Family visit, shipper/receiver tension

One of the benefits of driving all over the country is I am near family and/or friends almost everyday. However, with time restraint on most loads, time for a "quality" visit is few and far between. That is what I was able to do on my last assignment.

I was able to spend time with my aunt, uncle, and "fav cuz". While talking over dinner, we were trying to figure out last time I had seen them. I think we came up with five and a half years. I really enjoyed time with them and hanging out with fav cuz. She has overcome so much and I am very proud of her.

The second part of assignment I was able to spend an afternoon with my brother. Even got to watch a Jr High football game. Although they lost, was nice to watch. Always nice to see my lil bro.

While driving during the trip I was listening to Road Dog Radio (radio station on satellite radio for professional drivers). They where discussing a major issue for us drivers. The relationship between drivers and the shippers/receivers. In many cases we are not allowed to enter their buildings. Not even for use of the bathroom. It was brought up for discussion because last week during the record setting "low" storm in the north, there were numerous tornado warnings.

While delivering at a Smuckers warehouse in Ohio, there was a tornado warning issued for their immediate area. There were 12 - 15 drivers at their docks. The guards locked the gate and told the drivers to stay in their trucks and they would let them know when it was over. Sorry, but that was just unprofessional and inhumane treatment of those drivers. A vehicle is not where you want to be during a tornado. My family and I will no longer buy their product.

Please feel free to leave your thoughts and comments about drivers being sent to their trucks during a tornado warning. Also, join us in not buying their product.

Until next stop, safe travels.

Super Storm 2010

I heard an interview on the radio on Tuesday with a driver who was in a truck stop in Tennessee.  He said he was sleeping on his 10 hour break and was woke up by the rocking of his truck and said he got up and looked outside just in time to see the trailer that was parked next to him be lifted up by the wind.  He said it was lifted up enough that he could see daylight underneath the trailer tires.  Now that is some powerful wind!  I was fortunate enough to be traveling in a northeast direction for the majority of the storm and therefore had the wind at my back but yesterday after I had unloaded I had to drive about 150 miles pulling an empty trailer to pick up my next load.  That was not a fun experience as most of that trip was done with the wind hitting me broadside.  My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone that was effected by this massive storm but especially to the family of the young Notre Dame student that was killed when the wind blew over the scissor lift he was on.
I picked up my load and started heading west.  The way my hours worked out, I was able to stop and spend the day with my mother and have a wonderful home cooked meal!  It was nice to take a day off in the middle of the week but I will definately be making up for it over the next few days.  I will be putting in three 600 mile days in order to get to my delivery on Monday.  That is the way I like to run.  I also got a new DM this week and so far I like the way he works and hopefully we will be able to work well together in the future.

Happy Trails

Mike

New York City and other tidbits

My trip to the "Big Apple" this past time was much more enjoyable. Going in and coming back out when the majority of the population is sleeping is the way to go. There is more construction going on, but easier to negotiate when there is less traffic. Got unloaded around noon and got a load assignment shortly after. Taking me from Hunt's Point in the Bronx to Shirley on Long Island. Picked up at Uncle Wally's Muffins. Man it smelt good there. This load is heading to Alabama.

Early this morning I came by yet another accident in Pennsylvania on I-81. The accident was in the northbound lanes, I was heading south. I know there was at least one fatality involved as the car was on back of wrecker and still had white sheet over front of car. I don't know how it happened, however could see the end result. On the back of the trailer there is a "bumper" hanging down. We call it the DOT bumper. Found out it was brought about to keep cars from running up underneath the trailer. The car this morning did just that. It hit the back hard enough to fold that bumper up underneath the trailer. It peeled back to roof of car to the back window of a four sedan. That takes a lot of force. Like I told Mike, I would hate to have to walk back to that. The image would stay with you for along time. Like I said earlier, I don't know what exactly happened or who was in the wrong. I do know that the family of the driver of the car and truck needs our prayers and thoughts.

When you are out driving, please don't text and use Bluetooth if need to make a call. I have seen numerous times of drivers weaving back and forth. Only to find out they distracted while driving at highway speeds. That is both cars and truck drivers. Accident waiting to happen. No text is so important that you have to risk your life and the life of another driver.

Until next stop, safe travels.

Friends are priceless

Being on the road brings many challenges in trying to maintain things at home.  I got a call from my wife this morning saying she was in the middle of washing clothes and doing dishes and now she has no water.  We are on a well and there are several parts to the system that could cause this to happen.  I tried to walk her through some tests to see if we could isolate the problem and found it to be an electrical problem with the float switch in the aerator tank.  That being said, my wife is not an electrician but we have some wonderful friends that are always there to help her out when she needs help.  Just want to say THANK YOU to Doug and Debbi specifically but also to the rest of our friends that are always there to help if needed.  You all make it possible for me to be able to do my job and not have to worry that things will be OK at home!!!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to all!!!!

Happy Trails

Mike

Hangin in Big D

Not a whole lot going on today.  I arrived early this morning at the Dallas yard and dropped the load that I had after going through the safely lane and clearing my truck mechanically.  After that I just went to sleep.  That was around 5am and I slept until about 1pm.  Just in time to listen to the football games.  Unfortuneately, my Bears lost today :(  
On my way here from California, I stopped in Tucumcari, NM at the Flying J and took my 10 hour break.  When I woke up I went in and had breakfast at the newly remodeled Denny's that they have there.  Breakfast was very good but the service was not.  This is not the first time since the Pilot/Flying J merger and the change over to Denny's in the Flying J that I have noticed a deficiency in the service provided by Denny's specifically toward truck drivers.  I have stopped at several of these new Denny's restaurants and for some reason they seem to be catering more to the locals that were coming in rather than to the drivers.  I have been tempted to say something to the management on several occasions asking them if they realize that they are now operating in a truck stop, but have not at this point.  The first time, I was passed over to be seated 2 times in favor of local friends of the hostess which had clearly come in after I was there and just recently in Tucumcari,  I was seated at the counter with other truck drivers and myself and 2 other drivers sat there for 15 minutes before someone came over to take care of us.  As I was leaving, apparently another driver and his wife were not happy with the service they had received and were speaking to the person at the cash register about it and the response that I heard from the cashier was that they don't consider themselves to be a part of Pilot except that they pay them lease money.
I have always liked Denny's and their food but if this continues, I will vote with my feet and I think that others will do the same thing.  If it continues to happen then Pilot bailing out Flying J would have been for nothing because they will end up in the same situation they were in before.  You would think that management would make sure that this area of the truck stop is the better part of their services they offer since this area is where the majority of the profit in these businesses comes from.  Personally, I hope they do fix the problem because I for one do not want to have to eat at the fast food places that both the Pilot and Loves Travel Plaza's (can't really call them truck stops) offer to the drivers.
I have been assigned my next load and will be picking up tomorrow morning and heading for Ohio for a Wednesday delivery.  I was hoping for something I could run today but all they had was a Tulsa for late tomorrow.

Happy Trails

Mike

Family & Friends, always there

As many of you know, I started a Facebook page about a month ago. I was hesitant to start one as I haven't updated my MySpace page in months, if not year. However, the Facebook is easy to update and doesn't take that long.

Since starting the page, I have added my friends I currently talk to on a daily basis as well as my family, that has a page. I have also added a Army buddy from way back when. I haven't heard from him or his wife since he was stationed in Georgia back around 93 or 94. I have added several friends from when I ran a website called TeamRacin back in the late 90's to mid 00's. I have missed their chit chat and talking with them. So I guess I can say that so far, I have enjoyed my time on Facebook. Also, judging by the number of posts and photos some have, I would say, get a hobby. :-)

While I was talking with Mike early this morning, I was traveling on I-55 in Missouri heading to Illinois. I seen a huge Buck standing in the median looking at traffic on my side. It took by surprise because until I actually got to him he was looking in the other direction. I didn't see his eyes until he looked in my direction. Told Mike that he was big enough to end my day. Thank goodness he was just looking while I passed and didn't try to take out my grille.

It was a cloudy day and uneventful until I got just outside Dayton, Ohio and (from CB talk) a four Wheeler tried to cut off a big truck. I refer back to my previous post about accidents.

To finish up I would like to wish a Happy Birthday to Nicholas, a good friend's son. Celebrating his first with a party today. Wish goes out to Rich (Chinese_Sniper). A good friend from PS3 online. And a wish going out to Theresa's son Chris. She is a good friend from TeamRacin days.

Until next stop, safe travels

To Cruise or Not To Cruise, That is the Question

Being lease operators, Mike and I must pay for our own fuel. It is the most important way to influence our check. Better the fuel mileage, the more we send home to momma. I have been getting decent mileage, however, during our daily talk, I realized that I was relying too much on my cruise control. So today, I left the cruise off and manually maintained speed. I must admit, I was rather surprised by the results at end of day. I had been on the same route with different conditions, but close enough to somewhat compare. My fuel mileage increase over .5 miles per gallon. May not seem alot, but with the size of tanks and the miles we drive that is significant. Tomorrow should be more improvement as less hills.

When I left Amarillo this morning, I was able to watch nature's fireworks. There was a pretty good size storm line to the southeast of I-40 and was able to view the lighting for the better part of the morning. I checked the radar and the storm line that came over Amarillo the night before was just leaving Oklahoma City on the east side. So I stopped to buy some silicon, because when someone put the wires through the firewall of the truck, they forgot to replace a grommet to seal the hole. This caused a water leak on the driver side whenever I drive through heavy rains. I get the hole good and sealed, then hit the road. I then checked the radar and just my luck, the storms broke up. At least I got the hole sealed for the next rain event.

Until next stop, safe travels

I believe I have reached launch capability

One thing that I always dread is getting stuck out here in Cali.  You can get out here and if your hours aren't good, you end up running up and down the state for a week.  Not fun and not many miles.  I think doing the 34 hour reset when I got out here was a good idea as it gave me the hours I needed to exit the state.  That is what I call launch capability...ie. I can launch out of the state far enough that I don't get sent right back in.

I took a short load up to central Cali to get to an area where the freight is good.  That is where the picture came from.  I was heading north on I-5 north of Lost Hills, CA and captured a beautiful sunset.  I'm not sure what rock those people around there have been hiding under but it only took me 1 picture to find those hills they claim to have lost!!!  Had on a load of Christmas candy for CVS Pharmacy which I unloaded this morning.  They were actually quite fast at getting me unloaded.  From the time I hit the dock, it was 45 minutes and I was pulling out the gate.  Very fast by most receivers standards.  I did my pretrip on the trailers reefer and found that it kept throwing error codes so I am currently at the Thermo King repair shop in Turlock, CA having it repaired.

Later this evening I will be picking up my load bound for TX.  It is a multi stop load that doesn't start delivering until Tuesday.  I am looking to get off of this load early cuz it has way too much time on it.  We will see what the weekend has in store for me.

I think John is experiencing the storms that I dealt with while doing my 34 hour reset in Victorville, CA.  The entire time I was there, it rained and stormed and was pretty much gloom and doom.  Hope you enjoy your bout with those storms John!!!

Happy Trails

Mike

Little Change & Communication, Works Well

After being "on the yard" it is nice to get back on the road. It is hard to explain or understand, but once it is in you, you miss the road.

While there I was able to discuss my issues concerning my Driver Manager (DM). I have been attempting to work through these issues with the DM. But as most knows, it takes two to work through issues. And the major tool in doing this is communication. No matter what issue there is, communication will get you through it.

Communication was hardly happening and when it was there it was not necessarily the truth. Then trust became another issue. As issues began to build, so did my frustration. It started affecting my attitude.

The talk I had paid off, for the moment. It seems like things are starting to turn around. At least there is a line of communication here now. Time will tell.

One reason many of us like this job is the independence from someone looking over your shoulder. However, when there is a question or assistance is needed, we need to be able to communicate with someone. So far now, it is fun again.

Until next stop, safe travels.

Dispatch Error?

It has been an interesting almost 24 hours!!!  I called my Driver Manager (DM) and he told me I was going to pick up a load at midnight after I finished my 34 hour reset and I would have to run hard to get it to it's destination by 0500 this morning.  So I went to bed yesterday afternoon so I would have plenty of rest before running thru the night.  I woke up and went to the shipper only to find out that the load doesn't pickup until 1300 today for 0500 tomorrow!  Called dispatch and no other loads available in this area.  So back to bed I go for another 7 hours of sleep.  If nothing else, I will be well rested!!!

Happy Trails

Mike

Waitresses...A Rant!

Being on the road is a very different lifestyle from what most people are used to.  One thing that truckers have to manage is meals.  There are many different ways that we keep ourselves fed while out on the road and one way is by utilizing truckstop restaurants.  I prefer to eat at restaurants but have to mix it up by using other means in order to keep my expenses down.  All this is to get to the point of my post.  For the most part, the women that serve drivers in the truckstop restaurants are very good at what they do but from time to time you come across a waitress who thinks that we should feel privileged to be served by her.  My waitress tonight was one of those type of waitresses.  I understand that there are many factors that can influence the type of service we get when we are being waited on and I take those factors into account when I make my judgement regarding the quality of the service I am receiving.  Everyone does the same thing when they go out to eat.  You evaluate the waitress and tip her based on her performance.  Tonight I had dinner at the Old Outpost Cafe at the Pilot in Hisperia, CA and was served by a waitress named Shannon.  The experience was completely disappointing entirely because of the attitude that the waitress had and the service she provided because of that attitude.  I wasn't the only one in this waitresses section that was disappointed and the customers in the other waitresses section were completely satisfied with the service they were receiving.  I overheard her complaining to the other waitress about a table she had waited on that had a $45 bill only left her a $1 tip.  That should probably have been a hint to her that her service was sub par but instead of looking at it that way, all she could do was complain about her lack of tips for the evening.  Point is, this is the job that you were hired to do and you are expected to do it to the best of your ability regardless of your personal feelings or situation.  If it is not possible for you to perform your job then you should find another line of work.  We as drivers are held to a very high standard and if we do not do our job properly, the consequenses are very harsh.  They should be harsh due to the nature of our job.  Not all jobs share the same dangers or consequenses as our line of work but that should not be an excuse for not doing the job the way it is supposed to be done.

Happy Trails

Mike

In the big "D"

As I sit at Wal-Mart distribution center in Terrell, TX, I'm watching birds land on the front grills of trucks. They have learned that there is a free and easy "buffet" of bugs there. Makes me wonder if that is what they are trying to do while I am driving down the road and they fly right at my truck! Until they realize I am actually moving!?

Once I was unloaded at Wal-Mart, I came to our terminal, or as we call it "the yard" for my 60-80 day safety talk and winter work shop. It's good that Stevens brings in every driver every 60-80 days and talks driving safety. It helps keep the driver from getting complacent with their driving and from taking chances. Wednesday thru Friday Stevens is having their 30 year celebration and driver appreciation day. However, I am wanting to be on the road Wednesday so I can get back to making money. Got to keep momma happy.

While here on the yard, I meet my first trainer, Tony. We got along really well and he showed me quite a bit concerning Stevens and their policies. He is a good trainer.

I may not post tomorrow as there is really not much to talk about taking a workshop and safety talk. I will let Mr. Mike handle tomorrow's duties.

Until next stop, safe travels.

Headin to Cali

Today I travelled through Wyoming and Utah.  I actually drove in SNOW today.  It was the wierdest thing in the world!!!!  I was in southern Utah and there was a mountain on the East side of the highway that had alot of snow on top of it and as I approached the area near the mountain I was actually driving in snow.  The wierd part is that it was 60 degrees out and the snow never hit the ground.  It fell to about the top of my windshield and then appeared to evaporate because it disappeared and did not leave any water drops on my windshield.  I thought maybe I had been driving too long!!  I deliver in California tomorrow and will have to wait to get more hours before I will be able to get a load out. 
I am still fighting off the leftover effects of being sick last week but am feeling better every day.  I found out today that my brother-in-law had something very similar to what I had and was down for 3 weeks so I feel very fortunate to have gotten over mine as quickly as I did.
I spent most of the day listening to football games on my XM satellite radio and unfortunately, my Bears lost today.  A very frustrating loss.  On a positive note though, Notre Dame and Florida State won yesterday.  Those are the 3 teams that I follow.  I also like NASCAR racing and listen to most of the races on the radio but follow the Sprint cup more closely than the other 2 series.  I am one of the frustrated Dale Jr fans.  I sure hope that some decisions are made soon that put him back on the right track!!

Until next time .... Happy Trails!

Sunday 10/17/10

Had a good driving day today. Sunny with little breeze and a few passing clouds. Days like that has you enjoying your job.

Not much to see out here off of I-20 between Ft Worth and El Paso. However, the sunrise was really pretty this morning. Lots of orange-red color in the clouds.

On the way to Ft Worth I seen yet another accident. The second one in as many days. Both involved cars. I hear people saying that trucks cause lots of wrecks, however I will disagree with them on that. Four wheelers (truckers name for cars/trucks) has a major role in them that involve truck to car accidents. I have seen them pull right in front of me after passing. Even start merging in before completely passing. Just because we have 18 wheels, it doesn't mean we can stop faster than cars. When cars are coming off an on ramp, they would be in front of me and when they look in the mirror they hit their brakes. Should there be other drivers behind them they have to either hit their brakes or go off the right side of the ramp. I have seen this numerous times and several close calls. No need for doing that all they have to do is maintain speed and merge in.

Until next stop, safe travels.

Hello and welcome

As Mike mentioned before, I am new to blogging and the less "senior" of the two. I am currently from Texas, however, plan on moving family back to Tennessee.

My experience in trucking is not as long as Mike's. I had driven in 1994 for close to a year then got out. Too young I think and didn't really have priorities to focus on back then. I returned to driving in January of 2010 and, for the most part, enjoy it.

As Mike stated about updating, I hope you will follow along on our adventure. Please feel free to post comments about a post or our thoughts. They will be screened as we want to maintain a family friendly blog.

Until next stop, safe travels.

Our new Blog

Well John has come up with another one of his 'ideas'... He says, hey Mike lets do a blog!  Hey Mike, what is a blog?  This is typical John.  You have to excuse him as he is from Texas!!  Me, I'm from the sunshine state... Florida.  I have a total of 15 years of driving experience which has been scattered over the past 26 years.  I have driven for large over the road truckload companies and also have driven for very small private companies delivering exclusively to their clients.  Some of my driving experience includes local deliveries in straight trucks too.  My experience is primarily with dry box and refer trailers.  I hope to be able to use this blog to relay some of the experiences that I encounter out on the road and also offer my 'well rounded' opinion to anyone that will listen.  I hope anyone that reads this will enjoy and follow on a regular basis.

Mike