Atlanta, GA

Since I got far too long-winded with my dictation while driving, I'll just summarize things here. I'm taking a restart in Atlanta right now before I drive to Florida tomorrow. I've come to hate the entire state of Ohio for various reasons, mostly because I get lost every time I have to go into the state and it's very hard to get un-lost. I'm hoping to get some extra training on backing while at the operating center here; I need all the help I can get since I just haven't been properly trained all along. I also need to eat better; having hamburgers day after day really is not good for me. That's really about the gist of it.

Note to self: Slide the tandems

I think I figured out why I set off the red light on the prepass system last night. I forgot to slide the tandems forward; in most states it's illegal to leave them all the way back. That also explains why I was having such a hard time maneuvering this trailer around last night. At least I didn't get a ticket when I went through the scale, probably because my weight was so far under the legal limit. I won't be nearly so lucky next time; my next load is going to be nearly 45,000 pounds.

Indianapolis, IN

Wednesday, 12:45 p.m.: Well, this is a fantastic start. I've gotten a work assignment and all, but this trailer looks like I can't use it. It has one brake that's nearly worn out and a rim that's leaking hub oil; either of those would be enough to put the trailer out of service. Even worse, they just finished loading the trailer and it's ready for me to take right now, but if I can't safely take it, then I'd be on the hook for anything that goes wrong. This now makes four working days in a row that I've had to call maintenance; at least this one isn't my fault.

Wednesday, 4 p.m.: It just keeps getting better and better here. I'm sitting at a T/A, waiting on the repairs that need to be done before I can safely take this trailer out on the road. They said they'd call my cell phone when they're ready for me, but that it would likely be "a couple of hours." I hope my 14 doesn't run out while I'm down here; I'm already really close to being late for this delivery as it is.

Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.: I'm still waiting at the T/A, though I'm next in line and about ready to get pulled in. However, there's practically no way I can make it to where I wanted to go tonight; even if I left right now, I'd be pushing my luck to try and make it there. I might have to adjust my trip plan back, or simply drive as far as time will allow and shut down as close to 12:30, when my fourteen hours expires. Alternatively, I could simply take my break here (since I've already been waiting almost four hours) and leave in the morning, though I'd likely have to drive through the night somewhere along the way to have any chance of making the delivery.

Wednesday, 7:45 p.m.: here's a trip "plan". I'll be staying here at the TA to finish my 10 hour break. From here, I'll drive about six hours tomorrow, since I'll probably be too tired to drive much further than that. That would leave me in Huntsville, which is nine and a half hours from where I need to go. Since the place I'm delivering to is a live unload and my work assignment says they should take eight hours, I'll take my 10 hour break at the customer.

Wednesday, 8:15 p.m.: now I feel a complete idiot. The staff at the TA said that nothing actually need to be repaired. While the brake is kind of close, it would still pass DOT inspection. Also, the grease that was on the brakes was merely excess from somebody that overfilled it; there isn't a leak. So, essentially, I've been here over five hours for absolutely no reason. Also finish out of 10 hour break here, though; it would actually be counterproductive for me to try get anywhere tonight. I'll now get to enjoy a five hour nap.

Thursday, 8 a.m.: with only six hours sleep on me, it's been rather hard driving today. I'm only two hours from more I plan on shutting down, but the four hours I've driven feel like about 10. I'm really hoping I can get 10 hours of sleep on my break. Somewhat worryingly, I have just one hour left to spare on this delivery. That is, if I lose one hour anywhere, I'll end up late. Since I plan on driving overnight, that shouldn't be a problem, but if our driving during the day and got caught in rush-hour I'd be in a lot of trouble.

Thursday, 8:15 a.m.: I can't tell if this is Birmingham rush-hour there is an accident, but there is bumper-to-bumper traffic as far ahead of me as I can see. It's not even moving, either. Whatever is causing a traffic jam, I hope the problem goes away quickly.

Thursday, 8:30 a.m.: there was one car parked on the side of the road. It looks like there isn't any sign of an accident.

Thursday, 10 a.m.: I'm definitely going to have to sit down and add up my hours when this is all done. Right now, trying to figure it out my head, it looks like there is just 45 minutes to spare on this delivery right now. At this travel center in Huntsville that I plan on stopping at the day it is a fuel stop, I'm going to say to heck with the routing solution and fuel up here, saving me a valuable 30 minutes tomorrow. As an added bonus, by driving at night I will likely avoid any heavy traffic.

Thursday, 10:30 a.m.: I arrived at the truckstop, and it's remarkably busy for 1030 in the morning. I am reasonably confident on parking space, it's still surprising to see this many people here. As for tomorrow, I have to be at this place at 7 a.m.. If everything goes perfectly, I could be there as early as five, but realistically I might be getting there around 645. I'm still planning on taking my break at the customer, so when I leave there at five o'clock in the afternoon, I'll have a full 14 hours to work. I just hope that my next run isn't nearly this tight on time.

Thursday, 11 a.m.: I found a parking I could pull straight into. No backing up for me. :-)

Thursday, 8:11 p.m.: over the next half hour, I'm going to do my pretrip inspection. After that, I need to drive straight through to get to this customer on time. If everything goes perfectly I don't have to stop for anything, not even use the bathroom, I could hypothetically be there as early as 4:30 a.m. I only need to be there by seven, so I'm in pretty good shape, barring any major delays or 55 mph speed limits.

Thursday, 9:10 p.m.: I just passed the Tennessee state line. Things are looking alright on time so far, but it's still very early in the night. If I can keep this up, I have nothing to worry about, but that is a very significant if.

Thursday, 10:45 p.m.: I just made it through Nashville, and I'm still going north on Interstate 65. So far, I'm still on track to get there early, but I'm still going to avoid stopping unless it as well souls absolutely necessary. I'm just glad I wasn't on my 65 South; construction there caused a back up stretching for about 6 miles.

Friday, 12:30 a.m.: I knew I was forgetting something. Ohio is on Eastern time, not central. As a result, I'm now going to get there around 615, and that still barring any problems. Again, this is assuming I don't have the slowdown for anything at all.

Friday, 2:45 a.m.: I'm about 15 miles from Cincinnati now, and things are still going according to plan. There have been various fog banks along way, but I haven't run into any significant rain. Strangely, it keeps getting warmer the further north I go; it was 53 in Huntsville, Alabama when I left there and it's 62 here.

Friday, 3:14 a.m.: I just finished going through Cincinnati, Ohio. I'm under 100 miles to go, and I still have over 2 1/2 hours to get there. I know one thing for sure: I'll be more than happy to go to sleep while they unload the trailer.

Friday, 4:18 a.m.: I just made a quick stop by the TA in Jefferson, Ohio. While I was stopped, I double checked my work assignment to ensure it didn't say I couldn't deliver early. There were no special instructions at all, so I am going to assume that it's not going to cause chaos by arriving about half an hour early.

Friday, 6:50 a.m.: it took a disturbingly long time to get back into the dock here. After about 15 minutes of trying, another driver came over and helped me get it figured out. They are already unloading my trailer, so I don't see how this could possibly take anywhere near eight hours. If I'm done within the next 30 minutes or so, I might drive back to one of the truckstops I passed on the way up here; if not, I'll stop at the Wendy's just up the road. Either way, I'm taking my 10 hour break.

Friday, 7 a.m.: I just asked about how long it's going to take and I get told it would be only 45 minutes or so. That's a far cry from the eight hours on my work assignment. I'll still probably just go to Wendy's up the road, since I don't feel like driving that far to get to somewhere to stop. I still feel like just taking a nap here; I'm exhausted after driving ten hours with just one five-minute break.

Friday, 6 p.m.: Holy cow, this next work assignment is several kinds of awesome. I get to go all the way down to Jacksonville, FL to deliver and I have until 9AM Tuesday to get there. Now, if I'm understanding the assignment, I have to get there right at 9AM on whatever day I deliver, but I may be able to make this as early as Sunday. How is that possible? Well, they don't expect me to pick this load up until almost 1 this morning; I can get there in 45 minutes once I finish my trip plan. Now I just have to see if there's anywhere along the way that I want to stop.

Friday, 7 p.m.: after taking little the time to look over the work assignment, it looks like it's going to be great. It looks like they'll spend a day at the Charlotte operating center, meaning I can spend some time with my friends in Charlotte. With as much time as I have available, it's tempting to just take a 34 hour restart there, allowing me a lot of extra time later in the week.switch to

Friday, 8:15 p.m.: just as I was pulling up to the shipper, I got a message over the satellite. This message that I'm not on the load anymore. I'm now on hold waiting to call support shift to ask what the problem is.

Friday, 8:20 p.m.: I don't think I can actually convey what I'm feeling right now without swearing excessively. Instead of going out of Charlotte and on to Jacksonville like I was originally supposed to, I'm going all the way over in Wisconsin. In addition, I now have to backtrack 50 miles to get to where the load is, and according to their computer I'm now not getting paid for going 50 miles down here or the 50 miles back. I am going to be making a very angry phone call to my manager Monday morning to find out why they can't get their act together. If they need me to take this load as badly as they supposedly do, it would've assigned to me in the first damn place.

This is just getting more and more frustrating. I got stuck in an exit only lane, and there is no way I could turn around and just get back on the interstate when it was going. As a result, I'm now going the wrong way, and the next exit 10 miles down the way. If they get on to me about how to route miles, I'm going to tell him exactly where they can stick their complaint.

Saturday, 12:45 a.m.: I'm supposed to make a fuel stop at Gar7, Indiana, but I feel like driving that far tonight. I just saw a sign that said Indianapolis is only 150 miles away, so I think I'll stop at the operating center there for the night. There's several advantages to this: I can stop for fuel they are and still be in compliance with my fuel solution, Indianapolis as nice as operating center in the company, and I can still make this delivery tomorrow afternoon. I'll have to doublecheck the mileage, but most likely I'll just stop for the day after I make my delivery tomorrow, most likely ending up near Milwaukee.

Saturday, 1:45 a.m.: I have about 90 miles till I get to the Indianapolis operating center. There's no way I could make Gary tonight; on already getting kind of tired. In 7 miles, I'll be at the state line, and the speed limit will go up to 65 miles an hour. That will certainly improve my time.

Saturday, 2 a.m.: that was slightly scary. When I got to the first weigh sale in Indiana, I saw the signs for pre-pass and figure I'd be good to go. After all, I only have about 21,000 pounds in the trailer, which is light enough that weight is never even a concern. So when I set off the alarm and had to go into the scales, yet just a little nervous. It didn't help that I was misreading the sign on the scale itself when I pulled off and thought something was over. After I stopped on the scale, it all made sense, and with a total weight of only 52,000 pounds (the legal limit is 80,000) I really don't have anything to worry about. Even so, it was certainly something to wake me up.

Saturday, 3:30 a.m.: I'm in Indianapolis and just about exhausted. I will now happily take a 10 hour break and probably sleep for 9:45 of that.

Saturday, 2 p.m.: Well, I overslept, but it doesn't matter. I just have to make this delivery anytime by 11:59 Sunday night, so if I get there early Sunday morning, I'm still on schedule. I'll figure out the exact details after I get a shower and some food. And I'll start a new entry with my pre-trip inspection for today. :)

Bad Days

The last couple of days haven't gone as well. I'm fine, so don't worry about that. In any case, I'm home until Wednesday morning; I leave here around 8AM.

Communication & Trip Planning

While I was supposed to be home this weekend, due to some communication problems, it looks like there's a bit of a kink in the works now. I called the trip planner to ask why I was getting sent somewhere 400 miles away from where I live, and she gave me a rather short answer, told me I shouldn't have called to complain, and took me off the load without giving any explanation or reasoning. I then got a message to call my manager, who basically said that it is a time at home request and, while they try to get you home close as they can, there are no guarantees. Annoyingly, she said that if I had taken that load I was initially assigned, I would have been able to pick up a relay that went right by the house, but the trip planner never explained that to me.

So what does this mean? I'm going to pick a relay up here and deliver it somewhere just outside of Atlanta. There apparently isn't anything coming out of Atlanta that's going my way, though, which makes it very difficult for them to get me home. The good news is that, no matter what, I still get my three days off; they just might be a different three days than I was initially told. The bad news is that I might be waiting for a while for freight going that way.

Charlotte, NC

Thursday, 2 p.m.: I completed my 34 hour restart, I picked up my relay, and I'm now on my way to Charlotte to deliver. Since I got a much later started nine to end it, I will be there until almost 930 tonight. Since they did promise to get me home by Friday night, they have to have the envelope going towards Pensacola; even then it's going to be a stretch, since Pensacola's nearly an 11 Hour Drive by car. As much as I like to stay in Charlotte tonight, I may have to continue down the road just so I can get home in time. I do have to say one thing though: taking that restart was extremely refreshing. Then again, after working 65 hours in seven days, I think anyone would appreciate a day off.

Thursday, 3 p.m.: well, that was annoying. I wanted to stop at the West Virginia welcome center to use the restroom and send in a message requesting a new work assignment. However, they had a truck inspection stations set up at the rest area, and were waiting all the trucks through without letting them stock. As a result, though I went into the rest area, I was way through and didn't get to stop to do any of those things. I guess a lot to wait for the Virginia state line now.

Thursday, 5 p.m.: I went to get something to eat, but I forgot to take care of my paperwork. I just tried to stop at a rest area, but it was completely full. The next rest areas half an hour up the road; if I find a truck stop before that, though, I'll stop there. I'm just really annoyed at myself for forgetting to do it when I stopped earlier.

Thursday, 5:30 p.m.: thankfully, I was able to stop at the bottom the next rest area and send in the information I needed to send in. I hope I can make to Charlotte without having to make any more stock; as it is, I'll be getting there at about 11 p.m.

Thursday, 7:45 p.m.: last hundred miles or so I've been relatively uneventful. Traffic was rather hairy for a while, but it's thinned out considerably now. I also just got my next work assignment, which appears to be a relay based on the type of messages I've received. I also just remembered that I didn't send all the messages I was supposed to stand when I picked this load up; I'll have to fix that when I stop later.

Thursday, 8:45 p.m.: the trucks air-conditioning is acting up again. Time permitting, I'm going to go buy the shot and have them take a look at it. It feels almost as if it's blowing hot air right off the engine block . At least I finally found a solution for it: turn off the fan and turn on air recirculation.

Friday, 12:05 a.m.: Wonderful. Just #@*(ing wonderful. I arrived at the customer around 11PM, backed in to the spot, shut the truck off, uncoupled from the trailer, got back in to start it up... and it wouldn't start. I tried twice, called maintenance, tried banging on the starter (at least I think that was the starter), but nothing worked. So now I'm waiting for emergency maintenance to come here; even though I'm just five miles up the road from the operating center, it's going to take them an hour to arrive; it's been half an hour already.

Friday, 11:30 a.m.: Maintenance finally arrived at around 2:30. Even though I was only a few miles from the OC, they still sent an outside road service company to the truck. He tried several things, but in the end, it was a matter of resetting the ECM. Or, in other words, rebooting the computer. I quickly made my way to the operating center, ate, and went to sleep. Now, eight hours later, I'm awake and ready to make those phone calls to find out why I'm getting sent on a work assignment that will still leave me 400 miles from home.

Going in Circles

Monday, 6 p.m.: I spent a lot more time Indianapolis than I intended, so instead of making this delivery shortly after midnight Tuesday morning, I'm more likely to deliver at around noon. I already received my next work assignment, though: This next assignment is to pick up a relay that's only 44 miles away, then deliver it to the place I'm already delivering this load to. So, in other words, I have to make an 88 mile round trip that'll put me exactly back where I started. On the bright side, I should get a short-haul bonus, though I'm not sure of the exact amount. I think that I'll get an extra $.10 a mile. I'm not sure what I'll be doing after that, though they have to start sending me south soon; I'm supposed to be home by Friday night.

Monday, 7 p.m.: Well, this is annoying. My GPS program and receiver have decided they don't want to talk to one another anymore. As a result, though I know where I'm going, I don't have a very firm idea of how much further it is. Most likely, I'll be stopping tonight in Carlisle Pennsylvania at the operating center. There's only one other truckstop I can find that's close to where I'm delivering, and it's a rather small one so it's unlikely there will be parking at two in the morning. Like Illinois, Ohio has annoyingly low truck speed limit as well. Unlike Illinois, however, there are state troopers all over the place actually enforcing the speed limit. As a result, I don't dare exceed 55 mph, even though all the other trucks are. It would be nice if I could finally get into a state that allows trucks to do 65 mph.

Monday, 7:45 p.m.: Well my GPS device decided to work for about two minutes, just long enough for me to figure out where I am. Looks like there's just under 300 miles to go to get to Carlisle, PA. Since that would put me there around 2 a.m., I better find a truckstop to before long.

Monday, 8:25 p.m.: Well, this sucks. I just saw a sign that said I-70 is closed and West Virginia. I'm going to have to detour on I-470 to get around that mess. I'm already cutting it dangerously close on my driving time today; said detour could make even closer. I really hope I don't run that I don't out of hours on the middle of the highway. Apparently, the interstate's down to one lane as well. I'm down to 45 mph and still getting slower.

Monday, 8:45 p.m.: Well that detour wasn't bad at all. It actually seems slightly faster going that way than staying on 70 the whole way. I still have a ways to go before I get to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, but right now I'm still looking like have a pretty good chance of making it to Carlisle for the night.

Monday, at 9:30 p.m.: I found somewhere to get something to eat. While I was out, I sent for directions, as well as figured out how much longer I have to drive. The results? I can legally drive up to five more hours, but I should be in Carlisle within four. There's just one catch: that's what the directions my GPS gave me. The other directions didn't arrive until after I got back on the interstate, and I can't read messages on the satellite system while driving. I'm fairly confident I remember how to get there, since I stopped there twice with my training engineer, but I would like to have those directions available.

Monday, 10:45 p.m.: I don't know what it was about that pizza, but I've been extremely tired ever since I stopped for dinner. I'm sure part of the problem is that I didn't get a lot of sleep last night; I only slept for about six hours. Once I get to Carlisle, I'm going in to use the bathroom if I have to, then going directly to bed. I need every minute of sleep I can get tonight. In unrelated news, for having a 65 mph speed limit, the Pennsylvania Turnpike at a whole lot of 55 mph curves.

Monday, 11:30 p.m.: I now have exactly 100 miles left to get to the operating center in Carlisle. If the next hundred miles is anything like the turnpike so far, it's going to be a very long ride. So for our I've gone through three construction zones, very nearly run off the road twice due to high-speed corners that weren't marked clearly, and gotten stuck behind some several vehicles driving far below the 65 mile an hour posted speed limit. It also doesn't help that I'm extremely tired. At least the two deliveries I have to make tomorrow can be made at any time tomorrow and don't have to be made before a certain time; if I want to sleep in I'm free to do so.

Tuesday, 12:15 a.m.: I'm down to about 50 miles to go now. I drove total of 461 miles yesterday; not bad considering how late a start I got. After getting past the point where I-70 branches off, traffic is thinned out considerably, making it much easier to drive.

Tuesday, 1:10 a.m.: I made it to Carlisle. *thud*

Tuesday, 2 p.m.: I just passed the travel center I was thinking about stopping at last night. After seeing it, I noticed two problems: One, it's unlikely I would have found parking at all. Two, I don't think I could've made it there before running out of hours last night. I'm still just over an hour away from where I'm delivering to; I just hope they have somewhere to send me after I make all these deliveries today.

Tuesday, 3:15 p.m.: I'm completely lost and I've had to pull into a shopping mall to get directions. I don't know how I missed the turn, either; there wasn't a single sign that said "Exton Bypass" anywhere and the only road that went in the right directions had a big no trucks sign. I really hope that they can get me unlost in a hurry... while I'm stopped, I just used my GPS to figure out that if I get back on US 30, I can take that back to the Interstate and go from there... good thing, too, because they won't send me directions again even though I'm still lost.

Tuesday, 5:30 p.m.: I finally dropped that infernal thriller. This next one should be much easier, since I just have to go 40 miles north on the interstate and pick up the relay. As I said before, it's going to the same place I already deliver to. I still haven't received another work assignment yet, but I'm hoping they sent me one soon; I'm wondering if they just want to keep me from running out of hours. As it is, I can't work a full day tomorrow.

Tuesday, 5:35 p.m.: Well, this is unsurprising, but still a pain in the rear. I'm stuck in Philadelphia rush-hour traffic.

Tuesday, 6 p.m.: That was not nearly as bad as I feared. I'm already doing 60 mph and just 8 miles along the interstate from where I'm going. From there, it's just one turn, 3 miles, and I'm there. Seeing as I've never had a relay before, I hope I don't screw something up .

Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.: Once again, I managed to get lost. I lost about half an hour trying to find the place. Also, when I was picking up the relay load, none of the paperwork was there. It took me about 10 minutes to get support shift to fax the paperwork to where it needed to go. On the bright side, I have my load, I know are I'm going, and I should be able to get there without incident this time. I still don't see how they're going to get me home, since I only have five hours left I can run. If I were picking up any hours, I could see how it would be possible, but I'll only pick up 4 1/2 hours over the next two days. Hopefully, if I have to take a 34 hour restart somewhere, I can make it to an operating center to do so.

Tuesday, 10:45 p.m.: I got a new work assignment, and I have to go to the Carlisle operating center to pick up another relay. Since that's right where I came from this morning, it's not surprising that the directions they gave me over the satellite are a minor variation on the ones they gave me to get here. Since I got lost following those directions, I have just one thing to say about them: "fuck them." I can figure out how to get on the Pennsylvania Turnpike; they can afford the toll. Besides, it does say in the driver's handbook that most toll roads are at driver discretion. I'm far too tired and frustrated to care about a few dollars worth of tolls. On the relatively bright side, I'm getting a day off at the operating center. The delivery I have to make is in Charlotte on Friday. However, this means there's exactly zero chance of me being in Pensacola on Friday, as I was told I would be. That isn't entirely the fault of operations; even if they sent me directly home, I would not have enough hours to get there.

Tuesday, 1:15 a.m.: As if I needed something else to go wrong, the air conditioning in the truck has decided not to work anymore. Even though I've turn the system off, it's blowing hot air. I've tried every combination of settings the unit has, and it still keeps blowing hot. I guess this means I get to drive the rest of the way with a window down.

Wednesday, 12:30 a.m.: Only about 20 miles to go now, and traffic is extremely light. Barring any on for seen problems I should be there by 1 a.m.. In the morning, I need to find out what sort of money I'm getting for this. I know I'll get a short-haul bonus for that last load I had, but I'm not sure if I get paid since I have to sit around on this next delivery. If I do get layover pay, that's an extra $80, plus $40 towards a hotel room. If not, at least I can take a shower in the operating center.

Wednesday, 1:30 a.m.: I'm in Carlisle. Since I'm taking a full 34-hour restart, I can't do any work again until 11:30 Friday morning. Thankfully, the load I'm relaying leaves me enough time to get there even after my restart. It feels kinda silly having to take a restart this close to when I'm going home, but I have to do it.

Northward Bound

Saturday, 9 p.m.: Well, today is a long day. since I had some extra time during my break due to the works of my delivery schedule. I took some time and set up a voice recognition program; as a result, there might be some quirks in the latest entries written. That's my excuse anyway. I don't plan on stopping this truck before five o'clock this morning when I hit St. Louis, Missouri. I must have to stop for fuel just up the road in Joplin, MO. I'll probably catch dinner at that point, but it's still going to be a long night ahead.

In any case, even though I've still got quite a bit of time left to drive tonight. I saw already had enough trouble for one day. For one thing, in Oklahoma, I've had to go through two tollbooths. Both times I paid the toll and both times I set off the alarm is if I hadn't. I got receipts showing dates and times of ever get any gifts in the mail from the Oklahoma Highway Patrol to show them that yes, I was being legitimate. Also when I had to make my delivery, I put the trailer back in within two or three tries, which was quite a task on its own. But when I pulled up to the next trailer that I needed, it was a pain in the rear to actually get going. For one thing it was jammed tightly between two other trailers. For another, the landing gear was stuck. Now, I don't mean stuck as in slightly stubborn and a stronger person to do it. I mean stuck as in you couldn't hit this thing back into the trailer with a hammer. Apparently this is such an old trailer that the gear is quite weak and anytime any weight rests on the trailer it just kind of wobbles over and ends up bent in such a way that you can't raise it. Well I got a bit of help from a yard jockey; he lifted up the trailer so I could adjust the landing gear and couple to it. But once I coupled I still couldn't get it up the rest of the way. Well with between me, the jockey, and another driver who offered his services, we finally got it up far enough for me to get out of there. This unfortunately cost me at least an hour, but I've got 14 hours a day I can work what's one hour out of that I wasn't planning on working all 14 anyway.

At least this pickup was easier than my first the first place I had to go. The trailer was so tightly packed that I couldn't get the trailer in there. Believe me, I tried. I spent an hour and a half working back and forth, but there just wasn't enough room for me to get the trailer I was dropping to go where it was supposed to . I then moved over to pick up the trailer I was taking ... only to find that out it wasn't sealed like I've been told it would be. In fact, the doors weren't even closed. Actually, they couldn't close the doors because it was so tightly packed full of freight that it was literally falling out the back. Needless to say, I pointed this out rather quickly and with a chuckle a couple people came over and tried to reorganize this. In the end it still took all three of us just to shut the doors; we still had one box - I believe it was a box of toasters - that we just couldn't get in there. Even so, it was delivery to Wal-Mart distribution center I seriously doubt the Wal-Mart's going to throw a temper tantrum over a single box worth the five dollar toasters.

Still, I really shouldn't be complaining about all this. Between the this delivery and the one I already had, I can chalk up 2600 miles, which works out to roughly $800 I'll be making this week. Not a bad payday, considering that I'm used to making that much money in a month. I'm not due to go home until Thursday, so I still have at least two or three more days with which I can rack up more miles and more pay. I'm hoping that after I get home, I can take care everything quickly such that I won't have to go back again. After all, I'm making so much money at here in the road. Why do I want to sit around and hold dealing with my parents and the assorted drama that Pensacola is becoming infamous for?

I will continue dictating this after I get Joplin and I fuel the truck. They said I only need about 50 gallons to get to the Indianapolis operating center, where I'll be filling up at. After nearly running out of fuel trying to get to an OC before, I'm not going to push my luck. Of all things, though I'm craving McDonald's french fries right now. I really hope there's an McDonald's near that Pilot I'm am supposed to be feeling out that.

Saturday, 11 p.m.: Well, I got McDonald's thankfully. And I have enough fuel to get to the Indianapolis operating center. So now it's just a matter of deciding where I want to shut down for the night. I still have over six hours I can drive. Since I don't have to shut down for about 6 a.m.. I should be able to get to St. Louis. I just don't know if there are any truckstops there. I suppose I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Right now, I'm not too worried since I have so much time I can shut down for a much anywhere I feel like. The best thing about driving this late at night is that there's nothing but open road. I've only got a few cars on the otherwise empty road in front of me, even though I'm just north of Joplin, MO. I don't have to worry about rush hour; I don't have to worry about congestion of people getting places in a hurry; I just have to drive.

Sunday, 2 a.m.: The later into the night it gets, the less likely it looks I'm going to hit St. Louis tonight. I just saw a billboard for love's 30 miles up the road at exit 189. I think I'm going to stop there. Besides, the way this is going right now, I might just stop for a day went in Indianapolis at the operating center there and make the rest of my trip straight out of Indianapolis. I'll have to check the map when I stop for the night. A distant flash of lightning just reminded me of one more reason not to St. Louis: When I was at McDonald's, they had a TV tuned to the Weather Channel and there's some pretty nasty weather up ahead.

Sunday, 11 a.m.: After getting some sleep and looking at the map, I think I'm going to stop at Indianapolis for the day. It's only about 300 miles to Indianapolis, so it's going to be a relatively short day today. However, I need to do laundry and I'd like to get a little extra sleep; I've been running off of six or seven hours sleep every night since I started driving. Hopefully, when I get to Indianapolis the traffic won't be too bad; I hate driving in cities during rush hour.

Sunday, 12:45 p.m.: Thankfully, I can leave now. I'm getting quite tired of sitting here and I can't get back to sleep. All I need to do is a pretrip inspection and get on the road. I'm still worried traffic in Indianapolis is going to be a nightmare, though.

Sunday, 4 p.m.: I made it through St. Louis without a problem. I forgot that it's Sunday today, so traffic wasn't an issue at all.. I just passed a sign that says Indianapolis is 203 miles away, so it looks like a getting there around 7:30 tonight. Since it's Sunday, about half the drivers will be home for the weekend, so parking shouldn't be an issue when I get to the operating center. I just wish Illinois didn't have a 55 mph speed limit for trucks.

Sunday, 6 p.m.: I'm finally in Indiana, and only 76 miles from Indianapolis. The truck speed limit here is 60, I'm doing 63, and I'm still getting passed by every other truck driver on the highway. Oh well. I'm optimistic that I'll be able to get to the operating center by 8PM; hopefully there'll still be something to eat when I get there.

Sunday, 7:30 p.m.: I'm coming down the home stretch your Indianapolis. I just saw our other scary sign though: trash cleanup when I-65 all lanes closed. Thankfully, I'm not going that way. I just hope it doesn't back up on I-465.

Sunday, 9:41 p.m.: I'm here, doing laundry, and relaxing in the operating center. I don't have much to do tonight except to kill time until I'm tired enough to sleep. Unfortunately, I just missed being able to get dinner; the grill closed at 8 and I walked in at about 8:01. :(

I drove all night...

First, let me just say that having a delivery that requires you to drive at night sucks in a way that words can't fully convey. Yes, that's right, my very first delivery pretty much required me to drive through the night for the last two nights in a row, since there was just no other way that I could possibly have made it. I received my work assignment at 6PM on Wednesday, which told me to drive over 200 miles just to pick up a load and that I had to be there by midnight. Then, from there, it was nearly a 1,000 mile drive to the place I'm delivering. Great pay, certainly, but the only way that I could make it work was to drive down there, get the load, then drive as far as I could that night without falling asleep at the wheel, only to wake up and do it again the next night.

Thankfully, last night (or early this morning), I made it to the West Memphis, AR operating center, where I had to stop to visit the various management personnel that I'll be dealing with for the foreseeable future. I haven't gone in just yet, since I want to be ready to leave as soon as I come out of the OC, but I hope that the meeting goes well. I have a little over 350 miles left to drive, so I can't hang out too long; my delivery has to be made by midnight central time tonight, so I can't leave much later than 3PM without pushing my luck.

At least I'm picking up plenty of miles along the way. I did over 600 yesterday, counting the time before and after my break. I have no idea where I'm going next, but since I haven't been home in about three weeks and my hazmat license is waiting for me back at my parents' house, they're probably going to start routing me home. I don't know how they're going to do that, since there may or may not be a direct route, but I'm sure something will work out. Anyway, I've gotta get going; time is running short here.

Waiting Game

I'm in the truck. I've already done a pre-trip inspection and all of that good stuff. I just need a work assignment now and I'm ready to get going. What will probably happen is that I'll be routed toward Arkansas, where my manager and other important staff people are located, then I'll be routed back toward home to pick up my updated driver's license and take care of some business there. I have no idea how long I'll be sitting here, but I hope it's not too long; I can't idle the truck to keep it cool. :p

Off we ... go?

This morning at 9AM, I was supposed to be down there to meet with the manager (I'm not going to try and keep up with the acronyms they keep using :p), but it turns out that I've been assigned to someone based out of Arkansas, so I merely was able to make a phone call and very briefly tell him what's going on.

So what is going on, you ask?

Turns out that the truck that I'd been assigned still hasn't been cleaned out by the person who had it last and the shop won't touch it until he/she comes back to collect his/her belongings. We did some asking around and ultimately talked them into getting the cleaning staff to box up those belongings, but it will still be at least tomorrow morning before the truck is ready to go. I'm supposed to check out of the hotel by 11AM and go down there tomorrow to see what's going on; if it's not ready, I'll have to turn around and check right back in again.

At least the trip wasn't a total waste, though. I found out a few things, after all. I also bought some new clothes and a truck stop guide, since the OC was having a clearance sale on a lot of items; I have an entire bag worth of stuff that I paid just $20 for. I also should be getting layover pay for this, since it's not my fault that I'm sitting in the hotel room right now, so that should be somewhere between $50 and $100. It's still rather annoying, though; I was ready to go this morning and I'm still not going anywhere.

SQT passed!

Shockingly enough, I passed the test my first try. I'm rather stunned that I did, considering how nervous I was and how badly I fouled up several things, but the instructor said that I did about as well as anyone else. As a result, at 9AM tomorrow, I'll be shaking hands with the manager and getting the keys to my truck. I'll, of course, have to take time to inspect the truck with a fine-toothed comb to ensure that there's nothing wrong with it, but if so, I'll be living in that truck for the indefinite future. I have no idea where I'll be going after tomorrow, but I will at least try to keep in touch, everyone.

Road Training #11: Over and Done

Turns out that my trainer was due for some time at home, so we're already back in Charlotte. As I type this, I'm waiting on the hotel shuttle; I'll be staying in a Comfort Inn until Monday. I, unfortunately, did not pass everything. So before my actual qualification test, I'll be taking a "skills assessment" on cornering and backing. Basically, this consists of another trainer coming out and trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong and help me fix it. I hope that will go well. Though when we got back to Charlotte around 2PM, we spent some time working on backing in the yard, and out of three or four moves, I only had to pull up one time. The only time that I had a problem was when we were trying to pull into a space on the right (the blind side) and there just wasn't the space to get around properly. The trainer even needed about six pull-ups to get it in there.

So, as it stands right now, I'm not responsible for anything over the weekend. I have my qualification test Monday. If I pass that, I'll be getting the keys to a truck on Tuesday. It's going to be a very, very nervous day, that's for sure.

Road Training #8: Keep On Truckin'

Well, today went much better than the weekend. In the morning, we called the manager, who decided to give me a second chance out on the road, so I drove almost 400 miles today. I combined various suggestions that I received from the trainer, the manager, and a friend to keep things under control. It wasn't perfect, by any means, but it was a vast improvement beyond what I was doing over the weekend. If I keep up everything I did today, then I will be ready for my qualification test on Monday. I'm looking forward to it. :)