Driving OTR with US Xpress

The equipment manager at Tunnel Hill told me 550k was the magic number, but that was last winter. Now I see they're making the '09 Cascadias available for lease/ purchase with 400k - 460k.

I'm over 400k. I wouldn't mind turning this one in and getting back into something newer.

 

I always stop at the terminal first, because you never know if your "live un-load" is going to turn into a drop when you show up a day early.

And that's exactly what happened yesterday. No lumpers available to un-load me, but they were happy to get the load early.

 

No, not yet. Actually, the title for the book will be the easy part, and I'll be sure to let you know when I have one.

Right now I'm busy writing 4 chapters at once, making sure they stay consistent with my story outline. The research work is the real time killer.


I'll update when I can.

 

Hello There.


Trips and Stats.

Delivering early can have advantages. In this case, I left the TS and arrived in Laredo about 0900 local time and went straight to our terminal and had the trailer inspected, which is my normal routine. If the trailer is going to be dropped, you need it. I was scheduled for a live unload, but being a day early, I had a feeling things were going to change................and they did.

After having the trailer inspected, I headed over to the receiver, and sure enough, no lumper crews were working. But the guard said, "Don't worry, just drop the trailer in our drop yard across the street."

"OK. I can do that."


So instead of being tied up for who knows how long, it turned into a D & H.........sweet. I grabbed the only empty, and headed back to our terminal.


I only waited about 45 minutes to get a dispatch out. A pre-loaded trailer from the terminal, going to Jackson, MO, loaded with 20,000 lbs of baby diapers. Total paid miles: 989.......I'll take it. The load delivers by 1500 on Tuesday, and being that it's a P&G load, a drop at the receiver.

I left Laredo with just under 6 hours available, and with the heavy traffic and accidents on I35, I had to stop at a small TS in Elm Mott, TX for the night, 702 miles from the receiver........just out of reach. I tried to make up the time, but the best I could do was 652 miles (being governed at 65 has it's dis-advantages). So I've stopped for the night at the Flying J in Mathews, MO, about 50 minutes away.


I have no pre-plan yet, so I guess I'll see what's on the DT when I wake up. So far, I'm liking it.



The Dark Side.


Saturday night, after officially naming my truck "Christine", I shut down my computer and hit the sack around 2300.

Early next morning, I awoke suddenly, unable to breathe, alarms, beeping in my truck. My air hose for my CPAP is wrapped around my throat, twice, the end, of which, was ripped out of the machine.


I've been using a CPAP for years. I've never had the hose wrapped around my neck.........let alone twice....and the hose, torn off of the machine?


Ok.....Ok....Just a fluke......moving onward.


Sunday night I go to bed, and again, I wake up too early, with a headache, the cushions for the mask of my CPAP are on the floor of my truck..........you have to take the mask off to remove these cushions.............but the mask is still on my face!

Enough of this. I going into TS, use the can, start my day.


I open the door to my truck, climb down, step on the ground..............crunch, squish.........WTF............My truck is surrounded by crickets.............. hundreds of them!


What is this? A friggin' plague? There's so many of them they can't even jump......they just run into each other..........so, where do they go? UNDER THE TRUCK!


So obviously when I come back out, they're still hangin' around. Now, being a big believer that all creatures have a right to their own existence, I attempted to reason with them, pointing out that scurrying under my truck, particularly the tires, does not coincide with a long and fruitful life.



Did they move? Of course not. Why would they? First, they don't understand the language. Second, they were most likely spawned by my t.............I'm not going there.


I gotta go to work.............Tip toed around the buggers, did my PTI. Climbed back into my truck........scrubbing the cricket guts off of my boots with a brush before entering the cab.


One last plea:"Ok guys, I'm leaving. Time to get out of my way."




No answer........................how rude.




Crunch, squish, crunch, squish, crunch, squish, crunch, squish, crunch, squish................




I warned them.






Thanks for reading.
-Wedge