Home Time & Ups - Downs

Well, I hope everyone had a safe and belly filling Thanksgiving. I was able to get some time off in Tennessee with my wife and family. Had a wonderful time and time was well spent. I even was able to go to Ben's cabin he is building on some mountain property that my in-laws own. Got some work done, but when time to put tar paper on roof, had to wait for Curtis to get home and time. Because big boy here and heights don't get along! If you know what I mean.

I had planned on returning back to driving with five days remaining on "scan week" so I could get decent mileage. As turns out, I got about half the miles I was hoping for. Kind of frustrating, but I do realize there were numerous drivers returning with the same "plan". I am hoping I can recover the mileage next few weeks. I had a "pre-plan" that was right inline with my plans, but they either canceled it or gave it to another driver. Then they send me a new load assignment. Here is the kicker; same stinking load assignment as the one I had prior. Only it picks up and delivers 24 hours later than the original plan. Things that make you go hmmm!

I was talking with Mike yesterday and he was dealing with freezing temps and snow. Once I got parked and was watching weather, as there were storm lines moving in, a tornado warning issued! It was south of my location, thank goodness. But that is the scope of weather we deal with this time of year. Definitely watch radar and wind speed regularly.

Funny signs: this one I have only seen in New Mexico so far. It's a billboard as well. As I was driving to it, all I could make out is a huge white billboard with something sticking out from it. As I got closer I realized the sticking out part was made to look like a human waist and legs! There is a small printed line at the bottom. You almost have to be right on it to read it. It said "wear a seat belt"!

Safe Travels

Weather is becoming more of a factor

To continue the story from the last post, I finally received my new load assignment but it did not pick up until the next day so I ended up doing another 34 hr reset anyway.  Got the load picked up and made it to the Iowa/Nebraska line and shut it down for the night.  Today I made it all the way to Cheyenne, WY which is where the load was going.  The load was not due to deliver until tomorrow morning but it was a drop and hook so I was able to take it in to the receiver and drop it off and pick up an empty trailer.  As soon as I sent in my notification that I was empty I received a message to head to Nebraska for my next load.

When I got just about to Cheyenne with my last load, I ran into a pretty significant snowfall.  I had been watching a storm that was coming across from the west coast for a couple days and was hoping I could beat it to Cheyenne.  I almost made it there before the storm but not quite.  I was going to spend the night in Cheyenne but with the storm coming in and a report about a strong wind storm forming over Nebraska, I thought it would be in my best interest to get the deadhead miles out of the way before the weather got real nasty.

Not sure where I will go next but I am sitting in central Nebraska waiting to be assigned my next load.  It should come in tomorrow but then I don't know if I will leave right away.  Loads from this area can sometimes leave right away and sometimes we have to sit for a day or so.  I will update again soon.

Happy Trails

Mike

Flirting with Ice and Snow

As promised, I am updating from my destination in Illinois.  I was fortunate that during my pickups all of the shippers apparently wanted to get done early for the day and get home to start their Thanksgiving holiday.  I was able to get all three pickups done about 4 hours ahead of schedule.  With getting an early start, I thought I could possibly make it to my destination with enough time to be able to go to my mothers house for a nice turkey dinner.  Mother Nature had other plans!!  I made it as far as Big Cabin, OK and ran into a line of storms that was producing tornados and the whole southeast corner of Oklahoma and southwest corner of Missouri were both under tornado warnings and watches.  I checked the radar and it looked like the line would move out after a little while so I went into the truck stop and drank some coffee and had a little bit of conversation with the waitress.  After killing some time I went and checked the radar again and found that although the line was moving, it was also redeveloping over the same areas and the conditions were not getting any better.   Finally I got too tired to continue so I went to bed shaking my fist at the sky (that doesn't help by the way).  Waking up the next day I found that the weather had cleared where I was at so I was able to continue.  I made it through Springfield, MO and ran into the rain again but checking the radar it looked like just moderate rain so I kept going.  I would periodically check the radar to see when I would be out of the rain but it kept moving with me and the freezing rain and snow was catching up behind me.  Fortunately I made it to my destination before the ice caught me but just as I got here it started snowing.
It was a close chase, but I won the race.  Unfortunately it delayed me enough that I couldn't get to moms house for turkey :-(  I did stop at a Denny's to have my Turkey Day dinner and was very disappointed in what they offered and how it was prepared and served.  But that is yet another disappointing Denny's story that I am not going to talk about at this time.
I unloaded this morning in Danville, IL and am still waiting on my next load assignment.  As I said in my last post, freight has slowed down considerably and it is taking quite a while to get my load assigned.  A little frustrating but again, I am trying to keep my stress level down so therefore am attempting to stay as calm as possible about it.  I really don't want to do another 34 hour reset.  I have already had 4 of those 34's in the past 3 weeks and I obviously cannot continue to have them if I expect to be able to make a living out here.
I will leave it at that and update when I know where I go next!

Happy Trails,

Mike

Holidays and Freight

Hello all!  It has been a little while since I posted anything and that is mainly because I went home for a week and left the wonderful world of trucking behind.  I took a total of 7 days off and enjoyed every last one of them.  I got to visit with my daughter who was home from college and my step-daughter and her husband.  I got to meet my daughters boyfriend and we all spent the day at a high school marching band competition.  ( My daughter was drum major in the marching band while in high school so that has been a big part of our lives )  I enjoyed being in the family atmosphere and look forward to my next time off at Christmas time.

This is the time of year when freight really slows down.  Most of the product for the holiday season has already been shipped to it's destination and manufacturers are reducing inventory for the end of the year so the result is less freight for the same amount of trucks.  I have definately felt this slowdown myself in the last several loads that I have had.  I have made some adjustments to the way I run to accomodate these changes and keep myself from sitting so much.  Real simple solution!  SLOW DOWN!  Instead of pushing the load as hard as I can, I have found that if I run less miles per day on the load, I will end up not having to sit for so long at the end.  It is obvious that I am not going to be able to get off of the loads early so I have to make due with what I am given.  This has also reduced the amount of stress I feel just because I am not freaking out over not gettting put on another load.

I had another one of those wonderful trailers yesterday that another driver dropped with numerous problems.  When I picked the trailer up, it had a flat tire and the refrigeration unit would not start because it had a dead battery and then when I got to the receiver and opened the doors I found the air chute which is supposed to be attached to the ceiling of the trailer to direct air to the back of the trailer was torn down from the ceiling in several locations and needed to be replaced.  This is definately becoming more and more of a problem and it would be nice if the company would do something to the drivers that leave these trailers it this kind of shape.  It makes for lost time for the driver that doesn't leave trailers like that....like me!

My load I am picking up is going to Illinois and I have been monitoring the weather up there.  It shouldn't be too bad but there is the possibility of running into something cold, wet, and slippery.  To top it off, I get to drive up there on the busyest travel weekend of the year and they are predicting that this will be heavier that previous years.  I only have to go through one major city once I am out of Dallas so HOPEFULLY it won't be too bad.  Keep me in your prayers throughout the holiday weekend and I will update once I get to my destination.

Happy Trails

Mike

Seasons changes more frequently when you drive!

I have been in three different seasons in one week! Started in Illinois with temps in the mid 50's and sunny. Very nice weather, even drove with windows down for a bit. Then get load assignment taking me to California. I was on I-80 for about 75-85% of the trip so far.

In Omaha, NE, I hit my first snow storm. What started off as rain and temps hovering around 40-45 quickly turned to snow and temps around the freezing mark! This happened about 20 miles outside of Omaha. Once in town they already had at least 1-1/2" on the ground and still coming down. Pretty good size flakes, if not for driving in it, it would have been pretty. However, I was driving. I could see the water mist coming off my tires so I knew roads weren't froze over yet. I reduced my speed and continued on. Of the traffic and road conditions, the one thing that gave me the most problems was these "forearms" on my windshield! Snow was gathering up on my wipers and at one point looked like forearms! They were huge and NOT doing there job properly. Need to invent heated wipers. The have heated everything else!

Made it through Omaha and heading for Cheyenne, WY. Now, it wasn't as bad as Omaha, but I had to deal with snow showers off and on until around the Laramie area. Temps now in the low 20's. Had to get fuel in Laramie and the wind was blowing pretty good. Needless to say, didn't take long to fuel up! Snow finally stopped, but the wind continued until I got to Utah.

Woke up Sunday morning to a windy, cloudy, and cold 28 degree day. As I finally left Wyoming and started south on I-15 the wind started to decrease and by the time I got to Arizona, the clouds gave way to sunshine! Finally! Just in time too. There is a stretch of interstate that goes through Virgin River Gorge and is a really pretty drive. I stopped one mile from California state line and it was sunny and 69 degrees. So from Illinois to California, I went from mild fall weather to winter, then hit nice spring weather. I'll take the spring!

Funny signs: This one goes to the states that has rock training. You know what I am talking about, the sign that says "watch for falling rock". Now looking at some of these hills/cliffs, that takes extensive training to allow one rock to fall at a time. Is there a fine or corrective action if more than one falls?

Until next stop, safe travels

Different issues of trucking

It has been several days since my last posting. Has been kind of up and down since that last posting. Some days you couldn't ask for a better job. Cruising down the interstate with sun shining, slight breeze, and good music playing on the satellite radio. Even other drivers (both truck and car) are enjoying the travel. You can see a difference in most drivers and the way they drive. It's very enjoyable.

Then you have the bad days, cloudy and/or raining, windy as all get out, and there is a difference in other drivers as well. With that, us drivers also has to deal with "sitting" around waiting on load assignments or waiting on receivers or waiting on shippers. Now the receivers and shippers are a given, BUT waiting on load assignment is very disturbing and uncalled for. Reason, when a driver is on his/her way to a receiver, there are at least two days of travel. That gives the planner two days to plan for a load to keep that driver moving. There may not be a load in that immediate area, but there is a load within a few hundred miles of that location. Many times the planners will finally get a load for you and when you get there, you find out they have either been waiting for you to bring trailer or load is already loaded since the day prior. And you have been just sitting there not making any money at all. You could have been there a day earlier and already heading to your destination.

Other issues to follow, now a little lighter side. While talking with Mike we got to talking about some funny road signs. One is the deer crossing signs. We didn't know deer cross the road from the right to the left. According to the signs anyway. Now Mike did finally see a deer crossing sign indicating deer crossing back from left to right. I think that was Indiana. So now we know we know how the deer get home. Sure is a long way! There are many out there. I am going to attempt to have a new one every so often to keep you thinking.

Until next stop, safe travels

Night Time is the Right Time

I left Ontario, Oregon on Tuesday evening after getting loaded and started my trip to Atlanta, Georga.  Because of how late I got loaded, I ended up driving through the night for the next 3 nights to arrive in Atlanta on Friday.  I have always enjoyed running at night because of all of the obvious reasons but one thing that really bothers me about running at night is all of the animal activity and the possibility of hitting something big like a deer or elk or something else.  One thing I do like about this truck I have is the fact that the headlights are very bright and light up the road in front of me quite well.  I don't have LED headlights and wouldn't put them on my truck because they are way too bright and when another vehicle comes up behind me with those type of lights, it is blinding.  With having good lights on my truck it gives me a little more confidence while running on the back roads that I sometimes find myself having to run.  When I had my T2000, the headlights on that truck were so poor that it was sometimes scarey driving at night because you just could not see very well at all.
Another advantage to driving at night is that you can jam out to the tunes on the radio and nobody can see you making a fool of yourself inside the truck.  I get the opportunity to practice my air guitar and air drums and don't have to worry about others seeing me doing it.
Traffic is obviously lighter and I can get better fuel mileage both on the interstate and on the back roads because of the lighter traffic.  The cooler temperatures also help with improving my fuel mileage too.  I get caught by alot less red lights running at night and it is alot easier to time the lights when rolling through a town when there is very little traffic from the side streets to trip the lights.  That is something that some of these towns really need to work on.  There are times when running through a town late at night and a light will change for no reason and will stay red for a long period of time.  The only thing something like that accomplishes is to waste fuel by causing people to stop and then restart.  You would think that with the emphasis that is being put on greenhouse gases and emissions that they would be looking for as many ways as possible to eliminate fuel waste and something like that would be extremely easy to fix and could possibly save thousands of gallons of fuel.  Just a thought!
I am currently in Atlanta and will be unloading on Sunday.  I don't know where I am going to next but am supposed to be going home next weekend after being out for close to 2 months.  I am really looking forward to going home and spending time with my wife.  I also get to spend time with my daughter that is in college because she was able to change her schedule to be able to come home at that time too.

Happy Trails

Mike

First Snow of the season

Had a nice run out to Oregon this weekend and got to stop by my mother's house on the way.  Most of the trip though I was fighting a fierce head wind and the middle of the trip was nothing but a slow steady climb up into the Rockies so my fuel mileage really suffered.  I was able to make up some of the mpg's once I got into the mountains though.

This time of the year and beyond we have to be careful in planning out our trips due to the possibility of some pretty nasty winter storms that can pop up while traveling in the mountains out here.  I was fortunate and the only weather I ran into was rain so far but it looks like there were some that were not so fortunate last week as the hills had some snow left on them from last week and the mountain tops were pretty much covered.  I did not have to go over any major mountains so did not have to deal with the snow that is on them now.  I am still awe struck each and every time I come out here and drive through these mountains by some of the breathtaking views that I see.  I wish my camera would do some of them justice but I just cannot zoom in as close as I need to in order for everyone to see it as my eyes see it.

I really wish all of our loads were like this last load I brought out here except for the whole bad fuel mileage thing.  I was able to take a day and visit family and then drive three 11 hour days to get the load here and still arrived with time to spare.  The sitting around and waiting on loads and driving only a few hundred miles on some days just drives me nuts.  I for one like to keep moving.  Right now I am doing some of that sitting that I despise.  I unloaded this morning and am waiting on my next load assignment.  I could possibly be loading out of the same place I delivered to but don't know for sure yet.

Happy Trails

Mike