Torment

Brad Paisley talks about it, that high school may not be the best days of your life. If I could go back in time knowing what I know now, I would go back to about 8 to focus forward! My trucking partner is struggling with 14; wanting everything NOW & knowing more than most everyone else. Trying to help him elevate his self esteem, seek value in learning and generally appreciating life certainly is proving challenging. Oh to help him through those challenges! I wish it were raining or snowing to create a new challenge for him. I created a blog for him to write a journal. You would think I told him to eat used socks for dinner.

First try

They finally created Blogger for iPhone so that allows me to post without using precious data minutes on the computer!
The photo is from Pilot truck stop in Russelville, AR. Which made me think of a former student, which made me think of his wife's recent surgery. I sent her a note with the picture.

Further adventures of Kiltman and side kick bifurcated

We are stuck in SLC,UT waiting for Stevens to decide what to do with this load. They currently plan to unload the whole thing to examine the product to make sure nothing else is damaged other than the one pallet.
I thought Matthew and I could use the blog as a method of keeping each other on track of what we want to achieve. So he'll be posting also! I have about 5 more hours available to drive today; however, it will be interesting to see what happens at the cold storage.

Traveling in circles

Dallas to Laredo on Thursday/Friday. Laredo to Laredo on Saturday. Laredo to Dallas on Sunday/Monday. Dallas to OKC then Ochelata Monday/Tuesday. Skiatook to Arkansas City on Wednesday. We are supposed to have a load to CA; however, unless they change the delivery date, we can not possibly make the load. Had a slight issue with someone in dispatch/repower window; however, this many hours of sitting, combined with burning both clocks at night is getting old very quickly.
Spoke with a young driver who made the switch from lease to owner operator. He stated the pay difference was crazy. His settlements avg $2000 per week, instead of my average of $500.
I have never been put on the sit mode with a student before and a do not know what they are thinking. One interesting side note for the O/O is his toys, decorations, etc.;however, I would invest in new seats before a wood steering wheel or fancy knobs!
Dead line date/time for this load to roll out the gate is 8:00 PM. They have 50 minutes.

Deja vu

Years ago with my first ear problems an ear doctor stated the reason for my extreme eat pay was a snotty nose. He then proceeded to puncture both ear drums and use his Hoover vacuum machine to vacuum my middle ear. The noise is like a jet engine going off in your head. He placed a tube in one tympanic membrane and told me to return in two weeks. I did; however, when he wanted to "rip out the tube" I decided to visit another doctor. He looked in my ear and the diagnosis was a cholesteatoma, "third leading cause of death at the turn of the century."
We informed Stevens of truck issues, two separate issues; however, they combined them. "Just check your fluids, run it till it stops running..."; however, when I took it to the dealer, we had a major exhaust leak that was polluting the air in the truck and could kill us. Waking up with a headache, not cheerful; need to listen to my body and press onward for what is right.
Off to SoCal; hopefully NorCal with load heading East!

Truck repair

The truck was not responding properly so informed road breakdown. "Maybe it is low on oil, maybe it is..." whatever, took it to Kenworth dealer who listened to my statement, then listened to the truck and announce it is an exhaust leak. We delivered this morning and plan to deliver rest of load in the morning.

You want it when?

Leave Gary, IN for the short drive to Aurora. Attempted to have trailer washed out; however, company was not reliable to do the task of reporting to work! Drove until 12:45 AM to Norfolk, NE for a 5 AM delivery about 1 mile away. Wow were we looking good until...crash! He turned right to soon and hit another trailer! Yes made on time delivery, but it made for an unpleasant morning. Came to the top of the off ramp, no one around, start easing got and some driving way to fast in small car had to slow down to get around me. They sped up, voted letting me know I was #1. We picked up in Storm Lake and are headed for Prince George,VA. Prayerfully the rest of our journey will be uneventful.