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The next load had three pick up stops.  The first one had an appointment time of 1130.  A three hour break in the middle of the day was going to ruin my day.  I drove the first stop, arriving at 0800.  I had to wait two hours, but was one my way to the second stop at 1015.

The second stop was fifteen minutes away.  There I was loaded in forty-five minutes.  The third stop was another fifteen minutes away.  The company provided directions put me on an illegal route.  By the time I saw the sign, I was committed.  At the third stop, I was loaded in another forty-five minutes.

I was now ready to drive some distance.  I only had five hours left of my fourteen.  I drove almost the whole five hours non-stop.  I was able to get to the truck stop where I needed to get fuel.  I fueled up, and stopped for the night.

I was making good time, and was about an hour and a half from the delivery.  Then there was a bang.  It was really loud, and I thought I was having a big problem.  It really scared me.  Then I felt the shank of an unbalanced tire.  This indicated a flat tire.  I pulled over, and checked the tires.  One of the tires had lost the recap thread, and had a three foot long hole in it.

I saw that I was about a mile from an exit, so I drove there to get off the highway.  I call maintenance support, and they told me that there was a repair shop of the other side of the highway from where I was parked.  I drove there, and they replaced the tire.  I ate lunch after the repair.

I drove to the delivery.  There I dropped the trailer, and picked up an empty.

I still had over four hours to drive.  I drove an hour and a half to the shipper of my next load.  There, I dropped the empty, and picked up the load.  The route involved state roads out of MS to Jackson TN.  the GPS wanted to take a route back to Memphis.  I forced the GPS by setting a waypoint along the company route.  It was shorter, but the GPS indicated that the other route through Memphis would save time.  

I stopped just as my fourteen ran out.  I had driven ten and a half hours. 

I drove four hours to a company OC near where the load was going.  There I fueled up, and checked to see if I had the forms I would need to take a load back to the USA.

I drove to the delivery, and dropped the load.  I bobtailed to another location, where I picked up an empty trailer.  I then drove the empty to the shipper, which was in the USA.  That meant that I didn't need to do any forms to get back into the USA.  I drove to the border, handed the customs agent my passport, provided the license plate number of the trailer, and was on my way.

I drove to the shipper, where I dropped the empty, and picked up the load.  A check of the GPS showed that I had enough time to drive to the OC in Seville.  This was where I was going to drop the load for relay.  It took exactly the time indicated, and I arrived just as my available driving time ran out.  I was also only fifteen minutes away from my fourteen.  I dropped the trailer, and parked for the night.

The distribution center was in eastern OH.  One load with one stop was in OH.  The other three were in WV.  Basically, I would drive to the stores, then return to the center.  Three times I drove over the same hilly US highway 22 back road, both ways.

There I wait over an hour.  My next load  was taking me back home.  The pick up time was 1800, but it also said I could go in early.  I waited an hour before I left.  Once again I had to take US 22.  I stopped for lunch in the town of the shipper.  I wait until 1400 before going to the shipper.  I was four hours early, but the load was ready to go.  Once I was hooked up, I drove forty-five minutes to a Flying J.  I still had almost two hours available to drive, but I only had under seven hours available tomorrow.  It added up to eight and a half hours available to drive tomorrow.

The worst part was that the load delivered at 0300 on the 10th.  I had enough time to get there tomorrow, but I had to get there by 1600 tomorrow, so that I could take a ten hour break before I made the delivery.  Stopping early means I can get up early enough to get there.

At the Flying J, I updated this page to this point, and posted it to the Internet.

When I got to the last truck stop south of Milwaukee, the GPS indicated that I had enough time to make the stop.  I arrived at the stop with a couple of minutes left.  The stop was in a WalMart.  It was six miles from the delivery.  The time was 1500.

I secured the rig, and walked to the other side of the lot, across the street, into a cinema I knew was there, and walked into  Spiderman 3 just before it started.

I didn't have to, but I unloaded the trailer myself.  I did it to make a little more money.  I wasn't going to make much driving today.

After I was unloaded, I drove off the property, and parked while I waited for my next load.  I called my TL to find out where my next load was going to be.  I was told that the load was in Kenosha, so I drove off in that direction.  Along the way, I received the orders for the load.

I was live loaded at the shipper, and then took the trailer to the home drop lot.  There I dropped the trailer, parked the tractor, transferred my stuff, and went home.

End of tour 52.

I arrived at the lot before 0800, and was ready to go at that time.  But, I didn't get an order until after 0900.  The load wasn't supposed to be ready until 1200.  I left at 0945, and arrived at 1200.

The load was going out east.  By the time I got to Chicago, I was driving in rush hour traffic.  This slowed my process.  In order to make the delivery time on the 16th, I had to drive pretty far today.  I am tired the first day back after time at home, and don't like to drive long.  But, because I got a late start, and the rush hour, I had to drive until 2200.

I was thinking of going to a Flying J, but when I came to a rest area with room, I stopped.

Today was a driving day.  I drove to within an hour of the delivery, so I was in a position for the morning appointment.

At the shipper, I had to wait awhile to get loaded.  I was able to drive to a Flying J in eastern PA.  While still in NJ, driving on a back road, I came upon this accident.  I wonder how he got in there.

I waited until after noon to leave.  This way, If I ran out of time before making the delivery, I could wait until midnight, get hours back from the first day of the tour, and still be within my fourteen for the day.

I drove to the delivery, dropped the load, and drove off the property, to a truck stop, for the night.

I picked up the load, and drove to a Flying J in IL, about half way to the delivery.

On the way to the Wal-Mart center, I drove on US-22 again.  I was finally able to get a picture of this guy's train.

I drove over two hours before I could scale the load.  Not only was I okay, but could have taken two more cubes of bricks.  That was the load, bricks.  The weight of the load slowed me down.  The route went across US30.  The stop lights in IN were a pain.  It was rush hour when I got to Chicago.  The south side was okay, but the road north of the Edens, where I94 reconnects with I294, was slow.  I had to stop sooner than I wanted to.

I was given a relay load to deliver in Green Bay.  After that, I was going an hour north to pick up a load going by Chicago.  The first load was unloaded quickly, and I was on my way north.  I figured that I would have enough time to get the load, and get to the home lot.  I could go home if I wanted to.

At the shipper, the trailer was rejected, so I had to go back to Green Bay, and get another trailer.  I drove back north, picked up the load, and then had only enough time to get to a parking spot.  The only good thing was that I was in an area where I could visit with a friend, which I did.

Today was Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend.  I thought that Chicago would be easy, wrong.  XM radio said that the tri-state was slow on the south end.  But, it said that the Edens and Dan Ryan were running okay.  I decided to go through.  Some guy broke down in one of two lanes on the Day Ryan, and backed everybody.

I drove to Indianapolis for fuel.  I was headed for a Flying J in KY when a tire blew up.  It was a tire on the trailer.  The one in the position of the one that had been low on air, and supposedly changed.  I was able to get off the highway, and in a lot for the night.  The company sent a repairman to change the tire.  This is the first time that I was not able to drive to the repair location.

I drove to a Flying J near the Carlisle OC.  The OC didn't have WiFi.  I got online and took care of business.

I took a show.  Then I picked up and empty trailer, drove to the shipper, got loaded, and drove to the delivery, where I spent the night.

I was now driving the longest stretch of the day.  I had to drive as far as I could get with the remainder of my  of my day.  Actually, I drove eight hours of twelve hours, and stopped at a Pilot station so I could shower.  But, it was 2030, and the delivery was suppose to be at 0800.  I was going to be late anyhow, and driving farther tonight wouldn't get me there any earlier.

Ahead to June

I left Gary, and drove to the delivery.  There I dropped the load, and picked up an empty.  One of the tires was a little low on air, so I drove to a truck stop and pumped it up.  I then drove to a truck stop close to the shipper, where I would pick up the next load tomorrow.