Road Ramblings

Quick recap on first 3 weeks.

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 16:59:00 +0000

I just a little accounting of my first 3 weeks out, I only did 3 weeks because that is all the paystubs I have so far.
Total miles. 7281 with one short week being my first one out. I turned in about 2200 this last week, so that would be about 9500 for 4 weeks. Given a short week, and some maintenance items, its pretty solid.

I have decided that will do a lease or purchase in a month or so.

Fishing and Explosives

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 02:09:00 +0000

I took my kids and did some fishing early this morning. My kids caught their first fish ever today. Nice little sunfish, no big deal but they had a good time. I went at 530AM for few hours and then again later in the day with my wife also. It was nice having some help with the constant bait, snag, etc issues that come with fishing and children. It rained pretty good this afternoon and we just sat in the rain and fished. It was a nice break from the normal routine.

This evening we set of some explosives, aka fireworks. Kansas is one of the few states you can get the real good stuff, so I really go overboard sometimes. I was good this year and only spent about $50 on fireworks instead of the normal $100-150.

Tomorrow will be another fun day, with Italian sausage, more explosives on the menu. Then on Monday I will start packing things up and getting ready to hit the road again on Tuesday.

HOME!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:47:00 +0000

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After some maneuvering, I made it home this morning at about 1000AM. I dragged a load of FedEx freight from Des Moines to Omaha, NE. Then I was given a load of Wendy's French Fries to take to Kansas City, MO. I delivered that last night and made my way to the south side of KC utilizing my personal conveyance allotment on my logs. I grabbed some sleep and made my way to the house this morning.

My parents are visiting from Phoenix, so its good to see everybody. My birthday was yesterday, so there is steak, and red velvet cake on the menu tonight. My kids, wife and even my dog seemed glad to see me when I got home. I grabbed a shower as soon as I walked in the door and shaved, now I look and feel more human.

4th of July is awesome here in Kansas, because you can buy really good explosives. I plan on spending a few bucks on that, plus we will see the city display. I am also going to take my kids fishing on Monday morning. They went fishing while I was away but had little luck, hopefully I can remedy that for them.

I plan on heading out on Tuesday morning for another month tour. I will tally up my miles for the past month and see how that went. I want to say it was 2000, 2700, 3200, 2100 for the past 4 weeks. Giving me an even 10,000 for the month. I can't complain about that. Hill Brothers keeps you moving for sure, and that is very important to me. When I worked for that short time last year driving, my miles were pitiful at Shaffer. Sure they pay more per mile, but it doesn't matter much if you sit all the time.

Nothing is ever smooth.

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:55:00 +0000

I delivered the drums of hazardous, flammable, whatever to this place in Des Moines. Thanks for the bad directions to get there, whoever wrote them. I always enjoy knocking down tree branches and asking firefighters for directions. Seems people don't know their right from their left. This is one of the reasons I wanna get a GPS. You can never depend on good directions, and its easy to get yourself in a bad spot with bad directions.

After 4 weeks on the road, my patience is wearing thin also. I am usually good for 3-4 weeks, but then I need a break. I am convinced that anybody with a motorhome or rental truck should be taken to the woodshed.

As it stands, there is no freight to get me home from Des Moines, so I have to load a FedEx load here in the morning, and take it to Omaha. I am hoping they have something for me in Omaha. I will try to stay positive about it, but honestly I am a little aggravated.

I am considering a purchase or lease of my own truck, so I did some test running and determining fuel economy. Fuel is really the one cost you can have quite a bit of influence on as a driver. I am convinced I can average 7.0 mpg or better with this type of truck. The 7.0 number makes sense as far as pulling the trigger on something like this. It will result in a significant increase in income from my current level. I will probably do something in the next 30-60 days.

Next post will be from home with any luck. Be safe.

A load of what???

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 16:31:00 +0000

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So I delivered my cat and dog food load to the Distribution Center in Ottawa, IL at about 900AM on Monday. I was asked to do a yard check when I arrived, This amounts to checking to see what trailers are on the property and if they are loaded or not. I did that then got instructions to take my 10 hour break because my next load was loading at 900PM and delivers at 500AM in Romulus, MI. That means that even though I just woke up a couple hours ago, now I have to magically sleep and be ready to drive straight through to deliver on time. Then I got a preplan out of the Detroit, area. This means I will have to drive all night, then also get reloaded and headed towards Des Moines. I just decided it would work itself out, and went to Wal Mart and did some shopping for the week ahead.

I tried napping and got maybe an hours or two of sleep before heading over to Petsmart to pickup my load. I check in and find that the load is only 4000lbs, 24 pallets of LIVE FISH. That have to be maintained at 76 degrees in our refrigerated trailer. Nice, 4000 lbs will be easy to drag over to Michigan. I arrived at the receiver at 330AM, shoe horned the truck and trailer into the small dock and laid down for a nap.

BANG BANG BANG, 500AM and the receiver is waking me up to open the doors, and get unloaded. He informs me that the dock plate is broken and that I have to switch docks of course. Grumble, I realign the truck and trailer into the next dock over and unloading begins. Forklift goes in grabs a pallet off my truck, pulls out and places the pallet into a waiting cargo van and zoom, gone. I guess these are so e pretty important fish. LOL.

By 615AM I was unloaded and on my way to my pickup in Wyandotte, MI. It's a load from BASF going to Des Moines. I arrived about 715AM and was loaded in 30 minutes, with fresh new ~~kick me signs~~ placards for the hazardous substance inside those drums. 40,000lbs of something flammable. Always gives you a warm feeling. I used to haul gasoline in tankers all over Phoenix, so I am pretty used to it. Once I was loaded I had to take my 10 hour break, and finally was under way to Iowa at 500PM.

Last night in Iowa, I had a hard time finding suitable parking for this Hazmat. Usually you can get away with parking on a shoulder going into a rest area, or even on on ramp. With Hazmat you have some more strict rules and have to actually find a legit parking spot. 5 rest areas and 3 truckstops later I found a spot in a rest area about 80 miles short of Des Moines. Good news is that they have internet access too, so I am able to update the blog.

Just got a call from dispatch and they are trying to figure out how to get me home now. I had a feeling it wasn't going to work out as I wanted, but that is the nature of the business. I will deliver this load at about 130PM and hopefully they have a load going home this afternoon for me.

Change in plans.

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 22:30:00 +0000

Seems the load I was supposed to relay to Denver got loaded at 1100AM today, in Illinois. In lieu of waiting for it, I asked for something else and was given a load of dog and cat food headed for Petsmart in Ottawa, IL. Its a drop and hook so I can kick it off anytime on Monday then hopefully get rolling somewhere else. I am set to go home on Thursday and I want to get some more miles in before I go home. I have had some solid running since I have been out and will do some updates and such while I am home. I am getting close to 10,000 miles since I headed out though.

Right now, I am utilizing Iowa's free wireless that they provide at most rest areas. I have noticed that Kansas also has some wireless at rest areas as well. I may rethink getting a wireless via cellular device and just save the money.

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Hurry up and wait.

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 14:07:00 +0000

That load I am supposed to relay to Denver has not arrived yet. I hope it doesn't become one of those deals where I get it and now its an emergency hurry hurry hurry job, when it could have been avoided. I am going to grab some breakfast and hopefully will get a decent eta on this load when I return. Have a good sunday everybody.

Couple days I'd like to have back.

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 20:19:00 +0000

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The load from Fort Collins, CO to Omaha, NE was good the first day. I stopped in Lexington, NE at the WalMart and bought some groceries and spent the night. I woke early on Tuesday to some pretty heavy thunderstorms. I headed towards Omaha when my drivers side windshield wiper decided to stop working, that made for an interesting drive but I arrived safely and offloaded my beer in Omaha. I then headed to the yard for some repairs and also an oil/lube job on the tractor. I had a laundry list of annoying little things to be repaired and the windshield wiper ended up being the most difficult. It took until Wednesday noon to get the list completed.

One annoying item, was that I was having trouble with my Air Conditioning going out from time to time. It would work fine, then stop working and I would have to manually restart the compressor. Well since it wouldn't act up while I was in the shop they told me tough crap on the AC until it goes out again.

I was dispatched to pickup in Schuyler, NE and make two deliveries in the Chicago area on Thursday, this meant I would have to drive all the way to my first stop and spend the night there, then wait until 900AM to go to my second stop, in order for my hours of service to work out. I got my first load off by 700AM then made my way to Woodridge and was unloaded there by noon. A couple hours passed and I was instructed to take my trailer up to Elgin and drop it there. I did as instructed and I assumed I would reload in that same area, but I was then instructed to Bobtail (drive without a trailer) over to Munster, IN and pick up a load for Omaha, that "had to be there by 800AM". I informed dispatch that 800AM wasn't going to happen since I had only 5 hours left to drive and I was easily 2 hours away from Munster since it was now 400PM and Chicago traffic is a nightmare. After some discussion it was agreed that I would deliver it at 200PM on Friday.

I headed through the lovely construction zone that is known as Chicago and battled my way over to Munster by 630PM. This left me 3 hours to drive for the day and the 200PM delivery was going to work out just fine. I grabbed my bills and hooked up to the preloaded trailer hooked up my air lines, checked all the lights and released the brakes to head out. A loud "HISSSSSSSS" from the trailer made itself known. I jumped out thinking 'WTF NOW" sure enough the brake valve is bad and all the air is dumping out of the trailer and its immobile. The brakes on trucks are air operated and the brakes remain in a locked position until air pressure is supplied to the trailer. With all the air being leaked out the trailer was going nowhere. I sent a message to brakedown, a few messages and phone calls later they say they are sending me a road service truck from a local shop to get me going.

About an hour later the shop truck arrives, the mechanic states the obvious and says the brake valve is bad, and removes it from the trailer. He says "I'll be back" and off he goes. tick tock, tick tock. Its now 900PM and he hasn't returned and I am informed by the shipper that I have to vacate the premises until the shop truck returns. Well he at that moment arrived and announced that he had went to 3 different parts places and could not get the right part. It would be morning before they could get a part and I was screwed. By this time I was ready to just hang it up and go to sleep anyways. I made another call to breakdown and they told me they would try somebody else. I said ok, and went to bed. I woke up at 730AM since I was told the shipper would reopen at 800AM. I had a voicemail saying my trailer was repaired. Good deal I went into the shipper at 800AM and sure enough it was fixed. 15 minutes later I was headed down the road for Omaha.

Now about 930AM I get a call and the first shop informs me they have the part and will be out to repair the trailer. I sarcastically let them know that the trailer is connected to my tractor and I am 90 miles further west and that it may be hard to work on with all the wind and all at 65mph. That being said I assume another shop get it fixed during the night.

I drove pretty much without stopping and arrived at Nebraska Furniture Mart at 400PM, dropped my trailer and was headed for the yard. Now the best part was that the last hour had been without Air Conditioning and I was sweating my sack off in the 90+ degree heat and humidity. I pulled straight up to the shop and asked that the AC problem be verified so it would get fixed this time. No problem, the same gentleman that helped with the trailer the night before said for me to go ahead and write it up with his blessing. I wrote the AC up and also a mudflap hanger that was loose and returned to my truck.

Now we have what are called APU's which is a small diesel engine that has Airconditioning, and supplies electricity to the truck when you are parked. When I returned to the truck it was not running and had a system fault. So I walk back into the shop and write it up also. They sent me over to ThermoKing who installed the unit for repairs. 1100PM I was released from ThermoKing with a functioning unit, and I returned to our yard and went to sleep.

I woke at 800AM and the shop asked me to pull into one of the bays for repairs, and I did. I then collected some clean clothes and toiletries and used my personal vehicle to drive over to the local truckstop for a much needed shower. An hour later, feeling more human I returned to the yard. They handed me some keys and asked me to take the parts truck over to the Volvo dealer and get a new compressor for my truck. The one they had on hand was not the correct one for my unit. I happily obliged them and collected the part, headed back to the yard and gave it to them. One hour later, I was handed my truck keys and I was ready to go. New compressor, repaired APU, all good on the comfort items now. I am satisfied that I should be without any maintenance items for a while.

It's pretty common when you get a truck that there will be a laundry list of items to be addressed and most can only be found after driving the truck for a while. If the driver that had the truck before you was dilligent about repairs you will be in good shape. In this case it seems the previous driver was more apt to let things go for a while rather than fix them right away.

As it stands now, I am to relay a load from Omaha, NE over to Denver, CO. That load will be here on Sunday morning, so I decided to use the local hotels internet to update things on here. I will be headed home soon, around July 1st for my birthday and also July 4th. I enjoy July 4th in Kansas because its like Bagdad during Desert Storm. You can get the really good fireworks in Kansas and everybody has a box full. Plus the name of my town is Independence, so the fireworks display never disappoints.

Be safe, I will update when I can. Enjoy.

No rest for the weary.

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 12:11:00 +0000

I have been quite busy since my last update and I took a few pictures as well. My clock is running basically from 4am to 6pm now. I left Omaha and loaded in Schuyler, NE and ended up spending the night at the shipper since my 14 hour clock expired. I got up early and headed down to Arkansas. I spent the night at a rest area near Ozark, AR which is where the previous post took place. I woke early again and finished the trip, delivering at 0430 in Little Rock, AR. This was a quick unload and I was on my way to reload by 0530. I reloaded over in Russelville, AR at ConAgra and was on my way to Illinois by 0930, or so I thought.

I was given instructions to drop my loaded trailer in St. Louis and pick up a FedEx load in St. Charles, MO headed for Denver. NICE!!! The reality though was of course not without tribulation. I was to drop my loaded trailer at Estes in St. Louis, then bobtail over to Anheuser Busch and pick up an Empty trailer then take the empty to FedEx in St. Charles, and load. Mother Nature blessed me with heavy rain and lightning, so I was soaked from head to toe by the time I got to St. Charles.

Grabbed my FedEx load and made my way towards Denver, stopped and had a good Hardee's breakfast, they have the best bisquits. I saw a truck wash as I neared Kansas City, and the forecast I heard said all clear and the weather was good. I got the truck washed and continued through Kansas City into Kansas. No sooner than getting into Kansas, here come the storms. I will post a few pics of that fun. Heavy Rain, golfball hail, and very windy. I watched a motorhome about lose it in front of me, and I pulled off for a while. Interestingly enough the motorhome opted to continue.

I spent the night in Junction City, KS and slept for 14 hours straight woke up, showered and felt human again. I continued on to Denver and delivered at about 2PM, then headed up to Fort Collins, CO to load at Budweiser. That load was supposed to be ready to go at 9PM last night, and as it stand now, its still not ready. Once again Ronald McDonald and his WIFI are helping me out.

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Now that's a huge cock!

Beautiful day, no worries, all is well.

Ok, well maybe not!! Why did I get the truck washed again?

Name the state, the picture below was taken in.

There's something about Mary

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 22:19:00 +0000

Anybody who has seen that movie, has a good idea what goes on at rest areas. Well imagine my surprise when I walked into the facilty to relieve myself and there is a guy standing at the sink with no pants on. Cleaning up whatever it was he was cleaning up. I uttered a disapproving 'dude' and hid myself in one of the stalls and took care a business and of course I was in no way going to wash my hands standing next to him, so I quickly left and used the windex and paper towel in my truck. The rest of the trip down here from Nebraska was uneventful. I deliver at 430am in Little Rock, the reload and head for Rochelle, IL. That delivers on saturday, so its a good start to my week. BE SAFE.

Water water everywhere...

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:52:00 +0000

I finally escaped Pilgrim's Pride in Mount Pleasant, TX. After 14 fun filled hours the USDA inspector arrived and did nothing of major importance and I was unloaded. By this time I was tired despite doing nothing all day. I tried napping but it wasn't happening. I got my next load assignment which had not changed, I was to pick up in Paris, TX and proceed to Springfield, MO.

I made my way the 60ish miles up to Paris, TX and live loaded Campbell's Soup at 1:00AM, the process was quick and I made my way down the road to the nearest fuel stop. I was sucking fumes by this time and had to take on an emergency 50 gallons. We have specific fuel stops, but I was not able to make it to one, so the 50 gallons got my down the road. I headed out again and quickly realized I was very tried so I stopped at a Toll Plaza on the Indian Nation Turnpike in Oklahoma and shut down for the night.

Woke up and got rolling finally about noon on Monday and the skies were dark to the north. I thought there would be a shower or two, no big deal. I was wrong of course and by the time I got to Lake Eufala it was coming down hard. Then harder and harder and harder yet, by this time I am slowed to 45mph just so I can see. I stopped for fuel in Muskogee, OK and managed to not get struck by lightning while I was pumping fuel. It basically rained heavily until I stopped near Joplin, MO to get within a quick strike of Springfield.

This morning, I made the quick hour and half drive to Springfield and spent 4 hours unloading at the lovely (sarcasm) grocery warehouse. I am not a fan of these types of warehouses, and never will be. Anyways, I was assigned a load to pick up in Macon, MO at Conagra to take up to Omaha in the morning. As it stands now it has rained all the way here and still raining. I got my loaded trailer picked up at the Conagra ~~mudhole~~ drop lot, and I am using McWifi at the moment. I will wake at about 1am and run this up to Omaha in the morning.

Cruising down US 54 in Osage Beach, MO. This is the bridge across Lake of the Ozarks.

Yes, novelty machines in every truckstop bathroom.

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Communication breakdown

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 22:29:00 +0000

So a load gets booked, my company agreed to take it, appointments get set, loads get picked up and delivered and all is good. Well not always! Turns out somebody here at my receiver set up an appointment for me to deliver anytime between 700am and 300pm. I arrive and they tell me nobody is in receiving until 1000pm. Grrr, so a few hours later a guy shows up and says he will unload, then a manager shows up and says no we cant unload because we need a USDA inspector present. As it stands I am camping out for 12 hours because people cant do their jobs, and set appointments when they have proper staff available. I got the manager to agree to pay detention time and got his name. I forwarded that to my company and you can bet I will follow up. Be safe!

At home for a couple hours.

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 19:27:00 +0000

Here is my Omaha, to Chicago Trip.

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Then from Chicago to Wichita.

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I am on a load now that I picked up in Wichita headed for Mt. Pleasant, TX. I decided to swing by the house for a shower and laundry stop, plus visit the family for a couple hours. I have to get it delivered early tomorrow and reload in the same town headed for Springfield, MO.

This load I am on now will look something like this.

It worked out pretty good, I have to go southeast from Wichita and there are no real convenient ways to do it. Using the suggested route is only 24 miles shorter than this way, and my dispatcher was kind enough to allow it. My reload to Springfield, MO will get me to 2000 miles for the week, with time until Thursday afternoon to get more miles. I hope it turns out to be a good week for me.

For those unaware, truck drivers are paid by the mile. This means if your wheels aren't turning, you're not earning. Any time spent waiting for loads, waiting to get loaded, waiting to get fuel, repairs, traffic delays, weather delays, etc. Those all cut into your potential earnings for the week. I am getting $0.32 per mile right now, not including any safety bonuses etc. These miles are figured before you run the load, so if you drive further, you eat those miles. Its important to run the most efficient routes, efficient doesn't always mean the shortest of course. The run from Wichita to Mt. Pleasant, TX for example is 393 paid miles, the actual miles is 411, and the route I am taking is 435. I will get paid for the 393 regardless of the route I take. 2500 miles a week would be my minimum to keep me happy, anything more than that is great.

I am also considering leasing a truck and running as an owner operator, but the numbers will have to make sense and I haven't reached that decision yet.
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Repaired and rolling

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 04:46:00 +0000

After a short 15 minutes my qualcomm was repaired and I was directed to pick up in Schuler, NE. I picked that up and headed for Chicago. I stopped for fuel and met fellow blogger Jim at our yard in Omaha, we chatted for a bit then I headed out. Woke thursday morning to find my 'deer smasher' bumper was hanging by one side. I removed the bumper and put it in the sleeper with me. I stopped an had it put back on at the truckstop in Walcott IA. I arrived an hour early and delivered my load of beef trim in Chicago. Beef Trim is beef that is trimmed away from the cuts at the slaughterhouse, they gather those up and make ground beef, sausage, hotdogs, etc. Once I was empty I was given a load of Fed Ex to pick up friday morning in Moline, IL that delivered 12 hours later in Wichita, KS. That makes a nice 670 mile trip for the day. I am now sitting at the truckstop in Wichita, KS on my 10 hour break. No word on my next load yet, hopefully something good in the morning. I will update when I can

Quickie then repairs.

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 19:44:00 +0000

I left Macon, MO yesterday at 3:00PM for a pickup in Chillicothe, MO anytime before 6PM they said. I arrived arouond 4:00PM and was loaded by 6:00PM. Quick drive up to Council Bluffs, IA, over US Highways and a stretch of I-29. Along the way there was significant flooding from the storms earlier in the day. Some ricers had water all the way to the bridge supports, which made for uneasy crossings. I arrived in Council Bluffs at 9:30PM and dropped my loaded trailer at ConAgra. Turns out I had a load of containers for Banquet TV Dinners.

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After dropping my trailer in Council Bluffs I headed across the Missouri River to our yard in Omaha and went to bed. I woke at 7:30AM and got my truck written up for repairs, and then hung around the breakroom until lunch time. I hitched a ride with the new orientation class over to Valentinos for lunch. The Director of Operations, Ross, that I mentioned before tagged along with us, and he was kind enough to take care of my lunch.

When we returned to the yard from Lunch I saw my truck had been pulled out of the shop and I checked in. They took care of my small issues but the Qualcomm was beyond their ability to repair. They said it was probably a software issue and gave my directions to Carrier for them to fix it. As it stands right now I am in the very small but very nice breakroom at Carrier typing out this message. Hopefully it will be a quick fix and I can get rolling later this evening.

Since Saturday afternoon when I left Omaha, I have logged about 1700 miles and got that turned in for payroll next wednesday. Short week will make for a small check, but I hope to get a good start to next week. The plan is to stay out until July 1st, then go home for a few days to celebrate my birthday and also July 4th.

Stay Safe or as my friend Paul from Grand Canyon Airlines would say "fly dangerous and take chances"

Pics and updates.

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:53:00 +0000

I finally got some access to internet, thanks to Ronald McDonald and me waiting for my 10 hour break to expire. I am in Macon, MO having unloaded my load this morning. I am awaiting my next load and news about getting my Qualcomm fixed.

Here are my travels since saturday afternoon.
Omaha, NE to Tupelo, MS

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Here is my run from Tupelo to Macon, MO

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Here is a couple pics of the ride. It needs a bath I know, but I snapped a couple pics this morning with the ole cell phone.

Not the end of the world, but it sure looked nasty rolling into Macon, MO this morning.

Its a rough life in the Volvo, lounging.

The art of timing.

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 11:38:00 +0000

Sometimes in this business, everything is about timing. I kicked off my load in Tupelo, MS Sunday night and was assigned a load that picks up near Memphis, TN at 300PM. Driver are regulated by the government as to when and how long we can drive, so sometimes you have tto do some careful planning. I woke at 800AM and could have headed over to the shipper, but that starts my clock for the day and once I start, I have to be finished within 14 hours. So I waited until 10AM that would give me until 2AM to work. Headed over to my shipper and was loaded by 300PM, it was a heavy load so I had to make sure I was legal. That was an adventure through an economocally diverse part of Memphis, then I was headed down the road to Macon, MO. The drive was uneventful but I used nearly all of my time to arrive before my 600AM delivery appointment. Its being pulled off the trailer now, then I will take my legal break before getting something towards Omaha I hope. They need to get my qualcomm working.

Tupelo, MS

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 20:27:00 +0000

I have made my way from Omaha, NE down to Tupelo, MS. Nice 780 mile trip to get me started. I left yesterday at 1130 and made it to Cabool, MO last night. Woke early and arrived here at 130PM but they wont take the load early. I will deliver at 1100PM then see what I get next. No qualcomm, so I have to make phone calls. No internet but I will update when I can.

Complete!! Well almost...

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 00:32:00 +0000

Another restless night in the hotel, dreams of tornadoes, horses that talked and 6'2" redheads kept waking me up. That will teach me to eat Nutter Butters before bed. Anyways, woke up and did the usual ritual except I drove myself over to the yard this morning, with all my stuff packed up and ready to move into my truck.

Today was just one big Charley Foxtrot(pilot speak for cluster f***) not a whole lot got accomplished. We wrapped up a couple loose ends and went to lunch at a Greek joint that had decent Gyro's and baklava. Returned to the yard and we got our truck assignments. I got a Volvo like I was hoping for. Its a 2007 Volvo 780 and has a little over 500,000 miles on it. Its in pretty good shape and has tons of room in it. Basically I have a bunch of cabinets that are about 18 inches wide, floor to ceiling. I have a good sized refrigerator that holds a whole case of bottled water with room for more in it. The lower bunk is made into what amounts to a booth you would see at a restaurant. Room for 2 comfortably and a nice table in the center. You can fit 4 people if you wanted but 1 is all that will be using it.

I was handed a check out sheet and went about inspecting my new ride. Only damage noted was a small dent in the catwalk behind the cab, and that is no big deal at all. The inside was clean and didn't have any tears in the fabric. Nice new mattress still in its plastic wrap for the top bunk, and all the equipment like safety triangles, snow chains, extension cords, etc were accounted for.

The rest of the afternoon was just as the morning, not much got done but everybody but one guy had their truck assignment by the end of the day. We are supposed to report at 8:00AM tomorrow to wrap up a few things before hitting the road and they were nice enough to put us up in the hotel again tonight. Tomorrow we get our permit books, fuel cards, toll transponders and a few other items and hopefully on down the road.

Late in the afternoon I was told that my trucks electronic logging system was not working and that I would have to run paper logs in the meantime. No big deal for me really since electronic logs is new for me anyways. I was told the qualcomm should work fine though. For those outside the industry Qualcomm is a company that makes satellite communication systems for trucks. After class, I moved the bulk of my stuff into my truck and got it semi-organized, however when I was doing this I was messing with the Qualcomm and it did not appear to be functioning properly at all. It powers up but it had no idea where it was at and seemed to be missing software. Hopefully that can get straightened out tomorrow, because I doubt I can go anywhere without the satellite working.

Well until later that is all I have to report, as always be safe.

Please note that once I hit the road I may not always have internet access, so my posts may be delayed or brief ones from my phone. I promise I will keep the posts coming though.

Day Three

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 22:38:00 +0000

Finally I got a good nights sleep. I laid down about 8:00PM for a quick nap that I woke from at 2:00AM, so much for quick, so I went back to sleep and was up about 5:00AM, did the usual breakfast and phone charging ritual and we headed over to the yard. Pretty slow all morning, we didn't do a whole lot since people were doing road tests. I was the second one called to road test this morning and everything went fine. Despite my worries about the 13 speed, I shifted it like I never knew anything else. The test truck was a Kenworth T600 that had seen better days, rumor is the driver that had it before was a bit rough on trucks. It had 377,000 miles on it so there were plenty of good miles left on it. I am hoping I get assigned a Volvo tractor though, I have loved Volvo's since I started driving them back in 2001.

We lost another driver today over a road test and lack of qualifications. Its kind of mysterious what the whole story is, and I feel bad for the guy. I rather liked him and tried to help his situation but it just didn't work out.

Went had lunch right around the corner from the yard at an Italian place. The food was decent, and best of all free. The meatballs were actually very good, while the pasta and bread were average. Nice place for the price though, I might visit again.

The afternoon was spent doing more videos and quizes. We covered Qualcomm and the electronic log system, air brakes, hours of service and a couple other things I don't recall at the moment. I found myself struggling to stay awake again by the end of the day.

Tomorrow we start at 7:30 and its rumored we will get truck assignments, and be headed down the road by the end of the day. We will meet our dispatcher, watch operations do their thing, and get a maintenance overview and yard tour before getting our trucks. We were told to bring all our stuff and check out of our rooms, so that is a good sign that the rumors have some merit to them. It will be nice to get moved into a truck and making some money.

More tomorrow and as always, be safe.

Day Two

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 23:34:00 +0000

This morning I woke from a fog to hear the alarm quietly going off, I roll over and see that its 6:43. Crap! I am late, I dressed and was downstairs in 3 minutes. Looked around then at my watch, its 5:47!! Phew, not late so I had some breakfast went upstairs and cleaned myself up, then back downstairs. By this time it was about 6:30 and we were told to be there at 7:00. I could tell that there was not a take charge person in this group, so I grabbed the Van keys and had everybody load up at 6:45. We left at 6:50 minus one person. I thought that person had their own wheels, and besides I stated the day before that we were leaving at 6:45.

Got to the yard and had a fun filled morning of yet more paperwork and videos and quizes. Its a lot of stuff everybody should already know, but I am sure they have to cover all their bases. There will always be that person that claims they didn't know or wasn't told something. The Director of Operations visited for about 30 minutes and I rather liked him, he was no nonsense, to the point, and plain speaking. He had a great JAP (jewish american princess) voice when talking about his mom back in New York.

We broke for lunch about 11:00 and went to China Star. It was fair is about all I could say about it. Not terrible but not good either. We returned to the yard a little after noon.

Afternoon was more videos and powerpoint on Hazmat, security, accidents scene protocol etc. I admit that I checked out for a 5 minute nap at one point. Drug Screens and such had come back, so the road tests began. I didn't want to do mine today because I was pretty sleepy. 2 guys had their road tests out of the way by the time I loaded everybody up to head back to the hotel. One more guy was on the road test still, but we were told he would be able to get a ride back to the hotel. I went out and grabbed a burger for dinner and now have settled back into the hotel for the evening. I am pretty tired so I may zonk out early tonight. Hopefully I get some good sleep and I am fresh tomorrow for my road test. I have plenty of experience driving, but the road test vehicle is a 13 speed, and all my experience is with 10 speed transmissions. I think I have it figured out, but it will be something new for me.

Until tomorrow, good night and stay safe.

Day One

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 22:15:00 +0000

Last night was brutal, didn't sleep much. Thanks to the fitness center being next door and the VERY loud television there. I discovered the source of my problem this morning and I assure you it will not happen again.

I got up at 5:35 and called the front desk to cancel my wake up call. Showered, dressed, and made my way downstairs for the Free breakfast. I had already set myself up for disappointment on the breakfast but I found hot eggs, sausage gravy and bisquits to go along with the usual pastries, toast etc. They also had yogurt and banana's which I like also. Ate breakfast and charged up my cell phone in my car since all I have is a mobile charger.

Turns out we have 9 drivers in class, and we boarded the Van at ab out 7:15 and headed over to the yard. Settled into the classroom and we were given a quick tour of the place. Bathroom here, breakroom there, soda machine here, smoke back there, etc. The place isn't very big so it didn't take long.

Back in the classroom started filling out paperwork, mostly general information and the like. The morning kind of dragged along as we filled out paperwork, did some quizes, watched a couple videos, and ordered lunch.

Each department comes into the class and makes their presentations, we covered our applications, worker's compensation, forklift operations, potential injuries while working on and around your truck. Lunch arrived and we all quickly ate out sandwiches so we could get our physicals and drug screens done this afternoon.

After lunch we headed over to the clinic for our physicals. By this time I had to pee so bad I could taste it, and with relief I was the 3rd person called in. I provided the required amount and plenty of overflow. Next they had me do a vision test. 20/13 on my vision, then color blindness and peripheral vision tests and all good there. I was escorted to an exam room for Blood Pressure test. 118/76 on that, then wait for the doctor. The doctor arrived quickly and checked the usual ears, nose, throat, poke here, prod there, listen to the heart and lungs, then Turn and Cough. Everything checked out and I was brought back to the waiting room to await the "Work Well" Test.

After about 30 mins I was called in for the Work well test. I will break it down as best I can. I was asked about my hands, since I am missing a couple fingers. Demonstrate flexibility in arms, wrists, shoulders, then a grip test. Next was back movements, bend forward, bend backwards, side to side, twist and look backwards both ways, then turn head both ways. Hold arms out and she pressed this way and that with me resisting. Now the fun part started. 30 seconds do as many push-ups as you can. I managed 17, then situps I did 16, then lay on stomach, hands behind the back and do back extensions. I did 23 of those. I was starting to get a bit winded by this point, and we moved over to some boxes of 25 lbs. Lift those up to shoulder height and place on a shelf, and then remove them and back to the floor. You do that 3 times. Move over and lift a 50lb box from the ground to waist high 5 times. Then you move over to a step ladder, skip the first step and step up then back down 5 times. That concluded the test and I passed everything that was required of me.

Returned to the yard then back to the hotel where I am now. Severe thunderstorms are moving into the area, so I am going to cut this short until tomorrow. I also have some homework to do before morning.

Good Night and be safe.

Trains and Flags

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Mon, 31 May 2010 22:52:00 +0000

Strange title I know, but it sums up what I saw on my drive up here to Omaha. I left the house about 9AM which is a little later than I planned but no worries. Despite the delays for trains, motorhomes, boats, and random vacationers I arrived in Omaha about 4:00PM. I drove around a little bit then made my way over to the hotel. I am staying at a nice Comfort Inn with a King bed room, free wireless internet, and room to stretch. The restaurant downstairs in closed for the holiday but from what I hear it is really good, so I may be checking it out in the next few days.

Being Memorial Day, and since I was driving through countless podunk midwest towns, it was nice to see the American spirit alive and the thousands of flags at the local cemetaries and main streets. My own town of Independence, KS was showing hundreds of flags, along with Yates Center and assorted other towns.

When I checked into the hotel I was handed what amounts to a laptop case of sorts from Hill Brothers, and there was some materials inside of which includes an application. Unfortunately the one I filled out online doesn't qualify as legal so I have to do this one in my own writing. I am off to do that now and get some rest for an early wake up tomorrow. I say early since I have been going to bed around sunrise and waking up at noon to 3pm lately. Back to normal hours I guess.

Be safe and Happy Memorial Day

Final Prep

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Sun, 30 May 2010 19:22:00 +0000

More of the same today with a little more purpose. I went to Wal-mart and picked up a few last minute items and doing the actual packing. I have everything I need now at least and took out some cash from the ATM to keep me going for a while on the road. I will load up everything tonight except the toiletries. I have a couple cases of water too, I will take those along on the truck, its good to have them around because you can't always get to a truck stop or something. I will pick up a few things once I get my truck also, mainly non perishable food to keep on hand. You never know when you are going to get stranded somewhere for a while.

My wife is going to give me a haircut tonight, so I am low maintenance for the road. Not to be too disgusting, but showers are not always available or convenient. Anyways, I am going to finish up and head out in the morning. I will post again once I am in Omaha.

Be Safe

Packing Up (cont)

noreply@blogger.com (Desertdog) — Sat, 29 May 2010 18:34:00 +0000

Last night and today has been more of the same. I haven't been all that motivated yet to get moving. I tend to procrastinate quite often, but I did make a trip to Wal-Mart to pick up a few items. Laundry Soap, Zip Ties, Window Cleaner oh and Garlic Bread for dinner last night. Today I will slowly start getting all my clothing together, I have addressed most of the unusual items that I needed to take with me. I also got my XM Radio reactivated, I had it turned off a few months ago when I returned from Grand Canyon. I barely drive when at home so there was no need for it.

If you non drivers are interested here is my list of stuff:
Pens
Steno Pads
Invoice Box (metal invoice holder, I use for logbooks)
Hammer
Channel Locks
Vice Grips
Screwdrivers
Gloves
Zip Ties
Velcro
Garbage Can
Garbage Bags
Lysol
Febreeze
Windex
Paper Towels
Wisk broom and dustpan
Oil
Anti freeze
Glad hand gaskets
Headlamps
Marker lights
Fuses
Flashlight
XM Radio
Laptop
DVD's
Inverter
Shower Bag and toiletries
extra pair of shoes (you will get muddy at some point)
Jacket
2 weeks worth of clothing
Laundry Bag
Laundry Soap
Sunglasses
Baby Wipes
Kleenex
Assorted medications (excedrin, tums, etc.)
Road Atlas
Seat Organizer (hangs on passenger seat, has pouches to hold different items)
Bedding (pillows, sheets, comforter, etc.)

Yeah, you have to take a bunch of stuff with you for sure. I am sure I am overlooking a few things that I will remember about the time I need them. Anyways, the next couple days that is what I am doing here and there and I will be ready to head out on Monday morning.

Be safe.