Back to Sep

I drove all the way to southern IL.  About an hour and a half from my destination.  I was able to stop soon enough to be able to take a ten hour break, and get up early enough to make the 700 appointment.  Had I not made the distance and stopped early enough, I would have been late to the appointment because I couldn't use the eight hour split break to arrive on time.  I hope some DOT executive runs out of toilet paper because a driver couldn't make an appointment time.

Just as I was going to sleep, messages for the next load came in on the Quallcomm.  It beeps with each message received.  I made the mistake of looking at it.  It just upset me, and caused me to fret in my sleep, what little I had of it.

The load had appointment time of 700 on the 4th, 700 miles, and I only had about 10 hours left on my 70 for today and tomorrow.  This means I will still be about three hours away when I get up on the 4th.  So, I will have to get up at 400 EST, or 300 CST.  I hate it when I have an early morning appointment, and no time the day before to get within an hour of the delivery, forcing me to get up early.  Getting up at 300 CST, remember that I live in the CST time zone, so I work on CST, isn't as bad as getting up at midnight.  The point is that I have to shift my sleeping time, and this doesn't always work.  Try sleeping in the daytime, when it is light outside, and hot during the summer.  The end result is that I usually am driving tired.  I don't think this is what the DOT had in mind when they instituted the 11, 14, and 70 hour rules, with the 10 hour break.

So, after five more hours of driving, I was pretty tired.  I actually felt like I had been drinking.  When I got to Nashville, I stopped.  Now, I was at this truck stop a few weeks ago, and I thought that if I could get some time here, I would stop.  Well, here I am.  To make things even more interesting, the Tennessee Titans were play a home game, and the stadium is just two blocks away.  I grabbed my camera, and went for a walkabout.  Here are some pictures, with captions.

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Now, I could have stopped at a Flying J 45 minutes down the road, or at a rest area outside of Macon GA,1 hr and 15 minutes down the road.  I had done the Flying J earlier, so I when to the rest area, and opted for the extra half hour of sleep.

While driving the last leg, I got the order for my next load.  Looking at the destination and the miles, I wondered if I had enough time to do it and get home on Friday.  When I stopped, I started the Street and Trips, and determined that the total distance for the load and then home was 1800 miles.  Looking at my logbook, I have 37 hours to use over the next four days.  I'll use about 2.5 hours to deliver the current load, pre-trips over the four days, and I figure that I'll have 33 hours to drive.  That means I will have to average 55 MPH, and that the OH and IN toll roads to get to home base.  I called my TL with my concerns.  The next four days are going to be interesting.

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The drive is the same as I Sep 28-30, except that this time I have to do it in two days.  It was overcast, so it didn't get light out for a while.  The drive through the back roads went rather quickly as there seemed to be less traffic.  At one point, I stopped at a grocery store.  You might remember that there are a lot of cotton fields along the route.  Here is a picture of a bale cotton.

I stopped in Charlotte for fuel.  I thought about staying there for the night, but found out I couldn't make it to delivery in eleven hours or less.  I had to go another hour and a half.  I stopped in Mount Airy NC.  I think Mount Airy is a place that was mentioned often in Andy Griffen's Mayberry RFD.

I parked between two dropped trailers.  I was trying to stay away from noisy trucks or refrigerated trailers.  A few hours later, one of the trailers was picked up, and driven away.  A tanker came and backed in to the open spot.  All was quiet.  I fell asleep before 2100.

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I had figured the drive today to be about 9.5 hours.  I had driven closer than I thought yesterday, plus I had made good time on the Interstate.  I was tried most of the drive.  When I got to Carlisle PA, I ate lunch, took a nap, and took a shower.  I was there a little longer than I had thought, so I arrived at my delivery late than I said I would.  It was okay, because I had all day to get there, and I was going to spend the night at the Mehoopany PA OC just up the road

My next load was waiting for me there.  It was going to the UP of Michigan, with a delivery on 10/8.  Now, I am suppose to be home on 10/7, so when I got the order, I asked if the load was to be relayed from home base, or would I deliver it on Monday, 10/10.  It's a relay.

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I left early.  I took the usual route using the back roads to get from Tunkhannock to I80.  The weight of the load seemed to slow me up, but when I got to Dubois, the time was the same as other loads in the past.  However, when I got to Seville, I had lost time.  I decided to take a route that would angle up to I80 south of Toledo.  If I did not pick up some time, I could get on the toll toad.

I was behind time, and there were more stoplights on US 20 than I had remembered.  I got on the toll road, and made it half way across IN before I ran out of time for the day.

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A half hour later I was back on the road.  I was rush hour, so I went around Chicago.  The last time I went around, I hadn't slowed up for traffic once.  This time was looking just as good.  That was until I got to Rosemont.  The traffic was backed up from the tollbooth, almost to I390.  It took a half hour to get through it.

I got to the home lot at 1000.  I had two hours left on my 70 for the day.  Did I pick up all this time using the altered route?  I'll have to figure it out.

End of tour 18

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Got to the truck at 800. It was cool, but a sweatshirt was enough to keep warm.  I was ready to go by 830.  It was going to be a simple day.  I went to one place to get an empty trailer, and took to another place to have it loaded.  I was on my way to GA by 1200.  The route around Chicago was a bit slow.  Road work at the toll booths, and the lane expansion slowed me down.  I should have gone through Chicago.

Once clear of the Chicago speed bump, I made good time, and stopped for the night in southern IN.  Work wise it was a short driving day, but I was tired, and I had gone far enough.

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I got to Atlanta in just under eight hours.  The trailer I had been pulling had some lights out, and it had been my intention to have them fixed here.  I should have had them fixed in Gary, but that would have been in the middle of my day, where as I was near the end of my day in Atlanta.  The trailer should take long to fix, but the A/C could take longer.

It is almost 2200 CST.  I had been updating the blog.  I am about to go see if the truck is done yet.  If not I will have to go to a motel

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I took the load out of Atlanta on I85.  This took me straight to Charlotte, where I spent the night.  I had driven 614 miles in 10.5 hours, and worked another 45 minutes.  A long day.

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The drive during the day was uneventful.  I did see a tractor trailer turned over on its side, on an entrance ramp.  This is the most common place for truck rollovers, tight ramps.  At one point, I was passed by a large pickup truck.  I had seen two of these before, and they make a Hummer look like a compact.  Later in the day, I got in the rain that was deluging the northeast. After fueling in Carlisle, I showered, then I left to make the delivery.  It had to be there that night.  I was only about fifteen miles away.  When I got there, the workers were out to lunch, so I had to wait a half hour for them to return.  I dropped the load, and asked for an empty trailer.  There were none.  I sent a note to that effect, and left the lot.  I drove two blocks to a shopping mall.  I went to a grocery store and got some lottery tickets.  The Powerball game was 290 million.  I bought some orange juice cause I thought I might be coming down with a cold.  As an afterthought, I bought some Lebanon baloney.  It's more like summer sausage, but better.  It is sold mostly in eastern PA.

Back in the truck, I was able to eat lunch/dinner, and watch Survivor, before I got the order to where to get an empty trailer.  The route to get the trailer went though Hershey PA, and by the Hershey attractions.  I couldn't see much in the dark.  I picked up the empty at a General Mills plant, and took it back to the Carlisle OC for the night

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The load I picked up was supposed to have been picked up yesterday morning.  Why was it given to me.  I was still hauling another load.  Anyway, when I received the orders for this load, I immediately sent a note stating that I didn't think I would be able to delivery the load until 0700 on 10/16, a day late.  I got no response, so assumed that the company was aware of the timing problems.

The rest of the day was devoted to getting afar as I could before I ran out of hours.  The route took me north out of DE, and then south into MA to Baltimore.  There was some slowdown on the beltway around the north side of the city.  After I got on I70, things picked up.  A little farther, and the routing  instructions had me stop for fuel.  I only took sixty gallons, having fueled last night

Another twenty-five miles down the road, and I was on I68.  I68 continues west across MA from I70 and on across WV.  I70 cuts north into PA.  I had been on this road before, and it is terrible.  The road has steep hills.  It is really slow on the upgrade, but I got back some of the lost time on the downgrade.  However, the road is also curvy, and I had to be sure I didn't pick up too much speed. 

I stopped early because I was tired, and my face ached.  The cold I though I was getting was either a head cold or a sinus infection.  As it was, I had still driven 514 miles, and only had an hour available to drive.

After I had eaten dinner, I remembered that I had not put a lock on the trailer.  I went out to take care of that, and saw two deer barely 50 yards away.

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I79 ends at I77, and just a mile or so south, I got on I64 at Charleston WV.  I took I64 out of WV, across KY and IN, and a third of the way across IL to I57, where I turned south  for 60 miles, and stopped for the night.  In IN, I did a little stop along the road.  I had only been on this section of road three times since I started driving truck.  I remembered that there are these large model planes in a backyard long the highway.  I was finally able to get some pictures.  I little while later, I stopped for fuel.  This was not on the routing instructions.  But, I knew that if I didn't fuel here, I would probably run out before I could get to another company recommended fuel stop.  This is probably another computer foul up.

The stop I made was at the same wayside I was at two weeks ago.  I had read some of the historical information in the building before, but I had missed one note.  The wayside is named the Trail of Tears wayside.  In this area, around 1835, the government was moving Cheyenne Indians from the east to a reservation in the west.  A large band died here during a brutal winter.

I had driven ten hours.

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I delivered the load just before 0700, as I had predicted.  I picked up my next load here.  It is a short haul for the load.  Just to KSC.  I expected to get there before the end of the afternoon.  I did.  I dropped the load, and bobtailed to the Flying J a couple of blocks away.  This is the Flying J that I have been to several times when I stopped in KSC.

This is the first day after four where I was able to rest early.  I watched some TiVo, and updated the blog pages.

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So, here I sat for the whole day.  Or the tractor did.  I was able to go anywhere.  There was a cinema two miles away, so I got a ride there, and walked back after watching two movies.  I spent the rest of the day browsing the Internet, and watching TV.

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The trailer had some problems, and the lights behind my speedometer were out, so I had plenty of time to have them worked on in Des Moines.  I worked four hours, and that was the day.  When I got there, I was told that the trailer needed a PM.  The speedometer fix was easy.  While they worked on the trailer, I cleaned out the truck, I ate lunch, took a shower, and watched TiVo.

It was dark when the trailer was done, and I could have driven four or five hours, but then I would be sitting most of the day tomorrow, and would wind up driving a night shift.

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The drive took me north out of IA and into MN, where I turned east of I90, and drove into WI.  Along the way, on I35, I passed an accident that had occurred, and was being cleaned up.  I think a tractor and trailer had gone off the road.  The tractor was all burned up, just a frame and an engine.  The odd part is that I think that I had seen a tractor/trailer accident in the same area.  Is there some wrong with this part of I35 north bound.

A half hour from my destination, I took an hour break, and ate dinner.  I drove to the delivery, and even though they got a late start on unload the truck, I was still out of there in just under two hours.

My next load was to be picked up tomorrow, in Green Bay.  I had plenty of time to drive the two hours to Green Bay, tonight.  I arrived at 2345.  I ran into the person who I had trained with out on the road before I went solo.  We talked about problems with the way the company treats the driver.  He confirmed what I had heard before, that there are more drivers leaving the company than can be hired.

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Because I had time, I had to do some logging training.  Apparently, I had some twenty logging violations over the previous six months.  That is, going over on my 11 or 14 hours per day, or 70 hours per eight days.  The thing is that you have to log the training, and you don't get paid for it.  I have all these hours on the recap 70 that it is no big loss.

So, I got going just before noon, and drove until 1730.  I stopped less than 20 mile from my destination.

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I informed the company of this.  I was taken off the load, and given one going to Indianapolis.  I was in such a hurry to make use of the time, I didn't note that the pickup time was 1300.  I was three hours early.  I sacked out in the sleeper berth, and updated this page.  If I could have done split break, I could have extended my day two hours, and had the load delivered by 2100.  As it is, I will have to stop at 1900.  If I get off at 1300 or earlier, I can still make it, but will have little time to find a place to park for the night.

Well, I did get off a little early, but it wasn't enough.  I only had a half hour left as I approached the exit ramp for the delivery.  This wasn't enough time to get in, drop the loaded trailer, pick up an empty, and get to a place to park.  I went down the road to a Flying J that is near by.  There I updated this page, and posted it to the Internet.  If I had picked up the load at 1300, I would even have gotten this far.

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I delivered the load, picked up an empty, and drove to the Indianapolis OC.  There, I picked up the relayed trailer.  I was concerned about the amount of time I had to drive today.  I was hoping to get home early, but the distance determined that it would be late afternoon, if I didn't stop much.

When I got to Chicago, I went through the loop, downtown Chicago for those unfamiliar with the city.  Being Saturday, I figured that it would be better than going around as they are working on that road, again.  I was right, blew right through.  Made a short stop for food and restroom on the tri-state north of Chicago.  Arrived in Green Bay three hours later.  Dropped the trailer, and bob-tailed home.  Ten and a half hours driving for day, nine hours and two stops from Indianapolis, to Green Bay, to home.

End of tour 19

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There were no trailers available when I started, so I had to go to Milwaukee to get one.  This was not usual, what was was that I picked up a leased trailer.  Apparently, the company trailers are mostly in other areas of the country, with few in the upper mid-west.

I took the trailer to a shipper, where I was live loaded.  It was probable the quickest loading I had ever experienced, as I was on my way a half hour later.  The trip was short jump to IA, a little over four hours.  I thought I was going to get a good jump on the next load, but there were no empty trailers where I had dropped the load, and I had to drive an hour in the opposite direction to get one.  An hour out, over an hour back, pick up the load, and drive to a place to stop, and I had used up most of my 14 for the day, but only drove eight hours.  The logbook show that I had eight entries on the off duty line since I had left that morning.  I stopped at a Flying J, but was too tired to update the blog, or even get online.

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At the OC, I fueled up, even though the route planner said to fuel up about 230 farther down the road.  However, the route planner didn't know I was going to have to go 120 miles out of the way to get an empty trailer.

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The route this day went through PA, southern NY, and CT.  The terrain in the area is steep hills that can slow you down.  In PA, I saw snow on the ground at the 2000+ ft altitude.  There is also some lower speed limits in these areas.

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Just my luck, there were no trailer at my delivery point, so I had to drive 70 miles back into MA to get an empty.  By the time I got to Auburn ME, it was dark.  The guard at the get looked like he was from ME, because of the beard he had.  It occurred to me that I didn't know what you called someone from ME.  I asked, and he said Mainer, but that the locals also used Maniacs.  I picked up the load and drove to a rest area 45 miles down the road.  I had driven 9.25 hours, but worked another 45 minutes, for a ten hour day.

The only real excitement of the day was that my cooking pot had a crack in the cord that caused it to short out.  I stopped at a Wal-Mart I passed as I bob-tailed to get that empty trailer, and bought a new one.  Also, driving around NH, I saw a lot of high water in the rivers I drove over.  Trees at the banks of river were in the water. 

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After my shower, I worked on this page, but did not post it.

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I was making good time today.  For the most part, there had been little traffic in my way.  I had planned to do another eight hour day to keep my days balanced, so I would have a short day on the eighth day.  But, I wanted to get to Gary.  So, as long as it stay light out, I pushed on.  I was about a half hour away when I turned on the light due to some overcast.  I got to Gary before it got real dark.  I put in a ten hour day.  I had fifteen hours available for the next two days.

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Forward to Nov

I drove 45 minutes, scaled the load ate lunch, and took a shower.  At the time, I didn't think much about using that hour.  The route took me back the way I had come that morning, another 3.5 hours.  With the one to get the empty trailer, I had driven a nine hours round trip.  But, I was still three hours from my destination.  The 14 hour rule wouldn't be a  problem.  I had started at 0645, it was now about 1630, I had three more hours of available driving time, and almost four hours on the 14 hours.  Three more hours of driving would have made it about 1930.  Ten hours after that would be 0530.  I only drove another two hours and took my ten hour break.  Anyway, all that figuring, and I forgot that I would be delivering in the eastern time zone.  I needed another hour to make the appointment time.  I really hadn't been given enough time to deliver the load unless I had given up eating, going to the restroom, and taking that shower.