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Showing posts from October, 2007

Those Blasted Tires...

Okay, so I have to admit Canada wasn't that bad this last time around. I found myself begging for Canada or hell... even Ohio after this last couple of days. Yes... even Ohio! I was assigned a load out of Elkton, MD after making my Canadian delivery down near Baltimore the other day. So after I dropped that load I hit the road north bound for Elkton on I-95. It was relatively easy to get there and I found the shipper fairly quickly that evening. I get there and there is a sign, as with most places, for drivers to check in with the security office before going through the gate. So I park my rig, gather up all of my information and head over to the guard shack. So I go in and there is another driver ahead of me so I wait patiently. When it's my turn I give the guard my pick-up number and Bill of Lading number for the shipment I'm supposed to get and he can't find any record of it. Of course, this prompts him to go into the office area of the building and get another perso

Oh, Canada... Part Deux

So I was given a load assigment to pick up a load of hay bales in Cobden, Ontario. Okay... not bad. It was good milage and a great chance to see more of the Canadian country side. So I headed up that way and stopped for the night at a really nice truck stop. The next morning, refreshed and ready to go, I headed out to make the rest of the way to the "shipper" to get my load as scheduled. I had a 10am appointment. I arrived at the "shipper" 15 minutes early. The "shipper" was at a private farm residence on a single lane country DIRT road. I honked the horn to let them know I was there... but no one came out to greet me as I sat in the middle of the single lane dirt road with my flashers on. I waited a few minutes then went up to knock on the front door. No one was home. Except for the sweet yellow labrador who seemed entirely too happy to see a human around there. So I went back out to my truck, which is still sitting in the middle of a single lane dirt roa

Oh, Canada!

Dear Canada, Bonjour! You know you always keep me too long. I had planned on staying with you this time for maybe two days, not four. But I do appreciate all of the beautiful things you showed me this trip. The fall colors are just splendid this time of year, aren't they? And the folks in Montreal, even though they barely (if at all) spoke English, treated me much better than those horrible folks in Toronto. Quebec and Ottawa were both lovely too. And I had the pleasure of learning how to read some French, thanks to the fact that you mark everything in French with absolutely NO English translation. Merci! I also got a lot of good laughs out of you this trip, Canada dear. The signs along your highways and by-ways always crack me up. Like the night danger signs for the deer and moose. That crazy stalking moose looks like he's ready to just meader out in front of your car or truck and then look at you, daring you to keep rolling! hahaha Not to mention the leaping deer s

Gi-Gi is no longer MIA

Sorry folks, I've been blogging away over on MySpace and had totally forgotten about my dear readers here on Blogger. My sincerest apologies! I'm mobile these days with a laptop which makes life much easier. However, I've had to try to remember all of my old "hotspots" on the net which has been most difficult. I didn't realize that taking a two month haitus would erase my online memory! So Ive posted copies of my MySpace blog over here over for your enjoyment. They are all back dated starting around September 20th. There's not been a whole lot of them but please enjoy and feel free to leave comments. And from here on out I promise to update with what I've got over on my other blog and then keep it updated for all of you to enjoy! Thanks for your patience and your inquiries as to my whereabouts! It's nice to know folks find my words interesting enough to want more! hehe Toodles for now!

Tales from the Road

October 12, 2007 - Friday Ok, some of you have asked me to tell a funny story from the road. So here goes. I'd suggest that if you're drinking anything you don't want coming through your nostrils.... finish it and/or set it aside for a few moments. Ok so I was driving happily along somewhere in the mid-west a few weeks ago. Enjoying the sunshine and the tunes on my MP3 player. I was jammin' out and singing along having a grand ol' time when I noticed that another "big truck" was attempting to pass me on the left in the fast lane (aka the hammer lane). I had my cruise control set at max, which for a solo Schnieder driver is 64 mph. I wasn't backing off or speeding up to mess with the guy like some other drivers would have done. I kept the pace and figured he'd pass when he was good and ready. I just continued to drive and scan my mirrors and sign along to my tunes. I noticed during my driver side mirror scan that the passing truck was closin

Corn Dog Conundrum

October 3, 2007 - Wednesday at least I think I spelled that right.... but anywho. So I arrived at a Pilot station in Ohio to take my 10hr. DOT required break and had the hunger pangs from hell kicking the crap out of my stomach. So I wandered into the station in search of some grubbage. There is an Arby's at this Pilot, but I wasn't really in the mood for over priced food. So I sought out the hot eats section of the actual Pilot. They generally have hot dogs and sausages and some sort of rolled up mexican thing.... but I got the score on the last two corn dogs in the joint! woo hoo! You see, I've always loved corn dogs and I can never pass them up when I see them somewhere. They're probably one of my most favorite foods, pizza will always be number one though. But as I was devouring said corn dogs I got to thinking... what is it about the corn dog that I truly like? I mean it's just a hot dog wiener wrapped in cornmeal and deep fried on a stick. Pretty simpl

Whew...

October 1, 2007 - Monday October 1, 2007 - Monday So I made my delivery in Zanesville Ohio last week, I also made a pick up down the road from there in New Concord. It was a quick trip down memory lane as I drove down the road we used to take to go visit out dear friends Levi & Missy. It's a shame they moved away... first to Florida and then to Arizona... I could've had breakfast with them! But alas... my time was spent working hard and driving like mad to get south. The load I picked up in New Concord was to take me to Richmond Virginia in two days time. So my overnight break had to come somewhere in between. My route was to take I-64 through WV... soooo... *ahem* I made a stop over to see my baby. And his family as luck would have it. You see he was actually staying at his dad's place for most of last week and the weekend so I met up with his dad's girlfriend, Suzanne at the truckstop where I parked and had a nice evening at their house. It was great, th