Happy New Years Eve

Good morning.  I am on my way to bed and you all are just starting your day,  Last night I delivered to  one store in Columbia, MO and two stores in Jefferson City, MO. 

I didn't last very long this morning at the keyboard!  It is now 1:00 pm and I just woke up.  l am going to have to get my body clock reset to working nights again.  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.  I know I did.  I was able to be home for Christmas day.  The entire family was there to open presents and have breakfast.  As usual the Grinch stole the show.  We had two Grinch presents this year.  The boys got Grinched with an "Eye pad" and Kalen was the recipient of a "Bombastic Baby Name Stick"  both were created in typical Grinch fashion, late at night on Christmas Eve.  By the way Kalen isn't expecting.....The boys were just picking on her habit of making Baby name lists.....The best part of the instructions for Kalen's gift requires that the person operating the stick, has to same the name of the stick five times, using their best imitation of Sean Connery.  You haven't lived until you hear Kalens Sean Connery impersonation!

Diane came out on the truck with me Christmas evening for my deliveries.  She is quite the trucker!  We did find out that she is able to do something that many people who ride in a big truck aren't able to do.  Diane is able to sleep in the bunk while the truck is moving!  That is quite a talent.  There are many people who would love to be able to do that and can't.  I dropped Diane off and went back to pick up my back load in Caseyville, IL.  Due to the holiday, they weren't able to load me as quickly as I would have liked them too. So I didn't have enough hours to get back to Moberly.  I ended up driving the new load back to St. Charles and went home for my 10 hour break.  I drove back to Moberly that evening and dropped off the load at the Walmart DC.  I then transferred some items from the truck into the KIA and headed back home again.  I got home around 2:00am in the morning.  Took a nap and started to load the van for fishing.  Logan , Nick and I drove down to the "North Fork of the Current River" to go Trout fishing.  Alex had a previous engagement already planned and couldn't go with us.  We had a great time fishing and camping in the cold. Duane Swacker, his son Max and Johnnie Gil were already down there when we arrived.   We  drove home in time to attend our annual Christmas family movie.  We watched the new Sherlock Holmes movie.  We then went to Fridays for a meal (Thank you Shannon for picking up the tab!).  All in all a wonderful holiday with the people I love.

Now it is time to get back to work.  I worked last night and will be rolling along the highway as the new year arrives.  I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year.  I am planning on having a great year in 2012.....I hope you are too.....

My New Year resolution is to keep this blog updated on a more regular basis........

I didn't quite make it back to Moberly this morning.  My last stop of the morning took much longer than I had anticipated.  A different companies truck got into the dock just before I did.  They have to unload that truck by hand.  It took an hour and a half.  So I ran out of hours on my way back to Moberly.  I was able to get to the Walmart parking lot in Hannibal, MO.  Hannibal is a little less than one and one half hours from Moberly.  So I have been sitting in the parking lot for a little over nine hours now.  I have to wait to leave until my 10 hour brake has been completed.  In this case I will be waiting to leave for a little while longer, so I will have enough hours to complete my load this evening and get back to Moberly.

The odd thing about taking my break here is that it will be my first stop on my next load.  I will get back to Moberly, take a shower, pick up my new load and head out.  My first stop will be Hannibal, MO.  My second stop will be Jacksonville, IL and my last stop will be in Springfield, MO.  Then I get to drive back to Moberly.

I will have to wait around the terminal in Moberly until my next load is ready.  I will take that load into St. Louis and park my truck for a day or so while I am home for Christmas.  I will then deliver that load starting after Midnight on the day after Christmas.  Once I have completed my stops, I will head back to Moberly to return the empty trailer.  I will park my truck and leave for home.  I am taking the next three days off.  I will be going fishing.  I don't know when as of yet, but I will be going down sometime over those three days.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone.  It is always so nice to have everyone in one spot.  Even if it is just for a little while. 

OK... time to go and do some fine tuning to some Christmas presents......I will be talking to you again soon.....Love Tom

Is it Thursday already?

I got to the truck stop in Rolla, MO about 6:00am this morning.  Met with my classmates and had breakfast, crawled into my bunk and slept until 3:30 this afternoon.  I have spent the rest of the day feeding myself and taking a shower.  I received my load information for this evening and it is going to be a tight squeeze, but I should be able to get it done by 10:00 am tomorrow morning.

My night will begin at 8:00 pm.  I will start my clock when I start to drive back to the DC (distribution center) in Moberly.  I should arrive there around 10:30 pm.  I would guess that my new load will be available by 11:00 pm.  My first stop will be in Pekin, IL.  I should get to the store around 3:00 am.  By the time I do all the computer work, phone calls, backing into the dock, waiting to be let into the store and unloading the correct freight, it usually eats up an hour or so.  If I leave the store by 4:00 am, I should get to  my next stop in Washington, IL at 4:45 am.   Add another hour and I should be ready to leave that store by 5:45 am.  It should take around four hours and fifteen minutes to drive back to Moberly.  That would get me there at 10:00 am.

Once I start my clock, I have 14 hours to work.  I cannot work more than 14 hours without violating federal law.  During the available 14 hours to work, I can only drive for 11 of those hours.  So if I got into the truck and drove for 11 hours straight, I would have to stop once I reached the last minute of those 11 hours.  If I don't, I am in violation of the law.  Today it will take me all of the 14 hours to get my work done for the day. If anything goes wrong, I run out of fuel, run into a traffic jam,  whatever.....I will run out of hours before I could get back to Moberly.  When that happens, I end up spending the night some where on the road.  Like I did today.

OK....I am going to do my pre-trip inspection of the truck.  I want to make sure it is in good working order before I head off into the rain this evening.  Have a good one ....Tom

Is it Tuesday Or Wednesday????

I get my days all mixed up when I work nights.  It is too easy to get them mixed up.  I am always working with two dates since I am working through the night.  Last night and this morning I went to Brookfield, MO, Chillicothe, MO and Booneville, MO.  Lots and lots of rain and fog.  The nice thing about driving at night is that there isn't much traffic at 3:30 AM.

I just got my load assignments for this evening and I have two loads.  The first load delivers in Moberly, Columbia and Marshall, MO. Then back to Moberly.  The second load delivers to Jefferson City and then Osage Beach, MO.  I should be finishing up around 6:00AM tomorrow morning.  I will be very close to running out of hours by then. I also just heard from two of my classmates from truck driving school.  They will be spending the night at a truck stop in Rolla, MO.  Since I will be so close, I will probably head to the truck stop and meet them for breakfast.  They will take off to start their day and I will settle in to take my ten hour break.  I will then head back to Moberly after my break is over.

I just got a message that my first load is ready to be picked up.....So my day begins......talk to you tomorrow....Tom

My how time can get away from you !!!!!

Hello.....
Life has been busy lately.  Got a new to me truck.  Had to clean and clean and clean it, so I could live in it.  I have been to Milwaukee, WI and back.  Had a 10 hour brake at home the other day.  Life has just been busy of late.

My new to me truck.  This is a very exciting development.  The new to me truck has double bunks!  This means that I can take a passenger with me on my runs and they would have a place to sleep.  My old truck only had a single bunk.  This truck also has more storage room in it.  It is just easier to move around in.  The new truck is a Volvo just like the old truck.  It has a few thousand miles fewer than the old truck.  I had to get some things fixed and some things replaced.  All in all, I like the new truck better than the old truck.  It drives fine and gets better fuel mileage than the old truck.  I am still in the process of learning this truck. So far so good.

I was able to get this truck so my family could come out and ride with me whenever they have either the time or inclination.  So I am officially letting anyone who reads this blog know that they have been invited to come out and experience "truck driving" first hand.  It you are so inclined, just let me know.  Swift has a policy that requires me to complete some paperwork and they also require the person who is riding along to complete some paperwork. This has to do with liability issues.  Unfortunately if you have a CDL (commercial drivers license) you won't be approved to ride a long.  If you have a CDL you will understand why. Pretty much all others should get approved to ride along.  I am told the process takes about three to four days once the paperwork has been submitted.  Just let me know if you are interested and I will be happy to get the process started.

Christmas is the only day in the year that Walmart closes its doors.  So I won't have to work on Christmas day.  I will be taking a load home with me on Christmas eve.  Parking the truck and enjoying my Christmas day with my family.  Then at one minute after midnight the day after Christmas, I will be going back to work and delivering the load that I brought with me two days before.  After I complete those deliveries, I will take the empty trailer back up to Moberly and park my Truck.  It is my intention to take three days off during that week.  I am scheduled to be off the 27th, 28th, and 29th.  I will be going trout fishing on the north fork of the White River.  I am not sure if any or all of the boys will be going with me or not.  I just found out that I will be getting these days off today, and haven't been able to ask the boys if they are interested in going yet.  We will see.....

Any way....I wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone..... I know I will be having a fine time with my family and hope you will be doing likewise......Tom

Rainy Saturday evening

I just received my load assignment for the evening.  Looks like this running at night thing is going to stick for a while.  It is a shorter run this time.  One that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me from a logistical standpoint.  But the miles are good so who am I to question the logic behind it.  I leave Moberly and then head to Maplewood, MO.  This is a st. Louis suburb.  After delivering there, I get back on the highway and drive  almost two hours southwest to Rolla, MO to make my last delivery.  I have to be there before midnight.  Then it is a straight shot north for two and one half hours back to Moberly.

Not too many stops, good mileage. The only downside will be driving north on highway 63 in the rain and at night.  That section of highway 63 can get pretty curvy and there are lots of hills and valleys.  Darkness, wet roads, reduced visibility due to rain and fog.....sounds like an interesting ride. If you happen to be traveling on Highway 63 later this evening or early tomorrow morning......hopefully you won't have the misfortune of coming up behind me........if you do.....be prepared for a slow ride going north.....I won't be in any hurry to get back to Moberly.......slow and steady are the watch words for the evening.......I know I will be seeing lots of accidents tonight.....the trick is to make sure that I am not witnessing one with my truck involved.......

OK... time to get some fuel and to clean up inside my truck, while I wait for my load.  It should be ready to go sometime around 5:00 pm.....Be careful out there tonight........

Tom

News Flash!!! It gets cold in Minnesota in December!!

When I was leaving Moberly last night I looked at the temperature and it was 41 degrees.  This morning when I pulled into the loading dock the thermometer read 22 degrees, and it had warmed up considerably. 
At one point while I was driving, it got down to 4 degrees.  Boy am I glad I don't live here.....it is too cold for me.   Nice enough to visit.....but wouldn't want to live here.....

I had my first brush with inclement weather last night.  While I was heading north the temperature was dropping and the ground kept on getting wetter.  When I got to Ottumwa, IA the highway was wet and it was 28 degrees.  That got my attention. Wet roads and temperatures below freezing aren't ideal driving conditions.  The further north I went the wetter the roads became.  By the time I got to What Cheer, IA (yes there really is a quaint little town in Iowa named What Cheer.  It was established in 1863) the ground and all the cars were snow covered.  The roads were clear....just wet....   When I stopped on Highway 80 to fuel up,,,,the wetness in the parking lot wasn't just wet anymore....it was now frozen.....I even slid a little in the parking lot.....  Then, as I kept on going further north,  the roads got dryer and the snow went away.....it just kept on getting colder and colder....

Night driving observations.......a little light goes a long way when you get away from the major highways and towns....I was driving smaller highways last night.  I would go for long stretches where the only lights you would see would be from the dusk to dawn lights near the farmers houses and barns.  I t gets pretty dark out there as you go along.  Then in the distance you will see an explosion of color.  The colors are very close together.  Then as you get closer it dawns on you what it is that you are looking at.  You are about to go by a home where there is an abundance of Christmas spirit and Christmas lights.  They will have every tree, bush and fence line covered with very bright little lights.  It is beautiful.  You can see them from quite a distance away.  They show up so well because it is so dark and there aren't very many competing light sources.  If you get a chance....take a ride in the country and take in the lights.....its worth the drive if you run into a home like the ones I saw last night.

Sunrise.  As I was driving west this morning, I got to experience another sunrise.  This time I got to experience it in my rear view mirrors.  It was very interesting, watching the colors change behind me while still looking at a totally black sky in front of me.  The colors reminded me of the drink called a Tequila Sunrise.  A deep orange at the base of the horizon mixed with pinks and finally glowing yellow before fading into a pale blue that gave way to the darkness of the night sky.  It was beautiful  and strange at the same time. First I would be watching the road, staring into the tunnel of light cutting into the darkness, created by my headlights.  Then I would check my mirrors on the left and the right to see the sunrise emerging behind me as I kept on trucking westward.........It is at times like these when I enjoy my new profession the most......OK....more night driving in an hour or so........talk to you later........Tom

On to Minnesota

It is a little after :00 PM on Thursday and I just got my marching orders for the evening.  Looks like they like me running nights, so I guess i had better get used to sleeping during the day.  So far I haven't had a problem with it.  OK ....tonight's agenda consists of driving 4 and 1/2 hours north to Waterloo, IA.  After I deliver there, I go to Cedar Falls.  Short trip....only eight miles.  Then i get to go to Waverly, IA and my last delivery for the day will be in Mason City, IA.  Usually, I would then go to the Kraft plant and pick up a load there, but tonight I will be leaving Mason City and heading to New Ulm, MN.  I can honestly say that I have never heard of New Ulm, MN before today. 
The only thing I know about it now is that it has a business there called Associated Milk.  I will be picking up a load there and take my ten hour break.  Hopefully I will have enough hours left to find a decent rest stop or truck stop to take my break in.
After my ten hour break is over I will be heading back to Moberly.  Not a bad run....I will get paid on 875 miles and for my stops...so not a bad couple of days work.   I am going to try to get another nap in before I leave... so it is off to bed for me....for a little while ........Tom

Taking my ten hour break in Lebanon. MO

I certainly had an interesting ride last night.  I had been on the road for an hour or so and was cruising along listening to the radio and then BANG!  A very loud noise rocked the truck.  I looked in my mirrors and saw allot of dust and debre flying along side the truck.  My first thought was.....did I just run over something?  I never felt any bumps or impacts so I ruled that out....my next thought was....I bet  just blew a tire......I turned on my flashers and pulled over to the side of the road.  I had to put on my coat, hat and gloves since it was 22 degrees outside.....I also put on my safety vest so other vehicles could see me while i was checking on the truck....   was traveling south on I-35 going from Des Moines to Kansas City.....this is a very busy highway.... I wanted to make sure that I was going to be seen at 11:00 PM at night!  I took a flash light and my tire thumper  ( a heavy metal stick to hit the tires with to see that they are still inflated.  you listen to the sound of the impact of the thumper on the tire).  I thought that maybe I had blown a trailer tire.  I was wrong.  It turned out to be a passenger side drive tire....  So my next step was to call my driver manager in Moberly.....she passed me along to the mechanics in the shop.....they took down some information and said that they would get back to me......I got to get back into the truck which was nice and warm while I waited.  The mechanics called me back to let me know that a roadside repair service was on its way to my location and that they would be there within an hour.........It is amazing that the repair guy showed up exactly one hour later.....the repair guy told me that there was a rest area two miles down the road and that it would be better if I drove there to have the repair completed.  That is exactly what we did.  He followed me to the rest area, took off the blown tire and put on my spare tire.  (here is another difference between big trucks and cars......big trucks care spare tires only.  they aren't on a rim and are not inflated. the repair person has to take the blown tire off of the truck,  then take the bad tire off of the rim.  They then put the spare on the rim and inflate it.  very different than carrying a spare tire already on a rim and inflated like in an automobile).  the repair took around an hour to complete.  So i was only down for a little over two hours....not too bad, all things considered.

I finished my run down to Springfield, MO.  I get there a half an hour before I was scheduled to deliver.  I am told that Kraft usually has the next load ready to go when the drivers get there.....well today that didn't happen.  I got there and dropped off my load and was told that the load I was to bring back up to Moberly wasn't ready.  It seems that they didn't have an empty trailer to load into.  They told me to wait while they got the load ready.  I called my driver manager and they got involved in the situation.   After waiting around for three hours....my driver manager told me to just "bobtail" back to Moberly.  I got as far as Lebanon, MO before I ran out of hours.  So here I sit waiting for my clock to reset.  I had a good sleep earlier and just got up and ate some lunch.  I will be ready to move again around 7:45 PM.  It will take me around three hours to drove back to Moberly.  I won't get there until almost 11:00 this eve3ning.  I am hoping I get a load.  I might not because I won't have my full 14 hours available.  Time will tell.  That's all for now.... I will write more later.....Tom

Sunrise in Iowa

Here comes the sun!

Taking my break in Des Moines

Good afternoon,
I am taking my break in a Pilot truck stop in Des Moines, IA.  I drove all night until 8:30 AM and parked in this truck stop.  Not too bad.  Pretty quiet for the most part.  I slept for a couple of hours, woke up....had some lunch and decided to post on the blog.

One of the nice things about driving at night verses driving during the day, is that the traffic is so much lighter.  The make up of the traffic is very different also.  Most of the people on the highways that drive through the night are Big Trucks.  It is usually more comforting to be around big trucks that it is being around automobiles.  The cars are so much more mobile and can move so quickly.  I never know what a car is going to do.  They make me nervous.  Big trucks on the other had are pretty predictable.  Since I work for Swift and our trucks are governed to not go faster than 62 miles per hour, most of the other trucks on the road are faster than me.  I just wave at them when they go past.  Most times the other drivers wave back, but not all the time.  Different trucking companies have their trucks governed at different speeds.  There are a few other companies that have their trucks governed at 62 mph.  There is one that i can think of that is governed at 60 mph!  Some aren't governed at all.  You don't see many like that anymore.  The trucking industry used to be wide open.  It wasn't regulated all that much in the past.  Those days are gone.  This is probably the most regulated industry I have been a part of.  OK, I almost got up on my soapbox there for a minute....enough of that!  The other thing I like about working nights is that it is much easier to get unloaded at the stores in the middle of the night.  I can get in and out of the stores faster at night.  The loads also don't weigh as much at night.  The loads that are delivered in the evenings are the frozen foods, dairy goods and Deli food.  The loads delivered in the very early morning hours are the meat and produce loads.  Meat and produce weighs less than frozen foods.

One of the best things about driving through the night are the sunrises I get to see.  I have included a picture of one from this morning.  I was driving south on highway 35 heading towards Des Moines.  I pulled over and tried to catch the colors, but the camera on the cell phone just didn't capture what I was seeing. 
The nice thing is that I get to witness a new one everyday when I am driving through the night.

OK, from here I will be headed to Springfield, MO to drop off the load in the caves.  There has been a change to my itinerary, in that i was supposed to pick up an empty trailer and now I will be be picking up a loaded trailer going to Moberly.  I will start driving again at around 8:00 PM and hopefully will finish in Moberly, sometime before 10:00 tomorrow morning.

I will write more later.......Tom

I had a wonderful break!

It is Monday the 28th of November and I am back up in the WalMart DC in Moberly, MO. I was able to get home for not only Thanksgiving day but for the entire weekend for the most part. It was a good thing because I ended up being sick for most of the weekend. It was good to see everyone and talk with the majority of my family on Thanksgiving.

I am going to make a renewed effort to keep this blog updated.
I did have a very big technical issue recently. I lost my cell phone in one of the stores I delivered to. Luckily it was returned to me and I should be posting on a more regular basis in the future.

I posted some pictures. The first picture is of a good friend, Duane Swacker. Duane lives in Warrenton, MO and i was able to meet up with him for dinner the other evening in Marthasville, MO. Great food in a little tavern along side of highway 47. I hope to do it again soon. The next set of pictures were taken on Thanksgiving day. I cooked a 17lb turkey on our Webber grill. This is the same grill that Sandy and JC gave to us when we graduated from college. It doesn't get used all that much anymore, but can still cook a bird to perfection. The pictures of the bird are when I first put it on the grill. Then after one hour of being on the grill. Another picture was taken after two hours on the grill and the final picture was taken after two and one half hours on the grill. The bird tasted as good as it looked.

I just got my pre-plan for my next load. I will be picking up the load around 10:00 this evening. My first delivery will be in Knoxville, IA at 12:45 AM tomorrow morning. The next stop will be in Des Moines at 2:45 AM, followed by another stop in West Des Moines at 4:45 AM. The final delivery will be in Ankeny, IA at 6:00 AM. Now here comes the interesting part.... I am scheduled to then pick up a "back load" in Mason City, IA at 5:00 AM! The timing doesn't work! But it shouldn't take me two hours in between the stops in and around Des Moines, so I should be OK to make to Mason City by 5:00 AM. I then take my 10 hour required by law break before I can drive that load down to the underground storage facility in Springfield, MO. As soon as I deliver that load, i will pick up an empty trailer there and drive it back to Moberly, MO. It is a little over 1000 miles. That is what I would call a "good Load".

I will endeavor to post on a more regular basis..... Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving...I know I did.....Tom

Turkey

Turkey

TURKEY ON THE WEBBER

Looks good enough to eat!

Here is Duane also known as "Oye "

Duane along side of my truck

Wednesday morning

I have 15 minutes until my ten hour break is over and I get to do it all again!  Monday night I ended up spending the night in Carthage, MO.  I picked up a backload in the underground storage facility otherwise referred to as "the caves".  I have been to other facilities like this before, but never had to drive down into them in order to pick up the load.  I attached some pictures. It is pretty strange to drive down into them. I ran out of hours while I was being loaded so I had to spend the night there. Tuesday I got up and drove back to Moberly. 

As soon as I got there I was given another load going back don highway 63 south to Rolla and Saint Roberts, MO.  On my way down to Rolla, I ran into a traffic jam that had me stopped on the highway for 45 minutes. This usually means some type of bad traffic accident.  This one turned out to be a car full of teen-ager kids drinking and driving.  They lost control of their vehicle. Easy to do on this highway. Very curvey and hilly two lane highway. They ended up crossing the center line of the highway and ran into a big truck traveling in the opposite direction.  The car lost!  The big truck ended up off the highway.  Another trucker stopped to give assistance and said the car smelled like a brewry on the inside.  I never heard if anyone lost their life or not.  I would be surprised if some one didn't.    While I was waiting in line, I took a picture or the fall color on the trees. Then I took a couple of pictures of the accident.  I didn't get a shot of the car.....there wasn't much left of it.   So remember....be careful out there.....the best thing to do in inclement weather is to slow down!  Have a safe day.....Tom

Tuesday afternoon

From the beautiful to very ugly

Carthage Underground

Underground storage in caves!

MONDAY MORNING

I had a great weekend.  I was able to spend Friday night at home. Drove my truck back to Moberly On Saturday. Sunday morning Diane drove up to Moberly and picked me up. We drove over to KC to watch Logan's team play in the GLVC championship game. Unfortunately they lost in the second overtime 2-1. It was great game all the way up until they lost. Diane took me over to our terminal in Edwardsville, KS where I picked up the Kia. Diane followed me to Columbia where we ate dinner at a Crackle Barrel. Diane drove home and I drove back to Moberly.

I can't remember if I mentioned that I was offered a full time position driving for the Walmart dedicated fleet or not.  I accepted the job, so I will be able to get home on a regular basis. Today I got my preplan for the day.  I will be delivering to stores in Washington, Rolla and Osage Beach, MO. Then I get to.drive down to Carthage, MO to be reloaded live at 10:00pm this evening. I will spend the night in Carthage and drive back to Moberly tomorrow to deliver the backhaul load.

Have a great week out there and be careful on the roads.....lots of deer running around this time of year.....keep an eye out for them.  The males are chasing the females.....it is the rut season.......

Its is beautiful cool and blustery day

When I left you last, I was on my way to the Saint Louis area to make four deliveries.with the goal of completing them all by 10:00pm.  I didn't even come close!  I.got to my first stop in good time......then it took the store personnel one and one half hours to unload the truck!  This process normally takes anywhere from fifteen minutes to forty five minutes at the most.  Not last night.  When i got to the store there was a truck already in the only available loading dock and two other trucks waiting in line.  I had to sit and wait my turn.  Usually i get preferential treatment since i am hauling perishable goods. Not at this store. They operate on a.first come first serve basis. The guys unloading me did about half of what needed to be done and then disappeared.  They were gone for more than twenty minutes, when I finally got tired of waiting.  I.asked someone else to.call a manager for me.  It turns out the the original guys were told.to go.to.lunch, so.that is what they did!
Even though the rest of the evening went pretty smoothly, I didn't make my delivery times.  I communicated the situation to my dispatcher and they understood.  That is a good thing.  Drivers can be fired for failing to deliver on time.  If it is the drivers fault for being late.....they can be in trouble.with.the.company if they make a.habit if doing so. 
I ended up delivering to my last stop.at 11:0pm and headed back to Moberly.  I got in around 2:00 this morning.  Long day....
Today I woke up to bright cool windy day.  It should make driving interesting. The trailer acts like a big sail and catches any wind in the area. It makes it fun and challenging to deal with the wind gusts. I have my marching orders for the day.  My load is going down to south central MO. My first stop is in Salem, MO, which is only about twenty minutes from where I go trout fishing. Then I get to go further south to Houston, MO and then back to Moberly.  So only two stops this evening.  That's all for now.....Tom

Monday afternoon

Looks like I am headed to the following stores:  Manchester, MO, Telegraph Road in south Saint Louis, Waterloo, IL and Kirkwood, MO.  I have to have them all delivered by 10:00 this evening.  If I hadn't been home over the weekend, I would stay at home tonight.  Since I was just home, I am going to get right back to Moberly so I can be assured of another load for tommorrow. 

From adventure to job

It seems that my truck driving adventure has turned into a truck driving job.  Ever since I started driving out of the Moberly Walmart terminal the adventure part of my new existence has gone away.  Don't get me wrong.....I like what I am doing now.  It gets me home around once a week.  This is a very good thing.  I just don't seem to have much to.write about these days.  I will be doing pretty much the same thing everyday.........delivering frozen and refridgerated food items to Walmart stores.  The only thing that changes is the location of the stores.
I did get an interesting load last week.  I delivered to Cedar Rapids, IA then to Independence, IA then on to Waverly and Mason City, IA.  Once I completed all my deliveries to the Walmart stores, I picked up a load from a Kraft warehouse in Mason City and drove it down to the Kraft caves in Springfield, MO.  I was able to take a ten hour break in Springfield and was able to.watch one.of Logan's soccer games before picking up another load from the caves and brought it back to Moberly.  If I had been able to give Dave and Gary Buresh enough notice, I would have been able to visit them also since they live in Cedar Rapids and Independence, IA.  As it turned out, Dave was working and Gary was on his way to work on his new home,.......maybe next time.  The only real disappointment was that I didn't have enough time to contact my niece Alli and didn't get to meet her new.daughter Evelyn.
So I will continue to post to this blog. Hopefully it will have something of interest.  Last night I delivered to Chesterfield, then Warrenton and Washington, MO.  I got.to.drive over the new bridge on highway 47.  I almost stopped by my friend Duane's house but thought better of it......too hard to.turn around with a.trailer.attached.   I don't know.where i will be going today......I.will let you know........Tom

Boy have I been slow to update this blog!

I last left you when I was stuck in my home terminal in Edwardsville, KS.  I have back driving since last week.  Once i got all the new computer equipment and my inverter installed, I was able to take the E-log class and get back on the road.
Since I was forced into a break by circumstance, my status has changed with the company.  It seems that I was the player to be named later... to use a baseball analogy.....I have been put on loan to the dedicated Walmart fleet.  This fleet is located on Moberly, MO at a Mini Swift terminal located on the grounds of a Walmart Distribution Center.  The only freight I will be hauling in the future are frozen and refrigerated items to Walmart stores in a three state area. Missouri,Illinois and Iowa.  So far I have taken loads to the Saint Louis area, Central Missouri, southern Iowa and western Illinois.  The nice thing about delivering to the Saint Louis area is that I can take my ten hour break after the deliveries at home.  So far I have been able to do that twice and it looks like I might be able to.do it again this evening!
From what they tell me, it looks like I will be on loan to this fleet through the holidays.  The mileage on the loads aren't as long as the over the road loads, but it looks like I will be spending more time.at home.  Some things are just more important than money.

Last night I delivered in southern Iowa. I drove one route up there and decided to go a different way back to Moberly. I was rewarded for this decision by seeing a sign telling me that the "The American Gothic Home" was located just west of Ottumwa, Iowa.  I wonder what that really means.  Is the house that is featured in the famous painting located there? Did some enterprising individual build a house that looks like the one in the painting in hopes of developing a tourist attraction?  Is there some.type of museum there dealing with the artists works located there?  Who knows!  There is.a road sign dedicated to it on highway 34.   I just wonder why someone would want to drive off of the interstate highway to look at the outside of a house you can see in a painting........just a brief insight or what runs through my mind when I drive by these informational signs I see.....OK time for a.shower and some food before I head off to Festus, Desloge and Farmington, MO Walmarts with their frozen and refridgerated food items......Tom

Listening to the Cardinals and catching up on my blog

When I left you last, I had just gotten my truck and it had broken down.  That happened a week ago.  My how time flies.  I have been assigned to a.different truck and have driven six loads since then.  I have gone from Ohio to Saint Louis.  From Edwardsville, IL to Edwardsville, KS.  I was able to.pack all the things I had brought from home then.  I sat around all day Sunday until very late at night.  I got a "repowered " load at 11:30 in the evening.  When a truck breaks down, the company assigns the load to a different driver.  The new driver has to find the first driver and they switch trailers.  I had to drive to a truckstop in Oak Grove, MO to pick up this load.  It was going to a Kohl's store in Lincoln, NE.  I then had to drive to South Sioux City, NE to pick my next load.  I ran out of hours after I got there so I ended up spending the night in their parking lot.  I drove from there to Cozad, NE to drop that load.  I then drove to Imperial, NE to pick up my next load. 

This last load was the most unusual load I have had yet.  I ended up picking up 45260 lbs of potatoes They were lose unpackaged potatoes. I had to back my trailer over a conveyed belt that the potatoes were riding on.  They would get to the end of the belt and fall off into the back of my trailer.  Every so often I would have to pull the trailer foward, until eventually the entire trailer was full.  Usually all of the freight we haul is  sitting on pallets.  The receiving department usually uses some type of fork lift to pick up the pallets and carry them out of the trailer.  I couldn't for.the life.of me figure out how they were going to empty the trailer when I reached my final destination of Topeka, KS.

I was amazed by how they did it.  I had to back the trailer up onto a large steel platform. I then had to unhook from the trailer.  Once my tractor was clear of the trailer......they opened up the rear trailer doors and put a large plate accros the opening of the back of the trailer.  The plate was placed about 18 inches above the bottom of the trailer.  The platform turned out to be a giant lift or hoist.   It began to tilt the trailer on its end!  Imagine looking at a 53 foot long trailer being lifted to a 40 degree angle so gravity does all of the unloading for them.  The plate on the back of the trailer opening keeps the potatoes from falling out into one giant pile.  The potatoes fall into a hopper of sorts.that sends them on their way into the plant to eventually become hash browns.

After delivering the potatoes, I was almost out of fuel.  My driver manager had me drive back to our terminal in Edwardsvillle, KS to refuel. Once I got to the terminal I had to drop my trailer and park my tractor. I finally got.to.meet my driver manager.   She informed me that I had to get a new style computer installed in my truck.  I also had to have an inverter hard wired instead of using the kind that plug into the the cigarette lighter.   The company requires anyone who.sleeps.with a cpap machine to have this done.  The fear is that the machine could draw too much current through wires that are too small in diameter causing a potential fire risk if it isn't hard wired directly to the battery terminals with thicker wires.  She also informed me that I had to take the electronic log class.  So I have to sit and wait until all of this has been accomplished.  Today I was able to get the computer installed and get the inverter hard-wired.   Now all I have to do is take the e-log class at 9:00 tomorrow.  Then I will be available for another load.  Hopefully that will happen sometime tomorrow afternoon.

Well the Cardinals just lost game four to the Brewers.  Time to go.to bed.  I'll write more later.....Tom

Tom update

As many of you have commented........I have been lax in my blotting responssbilities.  For this I am sorry.  I am not sorry for the reason.  I have been very busy.  So busy in fact that I haven't had the energy to write.  I am amazed at how tiring driving can be.....so I am making this short.......I am alive and doing well
.....I promise to write more when I have more down time........ Thank you for your concerns.

Tom

More interior pics

Coleman cooler

Truck interior

All the comfots of home.......almost!

Cab interior

All the comforts of home

Potential exercise

Lets see if I actually use it.

Didn't get ten miles......tractor broke down

It is 5:00 AM eastern time and I am back at the Columbus terminal already!  I didn't even get ten miles into my first load and my tractor broke down!   Every time I would hit a large bump in the highway the entire electrical system would turn off.  I could get it restarted in a few seconds, but it would continue to cut out on me with every bump I hit.  So I turned it around and drove back to the terminal. Now they can take the load off of me and then I get to wait in line to have the shop fix the truck.  Quite the start to my life on the road by myself......

But as Diane says....."it will be what I make of it".......so I refuse to become downhearted about the situation.  Who knows....maybe I will be assigned a different truck!   That would be nice......more later......Tom

On the road again

After waiting around for almost two days now, I have finally found out what is going to happen.  It appears that my home terminal doesn't have any trucks for all the new drivers like myself.  There are six of us that Swift is putting on a bus to Columbus, OH.  There are trucks available in Columbus so that's where we are going.  I don't know when we are leaving to catch the bus or what time the bus departs, but there are trucks in OH so I am glad to be going there.  I will update the blog as things progress.  That's all for now.....Tom

Back in the saddle again........sort of....

Well I am back in my home terminal in Edwardsville, KS.  I am waiting to meet my driver manager.  That won't happen until 2:30 PM this afternoon.  I am on a waiting list for a truck.  I have talked to at least five other drivers who are in the same boat.  So we are all hanging around waiting.....not much fun.   Hopefully one of the bunk rooms will open up soon.  If that happens, I will be able to go upstairs and take a nap.
I guess I should have mentioned that I was able to pass my driving test last Wednesday.  I also took care of the two classes that were assigned to me after I bent the rim.  I was able to go home and spend four days in a row at home!  It was a very busy weekend. Logan was in town and had soccer games on Friday night (they lost 1-0 ).  They played again on Sunday afternoon ( they won 1-0 ). Alex played a gig with his girlfriend, Zoe's band on Friday night. Diane, myself, Nick, Logan, Kalen and Chris were all.able to attend. Nick had a cross country meet on Saturday morning and then went with his girlfriend's homecoming dance that evening. Sandy and Richard were in town camping out at Lake Sherwood. We went out there Saturday evening. We got there too late. We missed seeing Dan and Julie, Greg and Jessica. Alysa and Liam were still there and we had a nice visit with them.  The whole time was home, I was getting things ready to take with me on the road.   All in all it was a very busy but extremely enjoyable time at home.  Since Shannon has moved back home, I was able to see her several times.
OK.....time to go back and see if I have a truck yet....

Fog in Pennsylvania

This fog is easy to.drive through compared to what we drove through the other night

Sunday morning

It is nine thirty Sunday morning.  We just dropped off the load in Carlisle, PA and picked up another load at the same place.  This load is going to Marcy,NY to a Walmart distribution center.  The very special thing about this load is......it should get me to my 240 hours needed to be promoted to a solo driver......yea....  I am not sure where I will be going next after this load.  I will need to get to a terminal to take my road test and then be assigned to a truck.   The tricky part will be getting this done close enough to Saint Louis so the company will allow me to "bobtail" home for a.couple of days.  The ideal situation would be for Ronnie to get a load that will deliver close.to.either the Memphis or Edwardsville, KS terminals.  I would most probably be allied to bobtail home from either of them.  If I go to another terminal......I would have to wait for a load that would get me close to home.  The goal is to try to get home for this weekend.  There is allot going on at home this weekend.  I will write more after i find out what is going on..... Tom

From KY to PA

Well the wait wasn't too long!  We got a load going from Louisville, KY to Carlisle, PA.  The biggest problem with this load is that we can't pick it up until six o'clock this evening.  So I am driving to the pick up and then until my hours run out around eight o'clock this evening. Ronnie will take it the rest of the way. Back to fog capital of the world....no fun....but it means that I get to pick up a few more hours driving.......Tom

Saturday morning

Good morning ,

It is 6:00am Saturday morning.  We are in Hebron, KY.  We were taken off safety hold yesterday afternoon.  We picked up a load in PA around 5:30pm and Ronnie drove it to KY. I slept the whole way.  The only time I got up was to help to fuel the truck up in Gerard, OH.  While I was up I got to talk with Diane and Logan on the phone. 

We are waiting to be unloaded and then we will wait some more to get a load assingment.  Who knows where I will end up next.  I do know that i will be missing Al and Nicks homecoming this weekend.  I hope they all have a great time.

I will write more when I know where I am headed.......until then.......Tom

I have been busy driving

I am sorry that I haven't posted in a couple of days.  I have been very busy with two long hauls. The first started in Kentucky and ended in Denver. The second began in Denver and ended in Pennsylvania.   During these hauls, Ronnie and I have been team driving.  I drove first out of KY and drove through KY then IN then IL and finally to the middle of MO.  Ronnie then took over and drove through the rest of MO then all of KS and into CO.  Ronnies hours ran out about an hour and one half short or Denver.  I took over again and brought the load into the Swift Denver terminal.  We were supposed to have been able to pick up the load going to PA immediately, but it turns out that the load was late getting there from Idaho.  So we waited for three hours for the load to show up.  We ended up waiting until nine o'clock that night.  All that waiting ate up a large portion of my available hours to drive.  I took the load out of the terminal and was able to drive it all the way through CO and all but forty miles of KS.  I drove through the night and stopped at six thirty in the morning.  Ronnie took over driving and drove through the rest of KS, all of MO, IL,IN and thirty miles onto Ohio.  I took the load the rest of the way through OH and to it's final destination of Shenandoah, PA.  We arrived there at seven thirty this morning.....

Needless to say we are both pretty tired right now.  We drove over 2500 miles in less than forty eight hours.

We are now parked on a tiny truckstop in Ravine, PA.  We are waiting to receive a new load assignment.

We had been waiting for an hour or so when Ronnie spoke with his driver manager and found out that he and his truck have been put on a "safety hold".  Ronnies driver manager has been working on getting the hold removed. This has something to with Ronnie being arrested. So now we sit.  I can't drive again until Three oclock tommorrow morning. With all the hours i have logged these last few days, I am even closer to the magic number of two hundred and forty hours of driving.  I now have two hundred and thirty hours of driving time. I am really hoping that I can get this done sooner rather than later.  I would love to be able to be home by next weekend.  There is allot going on next weekend and I would love to be part of it.  That's all I have for now.  

When we got into Denver the light was fading fast.  I promise to get a better picture of the Rockies on my next trip out there......
Tom

Majestic Mountains

If you look really closely above the trees you.can barely see the Rocky Mountains

POP QUIZ

Can you guess what state I am in?

The beautiful views we see all the time

This is typical view at either a shipper or reciver

The next day

Most of the time, I spend my time on this blog telling you where I am picking up and where I am delivering to.  There is another aspect to this job I haven't written all that much about........   the waiting!  I.do.allot of that too.  We always seem to be in a big fat hurry to get to point A on our way to point B.  The problem comes up when we are on the clock and the people at point A aren't ready for us.  Then you have to find a place to sit and wait.  That place is usually a truck stop or a Walmart parking lot. There just aren't that many places that are either set up to have a big truck hanging around or wants one hanging around.  We found out earlier today that our shipper wasn't going to.be able to take us early today like we wanted.  So Ronnie drove out his hours on the way there and we found a truck stop to sit and wait.  The shipper thought they would be ready around six o'clock this evening.  We waited until four thirty.to bead over there.  We got here at six fifteen.......and they still aren't ready for us.   So we sit here and wait again.....    There is nothing wrong with waiting......the biggest problem is that we aren't moving.  The only time.we make.any money is when we are rolling and covering miles.....it is all about miles.....miles equall money.
I have also been trying to add little tidbits of information I find interesting.  Things like a National historic site I drove by last night in Flat Rock, North Carolina.  I'll bet you didn't know that the home of Carl Sandburg is located there.  I'd also bet you didn't know that the Martha Layne Collins  Bluegrass Parkway is also known as the Whiskey Trail due to.all the distilleries located along it.  The Wild Turkey distillery is located in Harrodsburg, KY.

I.also though I would give you a look at the scenery we get to look at while we are waiting......hope you like the pics.......Tom

Going out west

The last post I wrote was written in a hotel in Ft. Lauderdale on the beach.  I was scheduled to drive in the morning so I went to sleep early.  Ronnie decided to take a walk along the beach and give his finace a call.  I fell asleep quicky, I was pretty tired.  The next thing I knew, it was12:20 am and someome was pounding on the hotel room door.  I thought the door was going to come off its hindges the pounding was so loud!  I opened the door to find a police officer who informed me that my drivimg partner was on nis way to jail! He told me that the truck was being towed and that if I wanted anything out of it, I had better come and get it before the tow truck left. I threw on some pants and went outside.  I grabbed a bag of clothes and asked what happened. All the officer would say is that Ronnie had been arrested for resisting and obstructing an officer without violence.  I asked for the name and telephone number of the towing company and what would happen next for Ronnie. The policeman told me that Ronnie would most probably get out of jail within four to six hours.  Since our load was already at the delivery point and all we had to do was to drive back there to deliver it by seven in the morning.......I decided that going back to bed was my best course of action...... so that is exactly what I did.
I got up at five am central time.  Ronnie wasn't back.so i checked out of the room and start making phone calls. I found out that Ronnie was in the Broward County Jail. I also found out that I could post a 100 dollar bond and he would then be released. I found an ATM machine, took out the needed cash and got in a cab headed for the jail.  I posted the bond and was told that it would take four to six hours before Ronnie would get through their system and be released.  In the jail they don't allow cell phones.  I retrieved mine from the locker they made me put it in when I first arrived. I went outside and as soon as I turned my phone on, there were three missed calls from the Edwardsville, KS terminal.  I called my "Driver Manager" who immediately wanted to know where I was and why hadn't we delivered our load.  My DM was shocked when i told where I was.  She told me to sit  tight while she made some calls.  She said she would let me know if Ronnie and I still had jobs or not!  I spent a very nervous next hour and a half waiting outside for her to call.  When she did call back, she told me to get on a bus and that she had made arrangements for me to spend the weekend in a hotel in Ocala, FL.  Swift has a terminal there.  My DM told me me to go to the terminal on Monday morning and someone would be talking to me about what happened. I pointed out that most of my things were still on Ronnies truck. She told me to take a cab over to where the truck was towed to, pick up my belongings, then go to catch a bus to Ocala. While I was waiting to be given access to the truck, Ronnie called and asked if I knew where his truck was located. He took a cab over and it took until four thirty for him to get it released.

Everything about this vehicle is big. Big tires, big steering wheel, big expenses.  They charged Ronnie $450.00 for the tow! If the trailer were still attached, the bill would have been $800.00!  This truck will hold.over 200 gallons of fuel.  Whenever we fuel the truck up, the bill can run anywhere from $400 to over $800.

Ok back to my story........
When Ronnie got to the wrecking company he looked terrible! He told me that when he was heading to the beach to call his finance, his hearing aid battery started to die, so headed back to the truck for a replacement. Just as he got into the truck, it was surrounded by three police cars. One officer approached the truck demanding that Ronnie exit the vehicle since it was going to be towed. The policeman shouted for Ronnie to get out of the truck a second time while Ronnie tried to explain that the truck wasn't parked illegally since we had a room at the hotel and that we had parked it where the manager had told us to park it. The policeman then opened the door to the truck and pulled Ronnie out of the drivers seat to the ground.  (You have to remember that the drivers seat is at least five feet off the ground).  Ronnie landed on his back. He was cuffed and had to wait another two hours before the tow truck came.  While he was waiting he asked one of the other officers to make sure that I knew what had happened to him. He gave the officer my name and room number.  They took Ronnie off to jail and then woke me up. We think that the policeman may have broken a couple of Ronnie's ribs.  It really hurts him to breath.

We finally delivered the load at six that evening.  We found a tiny truckstop in Pompano Beach to spend the night. We got a load the next morning picking up in Ocala, FL delivering to three stops in South Caolina.  We took the load and got the heck out of Dodge while the getting was good!  We delivered the load to the three stops yesterday and then drove to the Swift terminal in Greer, SC.  While on our way to the terminal we were offered two more loads.  The first picking up in Greenville, SC and delivering to Bardstown, KY.  The second load picks up in Mount Sterling, KY and delivers to Denver,CO.  So I finally get to go out west.  Hopepully I will finish up my 240 hours with this trip and a return trip.  I am sitting on exactly 200 hours right now.

It is early Tuesday morning.  We are waiting to be unloaded in Bardstown.  As soon as we get unloaded we will deadhead the empty trailer 100 miles to Mount Sterling, KY to pick up our next load.  I will be writing more later....

Remember.......be careful out there! ........Tom

Ft. Lauderdale Beach

This is what it looks like now.

Memory lane

Can you identify these pictures?

More pictures from the past

Look familiar?

Memory lane

Do you remember these places?

The Intercostal Canal