Back to Sep

I found the trailer, and hooked up.  The bills were in the bill box on the trailer.  However, the invoice was not there.  The invoice is required to show the value of the load when crossing into Canada.  Yes, I was going to Canada, again.  I called my TL, and said I needed the invoice.  I gave them a fax number, and they faxed me the invoice.  I prepared the paperwork for the broker, and faxed it to the broker.  I then called the broker to verify that it had been received.  I was, so I left with the load.

A little more than two hours later, I stopped at a small OC south of Detroit.  There I called the broker to see if I was cleared to cross the border.  I was.  I drove to the border, and went through customs in a couple of minutes.  I then drove about three hours to the company's OC west of Toronto.  I was about thirty miles from the delivery point.  There I fueled, and showed.  I parked for the night, worked on the September page through the 30th, and posted it to the Internet.  By the way, I don't think I mentioned that most of the larger OCs now have WiFi.

I got into a dock right away, and was unloaded in about an hour and a half.  A little long, seeing as only half the load was coming off here.  The rest of the load was going to near Montreal, Quebec.  When I left, I drove another five hours, stopping at a truck stop just before the Quebec border.  I was about thirty miles from the delivery.  It could be delivered anytime between 0800, and 1500 EDT.

I worked on this page up to this point.

I got up and drove into Quebec, west of Montreal.  The road signs are in French, and everyone speaks French, with few people speaking English as their first language.  I think this sign is saying that traffic is moving well on highway A-40 west.  This is the first time ever in Quebec.

I delivered the load.  Then I drove through Montreal, to the east to pick up another load.  I got the load, and drove back through Montreal, stopping at a Flying J to fax the paperwork for the border crossing.

I drove to the border, and crossed with no problems.  The border crossing was at Alexandria  Bay NY.  This was a new crossing point for me.  The crossing is over the St. Lawrence River in an area of Ontario called 1,000 Islands.  Here is a view from one of the two bridges.  The highway on the U.S. side was I81.  From the border to Syracuse was new highway for me.  I now think I have traveled the entire length of I81.

I drove to Binghamton NY, where I fueled up, and stopped for the night.  I also showered there.

When I left, I drove two hours, and stopped for the night.  I had only thirty minutes left on my fourteen.

After two hours, I got to the delivery.  I dropped the load, and picked up an empty.  I then drove to the shipper of the next load.  I drove an hour an three quarters to get there.  I went through downtown Boston to get to the docks.  I was following company directions.  The GPS directions may have been better.

The shipper was across the bay from the airport.  I watched the planes landing.  Behind the shipper was three cruise ships.  Here is an older one I'm guessing was from England.  There are two in this picture, but one is way down beyond the big one in the forground.  Across from the English ship was a container ship.

It took about an hour to load the trailer.  But, it took another two hours to do the paperwork.  Actually, I think they forgot about me.  By the time I left, I was in rush hour traffic.  It took almost three hours to drive sixty miles.  I stopped to get fuel, then parked for the night.  I only had forty-five minutes left on my fourteen, and didn't know where I could park farther down the road.

I was given orders to the drive to a location to get an empty trailer.  When I got there, I was told that they had just gotten the trailer yesterday, and would let it go.  They needed it.  I was sent back to the drop lot to get a trailer.  I got the trailer, and drove to the shipper.  This fooling around ate up some time.

I got the load, and left for the delivery.  It was supposed to be delivered today.  I had barely enough time on my eleven and fourteen to get there.  I drove almost seven hours with only one stop for fuel and a bathroom break.

When I got to the delivery, I had only one copy of the bill of lading.  All the way I figured that this would not be a problem because they could make a copy at the delivery.  But, their copy machine was down, so I couldn't deliver the load.  I drove to a truck stop to have a copy made.  My time ran out, and I parked for the night.

I continued to drive toward the delivery.  I stopped in Gary for fuel and a shower.  I could have stayed there, but because I could park on the lot at the delivery, I continued on to the delivery.  I now didn't have to worry about rush hour traffic around Chicago, tomorrow.

Once unloaded, I had to wait a while for a load.  I didn't leave for an hour.  I drove to the shipper, and arrive about a half hour early.  There was another truck there, and the driver told me that they hadn't started loading the trailer, yet.  It was 1400 by the time I got into a dock.  It took three hours to get loaded.

It was five and a half hours to the delivery, and I had six hours left on my fourteen.  I drove nonstop to the delivery.  I was able to park at this location, too.

About the time they were finishing, I got my next load assignment.  The pick up time was over an hour away, and the shipper was only fifteen minutes away.  I sat where I was for a while.  When I left, I arrived about thirty minutes early.  The load was ready to go.  I backed the empty into a dock, and pulled the load from another dock.

I drove toward my destination.  I stopped to scale the load.  I stopped to fuel and shower.  At each stop, I called to see if the load was cleared for crossing into Canada.  I was told that the paperwork was in the hands of customs, but that the broker hadn't heard back, yet.  I stopped at the OC south of Detroit, and called again.  I was told to call back in thirty minutes.

While I waited, I went into the driver room.  There were about five drivers there talking about driving in Canada.  At one point, a Canadian driver mentioned that one of the new hours of service rules states that a driver has to take a twenty-four break every fourteen day.  If you don't do this, you can't drive in Canada.  I thought, oh oh.  I checked, and today was the fourteenth day I have been driving on this tour.  I can't drive in Canada at this time.

I called the TLs, and explained the problem.  I was taken off the load I was supposed to pick up in Canada tomorrow.  I was also told to call my TL tomorrow about relaying the load I was still on.

I was stopped for the night, even though I was going to drive another three hours.  I worked on this page, and posted it to the Internet.

I did the winter training course, and also the hazmat re-certification.  I didn't know that the hazmat would involve a test, and it took longer than I thought.  It was 1030 when I was ready, but I was in the eastern time zone, so it was 1130.

There was a load waiting for me, but the pick up time was 1430.  I had three hours, but had to go get an empty trailer first, and it was forty-five miles in the wrong direction.  Then the load was twenty miles on the north side of Detroit.  So,  forty-five minutes to get to the trailer, fifteen to check it out, then an hour and fifteen to the shipper.  I was thirty minutes early.

I had to wait for another trailer to get loaded first.  I was in the dock about forty-five minutes later.  When done, I pulled on the scales to see how heavy I was.   I was told that another bail had to be placed in the trailer, so I went back to the dock.  After a total of an hour and a half, I was on my way.

Now the rest of the day was a driving day with a stop for scales, a bathroom break, and a fuel stop.  I stopped about an hour from the delivery.  I could have gone farther, but I was tired.  I wasn't going to get there any sooner, and it was 2300, three hours past the latest I like to drive in the dark.

I drove the empty fifteen minutes towards the town, and stopped at the shipper of the next load.  The load assignment said that it was a live load, but when I got there, I was told it was preloaded.  I dropped the empty in a dock, and picked up the load at another lot.  The shipper was in an industrial area along the Ohio river.  There were a lot of these aluminum ingots stacked around the area.

It was ready to go at 1215.  I had used an hour and a quarter of driving, but over three hours on my fourteen.  I realized that if the load had been live loaded, and took about two hours, I would not have gotten home today.  And, this was a guaranteed time at home.  Which meant I was supposed to get home today.

Part of the problem with the time was that the load had a distance of 325 pay miles.  But, the fastest routes using Interstate highways was closer to 420 miles, another hour and a half.  And, I would need an hour and a half to get the the home lot after delivering the load.  A check of a map showed that I could cut about 33 miles off the route by taking US 45 north from I64 to Effingham.  The GPS said that it would add eleven minutes to the time, but I have noticed that the GPS pads the time when back roads are used.  Here is the route, with the shortcut in red.  Running this route saved about seven minutes, and it could have been ten if not for single lane road construction.  I hope the company appreciates the 33 mile saving on fuel.

I delivered the load at 1945.  Originally, I was told to pick up an empty here, but that was changed to bobtailing home.  I would have gotten paid for deadheading an empty, I don't get paid for bobtailing home.  It took an hour and a half to get to the lot.  It was 2145.  My fourteen would have been up at 2300.

End of tour 61

I had gotten home so late at the end of the previous tour that I wasn't in a hurry to start this tour.  I got to the lot at 0930, and was ready to go at 1000.  I left the lot, and bobtailed to near the shipper to pick up an empty before continuing to the shipper.  It took a little more than an hour to get loaded.

After leaving the shipper, I drove to the Gary OC, where I fueled up, ate lunch, and scaled the load.  I drove non-stop for four hours, and stopped for the night.  It was 1900, about the time I like to stop now that it gets dark about 1500-1600, depending on time zone.  I could have gone farther, but the next place to stop was two hours away.  Another point is that the delivery time was on the 17th.

Right after you enter NC from VA and take US 52 from off of I77, you see Pilot Mountain.  I may have said this before, but this is the area of NC where Andy Griffin is from.  In the Mayberry shows, they often referred to Mount Pilot, a near by town.  Also in the area is the city of Mount Airy, another place referred to on the show.

A guard knocked on the truck just before the alarm went off.  She had a door assignment for me.  I got dressed, and backed into the door.

I could have hired a lumper, but the load was a straight unload, no breakdown, so I unloaded it.  It took about an hour to unload the trailer.  For that I was paid $25.00.  Once unloaded, I drove out of the dock, and back into a parking space.  I went back to sleep for a couple of hours.  It was still dark out.

When I got up, my next load assignment was waiting for me.  My biggest concern this morning was that I would not be sent toward a fuel stop.  The load I was picking up was in Charleston, which was straight south, but the fastest route went southwest to Charlotte, then south, then southeast.  I drove forty-five minutes to Charlotte to fuel and shower.

From Charlotte, I drove three and a half hours to Charleston SC to get the load.  I drove 240 miles to get the load.  Even though it was a drop and hook, it took an hour to pick up the load due to congestion at the gate.

Charleston is the home of an air force base.  While driving in and out of the area I saw three of these large cargo planes.  I think they are called Starlifters.

Once I had the load, I drove four hours before stopping for the night. I stopped a half hour before my fourteen ran out.  It was 1900 CST.  

For the rest of the drive with this load, I drove a little more than an hour, and stopped for fuel.  I then drove almost two hours, and stopped for lunch.  I then drove four hours non-stop to the delivery.  There I dropped the load, and bobtailed out.

I bobtailed an hour to get a trailer.  I then drove fifteen minutes to a truck stop.  The way the truck stop was laid out, I was able to drive nose first into a spot.  This allowed me to be away from the front of the trucks on either side of me.  This would allow me a quite night if either or both trucks idled their trucks.  Things were quite until about the time I was going to sleep.  Then there was noise from an idling truck.  I thought the exhaust pipe was aimed at the side of my trailer, and the noise bounced between out trailers.  I didn't sleep well.

The drive to the shipper was mostly on back roads.  The road went out of PA north, through some hilly terrain.  In NY, I got on some divided highway.  Approaching the town of the shipper, I followed the GPS, but the route through town came to a low bridge.  I had to go back, and follow the company directions.

The load was supposed to be a live load, but I was told to back the trailer into a dock, and drop it.  I was then told to pick up another trailer.  When I left, I messaged the company with the load information, indicating that the live load became a drop and hook.

The route went across NY on I86.  The area is farm pastures, field, and woods.  The trees were showing their finest fall colors.  Leaving NY I continued across PA and into OH.  I drove to the OC in Seville.  There, I got some fuel, scaled the load, and took a shower.

As the load was supposed to be delivery to West Memphis tomorrow, I continued driving.  I had about two hours left on my eleven and fourteen.  I was heading toward Columbus.  There are Flying Js both north and south of Columbus.  When I got to the first one, I saw that I had enough time to make the second, so I drove there.  Driving to the second also meant that I wouldn't be driving as much tomorrow.

At the Flying J, I was able to nosed into a spot again.  It stay quite all night long, and I slept real well.

I drove west toward Texarkana TX, but left the Interstate before get there.  The company directions included a fuel stop in Shreveport LA.  This route did follow more of a straight line from AR to the delivery in TX.  At Shreveport, I fueled up, and ate lunch.  I had fuel tanks when I left West Memphis, and wondered how much fuel I would use getting to Shreveport.  It was 52 gallons.  That is enough to get a shower coupon.

It was only two more hours to the town of the delivery.  I got there at 1700.  The truck stop I wanted to park at was full, so I had to drive back a couple of mile to park at what turned out to be a deserted truck stop.  There was a restaurant next door, but nothing else.

Just as I was getting there, it started to rain.  I was told that they couldn't unload me in the rain because thier forklift would slide on the outside ramp used to get into the trailer.  I thought that this was going to ruin my day.  But, then they got the idea of using a pallet jack to move the pallets to the back of the trailer, and have the fork lift take them off from there.  I was unloaded in less than the allotted two hours.

About the time I was ready to leave, I got the next load assignment.  There was no rush to get it, so I stopped at a WalMart a mile away, and did some shopping.

The load was about a 190 miles away.  It was raining on and off.  With an empty trailer, and the assfault roads, some of the roads were a little slippery.   If I tried to accelerate to fast, the tires would spin.  In was a slow trip to the shipper.

At the shipper, I dropped the empty, and picked up the load.  I only had two hours left on the six and a half available to drive today.  Today was the eighth day, and that was all I had left on my seventy.  The two hours was enough to get to the Flying J near Texarkana, where I stopped for the night.  There, I updated this page to this point, and posted it to the Internet.  I am almost caught up, and expect to the have the maps done tomorrow.  I just got the Streets and Trips working again.

I drove to the delivery, dropped the load, and picked up an empty trailer.  The only empty available needed to be swept out, so I did that.  It was there an hour.

When I arrived, the system sent a note asking for the fuel level.  I was at about 3/8 full.  Actually, I had about fifty gallons.  The returned note gave me directions, and said no fuel stops.  That is wrong.  I only had enough fuel to go half way to the delivery.  Luckily, the fill up in Shreveport, two days ago, gave me enough fuel to get to Joplin, even though the system said no fuel stops.  I wonder if this was what the company had in mind.

The drive to the shipper of the next load was about thirty minutes away.  It was 1200 when I walked up to the window to get the paperwork on the load.  I dropped the empty, and picked up the load.  I was there forty-five minutes.  I drove an hour, and stopped for lunch.

Yesterday was the seventh day out.  I only had six and a half hours of my seventy, but I only used five and three quarters.  On the first day out, back on the 15th, I only used six and a half.  That gave me seven and a  quarter available today.  As of lunch, I had used four hours.  The GPS indicated that that is what it would take to get to the Pilot Station in Joplin.  I needed to go there for fuel, a shower, and to park.

I drove to the Pilot Station, arriving with seven minutes to spare.

The next load had a pick up time of 1600.  It was only 1130.  I drove a half hour and stopped at a service plaza in the KS toll road.  This was where I had stopped earlier.  I ate lunch.

After lunch, I drove to a location north of the shipper.  There, I was supposed to get an empty trailer.  As I arrived, I received a message to pick up a trailer at another location.  I called a TL (team leader) to get a clarification.  There were no empties where I was, so I was supposed to go to the other location.  But, then the TL checked with the shipper, and I was told that I could bobtail into the shipper.  I did that.

At the shipper, the load was ready to go.  I hooked up, and drove to a scale.  I had to adjust the tandems.  I then drove three hours to a pilot station that acts as an OC.  The OC that used to be in the area was closed.  I arrived, and fueled up, just as my fourteen hours ran out.

I hate middle of the deliveries.  It requires trying to go to sleep early, something I find difficult to do when I regularly go to sleep at 2200.  And even harder if it is still light out.  But, it got dark at 1700, so I tried to go to sleep at 1900.  I think I fell asleep between 2000 and 2100.

I checked in, and got into a dock.  I was unloaded in less than two hours.  Once unloaded, I pulled straight into a parking place, and went back to sleep for a couple of hours.  I got up before 0800, and left for the shipper of the load that would take me home.  At least I hoped so, as I was tired.

I drove an hour to the shipper. There, I was loaded in two hours.  It took two hours to drive to the home lot as I had to drive on mostly back roads, going due east for ninety miles.  But, this was not my last load of the tour.  Before leaving the shipper, I received another load assignment.  I dropped the load, for relay, at the home lot.

For the next load, I drove forty-five minutes to get an empty trailer.  The one I was told to get had a flat tire.  I told the company of the flat, and picked up a different trailer.  I then drove five minutes to the shipper.  I logged this, even though I didn't have to.  I dropped the empty, and picked up the loaded trailer.  I drove it back to the home lot, arriving just as my fourteen hours ran out.  That is, if you start from the time I backed into the dock at 0200 in the morning.  It was 1600.

End of tour 62.

I arrived at the lot a little late, but was on my way at 0900.  Today was a driving day.  I was hauling the load that I had picked up at the end of the previous tour.  I drove an hour, and stopped for fuel, and to scale the load.  About three hours later, I stopped for lunch, and a nap.  I drove for a total of just over eight hours.  I had driven far enough to made the delivery time tomorrow.

I had sent a note in the morning that I would be available at 1300.  It was 1245 when I left.  But, even this was not enough time to make the appointment my next load was supposed to be picked up.  I was fifteen minutes late.  No matter, there was other trucks ahead of me.  It took two hours until I was loaded.

I drove two and a half hours, and stopped for the night.  I had put in nine hours of driving.  The load did not have to be delivered until Nov 2nd.  I planned to be there mid-day on the 1st.

Ahead to Nov

I drove another hour and a quarter, and stopped for lunch, and a nap.  I finish the day by driving almost six more hours.  I stopped after thirteen hours of my fourteen hours.