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