Calex Express....My New Home!

Thanks Pal. I'm sitting at the Petro in Laramie Wyo. Traffic has been real light. I hit this holiday at the right time.

 

I did 80 miles in 3 hours going from N. Chicago to Gary Friday afternoon, I wasn't quite as lucky!

 

I enjoyed running with you for the little amount of time it was. Btw thanks again for 'babysitting' for me the other day. I should be back in Pittston tomorrow night and hopefully get the truck fixed.

 

It was my pleasure, only a dog lover would think of the well being of a dog. I guess I'll see you on the way back. I just got to Battle Mountain to take my 10. I'm 190 miles to delivery. I'm going to Sparks and take my reset there in the morning. At least there's something to do in Sparks then in Fernly. Give me a holler when you find out where you're headed to. Be thankfull you got turned around, it's 98 degrees here in this lovely state.

 

Better you then me!...lol

 

That is why I stopped at the T/A in Elgin, Il yesterday. The traffic on I-90 leaving Chicago was incredible yesterday afternoon. Glad I was headed the other way. I left Elgin at 0400 this morning and didnt stop til I got to the Petro in Perrysburg, Oh for fuel.

 

Well I guess it's time to write an entry on the blog. I left the house on a Friday with the sole purpose of getting my truck worked on on Monday when I got to the terminal. I told Louie I needed a day in the shop to put my truck back together and get rid of the bungee straps and duct tape that was holding it together. I was at the terminal right at 7:30 when they opened. After watching my truck start growing flowers, they took it into the shop at 1pm. In the mean time Louie dispatched me with a load that was loaded at one of our customers up the street from the terminal. It delivered Wednesday at 8am in Elgin Ill.

After getting my truck back from the shop, I find out that now instead of bungee straps and duct tape, I now have zip ties and different type of waterproof tape holding my truck together. Great, lets hope this engineering marvel makes it to California and back. I got my trailer and was headed west by 5pm.

I made it to Youngstown and took my 10 there. I woke up Tuesday with about 500 miles to go and made it to Elgin Ill. and spent the night at the T/A. I woke up Wednesday and drove the 6 miles to my delivery and was empty in 45 minutes. I already had my reload, Jason sent it to me the day before. I had a 300 mile deadhead to Cornell Wisconsin and got there at 2pm and was loaded in less than an hour. Chris (the rookie) was a few hours behind me and was loading at the same place as I going to Fernly NV also. I scaled out and was somewhat surprised to see I was grossing 78K and my axle weights were 33K, 33k and 12,200 with 3/4 tanks of fuel. Good, I didn't even have to move an axle. I made it to a truck stop just south of St. Paul Mn and called it a night.

Chris called me the next morning and told me he was about an hour behind me but that he was having truck trouble and that his trip out west would end in Des Moines where he was to switch loads with another driver so he could get back to Pittston and have his truck fixed. After we met up in Albert Lea I baby sat his dog in my truck because his A/C went out. We left after his shower and split up in Des Moines. I made it to York Ne and called it a day. Because of the holiday I have plenty of time to get to Fernly. Saturday I woke up and made it to Laramie Wy for the night. Yesterday I made it to Battle Mountain NV where it was 99 degrees and my APU decided to have a nervous breakdown. I got there with 22 minutes left on my clock and my setting for my APU got reset back to factory settings for some reason. So, with the truck off, the temp reading 102 degrees inside my truck, what do I do? I call my wife and scream at her like it's her fault. She told me that she just paid our credit card bills and had zero balances on them and that instead of her listening to me carry on to go get a room then call her back. What do I do? Never being one to listen to the voice of reason, I stay up until midnight with the manual in my hand trying to figure what the hell is wrong. I finally figure out the problem and why it happen and get it back to factory specs. The only problem is it is set to run intermittent so it was now shutting off every 60 seconds then starting up. The voice of reason was making sense at this point. At 1am I finally get it set to run on constant and fall asleep. I woke up this morning with the temp in the truck reading 65 degrees. Nice!

My wife texted me this morning to see if I was awake and if I was, was I at a motel. I called her and told her I finally got everything reprogrammed and was now freezing my ##### off. The only thing she said to me was, just exactly what was she going to do to help me out while I was in Battle Mountain and she was in Lake Worth. Great point. I apologized and we had our typical morning conversation. I had 3 hours to go to Fernly and decided to go past the consignee to see where they were then go into Sparks for fuel. After fueling at the T/A I drove over to the Petro which I think is a better place to take my reset. It's a shame about the T/A, when it was Sierra Sids and a 76 T/S it was so much better. Not that the Petro is anything better, it was a lot nicer when it was the Alamo. Anyway, thats the end of my story. My reset will be up about 10pm Pittston time Monday night, then I'll drive over to the consignee and spend the night there. I spoke to Louie on Friday and he said that I'll be loaded Wednesday and to head over to Santa Nella Tuesday after I get empty. Gary will be delivering his load at the same place I am but around 10am. He runs out of hours tonight and will take his reset in Wendover then get up early Tuesday and head into Fernly.

 

Well I am 8 hours from having my reset done. To kill a little time I am doing some laundry. That and the fact that it's 99 degrees outside and my APU is struggling to keep it cool in the truck I figured I'll do laundry instead of gamble. I was going through my paperwork and realized my medical card expires next week when I get back. My Lord, it's been 2 years that I'm here, time to put a report card together.

 

Got up early this morning and went in to shower. When I got back to my truck my reload info was sitting on my computer. 2 pick ups, one in Watsonville Ca and one in Aromas Ca. It delivers Sunday Morning in Pottsvile Pa.

 

Part 2
The people...
Im a word... wow.
Consideration is rare enough but here it is so consistent!! Every person I have delt with has listened and acted to assist.
Mechanics who say sorry for waking you, payroll who has the patience of a saint, safety dept who will come out of the office to check a truck problem with you and tales the initiative to set up a prepass account for drivers who want to one, dispatch who does an astonishing job of looking out for the miles of 171 trucks without getting nasty when road problems make you late... etc.
Integrity in spades. Just amazing