Super Secret

I'm on a high value load so I'll post more about my whereabouts in a few days. I'm okay, truck is okay, guard cat is on duty.

Not so fast...

I guess I wasn't finished after all. About five minutes after I pulled into the local truck stop I get a message on my satellite unit to deadhead down to El Paso, TX. They wanted me there by 6 PM, but my 14 hour clock runs out at 3 PM so I'll do the rest in the morning.

Finished early in Albuquerque

(Kind of rhymes, doesn't it?)

Got up at 1 AM this morning in Denver and made my way down to Albuquerque without incident. Since I missed my original appointment time the workers at the Sam's Club had to work me in around other trucks. Three hours later I'm done and after a quick hike to the nearby Walmart to restock, I drove over to the closest truck stop to await further orders.

Stuck in Denver

I made it up to the Pepsi plant in Denver ahead of schedule and after two-and-a-half hours they had me loaded, bill signed and seal on the trailer. It had been raining on and off for an hour or so and as I left it intensified quite a bit.

I drove just over a mile down the freeway to our fuel stop, a Pilot, and by the time I got there the sky was just dumping rain by the bucket. There was probably 3 or 4 inches of rain in 20 minutes on the ground, along with a heaping helping of hail. All this while I'm trying to fuel and get my load scaled. Suffice it to say I was soaked from head to foot.

The Pilot is next to I-70 and it flooded over badly, bringing traffic to a stop. Truckers reported standing water over a foot deep on the interstate, and there were some collisions as well.

Because I started my day at 10 AM today, I can't work past midnight. Between the deadhead up here, the long load time, fueling, scaling and the storm I won't be able to make Albuquerque before my 14 hour clock runs out and I will have to take a break. So, my 2 AM appointment goes by the wayside. Our crack team at HQ are on the case and will let me know.

View All Paging Noah in Denver pics

UPDATE: I will be staying put for the next ten hours then heading out very early to deliver in Albuquerque around 10 AM, weather allowing.

Odd sighting: I saw not one but two snow plows roll by on I-70. Its almost June.

Two U-turns to Albuquerque

I delivered at the second Home Depot late last night. For some reason this dock was a blind side back as well, but it was easier to get in to due to more room in front of the dock. The manager liked the fact that I was early (due to arriving early at my previous stop) so they could finish up and go home.

Afterwards I made my way about ten miles north to our authorized fuel stop in the area. After taking the offramp, I set up for a left turn only to find the underpass was a 13' 9" tall single lane! Just as I arrived another truck was entering the other side so I backed up and let him through. It was a bit nerve wracking making a wide enough turn to make sure the trailer didn't scrape as I entered, but eventually I got through to the other side and found a spot to shut down.

This morning I got assigned a load of Pepsi products going from Denver to Albuquerque. I have to retrace my steps almost exactly from yesterday -- the place I'm picking up is a few miles from the Home Depot I first delivered at. The satellite system warns me it will be a heavy load, which is unfortunate given I'm in Colorado and will be going to New Mexico. Lots of hill climbing today.

Home Depot in Glendale, CO

I decided to try arriving early and made my way about 20 miles from Aurora, CO in towards the southern part of Denver. I got here at about 5:15 PM and by 6:00 PM they told me I could have the middle dock.

The only problem is, the entire back area of this store is full of plants, empty racks, pallets, you name it. You have to enter from the rear of the store in a very narrow opening, then follow a small lane around the periphery, then do a very tight blind side back into the dock area, all while dodging the pallets and racks strewn about.

This is the alley at the back of the store:

View All Tight Back at the Home Depot pics

Here is the view from the other side:



This leads to the back area around a bend to the right:



To the dock area... unfortunately, you are forced to make a blind side back:



I'm glad I got here before nightfall... the warehouse guy complimented me on my backing, too.

Waiting is the hardest part...

Well apparently I will not be unloading early... and I forgot to mention these are both "driver assist" unloads, where I get my hands dirty helping them get the cargo off. "Fingerprinting" as it is called in the industry.

I'm parked at the Flying J in Aurora, CO which is the nicest truck stop in the greater Denver area BY FAR (at least as compared to the two T/A's, the Pilot and the Sapp Bro's on the north side). Very nice facilities, great parking, and I had a heckuva nice dinner last night at the restaurant.

Plus, there is a Walmart superstore across the freeway from here so I might drop by there tomorrow to get stocked up before I go deliver.

Three and a Half Days to make it to... Denver

All 590 miles or so. I picked up a load of insulation at a plant I had been to before in Kansas City, KS and was dispatched to one drop in Denver and another in Pueblo, CO. Only thing is, they don't deliver until Monday, Memorial day.

I'm in Denver now and hope to get unloaded a bit earlier for both locations.

Early morning run to Kansas City, 525 miles

There was a super hot-hot load of rear view mirrors for Ford SUVs that CFI picked up in Laredo yesterday and just had to be in Kansas City, Missouri ASAP. Another solo driver brought it up to Lancaster and I was ordered to shoot it on up to KC. No problemo.

Woke up at 2:30, was out of the yard by 3:00 AM and arrived here at the consignee at 1:00 PM. I even took an hour nap down in Oklahoma when I was feeling a bit tired.

I saw the most perfect picture taking opportunity EVER on the way up here. It may last a few days and if I go back down that way I will take a lot of photos so I can get one that shows it off just right.

Got a call from Oz, who finished training at Crowder last month. He just got back in with his finisher and got his first truck, a very old one (330k+ miles on it) that is a month or two at most away from being traded in. It is in the shop to get some things fixed and the interior detailed, then he's off next week for some real fun on his own. His buddy Gary, also from Crowder, apparently got a truck in Florida that was fairly well trashed, at least inside. I want to hear all the nitty-gritty details, man!

Its raining, its pouring...

In the span of about 20-30 minutes a storm front moved through the Dallas area and lowered temperatures from the low 90's to mid 60's and brought a ton of rain. Witness:

View All Storm in Dallas pics

Accident on I-30

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Four wheeler meets truck. Four wheeler loses.

4th and final stop

McKinney, Texas is to the northeast of the DFW metroplex and you get here via US highway 75. It took me about 45 minutes from my third stop, and both my GPS and satellite directions were off. Thankfully, the mark 1 eyeball system I am equipped with (original, plus a spare) spotted the Michael's sign from across the highway and I made my way the last mile or so on my own.

Then I was greeted by a nice, wide open dock with no concrete walls to blindly back around! Oh, the humanity.

Third stop, Rockwall, TX

This stop was easier to find, a bit difficult to maneuver behind the buildings, but the dock was easy. Narrow like the other docks but lots of room in front to maneuver. The workers were ready when I got here, with the sliding door open. Soon it will be off to McKinney, TX for the final drop.

You can still keep Texas. Thanks.

It gets better and better!

I went over the delivery documents this morning and discovered I have a fourth stop, in McKinney, TX. Then, I fueled up and drove over to my first stop in Cedar Hills only to find a tight back into a single dock.

The Michael's people were pleasant enough to deal with and I got unloaded in about an hour. It was two pallets of shrink-wrapped stuff holding back hundreds of smaller boxes of other items on the floor. Apparently all four deliveries are like this.


After driving about 25 miles I found my second stop. I'm guessing they have you deliver in this sequence so the docks get progressively tougher. This one was a very special blind-side single dock with concrete walls close in on both sides. As you can see in the picture, there is the nice, open, welcoming dock on the left... which isn't the one I need to get to. Instead, I need to get to the closed-in one on the right. They are due to unload me at 8 AM and I don't have to be at my next stop until 11 AM so I will wait a while and miss some of the traffic before I go.

View All Vicious Attack Cat pics

Blaze is, as you can see, doing her best to help out in these stressful situations.

Weather is warm and humid and I somehow got bit by bugs twice in the short periods I was outside my truck opening the doors and such. You can keep Texas, thanks.

In Lancaster for tomorrow's deliveries

I woke up at 3 AM this morning and got started early. The truck stop I was in last night had a rather large lot, not the largest I've been in but big. When I went to bed there was plenty of parking; early this morning there was none left. Kind of a secondhand type of truck stop as well: the parking lot had a lot of potholes, including several enormous ones in the way as you left the fuel island.

Made it to Lancaster by 11 AM. Took care of the laundry, went out and ate, then replenished the food on board. I have deliveries tomorrow morning at 5 AM, 8 AM and 11 AM, all within a 20 mile radius of Lancaster.

Coincidentally, my friend Bob got assigned a Michael's relay load so he's delivering up north at 6 AM, 8 AM and 10 AM. Good luck with that.

The lady at local dispatch here in Lancaster laughed at me when I asked if a local driver would care to take over the load. Welcome to my world.

Pecos, Texas

Started in Eloy this morning at 5 AM local time. Drove through the rest of Arizona, then the lower part of New Mexico, then about a third of Texas on my way to our Lancaster terminal tomorrow. I could have pushed on for another couple hours to Big Springs, TX but I saw a Flying J and decided to park it.

Boring day, all in all.

Herds of cows in Los Angeles?

Believe it or not, there are large herds of cows in the greater LA area. After dropping off my load this morning in Mira Loma I was sent about eight miles to Chino and passed several ranches with large numbers of cows and a certain, shall I say, dairy air.

The pickup is for the Michaels department store chain and is set to deliver in three locations in the greater Dallas area on Thursday. I can make it out there by Wednesday morning and I'm hoping I can talk my fleet manager into having me hand off the load to a local driver to spend HIS day on Thursday offloading at the three stores, instead of me wasting my day doing this.

Early morning traffic to Chino was a cinch. Slightly later traffic attempting to flee LA was a nightmare. Eventually made it to the welcoming lanes of I-10 in a drizzle that didn't let up until the Palm Springs area.

Ended the day in Eloy, AZ at the Petro. I was going to stay at the Pilot but I've been there before and figured I would try something different. Like the Chipotle Bacon burger I had last night. Didn't make much of an impression on me.

UPDATE: Forgot to mention, the place in Chino that I picked up the (loaded) trailer at had very, very tight spaces for them. I had to back under another trailer, put it into a different spot, then come back and grab the one I was after. First time I've had to do that.

Seen along the highway...

I-10 in Arizona, between mile markers 59 and 60: An overpass (with no on or offramps, interestingly enough) entitled "Sore Finger Rd".

She's taking the news lying down

My vet called today after reviewing her blood work. He concurs with the vet I spoke to yesterday but doesn't think it is a huge thing. Blaze was upset at first, but seems to have calmed down to a catatonic state as witnessed here. Pun intended.

On the road again...

After two days off I'm ready to rumble. Got up early this morning and phoned in to dispatch and they got me running: first, a deadhead down to Otay Mesa to pick up a trailer, then orders to run it 120 miles north up to LA to deliver first thing tomorrow morning. Not much in the way of miles, but they did promise another load that leaves here directly after that goes to Texas. They neglected to mention there will be three stops in Texas, but I consider that an oversight.

Drove up I-15 to Ontario, CA and parked at the same TA I've been at before. Fuel is a bit low so I might have to take on a smidge tomorrow at Palm Springs to get me across the border into Arizona for slightly less expensive fuel.

Had the cat in for a lube and oil change (blood and urine work). The vet's office called me this morning to let me know everything looked good except for relatively low white blood cell count. Nothing I can do about it, and the recommendation is to get it checked again in a month to see if it is something temporary. Blaze is not entirely thrilled with this prospect.

Damned San Diego

I got up at 3 AM my time this morning so I could make a quick run to the Nogales Super Wal-Mart to resupply. It was quite busy, given that it was 1 AM local time. I guess a lot of folks work odd hours.

Then I found our drop lot in town and to say I was unimpressed would be an understatement. There was no gate and no guard so anyone with a semi could just waltz in a grab a trailer. I'm not sure why CFI (and presumably other companies) put up with this arrangement.

Anyway, found my trailer, dropped off my empty and hooked the new one. Found the license plate light was defective. Ran back by the local Pilot and found out how to change one, mostly by trial and error.

After 8.5 hours of driving I arrived in Vista, CA and got the load of windows unloaded. Then I got deadheaded back down to Otay Mesa to drop the trailer, then back up to San Marcos to take my time off. I will be back on Sunday so until then drive safe!

Oh, the reasons San Diego is damned? First, the traffic is horrendous! And yes, I lived here for a number of years in the 1990s. Second, the weather is... well, its about low to mid 70's today, light cloud cover, birds chirping...

A scorcher in Arizona? Surprise, surprise...

Got off to an early start and ran from Palm Springs, CA to Eloy, AZ, about midway between Phoenix and Tucson. Waited an hour there to avoid the rush hour in Tucson then finished out the run to Nogales. Our freight forwarder there is a small operation with some very basic docks, but they got me unloaded in about two hours which wasn't too bad.

The roads around Nogales are torn up with paving so to get back on to I-19 was a chore. I made it to the local truck stop (a Pilot with what has to be one of the largest parking lots of any Pilot I've ever seen -- Mucho Grande), fueled up then shut down for the day.

Just 102 degrees out when I was being unloaded; 108 here at the Pilot.

A long day

Any day driving a big rig in California feels long, mostly because of the 55 MPH speed limit for trucks and also the enormous amount of traffic. Plus, when you leave one side of a large city (Los Angeles) and 50 miles later you still aren't out the other side you know things are going to drag.

Made it up to my pickup about an hour early. Turns out each driver backs his empty trailer to a dock and picks up the (now full) trailer of the previous driver that he has left. My original trailer was a nice new one with the big super single tires; the new one is an older model with the dual tires. Runs true though which is a big plus.

On the way back down to LA I flipped a virtual coin and decided to turn left at Bakersfield and head out into the Mojave to eventually hook up with I-215 and I-15. Turns out this wasn't the better choice, as there was a lot of construction, the Tehachapi mountains were harder to navigate than the Grapevine, and it was a bit longer.

Eventually I prevailed and drove out to Palm Springs where I was a few nights ago. I have to deliver this load in Nogales no later than 1 PM PST tomorrow, which is now about 450 miles away. Another early start should take care of that.

Drop and wait

Got up at 3 AM Pacific time (5 AM central -- I slept in an hour) and made my way into the greater Los Angeles area for my drop in Rialto. Found the warehouse easily with my GPS but the warehouse guys had trouble figuring out which door I should unload through. First it was 139, then 128, then 130. There were only three of us drivers there and almost 200 open doors, don't see why it mattered at all really.

One of the other drivers was a CFI veteran. He was going to a nearby truck stop to get a PM (preventative maintenance, like an oil change for a car) taken care of and I tagged along. Traffic was getting heavy by that time but we made the 10 miles or so with little delay.

Then I waited. And waited. Had breakfast. And waited. Had lunch. And waited. Finally, around 3 PM I got a dispatch to pick up in Parlier, CA tomorrow morning at 9 AM. I had to look it up, it is a town up near Fresno on CA-99. 255 miles from LA up there, then I plan on retracing my route to finish the day at this same truck stop, then deliver the following day in Nogales, AZ. The deadhead and dispatch combined is just over 1,000 more miles which will make this pay period the best yet for me as a solo driver, with something like 6,600 miles.

More Signs of the Times

Seen on the back of the tractor of a big rig (in very nice cursive script): "Low Income Housing"

A sign in front of a church: "Need a faith lift?"

Palm Springs

I took off at 4 AM my time (2 AM Pacific time) from Eloy, AZ and drove to Palm Springs, CA, about 60 miles from my drop tomorrow morning. I could have driven further but I know this particular stop from the last time I was out here and since the drop off time is 5:30 AM PST it will be easy enough running it in the last hour, hopefully. The truck stop here is next to an enormous wind farm with hundreds and hundreds of turbines taking in the breeze and converting it to energy.

It is 8 AM local time now and about 75 degrees out... will it get as hot here as it was in Arizona yesterday?

UPDATE: It topped out in the low 90's. No sweat, as they say.

I drive, she sleeps

View All Vicious Attack Cat pics

Blaze has taken a liking to laying down between the seats while we zip down the road. I'm sure the heat coming off of the engine contributes a wee bit to this.

I swear, it doesn't feel one degree over 105!!!

Smartest bird EVER!

After I parked last night I went inside the mom and pop truck stop to use the facilities and when I got back there was this bird fluttering around the grill of my truck. It wasn't a hummingbird -- it had a difficult time staying in one spot -- but it was VERY determined.

At first I thought maybe its wing or foot was caught in the grill, but as I walked closer and got a better look I was amazed to see that it was flying freely... and dining on the Grill Kill from my radiator! Small (and large) bugs were smooshed up against the grill and this bird was methodically picking them out and gobbling them up!

I didn't have my camera with me at the time so I don't have a picture of this guy in action, but here he is... if you live near Sanderson, TX and you see him hanging out give him an equation to solve or something!

Out to LA LA land

After only two or three hours in Laredo I was given my choice of trips and I took one to Rialto, CA which is on the eastern side of Los Angeles. The trailer was already loaded and waiting in the yard so after finding it, hooking up, doing my inspection and fueling I was out the gate and on the road again.

The fastest way from Laredo to El Paso is to take a series of state highways that run near the border with Mexico. I've run it before several times and it is really the only way I do like to leave Laredo any more. I got a few hundred miles down the road before calling it a night in Sanderson, TX. Try finding it sometime if you are bored.

Clouds over San Antonio

For those of you who like seeing interesting formations of clouds.

View all Clouds over San Antonio Pics

Bird with colored wings

View All Bird With Colored Wings Pics

I saw one of these guys before when I picked up at a dump about a month ago... this time I was eating lunch in a truck stop and glanced up, and there another one was. Got much better pictures this time.

Sweet, sweet Laredo

Not.

The alarm woke me up at 4 AM this morning and I zipped through San Antonio without problem. Got the trailer inspected at our Laredo yard and drove across town to Uniroyal Drive (aka Uniroyal-pain-in-the-ass Drive) to deliver. An hour and a rather tight back later, I was done with that.

On the board and am #10 which is very short for Laredo. I wasn't going to board until tomorrow but Turtle called and said if I get a load up through San Antonio he's buying dinner. The dirty bum got a load from El Paso to Ft Lauderdale, FL for the weekend. I'm tired, dirty and hungry but the promise of a free meal from Bob is more than enough to get me moving!

Benton, AR to New Braunfels, TX

Slept in until 5 AM this morning then tried to extricate myself from a ridiculously packed Pilot truck stop parking lot. There was only one entrance and exit (combined) so when someone stopped, or tried to back in to a spot, everything ground to a halt. Some people wonder why I avoid all Pilots except when I have to fuel at one.

The trip down I-30 to Dallas was uneventful until I tried going south on I-635 and that offramp was closed. Drove all the way to downtown and caught I-35E going south without too much hassle. It is amazing what six months of driving does to your perceptions in problem areas like narrow lanes in construction zones.

Fueled at our Lancaster terminal like a good boy. The parking lot was ripped up in a half dozen places for some reason or other which made navigating it a bit difficult. This light load is giving me over 8 MPG for a change which should help my flagging MPG average.

Finished the day in New Braunfels, TX, just north of San Antonio. Will be up around 4 AM tomorrow hopefully to finish the run down to Laredo, then "finish" it again by making the local delivery.

Sign of the times...

In Michigan: (I kid you not)

"Need a new car? Have bad credit?
PoopyCredit.com"

Also (for my mom), I passed Scott Hamilton road on the south side of Little Rock, AR yesterday.

680 miles to Benton, Arkansas

I got up early this morning so I could beat the traffic in Indianapolis. Then I spent an interminable amount of time plodding through Illinois at 55 MPH.

I saw several of those birds with the very bright wing markings when I stopped to fuel and I may have a pic or two. Too tired to upload them tonight though.

Tomorrow will be another long day to get me somewhere south of Dallas and north of San Antonio. New Braunfels perhaps. Load delivers no later than 9:40 AM on Friday.

Back to... you guessed it...

LAREDO! My least favorite destination in the whole wide world of trucking! This Friday, like two of the past three Fridays, I will be arriving in Laredo to deliver yet another load. This time it is plastic HVAC parts for automobiles going to be installed into cars in Mexico. The load itself is very light: despite filling my trailer from nose to tail, the total weight only comes to 5,200 lbs.

I got the dispatch late this morning. First, to run from Grand Rapids, MI to Brighton, MI, then pick up and take the load to Laredo. The total miles are good (115 deadhead, almost 1,600 for the main part of the trip) it means I have to, yet again, make the run down I-35. Not to mention back up with a northbound load, I assume. Better than sitting, I suppose.

Tonight's rest stop is in the middle part of Indiana near where I lived for a time. The weather is hot and humid, with thunderstorms and lightning in the distance to the west.

Blaze was stretched out most of the day between the two front seats, relishing the warm temps and heat coming up from the engine. I move her food dish back behind to give her more area to stretch out and she likes to lay there all day.

Going my own way...

Anyone who knows me knows I march to the beat of my own drummer. Here is photographic evidence:

View all Zigging While Everyone Else is Zagging pics

Grand Rapids, MI

I decided to show up at the consignee this afternoon and see if they would take the load early... just getting to them was a huge issue as the roads in the area were ripped up with construction, so several detours were in order. Eventually I made it through and they were happy to unload me immediately. Twenty minutes later and I'm done.

There is one truck stop of note in this town; my GPS lead me to the wrong Mobil station to start with but eventually I consulted some online help and found the "real" one. There was quite a lot of truck parking and even late afternoon it was all filled, so I circled the lot with a half dozen other drivers. Eventually, someone pulled out and I was able to quickly claim the spot and start backing in. It was tight, but a friendly driver pulled his truck back a ways so I could turn tight enough to make the back and I was in. All in all, it was kind of like the grown-up version of musical chairs.

You know you might be a redneck if...

Many, perhaps most, of us keep a spare in the trunk for that unfortunate sudden loss of tire intactness. Some models have a special carrier behind the liftgate with the tire at the very rear of the car.

For some, however, this just isn't enough. Case in point:

View all Mister, What is that on your Car?!? pics

A true guard cat is always on the alert...

Massacre along the highway

Today I saw an extraordinary number of dead critters alongside (and in the middle of) the road. Racoons, a skunk, several deer, several cats, at least three dogs, several small birds, a chicken (to answer the obvious: doesn't matter why it was crossing the road any more) and a small pig. I saw a young deer spring from the forest a few hundred feet in front of me, bound across the road, leap across the jersey barriers... and meet the bumper of a big rig headed the other direction. Verdict: big rig 1, deer 0.

Today I drove from the middle part of New York to our terminal on the outskirts of Detroit, Michigan. I have about 180 miles yet to go, and over 30 hours to do it in. I may just make it in time. Hopefully I can reach someone there tomorrow and get them to take the load early.

"NO TRUCKERS WERE HARMED DURING THE PRODUCTION OF THIS BLOG"

Vermont

I was dispatched from Albany, NY to the little burg of Florence, VT to pick up a load. Not just any load, mind you, but 44,000 lbs of something which constituted a load. Someone had also thoughtfully left the landing gear of the trailer cranked up so high that only through a dint of hard effort was I able to lower the front end low enough for my fifth wheel to grab on to it. In many cases, trucking is perfectly doable by men and women but this issue today was a bit much for the fairer sex. Or most of them, anyway.

The plant was operating but the shipping and receiving was closed when I got there. Another driver gave me directions to the back of the plant where we drop trailers then I spent the better part of an hour wandering around in my tractor bobtail trying to find the "main office". Finally I went all the way back out front, then in a different entrance and viola, there it is. Closed, of course.

Eventually got all of that sorted out, ran back to the back of the yard to get my particular trailer where I found the problem with the landing gear. After another 30 minutes wrestling with it and inspecting the trailer I was finally able to leave.

I didn't weigh the load, even though the Bill said it was 44,000 lbs. I was running west back to New York and I saw that all the coops (weigh stations) were closed. I shut down west of Albany just off of the I-90 toll road and weighed... my trailer tandems were about 1,600 pounds heavy. Tomorrow I will take care of that, fuel up and run to our terminal in Taylor, MI -- the only one I have yet to visit.

Oh, the load isn't supposed to deliver until Tuesday morning which is a day late by my taste. Hopefully I can call them Monday morning and get in early. It is going to Grand Rapids, MI.

The saddest excuse for a truck stop yet

Since Conway kicked me out, I needed to find someplace nearby to wait while dispatch fires up the gerbils on the treadmill to produce another trip. My truck stop directory pointed me towards the Riverview Truck Travel Plaza about five miles away. Lots of parking, it said.

I get here and this has to be the saddest "truck stop" I have ever seen. Words alone would be an injustice, so I will risk life and limb and get pics later, if I dare.

UPDATE: Apparently, the sadness was too much for my camera which doesn't want to operate now for some reason. I didn't have time to look it over carefully before I had to leave. Boo hoo.

Bathroom stalling for time

I forgot to mention, last night I went back inside after I parked my tractor outside the fence to use their mens room. I got a noncommittal shrug from the Conway guy when I went back inside and marched myself over to the facilities. One of the two urinals had a vertical grab bar, the kind you see in handicapped stalls. Apparently, the Conway folks have to hold it so long by the time they get back they are doing something approximating the older guy (Redd Foxx) clutching his chest on Sanford and Son, from way back in the day.

I was going to sneak my camera in to get a pic this morning but they woke me early to get my trailer out of the yard so they could close up for the weekend. Must be nice.

Arrived Albany, NY

90 minutes ahead of schedule. A rather surly Conway rep told me where I could shove my trailer, and I did. Right into door #22. Then they directed me to park outside their property ("no one will bother you outside the fence") and to bugger off.

Buggering off for the night... out.

ETA updated

My satellite buzzer went off just after 4 AM this morning, apparently when the truck I am relaying with left Conway's yard in Wisconsin. The new arrival time for the truck is 3 PM EDT which is 90 minutes later than I was told yesterday. Now I get to drive 90 minutes later to deliver, assuming they get here on time.

Blaze is, as you can see, terribly upset with this latest turn of events and has threatened to strike. Strike what, I'm not sure though.

View all Vicious Attack Cat pics

Is Ohio going to the Dark side?

I report, you decide:

What is wrong with this picture?

This truck passed me a few days ago and something jumped out at me, so I took out my camera and snapped a shot. Can you see what is wrong with this picture?

(You will most likely need to click the image to see the larger version to determine what is wrong)

Edgarton, OH for dropoff

Got up this morning, a bit later than usual, and headed out the last 180 miles to my delivery in Edgarton, OH. This was at a rundown Fleetwood RV manufacturing facility with an interesting outdoors dock -- that's right, no overhead cover at all. Must be interesting when the snow is coming down. Turns out the load was in two parts and the second part had to be taken about two miles away to a different warehouse for storage.

View all Edgarton, OH pics

After unloading I parked and waited... and waited... I even sent a satellite message to my fleet manager to make sure I was on the board. I was so far out in the sticks I barely had cell phone coverage, and no internet.

Finally, I got a 105 mile deadhead to a service plaza along the I-80/I-90 Ohio turnpike for a Conway relay load to Albany, NY. I will leave around 2 PM ET and arrive around midnight, if all goes well. Of course, it will be a Friday afternoon and evening travel time so who knows.

Saw a flight of three birds take off from the side of the road about a football field in front of me. Two of the three birds dodged a SUV, while the third decided it had had enough of this cruel world and did a dive bomb into its grill. Pieces of bird littered the road as I went past moments later.

Rain, lots of rain

I left West Memphis at 7:30 AM this morning, as soon as possible after my 10 hour break. It was raining when I left and it didn't let up all day, just varied in intensity. On the plus side, it helped wipe off the tons of bug splats I had from last night.

I'm parked at a TA just west of Indianapolis with 180 miles to run in the morning to Ohio. Oh, did I mention, 55 MPH in Illinois... just doesn't cut it.

Interesting signs seen recently

Toad Suck Park (Arkansas)

Hollaring Woman Creek (Texas)

Black Ankle Road (North Carolina)

Also, I saw "Ann Road" near Montgomery, AL a couple weeks ago. Ann is my mom's name and I don't recall ever seeing her name on a sign before (or mine, for that matter).

Onward to... another terminal?!?

Yes, its true. This afternoon I got dispatched deadhead from Joplin to our terminal in West Memphis, AR. After a six hour drive I arrive to find exactly one load waiting; so much for choice at terminals. Tomorrow I depart for someplace in Ohio. Needs to be there by 11 AM the following day, which is doable for the 630 or so miles the load entails.

The drive to West Memphis had a couple interesting qualities. First, there was a six-car smashup just inside Arkansas on I-540 which I rolled up on minutes after it happened. All four wheelers this time. Second, there was a time tonight when I was making a gentle left turn when I glanced out my driver side mirror to see a string of about a dozen trucks following me, almost evenly spaced. It looked like a galaxy of lights in a way.

Dropped then be-bopped

Dropped the load early (given my revised ETA) in Iola, KS then got deadheaded to Joplin for work... work on my truck as it turns out. There was a recall for my model's fan shroud and the Kenworth guys took it into a bay and had their way with it for several hours. I also got my AC topped off (they have a cool little R2D2 looking thing that handles that -- I thought they would insert some freon and kick me out the door).

Got on the board this morning as #21 here, but local dispatch says it is s-s-slow here, so don't hold my breath to get out today. Hopefully once I clear the terminal I'll get some better runs than what I've been doing lately.

Although, I do have to say... between that run to Iola and the subsequent deadhead I am, again, at 5,500 miles for this last pay period. It is eerie how often my miles fall between 5,500 and 5,599.