October 11- back in Denver and I'm not dead yet

Man, I must have been more tired than I thought. Slept 11 hours. Weather changed over night, which might account for the sinus headache that awakened me.

Set off on the road at about 14:30... should check my log to see. No biggie. No surprises, only the occasional driver who thinks his vehicle is much shorter than it really is. Nice gray dismal day. Hit the Denver yard and parked the rig, turned the key off at exactly 19:00.

I have been known to complain about idjit drivers who take up more than one parking space. Let it be known that I do not exempt May drivers from that category. In fact, what brings this to mind at the moment is one of our very own drivers who has parked in such a way as to make the space next to him unusable. I will grant that the spaces are small, but that's no excuse. In our own yard, the only other driver he's going to inconvenience is another May driver.

Yard is full, too. Only 3 empty slots – if you count one at the end of the row where drivers are parking their cars these days.

Every time I come back, something has been re-arranged.

Anyway, now I sit and await my steel chariot. This weekend, I WILL manage a 34 (assuming, as I said, I have a job Monday) Delivery on this load is scheduled for 07:00.

October 10 - Good shop and a moonscape

Shock and awe. No start. Worked with breakdown for an hour or so before they opted to turn it over to the local shop. Current guess is the starter relay. Myself, I'm not sure that's the issue, but what do I know?

Ha! I was right. Shop dude jumped across the starter contacts. Starter is definitely getting juice, so it's the item at fault. Shop has the repair estimate in to Brooks, waiting for a reply. I'm going to take advantage of the lull to finally take a shower.

Took a LONG shower. Just about an hour long. Run-out-of-hot-water long. Got back to the truck just in time for the shop dude to get started on the .. starter. Took Brooks a bit to ok the operation.

I let Sharla know via phone, since the shop has the batteries disconnected. Load is resched for monday morning at 07:00. Getting shut down by 20:00 Saturday will give me a 34...

Stopped for the night at North Plattte Flying J. 20:00 and the place is packed. There's a dirt lot just to the south that seems to be handling overflow. No problem, except SOME drivers – as usual – park with no consideration for others. One, in particular, is taking up a bit more than one “stall”. Fortunately, there's still room for me to squeeze in.. though it's snug. I made sure the guy on my right has room to get out of his cab, though. But the moron on my left (well, at least as much a moron as I am) is going to find it more difficult to get his truck out.

I should point out that this lot is.. um.. unimproved. It rather looks like a lunar landscape, to be honest. In fact, a Werner truck just pulled in and sank out of sight in one of the craters. I'm pretty sure he's ok, though – his lights are still moving around down there.

October 9 - rewinding the rubber band, missing my online time

No problems getting OUT of Milwaukee, though finding a scale is interesting. Finally found one in South Beloit (well, saw one in Beloit, but had essentially passed it). I gave things a little thought this morning when sliding tandems, so it's not just luck... but I admit a lot of luck is involved. Drives and trailer tandems are within 120 pounds of each other. That'll go to hell if I have to slide the tandems the 18 inches or so to make it legal in CA...

Stopped at a rest area in Iowa, to.. um... rest. Came back out and darn truck won't start. Got electrics, so it's not the batteries again. It's acting as though the anti-theft device were missing. Breakdown suggest that it might be the starter. Supposedly, they get stuck when they're hot. Gonna give it an hour and try again.

No joy. Facetiously, I asked breakdown if I should smack the starter with my tire thumper. I was floored when they said “yes. A couple taps might loosen it up.” By jimminey, it worked. I heard the starter engage, and could see the fan move a few inches. But still no start. Voltmeter still says about 13v. Breakdown is sending a fixit wagon. Second time in less than a week I've been fixed.

They promised me an ETA ASAP. I think I amused them when I responded “no hurry, I'm not going anywhere”

Made sure my DM knows about the breakdown, too.

This sucks, but at least I don't have to go pee in the woods.

Wrecker is on the way. Apparently we're gonna try a “pull start”. Probably the same process as in a car, but .. well, we'll see.

It is, except with an 8-speed you start in third, not second. And of course, the first thing I did was kill it. Talk about embarrassing! Fortunately I was still hooked to the tow, so it was a simple matter to start it again. I made sure it was ok to drive – breakdown wants the engine to run at least 4 hours. Idling or driving or a combination. Good. Des Moines is about 2 hours away – that's where I'm due to fuel, and spend the night.

Made it. Barely. Pulled into the Pilot with 5 minutes to go on my clock. Hit the parking lot and of course one of the first things I encounter is some complete moron in a Swift truck. Couldn't be bothered to park in a stall, he had to park in a driving lane at the end of a row. To make matters worse, he parked outside somebody else who was ALREADY parked illegally. There is just about one truck-width left to drive through.

I'm sorry, I don't care how long he's been here, there are plenty of open stalls now. Even if there weren't any when he stopped, he should have moved later on.

Had to apologize to Gamera – really wanted to be online for him tonight, but truck issues put me here instead of 10 minutes down the road at a Flying J.

Ran for 4 and a half hours. 2.5 to get here, then two just idling. Should make breakdown happy. Got my alarm set for 04:00. I expect I will get CLOSE to home tomorrow, but not close enough to make the delivery. Google maps says it's 660 miles or so. I have 11 hours. I'd have to average 60 mph to make it. We all know that's not gonna happen. Brighton is 650 miles...Roggins is 600. I think that's a reasonable target. 10.5 usable hours.. gotta pretrip, then fuel... IF the damn truck even starts.

October 8 - Handbasket arrives, one stop to go

Arrived Rochelle. Lessee.. where should we start? Nice rainy morning all through the rest of Ohio and Indiana. That was a plus. Just about the only one I can think of, though. Got trapped in an “exit only” lane just before Chicago. Forced onto the wrong highway. Had to take surface streets back to the interstate. Instructions from toll worker-lady were accurate, though.

Back on the interstate, 6 cars all decide they need the same spot in the right hand lane for an exit. Fortunately, nobody actually made contact, but cars and trucks were all over the shoulders and various lanes there for a moment. I'd be fractionally less pissed about it if I had been a truck or two back from the fracas, instead of point man.

Finally get to Rochelle, and the road I'm routed down has a detour. Yeah, you can smell the trouble already, can't you? It routes you through half the town, then dumps you back on the road you came from. This is good. But it doesn't tell you which way certain streets or businesses are. Since construction is so close to the end of the detour, in MY way of thinking, the turn I need is farther along the original road.

Guess again, Bozo. Turns out that at the end of the detour (where you have a left/right choice to make), you should turn LEFT, not right. Head back toward the construction. The road I'm looking for is right there at the construction barriers. Or, rather, about 100 feet north. Can't see or read the street sign from the stop sign.. and there's no other indicator.

A trip that should have taken about 6 to 7 hours took almost 11. On top of all that, I forgot to tell Dan about the OOS last Friday. I thought I had, but if he's got no note of it, I must not have told him.

These Americold folks here are fast. Had the seal off the trailer before I'd even shut the truck off. Had me in a door 10 minutes later, and had me completely unloaded an hour after I arrived.

Got another load already...pre-plan, any way. Pick up paper in Milwaukee and take it back to Denver. Not sure I can do it legally. I have 2.25 hours of drive time left to go about 120 miles. Kinda thin. Then I have to have it to Denver by Friday afternoon... 16:00 at the end of today, I'll have about 19 or 20 hours of duty time available to get to Denver.. about 1100 miles from Milwaukee. I don't think I can do it legally. Damn. Planning at 55MPH I'm about an hour over my available time. Given that I'll have no time to cheat with after I pick up the load (that is, I can't get started toward Denver on today's hours), I'm pretty sure I can't do this load as proposed.

Just let Sharla know. Could deliver Saturday, but you know they aren't gonna be open. So, the question before the jury is: reschedule this load, or offer a different load?

Huh, didn't expect that. They insist I can make it. I can make it to pick up, but I'm pretty darn sure I can't get to Denver Friday.

Turns out, I didn't get to the shipper in time, anyway. Miles and miles of construction, followed by a multi-car accident on I-43 at Exit 7A, followed by inaccurate directions. Arrived only 15 minutes late, though.

Dammit! I did everything... looked,GOAL, went slow.. mirrored like a madman.. and I STILL hit a friggin' post. I could see it in my mirror, there were inches to spare, but I hit it anyway. Apparently the top of the door sticks out a bit more than the bottom. Broke the top hinge on one door, bent the two hinges below it. Door closes, though, so breakdown says “run with it”

I'm not the only one in the hours position. As I was reporting to breakdown, another May driver came in. He, too, was victim of the piss-poor instructions. He, too, doesn't have the hours to deliver Friday. He, too, was told to run with it anyway.

And I STILL don't know why a trip that should have taken 6 or 7 hours took 9. I was dead-on my expectations yesterday, cranked out 600 miles. Today was about 450. Traffic wasn't a mess (except for a little stupidity here and there), and I know I didn't spend an hour on the detour through Rochelle..so where did it go? I looked under the bed, they're not there, either.

October 7 - hazardous waste onboard

Mostly uneventful day. 612 miles, 12 hours, Got as far as Avon, OH (just west of Cleveland). Leaves me with about7 hours to get to Rochelle. Still looks like 10:00 as I guesstimated yesterday. Actually had to take a nap today. Long about noon I was feeling a bit washed. Decided to hit a rest area and see if maybe I could get 15 or 20 minutes of sleep. Being careful (no,not paranoid) I made sure to set my alarm. Set it for 45 minutes .. I may have been asleep before I ever put the clock down. Had no idea I was THAT tired.

Oh, if you use one, don't drop your open pee bottle in the truck.

October 6 - Fallen ladies, priming the pump, no more hot water

no problem finding this place, corrected instructions are fine. Problem is the size of the parking... or, rather, maneuvering area. Nobody is having an easy time of it. One of the other drivers here commented that it's supposed to be a “drop the trailer and let the hostler plant it in the door” operation. I should look into that, though it's obviously too late for me today.

Costs $300 to have them unload. That makes THIS place the most expensive I've run into, and I've been here for 3 hours now. In the door for about 2 hours. Gonna make getting to my next appointment on time a bit difficult if this takes much longer.

Lady from Marten was out helping another driver (different company) put his trailer in the door. The paving here is in pretty good shape, mostly. Problem is, there are a few holes of significant depth. She found one by the simple expedient of stepping into it. Not a big deal, but when she fell, she injured her hand. Aside from the expected cuts and scrapes, it appears she broke her right pinkie. If not broken,she at least dislocated it: she's unable to move the finger at all. The safety officer has taken her down to the nearest hospital. She didn't want to go, but the EMT managed to convince her that putting off real attention might cause her to lose use of the finger.

Safety officer said that they have already contracted with pavers to come out today. Myself, I'm not sure I buy into it. It's certainly not for an over-all paving. At best it would be for spot-work.

Despite the fact that I knew it was coming, today was still not a day you write home about. Maybe a stiff letter to your congressman day, or a letter to the editor of the New York Times or some other whine-sheet.

Ran out of reefer fuel while unloading. No place in town can accommodate big trucks. I notify dispatch that I'm on my way to the next shipper, but I need reefer fuel before I get there. I'm driving along MA 2 (a beautiful drive this time of year) looking for someplace I can get a few gallons of diesel.

Ain't happening. Oh, there are places that sell diesel – for cars. No way can I get my rig around those pumps or under the awning.

I'm halfway to Newburyport when dispatch comes back asking me to clarify. Huh? How much more clear can you be than “I need reefer fuel before I get to the shipper”???. I explain the tank is dry. Moments later, I get a fuel stop on my Qualcomm. Some place in New York. Yeah, that's gonna work.

Anyway, we go round and round a few times. I finally find a truck stop in Peabody, MA (just outside Boston). I tank up the reefer and spend a half hour priming the fuel pump. It's easy work, but there are two four letter words in that sentence fragment. Nobody ever complains about 'easy'..

Get the box cooling,and head off to the shipper. Directions on Qualcomm are wrong. Lo and behold,the directions from the shipper are wrong, too. Not that either gives bad info.. but neither gives ALL the info you need to find the place. And the shipper can't be bothered to answer the phone. Not even the receptionist answers.

Found it. Pulled up in front of a couple docked trailers and went looking for Shipping department (these folks separate shipping from receiving). Only visible door goes to .. I dunno. Looks like a cross between a garage and a bakery. But it's not Shipping. I follow a paved “road” around the building. Aha! Another set of docks with trailers backed in. It's a cramped back,but nothing nearly so bad as that place this morning.

I'm feeling really twisted about the fuel thing. It's made me over two hours late for my appointment. Small consolation: apparently, just as I was hitting the dock, staff was finishing assembling the order. I'd have been there until 16:00 or so anyway.

Finally, back on the road. North on I-95 to 110, then across to I-495. 110 and 495 need some explanation. You see, my routing from May – from Brattleboro to Newburyport – included a segment that said, essentially, 'take 495 to 110, then take 110 to 95'. Clear enough,right? It is. But what's NOT clear is that 110 essentially follows 495 northeast, crossing under it numerous times. When it's not crossing under 495, it's meandering through some colonial town where the streets were “designed” to deal with horses and oxcarts.

Finally, I said more bad words (it's been a day where I'd embarrass a longshoreman) and just jumped back on 495. at the north end of 495, what do I find? “110 to I-95 south”. The idea would have been to simply ignore all the other exits to 110 from 495 and hit this one. Would have saved me about 2 hours driving and fewer hairs would have emulated stock brokers on Black Tuesday.

Heading back west, steps are retraced. North on I-95, across on 110 to 495, and south.

Half way across on 110 (which, being a NOT Interstate Highway, is surrounded by driveways and streets), some member of the YN generation (say it out loud, you'll get it) has his new Trans Am nosed out into traffic at a McDonald's. Passing cars have to move over across the center line to pass.

Not an option for me. Immediately after his position, the road splits around a median. Cars can fit back through that gap. No way 76 feet of truck and trailer can. Well, not without going over butt-head's hood or expensive DOT signage (yeah, guess what my choice would be)

I opted to come to a shuddering stop about 6 inches from his left front fender. He just gave me one of those “WTF is wrong with you?” looks. I just sat there, letting traffic build up behind me. It was great, I was too close for him to make his left turn. Eventually he caught on and peeled right, racing off into the night and pulling a U-turn at the light a block away.

The drivers around here.. I'd forgotten about them. You go other places (Atlanta, California, etc) and they can be aggressive as hell. It's a pain to deal with, for sure. Here.. here, I think the driving psyche is damaged. Each and every single driver, from the moped up to the transit buses and truckers is absolutely sure he's the only driver on the road. In the astronomically improbable event that somebody else might be on the road at the same time, no worries: that other guy will stop for me.

No wonder there are no roundabouts up here. Drivers are too self-centered to understand going around something else.

Stopped for the night in Strubridge or some such place. Pilot truck stop. Packed, as I expected it to be. But I got my revenge on the day. As I was creeping up one of the parking lots, two flatbedders literally shot out of adjoining stalls. Yeah, you betcha, I grabbed one. Had some help,fortunately. Pretty fried from the day. Help was in a hurry to grab second spot. At firs, I thought it was cuz he was tired, too. But discovered that he was watching TV, so he must have been trying to catch the start of his show.

Went inside, sent off last weeks trip sheets. Then I went up stairs and used every last drop of hot water in Strubridge. Oh, man, that was nice. While I was in there, I heard various thumping and shouting in the hallway. My first thought was “Oh, Great, a fire!” (heap as much sarcasm as possible into that sentence)

My second though was “Tough. I deserve this, I earned this, and I'm gonna by damn TAKE this shower”. Images of firefighters pulling me and my shampoo-lathered hair from the building did flash through my head. They weren't gruesome enough to change my mind.

October 5 - No more stink like billy goat. This week

Laundry first thing. No more complaining about how much it costs in truck stops. Local places are insane. Truck stop might cost me 6 bucks for everything. Here, it was 5 bucks just to wash. Another 3 bucks or so to dry. On the other side of the coin, it was done in about half the time.

Made sure the truck would start when I got back. Just a little paranoia creeping into my psyche?

Did a little work on the computer – preliminary skeleton of my version of “the Trucker's Bible”. I'm using a spreadsheet here on the laptop, but if I keep at this, in the long run, it's going to get cumbersome quickly. Writing a bit of an application on the tower to plug data into a MySQL database. Eventually will add in a GUI, but for my personal needs, simple text is fine.

Think a cold is coming on. Will wander down to the store later and see if Cold Eze is available.

I'm sure this happens with regularity, but it's the first time for me: Some guy with his kids wanted to check out the inside of the truck (blame it on the kids-but they were patently un-interested). 4-year old boy in a Robin costume and Spiderman slippers reminded me a lot of my older boy at that age. Long, blond, never-been-cut, hair, and into everything. Except the truck. Really didn't like it at all. Dad was asking reasonable, but expectedly un-knowledgeable questions. More about comfort and travel than anything else.

At a guess, I'd say he's divorced with the kids for a weekend.

Currently peeling an orange and getting ready to return to re-reading Kathy Reichs' “Bones to Ashes”.

Horribly domestic and boring, but tough. You don't like it, you come over here and write this yourself.

Lol – just settling back and I looked out the front. Just in time to see a UPS van trundle by. Nothing odd about that, right? Except, in addition to the traditional brown paint, this one had muscle car flames coming back from the hood and both wheel wells. Damn near choked on my orange slice. Haven't seen such a good example of sarcasm and irony in forever.

Just took a good look at my next run. From Newburyport, MA (way up north east) to Rochelle, IL. Since I smoked my 34 yesterday by not finding the dead truck 2 hours earlier, I had to check and recheck my daily hours. So, yeah, I can make it. If my appointment at C&S is for 0500 Mountain time, I can conclude my 34 and have no worries. If it's for local time, I still have the hours to get to Rochelle. Just no 34. Close, but no Havana.

Another 3 days (essentially) with the reefer going. Wheee-haw!

Gah – just occurred to me. Yeah, timely. This next run is going to cost a zillion bux in tolls. The run out here was close to $100 – or more. I'll dig through the receipts in a bit. Going back, I get the feeling I'll be spending more time on toll roads (more properly known as “Troll Roads”).

October 4 - Brattleboro - Nice, but you don't want your sister to marry one

Ok, might not have made it on time. This Vermont Hwy 9 is nuts – on the order of tasered spaghetti. The speed limit most of the way is 50mph, but even in daylight I don't think I'd have gone much faster than I did tonight.

Add in the fact that the local directions are outdated and arriving on time in the morning would have been.. . Well, let's just say “unlikely”. Yes, I sent in corrections.

I'm spending the night at a Citgo “truck stop” just off exit 3 on I-91. I dunno if they'll let me stay two more nights – nobody here at 03:00 to ask.

May hit one of the local motels, though.

One bit of good news: this place has a Radio Shack! Woot woot!

And there's something about cell phones – aside from the fact that mine can't connect to any network. There's a sign on the door of the Mobil station's “store” next door: “Please turn off cell phones”. On the way back to the truck from my walk, I passed a few moments in conversation with a local. He works at McDonald's... his manager wouldn't allow him to use his cell phone to call for his ride. Weird.

Now it's almost 05:00, I'm gonna try to get some sleep.

Did some tinkering with the tower today – there's a Radio Shack just a hundred meters or so down the road. Got a gender bender for the video cable. Got back to the truck and I can't get into the passenger side “closet” outside. None of my keys seem to work – though they worked fine when I put my keyboard and printer IN there. Ambled back to Radio Shack and picked up a wireless keyboard/mouse. Not exhorbitant, but more than I really wanted to spend. Still, got it set up and it's nice.

Put it all away and made ready to buzz down the road a bit to do some laundry. Damn truck won't start. Thought at first I'd forgotten the anti-theft device, but no, it's fine. Voltmeter showing only 10 to 10.5V. That's an issue.

Brattleboro Towing happened to be here at the Citgo, gave him $20 to jump it. Joy was not forthcoming. Even tried jumping straight to the starter, though on further thought, if I don't have enough juice to close the starter selenoid, jumping to the starter won't do much good.

Thanked him (Joe) and sent him on his way. Notified Breakdown. Gave them particulars, and hopefully detailed enough written instructions on finding me, since my damn phone has no service here. They're sending road service. I wonder if the reefer has enough juice to recharge the tractor batteries. Not that I have long enough jumper cables to try it. Or any jumper cables at all, for that matter. One of those things “on the list” but not struck off yet.

Road service was prompt and courteous. Threw a charger on the batteries and replaced the alternator. All in all, I spent just under $1000 of the company's money. Of course, the new alternator is supposed to be 100 amps more powerful than the original. Wheeee!

I've decided that 18:00 is too late in the day today to be doing laundry. Instead,spent $6 of MY money at Dunkin Donuts as desert for dinner. Also, tomorrow, I want to find a deli place that sells pre-made 2-foot sammiches. The local grocery store sells all the makin's, but that's not what I want. And their grapes look.. sad. Bought oranges instead. They're not great, but not all that bad, either. Certainly better than those grapes.

Finished adding the DVD drive and wireless card to the tower tonight. DVD certainly recognizes CD-ROM disks -played a round of Railroad Tycoon. No wireless networks to test the card on- but it's probably ok, too.

I think I'm going to have to break out the cds and the music on the laptop. Only non-country or NPR radio station I can get is crap. Not even MOR, or at least not so in my book. Full of electronically “enhanced” female voices... not even angsty. Just whiney. And they have a 6 hour repeat schedule.

Oh fine. As soon as I type that, they put Joan Jett on. Just gotta make a liar out of me, even over the radio.

October 3 - my feet taste terrible

blown sky high. Was just going to make it,with about 15 minutes to spare – but got caught in a DOT inspection. Took about an hour, give or take, so, completely aside from the 2 hours OOS I caught for not being able to count, I'm down for the day anyway. Let DM know – they're supposedly finding out if consignee is a 24/7 operation, or if I have to wait for Monday to deliver.

Talked to the troopers. Apparently VT9 is something of a highway. An inordinate number of fatals. Ergo, the DOT troopers spend a lot of time out here. Supposedly, in a reversal of normal statistics, most of the wrecks are caused by truckers.

That's understandable – this road is a bear. Narrow, twisty, and just a few miles back from here (about 24 miles from Brattleboro) is an interesting little bit of highway. Buzzing along on moderately flat terrain, you approach a grade warning sign. No biggie, right? Good thing I'm paranoid about hills. I kept approaching the grade... and approaching... Where the hell is the damn road? All I can see in front of me is most of southern New Hampshire. There's no percentage marked, but the DOT officers tell me it's 12 to 15% grade for about 200 meters – with a sharp bend at the bottom. It felt as though I was looking down the face of a vertical cliff. I downshifted from 7 to 3 in a hell of a hurry, and even that wasn't really enough – had to keep after the brakes, too. I'd hate like hell to drive this highway in the winter time. Wouldn't dare go faster than 10 or 15mph, and I'm not sure I'd take that hill at all.

I was contemplating a 34 this weekend anyway. Oh well. In either event, obviously I have problems counting hours and quarter hours or I'd not have got the OOS to begin with. Gonna cost me $150. I absolutely HAVE to get DDL. I can't keep on torquing myself with these quarter-hour mishaps (Tim called me the other day to point out a couple I hosed in August)

As I expected, consignee's closed over the weekend. New appointment is Monday at 05:00. Wow, a whole weekend in Brattleboro. If they have a Radio Shack or a computer store of some sort, I should be ok. Failing that, I hope to heaven the have a bookstore or library. 2+ days of Spider and Klondike might drive me over the edge.

On the good side – I'm parked right next to a nice little mountain stream. Ok, it's a bit bigger than “little” but it's not a river by any means- yet. Grabbed another gallon of mountain stream water for Herself and Damon.

Wind is blowing like hell. I'd put it at 30-40 kts, from nearly dead astern the way I'm parked – and it STILL sets the cab rockin' like there's a party goin' on inside.

Ambulance just went by westbound, lights going but no noise. I assume that they have similar protocols to Denver, and this is a transport over to Albany. Just a guess, of course.

October 2 - Early bird or late napper?

Fun for all ages. Night driving is nice. No stupid drivers, not even truckers. Followed dispatch route, was not fastest, I don't think. Next time will know. Missed consignee anyway – sign is 50 feet in the air – and on east side of road. Right in front of rising sun. Took me about 20 minutes to find a place to turn around and get back to the place.

Remember- turn BEFORE the big fenced in parking lot.

This Americold site is quite unlike the one in Atlanta. Had me unloaded in about two hours – interrupted a really good nap, too, darnit. Was dreaming I was back at sea on the Woodrush and having a grand time. Something about painting or dying just the top layer of the captain's hair without him knowing about it. Looked goofy as hell.. but what do you expect from a dream?

Got out of there and sent over to another Americold site just about 7 miles away. Construction messed me up, so I spent about a half hour getting myself turned around and back to the site – just in time for them to go to lunch. AAAARRGH! Not faulting them, just sucky timing.

When they returned, got to window.. not only did they know what lot my new trailer was in, they knew row AND sequence. Zounds! That's hot! Usually, the best any place can do is tell me what lot, and if they are very good, they can tell me what row. This lady didn't even have to look it up – just rattled it off.

Made it as far as Erie, PA. Have 45 minutes left on the clock today, but I'm getting groggy, so I'll grab an 8 in the sleeper and apply that 45 minutes between 23:15 and midnight. Trip planning as we are told – basing it on 50mph, I can't get to Brattleboro, VT before 11:00 local time. However, if I can manage close to 60mph (as I recall, it's pretty flat ground across NY) I might just make it on time. Maybe.

It's 450 miles from where I'm parked at the moment, according to Google Maps. For a wonder, the routing in Google Maps agrees pretty closely with my QC routing.

Now, it's bed time (at 15:30.. who'd a thunk it?)

October 1 - Dummies in the rain

Up and running at 05:00. Fueled in Walcott, then on my merry way into Illinois.

Most of the trip was a lot like Nebraska (only hillier) and Iowa (only flatter). Wasn't until I was nearing the tollway that anything interesting happened. A few miles head, in the rain, two trucks attempted to occupy the same space-time coordinates. All would have been well if the second truck had waited for the first truck to depart. Since he failed to wait, the nose of his truck made violent and damaging contact with the tail of the first truck's trailer.

My guess is, he's from Atlanta – though the chatter on the radio indicated that tailgating is a frequent (if not constant) feature of that stretch of highway.

Used the camera to try to take pic, but the image is washed out. I'd been thinking these occasional washed out shotw were because of the flash reflecting off glass... but there was no flash, and there was no glass (I rolled my window down). It wasn't washed out from the sun, either, as it was cloudy and raining.

Where does this leave us? Yup: camera is a POS. Next trip I'm for sure gonna grab my good camera, even if it is film.

Made it as far as the Pilot at exit 72- South Bend, IN. I could go a little farther, but not enough to make a difference, really. Only about an hour left on my clock – and stops are either only 30 minutes away, or 75. I'd have made it into Ohio, I think, if it hadn't been for that moron driver in Il.

Earlier stop, of course, means earlier start. I'm gonna have to roll out no later than 01:00. I'm about 300 miles away as routed. Call it 5 hours and change. I want to allow for time to .. um.. take breaks, and maybe get lost.

If I have no problems and get there waaaay early,there's a truck stop about 5 miles up the road.

Y'know, I am not above grabbing a noshy or soda after I've fueled (and pulled up to let somebody fuel behind me). But I like to think I don't take forever at it. Just since I've been here, there's been this one truck sitting in the pull-through (also known as the payment slots). Two other trucks have come in behind and fueled... and eventually backed out and have gone around the islands to leave. WTF?!?! Eventually this.. um.. heavyset woman came out of the C-store and climbed into the cab. Did she leave? Of course not. She found a parking place with the rest of us.

Then she went BACK into the store.

Some people – no matter their age – really need to be bitch-slapped. Her truck was still parked when I left at 00:45.

September 30 - Nebraska is Purgatory

Yup. Nebraska is boring. Only thing of interest was the belly dump just west of Des Moines. I don't know all the circumstances involved, of course, but his tire marks / ruts entered the median at a pretty sharp angle- yet he managed to NOT cross over into oncoming traffic. Instead, he got it pointed back at the west bound lanes before he mushed to a stop in soggy turf. There was a state trooper on scene, and a .. garbage truck, I think, on the far shoulder that may have had nothing to do with it.

Come to think of it, that was Iowa, so NOTHING of interest happened in Nebraska.

Spent night at the Pilot at MM126 of I-80

September 29 - who installed this thing, anyway?

September 29 – Up at 5, out of the lot and on the highway at 05:30. Would have saved myself 15 minutes if I'd remembered I spent the night north of the I-84/I-15 junction. Argh!

Only one stupid driver today – and he was driving a rig.

Other than that, day uneventful. Made it as far as Sidney [sic] Nebraska before I stopped for the night. 544 miles in 9.25 hours. If I keep up this pace, I'll be absolutely rockin' for my delivery Thursday.

I've noted two items generally missing from “convenient for a truck on the interstate” list: bookstores and electronics/computer stores. Sigh.

Now it's time to connect my driver's side CB antenna. If I feel like it when that's done, I'll dink with the tower (install DVD and wireless card).

Gah.. what a mess. Some sort of painted on cover for the connector, made it essentially impossible to reconnect antenna cable until I stripped the crap off. That took a while. Gonna crash

September 28 - yes, I'm still alive

September 28 – made it to Layton. It's apparently not the sensor – for one thing, the light on the trailer isn't lit, just the one on the dash. Odds are, then, it's a wiring issue. Not fixable in a couple hours. Tanked up and moved up to the Flying J in Ogden. Gonna try to chat with Monkeyboy. All out of hours for today, anyway.

Did chat for a bit.. I think it was more he just wanted to make sure I'm still around. It was almost a Kodi conversation.

Went to bed early, wanna get up at 5

September 27 - oopsie! and, hey,this ain't Sturgis

September 27 – I thought I would be glad this is a weekend. I figured less traffic. Ha! Not as bad as rush hour last nite, but still busy as hell. Passing through Sacramento came close to clobbering a CHP officer as he laid a flare- he was too close to traffic coming around a blind corner.

The flare was for a red car crashed into the shrubbery on the verge of the road. Looked like mostly cosmetic damage, but the kid (I'm assuming he was driving) looked really shaken.

Bikers all over,too. There were bunches of them coming over Donner the other day, but there are more today. I wonder if something is happening in Reno.

Hoo! Seems so. Passing through Reno eastbound I watched a solid mile of bikers go west bound. They had on-ramps backed up, as they were traveling in the granny lane. Hundreds and hundreds of them. I don't think it was all one gang, either. I think I saw at least 4 or 5 colors flying.

Made it to Wendover, NV for he night. Only got about 4 drive hours tomorrow. Gonna stop by Layton yard and see if they can take a look at the trailer brakes. They work fine, but the ABS light won't go out, which indicates the ABS system is non-functional. I'd LIKE to get that fixed, if it can be done in a couple hours.

We'll see.

September 26 - I hate city traffic.

September 26 – up at the crack of oh-my-God. On the road almost immediately. Directions to consignee were accurate – but the street itself is.. well, not exactly hidden, but difficult to find in the dark. It looks like a driveway for a small industrial subdivision.

Turns out,that's exactly what it is. To make matters worse, though, it's not lit. So, I drove past it once, circled around and found it. Hit the door only about 20 minutes late. Other drivers arrived later, but left sooner – THEIR loads were on pallets, not skidsheets. Takes a bunch more time to deal with skidsheets – especially if there are only two people working the dock.

Got out of there at about 9:30. Plenty of time to drive 100 miles, right? Wrong. Big city traffic was..... big city traffic. Routing had me going across the bay bridge (Toll). Traffic was completely stopped that way, so I went down the east side of the bay to Salinas, and then back up to Castroville. Drove up and down the street a couple times before I realized that the building I'm looking for is set back from the street – BEHIND another building. There's a moderately sized sign on the street, but nothing on the buildings themselves.

Oh well. Hit the S&R window a half our late and they start blathering about $85 for missed appointment. All I can say is, it better not come out of my check.

For now, I'm sitting in the 'waiting' area with 5 other trucks. There are 8 doors to the warehouse, 1 has a truck in it. That leaves 7 doors. Empty. 6 empty trucks sitting not 200 feet away. Already I hate this place. Let's see how long it takes them to 1) put me in a door and 2) load me once I'm there.

Didn't take long at all to put me into a door. Less than an hour, anyway. Now, let's see how long it takes to load...

A bit longer. Total time was 5 hours. Doesn't leave me enough time to get to Reno, and I can't stay here to run a split. Gonna have to get as far as I can.

Hwy 1 and Hwy 17 are right pleasant - and in some places quite pretty. On the other hand, I-880, I-560, and I-205 at rush hour .. can you say “nightmare”? Not only is traffic slow, but it's made worse by “me first-ers” . The kind of driver who will jump over into the deceleration lane to get ahead of one or two other cars. As a result, while it took me 2.5 hours (give or take) to go from Sacramento to Castroville this morning, it took me almost 5 hours go get as far north as Stockton. Gah.

Too tired to net.

September 25 - Slower traffic keep right, another step closer to the computer age

September 25 – well that was a waste of time. I slept right through the alarm. No damage done, though. Nothing significant to report. Just the usual morons holding steering wheels- one or two of them attached to 18 wheels. What the hell is so urgent about getting back into the granny lane? I can *kind of * understand it if you have a stack of cars and trucks behind you, but when it's just you and the guy you are passing?

Crossed Donner with no problems – even got green-lighted on the CA scales! Utah, I always have to stop. No idea. Maybe my pass isn't registered in Utah or something.

Arrived Sacramento 17:45 Denver time. Lots of parking at the Sacramento 49'er (yes, that's a pun)

Directions to my delivery tomorrow are ... Ambiguous. Mostly ok, very clear, but the last line or two are... WTF? Called and got recorded directions – slightly different from the ones provided by dispatch. Gonna call again in the morning while on the way and see if I can sort out what's REALLY supposed to happen.

Watched a little TV (whatever that NYC cop show is called) and had SHRIMP for dinner. Not a 4-star by any stretch of the imagination, but certainly not ruined.

Darnit, got the new inverter installed, and I'm missing the dad-burned video dongle. Gonna see if I can get to a radio shack some how. At least I have AC power on both sides of the truck now, so I don't get all tangled up when I go back and forth from the bunk.

Alarm is set for 05:00 tomorrow – that's 04:00 local time. Should give me time enough to go 50-60 miles to the consignee in the morning.

Updated spreadsheet, too, while I'm sitting here.

September 24 - What's sospecial about pump 2? Daniel Boone was a biiiig man

September 24 – Beat my ETA to Layton yard by about a half hour. Would have been a full hour if I'd opted to fuel after I got my load. Gah! The lines at that Pilot were amazing – and then you had truckers who wanted one particular pump or something – backing everybody else up by taking up a position 3^rd in line, instead of moving over just one lane and being nr 2.

Prevailed upon the mechanics to install my inverter – needed to get some wiring and stuff from a place called Driven Electronics (sure, another store would have been just as good, but not as close, not as knowledgeable, and not as willing to give May drivers a substantial discount). Back at the ranch... er, yard... I turned the truck over to the mechanics while I did laundry. They were done before I even had my washers started. Having nothing else really to do, I spent the afternoon watching Daniel Boone with Fess Parker. Gods, it was awful, but it's easy to see how it was successful, if you look at it through 1960s eyes.

I was gonna jump in the shower as soon as the laundry was done, but somebody was already in there and somebody else was waiting. There are truck stops all along the interstates that offer showers, I'll just grab one there. Preferably at a Pilot (I have a couple stacked up on my card) but anywhere will do .

Opted to pass up the Pilot in Wendover, NV. Stopping would mess up my remaining hours. My 14 is up before my 11 as it is.

Made it to Wells with about 10 minutes to go on my drive time. Flying J – huge lot, nice people behind the counter, and HOT water. Yeah.. LOOOOONG shower. Damn that feels good

Time to add another item to my “These people should be shot” list: Bullhaulers who stop for the night UPWIND of the truck stop. It's especially egregious if they've not washed out the trailers after hauling hogs. Glad my Darth Vader mask filters scent pretty well.

I haven't decided if I'm going to add “drivers who play their stereos at volume 11 in a truck stop”. The indecision stems from the apparent fact that he was using it as an alarm clock.

On that note, time for me to set MY alarm clock and groove out for the night.

September 23 - some lumpers suck, some drivers suck, and some lots suck

September 23 – only 45 minutes from rest area to consignee. I was worried about morning rush hour traffic in Colorado Springs, but for all intents and purposes, there wasn't any.

Took 'em a bit to put me in a door – about a half hour.. then there's some discussion over who's paying the lumpers (confusion mostly my fault – didn't remember it from the dispatch notes. Gotta remember to re-read those when I get to consignee and shipper.

This is obviously a more “traditional” logistics place- pull a pallet, sort it, pull another pallet... it's 11:00 already and I'm STILL not unloaded. It wasn't even a full load. This is annoying. The more so because I already have a load pending in Denver to take to SLC, due tomorrow morning.

I'm starting to get pissed off. 5 and a half hours I've been here and I'm STILL not unloaded. Other trucks – with bigger loads – have come and gone in the time I've sat here. These lumpers are absolutely not worth the exorbitant price they charge ($245- the most of any lumper service I've run into so far). Very shortly, I'm not going to be able to get that load to SLC before noon tomorrow. Heck, not sure I can do it NOW. (oooh, they're moving in the trailer again.. what's this, pallets 10 and 12 out of 24?)

I think they got the hint. I finally went inside and stood within easy sight of my door, looking disgusted as though the cat had crapped in the kitchen and I'd stepped in it. Barefoot. Had me finished in 20 minutes.

Knowing what was in the truck, and knowing the equipment they were using, they should have been done in 45 minutes. There wasn't any individual sorting - it was entire layers of product- and they had a spiffy fork-lift thingie that could pick up just a layer.

Part of the problem was they'd do a pallet, then go do a pallet from another truck... then every hour on the hour,they'd all take a break.

I've essentially 8 hours of driving available to me today, after which I have to put in 8 hours in the sleeper berth. 8 hours from now is 22:00. 8 hours from then is 06:00...(yes, I'm thinking 'on paper'). Hrm.. maybe I can make it. If memory serves, it's about 10 hours from Denver..

It might be less. The last trip I have recorded just from Denver to SLC was, indeed, 10.25 hours drive time – but it was in my old truck – with a heavier load. In any event,made it as far as Rawlins – and did it a half hour before my time ran out..

A couple notes to self: 1) stay out of Denver during rush hour. 2) Need to start getting really paranoid about acceleration lanes.. AGAIN some dimwit (now that I think on it,so far EVERY time I've been cut off by some idiot in the acceleration lane, the driver has been a blonde woman. Yeah, that's probably coincidence, but still...)

oh yeah, a third note: when doing a drop/swap at Denver Mattress CO, do your best to be there during the business day. Their lot is.. uneven. As a result, the nose of the trailer can actually end up below the level of the top of your drive tires. After hours, there's no hostlers to maybe move the trailer someplace where you can slide under it. If you are lucky, the load will be light and you can crank the landing gear a bit. Took me a half hour to raise the nose of this trailer far enough that I could slither under it – and my load is only 20K pounds.

Made it as far as Rawlins WY. Flying J has plenty of parking, and I'm beat.

September 22 - Breanthing soup and insane tolls

September 22 – up at the crack of noon. Well, 08:00. It rained a bit during the night- of course, being the midwest, it didn't help. While temps were down, humidity was waaaay up. Like trying to breathe soup. With noodles.

Only your normally stupid drivers today. Made it as far as Larkspur, CO (about 50 miles from consignee.) using the E470 toll road. Jeasus! That damn toll road is expensive. Basically, a dollar a mile. Next time I'm gonna hit town and go through. $30 to go from Brighton to the south end of Denver is stupid. Especially when it doesn't save much time over 225 etc (if you time it right).

Yeah, it would save a bit of time if I had one of those pass thingies, but having to stop every 10 miles ate up a lot (if not all) of the time savings.

Got to Larkspur just in the nick of time... I'd wanted to shut down a bit early, so I could roll over some time into tomorrow's 10 hours. Nope. Time ran out as I trundled off the highway into the rest area.

So, here I sit tonight. Time to play some solitaire.

September 21 - Minooka, dangerous idiot, who's on cloud 9?

September 21 – buzzed down to Minooka. Took about 65 minutes. Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to box up dinner (pizza), so I could offer it as a peace token. It worked. The nice folks had me loaded and on my way in about 45 minutes. Of course, they wanted to go home, too – but they stayed late for me. I am most happy with them.

Trundled off into the night, westbound on I-80. Got as far as Brooklyn, IA before I had to crash. Zonked for my 8 hours then back in the saddle, heading for Lincoln, NE.

Council Bluffs nearly met with a wonderful traffic snarl. It was about 19:30 local time, and I was following a Swift truck in the left (hammer) lane. We'd moved over to accommodate merging traffic, and I, at least, was looking for a hole so I could move back to the granny lane.

I was checking my mirrors as we all approached Exit 3, when flashing brake lights flooded me with adrenalin – goddamn swift driver (still in the hammer lane) decided he needed THIS EXIT RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW, and pulled a 4-wheeler stunt.

Yup, jumped on his brakes and dove for the exit. At least two cars ended up on the shoulder. Fortunately, I was keeping a tolerable space between him and me.

I don't know if it was trainer/trainee or team – but there were two people in the cab. If it was a team... well, what can I say? Come to think of it, what can I say if it was a trainer/trainee? Trainer should have prevented it all from happening.

Makes you wonder why Swift doesn't have a worse reputation.

Made it to Shoemaker's, with no time to spare. Got on the net and spent the evening talking to the younger boy. Older boy was probably too wired from night before- he'd been elected as the Junior Class representative to the homecoming court. Spent most of the weekend shell-shocked, I hear. I know that I'm right tickled.

September 20 - Ohhh, a silver lining!

September 20 – dammit, last train was at 20:30 last night. Hasn't been one since, and it's after 8 in the morning. It's only an hour or so to Minooka from here, my appointment is at 10:30 mountain time, so I figure I'll leave in about 45 minutes or so...

Aw, crap. That accident last night burned the hour or so I'd planned on using to get to my next load. Now I'm stuck in this town all day. Illinois. Temps in the 80s. Humidity in the 80s. And NO FRELLING BOOKSTORE!!! I'm in hell.

Yup, Hell it is. Gas station a few hundred feet away – where I'd figured to grab some water and munchies before I left – closed up shop at 23:00. On a Saturday. This is on the high side of annoying.

The only good news is the temp is waay down. Low in the 50s tonight, and high in the 70s (not that I'm gonna be here)

I suppose it's a small price to pay, though. Cubs clinched the division today. Muahahahahah. Now, if they can just take the pennant. I'm not asking for the series, though that would be cool. Just go TO the series. The good news, in that regard, is that they should have home-field advantage all the way through- last I looked,they had the best record in baseball.

September 19 -Time is NOT on my side, no matter what the Rolling Stones say

September 19 - Must... remember.... time... differential.

Yeah, last time I came east, I kept on thinking mountain time – messed me up a little. Today, I have this delivery due at 18:00. That's 17:00 mountain time. Given that 1) it's now 10:00 in the morning (mountain time) and 2) it's about a 5 hour drive, I think I'm going to head out in a bout a half hour. I don't know how long it will take them to unload – but just in case, I'm reading up (again) on split berth logging.

Just turned the key in the ignition. Gauge seems to indicate a little above 'empty', so I might make it to the intermediate fuel stop about 20 miles down the road. Last night,when I shut down, the gauge was below 'E'.. now it's a bit above. I wonder if it measures only the one tank...

If I'd figured travel time correctly, I probably would have been almost on time. Or even ON time. Because I didn't, I was about 10 minutes behind time... and got caught behind a messy accident just south of Huntly, IL (Consignee).

Further, I think the local directions need to be updated. Right now, they have us getting off I-90 at hwy 20 exit, then driving about 10 miles to Hwy 47. By the time I got around the wreck, I discovered that there's an exit off I-90 directly TO Hwy 47. Would have saved me about 20 minutes driving on a regular day, and would have allowed me to completely miss the accident backup.

I did ask that dispatch update local directions a bit, anyway. Directions have us turn right (off 47) onto Mill St. This IS correct – but Mill St is residential – something that makes any driver nervous. I included this, and also added that we should turn right at the first stop sign, and where the S&R office is.

Damn accident put me over my hours, dammit. Fortunately, the folks here will let me spend the night.

They had me unloaded in less than an hour, too – even considering I forgot to open the trailer doors.

Even better (though most wouldn't think it so) the spot they suggested is 60 feet from the local UP spur. Only a railfan would understand. (to be fair, they merely suggested the lot. I chose the spot). The other lot is the busy one, - hostlers and trailers shuttling back and forth all the time. This is much better. And now I have SIX load locks. Not had a time or place to drop a couple. Gonna try to swing through Denver yard on this trip and drop off 3.

September 19 -Time is NOT on my side, no matter what the Rolling Stones say

September 19 - Must... remember.... time... differential.

Yeah, last time I came east, I kept on thinking mountain time – messed me up a little. Today, I have this delivery due at 18:00. That's 17:00 mountain time. Given that 1) it's now 10:00 in the morning (mountain time) and 2) it's about a 5 hour drive, I think I'm going to head out in a bout a half hour. I don't know how long it will take them to unload – but just in case, I'm reading up (again) on split berth logging.

Just turned the key in the ignition. Guage seems to indicate a little above 'empty', so I might make it to the intermediate fuel stop about 20 miles down the road. Last night,when I shut down, the guage was below 'E'.. now it's a bit above. I wonder if it measures only the one tank...

If I'd figured travel time correctly, I probably would have been almost on time. Or even ON time. Because I didn't, I was about 10 minutes behind time... and got caught behind a messy accident just south of Huntly, IL (Consignee).

Further, I think the local directions need to be updated. Right now, they have us getting off I-90 at hwy 20 exit, then driving about 10 miles to Hwy 47. By the time I got around the wreck, I discovered that there's an exit off I-90 directly TO Hwy 47. Would have saved me about 20 minutes driving on a regular day, and would have allowed me to completely miss the accident backup.

I did ask that dispatch update local directions a bit, anyway. Directions have us turn right (off 47) onto Mill St. This IS correct – but Mill St is residential – something that makes any driver nervous. I included this, and also added that we should turn right at the first stop sign, and where the S&R office is.

Damn accident put me over my hours, dammit. Fortunately, the folks here will let me spend the night.

They had me unloaded in less than an hour, too – even considering I forgot to open the trailer doors.

Even better (though most wouldn't think it so) the spot they suggested is 60 feet from the local UP spur. Only a railfan would understand. (to be fair, they merely suggested the lot. I chose the spot). The other lot is the busy one, - hostlers and trailers shuttling back and forth all the time. This is much better. And now I have SIX load locks. Not had a time or place to drop a couple. Gonna try to swing through Denver yard on this trip and drop off 3.

September 18 - Stupidity and swapping trailers

September 18 – Normally I write this up at the end of the day. I'm starting a little early today, though. We all know how wanton stupidity just gets my back up. Yes, I'd like to say I'm immune from such stunts as might display my idiocy, but I try. And I do NOT make a habit of flagrantly stupid actions.

In this case, I'm talking about overnight parking. Sure, it's a Pilot and the lot is a little tight. However, when these three particular drivers arrived, it was only half full, with plenty of pull-through slots. How do I know this? They arrived at about the same time as I did. Even without the pull-through stalls, there were a good dozen or so open stalls they could back into. One stretch was five stalls wide.

Do these morons even attempt to park legally? Do they even look? No. Pull through the fuel island and find a handy curb to pull along side. Or park in the clearly marked no parking zone next to the scale. Convenient for them, but compressing the available maneuvering space for anybody else who comes along.

It seems such a little thing, but it's the kind of uncaring thoughtless arrogance that – at best – doesn't help the driver image.

No, I'm not mentioning carrier names. There's no need to, since just about every carrier has drivers such as these. It's not restricted to company drivers, either. Owner/Operators do it too.

The powers that be decided I should swap trailers with another driver ... not sure where at the beginning of the day, but by mid-afternoon, it was decided that Des Moines was the place to be. I opted to push hard- I want to get there early enough to allow the other driver plenty of time to do whatever he needs to do before hitting the road.

Running low on fuel – refuel point is 160 miles down the road. Absolutely will not make it with the on-board fuel.

Found the Pilot at MM 126... found the parking lot for trucks. Can't find the driver I'm supposed to swap with. QC'd dispatch for assist. Gah., drove right past him, and WALKED past him TWICE. I'm obviously tired.

Trailer and paperwork swap.

Requested different fuel stop,since- as I said – there is no hope in hell that I can get to the currently designated stop. Got one – about 16 miles up the road. Dunno if I can get there or not – I'm REALLY low. I may drop $20 into a tank in the morning.

No wrecks, no unusually stupid drivers... and darn few stops. Usually when I stop,I take a few minutes to stretch, bend,walk a bit. Not today.. back into the truck ASAP. Leaves me a little sore and quite tired at the end of the day.

September 17 - Rolls and decisions

September 17 – hit the road at 07:30. That's early for me. Not much traffic on the road (go figure – it's eastern Nevada and Western Utah – nothing here. Well, Wendover has casinos... and it's about 5 minutes from the Bonneville Speedway. I saw a dozen or so vehicles out there seeing how fast they could go.

MM 102, heading toward SLC, some poor chump rolled his van (full size). I think I got a pic of it – I'll check that in a bit. By the time I got there, it was in the investigation stage. Nobody there but the police. (No Pic - unless you count a blurry shot of some grass and rocks)

I wonder if it would be faster to cut north on I-215 and pick up 84 eastbound out of Ogden. It's a long slow haul up 80.

Trip across Wyoming uneventful – except CS has set the delivery appointment to Friday. No way on earth I can make that. Mindy is looking to see if a trailer swap can be arranged. Somehow I doubt it – I'm gonna end up spending the weekend in Peru IL (the place I've designated as the last stop before delivery). Why Peru? Flying J. Wi Fi.

About 30 miles west of Laramie, somebody dropped a big rig on the driver's side. I tried for a photo, but I'm pretty sure I failed. Could not even make out the carrier name – it wasn't on the trailer doors.

Hit the Pilot at MM 367 exactly at 18:45..woot! 10 hours of driving to go 578 miles. Excellent!.

HUGE potholes in the lot, though. Came around the corner to do a pull-through.. damn near lost the truck. I'm pretty sure I saw Bejing at the bottom.

Yeah, I could have gone farther, but if I'm gonna swap a trailer in Denver (who knows?) I don't want to have to back-track 50 or so miles.. Besides, this sets me up for an 8 hour drive to Lincoln, NE – where I can stop at Shoemaker's – 8 hours from Peru, Il – and another WiFi spot. Given that I have only 18 hours left on my 70 to get to Peru, I think it works this way. 3 hours from Peru to Consignee.. Planned originally for Saturday. If I have to wait for Monday, I think I'll be starting out with close to 30 hours available up front, plus what I regain as days go by.

We'll see how it goes. Now I'm gonna go play with my spreadsheet.

September 16 - I Think I can, I think I can

September 16 - This morning, in the middle of Donner (twice in two days.. guh)... Mindy sent a msg on the QC saying that CS was wondering why I'd only gone 89 miles with my load, since I picked it up at 14:00 yesterday. I kinda reminded her about breakdown and that I'd had to spend the night at the truckstop.

3 hours from Sacramento to Reno – surprise. Mindy wants to know my eta if I deliver this load, and an eta if I drop it in Denver. Yeah, I can work this out while driving Donner :)

If I have this right, I can deliver on Saturday, or drop on Thursday. Earliest this load can get to consignee is Saturday, so I am allowed to keep it and take it all the way.

Now I have to sit down and make sure I can actually do this.

Heh, yes,I can – but it's gonna be close. Drove 9.25 hours today, 1.75 hours on duty not driving (taking care of the ticket, etc) for a total of 11. That leaves me 29 hours to get 1400 miles. Should be fine. Even if I run short, I recover 11 hours on Saturday – if I stop short of where I need to, I just need to make sure I stop early enough that I can get up and finish Saturday morning. Appt time is noon.

Made 530 miles today – Sacramento to Wendover, NV. You can throw a rock and hit UT from here.

Yeah, I have 1.75 hours in which I could drive yet, but in Western Utah, places to stop and sleep are .. few and far between. Odds are good that by the time I get to one of them, it's gonna be full. Not gonna take the chance.

Current plan is to bag early tonight and get an early early start in the morning. I'd LIKE to get to Cheyenne tomorrow afternoon. If I can do that, the rest of the trip is set.

So, with that in mind.. good night.

September 15 - Yes, I love theCHiPs

September 15 – 3 hour drive from Reno to Sacramento over Donner. A lot easier when the Jakes is on. Got to Yolo yard exactly when I estimated I would and dropped trailer. New load means a 90 mile bobtail to Lathrop.

Three times in the space of five miles – inside Sacramento city limits – CHP stopped me for a missing mud flap. It was there when I left Yolo yard – I saw it for sure when I was winding down the landing gear on the trailer. 30 miles later... gone.

Fortunately, all CHP officers were friendly, courteous, and in good moods. I went out of my way to not change that.

Second one who got me, directed me to stop at the bottom of an off-ramp. No problem – except there was no corresponding ON ramp. Not being all that familiar with Sacramento streets, he said “let me check my GPS”

When he came back, his first suggestion was to turn right at the bottom of the ramp,then right again a few blocks up. After that, go a mile or so and I'd hit I-5 again. I looked him dead in the eye and said “yah, so I can drive past you and your friend again. Uh-huh”

As I said,he was in a good mood. After a laugh, we worked out a better way to hit the interstate.

Then, not a mile after I got back on, another stop. Good things come in threes, I hear.

Got my trailer and notified breakdown of mudflap issue. I expected them to sent me to Layton terminal, since I'm driving right by there tomorrow. Nope, sent me to a truck stop in Sacramento... where it took 6 hours to replace the mudflap and hangar. Well, it only took maybe 15 minutes to do the job, it took them 6 hours to get around to it. Gah.

The young lady behind the counter, though, was entertaining. I spent most of the day just nattering when she wasn't busy. Charming girl, Leigh Anne

If I'd known how long it was gonna take, I'd have gone to bed and hit the road at oh-dark-thirty. But since I was “next” I assumed it would be a short time... and I kept assuming. Yup.. definitely made an ass of myself on that one.

September 14 - Reno and RoadKill

September 14 - Yup, Reno. Have an hour and three quarters left, but given the dearth of good places to stop between Reno and Sacramento, I'm not gonna chance it. Besides, I'm about 3 hours away from Yolo, and my appointment at the yard is 16:00. I'd rather get a little farther – say, up in the mountains, but last time I came through (a couple weeks ago) the rest areas were shut down...

It's not AWFUL here.. temp in the low 80s at about 20:00. Might get tolerable in a few hours. Parked for the night at the TA at MM 19. OK, technically that's Sparks, but it's close enough. Been here before – with Darryl – but never spent the night. And, lo and behold, living proof that assholes are everywhere. About 4 stalls down from me, some moron in a moving van is taking up THREE stalls- parked kattywhumpus in two, with his nose poked into the third (in the lane behind this one). At present there are “plenty” of spaces left (maybe 20 out of 150 or so), but in an hour or so it's gonna get cramped.

Why do bobtailers always park at the back of the stall? Makes more sense, to me, to park at the front – so they can be seen and not backed into.

Ever have an episode where you are driving down the road and you see some fresh road kill, all sprawled out on the verge like Bambi on ice... and you think to yourself... “hey, I'm driving a reefer....”

Dammit, my new power strip is 50% non-functional. And of course I didn't save the receipt. Crap.

September 13 - Mud flaps and fuel

September 13 – back on the road after a few days at home. I think it's time to start aiming for weekend home time... didn't see much of the boys this week.

Load is eventually destined for some beer distributor in CA, but currently I'm to drop it at Yolo yard and take another load... elsewhere. Dunno where it's gonna be yet.

Only one event of interest to day. Sent in text to dispatch when I hit a quarter tank (MM 200 in Wyoming) THREE HOURS LATER, they come back and say “Use macro 11”. By this time, I'm down to about an 8^th of a tank. So I send in the bloody macro. Half an hour later, she comes back “Fuel Layton Terminal” - which was already on my trip...I wanted something a tad closer. Not happening.

Little red light came on under the fuel gauge... On Darryl's truck, that meant about 90 miles. Not a clue on this one, and I'm right at the start of the Sisters. Fortunately, once I get past this, it's essentially all downhill to Layton. I'm hoping to make it – if I don't, I will be PISSED.

Made it with a bit less than a 16^th of a tank left. Too close, for my money. If that last 100 miles had been uphill instead of down, I'm pretty sure I'd not have made it.

Got an hour and a half left on my 11, and about the same on my 14.. but there's nowhere more than 40 miles away and less than 100 for me to spend the night. Gonna drop my butt in bed here in Layton. If the shop is open in the morning (sign says it is), I'm gonna ask 'em to tighten my front passenger side mud flap (the metal one).. it's been pivoting on its post, and I'm afraid it's gonna fall off.

If they're not here, I'm gonna boogie, and see if I can get at least as far as Reno. Sacramento would be better, but I think that's unlikely.

September 9 - working on my day off

Got up and the crack of ohmygod with Aline and headed out. After dropping her at work, I grab my truck/trailer and buzz over to the OD DC. As soon as I get there, I apologize for being late... and get a quizzical look. Apparently THEY have my appointment set for 09:00, not 05:00. Still, they give me a door.

Today is my first experience backing across a street. There's a convenient driveway directly across the street from my assigned door. Street is wide enough I could probably do a sight-side back into the stall, but it's not a busy street. I've got a decent view both ways up and down the street from the cab while backing, too.

Even though my appointment is for 09:00, almost as soon as I hit the dock, they started unloading me. Rockin!

They had me unloaded in less than an hour. Needless to say, I didn't hang around.

Talked to Dan again- he's still interested in me being a trainer. Gave me some info and we talked a while. I'm probably gonna give it a shot.

September 8 - Not as done as I thought

nice lazy day. Made delivery at about 13:30... drop and hook. What was really cool is that I found a pull-through to drop in.

Got back to terminal to discuss the three pre-plans sent to me on the way back down from Loveland. 2 are local, one is for delivery in California. I also set myself to the reefer fleet and tell Danny I'm interested in the training position.

Two locals, no problem (not all that happy about it, but it needs to be done). Mindy set the CA load to depart on Saturday. First local is a simple drop/hook at Coors. Problem is, nobody knew what trailer I was supposed to pick up. Instead of in-out in 30-45 minutes, I was there for over two hours.

Second local is an Office Depot DC about 5 minutes from the terminal. No problem. Except, while I'd been told delivery was tonight, it's actually scheduled for 05:00 tomorrow – when I'm supposed to be on home time. Take the truck back to the terminal and head home with wifeoid.

September7 - aaaah, a fine dinner

could get home. Instead, Aline met me at the Flying J and we had dinner together. All in all, a very nice evening.

Not quite enough time to get the load to loveland and still have time to drive back to the yard or some other place to park for the night, so opted to spend the night in Watkins. With the weather folks on the radio making “thunderstorm” noises, this could be an incredible night.

Appointment is for 16:00 tomorrow, so I can sleep late (like I never get that chance) and still easily make the delivery.

I think I'm going to talk to Mindy tomorrow and see if I can be moved to the reefer fleet. I'm fairly happy with my shifting – which is why I wanted to work W11; the mountains give lots of practice moving that big-ass lever around. I've not ground the gears in a long time, now. Seems I now need more practice trip planning. I really muffed that nursery load. The current load, I could have driven a lot more easily than I did, and timed my arrival for tomorrow – but I'd rather do it this way. If they take me early, fine. If not, fine. But I'm not late, and THAT is important.

Who knows, I may talk to Danny and see if that trainer position is still open...

September 6 - Snoozin' in Kansas

On the road at 09:30. Almost asked Mindy to re-assign my fuel stop – recognized the name “Oak Grove”... as a stop in Kentucky. Fortunately, though, I realized in time that this one is in Missouri.

Drive uneventful, mostly. Started raining about halfway across MO... and the usual 4-wheelers acting as I used to – rain is just wet, not a road hazard. One damn near hit me as I was slowing for construction in KC K – he wanted that hole in front of me, never mind that I was already braking to fill it.

Stopped for the night at the Big Springs rest area on I-70 (toll section) at MM 187. Still kinda raining, and the temp is a wonderful 58 degrees F. Rockin!

Just looked at google maps – I MIGHT be able to get home tomorrow. That would rock even more!

September 5 - this load or that load

Got a load from Hilliard, OH to Macon, GA – an Armstrong load. Almost asked for a different load... I mean, Macon? In Hurricane season? But it gets me out of Detroit area.

Had to wash out the trailer at a Blue Beacon across the interstate from where I slept. Problem is, the place doesn't have one of the usual 5 mile high signs – so I didn't know it was there. I was heading back east to where I showered last night when Mindy sent me the info for the one where I'd been. Only gone about 8 miles instead of 30, so I spun around had headed back. Cost me $29.50. Well, technically, cost May $29.50. Also, learned that May has an account with BB, so all I need to do is gibe them a Purchase Order (found this AFTER I'd written a comcheck. Oh well, Mindy made it good)

About an hour from the shipper Mindy sends me a QC canceling the load and telling me to hang on. Like I need encouragement to avoid going to Macon?

After an hour or so, she sent me a preplan for a load from New Concorde, OH to Loveland, CO. 1400 or so miles. AND it gets me home by Tuesday.

Local instructions for the shipper are dead accurate. The way the plant is set up, traffic restrictions make sense, but it's kinda strange driving the long way around to A) drop my trailer and B) pick up the loaded box.

Oh, great- it's a Colgate load. I'd not realized that before arrival. I have to put at least 200 miles between the shipper and me before I can snooze. Good thing I have sufficient time on my log.

Found a dinky little truck stop almost exactly 200 miles away. Lots of room. Got there just in time, too. Something I ate was eating back. Barely made it to the head in time. Fortunately, it was one of my more typical events – just a single race to the head, not dozens.

Yeah. TMI.

September 4 - helping hands and left turns

As expected, dispatch miles are short. Adding in the extra miles for the fuel stop, and total miles for this trip are almost 120 miles more than dispatched – which tends to throw off ETA a bit

Directions were pretty good. Just short on a little detail – I've submitted a request to update both customer's directions. Nothing much – mostly adding, or changing “right” to “east” stuff.

First store was excellent about helping to unload – even had a roll-around ramp they could run the forklift up into the trailer on. Woot. Of course, it was up to me and one other guy to put plants on pallets for the forklift... But they were cool folk. Even gave me a bottle of water.

Second store... less excellent. Supervisor was good, but the guy he told off to help me decided “helping” meant running the forklift. By the time the supervisor came back and REALLY helped, I'd offloaded about half of their load and was feeling ... weak.

I don't know about other roads, but two of the main roads (surface roads) here in Detroit have the strangest damn left turn system I've ever seen. You don't turn at the intersection. Instead, you drive about 100 meters past and use a designated U-turn spot to head back the other way - and make a RIGHT hand turn at your intersection. Doesn't make a damn bit of sense to me.

Got done, sent empty call and went looking for a truck stop. Neeeeeeeed a shower. Found a stop at exit 200 of I-94. Maduk or some such. Looked kinda scruffy, but they have showers.

After shower, headed down the road to a Pilot – just didn't feel safe at Maduk. Getting on the interstate, as usual, a couple lanes merge, then merge onto the highway... guy behind me decided he was too important to wait and passed me on the shoulder. And fell right into the middle of late-rush hour traffic. Moron. He was one car ahead of me on the highway. By the time he made it over to the hammer lane, he was behind me somewhere. Lost track of him then.. probably passed me.

Hit the Pilot here in Ann Arbor. Holy elbowroom! Parking stalls are something like 15 feet wide, and there is all KINDS of maneuvering room you can use to put your trailer where you want it. Room I need today. Again. Lot is even better lit than most. And Clean.

I'm almost afraid to go inside. I keep feeling like I'll meet Mr Clean and that blond girl who hypes Orbitz gum.

2486 miles – dispatched as 2376. I don't think I'm going to base my estimates on dispatched miles any more.

September 3 - hard driving and a greek gift

hit the road at 10:45. Hit it hard, too. Stopped only when I had to. No asshole truck drivers today – though I can tell I'm “back east”; only two drivers thanked me for flashing them in when they passed me.

It's exactly 600 miles between the pilot in South Bend, IN, and Shoemaker's Truck Stop at MM 395 in Nebraska. And I did it in exactly 10 hours drive time. Yeah, I've another hour of drive time – but as I was finishing up fueling, another driver pulled out of his parking spot. Never look a gift horse in the mouth. I grabbed it. I figger, it allows me to get an earlier start on the day tomorrow, and I don't have to sweat looking for a place to spend the night.

Glad I don't live in Chicagoland any more. Not a decent radio station to be found. God help me, I ended up listening to NPR's coverage of the Republican National Convention. I admit, it was fun listening to their correspondents try to present themselves as 'impartial'.

I admit, though, the republican choice of vice presidential candidate floored me.. Never would have thought they'd pick a lady – and certainly not one with Ms Palin's reputation. Should be interesting.

September 3 - hard driving and a greek gift

hit the road at 10:45. Hit it hard, too. Stopped only when I had to. No asshole truck drivers today – though I can tell I'm “back east”; only two drivers thanked me for flashing them in when they passed me.

It's exactly 600 miles between the pilot in South Bend, IN, and Shoemaker's Truck Stop at MM 395 in Nebraska. And I did it in exactly 10 hours drive time. Yeah, I've another hour of drive time – but as I was finishing up fueling, another driver pulled out of his parking spot. Never look a gift horse in the mouth. I grabbed it. I figger, it allows me to get an earlier start on the day tomorrow, and I don't have to sweat looking for a place to spend the night.

Glad I don't live in Chicagoland any more. Not a decent radio station to be found. God help me, I ended up listening to NPR's coverage of the Republican National Convention. I admit, it was fun listening to their correspondents try to present themselves as 'impartial'.

I admit, though, the republican choice of vice presidential candidate floored me.. Never would have thought they'd pick a lady – and certainly not one with Ms Palin's reputation. Should be interesting.

September 1 - argh! stupid human

Start the day with laundry. $2 / load... gah. I bet I could make a million if I could build a small washer/dryer set that would work on a truck. I need to think about this. RV equipment is, I think, too big – but that's just a guess. The hard part will probably be water- dryer can use exhaust heat. Can't be bigger than a mini-fridge....

Hrmmm... water is usually available at fuel islands... as is a drain. So, what's a reasonable size for a small holding tank? Obviously going to depend on the size of the drum... 10 gallons seems like a good starting point. Going to have to include a hot water on demand system, too. And, of course, a greywater tank.

The more I think about it, the more I think it's a good idea. Of course, I'm basing vit all on me and my extreme dislike of sitting around waiting for things. Yeah, I could go do something else.. but that's pretty much limited to either spending money or watching TV. Neither is high on my list of things to do for fun. Fortunately, I think the dryer is almost done... 10 more minutes.

Stopped for the night just outside Lincoln NE. Shoemaker's Truck Stop at MM 395. Damn near got myself in deep kimchee coming around a corner in their lot – some asshole parked his rig in a no parking area (surprise) near some 4-wheelers. I couldn't make the corner, and had to be careful backing out. Found a big lot across the street with a few dozen other truckers parked in it. It's gravel and bumpy, but plenty roomy. I parked way in the back because of the reefer.

SHIT! Finishing up my log, I realized that the zero hour day doesn't fall off today, it falls off tomorrow, which means I have only 1.5 hours of drive time tomorrow. Dammit dammit dammit

I can't make the delivery date. I'll be a day later than I planned.

Woke up at about 11:30 mountain time. It's been raining for a while – the chuckholes in the lot were dry when I went to bed last night – now they're overflowing and actually running off into the adjoining fields. Flowing pretty quickly, actually. In a bit I'll go up the highway a bit , hit a Pilot and grab a shower. So long as it's less than 90 miles away.

Good thing I looked at the guide before I left. No pilot in that direction in a reachable distance. Did some more figuring, and decided that now would be a good time to take a 34. It won't make much difference to this delivery time (in fact, makes it a bit earlier.) and sets me up for more loads later.

Then I find out that Shoemaker's has free wifi. Frabjous joy! I grabbed a spot in the front row and caught up on my webcomics, talking to the kids, and on my boards. All in all, a productive day of sitting here doing nothing.

August 31 - rain and surface tension

Spent the ...morning in Burley, ID. Windy as hell- whole truck is rockin'. Had too much caffeine yesterday (lackasleep – ate something I probably shouldn't have. Wish I knew what it was. Spent the night trotting back and forth from truck to bathroom). Finally asleep at about 07:00. Alarm is set for 14:00, but I was awake to stay at 11:30.

Went inside and – for the first time – bought schwag for the family. Couple of travel mugs for the monsters, a Mt St Helens emerald for the wifeoid, and a copper bracelet for Damon. I'd have got him a knife or something similar if they'd had 'em. Oh well. Life sucks.

Pre-tripped and hit the road. As soon as I-86 peeled away and 84 turned south, it started to rain. Not hard, darnit, but enough to need wipers.

Noticed something odd on the drive,though.

Rain in Idaho was displaying strong surface tension – it beaded up and rolled off my windshield almost as though I'd used RainX (I haven't, yet). Almost the instant I passed into Utah, though, the nature of the rain on the windshield changed. Surface tension was gone, which made the rain spread out on my windshield rather than bead up. I don't know if it was something from the road, something that finally cleared off the windshield and the timing is coincidence, or if even the rain itself had a different composition (again with the timing coincidence)

No real weather, though. Just rain. Damn.

BP meds decided that today would be a PITA day. Had to stop just about every 90 minutes to water the weeds. REALLY annoying.

Made it as far as Laramie, WY before deciding to call it a night. It was 01:45 anyway – only about an hour left for driving. Found a parking spot waaaaay back in the back corner of the Petro. I'm sure the two guys next to me are peeved, but you pick your rate. Yeah, my load is a reefer load. Plants. And the reefer is not the most quiet I've ever heard. It doesn't bother me – but the guys on either side of me are flapjacks. Not used to the damn thing starting up every 16 minutes (I timed it)

Anyway. It's 03:00, I've finished dinner, finished a magazine, and now, finished this entry. We'll see how far I get on the road, later.