After my delivery near Atlanta dispatch ended up sending me home. Yay! But I'm back out on the road again. I don't really mind it to be honest. I don't really feel like being around people recently and I snapped at my parents a few times. I just want to spend some time driving around the country without a care in the world.
Dispatch had another driver pick up a load near Atlanta and swap trailers with me at the Petro on I-285. The load was headed up to our warehouse in Columbus. I drove up to Knoxville, TN Friday night after grabbing my new trailer. I could have made it home early evening on Sat night and gone out with some friends, but I was still sick and just felt like sleeping in Sat morn.
Got some things accomplished in Columbus and Akron. I needed to move some stuff out of a storage unit and get it up to Akron. Up in Akron I got my taxes done and got the oil changed on my car. I tried to get completely well too but that failed. Yes, still slightly sick. I can't really describe how angry it makes me. It would require WAAY too many naughty words.
Got back to the truck yesterday and picked up a load in Bowling Green, KY bound for San Antonio. It's supposed to be 80 degrees down there. I'm excited and glad I had my boss fix the A/C while the truck was in Columbus. Toodles.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
Not dying...
Still sick though. Tues and Wed morn were both awful. I got myself on a nasty drive schedule. For 3 days in a row I would arrive at a customer at around 2 or 3am and someone would bang on my door around 7 or 8am to wake me up for delivery. After that I might get a couple more hours rest before I had to drive 500 miles again.
After Columbus went up to Shelby, OH to make a pickup. Over to Baltimore, MD to make a delivery. Up to Newark, NJ to get a loaded trailer.
Today was good though. Got a good nights sleep and a shower just north of Richmond, VA. I am definitely not well but I'm improving. I'm north of Atlanta and spending the night at a J. Delivery will be tomorrow afternoon then dispatch will hopefully find me something for the weekend.
Sleep...
After Columbus went up to Shelby, OH to make a pickup. Over to Baltimore, MD to make a delivery. Up to Newark, NJ to get a loaded trailer.
Today was good though. Got a good nights sleep and a shower just north of Richmond, VA. I am definitely not well but I'm improving. I'm north of Atlanta and spending the night at a J. Delivery will be tomorrow afternoon then dispatch will hopefully find me something for the weekend.
Sleep...
-- Sent from my Palm Pre
Monday, March 15, 2010
I'm dying
Made it to Cbus. Holy Jesus I feel terrible. Typing on my Pre with one eye open. I did about 270 miles no stops. Sickness worse, feel like I have plague. Had to hustle to get here so I can unload and make it to Shelby close to 1pm tomorrow or today or whatever. Kill me.....
-- Sent from my Palm Pre
Sunny North Carolina...and I'm sick...
So yeah, had a wonderful breakfast with Katie on Friday, then I started feeling sick later that day. DAMN YOU KATIE! Ok, not really. Was probably my own damn fault. I didn't get much sleep Wed night. Time out, food is here.
Eating at a J in Haw River, NC...
Luckily I didn't have to drive that hard to make it down to Mt. Olive, NC. Even if I had wanted to drive hard I didn't have the hours of service to do so. So I spent the weekend eating tons of food and getting lots of sleep. I still feel ill now but I'm on the mend.
The pickup at Waconia, MN went fine but I was a little worried about one pallet with three machinery pieces on it. I let the other driver there do most of the strapping down of my freight because he had more experience with this kind of freight than me. After driving a little over halfway I stopped in Walton, KY for the night and checked my load. The pallet had vibrated to the side during transit but worse than that, one of the machine pieces that was attached to the pallet had come loose. That sort of thing isn't my responsibility thankfully. It's up to the customer to make sure that their freight is securely attached to the pallet, but I still didn't want to show up at the customer with a unsecured piece of freight, particularly when the load is insured for $380,000.
The piece was too heavy for me to move but I wrapped a bunch of straps it and secured them to the wall. I also contacted dispatch to get the number of the other driver. I gave him a call and warned him about the tendency of the pallet to vibrate around. Sure enough, when he checked his pallet had moved as well.
Contacting the customer was fun as well. I gave them a call on Friday early afternoon and got the wonderful automatic recording. None of the options sounding particularly promising except for "press 8 for directions to our facility". Sure enough I couldn't get in touch with a human being the first try. Then I couldn't get in touch with a human the second try. Does anyone work here? Third try security answered and he transferred me to a phone that just kept ringing. Fourth try security connected me to a guy who said he was transferring me to someone else, then the phone went dead. Fifth try I got back to the guy who had hung up on me because I heard the security guard mumble his extension when I was getting connected. He claimed the line had went dead. We talked for a bit. I learned nothing during the conversation. Then he said he was transferring me again and the call stayed connected for about ten more minutes...but I never did talk to anyone else.
In case you were wondering, I tried option 8 later on in the weekend when I started getting close, and the machine hung up on me.
The address was tricky too. The navigation program in my phone said that road didn't exist. So I used google maps to get close then just figured it out when I got there. It was after 2:30am when I rolled into Mt. Olive last night, so I didn't have to contend with any traffic. Unfortunately, I did have to get up before 8am for my delivery. I did get in a few naps while they were unloading me, but I am still sick so currently I feel sleep deprived and terrible.
I'm headed back up to Shelby, OH to get a load due in MD Wed morn. I stopped outside Raleigh to pick up a load headed to Columbus, OH so I do have something in my trailer.
Oh the life of a trucker.
Eating at a J in Haw River, NC...
Luckily I didn't have to drive that hard to make it down to Mt. Olive, NC. Even if I had wanted to drive hard I didn't have the hours of service to do so. So I spent the weekend eating tons of food and getting lots of sleep. I still feel ill now but I'm on the mend.
The pickup at Waconia, MN went fine but I was a little worried about one pallet with three machinery pieces on it. I let the other driver there do most of the strapping down of my freight because he had more experience with this kind of freight than me. After driving a little over halfway I stopped in Walton, KY for the night and checked my load. The pallet had vibrated to the side during transit but worse than that, one of the machine pieces that was attached to the pallet had come loose. That sort of thing isn't my responsibility thankfully. It's up to the customer to make sure that their freight is securely attached to the pallet, but I still didn't want to show up at the customer with a unsecured piece of freight, particularly when the load is insured for $380,000.
The piece was too heavy for me to move but I wrapped a bunch of straps it and secured them to the wall. I also contacted dispatch to get the number of the other driver. I gave him a call and warned him about the tendency of the pallet to vibrate around. Sure enough, when he checked his pallet had moved as well.
Contacting the customer was fun as well. I gave them a call on Friday early afternoon and got the wonderful automatic recording. None of the options sounding particularly promising except for "press 8 for directions to our facility". Sure enough I couldn't get in touch with a human being the first try. Then I couldn't get in touch with a human the second try. Does anyone work here? Third try security answered and he transferred me to a phone that just kept ringing. Fourth try security connected me to a guy who said he was transferring me to someone else, then the phone went dead. Fifth try I got back to the guy who had hung up on me because I heard the security guard mumble his extension when I was getting connected. He claimed the line had went dead. We talked for a bit. I learned nothing during the conversation. Then he said he was transferring me again and the call stayed connected for about ten more minutes...but I never did talk to anyone else.
In case you were wondering, I tried option 8 later on in the weekend when I started getting close, and the machine hung up on me.
The address was tricky too. The navigation program in my phone said that road didn't exist. So I used google maps to get close then just figured it out when I got there. It was after 2:30am when I rolled into Mt. Olive last night, so I didn't have to contend with any traffic. Unfortunately, I did have to get up before 8am for my delivery. I did get in a few naps while they were unloading me, but I am still sick so currently I feel sleep deprived and terrible.
I'm headed back up to Shelby, OH to get a load due in MD Wed morn. I stopped outside Raleigh to pick up a load headed to Columbus, OH so I do have something in my trailer.
Oh the life of a trucker.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Rollin...
I've covered many miles of highway since my last post. After OK city I drove about 690 miles up to Paducah, KY. My Aunt and Uncle live there but I knew I wouldn't have time to see them so I didn't bother calling. The next day, I got a run in, made my delivery in KY and made it up to Detroit area for my second stop on that load. 650 some miles of driving.
I also managed to have breakfast with my good friend Kristin who goes to Uni of M (fuck Michigan). Was really nice to see a friendly face, particularly a friendly female face. Ladies at truck stops are less than lovely.
Got assigned a new load too. I'm already up in the Twin cities area from Detroit. I was going to try and have dinner with my friend Katie but she said she was sick and seemed less than enthused about trying to go out. So I slept in at the truckstop outside Chicago figuring it was a lost cause. Turns out Katie did feel well enough to have dinner and I screwed it up with my laziness. All seems to be well though. We're going to shoot for breakfast after I get loaded tomorrow.
Speaking of my load, it's an interesting one. I'm hauling a pickle processing machine, you read that right, down to NC.
The time changes this weekend! Yay, summer is coming! Need to take advantage of the longer days and start working out more. Should have lifted today but I just felt very apathetic. My mood still comes and goes. Bleh.
I also managed to have breakfast with my good friend Kristin who goes to Uni of M (fuck Michigan). Was really nice to see a friendly face, particularly a friendly female face. Ladies at truck stops are less than lovely.
Got assigned a new load too. I'm already up in the Twin cities area from Detroit. I was going to try and have dinner with my friend Katie but she said she was sick and seemed less than enthused about trying to go out. So I slept in at the truckstop outside Chicago figuring it was a lost cause. Turns out Katie did feel well enough to have dinner and I screwed it up with my laziness. All seems to be well though. We're going to shoot for breakfast after I get loaded tomorrow.
Speaking of my load, it's an interesting one. I'm hauling a pickle processing machine, you read that right, down to NC.
The time changes this weekend! Yay, summer is coming! Need to take advantage of the longer days and start working out more. Should have lifted today but I just felt very apathetic. My mood still comes and goes. Bleh.
-- Sent from my Palm Pre
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Pretty
Damn that weight lifting makes a body sore. No running for me today. Waiting to get my oil changed at a TA in rainy OK City.
I wish I could say something exciting about my 670 mile drive across parts of AZ, NM, TX, and OK yesterday but the reality is that I've done the drive far too many times to care. The mountains around Albuquerque are pretty and I still enjoy them, but I can't bring myself to write about them.
Time for some breakfast.
-- Sent from my Palm Pre
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)