Beginning the Long Awaited CDL Process

Here a pic...sort of unusual I think. I was near the Canadian border one cold February nite. Not another soul in the rest area.

Dang...sorry wedge I put this in the wrong thread. Mark

 

Sammycat, I was very happy to finally meet you. I hoped it wouldn't be 2 years before that happened. We've been posting back and forth for some time.

Of course the great American Trucker was right there with us all along the way. I hope he's not mad at me. AT is a great guy. Maybe I'll run into him out here one of these days (for a 3rd time ) and we can figure it out.

Anyway, home time is always too short to get everything done. And having friends from up north visiting made for less time to get everything done. I certainly didn't get much "me time" this go round.

 

Thats the worst part of OTR, there isnt enough time to enjoy your hometime, 1 day for every 7 out sucks since you really need like 3 days just to relax when you get home lol, and/or get everything done.



American Trucker

 

OTR isn't bad once you get into it. The key is making sure your tractor is outfitted with the creature comforts that would make a longer run tolerable.

Being home on a regular basis is hard to give up. That's the one negative I have about the job, but I really enjoy the work.

The sights I've seen and the places I've been I consider one of the benefits of truck driving.

 

Out on the road again.

I'm sitting at the Petro Oak Grove 70 TS in Oak Grove, MO. This place seems to copy the Iowa 80 TS except it's smaller.

There's ample parking and the store has plenty of goodies for your truck. If I had a bag of money, I'd spend some in there, you can be sure. But the prelim on my taxes says I'll be paying Uncle Sammy big time this year so truck accessories will have to wait.


I got to play flatbed driver for a run from Hartselle, AL to Lawrence, KS. I pulled into the shipper and got in line. There were 7 flatbeds.........and me with my van.

I was picking up 9 wire reels about 90" tall and 70" wide. They rolled right in and the dock workers cleated them to the floor. Odd thing was, because I had walls, loading me was faster. Securing the reels with a framing nailer makes short work out of that.

They put a larger brace on the tail against the last reel about 6" high, and I used 2 straps to keep the last reel jammed down against the brace. The load only weighed in at 9000, but because these reels were so tall, I took it easy around corners just to be safe. It was a nice run.


I've been real busy since coming back out on Monday. I was dispatched within 30 minutes of the time my PTA was set for, and have been backed up with pre-assignments. That's why I haven't been on until now.


I deliver a 2 stop load, the first drops at 0600 tomorrow in Lees Summit, MO. I'm about 30 minutes away so I finally have a chance to relax a bit.




I've been running back and forth here in the KS, MO area. It's been very windy so I've been watching the weather like a hawk this being the start of tornado season. I'm not thrilled with being in the land of twisters, so it's best to pay close attention to changing weather patterns.





That's it for now.


Thanks for reading.

-Wedge

 

You thinking about jumping ship?

 

he jumped last week....he's already drowned Your not in the Coast Gaurd are ya?




American Trucker

 

Just been out of the loop for awhile lol

 

Finally escaped the Pound, huh?

 

I hope you are all safe out there with this crazy weather in the mid west area!!

Wedge
Yes someday I do hope to meet AT- I think he would talk my ear off but that's okay!!!! and you are right-he's a good guy!

*except I just found out he likes ''dirty girls'' LOLOLOL!!!!!