Calex Express....My New Home!

Boy, I have a house full of family coming over tomorrow for Easter/Passover. Now I know what Garylobo means when he say's that he's wiped out after home time. I wouldn't want it any other way!

I was asked by safety if I would be willing to take one of our drivers home when I get back to Pittston. He lives in Idaho and has been told by his Doctor to hang it up. I know this driver and have had the privilege to spend some time with him in PA when we are both in. Sarge is everything that's right with this industry. He got a bad break during Vietnam but this retired Marine never let it get in his way while racking up 5 million safe miles. I would be honored to take this man home, hopefully he can teach me a few things on the way to Idaho.

 

He's making 2 more turns west then in May will be going home.

I will. We all can learn from someone like Sarge. Very far and few in between.

 

Waiting to call into dispatch to find out my next adventure. I left the house Sunday night around 9pm after all our company left and headed up to Orlando. I was done unloading at 9am yesterday but had to wait around for an hour because my clock said I was still tired and couldn't legally leave.

I had my complete yearly physical at the Doctor, not one of those 2 year let's see if you're still breathing things we go through for the government. Lucky me, I have a Colonoscopy to get done next time I'm home. The joys of getting older. I also had our taxes done, all I'll say about that is another year of not having to pay Uncle Sam.

 

All ready to leave in the morning. I have to drop and hook in Griffin Ga going to Mountain Top Pa for Friday. But first I need to meet a new hire in Kingsland Ga to do a road test. Be safe all, God Bless.

 

I'm home, if only for 24 hours, but I'm home. I got to my delivery in Mountain Top Pa late Thursday night. The customer we deliver to there has parking on site, but believe me, never again will I park there. They are in a big industrial park that has a bunch of our customers. All night long I was kept up by yard jockeys spotting trailers, other carrier's dropping and hooking and the constant sound of backup beepers. I could have slept in a hundred different places that night but I chose this place.

After giving the new hire his road test Wednesday I headed through the woods to get up to Griffin to drop and hook. He is a driver, the road test went fine and I left. About half way up to Griffin I started smelling an awful acid burning smell. It was bad enough that I had a headache all day and night. I stopped at a rest area and realized what the smell was, one of my batteries went bad and was overheating the acid. I checked my gauge and it showed 13.2 volts. It should read 13.9-14.00. I removed the side panel and saw what battery was boiling over. I called into the shop and told them what was going on. Lucky for me, Kevin who is one of our better mechanics was on duty. He told me that when I get done dropping and hooking to put it in the shop at the TA in Jackson Ga and to have them test the alternator and the batteries. I got there at 8pm and had a 4 hour wait. I decided to drive to my fuel stop in Commerce and take my 10 there . At 6am I woke up, put the truck in and was done and rolling with a new battery by 7am.

Later that morning I called Louie to give him my eta and he told me it would be Florida. I was at the yard at 8:30 Friday morning, fueled, got my DEF tank filled and was rolling out at 9:30. Louie did say I would be going west next week. I was drop and hooked at noon Friday headed to Orlando for 5am Monday. Even before I left PA I was given my preplan for Monday. Back up to Griffin for a drop and hook going to Maspeth Queens for Wednesday morning. I always need a fresh 70 coming out of Fl when I go west, so I worked it out that my wife would meet me at our customer in Orlando, then go home and spend the night and day home enjoying the things I work for. My truck is at our customer, backed in getting a reset. I'll be back up there around 9pm and ready to go with a fresh 70 early Monday morning.

I think if I asked my wife to pick me up on the moon she would ask me what time. I got home last night at 8:30, showered and came out to find my wife putting together the 3 meals I ate while gone to make sure I had everything I needed to go west. People talk about hitting the lottery, I sure as hell did 15 years ago when we got married.