Good Night From II

Here at the Rest Area south on I-75, KY, just before the split. I was wrong about miles by Sunday. Those are actually by Tuesday afternoon. No way without some serious pushing could I do 2700 by SUnday night. Could it be done, maybe, but that is 11 on and 10 off and 11 on, etc, etc, and there is no reason to push. I have until Sunday morning to get to Augusta, WI and then have until the afternoon of the 21st to get to Texas, 1100 miles

 

Not the last time I was there.

 

Steve , how's the new gig and how's your knee holding up .
Frank

 

There was no lumper fee for my drop.

I made a little mistake coming to the Little America in Cheyenne.
No laundry and no bath tubs in the shower rooms.
The only real food is in the very expensive restaurant.

It was the closest place, and I only had 4 minutes left on my 70 when I shut down. I probably would have gone over if I tried for anywhere else.
Live and learn.

Edit:
And now my truck is acting up.
It is constantly asking for a parked regen.
I've done it four times, and it is still asking for more. I also have a check engine fault.
It has happened before, last year. Edwardsville terminal changed the DPF filters. I guess they are bad again.

I'll call on-road to see what they suggest. Probably try to get it to Denver terminal because they would not want the expense of a local shop.

 

My right knee (the one I had operated on) is doing fine, my left knee (arthritis) has good days and bad days. The bad days usually follow a bad traffic day in SoCal.

Unlike Swift (where I lasted 2 weeks) Duncan has their act together with regards to the ports. In 6 weeks I have yet to sit to get a load, most of the time I'm stacked 2 deep. I'm home ever other night and all day Sunday. I can take off time any time I want (like July 1-4). I know the 2 best places to park near the ports (one in Long Beach, the other in San Pedro). I've gotten comfortable with the different ports and definitely have my favorites. We get paid extra for live loads and for going to the ports. Since doing my "port training" (2nd week) I've only been to our drop yard in Long Beach once. I have a great dispatcher who I speak with daily. Today the paperwork I needed for my drop wasn't in my mail slot so my dispatcher brought in to me while I was getting fuel.

Is it perfect, not even close. I'm currently stuck in a Cummins powered Cascadia with a 10-speed. ALL of our trucks have APUs but mine won't cool the truck and I refuse to put it in the shop until July 1. I figure it will take me 3-4 months to work my way up to one of our newer trucks with an automatic They expect you to do 3 turns a week which means 6 days out. It can be done in 5 but so far I haven't figured out how.

I'm making more money than I EVER made at Swift (as a company driver) and more than I averaged (per week) my last year at Swift as an O/O.

 

Rest area, Walton, KY. Snagged a Ultra Lite trailer. Was told today that Bush's have many of these and they use these as much as possible on the plant to plant loads. Also found out today a new way to get to the plant in Dandridge. Instead of turning left on that 2 lane US 411 at the Dollar General just go down to the next light and turn left. They have built a new 4 lane US 411 that goes down to where the old 411 comes out. That means no more curvy road and no more having to take that left at the end. Was told today the number of our drivers that have not turned left, went straight and gotten stuck. Was told today that in 1 week, there were 15 of our trucks that did this

 

When I was there 4 months ago there was big sign on the 2 lane road saying it was closed to through trucks. Went up to the light and saw the sign for the new 411.

 

I agree. I don't remember the last time I was down there, but they were just finishing the new road. Everything looked finished, but they still had some cones out. With all the signs posted, it was pretty obvious to take the new road.

 

Portage, WI Petro tonight. Not where I planned to be though. I'm trucking south on 90/94 just after the 39 merge and some shiny white peterbilt starts honking at me and the driver is going nuts shouting at me (with his windows up of course) and pointing at the front of my truck. As he rolls past me, I get on the radio and ask what the problem is, but I guess he spent all his money on making the truck look purty and couldn't afford a radio. I pulled in at the next rest area and found my left front tire was half flat (just the bottom half, the rest was still round). Wonderful. Didn't want to be stuck in a rest area overnight, so I decided to go to the next exit to turn around and head back to the Petro. The tire wasn't completely flat and it was only maybe 10 or 12 miles total to the exit and back to the Petro. So now I have a brand new Bridgestone on one side and a worn Goodyear on the other. Is that even legal? That's what Onroad told them to do.

 

After a week and a half my youngest daughter could not take the trucking life any longer.
We got to Denver this afternoon and she asked me to take her home. She was homesick.