What a trip!
To start my long, arduous journey out of California, I was dispatched to pick up a load in Santa Fe Springs, CA. I aquired the load and headed northeastward into the great state of Nevada. It wasn't much, but it started the trip east/homeward bound out on a good, 500 mile step. The load was bound for Wal-Mart shelves as I delivered general merchandise to the greater Reno area's Distribution Center. Bah... I hate contributing.... but it's my job.
After delivering that load I was dispatched to find an empty trailer at a drop lot in Sparks, NV. After a little ado with my Qualcomm going screwy and not realizing that the place I was at had an actual drop lot, I found the trailer and headed further east to pick up a load in Lovelock, NV.
It should have been a simple drop and hook, but I should know full well by now that NOTHING is ever going to be as simple as it seems. I arrived at the shippers location, which was fluidly easy to find and checked in with the shipping office. They had me sign the paperwork, handed me my copies and told me where to find the trailer. So I dropped my empty in the empty lot and headed over to get the loaded trailer.
Being the professional driver that I was trained to be, I backed up to, but not under the trailer, and proceeded to get out and do a pre-trip inspection on the trailer. I'd grabbed my gloves and my hammer (for thumping the tires) and got to it. Everything was looking fine and dandy on the drivers' side of the trailer. It seemed like it was actually in really good condition. I checked the doors, verified that the seal number on the doors matched the number listed on my paperwork and made my way around to the passenger side of the trailer.
It was there that I'd discovered that the trailer would NOT be going anywhere that night. The rear outside tire on that side was shredded to bits, barely any rubber left on the rim at all actually. In a slight bit of aggrivation I tossed my gloves and hammer back into my truck and marched back into the shipping office.
I told them about the tire and that I was refusing to pull the load anywhere at all with my truck. I informed them nicely that I could call my company and have them send someone to fix the tire, but that the trailer and myself in my truck would therefore have to stay on their property all night. Of course, I also informed that that I'd just brought in a perfectly safe and legal and undamaged trailer that was empty.
After excusing himself to have a discussion with the guys on duty on the docks that night, the shipping clerk came back to ask me to pull the empty trailer up to a dock out back and they would pull the damaged trailer over and transfer all of the freight into the empty I'd brought with me.
Of course, my part was quick and easy and I was done doing my share of the work in less than 20 minutes. Their bit, on the other hand, took hours... I believe it was 2.5 hours actually. But they reloaded me, were very apologetic about the delay and treated me very nicely. Some other places might not have even agreed to have done what they did... but it was officially their call and I was glad that they'd made the choice they did.
When I was all loaded up I hit the road and stayed the night at a truck stop / casino where I promptly lost $6 in the Wheel of Fortune (my ass) slot machine and then passed out from exhaustion.
The next morning I got an early start so I could make it into Wyoming by dark. My plan was nearly 600 miles, which is doable, but tiring. The trip started well enough. I truly enjoyed Nevada countryside and all of the lovely things I got to see along the way. I was making darn good time and was coming up on Utah almost ahead of schedule.
Of course, when I crossed the border I hadn't a clue how much time Utah was going to want to spend with me. I made it just about 800 feet short of the 3 Mile Marker when one of my trailer tires had a major blowout and started shredding away instantly. I slowed down and started pulling to the shoulder, and finally stopped close to 50 feet short of the 3 Mile Marker with flashers on and my head reeling.
Seriously... it was just ironic as hell that this would happen after all the hubbub of refusing the trailer with a blown tire the night before! haha Just my luck... but honestly, it saved my ass in the end that day. I put out my emergency triangles and then calling into Schenider Emergency Maintenance to get roadside assistance. I sat on hold longer than it took the guy they dispatched to get to my truck. *snort* Go figure! I ended up spending about 2 hours on the side of the road all together, which was quicker than I dreamed it would take.
Spending that two hours sitting there, however, put me seriously behind schedule. I had to make good time as I had a very specific deadline for my delivery in Tennessee that I didn't want to screw up. And two hours is not much, unless you're on a really tight schedule. As I drove on down the interstate I had decided that I would go ahead and eat the two hours by driving two hours later in the day that scheduled to make up for my lost time.
That was not in the stars however, as I grew closer to Salt Lake City and started seeing the signs saying that I-80 just inside of Wyoming was closed. Crap! I called the 5-1-1 interstate info line and learned that most of I-80 through Wyoming was closed down to thanks to ice and snow and strong blowing winds. My best bet was to stop and take my break when I found a truck stop and then see what the next day would bring.
I was thankful that I found a good truck stop just east of Salt Lake City and that I was able to sleep though the night without staying awake worrying toooo much about what the next day might bring. I knew I would run into nasty winter weather somewhere along I-80... after all it IS winter. But I had kinda hoped that I'd get lucky and have a smooth sail across the country. *psssttttt* Whatever... But I can dream!
The next morning I woke up refreshed and ready to roll. I grabbed a shower and a huge hot cup of coffee (huge mistake, you'll learn why shortly) and called the 5-1-1 to get the interstate info for Wyoming. Everything was open, but they were still advising caution for frequent icy spots and blowing snow. Ok...that I could handle. The road was open... how bad could it be?
I started out and still had a ways to go still in Utah, which was peachy keen as far as driving conditions went. I closed in on the Wyoming border and thought aloud to myself, "Hey, this isn't so bad... they must've just been being overly cautious when making those messages for the 5-1-1."
However, that assessment on my part would be dead wrong. It wasn't too far into Wyoming that it started to get really bad. The interstate for many, many miles was nothing but a solid sheet of ice. Traffic, miles upon miles of trucks and cars, inched along at a snails pace, rarely breaking 15 MPH. I left Salt Lake City and I stopped for fuel at exit 107 in Wyoming (just under 150 miles I think it was) and it took me over four hours to go from point A to pointn B. Twice the regular amount of time it would take to drive in normal conditions. It was nuts, and during that four hours, there was not one single safe place for me to stop to relieve myself of the genius 24 oz. coffee that just that morning had felt like a good decision.
I was also thankful that I had decided before I left Salt Lake City to fill up my fuel tanks. I was sitting on half, but thought that being full would be a good idea if they had to shut down the interstate for whatever reason and I needed the fuel to idle and stay warm over night. By the time I got to my fuel stop in Wyoming I was back down to half tanks and still had a long ways to go before my next scheduled fuel stop in Nebraska.
I fueled and got back to it. The rest of the drive wasn't as bad, once past Rock Springs, WY the roads were just spotty patchy ice but mostly dry. The worst part of it was the winds in some spots. Gusting upwards of 70 MPH, which is rough! I made it as far as I'd preplanned I would, just to the east of Cheyenne. The next morning it was out of Wyoming and into Nebraska.... good lord I loved the eastern side of Nebraska when I lived there. But I never knew how much the western side would make me want to stick a fork in my eye. It was BORING as hell!
But I surived and the weather cooperated and the roads were mostly good. The worst part of the roads were the stretches that nearly beat your brains out from being so rough. Other than that... a days worth of driving across one state couldn't have been better.
I made it into and out of Omaha, waving at the Zoo as I passed and into Iowa where I caught I-20 South into Missouri. I stayed the night at a really nice little truck stop where the food was hot and tasty and the showers were, get this.. FREE! I always like the sound of that! And it was actually THE single best shower I've had YET in a truck stop. Great shower head, huge private room with all the amenities. It was great!
It was also VERY cold there that night and for the first time in a while I had to idle my truck all night to keep the engine from siezing up and the fuel from freezing/gelling up. My thermometer said it was 4 degrees out, but the winds were howling making the wind chill certainly well below zero.
I woke up early and made my way further south and then east through Missouri on I-70 and picking up I-64 East to I-57 South and finally hitting I-24 East. The last few miles of I-57 and pretty much all of I-24 into Kentucky was horrible. It was snowing, sleeting, the winds were savage and it was all sticking to everything very fast. My windshield wipers became swishing icicles and every drop of precipiation that hit my truck instantly turned to ice. At one point in the trip I had my defrosters on full blast and the air outside was in the single digits and I hit a bump in the road which caused my drivers' side windshield to succumb to the elements and cracked from the bottom left hand corner in a diagonal pattern stright into my line of view. It sucked. The roads were really bad in some spots, not so bad in others and down right hairy in others. It was stressful, but once more... I survived. I stopped for the night in Paducah, KY and enjoyed a night of sweet slumber before getting up and heading the rest of the way to my destination in Greeville, TN.
The last leg of my trip went pretty well. I found the place I was told to go to, even though I was then instructed to go to their other facility down the street to make my actual delivery. I was expecting a five hour live unload of the goods I'd just drdiven through hell and high winds over 2300 miles, and was surprised to be done in less than 30 minutes. I headed over to a local truck stop for the night and spent about an hour trying to scarf down a half rack of ribs which kicked my ass and laughed at me all the way out the door, shirt stains and all. I then proceeded to read, in one sitting, James Patterson's "The Quickie".
I passed out and enjoyed a nice night of peaceful sleep.
The following morning I woke up and headed up to London, KY where I was told to go to get my windsheild replaced and ended up in a hotel for the night eating popcorn and fruit snacks for supper. I enjoyed free wi-fi and wanted so badly to blog that night, but just didn't have the frame of mind to do so. I ended up spending the entire evening playing around and goofing off online and then sleeping in a nice queen size bed all by myself. A luxury that is usually reserved for home with another human being with a habit of stealing covers and hogging the bed.
After a rather restful night at the hotel I made it back to my truck and her shiny new windshield and awaited dispatch for a load. I ended up with a load almost identical to the load I had going home last time. Down to Jefferson City's John Deere Distribution Center that is bound for Canada. But I only took it as far as Columbus, OH.
On my way to Columbus I started receiving a new load assignment on my Qualcomm. I was a little perturbed by this since I was hoping to get dispatched to head straight home after I made the drop. I was annoyed enough to pull over at the first rest area I found and call in to ask why I was getting a new load assignment.
They explained that they needed me to pick up a load in Columbus and relay it to the terminal before they could let me go home. Apparently they just didn't have enough available drivers in the area to pick up the freight that the shippers needed moved out. So, I let them know I wasn't thrilled about it, but that I would do it. I saved them and they agreed to pre-dispatch me to go home as soon as I was done with the short haul load.
I did my good deed for the day and was on my way home by early evening. However, I was running low on hours and on energy so I stopped just south of Columbus for the night, so I would have a good nites rest for the rest of the drive home.
This morning, I woke up and headed home finally! 19 days out and I get two full days off (three if you count most of today!). I'm glad to be home. I'll blog more later folks! Right now, I'm off to relax and hang out with my sweetie!
After delivering that load I was dispatched to find an empty trailer at a drop lot in Sparks, NV. After a little ado with my Qualcomm going screwy and not realizing that the place I was at had an actual drop lot, I found the trailer and headed further east to pick up a load in Lovelock, NV.
It should have been a simple drop and hook, but I should know full well by now that NOTHING is ever going to be as simple as it seems. I arrived at the shippers location, which was fluidly easy to find and checked in with the shipping office. They had me sign the paperwork, handed me my copies and told me where to find the trailer. So I dropped my empty in the empty lot and headed over to get the loaded trailer.
Being the professional driver that I was trained to be, I backed up to, but not under the trailer, and proceeded to get out and do a pre-trip inspection on the trailer. I'd grabbed my gloves and my hammer (for thumping the tires) and got to it. Everything was looking fine and dandy on the drivers' side of the trailer. It seemed like it was actually in really good condition. I checked the doors, verified that the seal number on the doors matched the number listed on my paperwork and made my way around to the passenger side of the trailer.
It was there that I'd discovered that the trailer would NOT be going anywhere that night. The rear outside tire on that side was shredded to bits, barely any rubber left on the rim at all actually. In a slight bit of aggrivation I tossed my gloves and hammer back into my truck and marched back into the shipping office.
I told them about the tire and that I was refusing to pull the load anywhere at all with my truck. I informed them nicely that I could call my company and have them send someone to fix the tire, but that the trailer and myself in my truck would therefore have to stay on their property all night. Of course, I also informed that that I'd just brought in a perfectly safe and legal and undamaged trailer that was empty.
After excusing himself to have a discussion with the guys on duty on the docks that night, the shipping clerk came back to ask me to pull the empty trailer up to a dock out back and they would pull the damaged trailer over and transfer all of the freight into the empty I'd brought with me.
Of course, my part was quick and easy and I was done doing my share of the work in less than 20 minutes. Their bit, on the other hand, took hours... I believe it was 2.5 hours actually. But they reloaded me, were very apologetic about the delay and treated me very nicely. Some other places might not have even agreed to have done what they did... but it was officially their call and I was glad that they'd made the choice they did.
When I was all loaded up I hit the road and stayed the night at a truck stop / casino where I promptly lost $6 in the Wheel of Fortune (my ass) slot machine and then passed out from exhaustion.
The next morning I got an early start so I could make it into Wyoming by dark. My plan was nearly 600 miles, which is doable, but tiring. The trip started well enough. I truly enjoyed Nevada countryside and all of the lovely things I got to see along the way. I was making darn good time and was coming up on Utah almost ahead of schedule.
Of course, when I crossed the border I hadn't a clue how much time Utah was going to want to spend with me. I made it just about 800 feet short of the 3 Mile Marker when one of my trailer tires had a major blowout and started shredding away instantly. I slowed down and started pulling to the shoulder, and finally stopped close to 50 feet short of the 3 Mile Marker with flashers on and my head reeling.
Seriously... it was just ironic as hell that this would happen after all the hubbub of refusing the trailer with a blown tire the night before! haha Just my luck... but honestly, it saved my ass in the end that day. I put out my emergency triangles and then calling into Schenider Emergency Maintenance to get roadside assistance. I sat on hold longer than it took the guy they dispatched to get to my truck. *snort* Go figure! I ended up spending about 2 hours on the side of the road all together, which was quicker than I dreamed it would take.
Spending that two hours sitting there, however, put me seriously behind schedule. I had to make good time as I had a very specific deadline for my delivery in Tennessee that I didn't want to screw up. And two hours is not much, unless you're on a really tight schedule. As I drove on down the interstate I had decided that I would go ahead and eat the two hours by driving two hours later in the day that scheduled to make up for my lost time.
That was not in the stars however, as I grew closer to Salt Lake City and started seeing the signs saying that I-80 just inside of Wyoming was closed. Crap! I called the 5-1-1 interstate info line and learned that most of I-80 through Wyoming was closed down to thanks to ice and snow and strong blowing winds. My best bet was to stop and take my break when I found a truck stop and then see what the next day would bring.
I was thankful that I found a good truck stop just east of Salt Lake City and that I was able to sleep though the night without staying awake worrying toooo much about what the next day might bring. I knew I would run into nasty winter weather somewhere along I-80... after all it IS winter. But I had kinda hoped that I'd get lucky and have a smooth sail across the country. *psssttttt* Whatever... But I can dream!
The next morning I woke up refreshed and ready to roll. I grabbed a shower and a huge hot cup of coffee (huge mistake, you'll learn why shortly) and called the 5-1-1 to get the interstate info for Wyoming. Everything was open, but they were still advising caution for frequent icy spots and blowing snow. Ok...that I could handle. The road was open... how bad could it be?
I started out and still had a ways to go still in Utah, which was peachy keen as far as driving conditions went. I closed in on the Wyoming border and thought aloud to myself, "Hey, this isn't so bad... they must've just been being overly cautious when making those messages for the 5-1-1."
However, that assessment on my part would be dead wrong. It wasn't too far into Wyoming that it started to get really bad. The interstate for many, many miles was nothing but a solid sheet of ice. Traffic, miles upon miles of trucks and cars, inched along at a snails pace, rarely breaking 15 MPH. I left Salt Lake City and I stopped for fuel at exit 107 in Wyoming (just under 150 miles I think it was) and it took me over four hours to go from point A to pointn B. Twice the regular amount of time it would take to drive in normal conditions. It was nuts, and during that four hours, there was not one single safe place for me to stop to relieve myself of the genius 24 oz. coffee that just that morning had felt like a good decision.
I was also thankful that I had decided before I left Salt Lake City to fill up my fuel tanks. I was sitting on half, but thought that being full would be a good idea if they had to shut down the interstate for whatever reason and I needed the fuel to idle and stay warm over night. By the time I got to my fuel stop in Wyoming I was back down to half tanks and still had a long ways to go before my next scheduled fuel stop in Nebraska.
I fueled and got back to it. The rest of the drive wasn't as bad, once past Rock Springs, WY the roads were just spotty patchy ice but mostly dry. The worst part of it was the winds in some spots. Gusting upwards of 70 MPH, which is rough! I made it as far as I'd preplanned I would, just to the east of Cheyenne. The next morning it was out of Wyoming and into Nebraska.... good lord I loved the eastern side of Nebraska when I lived there. But I never knew how much the western side would make me want to stick a fork in my eye. It was BORING as hell!
But I surived and the weather cooperated and the roads were mostly good. The worst part of the roads were the stretches that nearly beat your brains out from being so rough. Other than that... a days worth of driving across one state couldn't have been better.
I made it into and out of Omaha, waving at the Zoo as I passed and into Iowa where I caught I-20 South into Missouri. I stayed the night at a really nice little truck stop where the food was hot and tasty and the showers were, get this.. FREE! I always like the sound of that! And it was actually THE single best shower I've had YET in a truck stop. Great shower head, huge private room with all the amenities. It was great!
It was also VERY cold there that night and for the first time in a while I had to idle my truck all night to keep the engine from siezing up and the fuel from freezing/gelling up. My thermometer said it was 4 degrees out, but the winds were howling making the wind chill certainly well below zero.
I woke up early and made my way further south and then east through Missouri on I-70 and picking up I-64 East to I-57 South and finally hitting I-24 East. The last few miles of I-57 and pretty much all of I-24 into Kentucky was horrible. It was snowing, sleeting, the winds were savage and it was all sticking to everything very fast. My windshield wipers became swishing icicles and every drop of precipiation that hit my truck instantly turned to ice. At one point in the trip I had my defrosters on full blast and the air outside was in the single digits and I hit a bump in the road which caused my drivers' side windshield to succumb to the elements and cracked from the bottom left hand corner in a diagonal pattern stright into my line of view. It sucked. The roads were really bad in some spots, not so bad in others and down right hairy in others. It was stressful, but once more... I survived. I stopped for the night in Paducah, KY and enjoyed a night of sweet slumber before getting up and heading the rest of the way to my destination in Greeville, TN.
The last leg of my trip went pretty well. I found the place I was told to go to, even though I was then instructed to go to their other facility down the street to make my actual delivery. I was expecting a five hour live unload of the goods I'd just drdiven through hell and high winds over 2300 miles, and was surprised to be done in less than 30 minutes. I headed over to a local truck stop for the night and spent about an hour trying to scarf down a half rack of ribs which kicked my ass and laughed at me all the way out the door, shirt stains and all. I then proceeded to read, in one sitting, James Patterson's "The Quickie".
I passed out and enjoyed a nice night of peaceful sleep.
The following morning I woke up and headed up to London, KY where I was told to go to get my windsheild replaced and ended up in a hotel for the night eating popcorn and fruit snacks for supper. I enjoyed free wi-fi and wanted so badly to blog that night, but just didn't have the frame of mind to do so. I ended up spending the entire evening playing around and goofing off online and then sleeping in a nice queen size bed all by myself. A luxury that is usually reserved for home with another human being with a habit of stealing covers and hogging the bed.
After a rather restful night at the hotel I made it back to my truck and her shiny new windshield and awaited dispatch for a load. I ended up with a load almost identical to the load I had going home last time. Down to Jefferson City's John Deere Distribution Center that is bound for Canada. But I only took it as far as Columbus, OH.
On my way to Columbus I started receiving a new load assignment on my Qualcomm. I was a little perturbed by this since I was hoping to get dispatched to head straight home after I made the drop. I was annoyed enough to pull over at the first rest area I found and call in to ask why I was getting a new load assignment.
They explained that they needed me to pick up a load in Columbus and relay it to the terminal before they could let me go home. Apparently they just didn't have enough available drivers in the area to pick up the freight that the shippers needed moved out. So, I let them know I wasn't thrilled about it, but that I would do it. I saved them and they agreed to pre-dispatch me to go home as soon as I was done with the short haul load.
I did my good deed for the day and was on my way home by early evening. However, I was running low on hours and on energy so I stopped just south of Columbus for the night, so I would have a good nites rest for the rest of the drive home.
This morning, I woke up and headed home finally! 19 days out and I get two full days off (three if you count most of today!). I'm glad to be home. I'll blog more later folks! Right now, I'm off to relax and hang out with my sweetie!
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