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| Date |
Activities in
February 2005 |
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After a four and a half hours drive, I
arrived at my first stop. They only had to take off 35 pieces,
or so, but they were not all in the back, like I was told. I
helped the guy unloading the pieces find the various doors and
windows going to local Home Depots. We found all but three
pieces, and the guy did not think they were in the trailer.
Maybe the next stop will find them.
I drove on to my stopping place for the night,
Lost Hills, Pilot station, where I had stayed two days
earlier. I fueled up, and took a shower.
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| 2 |
The day started okay, I made my
delivery, which turned out to be a drop. I had been thinking
that I would have to wait for it to be unloaded. Just prior to
arriving at the stop, I received seventeen message on the Qualcom, a
message display that tells me what to do. There were several
things to do the rest of the day. First I had to bobtail a few
miles to get an empty trailer. When I checked it to see if it
was empty, I saw that it had a lot of debris in it. I swept it
out, and took it to a shipper, where I picked up a loaded
trailer. I was to take the trailer to a secure drop lot, but
because of a burned out bulb, I stopped at a repair shop to have it
replaced. I had to wait an hour for them to do a five minute
job. I got the trailer to the drop lot a little late. I
then took off to get another trailer. This was a
mistake. I ran into rush-hour traffic outside Oakland
CA. Also, I had not looked at the time I used sweeping and having
repairs. The traffic slowed me down, and I ran out of
hours. I had to park in a cruddy location, and I did not make
an appointment to pick up a load that night. And, I could not
find the trailer. |
| 3 |
Found the trailer, and drove off for
the load. I got the load, and got on my way. Now I had
to drive about 820 miles with only 18 hours to do it. Plus, I
was suppose to unload it, but I told my team leader that I didn't
think I would have hours to do it. The problem is that you can
only work 70 hours in eight days. I was doing okay, but going
after that last trailer used up over three hours, and driving to get
the load used another two. I drove another seven hours and
stopped for the night. I got to the stop with about one hour for the
day left. I was told I can hire lumpers
to unload the trailer.
The drive north from Sacramento is very
pretty. In the far north you start to climb into the
mountains. This slowed me down. Along the way you go
past Mt Shasta, a very beautiful, snowcapped mountain. I
didn't want to stop to take a picture, but I can get one from when I
drove by about ten years ago. Shortly after driving into
Oregon, I passed over Siskiyou Summit. A sign declared this to
be the highest point, at 4370, on I5. Stooped shortly after
that. Got a hair cut at the truck stop I stayed at.
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No rush this morning. I do not
have to be to my destination until 7:00pm local time. I left
after 9:00 in the morning. This would give me plenty of time
in case there was a problem. Breezed on through OR, and into
WA. I was ahead of schedule, so when I stopped for fuel, I
took a shower. Later on I got caught in traffic in
Tacoma. I also discovered that I had a low beam out, so I
stopped, and replaced the bulb. Still got to my destination a
half hour early.
Before I took that shower, instructions for my
next load came in. It was going from Tacoma to the LA
area. I realized that that would make it impossible to get
home next week Fri/Sat. I was upset. Remember the event
I wanted to attend, which is why I was out for three weeks.
When I got back from my shower, the load had been cancelled, and
replaced with one heading home.
Anyway, I should have left later in the morning,
and skipped some stops. By the time the trailer was unloaded,
my 14 hours for the day were almost up. I had just enough time
to pull off the property, and park in this spot the guard told me
about behind the building.
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The load I picked up was heading across
OR. I checked where the truck stops were, and there was this one
that I knew would have a Internet connection to get my E-mail, and
update this site, plus another site. But, the hours I had
available for work would make it tight. Any problems, and I
would have to stop short.
The drive itself is very nice. I expected
mountains, but found that 180 miles was pretty easy because I84 goes
through the Columbia River
valley. You can see the river
during this part of I84. At one point I saw a Bald Eagle
flying downstream. As it got dark, the road started doing some
mountain climbing. The first uphill must have been five
or six miles long. Then there was some downhill.
All the while I had no idea how big the drop off next to the road
was. I made it to the truck stop a little late, but adjusted the
time for the time lost during mountain climbing. |
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When you stop for the day, and it is
dark, you never know what you'll find when you get up. There
were mountains all round. The day was overcast, and I never
saw the sun. There had been no snow in OR, but there was
here. As I approach the ID border, I could smell hash browns.
The town of Ontario OR was a few miles away, and I was thinking that
they must be making a really big breakfast. When I got to the
town, I discovered that there was an Ore-Ida plant there.
The rest of the drive was easy. ID was flatter
than I would have thought. Crossed the Snake River three or
four times, hence the name. Before I knew it I was in UT,
heading for a stop in Ogden. I had planned for eight hour
days. However, the sky didn't look good, so I checked the
weather, and found out that it was going to start snowing that
night, and continue until the next night. I didn't want to
climb out of that valley in the snow, so I continued on for a little
more than an hour, and got up on the high plains of WY.
Stopped, fueled, did some laundry, took a shower,
and hit the sack. I planned to get up a 5:00am to see if it
was snowing, if it was going to snow, and how much. The snow
is coming from the west, and I am going east. I wanted to keep
ahead of it.
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It was snowing when I got up. There wasn't much
snow on the ground, and it was a light snow. A trucker who had
come from the east said it was slick, but that you could drive out
of it in an hour. I took off. It was hard to tell where
the lanes were, but the road was reasonably okay. In an hour,
I was out of the snow, and I could tell where the lanes were.
Awhile later, there was no snow at all. I stopped in Rawlings
for lunch. While I was eating, the snow caught up with
me. I took off. As I approach Cheyenne, there was dense
fog. I stopped in Cheyenne as I had planned. I was afraid
that I would wake up in snow. |
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As I had thought, it had snowed, and
was still snowing a little. Not much on the ground. I
left as late as I could. The roads were okay. After
awhile, the roads were great, and I was making better time than I
had expected. Later in the day, about two hours from my
destination of Lincoln NE, it started snowing pretty good. A
half hour later it was getting bad. About this time, there was
a flashing sign by the side of the road that said, "Accident
ahead, road closed, exit here", or something to that
effect. Lucky me, the exit was at Grand Island NE, and there
was a huge truck stop there. I relaxed, took a shower, and
went to sleep early because I had to get up early to add the lost
hour and a half to the front of my original schedule. Watching
TV, I learned that the accident ahead involved eight semis, and four
cars, that closed the highway for almost three hours.
I had idled the truck before going to sleep to
change the battery, but it went low and the warning buzzer went off
at 2:30. I started the truck, and let it idle the rest of the
night. |
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Got up at 5:00. I didn't sleep
well. When I walked to the building, I thought it seemed a bit
cold. Back at the truck, I check the on-board thermometer, and
it said 2 degrees. I turned on the weather radio, and it said
-1. It was a good thing I idled the truck, because it is
supposed to me done at temps below 10.
Got going. When I got to the location of the
accident, there was still two trucks in the median. The whole
drive that day, along I80 and I29 to KC MO, followed by I35 to Des Moines,
was littered with cars and trucks in the median and the ditch.
Made my KC delivery, where they unloaded me
quickly. While there, I got an assignment that would take me
to Vernon Hills IL, 38 miles from home. Only problem, it was a
9:00am appointment with a three hour unload. I probably won't
get home until 2:00pm.
Picked up the load and headed to the Des Moines OC.
I was now seven hours from my delivery location. I wouldn't
have to leave until noon the next day. My TL had been telling
me that the shop had figured out that my truck was overdue for a PM,
(Preventative Maintenance). I checked with the shop scheduler,
and was told that it could be done by noon. I put the truck in
for the PM, and got to spent the night in a motel. |
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Slept late, and didn't get back to the
OC until 10:30. I had called my TL, and was told that my truck
would be ready in an hour. After awhile, that time was changed
to 2:30pm. Well, there went my ability to get to my delivery
point by 6:00. I had been told, that if I got there early, the consignee would try to work me in, and I could get home
early, now that was out the window. 2:30pm came and
went. The finished time changed to 4:30, then 6:30,
8:30. It was 10:00 when they finished. I went to my
truck and tried to get some sleep. I set my alarm for
4:00am. |
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I woke up at 3:00am with maybe four
hours of sleep. Realizing that I probably wouldn't do any
better, I took off. I arrived at my destination at
10:00am. I was suppose to be there at 9:00. It was over
an hour before I parked the truck for unloading, but they unloaded
me quickly, and I was out of there by 1:00pm. I was back to
the lot by 2:00, and ready to leave for my weekend by 2:30. End
of tour.
But, there was a problem. I
had a flat tire, and had to pump it up. It was a slow leak,
and I made it through the weekend with out any problem. It was
6:30pm when I arrived in Green Bay for the event.
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Start of tour 5
Because of the problems with the PM, and that the
Friday I wanted off not occurring until after 2:00pm, I did not have
to report for duty until Tuesday. This was another typical
day, messed up. To start, I was to take an empty trailer to
Green Bay, but I wasn't told which trailer. By the time I was
told a trailer, and arrived in Green Bay, the morning was
gone. The load I picked up was going to PA. That meant
no interstate in IN and OH because the tolls on I80 are too
high. The two roads used mostly in the north are US20 and
US30. The suggested route was to use US20.
I hit the Chicago area at rush hour. I
decided to take the toll road around. It still took three
hours. It was dark when I got to US20 at I94. Most of
the road to Elkhart IN is divided, from there on it is two
lane. There is a stretch between Elkhart and Angola with a
heavy Amish population. I couldn't believe how many buggies I
passed at that hour, in the dark, and it was raining/snowing.
At least they are well lit with flashing lights. I
stopped outside Angola.
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Left a little late because I didn't
want to run out of time at the end of the day. The delivery
time was 6:30pm EST, and it was suppose to take three and a half
hours to unload. The route across OH was bizarre. US20,
US20A, state 18, I77, I76, and US 224 into PA. In PA I could
use the toll roads. I took state 60 down to I76, however I
missed a turn somewhere, and got on I79. By the time I
realized that I missed I76, it was closer to go to I70, and go east.
Made the appointment with a little time to
spare. They unloaded the trailer in about an hour. Did I
luck out. I had made a mistake when I sent in my availability
time, and I had to be 80 miles away at 10:00 the next morning.
Had the unloading taken the full time, I would have had only ten
hours to take a ten hour break, and drive 80 miles.
I drove west on I76/70, and stopped at a service
plaza.
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Got up with a little more than an hour
and a half to get about 45 miles. I needed fuel, and luck
again, I drove by the only company fuel stop in the area. Made
the appointment within the acceptable window. I was loaded in
half the time, and got going. I only drove four more
hours. I had driven long hours the previous two days, and I
wanted to average out the time with today and tomorrow. You
can only work 70 hours in eight days, which is 8.75 hours per
day. I had done 20.75 the previous two days. I have most
of tomorrow to deliver the load, but planned on getting it there
about midday.
My stop for the night was at one of the few places
where I can get everything I need. I usually shower at Pilot
stations because that is where the company recommends to fuel
up. However, Pilot doesn't have WiFi Internet
connections. Flying J does, and there is one across the
road. Despite being across the road, I was able to still get
connected, and update this blog. |
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Today was the worst part of the
trip. I thought I should arrive by noon, but added an hour,
and still arrived after that. The problem is all the stop lights on US30 in IN. The route took me through Joliet IL,
where I went by the prison. Dropped the loaded trailer and picked up
an empty. It was a short trip to my next load, and I arrived
45 minutes before my appointment. A lot of good that did
me. The company was loading many trailers, and they were
behind. There was mostly company trailers picking up the same
product, going to the same place. I got loaded two hours
late. Because I stayed in the sleeper for more than two hours,
I was okay to go beyond my 14, a method called split shifting.
The trailer I had had a hole in the roof. I
needed a place to sleep for the night, so I went to a near by OC,
where they fixed the hole, I could shower, fuel and scale. |
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Slept good. Showered, ate
breakfast, and left. The load was going to CT, so I was
covering the same route that I took on the 16th and 17th. I
did not see as many Amish as I had on Tuesday, but I did get a shot
of this buggy.
As I approached Angola on Tuesday, I had noticed
something you don't see often, a house having fallen on a
tree. When I passed this day, I got this
shot.
One town I drove through, Medina OH, was having
some king of festival. I would guess a winter festival because
there ice sculptures alone the route I took through town, and people
were milling around the town square.
I drove eighty miles into PA before stopping for
the night. |
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I expected this to be a short drive
day, and initially it was. Pennsylvania is mountainous, but
not like out west. There are lot of narrow valleys that are
bridged. At one point I drove by a point that labeled the
highest point on I80 east of the Mississippi river at 2250ft.
At another point I saw a flock of wild turkeys eating by the side of
the road. Somewhere around the 100 mile marker on I80 there
was a sign that said I was entering the Chesapeake watershed.
I crossed the Susquehanna River, whose month is Chesapeake Bay.
Later in the day I crossed into NY. I while
later I crossed the Hudson River on I84. I checked a map, and
West Point is only nine miles south from this point. I had
seen some signs. Another interesting point here is that on the
east side of the river is huge prison. A little research
indicated that it was Fishkill Prison medium security for men.
I entered CT where I dropped the trailer, and then
picked up a load going back to OH. I was going to stay here
for the night, but found out that the OC that was here,
closed. I then was reminded about a snow storm that was
coming, so I took off back the way I had come. I was going to
go until I ran out of time, or ran into snow. I hit snow, so
stopped neat Scranton PA. |
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The snow storm passed over during the
night. My load wasn't due for another day, and with the drive
last night to get some distance before the snow, it was a short
drive today. About five hours. It was foggy. Here is a picture. |
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I three hour drive to deliver the
load. I found a burnt out light on the trailer that was up
high, so I stopped at the OC in Seville OH, and had it fixed.
It only took fifteen minutes, but even that amount of time can cause
problems later on. As I approached the delivery point, I
received instructions to my next load. At the delivery, I
thought it would be a live unload, but was told to drop the trailer,
and grab the one that was there. On my way to the next load, I
received more instructions. I was being assigned another load,
before I had even picked up the one I was after. This is the
second time this has happened on this tour. It never happened
before, so maybe the company is testing my ability to think two
loads down the road.
The second load had to be picked up at noon the
next day. This meant I had to put on as many miles as I
could. I only had 8.5 hours available on my 70. I still
had about three left for the day. I quickly check the route,
and mile, and realized that I could make Beaver Dam OH. This
is the truck stop I was at on the 17th. I checked my hours
when I got to the truck stop, and found that I had used the whole
8.5 hours.
I checked the route to the first delivery, time to
drop and hook, time to fuel, and the distance to the next pickup,
and figured out that I should get going by 6:00am EST. So I
better get to sleep. Good night. |
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I got up at 4:00 EST, or 5:00
CST. I could have gotten up 45 minutes earlier, or not have
taken the shower I needed. The day was busy, and was driven by
the 8:00 appointment the next day. Yesterday I had used up 70
hours in eight days, but today was a new day, and I get the hours I
put in eight days ago. That was 10.75. Now forget about
11 hours of driving, or fourteen hours of combined driving and on
duty not driving, I only have 10.75 of combined driving, and on
duty. There was a lot done. Rather than explain it step
by step, here is a recreation of my logbook.
I was now 203 miles from my destination. I
stopped at 6:00pm, so I couldn't start until 4:00am. As you can see, I
had only four hours to make the appointment. At the legal
speed of 55 for trucks, in Illinois, the trip could be done
in 3.7 hours, assuming no problems. |
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I woke at 4:00, and left at 4:15.
I was doing okay. As I got closer to St Louis, I noticed that
the road was wet. The snow on the trees looked icy. I
wasn't sure, but the road seemed slippery, so I slowed down. When
I got to I270, which I wanted to take around the city to the north,
I noticed the traffic was not moving at all. I went
straight. I hit rush hour traffic about three miles before MO,
but it was moving okay. I got on I64, and was moving along
okay. Then I ran into more traffic. I now realized that
I was going to be late. I was okay until this point. The
jam proved to have been caused by a couple of accidents.
Anyways, it cost me 45 minutes.
After I was unloaded, I drove the trailer over to
East St. Louis, where I dropped it in a crummy lot. I had to
blind-side back the trailer in. Another driver helped
me. More time lost. I drove to the shipper, and got my
load. A check of the tires showed that one seemed low. I
had to scale the load, so I checked the air, and found that the tire
needed about 60 lbs. That, and the scale, took some
time. All that not driving time added up to one hour and 45
minutes. When you consider that I only had ten hours
available, and used over four hours earlier, I only had three hours
left for the day. I am still three hours+ hours away, with a 8:00am
appointment. Have to get up early again. |
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Got to sleep until 4:30, oh boy. Got going at
5:00 to make a 8:00 appointment. Easy drive, and I got there
right on time. At this point I wondered what I would do
next. I only had 6.5 hours available today, and I just used
three. The load was at a grocery chain warehouse, and one of their stores was right there, so I did some sopping while I was being
unloaded.
After I was unloaded, I got an order to pick up a load in
Milwaukee, and take it to the drop lot where I park my
tractor. Three hours later I was ready to go home.
However, there was a problem. I had parked my back wheels on a
frozen puddle, and while I was gone, it had thawed and
refrozen. I was stuck. I tried oil dry first, no
go. Luckily I had boards with me. I had put them under a
frame member in case I had another flat tire. I jacked up the
van, and put the boards under the tires. This took a couple of
times, and over an hour. This is the third time out of five
that I had a problem when I got back home. End of tour. |
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Easy start. Picked up a trailer at the drop lot,
and took it twenty miles, where I was unloaded quickly. While
being unloaded, I had time to make the bed, and put things in
order. I then drove the empty twenty some miles to get a
load. This two was done reasonable quick. I had time to
eat lunch, and was ready to go by 11:30.
I drove south and stopped to scale on the IL border. It was
noon, and I had to go by Chicago. This time of day I thought I
would go through, as recommended by the company, to save on the
tolls. I realized that I forgot to take a bill and expense
envelope to the TripPak box when I went to get my scale
ticket. In a hurry, I decided to drive up to the fuel island,
jump out, deposit the envelopes, and go. The line to do this
was a bit to the right. I pulled forward. Mistake!!!
I forgot to check my mirror. I dragged the trailer into
another truck, and busted up its fender. I feel
terrible. I am so mad at myself I don't really want to write
about it. Three hours later I was ready to go.
I went around Chicago now because of rush hour. Stopped in
Gary to have the trailer inspected. It didn't appear to be
raining or snowing, but as I turned onto I65 heading south the road
was wet and slippery. Traffic was moving slow. A short
ways showed that the problem was an accident. The car was on
it's side, and there was a fire truck. As traffic cleared the
scene, I saw a car speed trough traffic, and then loose it.
Two hundred yards ahead, the car went left to right across three
lanes, hit the guard rail, and go back across three lanes, right to
left. It looked like a pinball with lights. Stoplights
were coming on and going all sorts of directions. Everyone
slowed or stopped. Traffic moved to the right, and passed on
the emergency lane. As I passed, I counted three cars with
damage, their occupants on their cell phones. I was feeling a
little better about my own mishap. Continued on as far as I
could. I had to stop because of snow. |
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