Merry Christmas!

Where did I leave off? oh yea, New Jersey. Uck! What a story. Traffic wasn't too bad, but there is something to be said with preplanning. We have been using our GPS to get us to our destinations. It is a Garmin GPS and does have a trucker profile. So far, it has been pretty good getting us around.
Well,,,now the fun begins. We are coming into Newar about 11pm. The GPS says exit at one exit, the computer with Copilot (another mapping program and GPS) says exit one earlier. HMMMM,,,which one is right? Steve takes the first one. As soon as I hit the ramp, UH OH! There a big sign at the bottom the ramp with an arrow pointing to the riht (the direction I need to go), with some numbers that don't look so good. 11ft clearance! (by the way, for all the none trucker people, big trucks require 13'6"). After I get stopped, and figure out I am not backing up all the way to the Highway, I do manage to back up enough to make a left turn, and hope it works out. Now my stomach is going, making it worse. That Subway sandwich I had earlier is not setting well, and there is not much time left. Thank god the street is wide, and there some area to pull over on the side. I immediately head for the sleeper and the porta potty while Kim watches over us and tries to figure out where we are going. I start discussing it with her,,,,or trying to, its mostly a one way discussion. She starts yelling, "get off the pot and get up here, there are people around, guys starting to walk this direction,,,,I am locking the doors,,I don't like this neighborhood,,I am putting down the computer,,,nope,,nothing in here worth looking at,,,,STEEEVEE!!!"
Finally done with my business, and back at the helm, I start heading where Lola directs us. We wonder thru downtown Newark, and finally head out toward the airport area. WHEW,,,now we are getting somewhere. The streets here bend around, and around, and around,,,I kept thinking I saw the back of my trailer. FINALLY, made it to Conway New Jersey with about 30 min to spare. Too close!
After that fiasco, we find an empty, and eventually make our way outta hell,,I mean Newark, and head up to Syracuse, NY for our next load in the morning.
This would have to be a top secret load to Wisc or we would have half of Wisc and relative mauling us when we got in the area. (shhhhh,,,its a load of BEER,,41,000lbs of beer!)
We made our beer delivery to Superior Wisc on Monday morning. A nice two days to get there, so it was a nice trip. After we headed to Ironwood, Mi, and Kim's mom and step dad.
Only problem here is its ALL white. There are drifts and piles about as deep as the truck. I think next year, Christmas should be in the Bahamas or somewhere WARM.
We got here Monday afternoon, and will stay until Sat morning. I think I have some work to do here to earn our keep here. Marsha is a Chiropractor here and just bought house to move into and set up a new office. They have moved the living part, but the office is next.
Kim and I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a wonderful holiday season. We hope you get to do whatever it is you enjoy and be with those that mean the most to you.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
Steve and Kim, AKA Roadie and Wingz.

Christmas is coming,,,I think

Well, from the Hallmark card warehouse, we were sent to a Conway yard in KC, MO. Conway is a LARGE freight company that bought CFI somewhere around Oct. One division, the truckload, is being folded into CFI, and after the first of the year we will all be Conway.
Anyway, we were given a 4am pick up headed to Conway in Blythe Ca. another apprx 1350mi before 1am the next day. We got there about 11pm, whew, time to spare, but tired. Slept some, and had a 4am pick-up headed back to E. St Louis. 1657mi, by 2pm the next day for a relay at a Pilot truckstop. That means the trailer is going on somewhere, and we just meet another truck, un-hook, switch trailers, and he is gone. We waited for another dispatch. We actually was going to ask for a down day, but got a dispatch as soon as we sent in notice we had made the relay. It was for another 0400 at the Conway facility in St. Louis. We did manage a couple of loads of clothes then headed over to the facility, and dropped the trailer we had, and got some sleep till our 4am call. This one is headed to Conway in Newark, NJ. Looks like we are stuck running Conway runs. They are notorious about tight schedules. We had hoped to start heading in the direction of Wisc, but NOOOOO,,too soon I guess. Anyway we have to be there by 12:30am tomorrow. Its a short run, only 954 mi. No Iron Butts on this one, lol.
I drove the first 4hrs, then Kim took over on this one. I am right at minimums on time avail, and Kim has some. So after she drives 10hrs, giving me my break, I will drive the rest of the way. Besides, I get to take us into the New Jersey area tonite. That should be interesting.
While typing this, our Qualcomm chirped a couple of times, and when I looked, we had a pre-planned trip after we drop this load. We get to deadhead over to Baldwins, NY, which is on the south side of Long Island, then head to Superior, Wisc. FINALLY, headed where Christmas is supposed to be this year. An 0700 delivery on the 24th, means we should be in Ironwood that afternoon at the latest.
I think Christmas, AND a couple of days off are just around the corner now.

WHEW, an update

WHEW! Well, let me try to do an overview to update a little. I updated this once when I had a chance, but it must've gone into the black hole because it never published it here!
Joplin had an ICE STORM all weekend we were there. Monday we finally got the truck loaded with our stuff, and waffled some about getting a load out, but finally decided to go. If it gets worse out there, we'll just shut down.
We got a heavy load of copper to Du Quoin,Illinois, near St Louis for the first run, an easy 360mi run for next morning delivery. From there we were deadheaded up to Bolingbrook, Ill, a Chicago burb. We got loaded there with auto/truck parts with 3 deliveries in Tacoma, Wash, a 2017mi run in a day and a half. Welcome to team driving! We made it in plenty of time to spare, but wore out. This will take some getting used to sleeping while the truck is moving, and also sleeping at different times of day. From there we deadheaded down to Portland, Or for a load of printer cartridges to El Paso, Tx, total was another 1850mi apprx. At least we will get some warmer weather! One of the challenges of this run is a famous pass in Oregon on I-84, "Cabbage". It was a looooong pull going up it headed east. Would have been really challenging headed the other direction and fully loaded! During this run, we were able to stop in Salt Lake City, get our mail, and visit with our son and future daughter-in-law for an hour. Was nice to see them and touch home base, even for a short min.
At El Paso, we were on the board for our next load, so decided to bobtail up to the truck stop a couple miles away. El Paso is a drop yard that CFI uses, and there were alot of trucks and trailers there. We were able to get a shower and had planned to come back later and try to get laundry, but,,,,,,the famous Qualcomm chirp, and we had a load. During our trips so far, we have managed to get a shower at least every other day out.
From El Paso, we were given a load of Hallmark card to deliver to Lawrence, Ks Hallmark warehouse. So remember, next time you pick up a card for your loved one, we may have had a hand in getting it to you!! :)
As of right now, we are sitting in the lot at Hallmark, waiting for our next adventure.
Some of the ups and downs of this so far.
Sleeping! We have not been very good about setting a schedule for ourselves and sticking to it. I have hooked up, and start out, and continue till my log runs out of time, or I run out, whichever comes last :)
On the up side, so far when we have delivered, we have had enough time to get some sleep and catch up before our next dispatch.
Eating: We get to eat about one meal a day, and snack out of the truck while driving the rest of the time. We have a microwave so that help. We also have a coffee maker, and Kim makes a mean pot of coffee on the road for me!
Bathroom breaks: The first part of the travels was a little harder to get those in. Now we have a porta potti, so that makes life a LOT more convienent for us, tho, the privacy thing is a little lacking.
I don't know how truckers did this in the past. We are able to get on-line and pay bills, use the cell phone and keep in touch when we want, etc. We also have a GPS that is pretty good about giving directions right to the customer. Tho when you go a different direction than what it has planned, "Lola" gets a little irritated, and just says "re-calculating" in that irritated female tone! We call her Lola because of the movie "RV".
All in all, so far we are enjoying the adventure and being together. We just need to learn how to work the system a little better for us. It's a steep learning curve, but we'll get there.
Looks like Christmas this year will be with Kim's mom in Ironwood, Mi, JUST across the Wisconsin border in the U.P. This will be the first time with them in 15yrs. Hope she keeps the roads clear for us! Can't believe its only about a week away.
Well, this update has dragged on long enough, good bedtime reading for some!
Till next time, keep safe out there!

Finally

Due to popular demand, (yes Marsha), I will finally take some time to update the blog! :) I have not had a computer to do so since we got back to Joplin. After our delivery in Dumas, Thurs morn, we waited, and waited, and waited for a dispatch. finally, about 1pm, the Qualcomm chirped. When I read it, I had trouble believing what I saw. Deadhead to Joplin! COOL, Thursday nite, and I'll be there FINALLY. When we pulled in, we had to go thru the inspection building. Our trailer had something wrong, so it had to be dropped in a specific line. The tractor also needs a new shock on the read, a service (oil, filters, etc) so we were told to head up to the maintenance barn. We went inside to make arrangements for Jim to get his new truck, a larger T2000 that is reserved for teams and trainers. We also asked them if I could just stay in Jim's truck, and got that ok'd. We are on the lis for the larger truck and was told anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months, depending,,,,,,,.
So thurs nite, CFI paid for a hotel at the Holiday Inn here in Joplin. They have a shuttle that runs between CFI, the hotel, WalMart, and a couple different areas in Joplin every hour. Kinda nice. Friday morning we went back to CFI and I helped Jim move all his stuff out of OUR truck into his. We waited all day, and checked with Mx again. yup, they were going to pay again for the room for the nite. Sat morn Jim took the shuttle a little before I was ready. He told me his truck was ready, but mine wasnt. He got a run to Okla, Kan and Colo. By the time I got to CFI, had left. I am on my own now, at least till Kim gets here.
She had a rum from Ky to Colorado that was Canx. So they waited another day, and got a run assigned to Tx. I immediately asked them to try to get routed thru joplin. A couple of inquirey's was made to Kims trainer (i assume it was because I was already in Joplin) from Joplin and viola, they were ok'd to head to Joplin.
They had a pickup at midnite, and drove all nite. They rolled into Joplin about 2pm. FINALLY we are together for more than just a lunch!
We got her stuff moved into OUR truck, and checked on status again. Nope, MITE get in the shop tonite, but they ok'd another nite in the hotel. Kim and I took the shuttle here, the walked across the parking lot to an Outback resturant for nice dinner. We deserved it!
So tomorrow starts our time together. We still need to go shopping for a microwave, and tv, and some other items like a cb, etc, but we should be on the road together shortly! Kinda scarey, kinda exciting, and kinda WHEW, we made it!

Headed West to JopMo?

After we were unloaded in SC, we went to the truck stop to await our next orders, and wait, and wait, and wait. Finally decided to do a load of laundry about 4pm when it looked like nothing was coming for the day. About 7pm last nite we got the message to deadhead to Beech Island SC, about 15mi away for a 8:00am load. At least we were able to get a reset on our 70hr clock. (max 70hrs in 8 day period, unless there is 34hrs continous off duty, then you get to start back at 0) We left eary and got there about 6:00 and after being sent from one place to another at the huge Kimberly Clark facility, we chased paperwork down, had to find where to park an empty trailer and find our pre loaded full trailer. Finally got out of there about 7:15. A whopping 162mi dispatch to ......Buford Ga! (btw, thats where Kim's load went when we met the other day!) Man, this was tight, between back roads, small towns, construction, and a couple wrongs turns, we were only about 5 min early! TOO CLOSE!
To top it off, its a load of trash! 40,000lbs of paper product for recycle I guess. When we got a new trailer, we just went back to same place where we met Kim the other day, and went to lunch at the mexican resturant. During lunch, I checked dispatch (automated recording by phone) and found out we had been assigned a load already. MAN, when you expect it to be awhile, they disappoint you! :)
We had to deadhead 161mi to Goodwater, Alabama. We are now sitting in the customers parking area. Got here about 4pm and EVERYONE is gone, so we wait till tomorrow. It is actually not scheduled for pickup till noon, but the trailer we are getting appears loaded already, so hopefully we'll be off earlier. Headed to Dumas Arkansas, about 407mi away. When we get there, I will have right at 11,000mi, and still aways to Joplin.

Confused

Well, after dropping our trailer last nite, and not finding the empty they said was there, we spent the nite there. We were awakened this morning by the now famous CHIRP of our Qualcomm unit telling us there was a new important message. We were being sent to Pocahontas, Ill (about 30 mi east of St Louis) to pick up a trailer and from there back to South Carolina. My trainer called to make sure the system had a note specifying we needed to get to a truck.
"Yup, its there, and you're confirmed for this load". Oh Well, back to SC!!!
Kim called and told me they were headed to guess where? Pocahontas, Ill!! Only problem was, they wont be there till late tonite, we were only 75mi away. SOOOOOO, we stayed in touch, and got to wave at each other as we passed each other in Kentucky!
I now have 10,350 mi when we get to SC. Don't know where we are going from there. One thing is for sure, if we keep putting miles together like this, her 600mi plus my 700mi today, they are going to pay us pretty good to stay in training status. They pay each of us as solo drivers, which is more than we will make when we are in the same truck teaming, but not by a whole lot.
Bottom line is just when you think you know what the planners are going to do,,,,,forget it, you'll just get confused!

A meeting!

We dropped our load at Proctor and Gamble this morning about 5:30 and got an empty trailer, and started to head out to Wentzville, Mo. I got to thinking about Kim going to Atlanta, WE are routed to Atlanta, then back up on I75. I called Kim to fink out what part of Atlanta. Buford, on the north edge,,,hmmmm,,,Jim,, think we can go 5 mi outta route? Well, long story short, we coordinated it, and met up about 10 o'clock by a Walmart. MAN, it was good to see her! The 4 of us had lunch at a mexican resturant in the area, and too soon, the visit had to come to an end, and Jim and I had to make our way toward St. Louis, and Wentzville. They were #2 on the waiting list (board) for the region, so they were staying put till given a load. Kim is about 800mi short of her 7500 now, so if they will just route them to Joplin, or something similar, we will both be done. I should be in Joplin about Mon or Tues I think, hopefully kim won't be too far behind.