Posted by admin on Dec 13, 2008 in
Where Am I? Let me start off with… why don’t you guys holler at me when I don’t update this thing in a while! Hello? Is this thing on… is anyone still reading it? LOL
Okay.. some catch-up;
Headed out bright and early for Sacremento… nothing much to report until we hit Albequrque, NM where we got shut-down for ice / snow on I40… I’ve officially had my first taste of driving in winter weather in Da Big Truk. Guess what? It’s the same as a car, only bigger. Slow down, high-gear / low RPM, slow down, no sudden movements of the wheel, and oh yeah… slow down!
DUH.
Got to Sacremento and dropped our FedEx load (I can say what it was now!)… then ended up waiting for the most part of the day for our next load assignement. Pick-up in Woodlake, CA going all the way to Jessup, MD (again). We took off and routed through the yard where we sit now. We’ll be heading out in the morning, but this load has WAY too much time on it… it’s not due in MD until 0200 Monday morning… we’ll arrive Sunday morning at this rate… but that’s okay.
Speaking of the yard… had a wicked, awesome, exciting surprise when we rolled in here this morning. I had heard rumors, had even told you they supposedly existed, but it wasn’t “official” until I SAW and got PHOTOGRAPHIC proof they existed!
What the hell am I talking about you ask? This sweet looking baby (center):
If you look really closely at the drivers’ side door, you will notice “RTC”… that means this beaut of a Peterbilt 387 is a COMPANY TRUCK!! It was on the “ready” line just WAITING for me to upgrade to solo! And the funniest damn thing about it… it was EXACTLY one number higher than the truck I’m on now! I only hope and pray she’s still there in a month or so when I get upgraded to solo!! BTW… it’s even the same color as the one I’m on now! How’s THAT for cosmic coincidence???
Oh.. BTW… if you’ve been looking for the “Hammer Lane”… it’s in New Mexico:
And lastly, if you were interested, this is Knucklehead… you can see why he gets his nickname:
That’s all folks!
Posted by admin on Dec 8, 2008 in
Where Am I? Got our Walmart load of fresh veggies dropped off in Moberly, MO this morning by Knucklehead without a hitch. That nasty old trailer? We got told to drop it off at a local customer and pick up a newer one sitting there! Whoo Hooo! We can by-pass the black-hole-o-freight! It means we can’t get a few things done we need to, but at least we won’t be stuck there waiting for days on end for another load outta there!
So it’s off to Earth City, MO for a pickup at 600 this morning, to be driven non-stop to Sacramento, CA for 2100hrs Tuesday night! It’s one of those loads that they say you need to be here by such-and-such date and time… no, this shipper says, okay, you have exactly 40 hours to get from A to B when you leave here!
Looking at the weather outlook though, we decided we’re going to take the southern route (I10) down and around a storm front and snow in Wyoming / Colorado area. Fine with me! It’s only about a hundred and a half miles out-of-route, but the potential to be shut down for 8 or 10 hours along I80 is much greater, so it’s worth it to make the 90 on time!
So, we’re bedded down at a TA just outside of St. Louis, MO… Knucklehead has about an hour to drive later this morning to get us there, and by the time I actually have to start driving, I’ll have been “off-duty” for more then 34 hours straight, which means my 70 hour rule “resets” and I have all my available driving hours back again! Not that it’s been an issue, we haven’t gotten close lately, but it’s nice to know we’ve got the hours to drive if needed. Course keeping me awake and propped up in the seat is another story! 🙂
Posted by admin on Dec 7, 2008 in
Where Am I? Rolled along from OK City to Midway, MO without any incident. Got into the Midway Truck Plaza & Tatoo Parlor earlier this morning. To say this place is Po-dunk would give places like Boondocks, IL a bad name! Knucklehead and I wandered in to hit the bathroom, and he decided to grab a bite to eat. I opted for some coffee and we were both pleasantly surprised to find about the only place on the face of the earth that still allows smoking in the restaurant… not just in the “smoking” section… but the WHOLE place… anywhere, everywhere, where-ever!
We could hear a live band upstairs… some kind of rock / honky-tonk / funk band playing. The place was about half-way full of presumably locals (they were too “dressed up” to be truckers. Then the band wrapped it up at 0100… that’s when the entire town came downstairs for breakfast. Talk about carnival freak show! There was more chrome belt-buckles than a 55 Chevy Bel-Aire and a Peterbilt combined! Knucklehead and I could feel our IQ’s dropping and we determined that everyone in there was related in one way or other. We most definitely had a higher-tooth-per-head count than anyone else in there, and the women had enough make-up on to keep Maybeline in business for years to come! And the really scary thing… about everyone in there was aged 50 and up.
So, we finished up and scooted out to the “safety” of the truck as quick as we could (while we could still think for ourselves!)… and thus knucklehead is sleeping so he can get up to deliver at 0750 this morning to the Moberly, MO Walmart DC the last stop of this load.
This trailer we have is an older one, with lots of damage, so we’ll probably end up draggin it south to the yard for repairs before it gets turned in (end of lease) in California. The only problem with that is that there’s no freight at the yard… we got wind from multiple sources (including the night/weekend monkeys in dispatch) that there’s a waiting list of 65 team or solo drivers waiting in the yard for a load! 🙁
We’ll have to see what comes our way after we unload… maybe we’ll luck out? It’s looking like I definitely won’t make my miles before taking Christmas week off… but from what I’ve told in the last 24 hours, that’s probably a GOOD thing. Apparently when you come in to upgrade to solo, your TAH (Time At Home) “clock” resets (Prime likes to have you run a week for one day off). So that would mean I’d have to run at least three MORE weeks to get even three days off! Plus I was also told that they don’t do upgrade training between Christmas and New Years, but I can’t validate that one yet.
So… I’ll still be a team driver when I come home for the week of Christmas, I think it’ll work out in the long run! Hopefully, I’ll still have an IQ by then!