ATS/school

Rintagh, I just shot down the 202, the street from the shipper dumps you out right on it. Much easier than trying to manuver around all the residential traffic. I think the life of that particular pick-up lot is VERY limited! Houses popping up everywhere. I'll send you that address tomorrow. Nothing at all happening today/tonight. Just killing more time and a few more brain cells. Wonder how many more till I can pull disability?LOL see ya!

 

Today started out fine, got up and headed down to Kennewick. Timed it perfectly, got there right after they had opened. Pulled around and through the back entrance, dropped the two chains, one forklift later, done. Honestly didnt take 15 minutes from when I set the brakes till I released the m and headed out. Things went fine, got to Post Falls for fuel, talked to another ATS guy for a while. Heard some unpleasant rumors. He was told that a "bunch" of drivers were going to be let go. And that the company wanted to move more to L/O and O/O's. He also said they were going to get rid of a bunch of the older FM's. Its only hearsay until something more official, may be no more than nervous people making stuff up. Who knows these days! Anyway, so i'm heading East on I90 in MT, going through the construction zone where we're using one side of the road asa a divided hwy. Suddenly this 4 wheeler in front of me swerves hard to the left(yep towards oncoming traffic). He didnt cross over but low and behold, theres SOMETHING in the road. You got it, I had nowhere to go. I still dont know what it was but it took out my outside trailer tire, AND the rim! Bent the bead back like it was plastic. So my day ended in Missoula at Muralts. I didnt have that many hours left today anyway so I just parked it. Ill head out early am and try to make up a little time. Should still be able to deliver early and be home Wed. nite. Yeee Haaa! This month at a time thing gets old by the end!

 

Not much happened today, which is good! Just motored across MT, clipped WY, and stopped in Rapid City. I should deliver tomorrow, late am, then deadhead up to St. Cloud to drop off the truck. Hopefully get a couple days at home then gone again. This trip WILL be shorter! I doubt my son will be able to stand more than a couple weeks. And I need to be home to see my oldest daugther show her animals in the State Fair. SLC screwed up the county fair, I'll rent a car if I have to this time! Hopefully I wont be around here for a few days, so take care everyone and be safe!

 

So I picked the truck up at the dealer on Monday am., after going out to the yard to get it. No-one had gone and gotten it! Then back to the yard for a trailer, and off to Fairbault again for more air conditioners. And yes, the d*mn things needed to be tarped. And they HAD to be loaded narrow one on the step, widest one(10'2" tall, 8'6" wide), one a little bit narrower but just as tall, then the last one, same size as the first one. Now tarp this mess! I had to turn the big tarps sideways and use all three. It was VERY humid. Think I drank at least a gallon of water! We didnt get too far that night, Dad was tired, dirty and needing a shower! Drove yesterday and today, now we're in Wells,NV. Should make it to Lodi tom. and del. 7am Friday. I hope I get a load right away. I think my son would go nuts if we have to sit all weekend! H dropped his DS Lite(sp?) from hte top bunk and now it wont turn on, making for a long day for him. But he has taken about 100 pictures so far! You name it, he snapped it! I'll catch up again soon, take care!

 

Well I left early am for the delivery, ran into the other ATS driver on the way in. When we got there we found out that another truck had broken down in their yard the day before, AND the day before that. They were a bit behind. So we helped each other untarp etc., turns out he was from just down the road from my house( ok about 45minutes). Real nice guy. Then they come and get us, we have to back up off a busy street into a narrow driveway. Great! First driver hit the hole on his first try. Nothing like a little pressure! But I got it too! Ok, I had to pull up and straighten out but only because they wanted me to go waaaaayyyyy to the back of the yard. Oh, and I already had my next load, 71 miles away. Got unloaded and off we went. Made the delivery this am, got a 1/2 mile down the road and had the next one. Ended up doing 4127 miles last week(Mon-Mon) and now off for another 800 or so, looking good. I did have to stop at a Wally world and get a personal dvd player for my son, he was REEEEAAAAALLLLYYYY gettting bored. Now he says hes watched all the movies he brought at least 2x each. I cant win!

 

So my next load is in Missouri Valley, IA, about 250 miles up the road. No prob. doesnt pick-up till the next am, 9:30. Spent the nite around the corner at a little truck stop, got up and was at the yard at 9:00am(cant hurt to try and get loaded early right?) I picked up the Carry-on trailers again. Could have slept in till noon and still been on time for loading! Nope, no break downs, no noticeable problems. Even had 5(yes, 5) guts in the yard. Took them till 11:30 to load the first truck, and his appt. wasa for 8:30am! Yeah, I was a bit behind after that! Made the first delivery today, and headed to the second. Sorry, 1st stop was in Salida,CO, 2nd is in Clifton,CO. That US 50 is a beautiful route, but man it sucks! I think I DID meet myself on a few of the switchbacks! And tight corners? When they say 35mph, they aint kiddin! It really isnt bad, just dont expect to set any speed records. Hopefully we'll have the next load by the early afternoon, not gonna put up anywhere near the same miles this week, I would be happy with half.

 

Ok we deadheaded out to CA to pick up gearboxes for the wind towers. Ended up being OD by 4 inches of width. Ran that up to Portland. There ended up being 8 ATS trucks there. We all showed up at about the same time. Then deadheaded up to Kettle Falls,WA for a load of lumber going to Pella, IA. I'm a little disapointed with my FM right now. She "forgot" I had put in hometime for this Thursday. I guess it doesnt help to put in for it almost a month ago! Now I will miss my daughter at the state fair. I really am a bit pissed. Hours available, delivery times etc. mean I wont be home till sometime Friday evening, well after she's done showing. Im going to sign off cause thinking about it just gets me madder! I SHOULD be home for a few days, guess we'll see if they remember THAT!

 

Well I got lucky. Pella started unloading at midnight. I got a few hours of sleep and headed home. Got home jumped in the pickup and headed down to the fair. I got lucky again, no line! Drove right in and got to the judging barn with about 20 minutes to spare! I was shot by the time I got home tho! Should be here til some time Tues., then I'll roll again, probably go for a while. Hope your all well out there!

 

Son did ok, a lot more window time than he expected! Didnt help he broke the gameboy thing the second day. He's kinda shy, so he didnt want to get out and help at first and when he finallywas all excited to help tarp, the lumber yard wouldnt allow kids out of the truck! Kinda ruined the day for hom. He doesnt know if he wants to be a truck DRIVER anymore, maybe something else. We really did run hard, 9500 miles in just shy of three weeks. Better than this trip so far! I left Cloud and headed to Centerville(little suburb just N. of the twin cities on 35E), was to get a container and head to IA to load, then out to NJ. Got cancellled just as I was pulling around to get the thing set. Not as bad as one other driver, he was pulling in to the shipper in IA! So I got to go home for another night, then down to Fairbault again for more air handlers, and tarping. Joy! It was raining so we got to tarp in a building, which was nice, da*n things were slippery enough as it was! Made it down to Wichita and delivered this am, with 2 other drivers. They both have left for new loads, i'm still in a truck stop in Newton. FM says she will get me a load for the weekend, but things are thin right now, especially w/3 trucks in KS. I offered to go home for the long weekend, no response yet. We'll see what happens tomorrow. My daughter seems to have given me her cold as a fairwell gift, GREAT! It was HOT here today! Gauge said 115, I didnt know kansas got this hot, shows what I know!