[devildice]

10/09/07
I got dispatched to Mexia, TX to pick up a load at 12noon and take it to Norborne, MO. Total miles is only 850 or so but at least I got the wheels moving again. Besides, with all the good miles and paychecks I have been getting, I was due for something like this. The bummer part of it is that I can not deliver before Thursday as per the customer’s instructions.

I left my house about 4pm local time on Monday even and shut down in Waco, TX. I did this so I would not have to fight traffic in Austin on Tuesday morning. Since I could not load until noon and Mexia was only about 50 miles away, I slept in and took my sweet time getting there.

Once I arrived and checked in, they said the load would be ready at 11am. I am thinking great, an hour early. Well it was not ready and I did not get out of there until almost 2:30 local time. This load is nice and low on the deck but heavy at over 45,000lbs. I scaled the truck at the closest CAT scale and I am grossing 76,000lbs with ¾ of a tank of fuel.

Between the hot sun beating down on me as I strapped and tarped and the late start, I did not get very far before I found myself a little tuckered. I shut down in a ‘blink of an eye” place called Stringtown, OK with less than 300 miles behind me. It’s really no big deal as it leaves me just over 400 miles to go and all day tomorrow to do it.

[devildice]

Originally Posted by Goin Fer It

I hope you get a nice load.

Goin Fer It's Wife

not really :sad:

[nrvsreck]

Crummy miles for a two-day run. I could do it in one day, but it'd beat the crap outta me. Good old OTR!

[devildice]

Originally Posted by nrvsreck

Crummy miles for a two-day run. I could do it in one day, but it'd beat the crap outta me. Good old OTR!

I agree, but oh well guess that's the way it goes sometimes. I am just taking it easy and trucking along slowly (for a change :wink: )

[Goin Fer It]

Originally Posted by devildice

not really :sad:

Sorry to hear it! :sad: Hopefully once you get unloaded you get something good!

Goin Fer It's Wife

[nrvsreck]

Originally Posted by devildice

I agree, but oh well guess that's the way it goes sometimes. I am just taking it easy and trucking along slowly (for a change :wink: )

That's the way I preferred to do it. Sometimes it's just not possible, since I like to get home Friday nights. 8)

[devildice]

10/10/07
I didn’t set my alarm and sort of slept in this morning. Once I lazily finished my morning routine, I called the customer to get directions. The guy asks me when I’ll be there and I tell him first thing in the morning since Thursday is the earliest I was allowed to deliver. To my surprise, the guys say well if you can make it here, I would prefer to offload you today. WOW, what a pleasant surprise. So I did what I know how to do the best……hit the road, kept the left door shut and high-tailed it to Norborne. The customer also requested that I call him in the afternoon to get an estimate of when I would arrive.

I call about 1:30pm local time and sadly report that I was probably about 4 to 5 hours away. I fully expected him to tell me what time they would unload me on Thursday. Again to my surprise, the guys say no problem, I’ll wait as long as it takes you to get here as he expressed his desire to get this load today.

I called dispatch to let them know that the customer wanted the shipment as soon as possible and no matter what time; I would be emptied sometime late this evening. This way they could start looking for a load for me and hopefully lessen the amount of time I have to wait.

I get to the customer at about 5:30pm and it’s one of those “out in the middle of nowhere” type places. I think the population sign entering the town said 500 and something. They get me unloaded and off I went. My lucky streak of delivering early continues!!!!!!!

I bounced down to the TA truck stop at exit 58 on I-70 and shut it down for the day. I’ll call Davis first thing in the morning and cross my finger I don’t have to wait long for a load AND maybe I’ll get one heading west.

Oh, I saw something interesting today. As I was heading North Hwy 69 in Kansas, I see a tow truck on the South side with a 4wheeler connected, well the car was smoking like crazy and as I pass it, I can see there is a fire in it! About the time I am passing, the tow truck driver is pulling over. As I look in my mirror, I can see the fire is rapidly growing. On the CB, North bound drivers are alerting the South bound to be careful of the hazard. Anyways, a few minutes later I hear a “thud” and look in my mirrors to see what I ran over. I don’t see anything but I noticed a dark cloud of smoke, right at that same moment I hear a driver on the CB saying the car had exploded!!!! Sure hope no one was hurt.

[devildice]

10/11/07
Well I only had to wait about an hour after my initial call in before I was assigned a load. I pick up in Hutchinson, KS on Friday morning and have 2 drops in the Los Angeles area. I have not got the exact paid miles yet, but by my calculations it should be somewhere around 1800 miles including the deadhead.

The miles are O.K. I guess, but what sucks is that I have to go to Los Angeles and I can not deliver before Tuesday! Guess my good luck streak of delivering early will finally come to end on this trip.

Anyways, I went ahead and bounced over to Hutchinson, KS and shut down at what appears to be a decent little “mom & pop” truck stop off hwy 50. My pick up appointment is at 9am but I intend to be there by 8am. The customer is only 4 miles down the road so I guess I get to sleep in a little (again :wink: )

[nrvsreck]

Oh, the little truck stop in Newton? Not a bad little place. Decent food there. I once had to pick up in Lyons, KS at the Cargill plant. Waited half the night for a load of salt, then peddled over to Newton for a hot meal and some sleep. High winds and single-digit temps. Just about froze my **** off that night!

Good luck with LA. :roll:

[dewercs2]

Hey Devildice....

Don't worry about LA nothing to it. Man I wish I could get there....

I'm freezing my B$^t off at this TA in North Chicago. Taking a tarp off for the same load 3 times and retarping is not fun. I pulled my two big lumper tarps off at the 2nd drop last night it was sprinkling, windy and cold.. I tossed on the smoke tarp for my last 2 drops and got to mess with that twice this afternoon.

I was in Wisconsin doing my 4 drops which I finished this afternoon. I was told to DH over here. I get to the WI/IL border on the 94 and there is construction all over the place. I was driving in the slow lane and ran into this maze of cones they had set up. I drove right past the unmarked exit to the TA and had to drive into the IL since there were no exits. I get about halfway to the toll plaza and I hear someone yelling into the CB the set up of the cones are so bad that they missed the same exit I did :shock: Made me feel better. Later I was in the TA and I hear another driver asking for directions to the TA since he missed the exit too. :roll:

Well... Im first on the board to get loaded.

The Airleak was coming from a valve that Is located on the air intake before the turbo. I think they called it the EGR valve. I know the EGR valve on a chevy and it doesn't look like that... Anyway... I looked at it while in Missoula and saw it looked new.

Remember there are no places to fill up unless your in Ontario,CA Don't forget to stop and say hi to Bob and Lariat. They are in the little office complex to the west of the Ontario East. If you didn't know there are 2 TA's on the 10. west bound traffic and east bound traffic.

radio station am 640 for traffic reports. or knx 1070 am