Good night from...

One good thing about rite aid is that your never worried about weight... I don't think any of the loads are over 20-25k

 

Just finished delivering TJ Maxx in Pittston, PA a couple of hours ago...

.... and I should have taken a 30 in their yard before heading to the Pilot to do my laundry. I ended up getting confused what roads I needed to take in order to avoid the ubiquitous restricted roads, went up a very steep hill in a residential area and had to do a blind jack into a driveway on a hill to get turned around (there was a sign that said "Last Opportunity for Tractor Trailers to Turn Around"). That ate up time and I ended up having to do another blind jack into a business driveway to take my 30 before I could proceed to the Pilot.

Got the laundry in the dryer now. As soon as it is done I'm headed to our Stop 2 a couple of miles away. Once I get it in the dock my codriver will take over and drive to New Jersey for the second half of our loading, then I'll take over for the first leg to Phoenix.

 

Dragging my feet in Albuquerque. My El Paso load doesn't deliver til 5:00pm and I cannot get them on the phone. No use getting there too early.

 

Pendleton, OR.

I was supposed to pick up a load near La Grande this morning but when I woke up there was 3 inches of snow.
I was told that the road out of town (not here) was really bad, so I did a Mac 22 saying I'd pick it up at 0900 tomorrow.

The roads started to get better later in the morning so I headed out to cover some of the 200 miles to pu.
They stayed good enough so I kept going until I ran short on time.
I had less than 5 hours on my 70 today. By the time I got here I had just under an hour with 50 miles to go, and snow packed roads over Cabbage.
Too bad, because the chain requirement was lifted just before I got here.
But it made parking a piece of cake since many were leaving.

I was really trying to get to the J in La Grande today because between now and tomorrow morning there is supposed to be another 5 inches or so of snow, which means chains over Cabbage again - and I'm not throwing iron.

 

Mt. Vernon, TX. Got a pplan pu in Memphis tomorrow at 2200 so decided to shut it down early and get a late start in the morning. Going back to El Paso, t-call as soon as I get it there, Monday night, then try and get a short one on Tuesday that I can del on Wednesday. Still fighting this ##### flu

 

Everyone has been sick, my daughter woke me up during the night sick, also found out there was a mis communication about my load which was supposed to pick up at 8am but the planner said last night I had all day.... getting live loaded now at pacific alliance in mira loma and deliver in irwindale, target manager just tod me im helping walmart for the weekend and I got the rite aid account so hopefully things work out.

 

Here's hoping you didn't catch anything from your family.

WELL, EXCEPT FOR HUGGS & KISSES!

 

My load was from SLC UT to Albany OR, route suggested was to run up to Boise then OR20W all the way, but the weather map showed lots of snow that way so I went I80W to Winnemucca then shot up north into Oregon that way. Got caught in the snow anyway, had to chain up on OR58 and again on I5, in fact still have them on. Lots of jackknifes and spun out 4 wheelers.

Got to the final no problems but got stuck trying to get off the dock. I guess the tires were still warm and turned the fluffy snow into 3 inches of ice under the tires and they just spun in place. I dug it out with the shovel and finally had to get my 20 ton bottle jack out and lift the rear drive axle a couple inches to chip the ice out from under the tires. I was hoping that would be enough because to crawl under and jack up the front drive axle looked like I might come out frosted. It was enough, except I got stuck again about 30 yards ahead when I tried to shift. That was easier to get out, the snow was just fluff so dug down to the pavement in front and back of the tires and rocked it out. Then on the way out, Low Air Warning-uh oh. Put out the triangles and crawled under the tractor where I heard the hissing. Turns out a big block of ice had formed on the front of one of the air tanks and around the pull cord, well the chunk had broken loose and was pulling the bleed cable got that fixed and back running.

Heading northbound to shut down and one of the truckstops to be in position for my next load but there was a major wreck or something, my clock is in negative time right here on the interstate.

If you're still in Pendleton OR tomorrow Moose, we might cross paths, I'm tcalling a load in SLC supposedly for Sunday, we shall see with this weather.

 

That is why I do not run the NE in the winter

 

Or the NW. ..