Gi-Gi Roxx - The Ravings of a Lunatic

I had a wonderful 4.5 days off work. But I was so ready to get back out on the road and see the country some more. Little did I know I was actually going to get to go westward! When I got to my truck on the 29th I had one message waiting for me on the Qualcomm apologizing for not having a load ready for me and another message instructing me to head up to Ohio to pick up an empty trailer and await further instruction. After I settled into the truck and sent N8 off to work, I hit the open road to Ohio. It was a nice trip and I made really good time and found the place pretty easily. But even after I got there and sent in the message confirming that I had the empty trailer, I sat empty handed waiting for a load assignment. After about 30 minutes my patience wore thin enough for me to use minutes to call and talk to my Dispatch Planner (DP) about getting a load. At first he was going to send me to our Seville terminal to pick up a relay load bound for Rhode Island. Not really what I was ho...

Let's see... I left off hauling a load to the Target DC in Tifton, GA. The delivery went well. The facility was easy enough to find and maneuver through, which always makes things much more pleasant. From there I dragged an empty trailer to swap out for a load at the Proctor & Gamble facility in Albany, GA. Taking a very beautiful scenic route on a very beautiful day along the way! The load was going to a grocery distribution center in Columbia, SC which I got "detoured" (my new term for LOST) in finding. After making two passes down the road I was supposed to turn off of to get to the facility, I figured my best move was to call the place and ask for a land mark or something since I couldn't locate a street sign with the name I was looking for. Turns out, the street sign was there, just not fully erected on the street so much as MOWED down by some horrible driver I'm sure. I finally arrived and made my delivery. Then I was off again! This time headed to Green...

Today was a very emotional day for me. In a good way... read on! This morning I woke up at 5:30 am to begin my day. By 6:15 I was leaving the Petro station I stayed at last night and was headed a block down the street to the Pilot station where I was assigned to get fuel. There I fueled up, grabbed a tall hot coffee and then set out for Brooklyn NY. I was a little nervous at first, as I've never really been IN the city of NY nor any of it's boroughs, save for passing through once before via the interstate. I was thinking of a million different things that might and could possibly go wrong once I had to exit the interstate on this trip. I may have to stop and slide my tandems all the way forward to help with tight maneuvers. I may get lost and spend hours trying to find my way to the facility. I may end up so focused on street signs or stop lights that I hit someone or otherwise get in an accident. The first leg of my trip wasn't too bad, fairly good traffic moving at a fair...

I've had a couple of you inquire about my personal MySpace account. I have moderated posts where some of you have posted a link to my MySpace account, which is set to private anyway so you can't view it unless you're on "the list". I hate to be this way, but I do need to inform you that my MySpace account is just that... personal . I have it for friends and family only. Anyone that I'd added that didn't match that description is no longer on "the list". I feel the need to do this simply because I do blog and bulletin some more personal information that I don't think the general public needs to have access to. Any thing I blog about related to my profession of driving a truck is blogged on here for all who are intersted to enjoy. I hope that you understand my desire to keep the rest of my life private. Thank you for your dedication and continued interest in reading about my life on the road. I hope to keep providing you with quality bl...

And that it would be in New Jersey? - Leela from the Futurama Episode "Hell is Other Robots". I delivered my load in Olive Branch, Mississippi after dodging the nasty weather. I picked up my next load in West Memphis at our Operations Center and headed east towards New Jersey. Thankfully I've been blessed with uneventful travel for the past few days. I left West Memphis and made it as far as Knoxville, TN. Stayed the night there, showered and got on the road and made it to Jessup, MD which is smack dab in the middle of DC and Baltimore. I love coming here... because I get to spend time with my dear friends Bob & Ashley. This trip I got to meet their adorable new addition... Baby Mason. He's so handsome! We went out for dinner then went back to their place to hang out, catch up and watch a movie. The movie played, but we gabbed more than anything which was peachy! I had a wonderful time and wish I could've felt comfortable leaving my truck over night ...

...I've seen them a couple of times in the past 5 days. I last blogged when I had a load to Lenexa (Kansas City) Kansas. I made that drop and was loaded up with a new load headed towards Ohio. I picked up the load in Excelsior Springs, Missouri and headed east and north towards Lima, Ohio. On my way, I was listening to the FM radio, tuned into one of the local Kansas stations when the dreaded alert sounded and "important information" followed over the airwaves. A storm capable of producing heavy rains, winds, hail and even a possible tornado was on my tail. Literally... I was just a mere 30-45 minutes ahead of the storm. I passed through towns which I would later hear about on the radio as sites for funnel clouds and damaging storm winds and hail. Talk about dodging a bullet.... shew! The rains didn't stay behind me for long and by the time I stopped for the night I had been pounded with rain for at least 3 hours.... which was only the beginning. The storm th...

After a nasty bout of whatever the heck it was that decided to try and ruin my New Year, I'm finally back at'em and on the road. When I left Charleston on Friday the 4th, I headed to Sissonville to pick up a load which would take me to Pontiac, Michigan that night. I love the feeling of accomplishment when I can pick up AND deliver a load all in the same day. And that is exactly what I had to do with the load I picked up on my way outta town. It was exhausting, exciting and in the end a little frustrating, but I succeeded. I also ended up learning about a new way to park my rig that I never learned in training... thanks to the sweet yard jockey at my point of delivery. He didn't have to help me out, but he did. Pehraps another shining example of how being female has its advantages?? I was fortunate enough to have already received my next load assignment before I got to my delivery point that night. After I dropped my load, I grabbed an empty trailer and headed a litt...