Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from Omaha, Nebraska!!

Slow Start To Get A Good Load

My week started out slow as I had to wait 2 extra days at "home" to get my windshield replaced, and even after that I couldnt get a load so I drove 150 miles to be a stand-by driver. For the last 2 days my loads were short 150 mile runs till today. I got a good load that picks up tomorrow morning at 7am going to California. I have more time than I need to make the run so I will try to deliver early.

Rollin

I hope you all had a good x-mas, mine was ok even though I couldnt spend it with who I wanted, but now it is back to work.

Last Run Before X-Mas!

Well I delivered my load in Cincinnati, OH early this morning at 5am. It took the lumpers 4 hours to get me unloaded. This is usual with grocery wharehouses and one of the reasons I hate loads like those. I reloaded 20 miles away headed for Appleton, WI. Then I will head to the terminal so I can have some repairs made durring my time off.

Finally There

1999 miles later I am at my delivery point in La Crosse, WI being unloaded.

Road Debris

The other night while driving down I-10W in LA a dump truck lost pat of his load on the freeway dumping several basketball sized rocks on the freeway. While I was able to avoid nearly all of them, there was one I couldn't avoid without taking out a car. It hit the underside of my truck and a quick check it didn't appear that it did any damage. However, during my post trip inspection I was able to get a good and through look at things. The large rock and severely dented the bottom backside of my left fuel tank, but that was all the damage. Yesterday morning during my pretrip I noticed that the pavement was wet under the tank and that I had a fuel leak.

It took about 5 hours at a repair shop to get a patch welded on the tank. I then delivered my load and picked up my next load going to La Crosse, WI. Right now I am in Las Vegas, NV. I am very tight on hours for today and tomorrow and can't really do much till Sunday when I get some decent hours back.

On the personal front, I still have not heard anything from Stephanie but I did catch her mom at the old house and found out that she had talked to her earlier that day. So at least I know she is ok. I get worried as she is alone and her nearest neighbor is nearly 1mile away, and it is unlike her to not reply in any form or fashion. However, over the past few months I am not sure what that means anymore as nearly everything she has been doing and acting is totally out of character. I just hope her recent abrupt change in behavior and attitude is because of me and that she is not back doing drugs again. I knew that I may have to accept the fact that we were never going to work things out and I knew the more time that went by the chance of that was less and less. However, I never considered the fact that we wouldn't remain friends, and stay in touch. I guess that is just one more thing I have to add to the list, and it is very sad.

Good But Not Great

I am currently in Barstow, CA about 3 hours away from my customer that I will deliver to in the morning. But my next load is not heading north like I had hoped, but it is a good load. I will load in LA and take that load to La Cross, WI a 1900+ mile run.

As some of you have noticed, I have turned on the comment feature again, using bloggers new moderate tool to prevent the unfortunate event that lead me to turn it off in the first place. You might not see your comment right away as I have to approve them when I can access the internet. But if you leave a comment, please put your name. Someone left a comment as anonymous but didn't put a name so I had to reject it. There was nothing wrong with the comment and I would have posted it and replied to it if there was a name to go with it.

Catching Up

The past week has been a bit hectic, and it all started on Friday. Friday night I had a run from Milwaukee, WI to Minneapolis, MN that was just pure hell. It was grocery store run, that started bad, went like crap, and I was thankful was over. After that on Saturday I got the load I am currently under, Neenha, WI to Belmont, AZ that I will be delivering in the morning. I am already pre-planned for my load tomorrow, where I will load the same place I deliver to and take that load to La Puente, CA. Depending on where I go from there I might be able to pop in and see my folks.

Things between Stephanie and I seem to be going steadily down hill. It currently appears that she is no longer speaking to me, I have sent her an email asking her if that is the new status of things. It wouldn't surprise me, I am sure her "friends" have convinced her that it is a bad idea to have ANYTHING to do with me. But it is out of my hands, I am just going with the flow where ever it leads and I am not going to fight it anymore. The opinion of her "friend" (read ex-that she was with in Reno) has far more meaning than the person she spent the last 12 years with, so that tells where I stand in the grand scheme of things. I have a pretty good idea of where this is all going, but I will keep the conjecture to myself, I have been known to be incorrect once or twice, but rarely am I ever wrong. Who knows, will just have to wait and see.

Back To Work

First load is for Roundys foods with 3 stops in MN. Have been waiting for my load for about 2 hours.

Christmas Is Coming

I used a little of my time off to do a little X-mas shopping. My next break from work won't be until the 23rd of December so I am trying to get a slight jump on things now. Yesterday my friend and I went and got a X-Mas tree and will decorate it tonight. That will be nice. I am heading back on the road tomorrow morning, don't have a pre-load yet but I am sure one will be coming soon.

Short Break

I am taking 2 days off and gearing up to head back out on friday. I needed to do laundry, cheaper here at my friends.

Off Road Fury!

Had a interesting day. After delivering my load in LA, I had to pickup another load in Baton Rouge. When I left the customer I was following the signs to get on I-10 East when I ran into a weight restricted road of 7.5 tons while I was weighing in at about 38 ton and an impossible left hand turn!! WTF!! No warning, no signs, nothing. The only way to go was to back up about 1 mile on a busy 2 lane road, not an option. So I called the Louisiana State police for help, there answer (as this is a common problem according to them) was to drive over the median going behind the stop and go light pole, and continue on. So that is just what I did, gave the people sitting on their front porch a good show. Quite an adventure. Right now I am at a TA truck stop in Bloomington, IL. My load is going to Appleton, WI about 5 hours away, but it doesn't have to be there till Tuesday late afternoon. Depending on how things go, I might make a visit to Fox Valley and say HI if I have time.

On the personal side of things, dealings with Stephanie are not going very well. Apparently her little friends have convinced her that I am a psycho and that she should under no circumstances ever be alone with me, for her own safety of course. This new revelation just blows my fucking mind!! I have never raised a hand to any woman, and rarely even raised my voice to Stephanie in the 12 years we were together, but now I guess I am some kind of card carring member of the Wife Beaters Club. So now I am kinda pissed, I never got my membership card or the monthly newsletter!

Long Day

709 miles today, long day but at customer for tomorrow, and already have my next load, San Antonio, TX to Louisiana.