we are spending Sunday out at the lake. Saturday we are gonna BBQ. We are really looking forward to it. These are some friends that we went to high school with that we haven't seen in over 20 years. Thanks to FaceBook we have connected back up so we are having a mini reunion. It should be lots of fun!!!!
This morning I got up and we got out of the hotel and back over to the shipper at 0645. There were already probably 20 trucks there. Crap. I just knew that I was going to be sitting until mid-afternoon before I could get loaded. Knowing what to do I went across the scale so they could get my empty weight then I went inside to check in. Even with all of those trucks there, I was the first one loaded. It had something to do with where the load was going. Since it was the Denver run, it is supposed to be loaded ASAP so I could get on the road. I felt just a little bad since there were obviously a bunch of trucks already there, but not bad enough to offer for them to go first. LOL I had already waited over 24 hours for my load so I wanted to get it and get the heck out of there.
This was a cool place to load at though. I am hauling bulk potatoes. They put them on a conveyer belt and toss them into the back of the truck until they get you as close to a gross of 80,000 lbs that they can. It was fun to watch them being shot in the back of the trailer. The only problem is that since they are just loose in the back, when I hit a big bump or a bumpy bridge, they will move around. I can guarantee that my axle weight now is not what I started out with since I know the potatoes have shifted around. I just hope I am still legal! But I do have a CAT scale ticket showing I was lefal when I left. I can't control the condition of the roads out here!
This place that we picked up at also sets the appointment at the receiver. The appointment they set up for us is Monday at 2100. When I saw this, I got really aggravated. We gave that load yesterday to a solo because it was supposed to be a solo load and this load we picked up today was supposed to be a "team" load, meaning that we had less time to deliver than a solo would. After seeing the appointment time at the receiver that they gave up, a solo could have taken this load as STILL had extra time. ARGH!! Sometimes this is so frustrating! So we were dispatched on this Friday afternoon to pick-up on Saturday morning. They moved the pick-up to Sunday morning and now we deliver on Monday evening. That is three days to go a whopping 978 miles! Sheesh!!!!!!!!!
On the bright side, we are sending the July 4th weekend in Vegas with some friends! So the extra time we have tomorrow before we deliver will work to our advantage. We will be able to get the truck cleaned out and do some shopping. My swimsuit is MIA so I am going to have to buy a new one since we are spending Sunday out at the lake. Saturday we are gonna BBQ. We are really looking forward to it. These are some friends that we went to high school with that we haven't seen in over 20 years. Thanks to FaceBook we have connected back up so we are having a mini reunion. It should be lots of fun!!!!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Charleston,MO
Holy cow! Can it get any hotter or muggier?? I am sitting here in Charleston waiting to get loaded. It is 0953 hours and my dash reading shows 117 degrees!! I got out to sweep the trailer and I think I just lost 5 lbs. It is crazy hot out here!
Early yesterday morning J got us into Franklin,IN where we made our first drop at 0300 in the morning. From there he headed down to a Flying J and we got out and had breakfast and a shower. We had one more drop but it wasn't until 1300 hours. J called and checked with them and they told us that they were busy but they had plenty of parking so we could come on down if we wanted to and they would work us in early if they could. That sounded good to us. That way I could get parked and J could get some good non moving sleep.
J hit the bunk and I took off to drive the short 15 miles to our final destination. When I checked in, she asked me if I was dropping. I didn't know I could drop, I thought it was a live unload. She said I could drop. Sweet! The sooner I get this dropped the sooner I can get another load. I went and parked the trailer and unhooked only to find that there were no empty trailers. I sent a message in asking where to get an empty. A few minutes later they tell me to go to the Great Dane dealership and pick up an empty there that had been repaired. After I picked that up, I headed to the Flying J to wait for our next load. That last appointment wasn't until 1300 and I ended up ready to roll with a new empty at the Flying J at 1115 hours. I love when things work to our benefit.
For all the good luck I was having that morning, it wasn't to continue throughout the afternoon. Well, I guess that depends on how you look at it. We finally got our next load assignment around 1345 hours. However it didn't pick up until this morning. J was sleeping and the pick-up was 299 miles away. Our appointment showed that we could pick up today between 0630 and 1200. I decided that we would just stay parked where we were and leave later that night. If I would have left then, I would have gotten to this area around 2000 hours or so and I hate getting to a truck stop in the evening because it is hard to find a spot to park.
Once J got up, we had lunch and decided on a plan of action. He headed out around midnight and drove about 200 miles. We stopped in Mt Vernon, IL when I got up and had breakfast and then I took over. I had to make a stop at the Pilot here in Charleston before I came to the shipper because we needed load locks. Then I made it to the shipper just a little after 0800 hours. When I get here I find out that I am #20 in line. Great! Then I get a message from my FM saying that they may not load me until tomorrow. WTF? I ran in and checked with the office to find out. If we aren't loading until tomorrow then I am heading out and getting a hotel for the night. It turns out that the office told me they would load me today. Damn. And the swimming pool at the hotel was already sounding wonderful. Guess it wasn't meant to be. So instead, I am sitting here in the back muddy parking lot of Black Gold waiting for my turn to be loaded down with potatoes that are destined to become potato chips!
Early yesterday morning J got us into Franklin,IN where we made our first drop at 0300 in the morning. From there he headed down to a Flying J and we got out and had breakfast and a shower. We had one more drop but it wasn't until 1300 hours. J called and checked with them and they told us that they were busy but they had plenty of parking so we could come on down if we wanted to and they would work us in early if they could. That sounded good to us. That way I could get parked and J could get some good non moving sleep.
J hit the bunk and I took off to drive the short 15 miles to our final destination. When I checked in, she asked me if I was dropping. I didn't know I could drop, I thought it was a live unload. She said I could drop. Sweet! The sooner I get this dropped the sooner I can get another load. I went and parked the trailer and unhooked only to find that there were no empty trailers. I sent a message in asking where to get an empty. A few minutes later they tell me to go to the Great Dane dealership and pick up an empty there that had been repaired. After I picked that up, I headed to the Flying J to wait for our next load. That last appointment wasn't until 1300 and I ended up ready to roll with a new empty at the Flying J at 1115 hours. I love when things work to our benefit.
For all the good luck I was having that morning, it wasn't to continue throughout the afternoon. Well, I guess that depends on how you look at it. We finally got our next load assignment around 1345 hours. However it didn't pick up until this morning. J was sleeping and the pick-up was 299 miles away. Our appointment showed that we could pick up today between 0630 and 1200. I decided that we would just stay parked where we were and leave later that night. If I would have left then, I would have gotten to this area around 2000 hours or so and I hate getting to a truck stop in the evening because it is hard to find a spot to park.
Once J got up, we had lunch and decided on a plan of action. He headed out around midnight and drove about 200 miles. We stopped in Mt Vernon, IL when I got up and had breakfast and then I took over. I had to make a stop at the Pilot here in Charleston before I came to the shipper because we needed load locks. Then I made it to the shipper just a little after 0800 hours. When I get here I find out that I am #20 in line. Great! Then I get a message from my FM saying that they may not load me until tomorrow. WTF? I ran in and checked with the office to find out. If we aren't loading until tomorrow then I am heading out and getting a hotel for the night. It turns out that the office told me they would load me today. Damn. And the swimming pool at the hotel was already sounding wonderful. Guess it wasn't meant to be. So instead, I am sitting here in the back muddy parking lot of Black Gold waiting for my turn to be loaded down with potatoes that are destined to become potato chips!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Des Moines,IA
I think this is the longest that I have gone without posting when we haven't been off! Sorry about that to anyone that has been reading and waiting for an update. I have no excuse other than I have just been tired!
After we left Pittston, we picked up a hazmat load we delivered to Hillsboro,OR. From there our next load had two pick ups. One in Yakima,WA and the other in Odell,OR. This load had too much time on it so we dropped it at the company yard in Salt Lake City,UT. On the lot was our next load waiting to be picked up. We are currently just east of Des Moines,IA and are headed to Indiana. We have two deliveries there. The first one is in Franklin at 0300 in the morning and the other is in Indianapolis at 1300 hours. Now you are caught up!
I realize that sometimes I get too caught up in what we have done each day that I forget to mention all of the beautiful things that we see along the way. I had an incredibly scenic drive across Nebraska on I-80 this morning. With all the rain they have had recently, everything was gorgeous shades of green. This morning as the son was coming up, there was a mist hanging just above the grass and it was almost magical the way it just hovered there. I saw numerous cows with their calves nursing and a doe standing in a pasture eating her breakfast. Mornings like this are the reason that I enjoy living out here on the road. I love my mobile office. :)
After we left Pittston, we picked up a hazmat load we delivered to Hillsboro,OR. From there our next load had two pick ups. One in Yakima,WA and the other in Odell,OR. This load had too much time on it so we dropped it at the company yard in Salt Lake City,UT. On the lot was our next load waiting to be picked up. We are currently just east of Des Moines,IA and are headed to Indiana. We have two deliveries there. The first one is in Franklin at 0300 in the morning and the other is in Indianapolis at 1300 hours. Now you are caught up!
I realize that sometimes I get too caught up in what we have done each day that I forget to mention all of the beautiful things that we see along the way. I had an incredibly scenic drive across Nebraska on I-80 this morning. With all the rain they have had recently, everything was gorgeous shades of green. This morning as the son was coming up, there was a mist hanging just above the grass and it was almost magical the way it just hovered there. I saw numerous cows with their calves nursing and a doe standing in a pasture eating her breakfast. Mornings like this are the reason that I enjoy living out here on the road. I love my mobile office. :)
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