Hotel California: Hesperia

First some observations I have failed to post, but they keep at me.  A car towing a trailer with two kayaks and two bicycles passes me.  I later observe them at a rest stop, the woman is out doing jumping jacks.  Just imagine if you will, Olive Oil out doing jumping jacks.  Stick figures unite.  I-40 coming into New Mexico a man in the east bound lanes is hitch hiking.  He has a bag, wearing a lot of loss clothing; however, the strange thing is the 'walking stick' he is holding.  It is almost 6 feet tall, with a large head of things at the upside end.  The larger end looked like a skull with feathers.  

I have not posted any pictures in a while because my camera finally died.  It was a good camera and I am very sad to see it go.  There were mountains in NM, AZ and the desert of CA that Jean could have used for paintings, but alas, no photos.

I heard from my former trainee partner.  He had gone team grad.  He really did not know the person he went with and found out the hard way.  He is back in Dallas because of a minor accident by the other person.  He is okay, he was not in the truck at the time of the accident; however, his partner will probably be let go for dishonesty.

I got to do repairs on the truck yesterday in Albuquerque. I stopped at the Kenworth dealer and they stated it would be the next day before they could even fix the part.  I took the screws loose, examined the connection, Stevens bought the part and I put it on.  I would not have wanted to drive the road I was on without my engine brake.  I would have had to gear down a lot more and use the brakes more than I wanted to do the work that little switch could do instead. I wonder if I should request shop pay for the work done? (Ha)

I will be cranking the truck up at 5:30 AM Dallas time, get fuel, then head for the LA basin.  Two deliveries, one at 7AM CA time and one at 11.  Three hours scheduled time to go about 75 miles should be enough time I hope!  There is a scale house between here and there, I pray for quick and easy passage tomorrow morning.  

Heading home

Church was interrupted this morning by the QualComm.  Just as Max was making a great point, beep.  Fortunately I was present to answer the beep which was a pre trip.  If I did not answer it quickly they would assign it to someone else.  So off to Amarillo to pick up a load, then to the LA basin.  It is supposed to deliver by 7AM on the first.  I may need to recalculate my times! The bad news I sit here at the shipper, already dropped my trailer, waiting for the load.  Another day without a shower!  I need to plan things better; however, tomorrow I should be at a truck stop.  

Stuck in Los Lunas

Delivery was scheduled for 4 PM local time, I arrived early and by 6 PM local time I was done.  I received a message for a possible repower to move a load to Gas City (where is that? It is in Indiana); however, by the time I sent the I am empty message, they had given the load to someone else.  So now I sit.  I will probably be here until Monday.  So I sit behind the WalMart waiting for a load to California.  I can use the restroom, but what I really want is a shower!

I searched for a church near here; however, they are across the freeway, a long walk. Worship services will be in the truck at about 8AM if anyone wants to join!

Los Lunas

The load did not leave the yard in a timely manner, (not my fault), so they rescheduled the delivery time from Thursday at 8PM to Saturday at 4PM.  I am on the side of the road, in a commercial district where trucks park, able to view my final destination, but unable to go there until tomorrow!  That does not make for a good pay check!  My only hope will be after 6 PM here they may allow me to come and deliver.  That would mean I was still stuck in Los Lunas; however, I would be empty ready to travel tomorrow.  

Because advances come off my overall paycheck, I need to thrive on the amount of my pay check I have coming directly to me and not home.  Advances are to be used for paying tolls, scales and things like that.  I am parked behind the WalMart in Los Lunas.  It must be time to go shopping!

Almost alone

John, my partner for the past month, stayed at his uncle's house last night so he could easily fly out this morning for Atlanta, GA.  He is going team grad.  So last night I was alone and if everything is correct today, I will be leaving here before noon...alone.  That is the largest difference between the local driver and the local driver.  The amount of alone time.  Even if you are at a truck stop, go in and watch TV, talk to people, etc.; you are still very much alone.

That will finally provide me with the time to complete other things without the concern of a co-driver or trainer.  With a co-driver who liked to stay out to late in the night, I would sometimes not sleep well concerned for his safety and in the training situation, the trainer would dictate when everything was to be done, without talking to me the night before.   I am supposed to put close to 20,000 miles on the truck on 60 days, time starting after my few days of home time.  As they say that means keeping the left hand door closed as much as possible.  Stevens has policies regarding driving late, the government as laws regarding how many hours you can drive per day, and of course let us not leave out speed laws.  The 20,000 is do able, but there is a real need to keep moving.  Lord willing, let the next adventure begin.

98% ready

Today I arrived around 7:30 and started the day by doing laundry.  Then off to class for all day.  Some people very encouraging, some attempting to make you feel guilty for having been born.  But by sitting in class all day I have my form filled out, needing a couple of more signatures tomorrow.  I will attend two things tomorrow; however, I will be early again because I need to empty my stuff from the truck.  They have another key to the truck and they moved it today.

Did not get to sleep until late, was wakened at 3AM and then did not get to go back to sleep until after 4:30.  I believe God put the two of us together; however, I hope we have both learned everything we were supposed to learn.

Received a call from Christopher who had done some great things at GYA.  He sounded so proud, I just wish I could have heard the call and talked to him in person.  But that should be okay by next week.   Received a call yesterday from GYA that his mentor had not fulfilled his obligations. This puts a bind on Chris.  Hopefully we can contact his mentor or get another to fill the need.

Were in Dallas

We delivered the bananas early this morning, then they sent us off to a water bottle plant to transport water back to the yard, that is eventually headed to New Mexico.  We played the game they play, by collecting on advance on our check before we turned in the truck.  Once the truck is on the yard, the ability to get money ends.  The paper work states I will be paid for two days (hopefully that is Tuesday and Wednesday since I worked most of today) then the money ends.  I also pray that they will have a truck ready for me with a load to home.  It has been a long time.

The WiFi connection in the room is very strange.  It is very slow and will not allow me to send my mail.  So I will need to work around that issue. I am staying at a new facility.  We have stayed at the HOJO and Value Inn, but right now we are staying at Crossland, an extended stay hotel.  There is a Krogers near by, so I will do some grocery shopping as the need arises.  We have a stove top, toaster, microwave, coffee pot, sink and refrigerator.   I do not have to be at the yard before 10 AM tomorrow; however, I will go in early and use the free laundry.  Plus it gives me an excuse to wear a kilt for a few hours in the morning!  

Not stuck in Lodi

We were to pickup in Corpus Christi on the 19th; however, since the dock there was doing extra work after Ike, they were severely behind.  Therefore we did not load until after 8 AM on the 20th.  Our receiver is closed on Sunday so we now deliver at 5AM on Monday.  We are spending the night in San Antonio, TX then spending Sunday night in Dallas area so we only have a short drive to deliver.  Then off to the Dallas yard and begin the grad fleet process of solo driving.  The process takes 2 to 3 days, then hopefully I will get a load to California.  It has been a long time since I was home.

Corpus Christi

Left for Victoria,TX at 3:30 this morning.  Unloaded then drove the mile plus back up the road to a small diner/truck stop.  Ate breakfast and then started to wait for the next call.  Message stated to head for Corpus Christi, TX.  So now we are sitting at the beach front of this lovely town.  There is an empty lot at the corner of Born and Water streets, so that is where I parked the 18 wheels.  If there were an event going on at the city, we would have to pay to park where we are currently.  We are easy walking distance to the bay.  All that to say it is no fun traveling all over the country without someone to share the journey. The temperature is a very mild 83, with slight breeze.  According to Willard Scott the perfect temperature for running around naked!  QC just beeped, we are hauling 40,000 pounds of bananas to Dallas area.  Sounds like fun.

North Little Rock

It is Wednesday.  I worked on a blog for Sunday; however, we have been very busy attempting to deliver every where on time.  I got pulled over in Chicago.  The officer stated I wasn't doing anything wrong, but I think he wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be affected by all the flooding in my route to the receiver.  The receiver was a crazy place to get into.  We had 3 drops around the Chicago area.  The freeways are worse than New York; however, the streets are much wider in the areas we were delivering.

Sunday I went to "church" at the truck driver's chapel.  There were 7 of us present.  There were 3 present from the organization, so 10 of us total.  All have a CDL.  I walked in thinking they were playing a cappella, but when I turned the hearing aids up, I could hear the piano on the MP3.  We were to sing along to 2 different, very traditional hymns, all recorded on MP3.  The story one man told of his life was inspiring; however, the lesson itself was a little to dramatic for the number of people present.  The soft spoken style of a Max Lucado would have worked wonders.

We are on day 22 of 21 and I do not know why.  I called our Driver manager earlier, but he did not return my call.  We are headed for TX, near Corpus Christi; however, the yard is in Dallas.  I am hoping we deliver this load on the 19th, then we are directed to Laredo with a load to Dallas.  That would be good.  We have several signatures that need to go on the paper work that allows us to drive alone, so Monday-Friday works best.  So tomorrow we arrive in Houston area where the other driver can spend time with his loved ones, before we deliver on Friday.  I haven't seen loved ones since July 5.  I need to get home.

No where fast

We drove quickly to TN, only to have a repower from Knoxville.  The problem was the load did not arrive at our location until after 5:45, which made it impossible to deliver to Blandon,PA in a timely manner.  We drove until 0400 attempting to get it there, but to no avail.  The funny thing is the receiver was more than happy to wait until 4PM SUNDAY! to receive their product.  So here we sit for 34 hours waiting to drive a little further down the road.  The good news is we avoided the "fun" of Ike. We would have been sitting right in Dallas as it rolled through.  So even though we sit, the Lord was good to us who are ignorant.

Our official time of being a team ends on Tuesday.  That is good since I cannot afford him much longer.  10 dollars here, 20 there, soon it has added up to 164 in less than 4 weeks.  Both of us need to think more like business men and less like parent/child.  But tomorrow we deliver a load, then it will be time to pick up a load headed for TX before Grad fleet.

Sleeping In

For another day more than I care to think about, my young coworker is sleeping in.  Of course when you go here and there until 1AM I guess sleeping in past 7 AM is a relative term.  He wants to drive the morning shift, but then does not plan his day to drive the morning shift.  The joy of youth.

There is a slight drizzle in Harrisonburg,VA this morning.  QC stated we may see dense fog.  Hope not, I would just as soon postpone that as long as possible.  We stayed at a non-chain truck stop last night.  Large lot for parking; however, the store area was rather small.  They had a restaurant, but alas the budget is a little tight.  Maybe next time I am in the area I can stop in for breakfast.  Breakfast may not be my favorite meal, but I cannot eat breakfast out, without thinking of my wife. 

If I expect to get on the road before 10, I best wake up sleepy head. Is that like the book I observed in the church library: "Some days I wake up grumpy and somedays I let him sleep in."

New York

The leaves are changing color on I-80 thru PA, NJ and NY.  Left to head into NY early this morning and made 2 mistakes.  One: move the trailer tandems to make the tight turns in NY. Two: Trust that you did not make a wrong choice.  The second mistake made me turn around then head the wrong direction, only to turn around again.  Then once heading the correct direction again, I turned onto a street that was so narrow, if I kept driving I would have driven over a car!  We backed up, drove up the block; however, W. Lincoln did not help me getting to my final destination.  I made a another turn and... we were trapped!  The receiver was kind enough to send someone out to help us and we made the delivery basically on time!  Not bad for the first time of driving in this crazy place.  

Finally got my .com address to point correctly, so I will finally have my website up running correctly shortly.  It is a stormy day now in NYC.    While driving in, I prayed for safety for myself and others while driving in (along with the other situations in life) and was very thankful to have been paying attention to all the little details that prevented problems.  God is good.

Almost home.

We were in Lodi today, so I must be near home.  Unfortunately it was Lodi, OH and not Lodi, CA so I was still a long way away.  We are off to the Big Apple in the morning, very early in the morning.  I guessed the truck route via google and just confirmed it with the QualCom!  Yeah!  So far I have not used that feature on the QualCom to assist us in finding any location.  I have worked with the regular maps and Google.  I appreciate looking at a map.

We pulled into the truck stop and were supposed to fuel; however, since it is a staging area for NY it was filling up quickly so we took a parking space over fueling first.  I will do that at 2:30 in the morning.  And since it is almost 9PM here and I earned a free shower, I best sign off for tonight.

Has it been that long?

I am sitting in Grove City, OH waiting on my partner, so I thought I would post.  Then I discovered it had been several days since I lasted posted.  oops. We loaded in Campbell, NY and are heading for Fort Worth, TX.  We will spend the night in Franklin, KY tonight.  I am looking forward to the 16th; however, I realize there is a purpose for everything under the sun.  So why the team of John & John?  I do not know all the answers yet and pray that God will continue to work through this to bless others also.

We stopped at a rest stop in NY along a river (Susquehanna), you are not able to actually get down to the river, so I took a few shots through the fence and of a flower.  So often there are great things to photograph, but it is on the wrong side of the truck.