Keep On Trucking

Sorry for no posts lately, but when your busy, your busy. I mad my deliveries in Florida, and picked up another load in Georgia, took that load to Kentucky and swapped loads with another driver. Mine was going to Wisconsin and his was going to Texas. Why swap? More miles for me! After I delivered in Texas I picked up a load in Arkansaw and brought it up to Menominee, WI. I delivered that this morning, but I am out of hours till midnight.

But, there is no rest for the weary. At midnight I have to head out and pick up a "RED" load in Appleton, WI that has 2 stops in Texas. It is a "RED" load because my first stop is Thursday morning! That is about 1200+ miles in about 20 hours, with my final stop at about the 1500 mile mark but the final is in Laredo, TX Friday morning. This load will push my log book to the breaking point but the miles are too good to pass up.

Rolling Again

Got my load on Tuesday, Green Bay to Florida with 3 stops. First one is off, burning a little time for second.

Trying To Get Back To Work, Big news Update

One would think that after 4 days the shop could complete some basic repairs to my truck, A fuel leak in left tank (should take about 5 hours to fix), drivers side door latch (likes to lock me out of the truck), and a problem-matic transmission that on wednesday last week refused to go into 4th or 9th gear to the point I had to manually skip shift to limp back to the terminal. Ok, the last item is not so simple I agree, so you would think that the shop knowing that these repairs could be extensive would get the truck in as soon as possible. Not our shop, they didn't even touch it till early this morning. So I don't have my truck, and won't till at least tomorrow.

Some other news, both of my driver friends (Randy my trainer, and Charlie a trainer that I meet in school) have both quit after too much BS from Deboer. After talking with Charlie last night I have put in a application with Gordon Trucking as they sound like a good outfit with better pay and better equipment. Not sure if I would even be accepted with my 2 incidents or not but I can at least see what they say. That still doesn't mean that I would quit Deboer, even if I got pre-approved, but I can keep my options open.

I have gotten quite a few emails from you folks asking what is up with me and Stephanie. I wish I could say that no news is good news, but in this case it doesn't appear to be. Apparently, as I understand things, she has decided that she doesn't want to settle down with just one person. She wants the freedom to fuck anything that moves, if she so desires, answer to and be loyal to, no one but herself, and that does not conform with the whole marriage, house, family pardeim that I desire. Personally I think she might be going through a mid-life crisis, and hers has started mine about 10 years early. So really there is nothing I can do. I have said all that I can say, and it doesn't even matter to her, the last 12 years doesn't matter to her, and she has no plans for any kind of future even for herself. But like I said there is nothing more I can do. As usual, I will give her what she wants, and if that is life without me, well..... It sucks, you can lead a dying horse to water, but you can't make them drink.

To top all this off, she got herself fired from her job. This sort of puts me in a self-imposed quandary, as my first instinct is to re-figure my budget to pay off the very large pile of debt she has accrued with her foot-loose and fancy-free life style over the last 6 months, and then to find ways to support the household entirely on my income. Not an easy task, but manageable. However, I have to keep reminding myself (and Stephanie does also) that I have no responsibility to do any of this. It was her choice to leave, her choice to be reckless with her job, and her choice is live beyond her means. And while this my seem all nice, clear-cut and dried, it is very hard for me to do.

In other news, I finally broke down and bought a TV for my truck. Now that I have my PS2 from storage I will have some in-truck entertainment. This is actually more of a cost reduction step more than anything. This way I won't feel the desire to play overpriced video games at truck stops. The other cost reduction test, is instead of making up a bunch of sandwiches and packing them into my little cooler (it only hold about 12 sandwiches), I am going to try just packing ziplock bags of lunch meat and a loaf of bread and make them as I go. I hope to be able to cut my food expenses by 75% per week (about $100). That would be substantial.

Keep the Sunny Side!

Time Off

Time off, I have gotten my taxes done, but today I came down with severe abdominal cramps. I dont want to see a doc.

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day to all my loyal readers.

Still Sitting

Well I am still waiting for my load to be ready and while normally a 2 day layover would have me bent out of shape, but I havent been feeling too good the past couple of days so the extra time to rest has been nice. On top of that I just won $25.50 in the casino on $2. Sweet!

Just Waiting

I made it to my delivery yesterday but my appointment number was wrong and the reciver wouldnt accept the load without the correct number. Dispatch gave me a new number for today but that one is not right either. This load will have to wait till monday to get fixed so I am dropping it at a drop yard and waiting on my next load to be ready. This new load will take me back to WI.

Still Truckin

Tonight I am spending the night at a rest area about 40 miles west of Des Moines, IA.

Getting Back To Work

Well my time off has already come and gone, and tomorrow I have to get back to it. I got my reload, Red Bluff, CA to Medford, WI. After that I am sure it will be straight to the terminal for my ass chewing and/or termination resulting from my accident. So I have that to worry about for the next 5 days.

I feel like I just got here and already it is time to go. I wish I could say that I got allot accomplished, but aside from laundy, a haircut, and very small amount of R&R, I don't feel like I have.

Here is something I found funny as hell

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!