Back to June

I called my TL, but it is Saturday, so I had to rely on weekend support.  My experience with them is that they aren't even qualified to answer the phone.  They do not have the authority to make decisions.  The guy I talked to said he would look into having the load relayed in Gary.  I would be there in four  hours, and would get an answer by then.

Four hours later, I was about an hour from Gary, having stopped for lunch, and I had not received instructions.  I sent a note, again saying that this was my day to get home, and want to do with the load.  Just about the time I got to Gary, I got a note saying that I was the only driver available to deliver the load.  The load was a high value load, and I would have to stay in Gary for twenty hours.  I sent a note thanking them for ruining my Sunday plans.  I also said that someone would pay.  I was thinking of quitting the company.  A half hour later, I got a note to drop the load in Gary, and go home.  What does it say about a company when you having to threaten to get what is your by right.

I dropped the load, and when home.

End of tour 35.

Well, it's the 4th of July, and I was going back on the road.  There wasn't anything going on with family and friends, so why not.  Nothing is open to pick up a live load at, so I should get a load going some distance.  Wrong.  I got a load that was going ninety mile, with a delivery time tomorrow.

Well, I wasn't going to leave at 0900, and sit at the delivery location.  I thought about going to some movies, but I was close to a friend I hadn't seen in a while, so I called and found out that he was having a party.  I went over, visited, and ate.  I left at 1700, went back to get the truck, and drove to the delivery location.

I had to wait two and a half hours to get loaded.  Once loaded, I drove to scale the load.  Next to the truck stop, there was an odd sight for describing the bar at a motel.  After leaving the scale, I went another seven hours.  I had gone far enough, that I would be able to deliver the load tomorrow instead of the day after, as the order said.  I sent a note that I could deliver tomorrow.

It was a short thirty minute drive to get my next load.  The plan here was to drop the trailer I had had since the 4th, but the load hadn't been started yet because I was two hours early.  So, they live loaded the trailer I had.  They loaded me quickly, and I left about the time I was to originally have picked it up.

The load was only going about 230 miles, and I had lots of driving time, but only five and a half on the fourteen hours.  The route include a section of I40 going to Conway AR that I had not been of before, ever. I got the load there with more than an hour left.  I could stayed there if a had wanted to, but I got my next load there, and I could make thirty miles to a Pilot Station to shower.

When I got to the Pilot Station, the lot looked full, so I pulled into the station across the road, that was bigger.  Even this one looked full.  I drove to the back, and was able to nose into a spot just as my time ran out.  I didn't feel like walking over to the Pilot to shower.

Along the trip, my odometer hit one of those milestones one likes to record.

I was going to shower that night, but I had received orders for the next load, and I would be coming back to the OC tomorrow, so I decided to shower then.

I drove the load to the delivery, and bobtailed back to the OC.  There I picked up the load, took a shower, and ate lunch.

The load was going 218 miles, to Brooklyn.  I had driven through the New York City area one other time, but now I was going to make a delivery in New York.

Brooklyn is across the East River from the southern end of Manhattan.  To get there, the route followed the Hudson river north in NJ.  It then crossed over the George Washington Bridge into the extreme northern part of Manhattan for about a mile, and then continued east into the Bronx.  After awhile, the route turned south into Queens and Brooklyn.  While driving in, I saw this.  Wasn't that in "Men In Black"?  I believe it was part of the New York World's Fair.  The delivery was within the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  I was able to stay there for the night.  I was concerned about my safety, but the place has security driving by every so often, so I feel safe.

I had arrived early, so that it would be light out.  I could see the Empire State Building from where I parked.  It is only three miles away.

I worked on the blog, and got caught up to here.

I was out after a couple of hours.  My next load was on Long Island, about 30 miles east.  I drove in to get it, and was on my way after a break.  The load was a drop and hook.  That is, drop the empty and pick up the loaded trailer.

The drive out of NY started out okay, but when I got within about six miles of George Washington Bridge, the traffic came to a stop.  I crawled along at about two mph for forty-five minutes.  After that, I was able to drive across NJ and two thirds of PA before stopping to the night.

I fueled at the stop, and showered.  While I was in the shower it rained hard.  It had rained before I got to the stop, and the pavement was wet.  When I came out after the shower, it wasn't raining much, but there was a good stream running through the lot.

I stopped at a Flying J, and checked my mail, and did some Internet browsing, but did not post this page.  I had other things in mind.  I ate my lunch, and then drove close to the delivery point.  I stopped in the back lot of a shopping center.  There is a dollar cinema there, and I watched three movies.  And, lucky me, Tuesday is 50 cent day.  There movies for $1.50.  I saw RV, Scary Movie 4, and Xmen 3.

After the movies, I drove to the delivery, arriving at 2000.  I ate lunch, and napped.  After I was unloaded, I went to sleep.  Somewhere in there, I got into, and out of a dock, and was unloaded.

It was about a five hour drive to the delivery.  It didn't have to be there until tomorrow, but I could deliver it today.  I figured that I would have about two hours of driving time available have the delivery, so I delivered it.

My next load was a pick up in Gary IN, and deliver tomorrow.  I drove to the Gary OC, and stopped for the night.

The drive was easy, and I got there okay, even though the company directions, and Street and Trips said the place was farther north than it was.

Once in a dock, I worked on this page, and got caught up to right here.  If anyone has read this page before getting to here, you will want to go back to July 5th, and look for links to pictures.

After  I was unloaded, I called my TL because I hadn't been assigned a load.  I waited for an hour, then asked to go back to the OC at Gary, which I did.  I ate lunch, and went to check for messages.  I was reading a magazine when, after an hour, I got orders for a load.  The delivery was tomorrow, and not far away, so I didn't leave to get the load for another hour.

I went and picked up the load, and drove up into WI, where I stopped at a Flying J. I should have left earlier because I got stuck in traffic north of Chicago.  At the Flying J, I update this page to date, and posted it to the Internet.  I still have to get caught up on the tour maps.

End of tour 36

The tour started with a problem.  The tractor had been sitting for ten days, and rain had caused the brakes to freeze to the drums.  I got three of the drive wheel brakes broken free, but had to have someone come and break the last drum free.  I then bobtailed to get and empty trailer, and then drove to get a live load.  I was on my way after three hours.  I had until all day tomorrow to make the delivery, so I stopped in Indianapolis for the night, after only six hours.

The directions to get the load wanted me to take road that didn't allow trucks.  I had to ask for the old company directions to get to the shipper.  There I dropped the empty, and picked up the load.  I drove an hour and stopped for the night.  It was 2000.  I could have gone another two hours, but, once again, I had all day tomorrow to deliver the load, and I wasn't sure where I could stop if I continued on.

I delivered the load, and then waited three hours for my next load.  I had to bobtail to get fuel, and a trailer, about 60 miles, then another 30 to get the load.  Again, bad directions made it impossible to get to the shipper.  I called the shipper for directions.

I load was small, and was loaded in less than a half hour, once I was in a dock.  When I left, I had enough time on the fourteen to drive three hours to the West Memphis OC.  There I fueled, had a light on the trailer fixed, showered, and stayed for the night.

At the shipper, I dropped the empty and picked up the load.  When I took off, I thought that I had to deliver it the second day out.  As the distance was about 1200 miles, I thought I would have to get in as much distance today, and drive between five and six hundred miles the next two days.  I had less than two hours left on my fourteen.  Then, it occurred to me that the first of Aug was three days out.  I stopped after an hour and fifteen.  I calculated the remaining distance to the delivery and it showed that I would only have to do about 550 miles for each of the next two days, with a few remaining miles on the first of Aug.

Five hours and thirty minutes to get to West Memphis, and three hours and fifteen to get to a Flying J to stop for the night.  There, I updated this page, and posted it to the Internet.

Ahead to Aug