At the shipper, I had to wait for over an hour.  They were rearranging the load for a perceived weight problem.  By the time I left, I knew that I could not deliver the load on time.  Originally, I had all morning tomorrow to deliver the load, but I sent a note that I would be available at 0600, so it was changed to an appointment time of 0600.  I think this was done so I could get a load going to San Diego.

I drove 44 miles to the closest truck stop along the route.  There I scaled the load.  It was 4540 lbs overweight.  I called support, and was told the shipper was closed for the night.  It didn't pay to go back tonight, so I stayed at the truck stop for the night.

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I put the trailer in a dock, and dropped it.  I called my TL, but before I could get a hold of him, I was taken of the San Diego load.  Operation thought I was going to stay with the over weight load, and that I would be delayed in getting the San Diego load.  The TL agreed with me that I would be waiting all day while they reload the trailer, and tried to get me back on the San Diego load.  No go.  He did get me on a load to Cheyenne WY.  I thought this would be okay until I saw it was a 1300 pickup, with a 330 loading time.  I was told I could get in early, so it seemed okay.

I drove to get an empty trailer, then drove to the shipper.  There I found out that there were about five other trucks ahead of me.  I checked in and sat back and waited.  It was after 1300 when I got in a dock.  They started loading the trailer by 1400, and they seemed to be going at it pretty fast.  I figured that if I got out of there by 1500, I could make it to Des Moines.  I had started at 0600, so my 14 hours were up at 2000.  1500 came and went.  Then 1600 and as it approached 1700, I thought that if I left now, I could make the FlyingJ at Davenport IA.  1700 came and went, and I hadn't felt anything go into the trailer in over an hour.  I don't know what was going on.  Finally, at 1745, I got the bill and was able to leave.  I drove to the same truck stop I went to last night to scale the load.  It was okay.  It was now 1900, and I didn't know of anyplace to park within an hour down the road, so I stayed here for the night, again.

What a wasted day.  Over eight hours at the shipper, and only two and half hours of driving, for 120 miles.

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I drove to Des Moines, where I fueled up, got snow chains, took an shower, and had an early lunch.  After an hour and three quarters, I was back on the road.  A half hour later I turned west off of I35/I80 onto I80 alone.  I had now done something I haven't done since last February, traveled west of I35.  As I approached the NE state line I started thinking of where I would stop for the night.  I had planned to drive about ten hours.  There was a Flying J in North Platte, and I would have liked to get there because I hadn't been on line since I left on this tour.  When I got to NE, I saw by the mile markers that the Flying J was about fifteen minutes farther than eleven hour of driving would accomplish.  I constantly kept checking my progress, and because of the flat terrain, low traffic, and no road work, I was picking up three miles every hour.  After almost five more hours, I got to the Flying J with a couple of minutes to spare.  I had done 668 mile in eleven hours.

I drove this road on a vacation once.  I discovered that the waysides had historical markers in them.  I stopped at every wayside, so I could read the history of the area.  I mentioned before that there is a lot of history that took place along I70 in Nebraska, like the Santa Fe Trailer, and the Pony Express.  Here is a site with access to those historical markers. 

I worked on the blog and posted it to the Internet.

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I took the other trailer, and headed for my next load.  The route took me on a new highway for me, I25 from Cheyenne to Denver.  The wind was gusting to almost 50 MPH.  I was concerned that the trailer might get blown over.  Along the route, to the right, west, I could see Rocky Mountain National Park.  According to an article on most visited attractions in each state, this is the most visited attraction in Colorado.  I can now say that I saw this attraction.

Before I could get the load, I had to have the empty trailer washed out.  I then went to the shipper and got the load.  While inspecting the loaded trailer, I saw that one of the tires had a bolt in it, and was flat.  I drove to Denver, where the company has a tire bank.  There, they found that two tires were bad.  The tires were replaced, and I drove down I70 a few miles to a Flying J, and stopped for the night.

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I took off about 700.  It was dark.  I was in the eastern part of the MST time zone.  Back in WI, it was probably light out.  As I headed east into the soon to be rising sun, I could see a horizontal band on light way off in the distance.  I wasn't sure what it was.  I thought it might be city lights shining on the under side of clouds.  Close, it was the sun, still below the horizon, lighting up the under side of some cloud cover.  As time went on, the sun rise produced a spectacular view.  I thought that the day would be overcast, but by mid-morning, it was a clear day.

By the time it was light out, I left the Interstate, and headed south on a U.S. highway.  I had thought that the highway was going to be a drag, but most of the time it was quite nice.  Except for the few towns along the route, the speed limit was 65/70 MPH.  There was very little traffic.  Sometimes I wouldn't see another vehicle for a couple of miles at a time.  And, for the whole day, I only encounter about ten stop lights, and was stopped twice.

The route went from CO to TX.  I crossed OK in 45 minutes.  As I approached Amarillo, I saw smoke.  The route I took took me away from it.  Watching TV after I had stopped confirmed that there was a large grass fire to the northwest of Amarillo.  TX and OK has been having grass fire problems for over a week due to dry conditions.  I stopped at a Pilot to fuel and shower, then drove one mile to a Flying J, where I stopped for the night.  I heard on TV that the temperature broke a record at 79 degrees.

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I arrived at a truck stop near the delivery point at about 1400.  It was a warm sunny day, so I went for a walk.  I was looking for a cinema that thought was near by.  I turned the wrong way, and didn't find it.  I walked around in a square farther than I wanted to, so I was real sore when I got back the truck.

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The problem was that I hadn't gotten my next order.  Not knowing which way to go, I went back the truck stop.  Still no orders, so, because I hadn't slept well due to a noisy truck, I took a nap.  I set the alarm for 800, the time I could call my TL.  Just before the alarm was to go off, the orders call in.  I was to deadhead up to near Tulsa.  This was the longest deadhead I have ever done.  It was 350 miles.  Had I known this right away, I could have had almost ninety miles in already.  As it was, I had used an hour and a half of my fourteen, and had gone anywhere.  I lost another half hour waiting for a shower at the Dallas OC, plus another half hour for fueling, and the actual shower time.  Fifteen minute lunch was the shortest down time of the day, so far.

I got to the shipper before 1500.  The load I was suppose to pick up was suppose to be ready at 1200.  They told me it would be a couple of hours.  I had four and a half hours left on my fourteen.  Three hours later, I still was loaded.  I told the shipper I would half to leave soon.  They told me to bobtail out, and come back tomorrow.  Another low mileage day.  This is the eighth day since the recap, and for the next four days, I will never go beyond 70 hours in eight days, even if I drive eleven hours a day.  This wasn't going to be a cost effective tour.

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The load was light, and except for some areas in MO, the terrain was flat.  I stopped three times, once for fuel, and twice for restrooms.  I snacked rather than stop for lunch.  I arrived at the Flying J in La Salle IL at 1845, with fifteen minutes left on my eleven hours of driving.  I had gained back the lost hour from over sleeping.

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Now, my orders said that I was suppose to unload the trailer.  However, a dock worker said that the shipper usually pays for unloading.  I called my TL, and they agreed.  So, I didn't have to unload.  The orders said that unloading would take up to four hours.  I was talking with another driver when the unloading service said I was done.  It had been forty-five minutes.  I was amazed.  I asked how this could be, and was told that there were twelve men on the job.  If it took twelve men 45 minutes, then it would have taken me eight hours to do the job alone.

My next load was in the UP of MI.  It was a long deadhead, (pulling an empty trailer).  Along the way I was able to stop in Green Bay for lunch, shower, and fuel.  Another two and a half hours of driving got me to the shipper.  The shipper was a paper mill, and it was huge.  I wish I had arrived when it was still light out.  The road back to the shipping area was a mile long, and up on a hill.  I could look down on the mill and see stacks of logs and piles of sawdust.  At one point, steam from the passed over the road, and obscured the raod.  I couldn't even tell where the edge was.  Remember, I was on the side of a hill.  I got back by the shipping dept., dropped the empty, and picked up my load.

On the way out, there was a scale.  However, it is a whole rig scale that doesn't given individual axle weights.  No problem.  I pulled the steering axle on the scale, and noted the weight.  Then I pulled the whole tractor on the scale, and noted the weight.  The tractor weight minus the steering axle weight gave the weight of the power tandems.  Finally, I pulled the whole rig onto the scale.  The weight minus the tractor weight gave the weight of the trailer tandems.

I then drove to Marinette WI, and parked at a truck stop there just as my fourteen hours for the day ran out.

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The trailer I had taken to Gary had some bad tires, so I decided to have them replaced, even though someone else would be haul it for the long haul.  I waited in the express line for two hours when I flipped them the finger, drove off, and dropped the trailer.  I had another order, and I didn't want to get stuck in Gary.  I picked up an empty and drove back to my home drop lot, where I stopped for the night.  I didn't stay in the truck, but drove home, taking my laundry with me.  At home, I did two loads on laundry.

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End of tour 24.

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I came off my weekend home, and got to the truck earlier than usual.  I drove up to northern Milwaukee with an empty trailer, and got loaded at the shipper.  I had to wait a while before being loaded, but was loaded within the allotted time.  I was on my way by 1045.  I cleared the Chicago area quickly.  The sky was overcast, and there was a forecast for snow.  I was half way between Chicago and Indianapolis when it stated.  It was big, fat, flakes.  The temperature was in the mid-thirties, so the snow melted on the road.  It never got slippery, and I made good time.  I listened to the weather channel on my XM radio.  There was a cold front moving into the area.  I was was racing to get as far south as I could.  I stopped in central KY, after driving over 500 miles for the day.

Today another milestone was reached as I went over 150,000 miles since starting.

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The route took me past the Great Smokie Mountains.  I have traveled these roads before, but this was the first time I drove the route going south.  In SC, I turned south, taking a state road toward Augusta GA.  I had been on this road before, too.  This time I saw a couple of signs that I hadn't seen the last times I had been on this road.  One said that there was a turkey shoot on the 16th.  The other pointed to where coon hunting was taking place.

While driving to deliver the load, I received my next orders.  I had some problems with the directions, but did manage to find the place after two wrong turns.  After dropping the load, I was suppose to pick up an empty, but the company there was not releasing trailers.  I thought that this was going to be a problem, with me running all over the place to get a trailer.  The order came, and the trailer was in a drop lot less than a mile away.  I picked up the trailer, and headed for my next load.  I got the load, and stayed at the same location for the night.

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At Birmingham, I stopped for fuel.  I have to this truck stop before, and I don't like it very much.  If you need to go west out of the lot, you have to go out the same way you came in.  There is not very much room behind where the trucks fuel, so this causes a huge traffic jam on the entrance road.  There is a back exit, but that doesn't allow for a left turn to the west.  I didn't know this, because I had always gone out of here to the east.  I had to go back in, loop around the lot, and go out the way I came in, to make the left turn.

I was close to the delivery point, but didn't have much time left, so I stopped at the Flying J there.  There was no rush to deliver the load.  I could deliver it anytime over the next day.  Also, my next load had a pickup time of 1500 tomorrow.  As it was, I had trouble getting a place to park.  If I had delivered the load that night, and then come back to the Flying J, I might have had more trouble finding a place to park.

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The route took me back the way I had driven yesterday.  Yesterday, I had talked with my doctors nurse, and they were prescription an antibiotic for a stomach problem I was having.  They called in the prescription to a Walgreens back home.  I had passed a Walgreens yesterday, and knew that there was a place to park there.  When I got to the Walgreens, they called back home, and filled the prescription.  Despite being on the road, you can do things like this with national chains.

It took an hour to fill the prescription.  Once I got going, I only drove about another hour and a half.  I could have gone farther, but I didn't know where I could stop.  Plus, I had driven almost 300 miles with 400 miles to go tomorrow, and a short day today could mean a short day the day drive home.

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Eventually, I got on I10.  Once I had passed Tallahassee, I was on new highway for a hundred miles until I got to I75.  On this highway I crossed the Suwannee River, the one the song refers to.  An hour after turn south on I75, I made the delivery.  I hadn't been given instructions on my next load, so I didn't know whether to take an empty trailer, or not.  I called my TL, and was told to take an empty.  This turned out not have made any difference, as there were no trailers at the location.  I drove north to a truck stop six miles away.  Along the way, orders came in.  I was instructed to pick up an empty at the location I had just left from.  I returned a note that no empties were available.  I got an order for where to get an empty.  Luckily, I had gone in the right direction.  Now, I had time to go get the empty, but there wasn't anyplace to park near by, so I decided to stay where I was for the night.  Awhile later, I got a message to pick up a different trailer.  This one was on the route to my next load.

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The weather today was foggy, cloudy, and rainy.  The bobtail was okay, but half of it was on two lane roads.  I got the trailer, drove a mile, and got the load.  I then drove another two and a half hours to Charlotte NC, where I fueled at the OC, and spent the night.

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At the shipper, things started to go bad.  The shipper said that the whole load was too heavy, and that half had already been sent with another driver.  No problem, except that the other driver had the bill of lading.  To make things more difficult.  There was hazardous materials as part of the load.  This required placards, which the shipper, or I, did not have.  I called my TL.  He took care of the bill of lading, by having it faxed ahead.  I picked up the load, and headed to a truck stop, where I bought placards.

I was on my way.  Next problem.  I misread the directions of the route, and wound up on I76 going east.  The bad part was that I was on the PA turnpike, and couldn't get off for 20 to 30 miles.  When I did get off, I headed south in an attempt to get back to I83 that was angling southeast.  The road I was on was going through a lot of towns with a lot of stop lights.  I had planned to continue south from Lancaster PA, but decided to take U.S. 30 to York.  I got back on route, and had gone out of route about 40 miles.  I arrived at the delivery two hours late, but no problem.

Along the way on that load, I got orders for the next load.  Another problem, the pickup window closed at 1600 EST.  I had arrived at the first load at 1430 EST.  I was unloaded in 45 minutes, and got on my way.  But, I only had 45 minutes to go 58 miles, which was actually 68 miles.  They were still open when I got there, but I missed the cutoff for loading.  I was able to park there, and I would get loaded in the morning.  The load is to be delivered on the 26th.  I should make it.

In the coarse of going to the first delivery, I took the beltway around Washington DC to the north.  Along this route there is a great view of this church.  On the way to the second load, I took the beltway around Washington DC on the south and east.  Along this route, I crossed over the Potomac River.  It was a clear day, and I could see the capitol.

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I was loaded in a half hour, and on my way.  The route took I70 to I68.  I have probable talked about I68 before.  It has steep hills, and the load was 44,000 lbs.  On some of the hill, my speed was 25 MPH.  I had checked the route before, and I wondered if I could save time by taking U.S.40 to I79 instead of continuing on I68 to I79.  The U.S.40 route cuts 20 miles off the distance.  I took U.S40

I hadn't gone far when I came upon a steep downhill.  The thing about down hills is that there are usually up hills.  One uphill was so steep that my speed dropped to ten MPH.  As I came out of the mountains, I came upon the steepest down hill ever.  The speed limit for trucks was 10 MPH.  The downhill  was three mile long, and the view at the top was spectacular.  I just wish it hadn't been overcast.

At some point, I missed a turn.  By the time I was back on track, I had lost the 20 miles I was trying to save.  Plus, the U.S. 40 had slowed me down.  I continued on across WV and OH, into IN, where I stopped in Indianapolis for the night.

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I had received orders for my next load, so I didn't have to send a note that I was ready early.  The orders for the load just unloaded had said that the average unload time was three and a half hours.  I was over three hours ahead of time.  This was good, because the load was going over five hundred miles, and I had enough time to get in over a fifth of the distance before my time ran out.

I drove to the OC, where I fueled up, and talked to my TL, before taking off.  I got the load, and headed south.  I made it to the Flying J near Beloit.  I posted the blog, got my E-mail, and did the business work.

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I dropped the load, and got an empty.  I took the empty to East St. Louis, and dropped it in a drop lot.  There, I was picking up a relay load.  As I pulled away from the empty, I saw another drive dropping the trailer I was to pick up.  We talked for a while, then I hooked up the trailer and got on the road.  I still had enough time to make it back to Springfield IL, where I stopped for the night.

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End of tour 25

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Ahead to Feb

While I was getting ready for the tour, my orders came in.  Unlike most starts of tours, where I pick up an empty and go get a load, on this one, I picked up a relay load, and delivered it.  At the delivery, the order was to drop it loaded, but they unloaded it quickly because there wasn't much of a load.

I sent notes that I was available, and had a empty trailer.  Despite repeating that I was available, I still had to wait almost three hours before I got orders.  While waiting, I ate lunch, and took a nap.

When I got the orders, I could tell that I was already behind time by about two hours.  I drove to the shipper, which was hard to find because the name on the building was different, and there was no displayed address.  Once I got into the dock, I was loaded in less than an hour.  I then drove to Gary IN for fuel.  When I was only ten miles away, I lost some of the  power steering on the truck.  When I got to Gary, it had come back.  There has been a fluid leak for a long time, and it had gotten worse since the PM was done back on Jan 1.  I checked it in with maintenance.  It was going to take awhile, and couldn't be done in an express bay.  I had to go to a motel for the night.  The motel that the OC in Gary uses is a motel/casino.  I think it was a Trump property.

Checking on the mileage for the month, I discovered that I had reached a milestone on Jan 17,  150,000 miles driven since I started.