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March 7, 2009 - The live dash cam will be returning, but not in the previous capacity. More information to follow.
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March 7 , 2009 - Blogger will be shutting down their ability to update our site using their blog software and sending it via their FTP tools. This basically means we can use blogger but we have to use their hosting... which defeats the purpose of having our own domain.. So, over the next few weeks I will be working on migrating the site back to Greymatter, which will be used as our primary blogging software again. I have considered wordpress but after looking at the files I don't have time to learn PHP, so this is the easiest. Blogger will continue to be used until May 1, 2010, when blogger intends to shut down FTP access. Further info to follow.


Saturday, January 30, 2010
subject: Oklahoma City, OK

I ended up not being able to sleep through the 10 hours off so I had a feeling it was going to be a long night. I figured I would use the split sleeper option to get me through the night so I wouldn't have to drive the entire time. That proved to be a good option IMHO.

I picked up my load right on time... 900pm.. did my pretrip, and hung out until 1015pm when I was able to leave. I only sat so I could wait for my 10 hours to time out. During my break it started snowing but I didn't suspect it was that bad.. until I started to leave. There was around 3" of snow on the ground making it a little slick with a layer of ice underneath. I took my time to the freeway and didn't have any problem... until the on-ramp.. although the problem wasn't with me. I did a rolling stop at the stop sign of a 4-way stop so I wouldn't get stuck on the small incline with what ice I did see near the yard. Immediately before, however, a UPS driver pulling doubles attempted to climb up the 30 degree onramp and ended up spinning his tires. It took him a few minutes to get going before finally making it to the top. At that point I saw there had to be at least a good half inch of ice on the onramp. I activated my quad lock (differential lock) and made it up no problem after a rough start.

Since I wanted to avoid the toll roads on I-35 in lower Kansas outside of Wichita I decided to take U.S. 169.. which met up with I-44 south to Oklahoma City, OK.



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The freeway was rather slick most of the way but I-35 cleared up pretty quickly the closer I got to US-135. However, 135 was a totally different subject. I spent most of the time battling snow and ice covered road all the way to Iola, KS, where I stopped for the night, somewhere around 1230am. I expected to travel much further but fighting the roads and people who don't know how to drive in the snow took it out of me.

I finally got up around 800am, got ready, and headed out as soon as my 8 hours were up, a condition of the split sleeper. I anticipated the roads to be a little clear.. and they were for the most part until Oklahoma.. then it was back to hell. I fought drivers who, again don't know how to drive in snow, and spots of ice. The temperature warmed up to 48 degrees at one point so that helped make the drive at least maneuverable until I hit I-44... then it was smooth sailing, with minimal snow on the roadway.

I finally arrived at the yard at 130pm, about 30 minutes early. I was told to park it along the fenceline and, if there were any empties, I could grab one. After doing as tasked I noticed there was only 1 other truckload trailer there.. but it contained a seal. Damn it. I sent my dropped trailer message, followed by an informative no trailers message and asking for advice. Well, it was shot back that the load planner would be informed but that I could not go on the board without a trailer. hmmm. I went back in and explained my situation to the guy and asked if I could get an empty today... and... well... there won't be one until sometime Monday morning since they were all leaving for the day. I sent that back to my dispatcher and was told "there is no freight now but the load planner will 'keep you in mind'." What does that mean? Once shift change occurs later in the day I will be forgotten about. So, because freight was backed up due to weather at the freight terminal and they couldn't empty our trailers i'm being punished and will now have to remain here, trailerless, and off the board until sometime monday. Now, what I want to know is why I can be bobtailed home without a trailer but I can't be put on the board without a trailer.. making me eligible for a drop & hook load in the area. Needless to say i'm a bit pissed about the entire situation. This leaves me with only 1800 miles for the week, much less than I prefer. And, to top it off its in the 10's and 20's here temperature wise so i'll have to idle most of the weekend for my comfort, which means my MPG will be shit come next week. Grand!

posted by Daryl at 19:28
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Friday, January 29, 2010
subject: Kansas City, MO

After dropping my load I ended up sitting for 3 hours watching tv and surfing the net waiting for a load... but nothing came. Not only that but my board status never moved up. So, I made my way to bed around 400am.

I finally woke up around 800am to find I was sent a load moments before. I was to take a load from TSC and relay it at our yard in Kansas City, MO. Now, normally this wouldn't be an issue but by 900am when I was rolling out of the DC yard I had already wasted 7 hours of my 14 sitting and doing nothing... with the kicker being that it was ready at midnight... the exact time I left York, NE bound for Waverly. And, now, this load had to be relayed by 130pm. Seriously? This is why I have contended that someone isn't doing their job. I can understand the board system if there isn't freight.. but come on. I arrived in Waverly with 13 hours to go on my 14.. and if it was sitting there I should have been out of there pretty quickly. I was more frustrated than a legless Ethiopian watching a doughnut roll down a hill.

Anyways, this load was a drop and hook so I was hooked and ready to go pretty quickly. I took US 6 southwest to 84th street in Lincoln, NE, followed by NE 2 back east. I jumped on I-29 and took it south to I-435 on into the yard. Not a bad 212 miles for the day.




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After looking at my log it looked like I could perform a split sleeper option. That basically meant that since I had 8 hours of sleep my 14 hour clock was essentially stopped. The 3 hour drive from Waverly to Kansas City qualified perfectly for my driving time and, provided I could get a 2 hour break once I arrived, I would be able to drive until 1000pm if given something immediately. I could only hope for my weekend load so I didn't have to drive all night for the 3rd night in a row. However, of course the plan didn't go the way I intended and I was given a load heading out from Kansas City, KS at 900pm tonight, effectively misusing the available hours I had available.... again. I personally thought a planner did just that.. plan... but in this case it didn't happen. So, I opted to head over to the Con-way yard and sit there until 900pm to pick up my load.. then sit until midnight when I can actually move again after a full 10 hour break. I can honestly say i'm starting to get frustrated at the entire system used on solos.

posted by Daryl at 17:13
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subject: Waverly, NE

This posting is a bit late... and I apologize. I had a few stops thrown in there, including home, before this most recent.



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After sitting in the Costco DC lot last Thursday for about 1.5 hours I was finally released. Being that I was about 1/4 full on fuel I decided to head up to the T/A in Ontario, CA to refuel. There I got my marching orders... I was heading down to the Con-way yard in Santa Fe Springs, CA to take a load to Phoenix, AZ. It was followed by a Phoenix, AZ to Phoenix, AZ pre-plan. I figured i'd be picking up something from one of our few shippers there but it was still an unknown.

I got to Santa Fe Springs, CA about an hour after refueling. I didn't pick the load up until 930pm so I managed to squeeze in a 6 hour nap. It was fairly warm there so I opted to sleep with the truck off to save on my MPG. I figured out that having my fan plugged into the front cigarette lighters was perfect for notifying me when the battery was about dead because the trucks computer shuts them off at the point just before the truck won't start. However, Thursday proved not to be my day. I woke up and fired up the truck, assuming it would do such since the fan was still running. Turns out, that was flawed logic. I gave it a shot 3 times and got nothing. Why is it whenever i'm in California nothing goes my way? Thank god for the shop guys there... I managed to convince one to give me a jump with their company pickup. Why Sacramento didn't have one the last time I died in Cali I don't know, but this worked perfectly and I picked up my load... nearly on time.

Now, I say nearly because Santa Fe Springs is NEVER on time. At best we got our load about 25 minutes late... but were usually 1 to 2 hours behind schedule. This time I got it about 20 minutes late, setting a new record. However, they wanted me to have the load in Phoenix by 530am. Being that it is a 7 hour drive and I got the load ready and out of the yard by 915pm that just wasn't going to happen. The load was 44k lbs and the hills coming across I-10 were steep enough to slow me down several times. Then, to top it off I got yanked into the scale on the east side of Cali.. and lucky for me it was a slow moving line.

All in all I managed to make up 21 minutes and arrived at the guard shack at 539am. Not bad for having an ETA most of the time of 600am.

the load after was actually a deadhead home. Phoenix to Phoenix wasn't entirely accurate since we live in a suburb, and since i'm permitted to bobtail home the deadhead was out of the question. Anyways, seeing that I had 4 days off already this time off wasn't necessary but... who am I to argue. I took 3 full days off anyways and came back on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning came and I went on the board. I was told in a freeform message to head over to the Con-way yard and grab an empty and my FM would see what the load planner had for me. Well, 1/2 miles away from home I got my plan.... I was picking up at 400am on Wednesday morning and relaying the load, after a mad rush, with a team in Albuquerque, NM. I turned around towards home instead, and sent a message stating that I wasn't going to pick up a trailer to drop it off later and was instead going to wait at home and not the Con-way yard. Good plan overall and I managed to get a free day of doing practically nothing at home. That allowed me to catch up on the 4 pre-recorded episodes on our DVR of "Border Wars" on National Geographic. I don't know why but the mission of Border Patrol and Customs fascinates me. I suspect that if I ever decide to go back to Law Enforcement.. this will probably be my primary goal since the city beat doesn't quite light my fire anymore.

Anyways, I managed to get to bed Tuesday night at something like 830pm and tossed and turned all night.. finally dragging myself out of bed at 230am. A quick shower and a gathering of my cold food items and I was out. I found I had a message waiting for me when I finally got in the truck... which turned out to be a preplan for my next load. I was to pick up a load in Albuquerque, NM and take it to Waverly, NE. Gravy.





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I got to the Con-way yard in Phoenix about 20 minutes early. The guys were on time with this one and I rolled out just as my departure time came up. I was given a 45 minute window to go 417 miles.... I know I told them when I changed fleets I enjoy a challenge but damn! I travelled up I-17 to I-40 straight east, relaying at the Flying J. I got there with an hour to spare after having made up 24 minutes!

I made my relay and, as it turns out, I got this teams load of Tractor Supply parts bound for the Tractor Supply Center... or.. TSC... distribution center just outside of Lincoln, NE. I figured I would be waiting in a dock forever to pick up a load so this was a pure bonus. I decided instead of waiting around for a 10 hour restart that I would instead get as far as I could... especially since it was a quick run with only a 3 hour window total to get there. Turns out that with the 3 hours I had left I had plenty of time to make it the 180 miles across I-40 to Tucumcari, NM after a quick fuel stop in Santa Rosa, NM. 656 miles later, and around 3pm I finally arrived, stopping for the night at the Flying J on the outskirts of town.

I decided that a 10 hour break would be sufficient, so after screwing off for a few hours and a 7 hour slumber I was on my way, around 130am. From Tucumcari, NM I went straight north on U.S. 54 to U.S. 83 to U.S. 56 to U.S. 81. I pressed it out yet again but since most of this trip was on U.S. highways and through small towns the speed was much slower. I originally thought I could make it to the DC but I wound up being 45 minutes short. I instead go to the Petro in York, NE where I opted to stay so I could get a shower before heading out at around 1100pm after my 10 hour break. This gave me about 60 miles left to travel, or about an hour.. which really isn't bad but it sucked to have to start my 14 hour clock. Hopefully i'm preplanned with something rather quickly so i'm not wasting time!

I finally woke up at 1100pm with the intent to get my shower but fate had other plans. Apparently most truck stops are going to this automated machine that handles showers and either takes the rewards cards or $10.00 in cash. Since this Petro wasn't a fuel stop, and I fueled at the Pilot in Salina, KS earlier anyways, I had to pay the $10.00 cash. After a quaint argument with the ATM, it winning, I angerly wandered back to the truck. Apparently I forgot my ATM number for my personal account. Grand. Instead, I ate breakfast and headed out, somewhere around midnight or so across I-80 to Lincoln, NE.

I finally arrived at the TSC in Waverly, NE at about 100am, dropped my trailer, grabbed an empty trailer, and am now sitting here #5 on the board in the TSC yard waiting for a load. Based on a thread here by my fellow co-worker, Vito Corleone.. or The Fenian Godfather as he calls himself, who delivered here the other day and was given a load out of here, I suspect I will be doing the same.. but that call probably won't come until sometime later this morning. So, for now i'm watching "The Soloist," with Jamie Foxx, for the first time. Never even heard of it but its a pretty good movie to say the least. A few more hours of sleep here soon to get me back onto sleeping at night and driving during the day and I should be good to go.

posted by Daryl at 02:21
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Thursday, January 21, 2010
subject: Mira Loma, CA

Time off goes by just way too fast. We didn't actually accomplish anything on these 3 days off really. We cleaned up the house a bit, enjoyed a feast and watched the Arizona Cardinals lose badly to the Saints, watched my beloved Detroit Red Wings lose in a shootout with the Chicago Blackhawks game, and caught up on sleep. Mary started school this week so that took her away for a few hours on Tuesday, but I think that was about it.

Wednesday morning started early. I think I was up by 600am and Mary and I were out the door by 645am, arriving at the Pilot where I parked the truck by 700am. It took a bit to bring the truck to operating temperature and I finally rolled out around 730am. The Costco distribution center in Tolleson was just around the corner so I took the backroads and got there shortly after. I was directed to a parking area with a pager type thing, the kind you would get at the Olive Garden or Texas Roadhouse, and when it buzzed I was to report to my assigned door. Fair enough. Being early a bit early I kinda expected it and did as I was told.

Well, after 1.5 hours waiting it finally went off. I expected a wait but damn. I parked in my assigned door and waited another 1.5 hours before I got the go ahead to pull out. After, I headed home where Mary and I went to lunch at our new local favorite establishment for lunch and went home to hang out. During such time I got a preplan after dropping in Mira Loma, CA.... I was going to head down to the Santa Fe Springs, CA yard and take a load to Phoenix, AZ. At least i'll be able to take a 10 hour break at home provided I get a decently long weekend pull.

I think I finally shipped out somewhere around 330pm or so. The drive across I-10 was rather uneventful. Around Palm Springs, CA I noticed truck stops were full to the brim so after some thought I decided to stop at the rest area outside Palm Springs for the night, leaving me about 52 miles left to go. I was up and on the road right at as my 10 hour break was finished. I got about 20 miles down the road and was pulled into the scales there for a Level II inspection. The guy checked all the lights, thumped the tires, did a quick lookover of the trailer, did a checkover of my paperwork, and let me go. It kinda worked out 'cuz I was running ahead of schedule and needed to burn some time, but i'd rather have stopped somewhere other than the state run scales!

I think I finally got there at 615am and was given a door right away. 1.5 hours later I was on my way to the T/A in Ontario, CA to refuel the truck.... great mpg on this load as the last refuel was done in Van Horn, TX, almost 1,000 miles away with all my stops.

posted by Daryl at 12:04
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Saturday, January 16, 2010
subject: Avondale, AZ

I really think our dispatching system needs an overhaul. It appears that the load planners really do not look at what is inbound to locations within a period of time and try to find them loads. It seems they wouldrather us sit there, wasting valuable hours and spending valuable company money, while we wait for them to get to us. Right now the process appears as though they wait for the arrived and unloaded/dropped trailer call... THEN assign loads once they finally get to our number on the board Let me explain....

When I was unloaded in Carrollton, TX, I sent a message stating I was going to head down to our terminal in Lancaster, TX since there was no parking. At that point I was #8 on the board in the Lancaster AOR. I was shot back a message telling me to contact Lancaster to make sure they didn't have anything for me to pick up. OK. A quick call revealed that they wanted me to come to the terminal. No problem. So, a quick 28 miles down I-35E and I was there in about 30 minutes. Going back on the board I was placed #2. That was quick.

Being that I had the time I decided to sweep out the trailer. It wasn't bad but I had nothing else to do. After, I checked the qualcomm and didn't have a message light so I opted to take my crowbar to the trailer and dig up nails from the past 2 loads that were nailed to the trailer floor. All in all it took about 20 to 30 minutes before I was finished. Looking at the board status I was still #2, so I decided to get comfortable. Of course, just as I made that decision I got a plan for me to deadhead to El Paso, TX. Apparently there was nothing there for me, and since I was close to the 7 day mark it was probably a good decision on their part.

I left out right after I got the message and drove straight through to Peyote, TX where I shut down for the night. I was up and ready to go exactly 10 hours later when my break ended. It took me 3 hours to make it from Peyote to El Paso without any issues. With a refuel and shower along the way it left me with about 9 hours on my 14 hour clock. That left plenty of time to give me whatever they had going towards home.

I checked my board status and found I was #32, but that trickled down to #23 in about 2.5 hours. Pretty quick I thought. Well, just past the 3 hour point of sitting I got a dispatch that was sending me to the Electro-Lux distribution plant to take a preloaded trailer (that was ready at 0800am) on 2-stops... 1 to Tolleson, AZ, due 1/20, and the other to Mira Loma, CA, due 1/21. This was my load going home.... or through home anyways. After going and getting the preloaded trailer and dealing with all that bullcrap I had only 6 hours left to drive on my 14 hour clock... but I needed 9 hours to go from El Paso to Avondale, AZ where I was going to park the truck while I went home. Now, my logic tells me that if the "professionals" at the helm would have seen I was coming into El Paso and noticed I was also highlighted, I could have had my orders changed from the El Paso yard (where I sat 3 hours if you will remember) to the Electro-Lux plant to pick up the trailer that was ready at 0800am I would have easily made it home on Friday.

If you ask me it sounds like there are too few load planners (I think there are 6 or so that work there from what I remember being told)... or the system is just poorly designed. Either way, something should be changed as they are wasting valuable time on the drivers part. I know its possible because if you look at Crete, their drivers have nothing but good things to say about their dispatch system... which preplans them, in most cases, before the drivers even get to their final destination.

In any case I ended up getting up at 0500am Saturday morning to finish the 3 hours left from Benson, AZ to Avondale, AZ. The plan from this point is to take my 4 days off and make my delivery at 800am on Wednesday. I'll have a few hours off after and will most likely finish driving to Mira Loma, CA on Wednesday evening for my 630am Thursday delivery. Mira Loma, CA is near the T/A truck stop there so most likely I will stay the night there and finish the few mile drive early Thursday.

posted by Daryl at 10:10
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Thursday, January 14, 2010
subject: Carrollton, TX

After sitting at a truck stop in northern Appleton, WI for about 20 minutes I got a message on the qualcomm with my next load info. I was to head over to western Appleton, WI, by 700pm to pick up a loaded trailer and take it to Carolton, TX, just north of Dallas by Thursday morning at 1100am. Since I put in for home on Monday I figured this load was to start getting me in the right direction. I suspect that since I'll be ready for a load by mid afternoon on Thursday I might be in the running for a Con-way load that runs from Dallas to Phoenix, but we'll see.

After looking at my logs and programming the locations into my 2 gps units I settled in for a 10 hour break before heading over to the consignor. However, being that circumstances never go the way I intend them, I got a message about an hour later to head over to the consignor as they needed my trailer for the load. So much for a drop and hook at 700pm. I oblidged and headed over. It didn't take me but 15 minutes to get there, back into my dock, get loaded, and head out. In all I think i was finished in about 45 minutes and on the road by 1100am.







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Being that I was at about half on the fuel gauge I decided to make it as far as Brooklyn, IA where I would stop for the night at the Pilot there, about 240 miles away. That allowed me on Tuesday morning to take a shower and refuel before heading out. My 14 hour clock ran out at 600pm and I was figuring I would be there by 430pm so I was well within my time limits. True to my math I made it there by 430pm, settled in with my laptop and some primetime tv, and had a killer Lean Cuisine for dinner before hitting the hay.

I woke up around 645am on Tuesday morning, well before my intended goal of 800am. Figuring others in the truck stop probably already beat me to the shower line I opted to make breakfast, catch up on my email and blogs, and was rather surprised I managed to catch a rather decent chick flick...  Over Her Dead Body. I finally jumped in the shower somewhere around 800 or 830am. Not sure which. After fueling I was finally on the road around 1000am.

The drive was rather uneventful but Kansas City was interesting considering I rolled through there during rush hour. Since I didn't have to run many miles Tuesday I squeezed out some 340 miles and finally stopped at a podunk truck stop in Iola, KS. This town sounded familiar as I saw it on all the signs and as I got closer noticed the Gates Rubber Company show up on my GPS. A quick thought back and remembered.... we've been here before. Anyways, I was really in the mood for a frothy adult beverage but considering the location of the truck stop in relation to the rest of the town's amenities (well over a mile away) I chose to do the usual movies on tv and some refried bean and cheese quesadillas for dinner.

Thursday started around 800am or so when I woke up yet another morning without an alarm. I love it. I sent in my hours by 900MST and was off. The drive was uneventful other than stupid drivers passing on double solid lines and almost creating 2 separate wrecks with oncoming traffic. Idiots. I finally got to Atoka, OK to refuel when I got a "you were late on sending in your hours" slap on the hand message on the qualcomm. For those that are unaware we are supposed to send in our hours every morning by 900am so the planners know what they are working with... which seems counterintuitive anyways because they rarely ever preplan me on anything until I get to my destination anyways. I digress.... I always understood from my trainer that everything works off your home terminal. And considering I work off of El Paso, TX time (MST) and i sent the message at 857am MST I figured I was in the clear... apparently not. I sent a clarification message asking and supposedly its on Joplin, MO time... CST. Grand... so can I sleep in or just send the hours in before I go to bed. I posed the question on a fellow drivers blog and am awaiting his answer. I too would love the opportunity to sleep in once in a while... waking up at 730am every morning will suck. Anyways, I refueld and was off and made it another 120 miles before shutting down in Anna, TX at the Loves for the night. 356 miles for the day isn't too bad I guess... and it left me 39 miles to go to the consignee.

My intent for Wednesday night was to try and sleep with the truck off to save my mpg. It worked surprisingly well, but i'm sure turning everything that drains power off except my fan and refrigerator. However, it only lasted until around 600am when the fan shut off, waking me up. I restarted the truck to start the recharge process and attempted to go back to bed but that point was futile. I ended up getting up instead and hung out until around 900am when I drove over to the consignee.

I ended up following my GPS over since all of the roads were truck routes. Along the northwest freeway I found it was a tollway, something I hadn't planned on so I opted to follow it via the service drive. While it was a better decision since I don't keep cash on me I ended up hitting every red light along the way. Then I started south towards the consignee. I saw a freeway with no indications of it being a tollway.. at least until I hit the toll shed. Seriously?!? When the hell did Dallas all become a tollway? Whatever. I rolled in and informed the lady I had no idea I was on a tollway. She set me up so I could pay for it through the mail within 15 days. Not my preferred choice but at least I didn't get a ticket or anything. I opted to jump off, follow on the service drive, hit every red light, have a close call with a low hanging tree branch and the top of my trailer, and stupid drivers that don't know how to merge (thats a rant for another time). I finally arrived at the consignee right at my appointment time, 1100am.

I had to check in with security first, which yeilded me a hair net, beard net for my goatee, safety glasses, and an orange safety vest (which all combined looked rediculous on me... i looked like the lunch lady from hell).. then was directed to head over to the main office to check in. I followed instructions where I found they all found me on the receiving paperwork they had but didn't know where to put me despite the plethra of open doors. I was told it was a live unload from the company but these people didnt know if they wanted me to drop the trailer or live unload me. After I told them there were none of our trailers in their yard they chose to unload me live and gave me door 0 to get in. Okie. I walked outside and the yard hostler told me there was a trailer in door 0 and told me to park next to a nearby Crete trailer. Was a good spot because the yard was kinda small and the trailers parked extremly close together on the docks. I hate backing into a dock as it is so this was a fair compromise. I got the trailer in there but had to reset twice when I found the dock bumpers were in line with the yellow line. Normally you have to park between the yellow lines. Whatever. 1.5 hours later I was unloaded and headed down to the Lancaster, TX terminal to await my next load.

posted by Daryl at 14:00
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Monday, January 11, 2010
subject: Kimberly, WI

I got a bout of nostalgia this run. On Saturday I had a little 4-Runner pass me, and through the back window I could see a little arm pumping aggressively wanting me to honk my airhorn. This thrust me back to my youth, from age 5 to maybe 10 or 11. I remember being taught by someone, not really sure who, that if you pump your arm up and down a non-distracted truck driver might honk his horn at you.. at which time I was instructed to always give the trucker a thumbs up. For some reason that is one of the few memories I have of my extreme youth and it always stuck with me.

After that, I remember everytime we as a family took a trip from Detroit, MI to my grandmothers in Cincinatti, OH and various other small trips around the state my brother and I would see how many trucks we could get to honk their airhorns. In most cases we would get about 90% to do it. And, to top it off most of my friends did the same thing getting about the same success rate. And, that brings me to todays times. Since i've been in this job i've had maybe half a dozen try and get me to honk the horn. Mary hasn't had much better odds either and it makes me wonder if fathers are teaching their kids these days to play the same games. I suspect with cell phones, IPOD's, laptops, mobile DVD players, and all the other crap to keep kids preoccupied such silly games are not necessary to keep them busy. But then, theres the drivers. I try to get my kids to do the same thing and my son won't have anything to do with it while my daughter will try like crazy and most won't even partake. I find both sides of the coin interesting. 


After leaving the Budweiser distribution center in Salt Lake City, UT I was directed to head over to the Con-way yard to pick up a relay bound for Tooele, UT. It only took me about 30 minutes total to get to the yard, hook, and leave for the distribution center.




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It took me about 30 minutes to get over to the DC where I found it was a drop and hook. The woman that took my paperwork was relieved because apparently there were about 20 drivers waiting to unload. Thank god I didn't have to partake in that excitement. Once I grabbed the empty I was sent my next load. I was to head over to Magna, UT to pick up copper coils and take it to Kimberly, WI. Not bad... 1483 miles for an awsome weekend pull.

Upon arrival I found there were about 7 other trucks waiting for the same thing I was. After being in line and having checked in with security I got a call from someone at, what I thought was, the company. Apparently someone (I can only assume a scheduler) was on the line looking to speak with the driver (me), just to make sure I was there. I assured her I was and was in line. But, I did find out I didn't have my pickup number so she was gracious to give that to me. That would probably simplify my life considerably. I finally bumped the dock around 200pm, checked in, and was loaded around 230pm. A quick check with the security office and I was outta there. At that point it was a mad rush to get as far as I could. I had less than 2.5 days to go near 1500 miles. A quick stop back at the Con-way yard to scale out and I was off. This trailer, when I picked her up, pulled really well but with 43,000lbs directly over each set of axles it pulled like a bitch. The beer load was 46,000lbs in a trailer that pulled about the same way and I had no problems at all. This load had problems even starting out in first gear. It gave me problems the entire way... go figure.. the load I have to push and half the time I could barely start out after a start. Anyways, I ended up stopping at a rest area just outside of Fort Bridger.

My goal was to wake up around 500am on Saturday and take off. The intent was to be able to drive on my 11 as far as I could, stop early, repeat the process on Sunday, and leave myself with about 50 miles or so left on Monday to make, which would leave me plenty on my hours for the day to pick up a new load. Come Saturday morning I think I reset the alarm for 1.5 hours later. That wasn't scheduled but I got up way too early too many times this week. I think I was finally rolling around 715am or so.

I pressed out across I-80 making it to Grand Island, NE and Sunday made it to somewhere about 80 miles outside of the consignee near Appleton, WI. I was suprised to see, however, the amount of vehicles still stuck from the storms last week. I think I witnessed some dozen cars spun out or flipped over, a truck with a horse trailer overturned, a u-Haul trailer overturned but misssing the tow vehicle, 2 trucks wiped out in the center median, and one completely overturned. I knew people didn't know how to drive but damn.

Anyways, Monday morning I got going somewhere around 345am and finished the 80 miles, arriving about 30 minutes earlier than my appointment time. The guy was nice and allowed me to be unloaded early though.. giving me much more opportunity to have a load out later today. After 45 minutes. or around 0645am I was on my way and found myself a decent truck stop north of where I was to wait out my next load. I put in for home this time around so I hope to be back sometime by Sunday. 4 days off should put me coming back Thursday for a few short runs before any long weekend runs provided I can get home then.

posted by Daryl at 17:30
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Friday, January 8, 2010
subject: Salt Lake City, UT

I woke up Wednesday to a load waiting.... sorta. I was supposed to deadhead 472 miles to the Flying J truck stop on I-70 in Aurora, CO, and was expected to be there by 900pm. Gravy. After getting ready I pulled out. The drive was uneventful for the most part. I did get load info about 2.5 hours into the trip. I was supposed to head up to Ft. Collins for a load headed to Salt Lake City, UT. I know we don't have much freight that comes out of Colorado but I was pretty sure it would be a Budweiser load... one I hate as their always heavy as hell.




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I started to hit weather as I got onto I225 in Denver with snow pack on the roadway, heavy falling snow, and thick traffic. I think it took me an hour alone just to go the 14 miles from I-25 to I-70 via I-225.

I arrived at the Flying J at around 430pm and sent my arrived and reboard messages. I was sent my load info to pick up on Wednesday night at the Budweiser/Busch plant in Ft. Collins. So much for getting to bed early. Out of curiousity I checked the preplan info I got earlier in the day and found that it was due to pick up on the 6th and deliver at 7am on the 7th. It was clearly late evening on the 6th and I was almost out of hours so getting there by the 7th just wasn't going to happen. As it turns out I thought it was the 5th all day long... which is why I accepted the load. DOH. I sent a message back while enroute letting them know this and that it was my mistake. Dispatch told me to go ahead and pick it up and late calls would be made. Okie.

It took me another 3 hours to get up to Ft. Collins, CO for my load. At that point I had 3 hours left on my 14 hour clock. Definatly cutting it close. Their instructions are quite a bit different than most of the beer plants i've been to. They weigh with an empty trailer attached, instructed me to drop the trailer in the drop lot and come back to reweigh bobtail, then gave me my loaded trailer info. But, none the less it was done, but not without the drama of another company driver rolling his trailer over in a ditch when coming out of the drop lot. From my vantage point I could see he didn't slide his tandems before moving and took a short turn to his blind side out of the lot. This caused the trailer to track into a ditch that ran parallel to the road. Guess they will have an open position soon for anyone interested!

I grabbed my trailer, attempted to slide the tandems several times on pure ice and snow covered pavement and finally weighed legal with a load weight of 46k. I figured that would make the run interesting in Wyoming and Utah. I only had about 45 minutes left on my 14 hour clock when I finally pulled out.. which really wasn't any time to make it to somewhere safe so my intent was to find a pull out somewhere and shut down for the night. I managed to find something just as my 14 hour clock was up just north of Livermore, CO. Probably not the most secure place to shut down but it sufficed.

I was woken up on Thursday morning to the qualcomm going off. The message at 0630am? Welcome to our fleet! I was apparently recently moved off of the team fleet, as expected, and put on a solo fleet. I figured I might as well get up... but the amusing fact was I thought it was 0830am. I didn't discover this until I had my coffee ready, was dressed and groomed, and opened the curtain ready to take the helm. I probably could have gone back to sleep but was hoping to take the road as soon as my 10 hour break was up... at 0830am... which is why I got moving. I couldn't win.

Thursday was uneventful to say the least and I ended up shutting down abuot 30 miles outside of Salt Lake City at a small truck stop. I wasn't in the mood to fight with other drivers trying to find spaces in the few truck stops around the metro area, nor did I know what the overnight parking situation really looked like at the consignee. I looked it up on google maps and found the address but figured a gate would block the entrance... causing me to have to park in the driveway. No thanks.

I received a pre-plan somewhere around 1100pm that I was to take a load from SLC to Tooele, UT... only 34 miles. At the time I didn't know what that was about but ended up finding out it was a relay and I was lined up with another load right after headed to Wisconson. I'll take it. That gives me a grand total of 3,054 miles for the week. Not too bad for a slow start out the gate. I was up early Friday morning and finished the drive, getting there right at 0700am, my appointment time and was unloaded within 2 hours. Hopefully after the next load I can put in for some hometime. Mary and I are still adjusting to the separation issue so this will definatly be worthwhile.

posted by Daryl at 13:16
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Tuesday, January 5, 2010
subject: Los Lunas, NM

Perusing the internet like I normally do I found across this... a list from Lake Superior State University in northern Michigan which lists several words that should be banned due to overuse. I originally heard about this list on CNN and searched for it this weekend and found it interesting. Several of the words, including mostly words spoken by President Obama, are on that list. Peruse the list at your leisure. It is indeed an interesting read.

Sunday was an early morning for some reason. It seems that the days I don't have to wake up early i'm up rearing to go at 400am. But, the days I have to get up early I can't get enough sleep. WTF?!? Anyways, we ended up going out to breakfast at a small cafe nearby, then sat around the rest of the day. I took advantage of the time there to pack up some final items we were not able to cram into the car and mom offered to bring me to the truck to store them. Thank god she did because apparently I left my map lights on! The batteries were fine but I thought it was going to be a close one.

Monday I was up at 0530am with mom so she could bring me over to the truck on her way to work. I ended up sitting for a few hours before heading over to the consignee around 1230pm for my 100pm pickup. I ended up getting there early to find another truckload driver sitting on the scale. Apparently they went to lunch and left him hanging. Swell bunch of guys, lemme tell ya! I only had about 20 minutes to wait before they showed up, prepared the necessary paperwork for the dock worker, and had me back to a dock. I was in and out in about 40 minutes or so, rolled onto and off the scale, and was out of there in about 1.5 hours. Way better than I expected.




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Because I was low on fuel I opted to take U.S. 85 south to I-76 where I jumped onto U.S. 285 and took that to the Pilot off of I-70 and Vasquez. After about 20 minutes there I jumped I-70 to I-25 and took that south. Because I was going to be rolling through Colorado Springs I opted to stop at the Tomahawk truck stop in Fountain, CO where my ex-wife met me with the kids. Ally had just got out of ballet class so I offered to take them all to dinner. It was about that time and I was famished so she agreed that I would buy if she drove. Was a good night overall with them. Mary and I are supposed to fly Toryn out for spring break in March when I intend to take my weeks vacation so I kinda talked out plans with them two.

After dinner I was taken back to the Tomahawk where I decided to leave out instead of stay the night. I had 7 hours left on my 14 hour clock so it was a good bet to keep driving as far as I could. I managed to make it to the second rest area in New Mexico before I called it a night.

I ended up waking up on Tuesday around 830am without an alarm. I love those days but most I feel like I overslept because it does not take long for me to feel like i've been up all night. Anyways, I made breakfast and coffee, and cleaned up the truck a bit while watching 'Hancock' before I took off, around 930am when my 10 hour break was up. I stopped at a casino south of Albuquerque, NM around noon to make some lunch and catch up on a movie before heading down the road around 200pm.

I ended up arriving at the Wal-Mart distribution center about 3 hours early to find there were no parking spaces anywhere near the DC like I found on google earth, not to mention all of the no parking signs posted along every street within 50 feet of each other. The "truck stop" mentioned in my dispatch notes nearby was nothing more than 4 diesel pumps.. of which 2 idiots were parked in sleeping at the wheel. How disrespectful. Anyways, I routed back to the street that lead to the DC and parked in the center lane so I could find some place to park. Then, to my surprise, a guy in a pickup pulled up and asked if I was headed to the DC. A brief conversation ensued of which the jidst was that he was taking all of the trucks early tonight. Score! So, I did the whole check-in thing, got a door, and waited about 2.5 hours before I was set to go.

Not having a pre-plan I chose to drive the 24 miles north to the T/A in Albuquerque but spyed an Indian casino on the way. Swerving off the freeway I got there but found it wasn't really designed for semi's and stuck with the original plan after getting turned around. Heading back west to the freeway I just happened to spot a few trucks parked with their lights off at a Phillips 66 that took me by surprise... I didn't find it on any map, truck stop guide, or my POI database in my GPS. A swerve off the road again and I was parked in no time. #8 on the board so I suspect I won't be out anytime early on Wednesday.

posted by Daryl at 20:10
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Sunday, January 3, 2010
subject: Henderson, CO

After making my relay in Dunnigan, CA, I headed down to the Sacramento, CA yard to wait for my load. After perusing the yard I decided I couldn't make it into any of the spots open which to park my empty trailer. The Sacramento yard is really wierd in it's setup. Most have the terminal in the center and park the empties around the perimeter fence. However, this one has a special "corral," as you can see below, where empties are parked. Then, to prevent setup for a 90 degree back or even a 45 degree back and, god forbid, a straight line back, the company parks their empy pup and tractors in the center... as can be seen below.




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Luckly the hostler saw my dilemma and offered to take it from me. So, I was lucky to just drop it and he used it instead of grabbing an empty out of the lot. Then, I decided I was going to be park of the problem and park in the center to wait out the 17 hours before I could pick up. Hey, if you can't beat 'em... join 'em.

The night was spent doing the usual... surfing the net, reading my favorite blogs, checking out new cell phones, and watching movies i've seen twice over. Gotta love HBO and Encore! I think I rolled into bed around 830pm or so. As Mary said... i'm one hell of a party animal. I would have gotten great sleep but apparently either the truck batteries suck or the alternator isn't keeping them fully charged. But, in any case the bunk heater kicked off, along with the power to the lights and cigarette lighter ports, which in turn cut off the power to the fan I use to block out the yard noise. I opted to forget it and just rolled over with an extra blanket. Who needs heat anyways? Then, to top it off my Mother in law calls me at o'dark:30 to ask "technical advice." Thanks mom! (You know i'm just kidding!)

Anyways, I got up and started getting rolling around 0800am, which included starting the truck. Come 1045am I went to start the truck so I could move to the dispatch office and avoid walking through the yard, as the consignor instructions stated, and found the truck would not crank over. Several more times and I got nothing. So, I walked up to the office armed with my load number and told the white shirt guy that I was with "Truckload" and was there to pick up load #XXXX bound for Henderson/Denver, CO. Thats when I found out that not only was the trailer not ready but the computer didn't even show a load headed to Henderson, CO. Grand.

My next stop was over to the Con-way shop. I was nice and that got me a valiant attempt at jump starting me with 2 batteries on a dolly with jumper cables attached. Unfortunatly this didn't provide enough cranking power to get the truck started. After a call to Road Service they worked on sending out a rescue truck to get me started. After about 10 minutes I got a call from the driver on his way out. This genius wanted to know how I got there... the guy thats only been here once.. to the guy that lives here. Right. Well, after 10 minutes of him not listening to me he finally shut up long enough for me to give him the directions from the best I can tell from my GPS. I can navigate from one point to another using various resources but when you ask me how to get someplace i'm unfamiliary with i'm lost. I then shot a msg to operations to tell them about the load and the current issue. I got shot back that the load was still a go. Hmmmm.

The road service guys came and jumped me without a problem. $99.00 later on a comcheck and they were on their way. Hopefully this gets reimbursed by the company because i've seen dead batteries coming for a few days... it was only a matter of time.

I went back into the office and was told by another, blue shirt, guy they still didn't have the load for me. He flipped through all of the envelopes 3 times before confirming there were none, and stated they were finished putting trailers together. I asked him to sort through and look for the load number, which he supposedly did and still didn't find anything. I decided to call our FM this time while standing there who told me customer service was, again, going to verify the load and to check back in 30 minutes. So, I walked back to the truck to wait it out. 5 minutes later I was informed over the qualcomm the load was indeed still on and to check in with a particular individual. At this point I felt like a dog chasing its tail.

I went BACK to dispatch and they told me they not only call the Henderson location Denver but they thought I was a freight driver there to pick up the load. Seriously? A little bit more of a discussion ensued and somehow they managed to put the blame on ME in that I didn't say Denver instead of Henderson. Whatever dude. I didn't argue.. it wouldn't have gotten me anywhere anyways. About 5 minutes later I was handed the paperwork and right at the bottom I found the booking number in plain view... something he would have found had he done what I friggin' asked him to! Sometimes us OTR drivers actually know what the hell we're talking about.



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I pretripped the trailer, sent my loaded call and was off in about 20 minutes. My intention was to make it as far as Elko, NV, some 450 miles but instead got about 270 miles and stopped in Mill City, NV for the night. Being New Years Eve I didn't want to chance 1) being out there with the crazies and 2) not finding a parking space. I took the opportunity to take a shower, catch up on my internet reading, and hit the sack around 930pm. A real party animal on New Years Eve, I know.

I got up around 600am on New Years and headed out at 700am. The ride was rather peaceful to say the least. It was overcast all day with temperatures averaging between 23 and 28. I was rather surprised to see the ice on the roads was melted but there were still some areas with slick spots throughout Nevada. I stopped at the border of Nevada and Wyoming in a town I can't remember around noon to refuel and grab some lunch and finally stopped for the night in Little America, WY. I could have made it farther but the truck stops ahead of me are rather scarce until Laramie, WY. I like this one though because the showers are damn near royalty here... and once in a while I deserve to pamper myself... all for $10.00! Anyways, I knocked out around 540 miles for the day.

I woke up on Saturday to a thin layer of snow on the ground covering a thin layer of ice. I grabbed my shower and headed out. It was surprisingly smooth sailing until Rock Springs, WY, when I hit a patch of black ice that caused my drive axels to slip. It scared the hell out of me but I regained control easily just by letting off the gas pedal. After that, they caught the pavement and I was on my way again.

I finally stopped for lunch in Laramie, WY for about an hour, then continued another 2 miles along I-80 before jumping off and onto U.S. 287 south. This wound me down over the Colorado border, through Ft. Collins, CO, and finally onto I-25. I took that south to I-270 and finally jumped onto I-76 north to the yard. Most of the day was unadventerous but it was nice to see sun as i've been in cloud cover for 3 days now.

I finally arrived at the yard around 200pm.... 10 hours early, dropped the trailer, and bobtailed over to the bobtail parking area to await my inlaws, who were to pick me up so we could enjoy dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. Shortly after parking I received a load... leaving Monday from Greeley, CO to some place in New Mexico I'd never heard of. Fair enough. That will give me a 34 hour restart but, unfortunately, a slow start to the week with only 584 miles to drive and 30 hours to do it.

After dinner I drove the truck to a truck stop in Evans, CO, just south of Greeley, where I parked the truck and the in-laws offered for me to stay at their house instead of in the truck for 2 days. I'm one for getting out of the truck as much as possible for sure! I'll be returning Monday morning when mom goes to work and pick up my next load at 100pm. After this load I suspect i'll be putting in to go home if I don't hear anything by Wednesday morning on a load as my mother in law flies in on Thursday night. I'm not going to be far so something going that way shouldn't be hard... especially being close to our El Paso, TX yard.

posted by Daryl at 05:34
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