Hitchin' with MatCat

Sorry for the long delay in posting!

2010-07-28T19:06:00.001-04:00

It has been a while since I wrote anything here, sorry! My laptop was stolen a few months ago while I was in San Fran so my access to a computer has been very limited. To add to it, my google accounts got all messed up and I finally was just able to fix it all today!

I will give a much more detailed post in a few days to recap what I can since my last post!

In the Desert (Without a horse with any name!)

2010-04-06T21:13:00.002-04:00

Finally got out of Texas! A few days ago while sitting around the truck stop in San Antonio shooting the breeze with another hitchhiker, someone came up to us and asked if we could drive, we said sure. He was heading towards Phoenix to deliver a tow along RV. So both of us piled in and took off. I took first driving shift and drove for a few hours. Now my friend whom I've been trying to meet up with was working his way East. I had him get off in New Mexico, and I met up with him there and picked him up. We continued on and got off in Eloy, AZ.

During that time we decided to do an equipment shopping as he had a little bit of money to do so. So we got the bare essential equipment we needed. Also I managed to book us a hotel room for only a penny! That was amazing!

We took a taxi to Phoenix hoping it would be easyer to get out of there, though that was a mistake. The first night in Phoenix we decided to sleep in a park in Tempe. After a few hours a Park Ranger found us and gave us a ticket for being past curfew in the park, that was run in with the law #1. We boogied on over to another more quiet spot, and hung out there till morning. Come morning time a park ranger paid us another visit, run in with the law #2. This time no ticket though :).

We took some public transportation to the northern most section of Phoenix that we could, up near Happy Valley Rd. We tried hitching from there on the interstate, and up came a State Trooper, run in with the law #3. He gave us a warning and we moved on up to the on-ramp. Shortly afterward a Phoenix officer pulled up us, run in #4.

When we realized we weren't getting out of here that night, we decided to camp out under the bridge since it had a very large platform at the top, so we did that. We got up and we decided to try again in the morning so that we could get the hell out of there. Though we ended up just coming over here to this shopping plaza and hanging out today. Though it is ok because now we got a chance to recharge our phones, charge the laptop, and get on the internet.

After doing some research I have decided we will try to get about 10 miles up the road to a highway called Carefree! It is supposedly the best place to hitch north out of here, and easy to get to from where we are at.

I will check in again soon when I get a chance!

Blackhole!

2010-03-30T14:52:00.003-04:00

Man this city is a blackhole! Well I guess honestly I haven't been trying very hard the last few days. Instead I focused on making some money, and make some money I did.

I ran into an interesting local who happened to have some green, and he invited me to smoke with him the other day. He didn't have papers but I did, so he gave me enough herb to a roll a blunt! Worked for me, I rolled one for us and one for me for later!

Few hours after that it was rinse and repeat, gave me enough buds to roll another blunt, so I rolled up 2 J's. I love it when I get weed for free!

Suffice it to say I was quite baked all day that day, not very functional for much of anything else!

I had a ride that was supposed to take me to New Mexico tomorrow, but he fell through, so now I am back on the drawing board. I was supposed to meet my friend in San Fransisco but now he is moving closer towards me. We will end up meeting somewhere in the middle, god I just hope its not here in San Antonio.

Today will be my last day of farting around, gonna get out tomorrow and fly my sign and try to get out of here. Also going to try to network with some of the drivers and see if I can find a ride tonight that way.

Not much of an in detailed post, but I promise much better on the next post :).

Goodbye San Antonio?

2010-03-26T05:42:00.003-04:00

I thought Houston was bad... This city is hard to get out of! I am still stuck here trying to get the hell out! Though it has been interesting.

The other day a black driver was looking for a CDL driver to help him deliver a load because he forgot his CDL at home. So I said sure, that is no problem! So I hopped in the truck and we headed over to the receiver down the street. Well they didn't like it and threatened to call the law on us! So we hightailed it out of there!

Now the interesting part is he whipped out a fat blunt, and you know I cannot refuse to toke on some herb! So a toking we went. In a few minutes I was so baked I barely knew what was going on! Man was that a fun day. So we tried it again yesterday early in the morning, and got it delivered! His boss payed me $30 for doing so, so it was a good deal I would say.

Time is getting too close to the line, I need to get out of here HOW! I may have a ride to Phoenix today, so we will see.

Weather Delay

2010-03-20T07:25:00.003-04:00

Well it looks like I may have to delay my California bound departure for tomorrow. San Antonio is under a thunderstorm advisory today and I am sure not going to go stand on the freeway in 40-50mph gusts with hail!

I guess it is a sort of a mixed blessing as my boy said he was going to get some buds today, so I don't mind sitting and waiting on that. In the meantime I can hang out here and try to find an outgoing ride from a fellow truck driver.

Been downloading a lot of music in the last few days, it is so refreshing to listen to the music that I love. It really fills me up with hopes and aspirations and inspires me to no end. I have my guitar back and I really want to play it but I don't like to in public, I need to get over that!

Anyway just thought I would give a quick update!

Time to Move On

2010-03-19T07:22:00.002-04:00

Sitting here staring at my computer, listening to Neil Young, Greatful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and others of similar style while reading about others journeys coupled with sitting here in this one spot for quite a while and also getting ripped for a dime bag on my last 10 spot, it is really quite reflective. Wow what a run-on sentence that was huh? I guess I am just in a philosophical mood. I was really looking forward to getting good and stoned, but instead I am sober, but the ideas and thoughts that I looked forward to in an altered state of mind still seem to come to me anyways.

I sit thinking about the adventures that await, the feelings and emotions I will experience, where I will experience them, the things I want to accomplish in my life. Right now my current goal is to get up to San Francisco. I want to be there by the 25th, that gives me 6 days. Surely I can easily accomplish this goal if I keep myself focused and on track.

When I arrive there I look forward to meeting up with my best friend so that we can join together on this journey. From there I plan on hitching up near Portland Or. to visit a friend of mine. Seems like a great way to kill some time while I await for 4/20 to arrive.

I will trek back down into California for 4/20 in Arcata which is located in Humboldt County. Though it may not be the biggest 4/20 celebration in the nation, there is something magical about celebrating the day in one of the most famous locations in the USA and indeed the world for the growth of ganja.

I have looked at my journey up to this point as a learning and adjusting time. I am pretty well acclimated now to the lifestyle, and I feel it is time for a shift into a more spiritual experience. That is why I got ripped on $10 trying to get a dime bag of some green. I was really looking forward to getting good and stoned and enjoying a spiritual experience with it, though I guess I will just have to wait now wont I? It is OK, it is not the first time I have been ripped, I am sure it is some returning karma. Yeah it sucks but in the grand scheme of things it was only $10, there will be plenty of 10 spots to come back my way in the future.

I think I am also going to try to change my focus from hitching trucks to hitching cars. Cars generally are much faster, more often then not offer to share some ganja, and other then that it is just time for a change. Though until I can come up with some of the equipment I need, I am still going to try to stick to truck stops for my layovers in between.

Though my layover here in San Antonio didn't really happen the way I wanted it to, it was still a good refreshing layover. After getting my laundry washed, getting a shower, and some good productive internet time in, I feel refreshed and ready to move on. I sort of regret letting my buddy hold on to my guitar, now I have to wait for him to bring it back to me before I can proceed. I have been awake all night, so now I will have to sleep during the day which is going to throw off my schedule.

To a degree I am seeing who my true friends are in this situation. It is amazing to see who will really be there for you and who will just give a smile and say good luck, or will just flat out tell you you are stupid or crazy. I am really getting the feeling of being on my own, it is starting to sink in in a way I have never felt it before. Not that I am feeling 'lonely' or something, but starting to see the reality of being on my own. In some ways it is a scary feeling yet even more importantly it is an empowering feeling with a great sense of freedom and responsibility. It really makes me wish I had a more creative and impacting way of expressing my thoughts and my feelings for others to share. I really wish I was better at my guitar then I am. I wish I could sing even a little bit. I wish I was a better author then I am.

On the subject of authorship... There was a time years ago that I was really writing some awesome and inspiring things. Granted it was during a time of heavy mind altering substance abuse, but there was a creativity in my writing that I had never experienced before that point in time, nor afterward. There have been many times I have tried to rekindle that fire, yet in my mind nothing I write compares. I feel like my writing is rather crappy to be honest, that I cannot get my point across the way I would like, that I cannot infuse the emotion and feeling that I would like the story I am telling to convey. I am not much of a story teller either, so I guess I just do not have the articulation in language to express myself the way I would like. Nonetheless I will still write to the best of my ability and continue to share via this blog, I just wish I could convey some of the things I really wish to convey better then I am.

I am sort of feeling a need for support right now, so I ask that you guys start leaving some comments! I would like some feedback, and to know who is reading about my life! I really like to have a full interaction, so everyone please participate!

Until next time...

Peace, Love, and Happiness to all!

To Make a Decision

2010-03-17T17:03:00.003-04:00

I arrived in San Antonio last Thursday! Wow I made my goal of getting here, though it is a bitter sweat success. Now I am faced with a decision of whether or not to wait around for a driving job or get back on the road and continue on. To make my decision I am going to wait for a few days and see if my buddy will have the truck ready very soon. If it is all a go within a few days I will do that, but more then likely I will head on west.

My best friend is heavily considering joining me on the road, and if he does we will meet up in San Francisco in 2 weeks. Personally I would like to do that much more then I want to get in a truck and go on making a living in this drab economy in this country that is failing faster then a poorly made Chinese trinket.

Sitting back and looking at it all, it is like watching a scientific study of rats on meth, everyone is rushing around trying to do this or that, all in the name of money. They don't stop and bother to pay attention to anything but what is concerning to them. The more I fade away from the American way the more I despise it. Yet at the same time a part of me misses having money in my pocket and the security that comes with it, but that is part of why I am doing this. The farther away from any of it that we are, the better off we are.

Just sitting here writing this blog post, looking out of the window at all of the traffic driving by under the beautiful blue sky, the temperature outside is perfect, with a wonderful breeze that is as refreshing as a tall glass of lemonade on a lazy summer day, yet I am sitting inside with the air as stagnant as a stale piece of bread, cocooned and isolated from the world. It is a despairing feeling that drives me to want to continue on, to go on my way and see what will be next. Perhaps I am just being emotionally driven by this Neil Young song, it certainly seems to fit my feelings.

I think the true defining moment of this experience will be based on what my decision will be. Will I choose to take the route of comfort and conformity or will I choose the road of the unknown but which is also the road of freedom.

Since I have arrived in San Antonio I have been searching on Craigslist for an opportunity to make some money so I can get some much needed equipment, however I haven't been able to find anything. That is a bit discouraging! I really need to get a good backpack, a tent, and a sleeping bag. Those are my primary equipment needs. Secondarily I want to get a phone and a descent digital camera (To take pictures of all my adventures!). I am also needing some clothing and a good pair of shoes, what I am wearing now is not well suited for the task.

As I know that a lot of fellow drivers out there read my journey via this blog, I am going to ask for some donations! I will gladly except comcheck or EFS check, just e-mail me and I will let you know check # so you can put some funds on one! Any donations that come in this way I will report here in this blog along with what I did with it. If any non-truckers would like to donate please e-mail me and we can work out a delivery solution!

Obviously donations are not required, but they are appreciated! At either rate all that is needed will always be provided in some way or fashion, at least that is my personal belief and it is one that has yet to fail me.

The Dallas/Houston Experience

2010-03-11T18:58:00.002-05:00

Shortly after getting settled into the Dallas J, I met a fellow hitcher, an alcoholic who called himself Philly because of his origins in that city. He slept in a sleeping bag out in the wild, bedding down wherever possible. His goal was simple, pan handle for booze and find a ride. Now Dallas is a in a dry county, so booze isn't so easy to come buy, but being located fairly close to a dangerous ghetto, he managed to locate a bootlegger in the area. It was quite interesting to see the style and methodology of a seasoned vet on the road, to see him in action, to learn some new ideas and tips in the survival methods of the road.

Now at the same time, it is hard to pan handle and hitch while another is in the same spot, it is a competition to try to get what each wants, and this was complicated by another hitcher popping in and trying to do the same. Now he portrayed himself as a seasoned vet as well, but we could tell he wasn't that seasoned, and pretty much tried to keep separate of him. There was another as well whom also happened to be a hopeless alcoholic, who regaled us with many war stories of various criminal activities. He was an interesting guy but a little too 'hardened' for my personal taste.

I also discovered two who I thought where just drivers layed over like so many others, however it turned out they where professional sign flyers, making $100+ each a day flying signs in choice locations. They where quite interesting and I learned a few things from them.

Now for me I am not on this journey just for survival, or just to make what I can pan handling and such. Sure, I will do what I need to do to make a few bucks when I need it, but it isn't my ultimate goal by any means. My goal is to live a simple life according to my beliefs. So I try to get what I need and be happy with that. Ultimately everyone found themselves a ride, and I was the last looking for one of all the hitchers. It was an interesting few days, and a ride came along willing to take me as far as Houston. I needed a change of scenery so I took it.

A few hours later I am in Houston, it's night, too late to try to hitch, so I make myself comfortable. come morning time I overslept my preferred wake up time, so I just sort of hung out, and got a feel for the situation. Shortly after dark I decided to take a walk around the perimeter of the truck stop to see what I could see, and ran into a little party of Household Goods guys with a good amount of beer, and had a few, that was a nice little distraction. Got me a good nights sleep, and was awoken about 6am by a female employee who seems to think she is God of the truck stop, giving me a warning that this isn't a hotel and the constable would be glad to escort me out if I got caught sleeping again. Sure enough the constable came checking about 10 minutes later.

I got to noticing that there was a Hotel down the road, so I set off for a walk to get some free breakfast. Now if you ever travel in Texas, you will learn that on the Interstates they have an odd setup for on and off ramps. They like to use one way access roads on either side, and you have to find an over or underpass to cross to the other side. So as I am walking north I am looking for the hotel, hoping it is on my side of the highway, and of course it was not. So I kept going hoping to find a way across. I never did find a way across but I did run into a different hotel which had an excellent breakfast. I had myself a wonderful Texas shaped waffle, some eggs, sausage, some pastries, and juice. It was surely tasty and well worth the almost 2 mile walk to get to it. So I finished eating, gave a nod of satisfaction to the clerk in the hotel, and headed on back to the truck stop to setup for a ride.

I flew me a sign, talked to some drivers, but ultimately didn't find anything for the day. So I called it a night and came back inside to await for the next day, and do some networking with the drivers inside.

I ultimately got stuck at the J until Monday. That morning of all people, the not so seasoned hitcher from Dallas appeared from a truck! At this point the management at the J came to the conclusion that I was not in a truck, and was just trying to find a ride, he gave me until sundown to find one and be gone by then.

I got to talking to a local Mexican, who gave me a ride to the Pilot about 15 miles south, so me and this other hitcher took the ride and went on down there.

We didn't last long there and security made us leave within an hour, we weren't going to have any luck late at night anyway. Not knowing where else to go for the night, the other hitcher decided that under the overpass of I45 would be a good spot for the night, not what I wanted but I went with him to it. I didn't get much sleep under there!

In the morning I headed back to the Pilot, and flew a sign and tried to get a ride out of there. The store management told us to leave, so we headed over to the old security booth by the truck entrance / exit. Eventually we got told to leave there too, so we did.

I had no plans of sleeping under that bridge again, and I noticed from my snooping around that there was a nice patch of woods behind the truck stop, so we went and investigated it for a possible camp site. He wasn't very comfortable with the concept of camping, but I love camping and I am skilled at it, so for me it was a much more comfortable idea.

I found a good spot, instructed him to find some wood for a fire, and we setup camp. We took a walk to a local grocery store and got some food to cook on the fire. I got the fire going and cooked a descent meal for the night, and setup for bed. Was a descent night, weather stayed OK and the temp stayed fairly warm. Was a bit annoying though was he kept waking up and complaining the fire was out, instead of just getting wood and putting it on, but that was useless anyway as he had no concept of how to work a camp fire! So I kept getting woke up every hour or so to restock the fire, that was annoying.

We got up early, and decided that this Pilot was not going to yield a ride, so I decided to head up to I-610 which was a mile away, and hitch from the interstate directly. Happily I split ways with the other hitcher as he wanted to go to West Memphis so he stayed on I45 northbound and I went on to 610 south bound.

I got a ride fairly quickly by two kids heading out to I10, so I took it. They offered to help smoke a Joint, so I did so, that was nice, though where I got dropped off at was not very nice. I tried to stay where they dropped me off at and hitch but this was very much city, and the interstate very crowded with traffic, didn't take but 20 minutes for a Houston Police Officer to come by and tell me to get off the interstate, so I did.

I ended up walking about 2 miles and found a waffle house. By now it was dark, so I decided to get something to eat. I pan handled for about 30 minutes, and was up to almost $7, was about to go in and eat, when a Mexican offered me an entire pizza! One of the waffle house workers also offered me a soda, so I was set! After eating I walked to a near by gas station and get me a pack of smokes. Now I stashed my stuff behind the waffle house, and went back to check on it, while figuring out what to do for the night for sleep. It was nice, clean, and quite with a nice patch of grass behind that waffle house, so I slept right there on the grass!

I woke up, and decided it was time to get the hell out of here, so I headed on down the road. Now hitching in this area is difficult, the access road is a 3 lane highway with no shoulder, the interstate is crowded as can be, and dangerous. Luckily I found a side road that is the only exit for a rather large housing complex, which fairly descent traffic exiting from it. So I sat down at the corner, put my bags down with my sign saying 'West' hanging from my guitar.

I sat there for about an hour when a guy pulled up to give me a ride to outside of the city limits. He ended up taking me to the Loves here in Katy, which was perfect for me as my goal was to at least get here anyway.

After 3 days of outside survival, it is nice to relax indoors. I got here early, around 10:40am central time, and decided that I would just relax here until morning. I am tired, my feet hurt, and I have internet access, so it will be a nice distraction to relax for a little bit.

It is bitter sweet realizing this phase of my journey is nearly over. Come tomorrow I will get my last ride of this journey to San Antonio which is only 3 hours away. Part of me is glad to see that I will actually arrive at my destination that I set forth as my goal, another part of me is sad that the journey will be over. Looking back over the last month, the time spent hitching has been really fun, enlightening, and adventurous. Some bad times, mostly good times, not a bit of it do I regret.

When I get to San Antonio I face a fork in the road, in one direction I can hop into a truck and continue my life as it was a few months back, or I can keep going down this road of adventure in hitching. Since I cannot really decide which I really want to do more, I will let fate decide. If the driving gig goes through, I will do it, if not, I will continue on down the road. At either rate my life is destined to be on the road, whether it be in a truck or on the side of the road with my thumb sticking out, I will be on the road.

From this journey I learned how simple life really is, and how complicated we make it every day for ourselves. My long term goals have been refined, and I wish nothing but simplicity. Whatever road my life takes, I will continue to chronicle it in this blog, for all to read. It is all just another chapter in my life, which I am sure makes for a great story for someone.

Life is Beutiful

2010-02-28T21:19:00.002-05:00

I know most don't understand why I chose to do what I am doing, and that is ok. Some of us are happy and content living in the predictable day to day grind, toiling away at life, knowing exactly what to expect, being comfortable in complaintancy and feeling safe with doing all they can do provide what they think they need in life. I am not like that, I never have been, and I never will be.

I got a ride today from a driver who was in his day an old hippie from the 60's and 70's. Real cool dude, had a great conversation from Little Rock to Dallas about all sorts of things. Got to the truc stop near Dallas, and smoked a doob. What a great way to end a day!

To watch a beautiful golden sun sink below the horizon, painting everything in it's path a brilliant gold of which the metal could never reach it's splendor. Brings on a wonderful peaceful feeling, melting into my mellow mind, showing me how wonderful life is and how peace is still in the world of you know how to see it.

You don't have to hunt for goodness, for love, and peace, be open to it, embrace it, and it will surely find you and give you the biggest embrace of warmth and happiness.

I don't yet know what direction my life is going, I really don't want to know, I am happy and content in knowing that it is going in a direction, and knowing that there is no bad or wrong direction. Life provides what you need, it provides the answers, all you need to do is just go along with the flow, and know, and trust in your heart that all is well, all is right, and all works out.

I should be in San Antonio by tomorrow, where I will meet up with my friend, maybe get a job for a while, maybe jump back in a truck, maybe not, but one thing is for sure, I will write about it!

Gettin' Around

2010-02-22T14:38:00.002-05:00

Well I got picked up by a truck driver in PA, been hanging out with him for the last 2 weeks. Right now my ultimate goal is Texas, but I have been all around. Been helping him out with driving and doing what truck drivers do, and exchange I have had a warm place to sleep, food, and cigarettes, not a bad arrangement!

When I get a little bit longer time I will sit down and give a much more detailed update.

Gettin' Around

2010-02-15T17:51:00.002-05:00

In Memphis right now, will be in Louisana tomorrow. Things are going great! Wish I had more time to give more details, but my time is limited right now. I will give a more detailed report once I have time to really sit down and write it up.

My current goal is to get to Texas, but I am not in a big rush, should be there in a few days.

Zero Hour

2010-02-11T17:12:00.001-05:00

Looks like the time has come to hit the road. I haven't gotten any of the extra resources I was hoping to get, but oh well. Not to mention I was supposed to get a ride to the near by truck stop, but that didn't happen so now I have to hitch from this small town.

I will keep posted and give everyone an update once I get a chance!

Delayed by the Snow

2010-02-10T16:29:00.003-05:00

My departure has been delayed by the snow, we are getting a descent blizzard. Just wanted to give that update! I will post and let everyone know when I do get started, probably in a day or two.

It's been a while.. Again... and Again!

2010-02-09T10:14:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted anything new here in ages. Suffice it to say many a loads have been done since my last post, as well as a company change, being off the road, and now getting back on the road... only this time without the truck!

Circumstances in my life have lead me to do something new and different, I am going to go hitching! Yeah that's right, Hitchhiking! Not sure what to expect, but I surmise adventure, ups, downs, and a lot of learning about myself along the way.

I have no real destination set... at least not yet, though I do have a few places to stop in mind. Obviously leading a life of hitchhiking is quite the departure from any life of luxury, but then again I am not that materialistic. I do firmly believe in a simple life, even though I love technology, but I think the two can coincide.

I look back at the life of the hippies, and gypsies, and my own life of traveling the country in a rig, and to me no life is better then one where you are always somewhere new, and experiencing something different. I know many people are calling me crazy, or stupid, or suicidal, but I don't see it that way. I see this country as a beautiful place, full of wonderful and amazing people. I haven't lived in the box for a long time, and I don't plan to start doing so any time soon.

I am starting off on a shoestring, or lack thereof, I have $0, not even a penny... well on second look at my bag I do have my 2 cents! I am rather lacking in some seriously needed equipment, such as a good winter coat, a sleeping bag, a flashlight, a small and light tent, etc. Hopefully I will be able to procure these things quickly along the way, it's cold here in PA!

I will be starting my Journey today in Bloomsburg, PA, at the Travel Centers of America truck stop. With the snow storm coming in, I will probably get stuck there for a day or two, but maybe I will get lucky and find a way out rather quick. From there I am going to try to head west, or south. My first goal in mind is Indiana, to see a buddy of mine.

Keep an eye, I will post as often as I can here to the blog to keep everyone up to date! For right now I do not have a camera, so pictures will have to wait.

2009-04-19T00:25:00.002-04:00

Well it has been a while since I posted! Sorry for taking so long! It has been a very busy few weeks, but I must admit I have had time in between to post, but I have not.

Frankly, it has been so busy the last few weeks there are too many details to try to recap it all. Let's see if I can try to summarize though. Wow looking back at my last post with my location I was in Cochize, AZ! From there I loaded up in Phoenix, and headed to Austin. From there I loaded in Dallas that went to New Orleans. From New Orleans I loaded up in Mississippi with a 6 stop load, West Virginia, three in PA, a stop in NJ, then finally a stop in Chesapeake, VA. From Chesapeake I got a load going to Oxford, PA. From there I loaded in Carlisle, PA to go to Philadelphia. From Philadelpia back to Carlisle, then Back to Philly, then back to Gettysburg! From Gettysburg, to Massachusetts! And now here I am caught up in the recap going from Mass to Wisconson!

Sorry for the lack of details, but it has just been too much to really recap it all in detail. I am going to try to stay more current from now on though.

Recent Pictures

2009-03-24T07:05:00.007-04:00

All pictures taken with my Cell Phone. Hopefully soon I will get a good camera!

Just a cool reflection of the truck

Some Mountains

Cool sign I saw!

A Rest Area

Another Rest Area View

A Mountain

A cool dusk time picture from the truck stop

Another angle of the truck stop at dusk

A road runner in New Mexico! MEEP MEEP

Colorado Rockies

Colorado Rockies

Monarch Mountain

Monarch Mountain

Monarch Mountain

Monarch Mountain

Monarch Mountain

A Mountain

A mountain at a Rest Area

Same Rest Area

My truck in front of mountain at Rest Area

Some More Mountains

A cool looking Mountain

More Mountains

Monument Valley

Another cool looking Mountain

The Sights, Sounds, and Smells of Truckin'

2009-03-24T06:46:00.002-04:00

As I was walking back to my truck after going into the truck stop to go to the bathroom, get a soda, and a snack, I had a flashback of sorts back to the days when I was in trucking school. The flashback was triggered by a truck pulling out of the fuel island with his fan going in combination with the time of day. Back when I was in truck school, the day started at 5am in the morning while it was still dark. I remember how in awe I was to the sound the engine in the rigs, all of the lights on them, the smell of diesel and rubber, the smell of the asphalt, the sheer size of the rigs. I remember how I thought to myself, "My God, these things are so big, and so powerful, how could I ever control one of these things, how special is the person that does?", and for a brief moment I was brought back to this mind frame. At the time things like the economy, crappy freight rates, fuel costs, and the overall life on the road as it is for real, was far from my mind. I was enthralled with sheer amazement at these machines.

Over time the smells just blend in, and you don't even notice it, the sight of the lights seem to diminish, the sounds of the engine, and the sound of air escaping from the brakes seem to fade into the background. The rig no longer seems so big, and in fact everything else just seems super small. Controlling it is no harder then driving your car, and in fact driving a car is much more uncomfortable because it is so small. The truck never seems to have enough power when you are climbing that hill at 40 miles an hour. Your thoughts are about hoping the next load has a descent rate, that the fuel prices will drop or be cheaper at the next fuel stop, hoping that when you get to the consignee that there will be a load to get you somewhere else because the economy is so shot. You always look for the next best thing to make living life on the road easier.

This little flashback has given me a nice refreshing mind state and a reminder to try to look at truckin' like I did when I first started!

Taking the Scenic Route

2009-03-20T11:59:00.002-04:00

First off I want to apologize for not posting in a while! I was quite busy the last few days and I spent a lot of time in bad cell reception areas.

After I loaded in Grand Prairie I took off for Pueblo, CO. I had to sit there for the weekend but that was Ok, plenty of shopping to be done there so I managed to spend my paycheck on a few needed and un-needed things :). Now Monday morning is when things got interesting!

Monday when I got to the construction site I was delivering too, it was a nice big open dirt lot, and at first they told me to park it right there by where I came in, COOL easy in and out... WRONG! Then they asked me to back up onto a hill so they could unload it right near where they had to install it. So I backed up onto the hill. Now the construction guy was SUPPOSED to be spotting me, but he didn't do a very good job because he got me stuck in a soft patch of dirt on a small drop off! We unloaded it where it was however. So after getting unloaded it was time to figure out how to get unstuck. Now on top of this, one of my drives went flat in the process! On top of that the company complained about the locking pins missing from my crane arm, and called my company and complained! So here I was stuck in soft dirt, a flat drive, and the company telling me I can't get a load until I get the crane pins fixed!

Well after getting some pallets of cinder blocks moved, and running over some plastic electrical piping I managed to back the truck out of it's little hole it was in. I then had to drive about 12 miles up the road to get the tire patched.

I still had my final stop to do yet over in Battlement Mesa, CO as well. So I headed on over there on US 50 across the mountains! It was definitely quite a beautiful scenic ride to say the least. Comparing Us 50 to I70 however, I would say I70 would be a better choice because it has an overall faster speed limit. US 50 cuts through a lot of towns and is mostly a 2 lane road with a lot of curves. Not a bad road though!

Tuesday morning I delivered my final in Battlement Mesa, and headed over to Grand Junction, CO to get my crane pins repaired. I had to sit until Wednesday to get a load, but I got one!

So Wednesday I picked up a load of piping insulation, it was only on 4 pallets and weighted less then 1,000 pounds. That load had to go to Cochise, AZ. Now there aren't too many easy ways to get from Western Colorado down to Arizona. So after a quick look at the map, the best choice was to take 70 over into Utah, and catch 191 down to 163, then jump on 160 over to I40, then I17 down to I10.

I tell you this, that ride on 191/163/160 is now my most favorite road(s) in all of America! The scenery is almost magical and mystical, with the most beautiful landscape that one could ever imagine! From the famous arches, to Valley of the Gods, to Monument Valley and through the painted desert. A lot of western movies have been shot through these areas, and it is surely something you HAVE to see in person.

I delivered my load over in Cochise, AZ which is right near where the shoot out at the OK Corral took place! Delivered to a coal power plant over there. I have to pickup a load in Phoenix today, so yesterday I headed back towards Phoenix and stopped in Eloy for the night. Just sitting and waiting on a fellow driver on a forum I am on called called ClasssADrivers.com so that we can roll together over towards Phoenix. Just found out I am picking up a load of Diapers! Going to Austin, TX.

I have a LOT of pictures that I took, and I promise I will post some up soon!

Gettin' Around

2009-03-12T21:44:00.003-04:00

Monday I loaded up in Phoenix, my trailer stuffed to the rims with milk jugs headed for a bottling plant in Austin, TX. That run was 1100 miles, I did 970 of them straight! First time in my life I drove for so long, 16 hours. I don't know how I managed to stay awake and alert, but I did! The load had to be delivered by 8am Wednesday morning, and I had no time on Monday to do but 120 miles, so I had to hammer down all day Tuesday and well into the morning.

Waited on a load all day yesterday, and didn't get one. This morning though they informed me that there was a load ready for me to pick up tomorrow in Grand Prairie. So I deadheaded up to Dallas to wait for tomorrow morning. Now I have two places I love to drive through in America, the first is the desert, and I got that done earlier this week, and the second is across the rocky mountains on I-70. This load has two stops, first on Pueblo, CO, and the second just outside of Grand Junction, CO, which means I have to go across the Rockies!

Although I don't have any chains! Technically this time of year you are supposed to have them to go across them mountains, but that is OK, I will get across there. I just hope the weather cooperates. I probably won't get to go over the mountains until probably Monday though. More then likely the first delivery will be on Monday, which means I have the entire weekend to get to Pueblo. So I will have some sitting time, which is OK because I could use some time to work on my laptop and some of my side projects.

One of the cool things I saw in New Mexico, was a road runner! I never saw a real one before, and I caught out of the corner of my eye something running around the parking lot, I took a look and low and behold, it was a road runner running around! He didn't go meep meep though.

I have been thinking of doing a truckers website, but I am not sure exactly what I would do with it. I know a lot of my readers are drivers, so if you think a website would be nice, leave some comments with what you would like to see in a website for drivers. I know some of the ideas I have been thinking of are trucking news, articles on anything related to the industry, classifieds, load board, maybe a forum, truck stop guide, interesting places to go and see that are truck friendly or easily accessible, tools to help drivers keep connected with their families, maybe an online c-store, other tools to help make driving a little easier, etc. If you got any suggestions for what sorts of features you would like to see in a truckers website, go ahead and voice your idea! If I get a good enough feed back I will go ahead and start working on the project.

Things Are Going Good

2009-03-09T08:56:00.002-04:00

The last few days have been good ones. We haven't been sitting much at all. The load I am under now we picked up in Louisville, KY. We dropped the first stop off in Indianapolis, IN then boogied down to Dallas, TX. Dropped my co-driver off there for a couple of weeks home time. I then drove here to Phoenix, AZ. I love driving through the dessert.

Yesterday I bought a laptop! Found it on craigslist, and managed to get it for less then half what it is worth! It is not brand new, and has a few cosmetic issues to the bottom side of the casing, but the screen is in perfect condition, and everything works great. For those computer geeks out there it is a Dell Lattitude D820, it has an Intel Core Duo T7200 processor (That's 2x 2Ghz), 2GB DDR2 ram, an 80GB SATA 7200RPM HD, Built in Wifi, Built in BT, EC and PC Ports, Firewire Port, DVD +-R/W, "15.4 wide screen aspect ratio monitor. She is a quick laptop for sure, and not very old at all. This is by far the most powerful system I have ever personally owned.

So now I have a laptop of my own, I can get back into some of my programming projects I had to sideline for a while! Also I am really wanting to do a truckers website, but I have not put any real planning into it yet. It is just an idea I have been wanting to do.

Long Weekend in Charlotte

2009-03-02T22:01:00.004-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in 4 days, but it has been a long weekend in Charlotte, NC. We got there Thursday night, and had to sit until Sunday night! It wasn't all that bad, as I got paid early and was able to kill the weekend time by shopping and playing with my new phone I got on Saturday!

My new phone, the Samsung Rant

Ok, enough of my ranting... no pun intended, on my new phone. The laptop died the other day! This is going to make it tough for me to keep up on the forums I am on, as well as post my blog as often as I want. Until we get a new laptop, I will just have to keep my posts fairly short as I will do them on the phone, and when I get access to a computer I will do more detailed posts; such as this one.

It hasn't been all fun and games however! We left Charlotte Sunday night to come over to Asherville, NC where we deliver... that was a bad idea. We decided to roll shortly after the bad snow storm started raging. Only 20 some miles from Charlotte, my co-driver decided to stop at a truck stop to get some air in one of the drives, REALLY bad idea. As we entered onto the exit ramp, we quickly noticed about 5 cars spun out all over it. Halfway up, a white car was stuck right in the middle of the ramp, in our way! The ramp itself was sloped upward and curved, with ditches on either side. We where forced to stop and wait for the car to get unstuck. As a result of our stopping, WE got stuck too. A man with a Jeep managed to pull all of the stuck cars out after about 6 hours, but unfortunately, we weren't so lucky to be able to be pulled out. We tried all we could to get out on our own, but to no avail. During this 6 hour time frame, countless cars spun out all around us, as well as a truck that jack knifed on the opposite side of us. Eventually a wrecker came and pulled him out, then pulled us out.

We sat there at the truck stop where we got unstuck, and headed out towards our delivery point this morning. The roads where still quite nasty, and it was a slow 80 mile drive. We got to our delivery site, but the construction company decided to take a snow day, so now we have to wait until tomorrow morning to unload.

Yes I have pics of all of this!

Us stuck on the ramp

Cars spun out and stuck behind us

So at this point, we are again sitting, and waiting. But at least this time we are only sitting until early tomorrow morning. We deliver then head for Birmingham, AL to deliver for tomorrow morning, from there I do not know yet.

Military Bases - Always a Ball of Fun (not)

2009-02-26T09:14:00.006-05:00

I am currently getting unloaded at the US Army Depot in Chambersburg, PA. I am split between my views of delivering to military bases. On one note, I love going to them because it's exciting, on the other hand, it is a PAIN IN THE REAR! Security checks, checking out your truck, scrutinizing your paperwork. They sent us back and fourth all over the base before finally getting us to the right spot to get unloaded. We are haulin' a load of 26 APU's (Auxiliary Power Units), for use on APC's (Armored Personal Carriers). We picked them up at a military contractor in Alabama, which was a pretty cool yard. Guys driving around all over the place in these APC's.

This weekend is looking like it is going to be another long one. We go to pick up in Gettysburg, PA at 1:00pm, for two stops. One in North Carolina, and one in Alabama. However we cannot deliver the NC stop until Monday! Oh well another weekend of sitting.

The Crane Van

2009-02-24T22:58:00.005-05:00

I wanted to show everyone what exactly this crane van is about. It was new to me, as I never heard of a 53' dry van with a crane in it, and I know a lot of other drivers never heard of it either. It really is quite neat and makes quick and easy work of moving freight in and out of the dry van. Most of what we haul would more typically be hauled on a flatbed, and because the freight most of the time goes to construction sites, there is no dock to bump to. Hence the need for the crane to get the elevators out of the truck.

Most think the crane would take up a lot of space in the dry van, but it really doesn't. It rides on rails at the top of the trailer, and only takes up a few inches of the ceiling, and takes up no space on the sides. For lifting freight out of the trailer there are extension bars that extend outward about 8 feet. I have a few pictures to show the setup.

Here is a picture down the belly of the trailer. You can easily see the crane riding the rails, while holding a crate.

Here is a picture of the crane out on the extensions lowering a crate down to the ground.

Finally Moving

2009-02-24T01:28:00.002-05:00

The weekend in South Florida was ok, but agonizingly boring. It is very frustrating to sit in a place with so much to do, but no money to do anything. I was so relieved when Monday morning rolled in to finally get back to doing some work. We went straight to our delivery point in Miami first thing at 7am, what a backing skills test that was! Got that unloaded, and I drove off for Davenport, FL. Got there unloaded, and loaded at the same place, then drove to Jackson, GA. With a little bit of creative logging I managed to do 672 miles in my 11 hour alotment for the day :). Not an easy task to do in Florida traffic!

We unload 2 stops in Atlanta in the morning, then load in Atlanta to go to PA. Hopefully they will have a good load waiting for us up there. We aren't supposed to deliver until Thursday. Atleast we are for the moment, doing more moving then sitting.

While driving aross central florida to cut over to 75, I was reminded of why I love driving a rig so much. For as far as I could see, where orange trees set a fire by a beutiful sky starting off firey orange fading to deep majestic purple to black. As much as I really dislike where this country is heading, it is a beutiful and majestic land.

Sitting... Again

2009-02-21T08:43:00.003-05:00

Sitting here in sunny and warm Ft. Lauderdale, FL. In most cases I could think of no where else better to sit for a weekend, but we need miles! We have spent more time sitting then driving, and we are not going to make much money that way.

The drive from Hatfield, PA to Florida was nice though. I started in Wilson, NC at 1am, and got to Orlando, FL by about 10:30am yesterday. By the time we found the construction site we had to deliver to, my 11 was up. It was nice to get a full 11 driving in though. I drove 640 miles.

I need to back us up a little though, to the delivery point in Orangeburg, NY. The site as labeled by the Bill of Laden is a childrens pysch hopsital. We drive to the place, and it is a large complex. Quite a few modern looking buildings, but also some buildings so old, they looked like something out of a horror movie! Driving around this place trying to locate the construction site was like driving around in some horror movie where a mad scientist or doctor is performing crazy experiments on people. When we first got there it was about 6:30 in the morning, and it wasn't quite daytime yet, and the fog of the morning clung onto these old, scarey looking buildings just as you would expect to see in a horror movie. After doing some research on this place, I found a NY Times article supporting the possability that this place is indeed something out of a movie. The article which you can read by clicking here tells about how a man died in 1986 from being shot up with 9 different drugs! I took some pics posted below.