Go Forward Young Man,.......Fuck!

They say bad things always happen in 3's, well I hope so at this point. Early yesterday morning, I was backing out of a parking stall at a truckstop, I could see that I wasn't going to be able to backup far enough with the trucks that were packed alongside the fuel island. Just as I leaned forward to put my truck back in drive, my damn foot slipped off the clutch. Even with the brakes applied, my truck lurched backwards about a foot, which just so happens to have been about 4 inches more than I had room between the back of my trailer and the frontend of one of the parked trucks. This accident didn't do any damage to my trailer, but did a fair amount of cosmetic damage to the hood and bumper of the truck I hit.

So far I have had a total of 3 incidents. 1)I avoided a truck that would have hit me head on, and got stuck in mud. 2)Knocked down a mailbox trying to maneuver in dense fog. 3)A backing accident.

While everyone tells me these things happen, and that these are freak events, I am not very pleased with myself. Now I have to wonder if I will still have a job in a few weeks. I am not sure how the company handles an accident. With some companies, your first is your last, no matter how large or small. I will be talking with my dispatcher in few mins., so I hopefully can find out just how screwed I am.

Hello Cali I Am Back!

While I have had to fight mother nature nearly the whole way out here, I have arrived. As much as I love Cali, as truck driver it is maddening. There so little parking, 55 mph speed limit, and heavy traffic it wears you out quick. I have stopped in Lodi where I will catch a nap and head the remaining 3 hours to my first of 3 stops for tomorrow. After all my deliveries I will spend some time with my folks.

Windy!

Shut down just across the Nebraska state lind last night. Hope there is less wind today, yesterday was bad.

More BS!

Got a load going to CA where I will be taking 2 or 3 days off. Truck is still screwed up and company refuses to fix it.

Screwed

So much for getting my truck replaced, dispatchers boss had a bad day so he cant do his job, means no replacement truck

Damn Murphy!

With only 200 miles to go to make my delivery, this truck blows oil everywhere. I am getting it fixed and cleaned.

If Only Everyday Was As Good As Yesterday!

Yesterday was a great day! I was able to make both my deliveries on time and was able to have dinner with Stephanie. Wish I could do that every night. On that subject a reader emailed asking if anything has improved between Stephanie and I. To be honest I am not sure. I think the more we talk the better we understand each other, and I hope she sees how comitted I am. Will it change anything? I dont know, but I hope it does. Today I transfered trucks, and picked up a load in Vancouver, WA going to St. Paul, MN. After that I will head to the WI terminal where I get my truck and get a load going to CA where I will take 2 or 3 days off visiting my parents and sister.

What Is Important?

I am currntly in Gillette, WY where I have run out of hours till midnight. I am on my way to Washington to deliver with 2 stops. I am also delivering this truck to a regional driver and bringing his old truck back. I am getting my truck replaced with a '03 Freightliner. Maybe this truck will spend less time in the shop and more time making me money. However this deal has brought to light something that may make me leave deBoer after I get a year in. When I signed up I was told I would be able to get a double bunk sleeper so I could take a ridder out with me after 3 months. This was a flat out lie apparently as I was informed today that I would NEVER get a double sleeper unless I was a trainer. So I will have to think about this upsetting development and decide how important it is to me.

Awe Fuck!

Had a bad day in louisiana, got lost in the fogand hit a mailbox trying to turn arround.

The Wheels On My Truck Go Round And Round...

...Sometimes! I picked up a new in Fort Worth, TX going to Louisania. I made a quick stop at a TA truck stop to scale my 42,400 lb load and was 180 lbs over on my trailer tandums. Got that sorted and headed out. About 1 minute after getting back on I-20 east a driver for Dart yelled to me on the CB that my trailer was smoking and on fire! I quickly pulled over as did the Dart driver, we both grabbed our fire extingushers and put out the fire. The cause, a wheel bering on my right rear tandum failed and the brake shoes were dragging as the whole wheel was coming off the axle. A big thank you to that Dart driver for his assistance! Now I am sitting at our Cedar Hill terminal where I have to wait till morning to get repairs.

Repairs

Had to pull into a TA for a temporary repair, durring my pretrip inspection the whole oil dipstick asembley broke off!

Crap!

Spent the day with with my folks and sister which was nice. Today started bad, got my truck stuck and had to get towed out.

R & R If I Want It Or Not

I got to Lodi, CA about 4pm today and had to fight for a parking spot. To my dismay the earliest delivery appointment I could get was for the 5th at 8am. So with all this time on my hands I called my folks who only live 30 mins away. They came out to the truck stop, we had a nice dinner. They gave me an early birthday present too, an electric cooler that can also heat things as well upto 130 degrees! It is a little on the small side but with the limited amount of room in my truck it will work out great. Now I will be able to make some sandwitches to take on the road with me instead of spending so much money on the road for dinners. I hope I will be able to cut my food expenses by as much as 1/3rd (about $66 a week)!

This run was a little trying as I played hop-scotch with the mountain passes and the snowy weather, but I made decent time. I decided to go spend the night at my parents house tonight and will go back to my truck tomorrow afternoon. Even though I have only been out a little over a week, it is always nice to get away from the truck even if only for a night. My sister has the day off of work tomorrow as well so it will be nice to spend some time with her, as we rarely get a chance to.

Things with Stephanie and I really haven't changed much, unfortunately. Contact is pretty much nill with the exception of a quick text message here and there, but she told me she fried the battery on her phone. I don't no anymore, I think about her all the time, and I still miss her dearly. A simple text message from her makes me all goofy like a school kid with a bad crush. But as hard as I try, I seem unable to stop it. So as the saying goes, if you can't change it, roll with it and hope for the best.

A Day Too Soon

After playing duck and dodge with snow I made it to CA. But I cant deliver till Thursday.

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.