Movin On

Well, I have not been updating the blog much lately. I have had alot on the mind and working to get another job and off the road, so I haven't been real motivated to update this.
Yep, I said it, we are now off the road. I applied for several different postitions and have been hired to teach the motorcycle safety course and traffic safety program on a Naval base in Fallon, Nv.
In the end it was the 24/7 part of the job that got us more than anything. Working 6 days a week, and sleeping 4-6hrs a nite just was too much for us. We had a hard time sleeping in a moving truck so most of it was done when we had time to park for a bit. Running team does not allow for too much of that. Fortunately, with the dedicated route, we had that opportunity 3 nites of the week.
Sooooo, a week ago last Thursday when we got our repaired truck back, we told our Fleet manager to please route us to Joplin when they got us a load so we could turn in our truck. Saturday morning we did that and some friends of our family picked us up in Joplin and took us to Tulsa so we could get a rental car for a one way rental to Salt Lake City. It was alot cheaper than flying back, and besides we had quite a bit of stuff from the truck to get home.
We got home a week ago yesterday (Sunday) and have been getting our house ready to put on the market to sell.
I should be leaving today or tomorrow to get my butt over to Fallon, approx 475mi from here, and Kim will stay here until our stuff is in storage and the house gets painted.
We are looking forward to the next chapter in our adventures. We will miss the open road and seeing the country and all the changes of mother nature. We will miss being together 24/7 and REALLY sharing our lives. We will miss the since of accomplishment we got from driving an 80 ton rig, 65ft long and delivering on time.
We left trucking on our terms, and on good terms. We never had a late load, a moving violation (I did get a ticket for hazmat at the scales), or an accident. We were lucky. We drove 10 months, and between the 2 of us, we logged 200,000 miles!
We saw all kinds of things while out there, and some we wish we wouldn't have. Many were just stupid things, people not thinking. Thats where I can make a little difference. I will be teaching a traffic safety program as part of my new job for the Navy and civilians on the base. I will also be teaching the basic rider course for new riders, and the sport bike course for anyone owning one of those. If I can plant a seed in someone's mind that saves a life someday, I will have made a difference.
Sooo, to all those who read and kept up with us,,,,Thank you. It has been fun and an adventure. I am glad you were part of it. Trucking is a hard job, and just not for us. The men and women out there doing it every day, day after day, nite after nite, deserve a pat on the back and a thanks from all of us.
So this is it. Keep it safe out there, and maybe we'll see you out there on the road somewhere, only I'll probably be on 2 wheels instead of 18!
Cheers

Mis-Adventures

We have had a few MIS-ADVENTURES in the last couple of weeks.
My dad was going to stop and visit while en-route from Alaska to Arizona a couple of weeks ago, and we had a grand-baby due anytime. We got back to Salt Lake about 2:30am that Friday morning and lo and behold, our next load was ready. YEEEHAW, we'll get an early start and be back nice and early Sunday to visit with Dad.
We made it to Aurora about 9am Saturday, and headed over to Gary to pick up our load and head home. Then the mis-adventures started. When we got there, I was told there was not a load for us. WHAT!!?? There is always a load, we run a dedicated route and this is pre-planned.
The icing on the cake was we were notified that Saturday afternoon that our first grandchild was about to be born!
I called in to dispatch and finally was told to go to Evansville, Ind to pick up a Whirlpool load. There SHOULD be a load ready and the plant has 24/7 guard to let us in to get it. WRONG! when we got there, the place was closed and locked tight. No guard either. We were told the scheduled pick up was 1100 Sunday so just wait. GRRRR,, this is not looking good. We spent the night, and went to a truck stop for breakfast Sunday. We ran into another driver waiting for the same place, and he told us there would not be anyone to let us in till 3pm. This is getting worse!
Finally, at 3pm Sunday, we got our load and headed home. My Dad was waiting for us. We usually get home around6-7pm Sunday. This week we were 24hrs driving time away at 3pm Sunday. 3 hours sleep and fueling time put us home at 7pm Monday. We got a 1.5hr visit with Dad, got some groceries, and went to bed for an early departure Tues morn.
This next week we were only going to Aurora and parking the truck. We rented a car and spent some time in Wisc and Mich with Kim's family. Her brother was here from Germany as well as his girlfriend and kids. It was a nice break from the mis-adventures we had been having.
We returned to Aurora Saturday to get our truck. We received our dispatch to Gary to get our load.
You'll NEVER guess what was NOT waiting for us in Gary this week! 3 loads headed to Salt Lake City, and they were all given away to other drivers before we got there! The last 2 weeks we had kicked A$$ to be early to Gary so we could get back to Salt Lake early. We had a new grand daughter born last Sunday to see. No load again,,dammit!
We eventually got sent from Gary back to north Chicago area (Des Plaines) to pick up a load and take it to Salt Lake City for a relay. It's final destination was Long Beach, Ca. This set us back about 3 hours, but we would still get back Sunday evening. We went to Des Moines and met our daughter to have dinner with her for her birthday. After that we made it just past Omaha to our normal rest area for some sleep. We got up about 4am and headed out.
About 10 min down the road, we heard a bang and tried to figure out what it was. Kim was driving, and I noticed smoke in bellowing out the rear in our mirrors. She pulled over and I got out to check things over. I expected a blown tire, but didn't find that. When I got up front and opened the hood, there it was. We had exactly the same problem as we had back in May.The fan assy had separated and had gone into the radiator!
We limped a couple miles to an exit and a small truck stop. We notified roadservice to get a tow and dispatch to get our load picked up.
By the way, this is Sunday of Labor Day weekend. We finally made it to a hotel about noon, and the truck went on to the wrecker yard. Kenworth is not open on Sundays, nor will it be tomorrow. So we will be stuck till at least Tues nite or Wed.
At least Omaha is a little better than being stuck in Rock Springs, Wy. We got a rental car and visited my aunt in Beatrice, Neb. So we are making the best of a bad situation.
So that's the latest Mis-adventures of Steve and Kim, due in part to mistakes in dispatch, and in part to the limits of mechanical devices.
Till next time, keep it safe out there, we'll be lookin for you!
Cheers

Latest Adventures

Hello to all our friends again. I have had several inquiries concerning our well-being and the status of the blog since my last post. It is really humbling to hear so many people care! Thank you for your well wishes and inquiries.
Yes, Kim and I are fine. We have just been running from Salt Lake to Aurora, Ill, to Gary, Ind, and back to Salt Lake. We have had some small adventures during the trips, but nothing earth-shattering. I got lazy, and just have not felt I had enough to write much about.
Some of the "interesting" side stories are:
One evening while stopped in Grand Island, Ne for fuel, Kim noticed one of our drive tires seemed low. I put some air in it and kept an eye on it. That night when we stopped I noticed a screw head buried in the tread. We marked it, kept an eye on it, and took it to a Speedco for repair. It is something to see them remove one of these super single tires we use. If you can imagine a single tire and wheel approximately the same width as the normal duals you see on most tractor/trailers. That is what we use on the rear tires on the tractor. We have 4 rear or drive tires vs 8 on most tractors. It was quite an ordeal for them to break it off the rim by hand, their machine didn't handle anything that wide.
On another trip, we were pulling a hazmat load, and got pulled into our favorite weigh scales coming into Des Moines, westbound. We scaled and was told to pull around and park and an inspector would be right out. UH OH. When he came out, I met him as he pointed to the rear of the trailer and commented that the rear placard was missing. Did I mention it was raining,,,and windy? He stated that it happens sometimes, gets sucked right out of the holder. I told him I had some spares and would put in another right away. Not so fast,,,,lets take a look around,,,turn on lights, turn signals, etc. We did a complete walk around, "pre-flight" inspection. Everything else was ok. He told me get all the paperwork, and come on inside. By the way, do you have the Emergency response book? "uhhhhhh,,I have the Hazmat guide book." Nope, not good enough, you need the one that tells you how to handle a spill or problem with any of the different hazmat materials. "Nope, never told that, or provided that book. " Thats not good.
Well after we in, he looked at the bills and noticed I should have another type of placard on the trailer. This is getting worse by the minute! Oh, by the way, did I mention it was raining? Not just rain, but lightning,,and rain isn't really the right word,,,downpour, flood, underwater, are words that come to mind. In fact the scale house lost power! Poor Kim was out in the truck being rocked to sleep by the tornado. Well, it sure could have been one, it was that scarey.
When he got done, I had a fine for no guidebook, and warning for the placards. The truck was placed out of service till we had the placards in place. That means we don't leave the parking lot till they were on. Did I mention I mention it still DOWNPOURING???? Ok, now the funny scene, here's Kim holding an umbrella against the wind and rain, so Steve can try to wipe the trailer dry enough in a spot long enough to put placards on all 4 sides. You have to realize that no matter what, we were gonna get wet on at least 3 sides of that trailer. I don't know how, but we got the placards on, and got drenched on all 4 sides! I sure hoped they stayed on long enough for me to drive past the scale house. They did. However, as we left the area and entered the interstate, I noticed one of the inspectors heading out also behind me, GREAT,,,he knows the placards cannot stay on. Oh well, too late to turn back now. I kept going toward Des Moines. Eventually he pulled off on one of the exits. I kept going!!! A couple of hours down the road when we ran out of the rain, we pulled over at a rest area, and checked out the trailer. I don't know how, but ALL the placards were still in place!!!

We did have a nice 4 day weekend off at home during the 4th of July and had some good times with our son. It was kinda hard to head back out after that.
Most recently, our son tried out for American Idol while they were in Salt Lake this week. It was reported over 10000 tried out. He didn't make the first cut but says he'll try again next year.

SOOOO,, there you go, some of the latest adventures of Steve and Kim. I will add more stories as we have them.

And again, my thanks to all those who inquired to our well being.

Till next time, keep it safe out there!

Back to a "normal" week

We had a pretty good day off. We were busy nearly the entire time it seemed, getting our "chores" and errands done in time to hit the road Tuesday morning. One day off sure goes fast, but it's better than nothing! We did home a little later than normal Sunday nite due to the detour we had to take on I-80 in Iowa.


Tuesday morning we got our load early and headed out of Salt Lake before all the commuters hit the road. It's just a little easier that way, tho not so easy to get up that early! As we went along Tuesday I kept trying to get info on the detour, but really didn't hear anything, so we parked for our normal nite just east of Council Bluffs. Wednesday morning on the way to Des Moines, we saw the portable highway signs declaring I-80 was now open all the way across Iowa. YA, that'll cut the time back to what it should be!


The rest of the trip there was good. Weather held up for us (with the exception of some sprinkles in Lincoln) and we a good ride. Typical trip, made it to Gary, had our shower and went back to the Conway yard for a relaxing evening.


We are now in western Nebraska, and Kim has taken command for her drive. I typically drive from Gary, Ind to somewhere between Grand island and Nrth Platte, Neb. It usually pushes between 650-700mi for the day. Kim usually does about the same, and gets us over to the Rock Springs, Wy area. I have to have 10hrs down time before I can take it back and finish the trip to SLC. We each can DRIVE a maximum of 11 hrs but have to have 10hrs between drives. I stress drive, because fuel stops, rest breaks, etc don't count against drive time. We have up to 14hrs to get our 11hours of driving in. However, if we get to that 14h mark and don't have the 11hrs finished, we are done with whatever we have at that point. Then we must have 10hrs off before we can start driving again.



OK, enough logbookology, we should get back to SLC about 2:30 am local (according to Lola) in the morning. We'll swap this trailer for another loaded one (after SOMEONE gets to back this one into the dock :) ) We then head back to Aurora for the 2nd half of our week. Those are the weekend runs that pretty much leave us to our own schedule. We usually push about normal tho so we can get back to SLC at a decent time Sunday evening.



On a final note, since I-80 was open, we got to see some of the flooded areas in Iowa. Our hearts really go out to those people. You always believe and hope that nothing bad can happen to you and yours, but seeing it first hand really proves just how powerless we are against Mother Nature.

Till next time, keep it safe out there!

Floods and detour

Well, I got the motorhome back and set up ok. We hit the road Friday morning with our weekend half of our runs. There has been alot of rains and flooding in Iowa so I tried to check it out before we left and heard nothing about our route. When we got over in the Nebraska/Iowa area, we heard I -80 had been closed between Des Moines and Davenport Iowa. WOW, the whole eastern half of the state. We had to go up I-35 to Webster City, pick up US 20 and head over to Debuque. From there the detour headed back down US 61 back to Davenport and picked up 80. Since we were going to Aurora, which is north of I-80 anyway, we stayed on 20 over to Rockford Ill. and drop down on I-39. Much of US 20 was a scenic route and abit of a challenge at times going thru some of the small town city centers! It was a really nice change of pace, however, it add QUITE abit of time onto the trip. We got into Aurora, picked up our trailer, (again, this time, things were slooow getting the paperwork, etc and just added to the frustration), and headed on over to Gary.
From Gary we took I-80 back to Davenport and picked up the detour back up to Debuque. If you have never been to Debuque, you should take a look. It is really a pretty town in the hills and right on the river. I was quite impressed and would like to spend some time there sometime exploring.
We really felt for all the people in central Iowa with the flooding. We saw fields totally swallowed up by the rivers in the areas. We saw houses, well, at least we saw the roofs. Imagining what was under the water really got to you when you thought it could be you.
On our way from Davenport to Debuque Saturday evening, the worst thing happened that could. It RAINED more. The roads to the south of I-80 were flooding more and more as the rivers rose and crested in those areas. To the north it was finally receding some. SOME. It will be quite some time before the area will return to somewhat of a normal situation.
We finally made it back to SLC about 3hours later than normal, but well within our required time on this weekend run. They are not required till Monday afternoon, however, we get back Sunday and have Monday off at home.
The weather is warming up and we now have both our motorcycles here so lookout Utah, we'll be out and about on Mondays now. At least after I get my chores, honey-do's, and we get laundry, grocery store , and packing done. Hmmm,,well, maybe an hour ride anyway?

Till next time, keep it safe out there!

week off

We have had a week off so I could get our motorhome and motorcycles moved back out here to SLC. Originally, we left it at the employee parking in Joplin because we thought that was a central locaton when we wanted to use it. Now that we are running a dedicated run from SLC, we need it back home. I flew out to Tulsa last Fri nite, and my Dad picked me up. He had gone to Joplin and took care of some issues it needed to hit the road again. I spent the weekend with him and my brother, then hit the road with my Dad to visit my Aunt in Beatrice, Neb on my way back. Dad has a motorhome just like mine, same year, just a different model.
From there, on up to Lincoln and hit I-80 and head home. Hmmm,,not sure if I can remember the way down I-80! :) The only trouble this trip was WIND! High winds from the south till I got past Rock Springs, then it switched around from the north and believe it or not, SNOWED on me near Limon, WY (40 mi from Evanston). We just cannot get rid of winter!
From Evanston and on into SLC, it cleared up some and was a welcome 65 degrees. It was 93 while in Okla with about 90 percent humidity. WHEW, not used to that humidity anymore!
Oh well, everything is safe and sound at home now, just needs a good cleaning before we get the bikes out. Unwritten law, all bikes must shine!
We head back out on the road in the morning. We will be headed thru all the area in Iowa and Ill where the floods have been. The TV has been talking about Iowa City sandbagging. Sure hope everyone is ok, and the rivers go back down soon.
Till next time, keep it safe out there!

All HAIL breaks loose

We got up early at Gary, got our trailer and hit the road. No problems. This week is going too smooth. We were "fortunate" to have a hazmat load this time headed to Salt Lake. I had a funny feeling about it as well, and took a little more time on the preflight insp. than normal. When we crossed over the Ill/Iowa border, I kinda figured we'd get pulled in at that weigh station for some check of paperwork, etc. When we have a hazmat load, we are required to go enter the weigh station if open. Usually, we just get run across the scales and on our way. Once in awhile, they tell us to park and bring in the paperwork on the truck, bills of lading (bol's), etc. We have had no problem yet with this, just a little time consuming. Well, the first scale house we hit was normal, across the scale and on our way. The next one we hit was as we approached Des Moines. Across the scale, then "pull in and park, bring in the registrations, BOL's, license, medical card, etc." UH OH! I parked and took everything in. The inspector looked at everything, and even ran my name/license # thru the system to make sure I was ok and no fake license. (Do I look THAT dumb?). After that, he said lets go look at the truck and trailer. He looked, and looked, and looked. Under the hood, under the chassis, at the brakes, all the lites, horn, wipers, etc. He even marked the rod on the brake canisters, then had me depress the brake pedal to see if they moved far enough for proper operation on ALL wheels. After all that, he told me to grab my log book and come on back in.
He went thru my logs, and filled out some paperwork on the computer, had me sign, and told me good job. I just had my first LEVEL 1 inspection by DOT and did not get any violations. WHEW! I've heard about these inspections, but so far had avoided it. Guess it was my turn. Just glad it all went well.
OK, that down, the rest of the trip should be a piece of cake, right? Not so fast pilgrim!
Seems as Mother Nature had her own ideas of keeping my day interesting. We got on over toward Kearney, Neb, and heard of severe thunderstorm warnings, and tornado watches. The sky kept getting darker, then started to rain some. Next came a little hail. Then ALOT of HAIL and rain! All of a sudden I could not see past the hood of the truck. It was raining so hard and hailing, I couldn't hear Kim either. It looked like we were underwater, it was a weird aqua-greyish green out. I knew we were in trouble when I saw leaves and twigs hitting my windshield! Kim said they were spinning around. I just started shutting it down to pull over and just in time, Kim pointed out a truck camper stopped RIGHT in front of me. I swerved around him, and pulled over on the shoulder as FAR as I could behind some other cars and trucks. A couple minutes later, it lightened up where we could see a little, and we started on down the road slowly, still barely able to see the next car. It kept getting lighter, and we kept on down the road, as fast as our little truck would carry us! About 30 mi later, it was all clear, sunny, etc, and weather the rest of the way to SLC was not an issue.
WHEW, I have NEVER been in anything like that on the road, and hope not to again!
We got into SLC about 4am, dropped and reloaded, and rolled out. Now we are headed back to Aurora. I think we'll shut down again for the nite just east of Council Bluffs then hit Aurora sometime late morning.
Hopefully Mother Nature will figure she got our attention and leave us alone for the rest of the trip. And we also got a nice little sticker on our windshield from the DOT that I assume tells them we have had a Level 1 inspection recently, so hopefully they won't bother us either.
Here's to hoping anyway!
Till next time, keep it safe out there. (Right Dad? No more autocrossing with RV's!) :)

Nice weekend, now get back to work! :)

Well, we had a good weekend off. At least part of the weekend. I enjoyed teaching the motorcycle course, tho my legs and feet were complaining a little because they haven't been used like that in awhile.
Got back into the routine Tues. morn, and picked up our trailer at about 6:30. Headed out and had great weather till Kim took over (imagine that!) in Nebraska. Rained all the way to our rest stop just past Council Bluffs. Got up this morning to more rain. UCK. Finally after we got past Des Moines, it cleared up and has been a nice day.
We dropped the trailer in Aurora, then beat feet over to Gary and dropped our empty. We had been notified last week that our truck was due a service and oil change. We made our way over to the Speedco next to the Pilot here in Gary. An hour an a half later, we had a "fresh" truck. Oil change, lubed, new wipers, good to go again.
We are sitting at the Gary yard now, waiting on dinner to cook in the "lunchbox" oven, then it will be an early nite. 3:30am rolls around too quickly sometimes.
We hope all of you had a great Memorial Day weekend, and paid tribute to all the fallen heros.
2 members of my class were wives from the Patriot Guard Riders. It is an organization whose soul purpose is to honor those who defend our freedom. Check them out on the web. Great group of people nationwide. http://www.patriotguard.org/

Cheers

short week

Well, we had a nice "short" week this week. Short being about 2850mi in 3 days. That is also with 12 hours down in Gary Ind. on Wednesday nite. We got back to SLC about 5am this morning (Friday), turned in our paperwork, docked the trailer, did a yard check (we take an inventory of all CFI trailers in the Conway yard every Friday morning), and headed home.
The trip this time was fairly uneventful, until we got to the Nebraska panhandle area and into Wyoming.
Someone should correct me if I am wrong, but last I looked at the calendar, this is LATE MAY! It looked like January last nite going thru that area with snow flying, and slush and ice covered roads. We also had some mean showers to go thru, and the clouds were pretty scarey. Apparrently, it was remnants from the storm that produced tornadoes down in Colorado, north of Denver. It was a pretty slow creep down the mountain into Laramie also. It was ice packed 5 and 6% grades for about 15miles.
We are off for the Memorial Day weekend now, and head back out on the road Tuesday morning. Not sure we will know what to do with 4 days off, tho I have most of Sat and part of Sun booked. I will be teaching the Motorcycle Safety Course this weekend to a group of beginner riders. I have not had a chance to teach since last fall, so it should be interesting.
Well, till next time, keep it safe this weekend!
And please take a minute and remember what Memorial Day is all about. Our prayers and well wishes to all the families of the fallen heros.

Almost a perfect week.

Here is a picture of big rigs parked on the side of the highway just west of Park City, UT on I-80. UGGGGGGGHHHHHH.




We have been waiting for a week without any problems, delays, etc. It ALMOST happened this week. Aurora and Gary were indeed ready, so we got our paperwork and trailer and got out of Gary on schedule. We went to the rest area between Omaha and Lincoln and parked at 1030pm for a 5hour nite, then hit the road headed home. Our eta on "Lola" (our GPS) eventually had us due in about 6:30pm after a couple of short breaks during the day.


We were about 30 MINUTES from home when it happened. While making our way thru Park City, I notice a looooong line of big trucks parked along the side of the highway on the outbound side of Park City. I got on the CB and asked what was up. A tanker had been hit, and was leaking. There was a hazmat team cleaning it up.





Great! Soooo close to a "normal" week, and now we sit. We ended up sitting for a little over 2 hours by the time we got going and got past the accident. Seems there was a high speed chase on the eastbound side. The driver decided to end it, and swerved into a tanker, causing it leak all over, and also killing himself. Very sad. It was worse for the eastbound side coming up out of Salt Lake. Their lanes didn't get opened till about 1am. It was about 8:30pm for us.





We have had a really nice day off. 91 degrees, and I got to get out and get a ride with the guy who took over my old job. We rode up into the mountains to Kamas, UT (behind Park City area) and had a nice lunch. From there, he headed back toward Ogden, and I went back to Park City, and picked up I-80 again, and back home. Great to ride in the mountains again!

Special groups

Not much to report ths week,,,so far. We have got our trailers on time, and out early from SLC as normal (about 6:00-6:30). That gives us extra time on the first leg to Aurora, Il so we have the option of sleeping for awhile. We usually park it from 3-5hrs during the nite.
We are now on the 2nd round and about 150mi from Aurora on this Saturday morning. We stayed in a rest area between Lincoln and Omaha for a 5hr nite, then got up and out about 3:30 this morning. Should be in Aurora about 11am. We deadhead (pull an empty trailer) over to Gary, and should be out of there about 1pm headed home.
The weather sure is great this weekend. It's already about 75deg here, and the bikes are out in force this morning! That reminds me, yesterday we encountered a group of about 30 motorcycles with support vehicles. Veterans Awareness Ride to the wall. They were headed to Washington DC to the big ride on Memorial Day weekend. There is a Ride to the Wall going on now on all the major west to east routes, I10, I40, and I80. When they all get there, the ride is called Rolling Thunder, and is quite a site to see. Keep your eyes and ears open if your out there and run int the groups. The Ride to Wall is HUGE, we're talking thousands! Give 'em a honk and a waive. One day, maybe I can join my veteran brothers and motorcyclists and ride to wall with them.
Thats about it for now, gotta get back into the driver seat and finish off this run. Hopefully, Aurora and Gary will be ready us this time.
Till next time, keep it safe out there! And our special waive this week is to all the veterans, Memorial Day Weekend is next weekend. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all.

A Record week and Mothers Day

Ok, we made our trip to Aurora without incident, and got over to Gary about 1100 Saturday morning. Things have been going pretty smooth this time around. Or so we thought. The guard at Gary uually has the paperwork ur Saturday load since only a few work on weekends. He kinda looked puzzled when we pulled up and said he no paperwork for us. Hmmm,,well, I'll go inside and talk with the supervisor. "Uh, no, he not here, he just left." Damm, I go on in and see some of the weekend crew. They had trouble finding paperwork for us. After about 30-45 min. we finally got the paperwork, found a trailer, hooked up and left.
We had arranged to meet our daughter in Des Moines for dinner. We made it to the Pilot there and she picked us up for a nice dinner to celebrate mothers day. After dinner, we made our way on to Omaha then shut down for the night.The winds had REALLY kicked up to the tune of 50mph gusts. We had been running pretty hard to get to Des Moines a little earlier than normal. Shutting down for a few hours was the safe thing to do. By morning the winds had died down some, and we headed home.
Our week, dispatch and paywise, is from Midnite Sunday morning to Midnite Saturday nite. This week we set a new weekly mileage record for us. 7200mi in a week, and was home Monday. Thats kickin a$$. :)
Kim decided to try a blueberry muffin mix in the lunchbox cooker. Putting it into a tin bread pan, she thought it would make a little cake for breakfast. Sounded good, and smelled even better! Only problem was she got up to do something in back, tripped over the wire, and knocked it over before it was done. You know what happened when you turn over a pan of muffins before it cooked? Its called a mess. Oh well, she finished cooking it, then scraped it out. It still tasted good!
We made it home about 7pm and got a good night sleep.
Monday morning we had to go back and get the truck. We had an appointment at the Salt Lake Kenworth service dept. to get our windshield replaced. This is the 2nd time in about 3 weeks. Hope this one lasts longer!
Weather is kinda cool today. No riding this week. Next week looks great,,,,so far. Hopefuly Memorial day weekend is great too. We will be off after our first run that week, giving us a 4 day weekend. I will also teach a Motorcycle Safety Class that weekend. I enjoy teaching motorcycle riding to beginner riders. It a challenge but rewarding and fun too.
Till next time, keep it safe out there. And give a waive to the new bikers out there, they're grinning ear to ear this time of year!

Wyoming thaw and a new schedule

Ok, I know, I am overdue an update! Here we go!
Yes, we finally got out of Wyoming. That night about 9:30pm we heard they had opened the road, but were still reporting high winds, blowing snow, etc. We also knew all the others that had been stuck around the closure would be hitting the road, so we decided to sit tight until 3am. Weather report had it clearing after that and by that time, the road would be cleared of all the "impatient" ones that had to be there yesterday. That put us about 16hrs behind what our schedule should have been, but this is the weekend pull, so we have until Monday and Tuesday before these loads are late.
We had some good rest in Rock Springs, so we pressed on to Aurora without stopping. Got there about midnite. We pulled up and and ,,,,,uh oh, the gate was closed! No worries, I spotted the security guard in his car in front of the building. I flash my lights, and just know he will come right over and let us in.........welll, maybe if I flash them again,,,,,,,,,,,no luck! Hmmmm,,,,maybe a little toot on the horn.....nope,,,alright,,,now he's going to get the air horn!,,,,and again! Alright, this isn't funny, we are tired and need to get on our way. AH HA,,the spot llight! AND the air horn! Finally, his lights come on and he moseys over and lets us in. 10 minutes I have parked the loaded trailer, unhooked, hooked up to the empty, and we are out the gate. Sure hope that guard catches up on HIS sleep too!.
We make our way over to Gary,,and guess what?! The gate is locked. And there is the guard, or at least his car in front of docks. Flash the lights,,,honk the horn, now the air horn, now the spot light. Yup, we go thru the same routine. a few times. I even get out, and try to see if he is in the car or not. Can't tell. Back to the air horn for some loooong blasts just in case he is inside. FINALLY a groggy security guard wakes up, makes his way over, and tries to unlock the gate. He can't see the keys, and has a hard time with it. Then looks for the right paperwork and can't tell which packet says CFI/Conway Truckload. By this time I've had it. I get out, grab the paperwork from him, and mumble something about if he weren't sleeping he could read the damn thing. I show him ours, get in the truck, find the trailer, run across the scales, adjust the rear tandems, and out the gate the gate. He even waives at us!
Now that we are fully functional, we decide to head back as far as we can. Little naps enroute help, relieving each other when it is time, and helping each other stay awake. We make it back to SLC about 6hours behind our normal Sunday schedule. Lately we have gotten in around 7-8pm. This trip is about 1am Monday morning, but we manage to get there and give ourselves a day off.
Weather was fantastic this time, and managed to get some riding in. The mountains sure are getting pretty, starting to turn green and lose all the white winter coat.
Tuesday morning, and back at the grind. We get our load about 6am (local)and head out. This trip we decide to try a little different schedule and see how it works out. We will drive till about 7pm (Central) and park for the nite (well, 6hrs anyway). This will put us just past Grand Island, Ne. At that time, we shoudn't have any problem finding a parking spot. Late at nite, they get hard to come by. We will sleep till 1am, get up and go. We still get into Aurora about 1:00pm Wednesday and get over to Gary and get a shower at the Pilot. Back to the Gary yard, and an early nite. This time we are tired and ready for bed. Most weeks, it's kinda early at 7pm for bed, but 3am comes awful early too. This time we are ready, and sleep good, a first for the Gary yard.
Thurs morning we grab our trailer, and guess what,,,Hazmat load! Oh well, only paint, so it's a flammable load.
We manage to get straight back to SLC about 3am, and sleep for about 3 hrs then back at it again. Got our trailer and now enroute back to Aurora.
These last trips we tried something new as well. At the Pilot truckstop, we purchased a "lunchbox" cooker. It is a black box that looks very much like the old style lunch boxes our parents took to work. This one plugs into the 12v system and cooks at about 300 degrees. It has little aluminum pans available (also at Walmart the bread pans work ) that fit inside to help with clean-up. We have cooked some strips of steak marinated with sauce, a pork tenderloin roll, and tonite some chicken strips sitting on orange slices. This is kinda nice. A nice hot meal at the end of a long day is a welcome addition.
For those interested, we did not really have to "purchase" the cooker. As with most chains, Pilot will you a "frequent fueler" card. Use it everytime you fill up, and you collect points on it for each gallon. A point is worth a penny. It adds up with these big trucks!
We have got our curtains for the cab, a cooler that sits up next to the driver to keep the drinks cold when the co-pilot is not available, and now this cooker. Each purchase was in the $25-30 range, so as you see, it adds up.
Ok, I have rambled on long enough, and you're probably snoring by now. :) Enjoy!
Till next time, keep it safe out there!

Our "Favorite" spot

Well we got our truck back about 5pm last nite and headed on back to Salt Lake. We decided since it would be 8pm or so getting there, we would just stay in the truck at the ConWay yard, get up early and get our load and head out. We normally get into the yard about 4:30am on Fridays, and our load is usually ready, or near ready. We decided to get up and go check about 5am this morning. Wouldn't you know it, NOT THIS WEEK! "Won't be ready till about 7". Oh well, gotta roll with the punches. We head back to the quiet end of the yard, and slept a couple of more hours. Yup, at 7am it was ready and waiting on us.
Got out of the yard about 7:30, and headed on up Parley's Canyon. That is the canyon between Park City and Salt Lake City. It sure is starting to get pretty with springtime rolling in. Hills are getting nice and green, the lakes and streams are all thawed out and full with run off from the snows.
About the time we get close to the Wyoming state line, there is an overhead sign that DOT uses to pass on info. Like this morning,,,,,I80 closed between Rawlins and Cheyenne. WHAT!!??? Not again. Weather sounded like it mite be clearing as the day goes on, so we kept rolling, hoping by the time we get close, it will open.
Well, we get to the last town before Rawlins, and it is still not opening, nor is it planned to anytime soon. Hmm,,,guess we'll stop here for awhile, since we know all the parking near Rawlins will be overflowing. The good thing is I know where there is parking available, the bad thing is we are right back where we started,,,yup, Rock Springs, Wy. In fact, we are now sitting in a parking lot of a truck stop next door to the hotel we have been in for the last 4 days. Oh well, we know where the good places to eat are as well, however, this time we have our truck, and our food now. Just wish we had the cable or satellite tv the hotel does. TV sucks without it here.

Soooo, thats about it for now, just wait and see how long I-80 stays shut down. It is due to snow and winds. Winds were reported 40-55mph in the cheyenne area, and 30-45 in the Laramie area. We are pretty light, 22,500lbs, so we won't be pushing our luck, even if the road does open.

Till next time, keep it safe out there! And PLEASE, lets pray for spring! :)
Cheers

Extended time off

Ok, a short update. It's Thursday morning, and we are STILL sitting in Rock Springs, Wy. It seems that Rock Springs is more remote that areas in Canada to get parts shipped to. There is no large trucking distribution center for UPS, FedEx, etc, so our radiator had to be shipped to SLC, then sent on a local truck up here. The order didn' t get in early enough to Kenworth on day one for overnite to SLC, so it went out on day 2. GRRRR
As of yesterday noon time, the truck had been torn down, the hub replaced, and they were just waiting on the replacement radiator,,,at least I hope that is all.
We need to get out today, so we can pick up our load in the morning and get at least our 2nd round in. 1/2 pay is better than no pay.
This however is the nature of the beast I guess. Mechanical things fail, and when the truck doesn't roll, no money is made, for the company, or for us. Conway does have a breakdown pay that will at least offset our food while we have been here amd of course they pay the hotel bill.
A day or two down was kinda nice. Day 3 and 4 is getting quite boring and frustrating. We are ready to hit the road.
Till next time, keep it safe out there!

Breakdown!

Pictures of a lonely, broke down truck in the middle of "no where" Wyoming.

Well, it finally happened. When you spend day after day, week after week and month after month driving, it is bound to happen. Mechanical things fail.

We were headed back to Salt Lake in the final few hours of our trip and discussing what we wanted to do on our day off. It was also right at the time we were getting ready to change drivers. I had put in my full 11hrs with the left door shut, and puttin down the miles to get us home, when I all of a sudden I felt a shudder . Initial thoughts was I had a flat tire. I immediatly completely focused my attention on all my senses, slowing the truck down, headed for an exit just in front of us. While doing that, I noticed it didn't really FEEL like a flat, but I smelled rubber. Hmmmm,,keep focused, get this thing off the road safely, also got to remember we have hazmat. Nothing exotic, just flammible paint, and some pressurized cylinders. So I need to stop in a safe place.

I hit the exit which was a raise to go to a crossover road. At the top, I stopped and asked Kim to get out and check tires on her side. As I was setting the brakes, etc, she told me no flats. I got out and noticed coolant coming from under the hood. I told Kim we didn't have a flat, but come up and look. UH OH, this doesn't look good! I moved the rig on over the top to an area just off of the on ramp side. Another truck that had stopped at the top came by on their way back to hiway to check on us. They just wanted to make sure we had a phone, and drinks, etc. Thanks guys, we really appreciate that kind of caring for fellow drivers.

I popped the hood open, and immediately saw what the rubber smell was. It was the fan belt off the pulleys and wrapped around the pulleys. The top front pulley from the water pump had separated from the engine, and the fan and the entire assembly went forward into the radiator, punching holes in it.

It was quickly deducted (I am pretty smart that way :) ) that this was pretty serious and not going to be a quick roadside fix. I called roadservice and told them what was going on. They contacted a shop in Rock Springs, Wy (about 20 mi back) that had 24hr repair service and wrecker service to arrange a tow and repairs. I also had to call the fleet manager to arrange something to get the load taken care of. After a few minutes we got a message on the Qualcomm that a relay was set up and scheduled by 9pm. This was only about 5:30 now so we are going to be here awhile. We had already been an hour, so with nothing to do now but wait, we fixed dinner, listened to the radios, and waited.

Our relay team showed up about 8pm and we both decided we were not going to unhook where I had parked the truck. It was on the side of the on ramp, but was leaning pretty good. It will have to wait till the wrecker got here and pulled me out onto the flat road surface of the on ramp.

About 30 min later the wrecker showed, hooked up to the front of the truck and dragged us up onto the ramp. We unhooked from the trailer and the other team hooked up and took off back to Salt Lake.

The wrecker then came around to the rear of the tractor, and extended a boom under the frame, lifted the rear duals off the ground, chained it down, and pulled us back to Rock Springs. After getting the ticket written up to get the repair started tomorrow morning (Monday), the driver took us a few blocks to the local Best Western Hotel.

We had initially thought we would spend the nite, get some rest, then see about renting a car today and going on to Salt Lake and home since it will be a couple or 3 days. After getting here, it is a nice hotel, a pool, a nice room, cable tv, fridge, quiet,,,hmmm,,and no young adult running around making all kinds of noise,,,,this might not be so bad after all. So we decided to stay put and do nothing for a couple of days. If it looks like it will be longer, we'll see about getting home.

We have lost our first load out of Salt Lake tomorrow morning, so now we are done till Friday morning. Kinda nice, but the pay check will only be half for this week.

Oh well, stuff happens, make the best of the situation, and go on.

Till next time, keep it safe out there,,,,and waive at those big rigs on the side of the road, you never know! :)

Well, here we go with an update while enroute for a change. We have made the first round trip, and are now on round 2 and just passing Cheyenne , Wy, It is MUCH nicer weather-wise than last nite. We had blowing snow, and freezing rain between Laramie and Rawlins. Our windshield wipers turned into very ineffective popcycles!

The first part of the run went well. We gout out early again and got some sleep enroute about Des Moines, getting into Aurora about 1:15pm. Dropped the trailer, got an empty, and headed over to Gary,In. We had received a notice on the Qualcomm to get our fuel filters changed, so we thought we'd take the time in Gary at the Speedco next to the Pilot truck stop. Speedco offers quick lubes, oil changes, filter changes, tire changes for big rigs, kinda like JiffyLube for cars. Got that done, got a shower, and headed back to the yard to settle in for the nite.

When I showed up at the dispatch desk the next morning to get our load, there were 2 loads for Salt Lake City, one hazmat, one not. We were lucky and got the non-hazmat load......for now.
The Gary Conway yard just does not get the loads ready early, so off we went about our scheduled time of 4am.

We decided to take some time enroute and visit the truckstop at Walcott, Ia. It is the worlds largest, and has everything from custom trucks inside, chrome accessories, to dentists, barbers, and chemical for porta-potties! :)

After our little field trip in Walcott, we continued our adventure. About 1pm my cell rang with an ID of CFI. UH OH, now what?? "We need a favor." (With those words, you always know something "good" is coming next!) The other Salt Lake hazmat load was assigned to a hazmat certified driver at Gary, but he had to relay the load in Council Bluffs, Ia. Solo drivers can't keep rolling like we can. Thee 2nd driver has to relay it in Cheyenne, Wy. Well, the 2nd driver picking up in Council Bluffs was not hazmat certified, so we were asked to turn around and go back and swap trailers with him. I had just got thru the mess of Omaha, and was cruising toward Lincoln, Neb. Oh well, turn around we did, and did our duty for the company. :) We still got to Salt Lake about 4:45am, which was only about 30min past our norm, and well within the required 7am.

We were abit tired tho, so we took a 2hr nap, then got our new load, and headed back for Aurora on round 2. It's about time for me to get some time in the bunk to I can take over the command seat about 3am, if Kim can last that long. She did last nite, so I expect she'll do it tonite too. She is real trooper, I can't imagine relying on anyone else.

Keep it safe out there, and waive at those big red racers! :)

Our LOST trailer

Ok, finally an update. Sorry folks, I have been remis at updating this. I even have had an email asking if we're ok! That blows me away that so many people are reading (I put in a Hit meter to show how many people have read it also,,,wow!)and "know" us thru this blog. I am really humbled. Thank you for caring Pete and Rose, we are doing just fine and yes, still truckin!
By the way, if ANYONE has any questions about otr trucking, team driving, etc. send us an email @ roadie363@gmail.com and I would be happy to try to address them. As we are doing the dedicated run now, there is less to talk about since it is the same route each week.
OK, now for last week. We started out by getting the load early at 7:30 (not due out till 1000) and hit the road. As has been our normal with this first run, we got to Des Moines area, and shut down for about 5hrs sleep, then on into Aurora, Il. Arrived at 1:30 for our NLT 4pm delivery time. Got our empty, and headed on to part 2 in Gary, Ind. We are starting to get into a routine now. Dropped that trailer, and bobtailed about 5mi to the local T/A truck stop for a shower, then back to the Conway yard, and parked for the nite. My dad cursed us for this run. While talking to him on the phone, he asked us if we have had any hazmat loads lately. We have not, but,,,,,, guess what?! The next morning I went in to get the paperwork for this load, and viola! HAZMAT load. It had some drums of a corrosive, flammable liquid (sodium cloride or something like that) so we had 2 placards on each side of the trailer. That is one of the requirements, all 4 sides must have placards. This proved to be the problem with this run. We had quite abit of rain and winds thru Nebraska, and lost one of the corrosive placards. We did not want to be fined so we stopped at 2 truck stops before we found one. So on with the trip,,,,we thought. We lost 2 more placards before we got to Salt Lake. WHEW, we didn't get caught going across the scales (they were closed).
We got back to SLC about 4:30am Friday, and dispatch at Conway was just working on the paperwork for our next load (the trailer was already loaded) and waiting for us. Headed back out of town about 5:30 and and had a nice run back to Illinois. This time weather was really nice, hit 80 degrees on the way back. We stopped for awhile at a rest area on the Wy/Neb border, and fixed ourselves dinner and enjoyed the weather for awhile. Again, we stopped for a few hours sleep near Des Moines, and got to Aurora about 1130 this time. Got on over to Gary, and the next chapter of this story started. We could not find the trailer with our load! We drove around the docks and the yard twice, and called ops to tell them. The security guard said there had been a mix up on the paperwork for an earlier CFI driver, he took ours, then brought it back. Hmmmm,,did he have our trailer also?? If so where was his load? We could not find another loaded trailer. Now we had a missing trailer somewhere! This is not looking good. We drove around again I verified the CFI trailers that were there were empty. This is still not looking good! We headed back up to the docks and from a different angle, we found our trailer! All the Conway trailers had been pulled away from the docks because they were hosing down the inside. All trailers were pulled away,,,except ours. It was hidden down between two trailer. Oh well, the mystery is solved an hour and a half later!
We hit the road, and decided to stop near Omaha for some needed rest. This second round is not due in till tues afternoon (weekend pulls) so we were not up against the clock. The longer we take to get home, the less time at home Sunday for us. We are off on Mondays. We parked for a nice 6hr nite and finally made it home about 9pm Sunday nite. We had no plans at home for Sunday, so not much difference for us to get home Sunday afternoon, or Sunday evening,,this week anyway.
By the way, we did see something of note on one of our runs thru Omaha. We saw a large plane approaching the airport nice and slow. We watched it for awhile, and realized it was one of the planes in the Presidents fleet. Kinda neat to see that!
So that is the latest. We have abit of running to do today, laundry, shopping for drinks, food, etc to restock the truck, etc. Kinda nice to be able to do that each week.
Again, if you have questions we can answer for you, we will do our best. We are by no means experts out here, but will share what we can.
Till next time, keep it safe out there! "The truck you save may be us!" :)
Cheers

The DELAYED run

Well, round 2 started a little slow. We showed up early (5:30am) hoping to get a jump on things since the trailer was ready early last week. Tuesday it was ready by 7am, and Friday it was almost ready when we got there at 4:30am. Unfortunately, they were abit swamped, and we were told it would not be ready until our scheduled time of 10am. We did get it early however,,,,9:30.
We made it to Aurora, dropped it, found an empty, and got over to Gary without any problems. We dropped the empty and bobtailed over to a Pilot, got a shower, and went back to the Conway yard for the evening.
Again, got our load the next morning and headed out. This time, we noticed the weather did not look so good. Rain across Iowa, then turning to snow over in Nebraska. Kim took the first round and drove in the rain all day to Grand Island. I took over, and the weather pretty much went to crap. Snow, and winds from there on. By the time we got to Cheyenne, it was really questionable as to if we should go on.
On of the resources a driver has is the CB. I asked about conditions between Cheyenne and Laramie, and was told by 3 drivers that the winds were so bad, it just about knocked their heavy loaded trucks sideways. That was enough for me to call it quits. Kim sent in a detained notice, and I called in to tell them we were parking due to weather. About that time we heard that I-80 was infact closed between Cheyenne and Rawlins and would remain so for awhile. We parked in the Pilot parking lot just before they announced the closure. It sure filled up fast after that. We timed it just right.
We watched some tv, and called it a nite early. Got a full nite sleep, and the next morning got a shower, and breakfast. They finlly opened the interstate about noon, but reports were still high winds, poor vis, blowing and drifting snow. We waited an hour for traffic and plows to work some more then headed out.
About the time we got to Rock Springs, there had been an accident that shut down the interstate again! We waited at Cheyenne about 16hrs, and at Rock Springs another hour and half. This load is just not meant to get to Salt Lake!
After we got going past the accident, we got notified that we had been un-assigned the follow on load at Salt Lake and Gary, and our next load was Tues morn. We were too late to get the second round in.
Oh well, we get a weekend at home , with some GREAT weather for a change. We had to take the tractor to Kenworth this morning for a new windshield. We got a rock chip and it cracked all the way across. Will be able to pick it up Monday afternoon, and ready to go Tues morning again,,,,,after we get some riding in this weekend, and relax some.
We still have not been able to run a full week leaving early, and getting no delays. We'll see what next week brings.
Till next time, keep it safe out there!

Dedicated, round 1 complete

We made to SLC from Gary, Ind about 4:30am and was told our next load would actually be ready in about 30 min. WAY COOL, we'll get some extra time on this load, or get in early to Aurora, and get in early to Gary, and get in early to SLC! :) We got back out of town about 5am and headed toward Aurora. We did not get any sleep in Salt Lake, so we fizzled out on the way to Ill, and parked for about 4hrs in Iowa, just east of Des Moines. It was really close to the interstate, so it was abit noisy there. We got up and headed on to Aurora. After parking the trailer, and hooking up to the empty, we headed on to Gary. This time traffic was not too bad being Sat morning about 10am.

They had the trailer waiting at Gary for us. We did spend a little more time than planned tho, the tandems on the trailer did not want to slide for us. This is the 2nd time we have had that problem with trailers here. When the trailers are heavy, the rear axles (tandems) can be moved forward or back to balance the weight on the drive tires on the tractor. Some states have a maximum distance for the tandems from the king pin on the trailer, limiting how much they can be slid back, so that has to be a concern as well. Usually, the terminals want the tandems all the way rearward so the trailer is more stable when loading it with the fork lifts. When we pick them up, we move them back forward by setting the brakes on the trailer, then put the tractor in reverse and push the trailer rearward while the axles remain in place. They are on rails, with pins that hold or release them. After we get them close to where they should be, we go to the scales and weigh the entire rig. We get weights for the front axle, the drive tires, then the rear trailer axles, and adjust if necessary.

We headed out of Gary about 11am Sat, and our GPS said we had about a 10am arrival time if we didn't stop. That would be really nice, to have most of the day Sunday at home, and all day Monday. However, our bodies caught up with us, and we needed some sleep enroute. We stopped between Omaha and Lincoln for about 4hrs, then made our way home. We finally got in about 4pm Sunday, so still had some time to enjoy the weekend. I immediately took off on the motorcycle for short ride. I have been having motorcycling withdrawls, so it was nice, even if a short ride.

Got up this morn. to see it snowing here! GRRRRR, we were hoping winter was over. They have nice weather during the week, then the snow follows us for our time at home. OH well, eventually spring has to come,,,,,,,,,doesn't it??

First week of the dedicated route was ok. We need to figure out a better way to run the 2nd round instead of trying to go back to back with no down time on the run. We were trying to get back to SLC as soon as we could Sunday. We may have to settle for Sunday early eve instead of noonish.

We figured out this week we hauled approx 125,000lbs of freight between SLC-Aurora, and Gary-SLC. First 2 loads were around 27000lbs, the 3rd around 35000, and the last from Gary to SLC was 40000.

The route also gives us just over 5700 miles/week. Not bad $ either. It's about as many miles as we were getting before, but now we have a day and a half off at home. I think this will work out good for us as soon as we figure out the easiest way to run it.

Dedicated route, round 1

We had a really nice and relaxing weekend at home prior to starting our dedicated run. We got to SLC about noon on Sat, dropped the trailer, and went home. Our dispatch got us home a day or so earlier than we normally will. We enjoyed sitting around, fixing some food to take with us, and restocking our supplies. It is not easy to shop when you're on the road 24/7 in a semi. Can't exactly just pull into a grocery store parking lot somewhere with the tractor and trailer.
We had been told by the dispatchers at the Salt Lake terminal that our load would probably be ready about 7am. We were scheduled for a 10 am pick up. Cool, we'll get some extra time on the load! We finally headed out about 7:30 and surprisingly, traffic wasn't too bad getting out of town.
We got a few hours up the road on I-80 in Wyoming, and heard about the interstate being shut down! WHAT??!!! Everyone said that parking past Little America was almost non-existent, so we found a nice little rest area just prior that exit, sent in our detained notice, and parked. Apparently there was a bad snow storm the previous nite, and there was a bad accident where a tanker exploded and burnt up the road. Sure hope the driver got out ok.
Well, we waited about an hour and a half and heard the road was open at Rock Springs where it previous had been shut down for east bound. We started out again, go 30 min down the road and heard it was still shut down between Rawlins and Laramie. DAMM, so we pulled off and waited another hour until we got the all clear. 2 1/2 hrs down the tubes. We sent a message to our dispatch and asked for the original delivery time to be reinstated (they shorted us the 3hrs we left early, sneaky people). No problem, got the time back, so we're still lookin good, gotta be in Aurora, Ill by 1600hrs on Wed. We drove till about 4:30 am which was just east of Des Moines and sleep for about 3hrs. We still got in about 1:15pm so it was a good trip. Next chore was to pick an empty and get over to Gary, In. Easier said than done. There is no straight route over there, and the best route was all under construction. Go figure! Anyway, we did it, just took a little longer than it should have, but hell, we have untill 4am in the morning to get there!
We arrived here about 3:30pm, dropped the empty, and parked in the back of the lot for the night. It is kinda nice to relax in the middle of a run. We keep feeling like we should do something, or the Qualcomm will go off with some unexpected routing, etc. NOPE, all is good, fixed some braats and potatoe salad we brought with us, and kicked back watching tv. I think we mite be able to get used to this. A hard day, then an easy one. Now it will be a couple of long days to get back to Salt Lake, pick up a load, go back to Aurora, then on over here to Gary. Next time, we won't have he 12hr wait. The weekend loads are pre-loaded, so it will be ready whenever we get here. We'll hook up, and head for Salt Lake. The harder we run on the second time around, the more time we'll have at home. Gotta balance it tho, don't wanna be totally wiped out when we get there.
Bottom line is so far, so good.
Till next time, keep it safe out there.

Starting a new chapter

We picked up the load for Lancaster, Ca about 6hrs early and no change in delivery so we had some extra time. That was nice. We stopped about 4 hrs the first nite enroute in our drop yard in Pocahontas, Ill, then about 6hrs 2nd nite in Santa Rosa, NM. We also stopped occasionally at a rest area, or truck stop to eat. We THOUGHT we had some extra time at California when we got pre-planned to pick up at Lancaster and go to Salt Lake to relay it with another team headed back to Hazelton,Pa. Well, in typical ruin your plans fashion, we got notified Friday morning to change destination to Chino, Ca. Great, now we get to go into L
os Angeles at 6pm Fri evening, THEN back out to Lancaster for our scheduled pick up. Do you know what it is like getting out of Los Angeles on a Friday nite? UGH, sloooooow.
We got back to pick up at 10pm instead of the planned 6pm. We had a scheduled delivery time in Salt Lake of 3:30pm Sat afternoon. We ran as far as we could, then shut down for a couple of hrs sleep in Parowan, Ut. Made it to the Salt Lake Conway yard for our relay about noon Sat. The relay team was waiting on us, so they got a few extra hrs.
Now we are off from noon Sat till Tues morn. We have a scheduled pick up of 10am to start our dedicated run.
This will be nice for us I think. We will cook up some stuff to take with us, take some burgers, braats, etc and a little portable grill I think. We will have 10hrs or so at Gary, In and can cook our meal there. We emptied the truck of stuff we don't use alot or need during our week out, so it makes room for some stuff we'd like to have.
I really was hoping to get some riding in during our extra time off here this weekend, but NOOOOOO, Mother nature decided to throw some white anti-motorcycling crap at us. (snow), so maybe next weekend. It's kinda nice to know we'll be around to do that sometimes.
Well, thats the update, we are home for a few days getting ready to start the dedicated run on Tues morn. We'll let you know how it goes!
Till next time, keep it safe out there!

more changes comin

We didn't wait in Butte, for an assignment anyway. We rec'd a pre-plan while we were enroute to go to Elko, Nv for a relay the next day at 1900hrs. When we got to Butte, we put ourselves to bed for a few hrs then headed for Elko. This was another leg with plenty of time. We got there about 3:30pm local and got a schedule update that the relay would not happen till 9pm local instead of 7. We took the chance to go next door from our relay site to a chinese buffet for dinner, then back to take a nap. About 7pm I heard a truck pull up, and sure enough, it was the relay. We exchanged trailers and we were on our way to Rantoul, Il. This run is NOT a Conway. The first non-Conway we have had in,,,,well, I don't remember. :) It is a load for Jeld-Wen windows, but is only molding, etc, no glass.
The down side is it has 3 deliveries, 1 in Rantoul, next to Mt Vernon, OH, and last to Ringtown, PA. It gets progessively worse with side roads to the communities. Ringtown is about 30mi off the interstate on back country Pennsylvania roads. Sure made it interesting. At both places (Mt. Vernon and Ringtown, we got there about 5pm and had a delivery of 7am the next mornning. The plants had no second shift, so the places were dead. We just backed up to dock, and watched a little tv, and got a good nite sleep both nites.
After our delivery in Ringtown this morning, we got dispatched to Hazelton, Pa for a Michaels distibution center run to Lancaster, Ca. Hazelton was only about 15mi away and we had a 4pm pick-up time. After getting un-loaded at 7:30, we headed on over to Hazelton and was told the load would actually be ready in an hour. YA! just hope they don't change the delivery time on us, and we will grab some extra time on this run.
We are good, got dispatched with the orig delivery time, so we gained about 6hrs!
OK, now for the changes.
During our run to Butte, we were going thru Salt Lake City but really didn't take a chance to stop and get our mail. It was Fri before the Easter holiday weekend, and if we stopped it would be rush hour getting thru and out of town. I-15 turns into a parking lot between Salt Lake and Ogden at that time. Soooo, it was kinda frustrating. We got to talking about it, and admitted we have not been as happy with this as we had hoped, so what can we do to change?
We had been told there was a dedicated route from Salt Lake to Chicago to Gary, In, and back to Salt Lake. Originally we turned it down because I can't see doing the I-80 run twice a week during winter.
We changed our mind, and decided it would help us get on our feet with this job, or show that we just don't want to do it. We will be able to have a day home each week so we can cook up some stuff to take with us. We also don't have to take all of our clothes, and be prepared for months on the road. We will have some time on the run between Chicago, (actually Aurora, IL) and Gary, Indiana, and a day to a day and a half home each week to take care of stuff, see friends, get some motorcycle riding in, etc. This should make alot of difference for us.
We are also contemplating moving to the Casa Grande, Az area in Oct/Nov. We plan on getting our house ready and either selling or renting it thru a property mgr, get our motorhome from Joplin, and move south when winter hits. If we run this dedicated route good and prove ourselves, maybe we can swap for one out of that area at that time.
Till next time, keep it safe out there!

Like a yo-yo

Pics are from Canyon near Glenwood Springs, Colo, and an overlook in the southern Utah area.

When we are running good miles, it gets difficult to update the blog. I will have to try to get better at this, I keep getting yelled at! :)

From Phoenix we deadheaded to Sante Fe Springs, Ca, right in the middle of LA! Got there nice and early (4:30pm or so) and fixed dinner. Had abit of a suprise there as well. We dropped our empty trailer and went over to the bobtail parking area for the night. I backed into the slot, and looked over at the truck next to us. All the CFI/Conway trucks have a number and it is listed on the front bumper area. The truck next to us was 23242,,,,hmmm that number sounded familiar,,,WAIT, that was my training truck, and the truck Kim and I spent the first month in! WOW, was kinda cool to run into it. There was a team driving it now, to Ladies, one a little older with some experience, and one younger apparently pretty new. Hope they enjoy it!

About midnite we got a "load cancelled" notice. We were to go to Aurora, Ill. Got back on the board, and at 4am got a deadhead to Fontana, CA for a pick-up for Henderson, Co (Denver). Rushed our butts the hour drive over there to find out the load was not ready for another hour, even tho we were told it had a 4am pick-up. No problem, we waited, and got the dispatch to Denver. This day just seemed out of whack for us.. Guess it was because of all the changes. Had a good trip to Denver, nice weather,, no problems going over Vail and Eisenhower passes on I-70. That area can a booger-bear in the winter.

We got a pre-plan on the way to go to Richfield, UT for a relay. Meet a solo driver, and bring the trlr back to Henderson. Then the next morning we had another dispatch from Henderson to Fontana, Ca. HMMM , I think I know the way! We feel abit like the yo-yo, bouncing back and forth from Fontana, to Denver, half way back to Ca, then Denver, back to Cali! At least the weather has held out and it has been a gorgeous drive along I-70.

Got into Fontana last nite about 8pm local and had a 4am pick-up this morning for Butte, Montana. Dispatch told us to check in about 2:45 if we wanted to try to leave early. We did, and got out of there about 3:30. Should be in Butte about 10pm local tonite. These have all been ConWay runs, from terminal to terminal. Sounds like the Butte terminal is not very big, and we mite be stuck there for a little while. Will let you know the next chapter when it happens!

Keep it safe out there

Frustrated at the shop

We got to Belle without any major problems. Stopped in Joplin for fuel on the way and had to put the tractor in the shop for a little while. When you arrive at the terminal, you must go thru an inspection bay and mechanics check over the tractor and trailer. If anything is found, you get to stay awhile. We had a hub on the drive wheel leaking that I knew of, and they found the transmission leaking some. We have time to get a shower while the tractor is being looked at. After about a 2hr delay, we were on our way after refueling. Still made it with about an hour and a half to spare. The guys at Belle had us dock the trailer, then park the bobtail in back row, and said they'd wake us when the next was ready. OH,we got preplanned with a load from there to Phoenix. About 3:30am we got woke up by the guy pounding on the side of the truck. "Hook up to dock 107, but don't pull out yet, we're still finishing loading the last."
This is another weekend pull with alot of extra time. Not due in till 5:30am on Monday. We have all day Fri, Sat, Sun, and will plan on delivering about 3:30-4am monday. This is designed like the dedicated route we filled on, time enough to reset our 70hr clock for the logbooks.
We stopped again at Joplin to fill up Friday nite about 7pm. Just planned on a "splash and go", but nooooooo. Inspection bay says there is a transmission leak, go to shop. "NO!!! That was just taken care yesterday morning, here, look at the work order and notes." Go to inspection bay, still looks like its leaking. DAMMM. OK.
I explain to the service manager what the story is, and he said he'd get it in soon, and have the mechanic check it. About 45min later we were told to pull it in the bay. After a look at the situation, he told us the transmission rear seal was bad and needed replaced. No longer than 2hrs. Ok, guess it's time for another shower!
After the seal was replaced and we were released, we had been up nearly 24hrs, and having a hard time figuring out the arrival times, adjusting for the delay, etc. We had wanted to get to Casa Grande, Az Saturday afternoon for the weekend and spend some downtime with Kim's Aunt and Uncle. We both knew we were too tired to travel if we didn't really have to, so we just parked it at the Joplin terminal and slept till Sat morn.
It will now be midnite or so when we get to the Casa Grande area, but we'll have all day Sunday to visit. We will just have to do what is called a rolling reset for our time. That means one driver is off duty the last 10hrs while the other drives. Then the truck is parked for at least 24hrs. That gives the first driver his/her 34hr reset. The second driver has the 24hrs down then is off the first 10hrs while driver one drives. That gives him 34hrs off duty.
With this dispatch to Phoenix, we will have about 5300mi this week. Not a bad week, and got to visit Dad last Sunday, and Kim's Aunt and Uncle this Sunday. That's what we wanted out of this job, see the country and be able to see family more.
Till next time, keep it safe out there!

Criss-Crossing the Country

We made our delivery to Conway Abilene about 11pm last nite. We had been pre-planned to pick-up a load there at 0330 for Henderson, Co, but it was canx on us about 6pm last nite before we got to Abilene, so we stopped at a Flying J about 7:30. It was only about 15mi from the terminal and we didn't have to deliver till 1159pm. We had a dinner, and took a 2hr nap, then went and delivered. Picked up an empty trailer, and went back about 5mi to a WalMart/gas station that had some truck parking and slept. We had gone on the board when we delivered, but nothing was sent back, so we decided to sleep until they woke us. About 5am I got a phone call from Joplin asking us about the load we were to pick up at 3:30, if we had a trailer, etc. Something got totally lost in the computer, and they screwed up. We headed back to the Conway yard and picked up a load headed to Blythe, Ca.
This load is actually the first HazMat load we have hauled. We couldn't get a load of flammables, or poisons, etc. Nope, they give a load of explosives for our first one. UGH, this will be interesting. We will be a little extra careful on following distances, etc. This means that we also have to stop at all weigh stations/port of entry's instead of being able to bypass most of them like we have in the past. CFI has a EZ Pass, the electronic transponder for the auto weigh, and allows trucks from companies to bypass most of the time. Once in a while you get pulled for a random check of your company's trucks, but not very often.
We also got a pre-plan for Blythe to Belle, West Virginia. This run to Ca is 1034mi dispatch, and the WV trip is 2169mi. That gives us about 3200 for the week so far. Hopefull Friday morning we can get a good dispatch from there and kick us back up to the 5000 range. The last dispatch last week actually ran us 2 days into the payperiod this week (Sun/Mon), so we are on a short week for new trips.
If you see a big red racer out there with Roadie and Wingz on the door, criss-crossing the country, give a wave!
Till next time, keep it safe out there.

Runnin the southwest

Pics are from the Great Southwest area, (arizona or New Mex). This has been a really scenic drive, until we get to great Mojave desert,,lol. Even that is scenic in its own way.

Wow, can't believe its been almost a week since my last update. This run between Dallas, Kettleman City, Ca, and back to Abilene has actually been pretty good. We did the run twice, the last one (we are on it now) was basically a weekend run. Picked up Friday noon in Dallas and headed out. It had some extra time due to the weekend, it didn't have to be in Ca till Monday at 1pm. But,,,(there is always a but,,lol) we had a load to pick up there on Sat nite or Sun morning (again, we got to work with it some because of the weekend time schedule at the Conway yards) and be back in Abilene by midnite Monday. We got the load to Ca. about 7pm Sat nite, and got a good nite sleep, then left about 6am. This run gives us the choice of running US58 across Ca to I-40, to Santa Rosa, NM, then down to Abilene, or go thru LA, and across on I-10/I-20 for a more southern route. The mileage is really close either way. Going west last time, we took the I-40 route, and now headed back east, we decided on the southern route due to weather expected in northern Az and NM. This also allowed us the opportunity to drop down thru Yuma, and spend a few hours with my Dad. He cooked us a nice steak for dinner, (MUCH better than truckstop food), and we restocked our supplies from a local grocery store. As usual, the visit was much too short, but nice to see him and my mom's sis, and cousins.
After leaving Yuma, we headed on east deciding we wanted to get thru Tucson at nite, and shut down about 50mi east of there at a rest area (I told you we had alot of extra time on this run!) Got a good 6hrs sleep there, and now headed to Abilene, gps gives us an ETA of 8pm right now and we have a delivery time of NLT 1159pm.
OK, that's the update on travels. Now for some other ramblings of trucking life.

This last week (Mon-Mon), we covered 6477mi. Thats a good week, AND some good $, esp if we can keep running somewhere around that every week.

We recently upgraded our cooler. The large 12v (40qt) we had just did not seem to cool much more than room temp, so we really couldn't keep any milk etc in it. We got a 110V small refridgerator (1.7cu) and it keeps the stuff really nice and cold without a large power draw on our inverter. It even has a small freezer drawer in it, so we mite have to get a couple ice cream bars and see how that works out. It's a small thing, but sure makes it alot nicer for us.

I think we will get a smaller 12V cooler that will fit between the seats to keep a few cans of soda and juice cold for the driver when the other is in the bunk. The smaller coolers seem to work fine.
I mentioned our GPS. We consider it a real comfort to have it. It always gives us an eta for our destination, as long as we are within 24hrs of it. Knowing that, we can manage our time (sleep breaks, langer stops at rest areas for meals, etc) without worrying about how much time we take, and not real sure of when we will get to the destination.
I guess we are getting more and more accustomed to the travel as we go. This last run from Dallas to Ca, we got a little behind the power curve on our rest at the start. We actually felt like we got caught up and back with it while enroute. That is something we have not been able to do previously until after a run with down time.

Thats about it for now, keep it safe out there!

Another "easy" trip

We had the trip from hell from Joplin to Dallas Monday nite. What should have been an easy 7hr run turned into over 11hrs.
It all started when we got assigned the load, we had to wait till the local driver brought it up from Neosho, and should be about 1:30. We finally were call for the load about 4pm AND told the trailer was in the shop, but should be about done. Hmmmm, this isn't sounding so good. I called the shop and was told to come on over and get it. From there , we fueled and got a truck wash on the way out. It was now just past 5pm and we were due in Lancaster by midnite. Time already is not looking good. Weather is also not on our side. As we head hwy 69, it's raining and snowing some. Temp is about 34, so no real problems, yet.
As we get closer to Texas, the snow really starts flying. So much so, I am having problems seeng the road at times. 20 to 30 miles of this, and I decide its time to shut down. There is about 4in on the ground, the plows haven't made it here yet, and the road is packed with snow and visibility is well, not so good. At the Texas border, I pull into a rest area, and shut down, notifying CFI by Qualcomm and calling in. I get told no problem, the load is ok timewise, and to let them know when we roll. We park and sleep a couple of hours, then take a look. The weather front has made it thru, snow has quit, the plows have been thru, and the ground is warm enought to keep the roads wet. Looks good. Well, at least for the time being. We get about 30 min down the road and find the highway shut down. Apparently 2 trucks got together, and jacknifed. We sat another 2hrs waiting for that to clear.
We FINALLY roll into Lancaster about 4am. I don't think we got a late charge because we were shut down for weather and also the accident. We dropped the trailer, picked up an empty and headed over to ConWay Dallas.
ConWay Dallas is close to downtown, luckily it was 5am so not much traffic yet. We checked in, and picked up our next assigned trailer. It was not a hazmat load.
This trip was not bad at all. It had some extra time on it, not due in till 2pm in Kettleman City, Ca. After we were rolling for awhile, GPS had us in at 6am local if we didn't stop. We rolled until I just too tired near Phoenix, and parked in a rest area for a 2hr nap. I really didn't want to because that puts us going thru LA at 6am instead of 4am, but there was no choice.
LA was the zoo I expected going thru during the morning rush time. We have to wonder why people CHOOSE to do that on a daily basis. Oh well, we were not up against the clock, so we just took our time. We followed I-10 in till we took Cali 57 north a few miles to hook up with I-210. That took us across the north side of LA till we hooked up with I-5, and came north to Kettleman City. We stopped at a Pilot about 30mi from our destination, fueled, showered, and finished the trip.
When we arrived at the Conway yard here, it was dead. The security guard checked us in, we dropped the trailer, and parked and slept a couple of hours. Our next load is not to pick up till 4am so we are relaxing a little.
Next load has us going from here back to Abilene, Tx which is about a 1450mi run. The last was 1580mi., plux the 366mi from Joplin to Lancaster, so we are putting 'em down now some.
I think this time we'll take I-40 out to Santa Rosa, NM, then cut down thru Lubbock to Abilene. Only concern is going thru Flagstaff Az and Albuquerque, NM and the weather. It is great here now, and looks like it should clear out there as we head that way.
Time for some more sleep till our 3am wake up call. Till next time, keep it safe out there!

Safety and Anniv. Weekend

We had a great visit with family and friends in SLC, then went on the board Tuesday morning. We were parked at Sage (our driving school) and just hung around and visited all day. About 1pm we finally got notified of a load to pick up at the local ConWay yard about 5 mi away. The only thing about it was it did not have a pick up time until 10am the next morning. That evening we decided to go over and fuel up and just sleep at the Conway yard till morning. I checked in about 7:30 and the load was ready. We were headed to the Chicago area(Aurora). It was a fairly uneventful run tho we were a little tired during the overnite portion. We got used to sleeping again real fast!
From Aurora, we were sent to Indianpolis to pick up a load headed for Dallas. We were beginning to think we weren't going to make it to Joplin for the weekend. We dropped that load, got an empty and started to head over to the Lancaster yard, when the Qualcomm chirped. We had a load to pick up at the place we JUST delivered to, and head to Joplin for a relay. This load and the last from Indy to Dallas was John Deere equipment. We turned around and headed back, loaded up, and headed for Joplin.
Got in to HQ about 9:30pm Friday nite and had a good rest. During the 3 days out (Wed-Fri) we covered a little over 3000mi. The loads were back to back, so we didn't get much chance to rest with the truck parked.
Saturday morning we attended the monthly safety meeting. We ran into my trainer, Jim (Fist of Five) and sat thru some discussions on the new 07 engines and the way they burn off the particles that a new filter traps, keeping the exhaust clean. Kinda like a self cleaning oven, the system just gets real hot, and has a tail pipe temp in the 900degree range while it cleans itself. This will be down the road for us, we have an 06 engine, and they are running 350,000mi before trade in now. We have about 24000 on ours.
They awarded a group of new million mile drivers and the drivers/teams of the month also then had some drawings. I won a $40 gift card to Chile's/Macaroni Grill resturaunts.
That afternoon we took the shuttle to the mall and just hung out for awhile, kinda nice. Then we went back to the Holiday Inn and got a room for the weekend. It's our 15yr anniversary on Thurs, so we are enjoying this weekend since we will probably be running our tails off after we leave here. The weekend included a nice dinner at the Outback.
Back to work this morning. We had to get new ConWay ID cards and a new access card for me. (lost my orig). Took the shuttle to Wal-Mart, stocked up on food, and back on the board.
We are now waiting on a local driver bringing a load from La-Z-Boy in Neosho for us to take to Lancaster (Dallas), then we are pre-planned a load to go to Kettleman City, Ca. It looks like it will be a hazmat load. That will be a first for us, so we'll have see how this goes. They do pay us a little more to drive a hazardous materials (hazmat) load.
During our time at the terminal here, we did have a chance to meet with Ed (Gadabout) from our forum (cfidrivers.com). Kinda nice to meet and put a face to people we get to know over the road.
Till next time, keep it safe out there.

Finally Home

We finally made it home! This is the first time since we left to go to Joplin on the 31st of Oct, other than an hour visit when passing thru in Dec.
From Fontana, we took a Con-Way load back to Henderson, Co, dropped it, and immediatley went over to the Pilot where we relayed a few days ago for another relay. We were scheduled to make another relay there and take the load to Richfield, Ut. I was a little concerned about a place to park and swap trailers. This was about midnite, and most truckstops fill up early, around 8pm or so. We lucked out and found the other truck in the fuel line while we were fueling also. We both pulled up from the pumps, dropped the trailers, and swapped. Nascar relay style :)
I should mention that the trip from Cali for Denver was great, esp along I-70 in southern Utah. We were going thru there in the afternoon, and it was really a gorgeous drive. I highly recommend southern Utah. It didn't get too bad even thru the Vail area tho it was snowing some up there. We were hoping to get over the passes and back thru them before it snowed too much. We came back over around 2am and It was definately abit worse, but still passable without chains. That area is never fun during winter.
We made another relay in Richfield, Ut about 10am, got a shower, and headed home. We got to Salt Lake and my old workplace of FlightSafety around 1:30, and got to see some of the old crew and SkyWest pilots that train there.
From there we went over to Sage Tech (our truck driving school) and visited with them and parked the truck for the weekend. We will go back Monday and visit with the students.
We have been having a good visit with our sons and future daughter-in-laws (yup, both boys engaged) and getting some good rest.
We will be here until Tues morning. We are hilighted to go Joplin for next weekend. The first Saturday of each month is safety day at the terminal for anyone that can make it. I also lost my company ID somewhere, so I have to get that replaced. We will need to be in Joplin either Friday before safety day or Monday after ti get that done, so we should be in Joplin for a few days next weekend. Our anniversary is the 6th, and we wanted a day off somewhere in that time frame also, so hopefully, it will be a nice weekend and get to visit with some of the other drivers and teams at the terminal.
Till next time, keep it safe out there.

Driving status

After just over 3 total months with CFI/Con-Way truckload, Kim thought we should post our thoughts on how things are going.
During our training time, we were dispatched as a solo operation, meaning we had a max of 11hrs driving time, and a requirement of 10hrs off between driving periods. Notice I did not say days.
When we started team driving, it was a total different world that we were not really ready for. Between being sick when we started, and not getting enough rest because we could not sleep more than 30min to 2hrs (if we were lucky) in the bunk. Even during that, anytime the driver slowed down, downshifted, etc, the other in the bunk was up to check on things.
By the time we ran a couple of weeks we were wiped out, but at least getting past our illness. We did not have a regular schedule and that hurt. We didn't know who was driving when. That made planning for sleep, etc a little hard to get a handle on. We asked for some time between runs once, but was told if we had time available, we had to run. We did not want to tell them we were sick, and come off as whiners.
Then came some down time during Christmas. We started out from there with a plan, Kim would drive noon to midnite, or whatever was needed during that time frame, and I would drive the opposite. At least it let us plan some. We also started to get some better sleep on the truck.
Then the day came that my Mom was in the hospital and not doing well. We got sent to Yuma and had some more time off. We stayed with Mom during all different shifts so it actually helped keep us on a non-routine day. Unfortunately, we lost Mom a week and a half later. We went back on the road till it was time for the Memorial service (about a week) and again, felt we had a little better handle on the schedule.
Since then we are now able to sleep 4-6hrs in the bunk. It is not always un-interrupted, but we are sleeping better on the road. That allows us to keep the truck rolling more hours. Originally, we were driving hard and spending any extra time on our run trying to sleep with the truck parked for a couple of hours during the run without cutting ourselves short on time to get to our destination. Now we are able to keep it rolling to our destination, and take a little more time enroute to stop and eat together, or relax at a nice rest area for a few minutes and not feel so rushed. We also have been able to get some more rest lately at origins, between dispatches, not too long, but it helps.
So for summary, we are adapting, and the job is getting a little easier. The shifting is smoother and more natural now. We are more confident in our ability to control the truck in the mountains now. We are also not so scared about the customers location and docking area. Backing is getting better, tho I still have to do pull ups and once in a while just start over. It's no different than what others do I have noticed, so I don't feel so bad. Kim leaves the backing to me for the most part. She does it once in a while in nice big drop yard.
We still have a ways to go to get to the comfortable point where we really enjoy it, but we're learning. We promised to give it a year. I think it will take a good 6mo to start getting comfortable.
It's not all a struggle however, we really enjoy out time together, and conversations never stop. We do make a good team, even thru the rough times.
Till next time, keep it safe out there.
BTW, we are sitting at a T/A in Ontario, Ca waiting to go to a Conway yard around 10pm. We have a 4am dispatch to Denver. After that its home to SLC.

STILL going to SLC.

Well, been a couple days since I updated. Things happen and change so quickly out here, and a couple days can make alot of difference.


We made it to the UPS yard in Dallas just fine. It was quite a busy place with many trucks and trailers and people running all over the plae. Security had to check the trailer and break the seal going in, and check it coming out. The spot where I was told to park our trailer already had one one it, and the two rows where they parked in-bounds were full. I drove around the circle, and came back to the same spot, and tried to get a local to help me out. One of the guys was looking for a trailer #, so I gave him a hand, without luck, then a slot open right next to us. I pulled our rig into it,, and the same guy I help came driving up. YOU have the one I was looking for, just had the numbers wrong. I unhooked, and he hooked up and took off! Dispatch told me where to find an empty, and we headed out. Then the fun started.


We still needed too get some fuel filters changed that we were told about during our Con-way run. THAT wasn't going to happen while we were under such a tight schedule. Now we had the afternoon to take care of it. It was about noon when we finished at UPS and we had a schedule pick up for 7am on the north side of Dallas. We located a a T/A about 12mi away and headed there. RoadService mentioned going to a Speedco at first for the filters, but then corrected because Speedco only does fluids/filters, not any work like the shock replacement. When we got to the T/A and called in for authorization for the work, we were told to go to Kenworth for the shock because it was under warrantee. So we stayed for the fuel filters, and oh by the way, get a lube job. Speedco is fast, 30min for this, in and out. We were at the T/A for 3hrs. Then over to Kenworth, only to find out they couldn't get to it that nite. They did call another Kenworth in North Dallas and made arrangements for us to go there, so back in the truck and trucked across Dallas again, all this during the 5-6:30 rush hours time. Luckily it was a holiday, so it was not too bad. At the next KW dealer, they got it in pretty quick and sent us up to the customer lounge. A little while later they called us for the truck. When we arrived at the service desk, he told us it was a false alarm, wan't ready yet. So back up to the lounge for another 45min. When we finally got called and got to the truck, the hood was open. I asked if they pulled error codes or what. The tech kinda sheepishly looked at me, and told me he made a mistake. He understood the front drive shock so he replaced the steer tire shock. The rear tires are called the drives. With a pair on each side, he was told to replace the FRONT drive tire shock. OOPS, that was the false alarm.

We finally made it to our yard in Lancaster for the nite about 9pm. My day started at 3, so I was a little tired. Had to get up at 4:15, to get a shower at the terminal, and head over to Grapevine, tx for a 7am pick-up. I wanted to leave by 5 to make sure were there by 6, no rush. No problem, got loaded and out of there by 6:30, and headed for Bell, Ca (LA area,,ugh). Should be in there early in morning time (5ish) so maybe it won't be too bad.

Already have a pre-plan to pick up at Fontana, Ca the next morning at 4am so we SHOULD have most of tommorow off and be able to get some extra rest. This is another Con-Way going back to Henderson, Co (Denver). After that we are headed to SLC. Should be home Friday for the weekend!

Till next time, keep it safe out there.



OH, BTW John, We have seen some "celebs" this trip on the way to California. Car haulers for Ryan Newman, Dale Jr, 6 car, someones coach pulling a truck with a decked out golf cart in the bed (flames, etc), and more coming along. We are on the trail from Daytona to Fontana, Ca for next weekend's race! :)