I could have swore I highlighted for home back on December 10th, and my satellite system backs me up with a copy of that request. Yet this morning I get a dispatch taking me from the cozy warmth of Georgia up to Connecticut. That being just about the opposite direction to southern California you can get, I just had to call my dispatcher and ring her chimes.
Turns out my highlight was taken off at some point, by persons unknown. The good news is some other slob is going to have to take that load up there (doesn't deliver until Monday, naturally), the bad news is I have to sit here north of Atlanta until Saturday morning to get a load heading west.
To Roswell, New Mexico, of all places.
View Larger Map
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Lazy days
I admit it, I was feeling more than a little lazy yesterday. I could have driven all the way to the consignee for this morning's unload and parked it nearby overnight (no overnight parking at the consignee according to the satellite unit; the reality was a bit different). Instead, I packed it in early at Cartersville, Georgia then finished up the trip early this morning. Unloading was simple, given there were only 6 pallets of stuff, and now I wait for my next in the parking area of an abandoned warehouse with some other trucks from other companies.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
30 degrees
About 40 miles north of Indianapolis, the temperatures started rising rapidly. First 40 degrees, then 45, 50... 55! Finally, by the time I shut down just to the south of Indy, my outside air temperature gauge reads 63 degrees, 30 degrees warmer than I was three hours north of here!
Icy mush
I was up and running as soon as I could under the Hours of Service regulations this morning, and sighed a sigh of relief when I made it to the east side of Indianapolis, Indiana just before 0600 so I could get on the board as instructed.
Then I waited, and waited.
After almost four hours, the buzzer went off and I was told to run up to Grabill, Indiana to pick up a load of PACCAR products bound for Georgia. PACCAR is the company that makes Kenworth and Peterbuilt, so these are things like hoods, doors and the like.
On the way up to the shipper the temperature went from mid 40's to low 30's in the span of about ten minutes. Plenty of snow in the fields alongside the highways, and a nice, cleansing, light rain falling. Fortunately, it didn't get below freezing so while it is slippery for someone with an empty trailer, it isn't impossible.
View Larger Map
I'm waiting to get loaded now. I would ordinarily dance a jig for a light load, but running on ice, slush and snow calls for something with a bit more heft. Hopefully I can get out of here early enough I can run back south below Indy and avoid the freeze tonight.
UPDATE: Almost stuck not once but twice in the slushy parking lot of this place. Thank goodness I went through this mess last year and have a couple ideas of how to get a truck unstuck!
Then I waited, and waited.
After almost four hours, the buzzer went off and I was told to run up to Grabill, Indiana to pick up a load of PACCAR products bound for Georgia. PACCAR is the company that makes Kenworth and Peterbuilt, so these are things like hoods, doors and the like.
On the way up to the shipper the temperature went from mid 40's to low 30's in the span of about ten minutes. Plenty of snow in the fields alongside the highways, and a nice, cleansing, light rain falling. Fortunately, it didn't get below freezing so while it is slippery for someone with an empty trailer, it isn't impossible.
View Larger Map
I'm waiting to get loaded now. I would ordinarily dance a jig for a light load, but running on ice, slush and snow calls for something with a bit more heft. Hopefully I can get out of here early enough I can run back south below Indy and avoid the freeze tonight.
UPDATE: Almost stuck not once but twice in the slushy parking lot of this place. Thank goodness I went through this mess last year and have a couple ideas of how to get a truck unstuck!
Monday, December 10, 2007
Deadhead to Indy
The unloading took a long time: about seven hours. None of that counts as detention because I was there a day early. Oh well, at least the load is off my truck.
I got paged before long to deadhead about 300 miles to Indianapolis, Indiana by 0600 tomorrow morning. Due to the vagaries of the Hours of Service rules, I will likely run a bit late, but I drove as far as I could today (ending in Eaton, Ohio near the Indiana border).
This is one way to drive from where I was; I took a more direct route over US highway 35.
View Larger Map
Here is the more direct route I took:
View Larger Map
I got paged before long to deadhead about 300 miles to Indianapolis, Indiana by 0600 tomorrow morning. Due to the vagaries of the Hours of Service rules, I will likely run a bit late, but I drove as far as I could today (ending in Eaton, Ohio near the Indiana border).
This is one way to drive from where I was; I took a more direct route over US highway 35.
View Larger Map
Here is the more direct route I took:
View Larger Map
Dirty sucks
Dirty, in trucker slang, refers to the eastern part of the US. I arrived in the "dirty" town of Dunbar, West Virginia this morning only to find incredibly narrow streets, small or non-existent signage and a few dead ends I had to back out of. At one point, I was near my destination but on the wrong side of the railroad tracks and the crossings were, I kid you not, five or six feet over street grade. Imagine driving a rig over a pyramid and you get the picture.
Thank goodness for the GPS. After each turn into new forbidden territory it recalculated the best route for me towards my goal. After a long process of trial and error, I finally made it to a long, narrow street with a tight left turn and shortly thereafter to my consignee.
Naturally, since I'm not due until tomorrow morning they aren't sure if or when they can work me in today. They have the paperwork and I'm out in the truck playing around on the internet.
And dreading trying to get back out to the interstate.
UPDATE: Here is a picture of one of the railroad crossings I had to avoid:
Thank goodness for the GPS. After each turn into new forbidden territory it recalculated the best route for me towards my goal. After a long process of trial and error, I finally made it to a long, narrow street with a tight left turn and shortly thereafter to my consignee.
Naturally, since I'm not due until tomorrow morning they aren't sure if or when they can work me in today. They have the paperwork and I'm out in the truck playing around on the internet.
And dreading trying to get back out to the interstate.
UPDATE: Here is a picture of one of the railroad crossings I had to avoid:
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Pop goes the tire
Not mine, thankfully.
I went over to the local Proctor & Gamble plant where I was to pick up and it turns out the trailer was ready early so they let me have it early this morning. I boogied on up the road to just inside South Carolina when I heard a "pop" sound, which had to be fairly loud and nearby for me to hear inside my truck.
Myself and another truck driver pulled off at the next exit and inspected our trucks. Luckily for me, it was one of his trailer tires that had given up the ghost. I told him where the next truck stop with a repair shop was located and we both moved out again.
I was originally planning to drive the entire way to West Virginia today, to attempt to both pick up and deliver the load before the original pick up time (snarky, I know). Unfortunately, a couple hours short of the goal my rear was starting to squawk so I'm calling it a night in Virginia. Turns out our folks in the rear with the gear at HQ don't even know if they are open Sundays.
I went over to the local Proctor & Gamble plant where I was to pick up and it turns out the trailer was ready early so they let me have it early this morning. I boogied on up the road to just inside South Carolina when I heard a "pop" sound, which had to be fairly loud and nearby for me to hear inside my truck.
Myself and another truck driver pulled off at the next exit and inspected our trucks. Luckily for me, it was one of his trailer tires that had given up the ghost. I told him where the next truck stop with a repair shop was located and we both moved out again.
I was originally planning to drive the entire way to West Virginia today, to attempt to both pick up and deliver the load before the original pick up time (snarky, I know). Unfortunately, a couple hours short of the goal my rear was starting to squawk so I'm calling it a night in Virginia. Turns out our folks in the rear with the gear at HQ don't even know if they are open Sundays.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
My first year income at CFI
Since I find myself with some, er, extra time I decided to go back through my paperwork and figure out how much money I made at CFI during my first driving year.
I started driving on December 1, 2006 and from that point until December 15, 2006 I grossed $1,895.47. That was all that was paid in 2006, as the last half of December's pay was issued on January 4, 2007 and thus falls on this year's taxes.
This year, for the period ending November, 30, 2007 and including the last two weeks of 2006, I grossed $40,081.97. Combined, I made a total of $41,977.44 in my first 12 months of driving. I am also entitled to a week's vacation pay, which will be roughly $807.25, for a grand total of $42,784.69. Since the vacation pay is 1/52nd of what you make over a year, that also happens to be my weekly average gross take home pay.
During my first 12 months I drove 131,711 paid miles (an additional 4% or so more than that were driven "out of route", meaning I didn't take the shortest route between two stops. This is below average, I believe). Dividing the pay by the miles shows I averaged about 32.5 cents per mile, starting from 26 CPM during training and ending up at 36 CPM after 120,000 miles. This includes minor amounts of income for being delayed places, holiday pay, safety pay and the like.
Assuming I work the following 12 months for CFI and achieve the same number of miles, my gross pay should be approximately $49,000, or a difference of about $6,000 since I will make more per mile during the entire year this upcoming year.
I started driving on December 1, 2006 and from that point until December 15, 2006 I grossed $1,895.47. That was all that was paid in 2006, as the last half of December's pay was issued on January 4, 2007 and thus falls on this year's taxes.
This year, for the period ending November, 30, 2007 and including the last two weeks of 2006, I grossed $40,081.97. Combined, I made a total of $41,977.44 in my first 12 months of driving. I am also entitled to a week's vacation pay, which will be roughly $807.25, for a grand total of $42,784.69. Since the vacation pay is 1/52nd of what you make over a year, that also happens to be my weekly average gross take home pay.
During my first 12 months I drove 131,711 paid miles (an additional 4% or so more than that were driven "out of route", meaning I didn't take the shortest route between two stops. This is below average, I believe). Dividing the pay by the miles shows I averaged about 32.5 cents per mile, starting from 26 CPM during training and ending up at 36 CPM after 120,000 miles. This includes minor amounts of income for being delayed places, holiday pay, safety pay and the like.
Assuming I work the following 12 months for CFI and achieve the same number of miles, my gross pay should be approximately $49,000, or a difference of about $6,000 since I will make more per mile during the entire year this upcoming year.
Just when I think I've hit bottom...
I thought last week's 1,300 mile trip over 4 days was just about the bottom of the barrel, but apparently I wasn't even in the right neighborhood. Now, I'm in da hood:
I wait here in Albany, GA until Sunday night to pick up a trailer going to West Virginia for a Tuesday morning unload. That is a whopping 650 miles over four days. By my math, that is twice the suckitude™ as the previous time-wasting champion load.
Heck, I'm not even going to bother putting up a map for now. Plenty of time for that later.
I wait here in Albany, GA until Sunday night to pick up a trailer going to West Virginia for a Tuesday morning unload. That is a whopping 650 miles over four days. By my math, that is twice the suckitude™ as the previous time-wasting champion load.
Heck, I'm not even going to bother putting up a map for now. Plenty of time for that later.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Coincidences
Yesterday I was chatting with the folks at Crowder College about the other folks that went through in my class. Ermy was the only one I hadn't seen or talked to in a while and guess who's truck I saw this morning in West Memphis when I got up to fuel! Alvin (her husband) was there at the fuel island getting charged up to head out so I said hi.
Small world.
Small world.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
KC to Joplin to West Memphis
It seems I am destined to bounce between our various terminals and drop yards, for today at least.
I picked up the very same load I was asked to pick up last night this morning instead... there wasn't any problem there -- the trailer was pre-loaded and ready to go as soon as I dropped off my empty. It turns out it is a load of just over 100,000 aluminum cans for some product or other (could be beer, soup, energy drinks, or who-knows-what). Added bonus: it only weighs 7,300 lbs.
The trip down to Joplin was easy, with a nice sunrise. I have pics but I'm too tired to upload them tonight. Anyway, got to Joplin, didn't have to put my tractor in the shop (yay, it still goes 70 when I need it to!), purchased my new load lock, and saw my dispatcher and some other folks I know.
Eventually, I headed south and since I was going by Crowder College I stopped and chatted for a bit with the instructors and a few new students. I watched a lady do her very first back in a big rig and it turns out she was familiar with both the CFIdrivers.com site and this one from doing her research before getting in to trucking. Good advice for everyone. Reading this blog, at least!
Afterwards I drove south to Arkansas and caught up with I-40 and took that all the way in to our terminal in West Memphis.
Today was mostly interstates and 70 MPH state routes. Tomorrow I will be doing a lot of back-road driving in Alabama and Georgia which is always a hoot and a hollar in a big rig.
I picked up the very same load I was asked to pick up last night this morning instead... there wasn't any problem there -- the trailer was pre-loaded and ready to go as soon as I dropped off my empty. It turns out it is a load of just over 100,000 aluminum cans for some product or other (could be beer, soup, energy drinks, or who-knows-what). Added bonus: it only weighs 7,300 lbs.
The trip down to Joplin was easy, with a nice sunrise. I have pics but I'm too tired to upload them tonight. Anyway, got to Joplin, didn't have to put my tractor in the shop (yay, it still goes 70 when I need it to!), purchased my new load lock, and saw my dispatcher and some other folks I know.
Eventually, I headed south and since I was going by Crowder College I stopped and chatted for a bit with the instructors and a few new students. I watched a lady do her very first back in a big rig and it turns out she was familiar with both the CFIdrivers.com site and this one from doing her research before getting in to trucking. Good advice for everyone. Reading this blog, at least!
Afterwards I drove south to Arkansas and caught up with I-40 and took that all the way in to our terminal in West Memphis.
Today was mostly interstates and 70 MPH state routes. Tomorrow I will be doing a lot of back-road driving in Alabama and Georgia which is always a hoot and a hollar in a big rig.
Sleep, interrupted
I was more than a bit tired when I got in last night so I shut down and went to bed pretty much as soon as I could. For some reason, the night dispatch crew at CFI believed I still wanted to be dispatched to grab a trailer locally and take it to Albany, Georgia so we went round and round for a while until it was agreed I would pick it up at 0530 this morning instead.
So I go back to snoozeville only to be buzzed awake four hours later with someone asking why I hadn't picked up an empty trailer yet. I was annoyed but gave a short reply instead of the one I would have given had I been just a bit more frazzled:
As you can tell, this episode was disturbing, though perhaps not as disturbing as that peek inside the boiling cauldron that is my too-early-in-the-morning consciousness.
I'm off to pick up here shortly, then this will be close to the route I follow:
View Larger Map
I'm going by Joplin to grab a new load lock. Hopefully my truck won't get turned down to 65 in the process (if it has to go to the shop they will neuter it, unfortunately).
So I go back to snoozeville only to be buzzed awake four hours later with someone asking why I hadn't picked up an empty trailer yet. I was annoyed but gave a short reply instead of the one I would have given had I been just a bit more frazzled:
Dear Santa: Until moments ago I was cuddling with my inflatable Rosie O'Donnell doll (you know, the one with the flannel negligee and matching pleather unmentionables) but one of your elves insisted on waking me up. Again. I wanted so many things for Christmas this year, but now all I really want is a big set of shears so I can snip the cable on my Mobile Max unit and see how far I can shot putt the unit into the parking lot. Yours with abundant flatulence -- Jim
As you can tell, this episode was disturbing, though perhaps not as disturbing as that peek inside the boiling cauldron that is my too-early-in-the-morning consciousness.
I'm off to pick up here shortly, then this will be close to the route I follow:
View Larger Map
I'm going by Joplin to grab a new load lock. Hopefully my truck won't get turned down to 65 in the process (if it has to go to the shop they will neuter it, unfortunately).
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Kansas City, Missouri
Turns out the new drop yard we have in KC is fairly easy to find. I made the trip 40 minutes ahead of schedule to hand off the trailer to the local CFI driver who has to run it to Salina, Kansas a few hours west to meet up with the last leg of the series of trucks carrying it to Colorado. They asked me if I could do it and the simple answer was no; I could have finagled my book around a bit and "made time" but I've never done that once out on the road and don't figure I'll be starting now.
Anyway, off to sleep soon in the chilly clutches of the midwest.
Anyway, off to sleep soon in the chilly clutches of the midwest.
C-c-cold and its snowing...
I found Du Quion, Illinois this morning (the plant itself was easy to find) and got offloaded at a good pace. Soon enough I was closing the doors and motoring over to East St Louis, Illinois to rendezvous with the truck bringing me the relay load I discuss below. It turns out that I will be dropping this trailer at our new Kansas City, Missouri drop yard and a team will be taking it the rest of the way (and getting the bulk of the miles, naturally).
There were dozens of nails left in the floor of the trailer and a variety of planks and other debris. At least it wasn't snowing inside the trailer while I was yanking up the nails and sweeping... though it wasn't any warmer out. I hope this trailer I'm getting is fairly heavy, as there is a good wind blowing.
There were dozens of nails left in the floor of the trailer and a variety of planks and other debris. At least it wasn't snowing inside the trailer while I was yanking up the nails and sweeping... though it wasn't any warmer out. I hope this trailer I'm getting is fairly heavy, as there is a good wind blowing.
Signs
Signs that today is going to be a bad day:
Allow me to translate:
After I (finally) drop off this load this morning around 0800, I will be sent about 70 miles away to East St Louis, Illinois to pick up a load at 1330 hours. After which, I will take said load immediately to Kansas City, Missouri to drop off about five hours later.
View Larger Map
But it gets better!
I'm not picking up a load at all, one is being brought to me by another CFI driver for Conway, who will be picking it up early this morning and driving it to East St Louis and I will be finishing the run. Odds are good that as soon as I arrive at the Conway terminal in Kansas City to drop off said trailer, my butt will be kicked to the curb since I won't be allowed to park at my own company's terminal.
So, basically, a full day of fun and games for about 300 miles worth of pay. Happy freaking holidays.
Allow me to translate:
After I (finally) drop off this load this morning around 0800, I will be sent about 70 miles away to East St Louis, Illinois to pick up a load at 1330 hours. After which, I will take said load immediately to Kansas City, Missouri to drop off about five hours later.
View Larger Map
But it gets better!
I'm not picking up a load at all, one is being brought to me by another CFI driver for Conway, who will be picking it up early this morning and driving it to East St Louis and I will be finishing the run. Odds are good that as soon as I arrive at the Conway terminal in Kansas City to drop off said trailer, my butt will be kicked to the curb since I won't be allowed to park at my own company's terminal.
So, basically, a full day of fun and games for about 300 miles worth of pay. Happy freaking holidays.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Major General John Alexander "Black Jack" Logan
Today as I drove up to Illinois from Arkansas I passed Carterville, Illinois, home of the John A Logan community college. Major General Logan (read his wiki here) served in the civil war on the Union side and is considered one of the best army officers of those who joined from civilian life. He served under Grant and Sherman in a variety of roles, including the military governor of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Conflicting accounts have him being awarded the Medal of Honor, or his son (also John A Logan).
Before the war he was a congressman and returned to office, eventually becoming a senator and being nominated for Vice President, which he didn't succeed at.
General Logan may be most remembered for the role he played in the creation of Memorial Day here in the US. I lived for a number of years in the greater San Diego area and didn't realize that Logan Heights and Logan Avenue were named in his honor, among a variety of other locations around the nation.
He died the day after Christmas in 1886 and lay in state at the capitol. He is buried at the United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery in Washington, DC, the only cemetery besides Arlington run by the US Army.
General Logan happens to be an ancestor of mine, six or seven "great-great-great" grandfathers or so ago.
Before the war he was a congressman and returned to office, eventually becoming a senator and being nominated for Vice President, which he didn't succeed at.
General Logan may be most remembered for the role he played in the creation of Memorial Day here in the US. I lived for a number of years in the greater San Diego area and didn't realize that Logan Heights and Logan Avenue were named in his honor, among a variety of other locations around the nation.
He died the day after Christmas in 1886 and lay in state at the capitol. He is buried at the United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery in Washington, DC, the only cemetery besides Arlington run by the US Army.
General Logan happens to be an ancestor of mine, six or seven "great-great-great" grandfathers or so ago.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Falling, redux
Last month I posted an entry called Fall is definitely in the air and linked a few fall-related pics. Since I'm sitting on my hands here in West Memphis, Arkansas for a few days I decided to do something constructive and upload the rest of my fall foliage shots.
Two of my favorites:
I also added a slideshow feature to the right column with all my fall pics but it might not work on your system. On mine it works under Internet Explorer but not Firefox.
Two of my favorites:
 |
| View all Falling pics |
I also added a slideshow feature to the right column with all my fall pics but it might not work on your system. On mine it works under Internet Explorer but not Firefox.
Unit 30000
As I mentioned a few days ago, I snapped a few shots of CFI tractor number 30000 which is one of the new Kenworth T660s:
Here's a shot of one of the external boxes with the new HVAC equipment:
 |
| View all Unit 30000 pics |
Here's a shot of one of the external boxes with the new HVAC equipment:
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Rain and rain and... rain
I made it to West Memphis, Arkansas this afternoon having driven through tons and tons of rain. Had a trucker make a very bad last-minute lane change in front of me right as I was arriving in West Memphis and I skidded a bit. No harm, no foul I suppose.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Slowwwwwww trip to Du Quion, Illinois
My instructions: get loaded this morning at the El Paso Phelps Dodge plant with some sort of mining equipment and take deliver said load on December 5th in Du Quion, Illinois. No, I've never heard of the place either.
It is about 1,300 miles but the problem is, it can't deliver early. That is four full days to do this trip, which is miserable.
Bletch. One of the possible routes:
View Larger Map
It is about 1,300 miles but the problem is, it can't deliver early. That is four full days to do this trip, which is miserable.
Bletch. One of the possible routes:
View Larger Map
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)