WEEK THIRTY ONE
Monday, July 28th through Sunday, August 3rd
Another Monday has arrived and I have to find some way to amuse myself. I ran out my 70hrs as of Sunday and am in the middle of a reset. Last week I chose between an Atlanta run and a Detroit run and went with the Detroit run based solely on where I would be shut down for this fine reset. The Atlanta run would have left me sitting in northern VA with little options for entertainment. The Detroit run would make it possible for me to make it where I am, the historic community of Erie, PA. How historic I really didn’t know, but that is why I chose this destination. I would have all day to wonder around town and find out.
I actually started my exploration yesterday afternoon. I had arrived a little after 3pm with the hopes of getting a hotel room for the next couple of nights. There were a number of national chain hotels in the immediate area and I really thought I could find a reasonably priced room, but after some searching on the internet the best I could do was about $54 a night, and that was the Motel 6. The stupid Super 8 was in the neighborhood of $70. I simply will not pay that kind of money for these less than palatial establishments. The weather was quit pleasant and I decided since I wouldn’t be spending all that much time in the room anyway, I would go ahead and base my stay out of the truck.
I did manage to find out where I could find a cluster of restaurant and decided to walk over to find a bite to eat and get some exercise along the way while I was at it. It was about a 3½ mile walk and I set out on my first adventure. OK, not really an adventure, I would save that for Monday, but I just wanted to get out of the truck for the remainder of the day. I only made it about half a mile from the truck when I stumbled across a new casino in the area. It was just south of the interstate on the other side of the truck stop. Initially I walked past it with the intention of going to my original destination, but about a mile down the road I made it to a stretch of road that I would have to walk along and found it to be nothing more than a small two lane road with no real shoulder to speak of. To close to traffic for my liking, I didn’t feel like being the victim of a hit and run and decided to return to the casino. It was a large one and held the promise of an evening of entertainment. I’m not a bid gambler by any means, but I’m not opposed to sitting down at a Blackjack table with a $100. I can usually make it last for a couple of hours and often walk away with a few more bucks than I started with.
Upon entering the casino I soon realized that they only had slots and video games. Not my thing, these games seldom result in positive cash flow and offer me no particular satisfaction. What I did find was a very nice setup for horse racing. Again, not my usual choice of vice, but it did peak my interest. This particular track had a setup that allowed for OTB betting available for races around the country 7 days a week and live races twice a week and as luck would have it, today was one of those live race days. I made my way down to the track and was able to watch the first race of the day from the rail. Up close and personal as it were. I watched the first couple of races and decided to try my luck on race three. My first bet on “I’m not Tellen, Ellen” was a bit disappointing, but I got a felling about race 5 and put a place bet on the 6 horse in the 5th and tickle me pink, 1st place by a nose (I knew I should have placed a win bet).
I pocketed a few bucks and made my way to the restaurant to watch the rest of the races and get a bite to eat.
That was pretty much it for that night, and I headed back to the truck and went to work on the computer to plan my Monday. I pulled up the bus schedule and found that I could catch a ride at the casino going to downtown Erie every hour on the hour and pulled up a list of things to do when I got there.
Erie wasn’t exactly a hotbed of activity, but I did manage to entertain myself for the day. There were a few sight seeing opportunities in the form of the Erie pier,
a maritime museum and boat rides around the bay and there were a few fishing boats that offered half day fishing trips. I caught a ride on a fishing boat and did a little perch fishing for a very reasonable price of $35. Walleye fishing would have been a little more exciting, but the perch thing worked out just fine. If nothing else it was a very relaxing trip, sure beats driving around in a truck all day. At the end of the day I hopped on a bus and found myself back at the truck with enough time to get a good night’s sleep before going back to work.
Tuesday was a very early start to a new week. I still have about 250mi to go with a mid-morning appointment to make. It’s a small Sam’s club warehouse that I’ve been to before. I don’t want to show up too early because they have no parking available on premise and I sure don’t want to be late. They get a little troublesome when you do something like that. It could mean a reset appointment time the following day. I decided to pull out at 3am; this would give me a one hour window, which should be plenty of time considering there would be little traffic to contend with.
Off on my marry way I went, taking Hwy 2 along the south shore of Lake Erie as opposed to running on I-80 (a toll road). There would be little traffic and it would save me the trouble of paying cash for the toll and waiting for a reimbursement later on. I have avoided using Hwy 2 in the past because it has a 55mph speed limit, (1-80 is 65mph). But our trucks are now governed at 62 and I didn’t think I could get in to much trouble and I wouldn’t feel like I was loosing too much time by sticking close to 58mph.
A short two hours later, just as the sun was beginning to light up the morning sky, I decided to pull into the next rest area. I could see there was one a short distance up the road and just as I prepared to turn on my blinker and disengage the cruise (set at 58mph) I found myself being treated to a show of flashing red lights that mysteriously appeared in my mirrors. Now, considering the fact that I’m in Ohio I wasn’t too surprised when I looked down and saw that I was running right at 59mph. I was on a slight decline and the truck had picked up a little speed I guess. I was still a little more than miffed that I was looking at the possibility of getting a speeding ticket for such a minor infraction. I’m not thinking go thoughts about Ohio at this moment.
I dutifully pulled off on the shoulder at the entrance of the rest area and was quickly instructed over the officers PA to pull into the rest area before stopping. That had been my first impulse, but it appeared to be a very full rest area and I had decided to take the first spot available. Per his instructions I went ahead and pulled into the rest area only to find it full, as I had suspected and proceeded to continue though and park on the shoulder of the highway on the other side of the rest area. It was a much worse place to park, but the officer made no further reference to the situation. I’m sure he realized the mistake, but wasn’t about to bring any attention to it.
Next was the standard, curt demand for license, registration, insurance, etc. I had all in hand before he made it to my door and handed them over. As he was thumbing through those I made my first inquiry. “Was I doing something wrong officer?” (I can’t believe I would be pulled over for 59mph). The answer was a short, “I don’t know, I’m just going to do a random safety inspection on your truck.” It finally dawned on me, this wasn’t a state trooper, (no blue lights, just red) it was just a DOT inspection vehicle. Lucky me, that’s what I get for taking a road less traveled. I end up sticking out like a sore thumb. At least I’m not getting a speeding ticket, that whole idea wasn’t sitting very well with me.
The timing of this situation couldn’t have been worse. I had only planned a one hour cushion for this delivery and the inspection process took 30mins of that. My next delay occurred when the officer returned from his vehicle with a whole new, extra friendly, nothing but smiles attitude. He sure had me confused. Before the inspection he was just your normal, no nonsense, no personality DOT guy. Now all of a sudden he was Mr. Happy. It didn’t take too long to figure out why when he asked me, “So, have you lived in Wilmington long?” The next 20 minutes was filled with idle chit chat about how he used to live there and he was stationed on the Coast Guard ship on the river downtown. It was a pleasant conversation, but my one hour of cushion time was quickly expiring and I finally managed to get rolling again with virtually no spare time available to make my delivery. And to top it off, he still wrote me up for a burnt out tail light on my tractor. I had known that it wasn’t working and had planed on getting it replaced next time I went through one of our shops. I was under the impression that tractor tail lights didn’t have to be operational as long as you were pulling a trailer. The officer told me that was true, but still a violation. If I had been bobtailing he said I would have been “red tagged”. That I knew, but the violation was still a bit annoying. It was just a fix it, so no big deal. I did get away with my bright light problem. That being, once the brights are turned on the right one goes out in 2-5 seconds. So when he had me going through the standard check, blinkers, brakes, etc I just flashed them real quick and that seemed to suffice.
I wasn’t speeding through Ohio prior to my little impromptu visit with my fellow North Carolinian, even though nether of us currently live there, but I was going to have to speed now. I wasn’t exactly burning up the country side, but in my experience, 62mph seems to be the thresh hold in Ohio. For the most part they won’t bother you at that speed, especially when you are traveling in a line of trucks. But I was still out here all by myself and if I came across an officer in a feisty mood I might just find myself in another situation. I was going to do everything in my power to arrive on time for my appointment.
I actually managed to pull into their gate 5mins early with a sigh of relief and headed off to my door for my live unload which was a very quick process and 30 minutes later I was getting my next single load offer that was going to the Atlanta area (949mi) with an arrive anytime drop/hook delivery. This was a pleasant surprise because freight can be iffy in the area, but I was rolling with no delay today.
All was not peaches and cream however. First off this was a load that picked up in Kalamazoo at a shipper I have been to four times prior and it has never been a pleasant experience. Some of the loads coming out of there are drop and hook, but they seem to be reserved for the Crete drivers that run on their dedicated fleet (General Mills). I have always been forced to live load and these guys are always behind schedule and it can take hours to get a door. Even after getting a door assignment, it can take another 2-3 hours to get loaded. I usually spend so much time there I end up taking my 10hr break on property, at least they have overnight parking available. This isn’t always a big deal when I show up after running for most of the day, but I will show up with plenty of time left on my clock for the day. Just to top things off, I was scheduled for a 19:00 pickup and I’m currently looking at a watch that tells me it is 09:00. I can’t say that I’m overly pleased with this situation. As usual, I will just show up early and see what I can do about getting loaded ahead of schedule.
Problem number two popped up shortly there after. Just as I was getting ready to head over to Kalamazoo the Qualcomm called for my attention with a familiar beep. Oh no, what can that be. Nothing much, just a message asking me to drop my empty trailer at a Kellogg’s in Battle Creek, “it’s on your way” I’m told. Well, yes it is on my way, and I’m in no real hurry, so that’s not a big deal but it does leave me with the nagging question of “How am I supposed to pickup my load with no trailer?” That is answered with a “there should be an empty trailer for you in Kalamazoo.”
“Should be”, I don’t like the sound of that one bit. Anyway, I do my duty and report to Kellogg’s with my empty trailer and let them know that I am dropping it off for them. That was fine with them, they just wanted me to back up to the garbage bin and sweep out my trailer before they inspected it. Nothing new here, Kellogg is picky about their trailers. Here’s where I encountered my next snag of the day. I have one of the newer trailers in the fleet, so condition wasn’t a problem, but what was a problem is what appeared to be a gallon of spilt paint spread all over the floor of the trailer. It had been there for some time and was completely dried, but that wasn’t good enough for them and the trailer was refused. Can’t say that I was too broken hearted about it. I let dispatch know and they thanked me for trying and I was on my way to Kalamazoo, trailer in tow.
That only cost me 30mins off of my log and a little bit of aggravation and I arrived at my pickup at noon for a 19:00 appointment. I was encourage to see that there wasn’t a line of trucks waiting to be loaded, very odd for this place, and I headed in to check on an early load. The dock foreman said he would fit me in if my product was ready, it was, and 10 minutes later I was docked and in fine spirits. I didn’t even have to wait the standard 2-3 hrs to get loaded. Strange days indeed! I was just able to knock out another 200 miles before my time was up, thus putting me within a days drive of our Marietta yard, and I was rolling Wednesday morning at 3am.
Why so early, well, I like it that way plus an early start meant that I could make Marietta by early afternoon and take a shot at getting my truck in the shop. The little things that needed to be fixed were turning into big things. My “new” truck has had a noticeable wobble in the steering that has resulted in my right steer tire being chewed up to the point of needing replacement. That one lasted a whole 15,000 miles. I also needed to get my little DOT write up for my tail light rectified.
I got the standard, “can’t get you in now, but might be able to get to you tonight” schpeal, and I told them I’d check back at 5. My load delivered anytime the following day just up the road so I could wait until the next day to get the work done, but I didn’t tell the shop that. If they knew that it would have been the next day. Luck was with me once again and the night crew went to work on it and got it out of the shop just before closing time. I was thrilled, I had a brand new steer tire, after six weeks my brights finally worked again without shorting out in 5 seconds and my A service was out of the way.
The joy of getting everything fixed was short lived however. I had enough time to get a 3hr nap before heading out Thursday morning. I hooked to my trailer and headed out of the yard to make my drop. I manage to make it a couple of blocks and my high beams burnt out again. Once I made it to the interstate I found that I still had my wobble in the front end. Looks like a new tire was considered a good enough fix, spend a dollar to save a dime. Guess I’ll be looking for a new steer in a month or so. Grrrr.
The drop went well and I was looking for another load by 4am. I was given a choice of two loads and grabbed one going to the St Louis area (636mi) that was a drop/hook pick up on the other side of town. It looked like a live unload, but it had an open delivery time the following day so I would be able to keep moving. The pickup was a pain in the back side. My trailer wasn’t where it was suppose to be and the best answer I could get from shipping was to look in any of the three other yards that they had scattered around the area. Each one of them had a gate that required a gate code, and of course the ones they gave me didn’t work, so back to the shipping office. “Sorry” they say, “they were just changed at midnight, here are the new codes.” Back I go, and of course my trailer is in the final yard. A bit annoying, especially because the magical hour of 7am was quickly approaching and I was really hopping to get through Atlanta before the rush hour traffic went into full gear. Once out of there the rest of my day went quit well and I finished my day with a solid 650 miles.
I was able to sleep in Friday morning and get some sorely needed sleep. The load wasn’t to deliver until after 7am, I guessed that is when they opened, and I showed up a little later than that to give them time to get situated. I was unloaded in short order and given a one load offer out of town. An 8am appointment PU on the south side of town going to OK (622mi) anytime tomorrow. OK, that’s a great load, but it’s now 7:55 and I will be driving in St Louis rush hour traffic. I let dispatch know that I am on my way, but will be late for the pickup. “No problem, just get there when you can.” Hopefully the customer will be as nonchalant.
I don’t know if it’s the gas prices keeping the traffic off of the roads or maybe it’s just that a lot of people or taking there summer vacations (or not working), but the rush hour traffic was amazingly light and I made it to my PU by 8:30. This place was definitely one of the more interesting places I’ve had to drive to. Before getting there I found myself driving though some kind of a historical park on very narrow asphalt roads in what appeared to be very residential roads that eventually turned into gravel roads and before I knew it I found myself driving along the Mississippi river. Very scenic to say the least. I eventually found my destination and bumped the dock. Odd place for a warehouse, but I guess I’ve seen stranger places in my days.
I was loaded within the hour and once again on my way with Oklahoma in my sights. I would have liked to make it to my drop before my day was up, but I just didn’t have enough hours to do it so I decided to hold up in Oklahoma City for the night. My main reason for stopping here was I thought it would be a good time to fit in some R&R. For anyone passing through and looking for a little entertainment, pull into the Petro or the old Pilot off of I-35 ex127. One mile west of there you will find an area know as “Bricktown”. It’s an area hotspot with a number of restaurants, a minor league ball park and a river walk fashioned after San Antonio’s river walk. Weekends are always hopping (especially during the summer months) and good for people watching. It is also the home of Toby Keith’s “I Love This Bar”. They serve up a damn good cowboy sized meal there. On this particular night a baseball game was under way and they were also hosting a Reggae festival with some good bands pumping out the calypso music. Good times.
Not the greatest picture, but it gets the idea across.
Saturday was back to work and I dropped my trailer with no hassles and my next load offer gave me two choices. One going to MS (657mi) and the other to Wichita (358mi). I actually went with the short load. They both delivered on Monday morning, but the shorter load would allow me enough time to fit in a reset. Now, a reset was the last thing I needed at this point, I still had a good 20hrs left on my 70, but I decided I would take the hit now and start fresh next week. The way the MS load was set up I would be able to make the delivery, but I would not be able to fit in the reset, therefore I would be facing restricted hours in the forthcoming days. You know how I hate that. Taking the shorter run would also result in a horrible miles for the week, but that will happen when you take two resets in the period of one week. I guess they can’t all be perfect weeks.
I did have one nagging problem after dropping my trailer. While I was looking for an empty I came across one that had a blown tire on it. This was not an unnoticeable tire. It wasn’t just flat, it was shredded. I really get tired of drivers leaving trailers like this behind for others to deal with. I wanted to pull this trailer to take care of the repairs, but unfortunately I was going to a drop/hook customer 50 miles away with no repair shops along the way.
I hated leaving that trailer there, even though I wasn’t the one that dropped it, I felt some responsibility for it. With no real choice, I grabbed another trailer and headed over to my pickup. I arrived on the heals of another Crete driver and we checked in with the guard and went into the shipping office to get our paperwork. The other driver had arrived before me so I let him leaf through the bills first. I then took the stack from him and started looking for mine with no luck. Oh crap, all the loads at this customer were preloaded and no one was here except the guard. If I couldn’t find the paper work I would be up a creek. I sent a message off to dispatch and was told to “check the bills again”. Oh good, I would have never thought of that. Thirty minutes into this little headache I decided to walk over to the other Crete driver who was just getting ready to leave and asked him if I could take a look at his BOL. “Why?” he asks. “I just want to check something.” Sure enough, not only did he have his bills, but also mine. “Sorry ‘bout that!” What can I say; at least I avoided that nightmare.
A short hop up the road and I find myself in Wichita for the weekend. There was a Super 8 next to the truck stop and I got myself a room.
WEEK THIRTY ONE
Monday, July28th through Sunday, August 3rd
Miles include deadhead
Erie, PA to Brownstown, MI (final leg)………………………..264mi
Kalamazoo, MI to Covington, GA……………………………..949mi
Forest Park, GA to St Peters, MO………………………………636mi
LeMay, GA to Ardmore, OK……….…………………………..622mi
Durant, OK to Wichita, Ks……………………………………...358 mi
Total Paid Miles……………………………..2829 Miles
Actual Miles………….2880 Miles
2829 x .42 = $1188.18
