My life at Millis

When you go through school, your instructor will give you a taste of all traffic conditions possible. Small town traffic, big city traffic, country highways, and interstate. They do the best they can with the time they have to expose you to everything. They will spend time going over weather conditions as well, although nothing can prepare you for bad weather until you're in it. I haven't been nervous behind the wheel in a while, but I was today. Fog. Lots of it. Very thick, heavy fog that went on for 300 miles this morning. I got started around 3am. My GPS said I was 6 hours from my final. It took over 7. The fog was so thick that I couldn't see more than 5 seconds ahead of me. As soon as the wingman stopped tracking a passing vehicle that got in front of me, that vehicle vanished. I've driven in fog plenty of times. But normally it'll be for a stretch of 10-15 minutes, then you're out of it. 300 miles. Driving at 55 in the slow lane with my flashers on. Once I got above Cincinnati, I accidentally exited the highway because I didn't realize I was in an exit only lane. My GPS got me back on 71 without an issue, but that was frustrating. At one point I desperately needed a restroom but I didn't want to hit a rest area until the sun rose, and I would be able to see the silhouettes of the parked semis. I hit the first stop as soon as it started getting a little light out. When I hit Columbus, the fog eased up a little, but was very heavy again as soon as I left the city. I didn't get visibility until about 9am. Crimany. Fog wasn't something that was discussed much in class, and I feel that it should be. There must certainly be a video or something, any info would be good. I know there are vets that will read this and laugh. Fair enough, they've earned the right I guess. Just be aware that it can be very very bad. And also be warned that it will play tricks on your eyes and disorient you at times. This is where having a GPS is crucial so that you know when curves are coming. After that wonderful white knuckle experience, I got to my final and was unloaded in record time. It took me longer to get docked than to get unloaded lol. Swung down to the Smuckers plant in Orville, and picked up a load going to Georgia. I'll be extremely tight getting the load off. Hoping that I get there early enough to get a spot at the truck stop around the corner, because it fills up extremely fast. I will be almost out of time once I get to my final, and there are pretty much zero options other than that one truck stop. Crossing my fingers. That's all I have have for today, time to grab some shuteye. Peace y'all.

 

Happily, my parking issue was solved. Turns out this load wasn't really due until tomorrow morning. Opie wanted me to swing by Cartersville on my way to the drop and get a new Prepass. He was OK with me just staying the night here, since I would have arrived at the final with almost zero time left on my clock. So, I will be heading there first thing in the morning. He already has me pre-planned for my trip home, which is awesome. After my drop in the morning, I have to come back to Cartersville and grab a load heading to Valdosta. From there, over to Cedar Springs, where I will grab the exact same load I just took to Ohio. I'm gonna know those folks by name soon lol. That one isn't due until Monday, which means I'll be working a tiny little bit during my home time, but only for a couple hours. No complaints there. My wife will be at work anyhow. Not sure what my miles for the week will be yet, but definitely not bad considering it's a home week. Looking forward to sleeping in my bed!

 

Yup, that is no joke. It's not bad for short distances, but that was pretty awful.

 

Smart drive may be what we call wingman. It's not a Millis thing, it's a Kenworth thing. And it's not anything thrilling. It is in fact a pain in the butt. For starters, it's tied to your cruise control. If the sensor starts acting weird, you'll lose your cruise. The truck has to be turned off and restarted in most cases to reset it. Shadows throw it off. My truck has on occasion kicked off cruise and started braking because it thought the shadow cast by a bridge was another vehicle. It's technology gone retarded. It's also tied to your camera. If you get to close to a vehicle and don't back off immediately, it'll trigger the camera. Or if someone cuts you off, or the aforementioned shadow from a bridge. It's good in theory, and applied horribly. But, you get used to it after a while.

 

Lol...I just watched you guys do a few laps On my way to find you now.