8-1-00

As I think I mentioned in the last entry, I am going to reload here in South Plainfield, NJ -- in fact, just around the corner from the place I unloaded yesterday. I was finally done at about 8:30 pm last night. The problem was, though, that where I'm reloading did not have any record of my pickup and that meant that I had to wait until morning. I gave up and went to sleep. I'm hungry. I haven't had any access to food for 20+ hours because I've been sitting here. Last night when they were unloading, I snuck into the employees break room (Sign posted on the door: NO DRIVERS, EMPLOYEES ONLY!) and managed to get an ice cream bar.

By the way, that's what I hauled into that place -- ice cream. It has to be hauled at 20 below zero. One problem with your reefer unit on a hot day and man, do you have big problems. I had and still have, a fantastic brand-new 53 foot air ride trailer with a very, very quiet Carrier reefer unit and a 50 gallon reefer tank. Paradise, as far as I'm concerned.

Now I am finally in the reload dock and though I still have no access to a soda machine or candy machine or anything resembling food, at least there's a bathroom with running water, that's not filthy dirty. I consider myself lucky to find that.

Last night I more or less whined until the guards let me use the restroom in the guardshack so I could brush my teeth. I always carry water. If I hadn't have had my refilled water jug this time, I would've been here for 20+ hours without anything to drink. It's bad enough there's nothing to eat. This kind of situation ticks me off some -- I mean, if you're hauling livestock and the trip gets to be longer than anticipated for whatever reason, there's a point where the driver must stop and exercise, as well as feed, the animals. (I'm not sure at how many hours that time cut-off is...) Well, if I were a cow, I'd have been walked, watered & fed by now!!!! But, I'm a driver and I guess I should consider myself lucky not to be one of those cows -- after all, those cows are on their way to a slaughterhouse!

I'll be on my merry way to Jackson, WI when I get outta here. I can feel the forklift bumping around a lot back there, so it shouldn't be long...

It wasn't long at all to load and I'm a couple hundred miles down the road.... headed for WI for 8/3. Piece of proverbial cake. I was quite satisfied that I had so much time.  I went to Milton, PA and hooked up to PNV;  got some work done, read email, etc.  Then I got carried away.  I played much too long and before I knew it, all that "extra time" was history.  It wasn't that I had to kill myself to make it now, but I didn't have any more  time to goof around.  I promised myself that after a good night's sleep, I'd really hit it....I'm going to go grab a shower, some supper and head it over towards at least Indiana for tonight. I'd like to wipe out as much 2 lane as possible before daylight. It saves A LOT of time to run the two lanes at night.

8-2-00

Well, I didn't quite make it to Indiana... I conked out not all that far out of Milton, PA!  Just couldn't seem to "get it together".  It goes like that sometimes.  Personally, it takes me about 2+ hours to even get "in the mood" to drive.  Those first two hours are boring and long and sleepy.  After those hours are past, I am usually ready to go and go and go.  It is worse when I've been out of the truck for a few days or more because that 2 hour "get in the mood" time is often extended to 3+ hours.  I've often wondered if it was that way with other drivers, too.

Now I don't have the luxury of playing on the computer or getting in the mood to drive.  It's time to get with it and cover some miles.  I still have enough time without breaking log rules or really killing myself, but I have handicapped myself somewhat.  I now have to run the two lanes during the day and will hit Chicago, IL now long after evening rush hour.  Because I was a naughty driver (no donut) and goofed off as I did, I will have to suffer with a great deal more traffic than I would've had to.  Oh well, can't help it, am addicted to the 'puter.

Later

Should have known (and did suspect) that I'd pay.  It rarely fails.  This is a "Murphy's Trucking Law":

If you are running late because you have made yourself late, 99% of the time something will happen to make you run even later.  Since you have brought it on yourself by goofing around too much, there is no excuse good enough.  No matter what, you still should have been farther down the road than you are and what's worse, you know it.  You also know if you call in, the first question you will be asked is, "Why are you only that far?"

Every driver has some sort of vice:  mine is computer, someone else's may be video games or movies at the truck stop.  We've all done this to ourselves at some point.  Anyway, my schedule was timed now so that I had just enough time to get there and still get some sleep before unloading.  Anything that happened now to delay me would dig into that sleep time.  So, naturally, I blew a tire.

Going through the middle of downtown Chicago, IL I heard a shotgun blast.  I jumped about 3 foot off my seat.  I had visions of people throwing things off of the bridges.  (I had read something about people doing this in Chicago lately.)  I then recovered and decided that either I, or one of the trucks next to me, had blown a tire.  Many times if you blow a drive tire, the steering wheel jerks in your hand and you hear a very loud BBOOOMM. (I think it sounds like a shotgun blast.)   If you blow a trailer tire, there's a decent chance you'll never know it because you probably won't hear it and it doesn't jerk the wheel like blowing a drive tire will.  You'll definitely know it if you blow a steer tire.

Downtown Chicago is not the place to pull over and check it out so I proceed up the road to a better, less busy place and pull over.  Yep, the right side, outside rear drive blew out a chunk of the sidewall. 

This is a very tame tire blowout -- sometimes these blowouts will more or less disintegrate the tire, throwing rubber everywhere and sometimes will get caught up in the brakes.  Even though this is an "easy" one, I now have to find a place to get it repaired.  I drive about 40 miles to a T/A truckstop and have them mount my spare.  (Some companies will have you carry a spare and some don't.)  They were relatively slow so I went ahead and had supper.  I lost something like 3 hours in the whole ordeal.  This is a pretty normal thing, though, especially in the summer.  You might be wondering why I continued to drive with a blown out tire.  I did so because for one:  to have someone come out to where I was would've been extremely expensive and time consuming.  For two:  I had a light enough load on that by slowing down, I really wasn't in danger of blowing the other tire.  I've been looking (in vain) for a good link to tips of tire care but well, haven't found much.  Take a look at: http://www.accu-thump.com for some information....

8-3-00

Delivered today in Jackson, WI, a little sleepy but otherwise on time and okay.  About 1-2 hour wait.  Not bad at all.  I reload in Ft Atkinson, WI.  Once that's loaded, I need to get to Council Bluffs, IA pronto because the load is delivering in Grand Island, NE tomorrow but the other driver that I share my truck with gets the pleasure of making the delivery.  It's about 450 miles and I absolutely have to go straight through or the other driver will be held up.  I don't want that so I set off and only stop once.  Upon arriving in Council Bluffs, I pack up my stuff (most of it) and head to the house.

This was the most exciting thing I saw today.  Talk about haulin' cows -- this puts a new twist on it!  This is a pickup truck with a flatbed and a very, very large (plastic?) cow... have to wonder where he was taking that?????

8-12-00

I've been home all this time and even got an extra "free" day because the other driver got held up in Illinois.  He won't be in to Council Bluffs until around 8:00pm tonight (Saturday).  I will then grab the truck, head to York, NE and pick up one that's loaded over there.  It goes to Memphis, TN for Monday morning.  I am glad to get off of my seemingly dedicated run to the East Coast.

8-13-00

Yeah, right, get off my "seemingly dedicated run"... no dice.  Upon arriving in Council Bluffs to get my tractor, I found a note on the dashboard from the other driver that said, "The A/C is out.  The radiator won't hold water long.  Thought I blew a tire, but they're fine, so I don't know?"... 

I think to myself, oh boy, this is gonna be great. 

I discovered a few years back that A/C is an absolute must in the summer months.  I know that the pioneers of trucking had to wait until the 1960's to have A/C standard, but I am a trucking child of the early 90's so I have come to expect, and in fact, demand it.  About 3 or 4 summers ago I had my A/C go out in August.  I couldn't get the company to listen to me.  It would work half-heartedly as long as the temp didn't go much higher than about 85 degrees, but any hotter and the air that came out the vents was the same as the outdoor temp.  It finally completely pooped out about halfway across I-10 in Texas, on a very, very hot August day.  It stayed out all the way to Los Angeles, where they were experiencing a heat wave and the daily temp was averaging 100+.  It was horrible.  I couldn't get any relief nor any sleep.  I called the company and they said I had to get the truck back to Des Moines, IA (where my yard was at that time) and they'd fix it.  I was most unhappy but got it back. 

Upon returning to Des Moines, the temps were much cooler, around 80 or so, and the A/C would blow reasonably cold air out. I told them it wouldn't perform at the higher temps and they told me they "couldn't fix what wasn't broke."  My next load went to Los Angeles and what do you suppose happened?  Yep, the A/C went out again.  The heat wave was still in force and I suffered the same as the last trip.  I came to a realization then and made a promise that never, for anyone, would I go truckin again without A/C when it's hot outside.  After making my delivery, I drove straight to the Peterbilt dealer and called the company.  It ended up costing them $700.00 to have my A/C fixed when they could've done it back home for half that. (or less)   So anyway.....

I called dispatch to say  that I couldn't/wouldn't go on my load without my A/C being fixed.  I was told to go to the shop in Lincoln, NE so off I went.  Upon arriving Saturday night, the shop was closed.  I had 6 hours to wait until they reopened Sunday morning so I laid down in the truck and attempted to sleep.  It was a very humid night and it was hard to sleep, but I managed.  I woke up dripping in sweat.  I checked the truck in at 7:00 AM but they didn't even look at it until 10:30 AM.  It is pretty obvious now that I'm not going to make it to Memphis, TN.  The report from the shop several hours later was that the truck had quite a few major problems and I might as well go find a motel.

I spent the night at the motel and called in the next morning to be told that the truck still wasn't done and it would likely be that night before it was.  My dispatcher was having none of this stuff and decided to put me in a temporary truck to go run a load, rather than sit.  Heck, I didn't mind sitting, after all, I am on salary now, but that wasn't how it would be.  I am given a truck and a new load going to Scranton, PA.

The truck I'm given to use is a piece of crap. (referred to from this point on simply as the "poc")  Most companies keep a truck around the yard for various purposes like moving trailers around or across town, etc.  That's what this truck was, the yard truck, and it was pretty junky.  It was a flattop, which I'm not used to.  Again, I'm spoiled because I've always had trucks that I could stand up in.  I  bashed my head several times trying to stand up in a sleeper that's a couple foot too short for that.  The poc is also quite a bit older than what I've been driving and it's seen better days.  It's tired.  It rattles, shakes and makes lots of noise.  The catwalk was falling off, held on by 2 of 4 bolts, and the fuel gauge didn't work at all.  It won't pull a hill; when threatened with a hill-climb, it was all I could do to force it to climb instead of whimpering and going backwards.  (kidding, kidding)  Since it was the "yard truck", it did not have a CB radio in it, but that wasn't too big of a deal to me.  The one thing it did have, and really the most important thing, was very good, very icy air conditioning!

Switching trucks is a major pain in the behind.  Even though I travel pretty lightly these days, it still takes a good hour.  You always, always, always have more crap than you thought you did when you go to move it elsewhere.  It's similar to moving your residence; you don't seem to understand the magnitude of the work involved until you start doing it.  (Reminds me of that new country song, "Stuff")

8-14-00

I'm finally on my way to Scranton, PA for Wednesday.  I'm bummed because I'm missing my brother's birthday this week but can't do a single thing about it.

This week is supposedly "Trucker's Appreciation Week".  I didn't even know there was one!  The company is doing some cookouts for the drivers and so on, but I won't be around.  Bummer.

I want to commend the state of Indiana for being far above average for being "trucker-friendly."  I am running the toll road this trip because of my late start.  (Normally I'm not reimbursed for running toll roads but this time is an exception.)  I've noticed before, but forgot to note here that Indiana has gone to a great deal of effort to help in the truck parking problem.  They've added very large lots to the service plazas for truck parking.  They have also put up paved parking lots along the toll road itself that are for truck parking ONLY.  This is a fantastic.  You never have to worry about finding a place to park if you're running the Indiana toll road.  They've done more to help with driver fatigue issues than any other state out there that I'm aware of.  They don't just talk, they do.  The Indiana toll road is also very reasonably priced at $12.80 for about 156 miles.  In comparison, the Ohio pike, for around 200(?) miles of toll road, will set you back around $35.00.  Indiana does not base the fee on weight, as Ohio and Pennsylvania do.  Indiana hasn't raised their rates for many years, either.  Indiana may have a split speed limit, which I don't much care for, (60 mph for trucks, 65 mph for cars) but in light of all their good points, I can live with this.  (Many states have split speed limits -- the worst ones are California and Michigan, which are 55mph for trucks and 70 mph for cars.  They really claim they think this is safe.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that it is not.)

Finally, my last hoorah for the state of Indiana.  I was made aware that this week was "Trucker's Appreciation Week" by a flyer at the company terminal.  Driving across the state of Indiana, I was very impressed that they'd put up a sign that said, "Thanks, Drivers!  Trucker's Appreciation Week."  I couldn't believe my eyes.  Someone was saying thanks... I started thinking about it later.  I was probably in 2 truckstops per day for the last week I've been out.  Let's say I've then been in 14 truckstops.  Not in any of them did I see anything at all mentioned about this "Trucker's Appreciation Week."  Nothing at all.  They couldn't be bothered I guess.  Sad.

8-16-00

Well I made it to Scranton, PA and unloaded.  My reload comes immediately and it loads in Aspers, PA.  It goes to Red Bluff, CA but I'll take it only as far as Council Bluffs, IA, where I'll drop it and go home.  The other driver will then have to take the poc back over to the shop in Lincoln, NE, trade out trucks and go on to good ole California.  I am a little jealous.  I know how this deal is going to work.  He will deliver the California load and reload for New Jersey or Pennsylvania.  He'll take that load as far as Council Bluffs and where will I go (yet) again????  Just call me the East Coast Kid.  I might have to change my CB handle.

Aspers, PA cannot be found in the alphabetical city listings in the back of the atlas.  It was, however, found by my routing program.  It's a very little itty bitty speck on the map, accessible by narrow, steep and winding back roads.  I managed to find it and get to it without incident, though the drive was interesting.  It loaded pretty quickly and I was shortly on my way back to Council Bluffs, IA.

I've been rather "out of sorts" all week.  I don't like being in an unfamiliar truck, where I don't have my things and the things I do have aren't in their proper place.  (Have you ever stayed with someone and could never find anything, though you knew it was there someplace?)  I simply want to get this run over with and forget about this weird week.  I get to truckin and push on to Columbus, OH, where I put it to bed. 

Upon waking in the morning, I lose an entire day.  Not literally, of course, but my time clock had a cosmic blip and I was convinced from this point forward that this day was Friday, when in fact it was truly only Thursday.  I am convinced that I have to be in Council Bluffs, IA the next morning, and that the next morning was Saturday morning.  I'm kind of bummed about this, as it is about 775 miles, and that's a hard day's run.  I take a deep sigh and get to truckin' -- they say it's not for sissies, you know.....

8-18-00

Imagine my surprise when I roll into the yard Friday morning, after running so hard, to be told I am a full day early.  I nearly fell over.  I've never lost track of time this badly before.  I've frequently forgotten what day it is -- in this life you usually know that you deliver tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, but are occasionally hard-pressed to tell someone just what day of the week it is.  Your logbook, provided you've done it, reminds you of the date of the day you're on, but the day of the week?  Well, it sometimes gets lost.  Boy did I lose one.

8-26-00

Been home for the past week so I guess it's time to truck again.  My "partner" is bringing a load in from California that is due in Columbia, MD on Monday at 4AM with a second drop in Montgomery, NY on Tuesday at 3:PM.  (Now didn't I say a few days ago that it would work this way???)  I got a bit of the shaft this trip - my dispatcher was gone and there was some confusion... I wasn't told to come in until Saturday afternoon because I became involved in a "Call Back Game" and by the time I actually had the load and got rolling with it, it was 4:00 PM Saturday.  That left me with 36 hours to run about 1200 miles.  That's not all that bad -- but is harder when you're talking East miles, though.  Speed limits are slower and traffic is heavier, resulting in slower time.  I had to really "stay in the seat" to get this one there.  This run wore me out pretty bad, though, a good share of that is due to the fact that I broke one of my own personal rules... that of "Never leave the house tired.  Always rest up before leaving out."  I left very tired, remained very tired, and became extremely tired.

If you're wondering what is the "Call Back Game," I will assure you that you get to play it, too.  This wonderful little game, played by dispatchers nationwide, is a pain in the behind. If you have a Qualcomm or other tracking system, you may not get to play it as often -- or maybe I should say you'll play a different version.  This is when the dispatcher does not know the information that you need to know, so he/she says, "Give me a call back in about an hour".  When you call back in an hour, eight times out of ten you're told to call back in yet another hour.  This makes naps difficult to accomplish.  (Unless you're into those 40 minute power naps, which aren't all bad..)  If you have a satellite, they may say, "I'll message you when I know xxxx".  You can stare at the keyboard in your truck and someday, somehow, the promised information might come through to you.  Or you have to get back on the phone and remind them to send it.  This may not sound like that big of a deal, and it isn't really, but remember you must wait on hold for ?awhile? every single time you call the dispatcher, too.  It might be 3 minutes on hold, it might be 15, you just never know.  I've gotten to where when I'm home, I will not talk on the telephone unless it is practically a life-threatening emergency.  I hate the telephone with a passion.  I've spent too many hours of my lifetime doing callbacks and sitting on hold, I guess.

I met a lady at a little truckstop in Iowa today when I stopped to grab something to eat.  She'd been a solo driver for just seven weeks and was having some problems with her company.  More specifically, she and her company were not seeing eye to eye on the logbook.  The miscommunication, as I saw, was that she wasn't correctly averaging her speeds.  HUH? you say..

Yes, they tell you in driving school to "log it like you drive it."  Well, allow me to correct a misconception.   Here in the "real world," most drivers use a thing called "speed averaging".  I am not going to go into that -- in all reality it is cheating, even if it's widely used and accepted.  I do urge you to ask questions about it, though.  Ask your school, ask your trainer and ask your company.  This woman had gone through a school, gone out with a trainer and still didn't quite understand it and there's no excuse for that.  Someone should have sat her down and gone over it.  Now she's on the road, getting grief from the company for something no one bothered to truly explain.

8-27-00

I did make it a semi-respectable 506 miles to Oakwood, IL before putting it to bed.  I am having such a hard time getting it together this trip.  Just can't seem to find my "rhythm."  The logbook says I have plenty of hours, yet I am so tired and dragging my feet.  I can't afford to drag, though, so I keep pushing on....

I notice this guy (picture to left) must've been "out of it", too.  Yikes.  I would fall over in embarrassment to have parked this way and then left it like that for the world to see. 

You have to remember that 53 foot trailers have a "tail".  When you're backing them, it's much harder to see where they "end."  A 48 footer typically has the axles slid all the way back, so you can tell where the "end" is by looking at the tires. This is NOT true of a 53 -- there's usually quite a bit of trailer left behind the tires.  Also keep this in mind when pulling forward out of a parking spot.  The "tail" - if long enough -- can have a "swing" on it.  What this means is that if you are pulling forward, out of a parking spot, if you don't pull far enough forward before turning the steering wheel, the tail may swing out and smack the truck next to you. 

Most 53 footers have markings on the front corners of the trailer that simply say "53" but this is not always true.  There is a state, (which one I don't remember at this moment) that requires that any 53 footer is marked this way.  If your company doesn't run that state, they may not choose to mark their 53 footers. 

You can usually tell if it's a 48 or 53 footer by how long the "tail" is, though.  48's rarely have much of a tail.  This would probably be the ideal place to go into Bridge and Interior Bridge Laws, but I don't think I will.... it would take up several pages!  I will at least add this:  Bridge Laws dictate that there must be "x" number of feet between axles to support "x" number of pounds.  Interior Bridge laws dictate that there must not be any more than "x" number of feet between axles to support "x" number of pounds. 

For the most part, you won't have to worry too much about Bridge Laws unless you deal with short, heavy trailers.  If your company runs 53 footers and you run the states of Georgia and California, you will have to deal with Interior Bridge.  When drivers refer to "Bridge Law," they're almost always really talking about Interior Bridge. 

To add confusion to the issue, some states are very particular (GA & CA) and some don't care.  Some have laws, some don't.  To simplify, Interior Bridge Laws spell out how far back you're allowed to put the trailer tandems. 

8-28-00

I roll into Columbia, MD about 1:AM and go to sleep in the lot.  I had tried to call ahead and ask for permission to park there early, but no one was home so I took a chance and just came in.  This can be risky; sometimes the receiver will make you leave until your appointment time and especially in the East, you may not find anywhere to go.  My thinking was that since they didn't answer the phone, they weren't there to tell me no. :)

After dropping the first part of the load, I headed it up the highway a few miles to the truckstop and crashed.  (And this is the dumpiest T/A truckstop I've found yet.)  I am so tired.  Don't remember ever being so tired, though I know I have been many, many, many times. This job can take a great deal out of you. 

I just received a Qualcomm message to get to Montgomery, NY first thing in the morning (this had previously been scheduled for 3:00 pm)  to drop and hook, then go to reload in Allentown, PA, and hoof it to New Kingstown, PA to drop & hook again.  Oh boy, can't wait.  It's 5:00 PM Central time now, (6:00 PM Eastern) and the truckstop is packing out.  No one wants to go play in that horrible rush hour traffic.  I am very glad I have a good parking spot.  I've seen the same trucks circle the lot over and over and over, just waiting for someone to leave so they can have a place to park.  I feel sorry for them -- man, I've been them many times and I know it's frustrating to have nowhere to go, nowhere to park.  There's no other place around here.  This may be a dump, but it's the only dump around for miles!  I strongly encourage you to buy yourself a truckstop guidebook as soon as you can.  It lists truckstops in each state and their mile marker#, as well as what they have for services.  I would never have known this dump existed if I hadn't looked it up in the truckstop book because it sits about 1/4 mile off the interstate and couldn't be seen from there. 

Just before leaving the dump, a guy came up to the door of my tractor and told me a sad story about his pickup truck that had run out of gas, and he was an ex-marine and a good guy and wouldn't lie about such a thing, and he'd mail me money back if I could please just loan him $10.00.  I gave him $2.00 and  he went on his way.  It's very doubtful that any of that story was based on truth -- but I figure that if he was telling the truth, I feel better for giving him a little bit to help out.  If he was lying, then $2.00 isn't much to lose.  You'll have a lot of that - people with hard luck stories trying to get money out of you.  Especially in truckstops close to large cities. (This one is just outside Baltimore, MD).  Some of these people really should move to Hollywood -- they're excellent actors and actresses.  I suggest you take a middle ground - maybe float 'em a buck or two and be done with it.  Too many drivers have been hurt for feeling overly sorry for people - stabbed or shot when they allowed someone in the truck and so on.  Quite often I won't even roll my window down if someone knocks on the door after dark in a place like that.  Not sure why I did this time.

8-29-00

I love running nights.  You can make such better time at night.  If you need to slow down to look at exit numbers, you can do it without 1000 cars screaming by you and getting all irate.  It's peaceful and quiet and as far as I'm concerned, the only way to run!

I made it up to Montgomery, NY to the receiver about 4:00 AM.  My dispatcher had asked that I get there "first thing in the morning".  I figure 4:00 AM is most definitely "first thing".  I pulled into the receiver and checked in with the Receiving department. (standard procedure)  They said that they have an appointment for me to live unload at 3:30 PM and I could NOT drop my trailer.  (Live load/unload means you must be hooked to the trailer when the loading/unloading occur.)  I am supposed to reload in Allentown, PA by 3:00 PM so this isn't so good.  I gave up for the night, reported the new delay to night dispatch and went to sleep. 

First thing in the morning, I'm on the Qualcomm to my dispatcher.  He is still pretty insistent that I am going to drop that trailer and take an empty -- he's just not sold on this live unloading.  The receiver offers to call my dispatcher to tell him that dropping is not an option - since he seems to have this drop/hook firmly implanted in his head and isn't hearing me.  Soon after I receive a Qualcomm message back from the dispatcher that says something to the effect, "Oops, sorry, my mistake, my fault, it is live unload, go ahead and do that, we'll get you on a different reload..." 

I'm impressed.  My dispatcher has just been elevated in my book to the status of a "GOOD" dispatcher.  He used the following words all in one sentence:  sorry, mistake, my fault.  This is unheard of with a dispatcher -- they're usually scrambling around for a way to blame something else, yet this one has stepped right up and not only admitted error, but apologized for it!!!!! Hallelujah!!!!!!   Apologies aren't said because they imply a mistake was made.  "Thank you" is seldom heard because then the dispatcher might just owe you a favor -- and we can't have that!  If you are lucky enough to get a "good" dispatcher, treat them well.... they're rare and priceless and everybody wants one.

Finally at 7:00 PM I am unloaded in Montgomery, NY.  This is pretty ridiculous, considering it was only half a trailer load and the appointment had been 3:30 PM - but here it is 7:00 PM.  I've been here for 15 hours.  Okay, whatever.  At least I'm out of there.  I now have to make my way down to Hershey, PA to grab a load for Itasca, IL for delivery Thursday morning.

The chocolate plant in Hershey, PA smells like a chocolate lover's paradise.  I just so happen to be a chocolate addict and I can't suck in enough of that wonderful smell.  When I went in to check in with shipping, I told the guy that the place smelled like paradise and he looked at me like I'd gone crazy.  He informed me it stunk after you'd smelled it awhile.  I'm sure that's true - but considering I spend a lot of time in meat plants, this was a wonderful change for my senses.  The only other type of plant that smells almost as good is a cereal plant.

I get my trailer (it's a drop & hook) and I'm on my merry way.... I made it to Youngstown, OH before I called it a day.  I pulled in about 5:00 AM but the early birds have not yet gone to work and there's only  two parking spots left.  That's fine - one more than I need.

8-30-00

I woke up and headed for the showers at the Youngstown, OH  T/A  truckstop.  What a dump.  From the outside the place looks very clean and well kept.  Inside it looks much the same until you get to the showers.  They're old and it's extremely hot back in the shower area because there's no ventilation at all.  The shower is maybe half the size of my bathroom at home - and my bathroom at home is by no means big.  I'm glad I'm a relatively small person or I wouldn't hardly be able to turn around.  I wish I would have taken my camera in there to show you what I mean.  I think I will do that one of these days.... 

So, I come out of the shower nearly as sweaty as when I went in but at least I feel somewhat better.  I'm running the Ohio Turnpike today -- a rare thrill -- (hopefully you're picking up on my sarcasm) -- because I usually have to run the back roads in Ohio to escape the high costs of the Pike.  This trip can't afford the extra time, though, so it's on the Pike I go. 

Ohio has an extraordinary number of police.  There's a common joke among drivers that there's a highway patrol for every mile marker of the interstate.  I wouldn't doubt it.  They sure enjoy speed enforcement.  I guess there's really nothing wrong with that but it's also rumored that Ohio will write you for 57 in a 55 zone.  I don't know for certain that this is true.  It is one of those states with a split speed limit; cars go 65 mph while trucks are held to 55 mph.  I am against this philosophy in any state.  I don't believe anyone is foolish enough to believe that is safer. 

It comes down to money -- write tickets, make money for the state.  They have to write a lot of tickets in Ohio -- they have to pay all of those police somehow.  Drivers are rather paranoid in this state and run a lot in "clusters" and "packs".  I believe the overly strict enforcement promotes this.  I don't mean to offend anyone from the Buckeye that might be reading this ... really I do not ... but Ohio just isn't known as a "trucker-friendly" state.  I read an article in one of the trucking mags awhile back about a highway patrol officer who was fired because he refused to go out of his way to write speeding tickets to truckers.  He claimed that the Ohio State Patrol really did zero in on truckers and he was having none of it.  As a result, he was fired.  

I may go crazy (Some might say that's a short drive)  if I don't get this damn fly out of my truck.  He's been haunting and taunting me now for the entire time I've been in the truck.  No matter what I do, I cannot get him out.  As I sit waiting for him, swatter ready to take him out, he hides.  As I sleep, he lands on my face and arms.  This little sucker will not make it all the way back home ...

I hate paperwork.  Just hate it with a passion.  It has a way of piling up until you have 2 or 3 hours worth of it.  There's typically a lot of paperwork to be done with this profession.  You just can't avoid doing it -- or you don't get a paycheck!  I've spent the last 2? hours doing my dreaded paperwork and it's such a relief to be done with it.  It's so much better if you don't procrastinate with it.... but I'm a fine one to talk.

I'm running along I-80, south of Chicago, IL when a pretty blue truck pulls alongside me.  He's gesturing to the CB mic.  I pick mine up and say, "What's up"... Anyway, he and his buddy were running along and said, "C'mon, let's get on up here!" (meaning into Chicago) so what the heck, off we went.  We talked a few minutes about trivial little things.  All of us were taking I-94 into the city.  Itasca, IL is in the  western 'burbs of Chicago but since it was pretty late in the evening, the shortest way to get there was right through downtown.  As we got closer to the middle of downtown, traffic picked up some and I slowed down a bit.  They didn't.  They were running like their butts were on fire so I dropped back and eventually went out of CB radio range of them.  I wasn't in that much of a hurry that I needed to run like that through downtown.  I've done it before -- many times, mind you -- but I like to think I've become smarter, wiser & safer in my time out here.  I like to think it, anyway, and I hope it's true.

As I came around a bend, along the side of the road were my two buddies, another truck and a four wheeler, all with four way flashers going.  I slowed and asked on the radio what had happened and were they okay... Someone replied that "a car had smacked that big blue truck."   The situation was under control and they had a cell phone to call it in.  I couldn't help but to be grateful that I had decided to back it down when I did.  It sounded as though it was the four wheeler's fault -- but it's still an accident.  Even if it was the four wheeler's fault, if it is discovered that the truck was at least 15 mph over the speed limit, the whole deal may become his fault after all.

8-31-00

 pulled into the receiver's lot in Itasca, IL at about 1:00 AM and attempted to check in with Receiving.  That's SOP - (Standard Operating Procedure :)  )  Whenever you arrive at a shipper or receiver, you have to let them know you're there.  I walk into the office and gave my bills to the man at the desk.  He looks at them, looks at me and says something, but I don't know what.  He wasn't speaking my language.  He and I went on for a bit, trying to communicate, but it wasn't working.  He got on the phone and was talking to someone as he looked at my bills. (Bill of Lading)  I decided he must be telling the appropriate person that my load was there and all was now well in Itasca, IL. Through hand gestures, it was decided that I could park for the night on a hill beside the building.  Great.

My unloading appointment was for 7:00 AM.  I set my alarm, I swear I did, but apparently shut it off, too.  I don't know what in the world I did but I most definitely slept through it and did not revive until 10:00 AM.  I cannot believe I overslept by three hours.  I hadn't thought I was that tired.  Most places will come out and get you when they're ready for you, but not here.  I walked into a different office than last night's and presented my bills.  They're miffed.  I told them that I'd been there since 1:00 AM and had attempted to check in, but that didn't matter.  Bad Driver, Wait All Day, the man's face said.  I was banished to the other side of the building, given a dock number and told to wait.   The entire load was palletized and would require a whole 15-20 minutes to pull off, yet I sat and sat, along with about 4 other "Bad Driver" trucks. 

This place keeps the doors locked so you can't get inside for anything -- restrooms, vending, telephone, anything. 

I had had a reload out of Chicago, IL that delivered just north of home in Ankeny, IA.  It had to load by 2:30 PM, though, so it was lost.  Since I am a salaried driver, this is basically a pain in the butt, but hasn't really cost me any cold, hard cash... yet.  It has cost me a day's time, however, and a headache.  Since I've lost my reload, I will have to wait around until tomorrow for another.  Chances are very good I'll get out of this place just in time for rush hour and chances are just as good, if not better, that I'll play in rush hour yet again tomorrow morning.  Can you see why being on time is such a big deal?  I have some fault in this thing -- I admit that -- I really should have been up and in their faces at 7:00 AM this morning.  After watching the way this place operates, though, I can see they are very slow to unload, even if you're on time.  I may have lost my reload even if I'd been up at 7:00 AM, it's hard to say. 

Unfortunately, these shippers & receivers do what they damned well please.  If you've been following this journal, you probably have already noticed that.  If you've been following any of the new Hours of Service Reform Proposals, perhaps you've read drivers' comments that (one of)  the major flaw(s)  in the Proposal is the fact that the entire issue of loading/unloading and ridiculous waiting times is ignored. Ms Julie Cirillo thinks that carriers and shippers should just "work it out" between themselves.  Yeah, right on, Julie.  Carriers are afraid to get on shippers because they don't want to lose accounts.  Until shippers are held partly liable for these extreme waiting times, (ie, hit 'em where it hurts, $$$$$$$) nothing will change or improve.  :(