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| Date |
Activities in
April 2005 |
| Back to Mar
Apr 1
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April fools, I was in Russell IL. The trailer I
had had some bad lights. I had tried to get some advise from
the 2nd shift team leaders, but they seem to have trouble making a
decision. So, I drove the trailer to the Green Bay OC, and
took it to the shop. There, they found other problems with the
trailer, and took it out of service.
I was able to get another trailer there, and took it to the
shipper, and picked up my load. While inspecting the trailer I
found a broken weld on the bracket the holds the mud flap.
Every time I check this part I think of an accident in Milwaukee
where this piece fell off a truck, a minivan struck it, burst into
flames, and killed several children. I took the trailer to the
OC where they fixed it.
Finally got going at 11:00. The load was suppose to be
delivered at 7:00 the next day. I knew I couldn't make
it. I had thought yesterday that I couldn't make, but if it
hadn't been for the trailer problems, I might have made it.
Once I got to Rockford IL, I calculated that I would arrive at
8:30. I drove as long as I could, eight hours, stopping
just 30 mile from St Louis
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Drove the rest of the way with the load. Arrived
at 8:15. My next load was picked up at the same
location. It was going to FL at 6:00pm Mon. Finally,
after four, fourteen hour days, I would have five short days.
You will see what I mean.
To start out, I drove some back roads to get to Paducah KY.
From I57 in MO, I drove to a point where the road crossed over the
Mississippi River into IL, went about 200 yards, made a right turn,
and crossed over the Ohio River into KY. In IL I passed the
entrance to Fort Defiance at the confluence of the two rivers.
I mentioned this before.
Here are more pictures of the area. The road in KY is
narrow, hilly, and curvy. Lots of fun.
At the east of I24 in KY, I stopped for fuel, food, a big rest,
and a shower. Continued on into north GA, where I stopped at
the FlyingJ. It was a 14 hour day from the beginning to the
end, but I had an almost three hour break in the middle.
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I slept late. Did some reading when I woke
up. Checked out information about some local attractions.
I had two days to go about five hundred miles. I intended to do
some sightseeing, and smell the roses.
I didn't leave until 11:00 EST. It was really like 9:00.
I had lost an hour to EST, and one to daylight saving time. I went
about fifty miles down the road, and tried to see if I could get to
some attractions in Kennesaw GA. There is a Civil War train museum,
and a Civil War battlefield there. I was following signs to
the museum, but was prevented from going further because the road
didn't allow trucks. I found the battlefield, but the entrance
road wasn't suitable for trucks. If I had my bike, I could have
parked and rode the bike in.
I continued on. If I couldn't sightsee in GA, I would drive
into FL, and try again. I drove six more hours, and
positioned myself two hours from my destination.
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I woke up in Ocala FL, late. And why not.
After the long days, I only had three hours available today. I
cleaned the truck, and took a shower.
I was looking for a canoe trip to take. I had a brochure
from FL of all the canoe, kayak, and rafting locations in FL.
There was one in Ocala, but it's address was in the center of the
city, and I didn't think it was good for the truck. There was
another right off of I75, so I called them, and was told that they
had room to park the truck. I drove to their location.
They set me up with a canoe, and took me to the river. Here is
a map of the area. The river went through a forest, and had lots
of wildlife, birds, turtles, and alligators. It was a
wonderful three hour trip, just what I hoped to do on occasion while
driving around the country.
After the canoe trip, I drove a half hour to my delivery, got
unloaded, and stayed there for the night.
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Had to wait awhile to get a load. The system was
looking for the best load given my location. Also, the system
knows that I only have seven and a half hours today, and tomorrow, so it
has to find a load that I can delivery with my available time for
the next few days. The information can in, and I was on my way
to Palm City, FL. Checking the map, this is now the farthest
south I have driven.
The shipper was a recycling center, and the
load was bales of scrap paper. The load was heavy. I had
to have them move a bale to get the load balanced. The total
weight was 78420 lbs. My first weigh had 36280 lbs on the
trailer tandems, 2280 lbs too much. My final weigh was 10620
on the steer, 33800 on the tractor tandem, and 34000 on the trailer
tandem. Remember, maximums are, 12000, 34000, 34000.
Adjusting my load by one hole would probably put me over
somewhere. When I got to my first scale, I was concerned that
I might have a problem. They shifted me from the quick drive
through to the stationary scale. The light stayed red a long
time, and I thought I might be over weight. After awhile, they
let me go. I might be over, but not by enough that could be
adjustment by sliding the tandems.
Stopped at a FlyingJ, and updated the blog. |
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It was another short day. Only had 7.5 hours
available, just enough time to get to Atlanta. The drive took
me across I10 from I95 to I75 in FL. This was new
highway. In northern FL, along I75, there was flooding along
side the road. In GA there were signs warning of water on the
road. I saw this on the way down too, but didn't report it
back on the 3rd.
While in Atlanta, I had a short, required, PM done on the truck.
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Drove the load to its destination. Before
arriving, I got messages with orders. It seems that a shipper
where I would get my next load needed 48 ft trailers for loads going
to NY. The roads there are narrow and curvy. A 53 ft
trailer has trouble on these roads. Anyway, after I dropped
the load I had hauled up from FL, I hooked up a 48 ft trailer, and
drove it about 6 miles to the other location. I then bobtailed
back, got another trailer, and drove it over. They must have
been in a hurry. After backing up to the dock, they put two
stacks in the trailer before I got unhooked. I ate lunch, then
hooked up my load, and left. Drove almost to Cincinnati, OH. |
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The load was going to the Chicago Area, so I added a
couple of hours to allow for traffic. I drove to the
Indianapolis OC for fuel. While there I had them check some
tires, which they replaced. Also, the trailer was to have a
tracking device installed, so I backed it into a bay, and dropped
it. While they were installing the device, I took a shower,
and washed the truck. The trailer was ready to go, so I
left. I had allowed time for the shower, tires, and
tracker. However, as I approached the Chicago area, the
traffic was bad enough to eat up my extra time. I arrived at
my destination fifteen minutes later than I thought.
Now I had problems. Since leaving Indie, I received orders
to take an empty from my destination to another shipper by
6:00pm. I only had about 40 minutes to go about 20 miles in
rush hour traffic. Plus, the consignee I was at would not
release a trailer. I had to drive to another location to get a
trailer, and then go to the shipper. I got there at
7:30pm. After getting loaded, I was to take the load to a drop
lot, and then pick up an empty to take home. I was around 9:30
when the load was finished. My 14 hours were going to end at
10:00. Now if you have read about the 14 hour rule, I can't do
anything after 14 hours. However, I had been spending time in
the sleeper berth, and I you spend a minimum of two hours in the
sleeper berth, you can use that time past the 14 hours. I
stayed in the sleeper berth until 10:15, to give me time to get
home.
I took the load to the drop lot, dropped it, and looked for the
empty I was suppose to take home. I couldn't find it. I
circled the lot twice. Then I started looking for any
empty. I look at 90% or more of the trailers, and couldn't
find one. I called for help. All this was wasting
time. I was getting mad. I got an okay to bobtail
home. I was fifteen minutes past my legal time. It was
1:30 in the morning when I got to my house.
End of tour 8 |
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Start of tour 9
It was 5:30 in the morning when I got up. I
slept in the truck. I had come to the truck with my stuff the
night before, so I wouldn't have to get up at 4:00-4:30 to load up
and make a 7:00 appointment in Milwaukee. I knew about this on
Friday. That was why I was mad with the screwing around in
Chicago.
I drove the load to Milwaukee, where I was told they didn't make
appointment times. I didn't have to get there as early as I
did. And, it wasn't to make me available for another load,
because I sat around for two hours after I was unloaded.
I got my orders, and drove to Oshkosh WI. Picked up the
load and started to drive to OH. The route that I was given
included going over the Chicago Skyway. This was new. I
don't know if its shorter, or what. I was planning on driving
close to the Edens expressway, and then stop to let rush hour
traffic clear, but I couldn't find a place to stop. I
continued on. I ran into a few congested areas, but the
traffic moved along okay. I went through downtown at
5:30. I reached the Gary OC around 6:00. When you
consider that I got from the Edens to Gary in about an hour and a
half at rush hour, its amazing.
Fueled up, had dinner, left, and drove to Warsaw IN. Having
left Gary after 7:00 made the drive on US30 from Merrillville IN
okay.
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From Warsaw IN, I drove through Lima OH on my way to
Marysville OH. After I was unloaded, I drove back to Lima to
pick up a load. I then drove back past Marysville, and on to
Columbus. I stopped at an OC there to have my engine looked
at. I have noticed a decline in power since last Friday.
The mechanic found a hole in a hose, but didn't have a
replacement. He said I was okay to drive to Charlotte NC.
I drove a route from Columbus that I had driven before. On
US35, southeast of Chillicothe OH, I saw another flock of wild
turkeys. I check carefully because I now know that one flock I
thought was turkeys, were black vultures. Once again, I
crossed from OH to WV near Point Pleasant. I fueled, showered,
and stopped for the night in Nitro WV.
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Leaving early, I was soon driving through Charleston
WV, the capitol. The weather was rainy. Because of my
engine problem, it was slow going climbing the mountains of WV and
VA. I was going up this hill slowing when I saw a flock of
large birds in a tree. A close look as I went by convinced me
that they were black vultures. The route went across and
down the Appalachian Mountains. At one point I crossed a
high point of 3200 ft. Big deal? The Appalachians may
not be high, but they are steep. At one high point, I was in
either fog or low clouds. I got out as I went down hill.
Near US52 and I77, in VA, I crossed the New River. The New
River, and the gorge that it created may be the oldest river in the
world. The gorge is about 300 million years old. The
history of the gorge can be seen at the New River Gorge National
Park, in WV. A bridge that crosses the gorge near
Feyetteville WV was featured on a show of best engineered bridges,
on the History Channel. Another interesting point about the
river is that it runs north.
I stopped in at the Charlotte NC OC. They replaced my
hose. I ate lunch and rested. I drove down to Columbia
SC, where I took country roads to my destination. A couple of
times I thought I missed a turn, or was going the wrong way. I
got to my destination real early, but they took me, and unload
me. I was done before my appointment time. They had
space for parking, so I parked for the night. |
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When I woke up, I still had not received orders for a
load. By the time I finished breakfast, I had. I drove a
little more than an hour to Charleston SC. There I picked up
my load, and was on the way by noon. The load was going to
Green Bay, which would go by my home base. If I planned my
driving right, I could spend Friday night in my house. But
this would require some long days, only because I got started
mid-day.
The start of the drive went the length of SC on I26, and into
NC. At I40 the drive went west into TN. In NC and TN, I
drove through some really beautiful country. The route goes
over the Appalachian Mts., by the Great
Smokey Mts. National Park, and through two national
forests, the Pisgah in NC and the Cherokee in TN. The
climb up the mountains was short, but steep. The downhill side
was over twenty miles long, and very curvy.
Drove around Knoxville, and headed north. Just as I hit 400
miles, there was a truck stop. It was 8:00pm, so I
stopped. Checked my Streets & Trips, and verified that I
was just under 600 miles from home base. A ten hour drive
should get there.
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Got going around 7:30. I was going to drive
almost 600 miles. The load was going to Green Bay, and I would
be driving by my home base. I planned to stop there at the end
of the day, and go home to the night. I make it to Gary by
3:30 for fuel. It then took me three hours to go ninety
mile. Damn Chicago rush hour traffic. Got to the lot
within the available time, and went home. |
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Got back to the truck by 9:00. It was about a
two and half hour drive to Green Bay. I dropped the load, and
then drove to the OC for an empty trailer. While there, I ate
lunch. I went and got my next load, and drove it back to my
home base. I got to go home for another night. The load
was going to PA about 19 hours away. For today and the next
two days, I had 24 hours available on my 70. I used 6.5 today,
and planned to do eight hours tomorrow and the next day. Easy
drives. |
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I got to the lot about 11:00. Hey, I only plan
to drive until 7:00 tonight. I stopped at the Gary OC to get
fuel. At the gate I was told that the trailer needed to be
looked at. They did a quick PM, and found some bad
breaks. I took it over to the shop, and they started working
on it. More problems were found, and it took longer than
expected. I spent the time in the sleeper, so I could drive
later if needed. Seven hours later I finally got going.
It was 9:00 at night. I drove three hours, and stopped just
inside OH. I went to sleep immediately. |
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Because of the sleeper berth time, I was able to get
up and go eight hours later. This is split logging, two hours,
followed by eight hours. I had only driven 5.5 hours
yesterday, so today I would be driving 10.5
The drive took me around Toledo, and through Cleveland.
Along lake Erie, then to Erie PA, where I turned right and drove
into NY. I have driven this road a few time in the past, the
first time before it was turned into Interstate highway I86.
The road is a little rough in places, but nice , with small mountains.
In the east, the highway goes through the Allegany Indian
Reservation, and by the Allegany state park. A couple of times
I crossed the Allegany River, which the Indians call O-Hi-Yo.
It funny that while I was driving this road, I was listening to a
book on CD about George Washington, and it talked about George in
the French Indian war that started in this area, that was called the
Ohio lands.
The road snakes up to the north, dips down to the PA border, and
back up again. At its southern most point, I got off, and
immediately drove into PA. I drove trough several old
towns. I mean colonial times old, the 1700s. This
back road goes up and through mountains. At one point there is
a nice scenic view.
By the time I closed in on my destination, it was dark. The
directions I had sent me into a town, but in reality, I had passed
it, and had to go back. I asked for directions to the
location, and where I could sleep. I was told that there was a
company operations point near by. I delivered my load, pick up
a load, and went to the OP to sleep the night.
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I said it before, when to arrive somewhere at night,
you don't know what you'll see when you get up. This is the view
from the lot. The drive was a reverse of the previous few
days, as I was going back to Green Bay. There were a couple of
minor differences. One was that I would do it two days.
They wanted it delivered by 1400. I originally had it figured
for 1600. I ask for permission to use the toll roads.
The company normally doesn't want you to use the toll road, which
costs about $28. The route they prefer the drivers to take is
ten miles longer, and takes at least an extra 1.5 hours, which cost
me $28.
I drove until I had used up all my available time. |
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I got up after the ten hour break. It was
5:15. Made the Green Bay destination at 1345, that
1:45pm. There I picked up another load and drove the the Green
Bay OC for fuel, and to spend the night. While there I took
the trailer to the shop to have the brakes looked at. They
looked thin to me, and the mechanic agreed. The shop worked on
the trailer overnight. |
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I had ten hours available to drive, but it was only an
eight hours trip to my destination. The destination was
south-eastern IA. I left about 8:00am, and arrived at 4:30,
with a couple short breaks in between. After dropping the
trailer, I picked up an empty, and drove an hour closer to my next
load pickup. I stopped for the night about fifteen miles away. |
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Picked up the load and took off for Green Bay. The
route was pretty much a reverse of yesterday. It's about a six
hour trip, and I have 10 hours to drive.
The route goes by Platteville WI. When driving south-west
you don't see it, but drive north-east, you
see a big M on the side of a hill, north-east of town. The
'M' stands for mining, and refers to Wisconsin State University at
Platteville, that started as a normal school in 1866, specializing
in mining. This area of WI, and northwestern IL, was the site
of much lead mining in the 1800s. I know all this because I
went to school at UW-P for one year.
After awhile, I got
orders for the next load. Yahoo, the orders were to bobtail to
home base, pick up a trailer there and deliver it to IA on
Monday. I didn't notice it right away, but the delivery was a
6:00 appointment. I usually leave after 7:00am on Monday, so I
thought 6:00 in the afternoon. I received a note from my TL
asking if I was okay with the delivery time. I said yes.
Then I thought about the time, and realized that the appointment was
6:00am.
I dropped my load in Green Bay, bobtailed home, backed up to the
trailer I was to deliver on Monday, and went home. End
of tour 9.
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Beginning of tour 10.
It's Sunday. I don't drive well after midnight, or before
5:00am, so I loaded up the truck for the tour, took off in the afternoon,
and drove just under four hours. It was a quarter to 7:00 in
the evening. I was in IA, and I was 50 miles from my 6:00
appointment. I took my 10 hours break. |
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Delivered the load. Had a problem finding the
place. The direction were wrong, again. The directions
take you to the address on the front of the building, but the
delivery access is an unnamed road in the back. While looking
for it, I saw were to pick up my next load. After dropping the
current load, I easily got the next, and was on my way.
The trailer I was hauling had bad doors on it. One door
wouldn't latch properly, and had a hole in it large enough to pick
your hand through it. The route I was taking would go by the
Indianapolis OC, so I stopped to have it looked at. I was told
that both doors need repair, and that they could do it in four
hours. I had calculated my driving time, and I could split
log, and make my delivery on time. I dropped the trailer,
fueled the tractor, had lunch, and took a two hour nap. The
nap pushed my fourteen hours out to sixteen hours. I had
gotten going at 5:00 in the morning, I could now drive until 9:00
tonight.
After the nap, I checked to see if the trailer was ready.
It was. I hooked up, took off, and drove about two
hours. I was outside Dayton OH. |
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From Dayton, the route took US35 to Charleston
WV. From Chillicothe on, this is the same route I have driving
twice before, going to Point Pleasant WV. Passing through
Charleston, the capitol of WV, I noticed that their capitol building
appeared to practice
safe sex.
Once I had passed through WV, then VA, and into NC, the route
made a left towards Winston-Salem. Once there I got on I40
going east. Since the left, all this was new area and roads
for me. At Greensboro, I turned north to my destination.
It was 6:00pm EST. My appointment was at 3:00 the next
morning. I got myself there early, so I could take an eight
hour break before I needed to dock the trailer. Then I could
take a two hour, plus, break while being unloaded. But.
I got lucky, and they let me dock it right away. I then
started a two hour break. When I was finished unloading, I
took an eight hour break. A liked that better because I got an
uninterrupted night of sleep.
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I got a great nights sleep. I was parked in the
lot of the consignee of the previous load. It was almost too
quite. After eating breakfast, I had to wait a while for
orders, and when they came, I had to wait before making the pickup
at 11:00am EST. There were other company drivers there, so we
talked about loads and company issues.
I only had to go a mile to get the load. I was on my way by
11:30. I drove from Greensboro NC to the Charlotte OC, where I
showered, and ate lunch. The route from Greensboro used I85,
and I continued on to Atlanta, where I picked up I20 going
west. Both of these were new Interstates for me. It was
an easy drive of almost 400 miles. I stopped about 19 miles
from AL
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I had all day to deliver my load, but I had sent a
note that I would be available for my next load at 1500, that's
3:00pm. From now on I'll military time because it is simpler
for me than to say, afternoon, morning, am, or pm.
Shortly after leaving, I entered AL. At one point I thought
I had made a wrong turn, and was in a race. This is what
passed me. I wondered where they were going until I passed
this. This was the Talladega race track.
It's on the right.
Farther on I got gas in Birmingham. I had decided to stop
at this one because it was a Pilot station, and I wanted to get a
shower credit to use later. It wasn't right next to the
highway, so I wasn't sure which way to go. I followed some other
trucks, but that wasn't the way. By the time I got turned
around, and fueled, I had lost almost an hour. I did get
to my destination a little late, but lost more time waiting for a trailer
assignment.
The destination was in MS (Mississippi), a new state as a
driver. Although I was been in AL, it was less than 50 miles,
so this was a longer drive across the state. My next load was
in LA, so I pretty much toured the south. I have only touched
OK an TX, so I'm hoping to get there sometime.
My A/C wasn't working again, so I got permission to go to a TA,
Travel America to have it fixed. I stayed the night at
the TA, where I took a shower, free because of the A/C repair cost.
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I got up at 500. I had to wait until 530 before
I could leave. I only had to go 15 minutes, but it took 45
minutes to drop the empty, and pick up the loaded trailer. I
drove 45 minutes to a Pilot station, fueled and scaled. Before
I got to the station, I had received a message on the QualComm
wondering if I was going to make my appointment tomorrow, given I
had picked up the load late. I had figured it out last night,
and figured I should make it. I replied to the message as
such.
It was 800 when I really got going. I had already used 1
hour driving, and it would take around 16 to 18 hours of driving to
make the appointment, depending on roads, weather, and
traffic. I had to get near St Louis, which would get to within
270 miles with six hours to go. I drove across the length of
MS, a bit of TN, AR, and into MO, thirty mile south of St
Louis. 590 miles in 9.5 hours.
I checked messages on the Qualcomm, and discovered that my next
load was going to WI. The delivery date was Monday
morning. This meant a short drive tomorrow. The route
would go across I80 in IA. I grabbed my club newsletter, and
saw that there was an event just east of Des Moines. Perfect.
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Ahead to May
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I got up at 500, and was on the road by 530.
Again, my delivery time was 1100. When I was about an hour
away, I was an hour ahead of time, so when I fueled up, I took a
shower.
I delivered my load at 1050. After dropping the trailer, I
picked up my next load, and got going. About three and a half
hours later, I pulled into a little truck stop just up the road from
the fairgrounds where the event was being held. I walked down
to the ground to survey the area, to make sure I could get it and
out okay. I check with an event member, and was assured that I
could park by the fairgrounds. I got a ride back to the truck,
and drove to the grounds.
Ah, R&R. There were several friends and acquaintances
at the event. I was able to have some social interaction, as
well as standing and walking about, rather then sitting in the
truck. I noticed one thing, because I don't get to talk to
many people while I am driving, when I get the chance to talk with
people, I can't shut up. I noticed this with other driver
too. They had a good band at the event,
and I had a great time. I when to bed about midnight, and
slept until 900.
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