Parked Here for the Night

Delivered and getting ready to get off the truck. Scored a nice load to Carlislie PA for when I come back Tuesday, gotta DH to Dallas to get but the rate was worth it....especially with the miserable rates that are currently coming out of the Houston area.

 

I'll be here most of the day and was planning to try that out for lunch. My load's still in the fields this morning, so will probably head down to Mission around 3ish to get a good spot in line. I'll PM a phone number, give me a shout if you make it out of the beacon in decent time LOL.

 

Sittin at the house. Found some short haul work to do, so my butt is draggin! That's bout like work! anywho gonna roll out Sunday AM for the frozen north. Start in Edison NJ and final in VT some #### where! Y'all have a good un. Check ya in a bit

 

TruckDuo.... I just read about your experiences with R&L... and I am sorry it didn't work for you guys.... I hope you guys find something REALLY GOOD... not sure how soon you want to find another co. but take your time if you will do a co. search... visit their terminal, interview them, specially their drivers... You know recruiters will not tell the truth and a lot of very key information will not be said... You guys have an excellent employee and driving record... You need to find a good place... Wish you the best...

 

Me too!!! As I "suspected", you are a very nice, friendly, pleasant person... Enjoyed a lot our conversation.... Just sorry I was in such a hurry and couldn't spend more than a few mins at that truck stop...
I was able to arrive at "my" hotel 45 mins before their office closed...
And got the room they were holding for me.... on the second floor... no elevator, as far as it could be from the stairs... But hey, I didn't complain... the hotel is full and that was the only room available...

Hey... this is the pic I took of some of that traffic jam on I-40 AR....



Probably it wasn't that bad when you drove by there, huh?

 

Thank you Mr. Speedloader... and as you requested... here it goes, I "summary" of my travels so far... with pictures... I have been PRETTY pretty busy since last Monday... My co. did a lot of improvements in "my" truck... Replaced the DEF tank... Replace a lot of old parts in the APU... And they were going to put 4 "new" tires on the drive axles... but when they learned I am traveling abroad, they postponed that... But said they will "hold" the truck for when I come back and told me I ought to come back... Yes... I definitely intend to...

So... after repairs were done, I spent almost 5 hrs moving all my home from big truck to vehicle I rented and parked both side by side at co.'s yard...



Cleaned very well inside big truck so will not need to do it when I come back...


I don't use mattress... instead, I have 3 sleeping bags, some thick duvet covers and blankets...



Slept inside big truck last Tues... for the last time before my travel...


Said my farewells to big truck... And left OKC early Wed morning... with all my things...



Got to "my" hotel in the evening... It's a nice place... I have been taking my "hometime" in this hotel for over 5 yrs now... It has a nice little studio, with big refri, kitchen cabinets, stove, 2 beds, table, chair, dresser, tv, etc, for a little more than $200.00 a week... And... what is more important, it's across from "my" storage... which makes it PRETTY convenient to move stuff back and forth...




Moved some things into the room and the rest into the storage... Yesterday was another moving stuff day...




I realize that moving things around has been the story of my life... since when I was 20 yrs old that I travel and carry and move things around... constantly... No wonder my back is so screwed...
Returned the rented vehicle yesterday and got a cab to where my personal vehicle was and drove to post office to get 3 months worth of mail... Some paperwork to do now... Will spend this weekend finishing preparing my notes for the IRS return tax and will take my personal vehicle to shop for some electrical repair...
Got to make some international phone calls, pay future bills, this and that... Got plenty of things to do before my departure on 02/23...
Will have some time and will not need to rush this coming week though... need to be rested for this LOOOONG and TIRESOME trip to the middle of nowhere where dad lives in Brasil...

 

Unfortunately its Friday night and Still in the truck called it early at the Tennessean. Got the call that this load of lumber thats been sitting outside needed tarped so pulled in to tarp it and just said forget it would not jave made it home anyways.

 

Yep. Took my time and a 2 hour break and everything was clear by the time I went through

 

Im at one of the nicest truck stops I've ever been to. Its the Midwest Travel Plaza in Cuba, Missouri on I44...Huge parking lot. Big store, nice restaurant. Clean!!

Had one of 'those' days today. Started out nice. Quick unload and a 80 mile dead head to my pick up. Had a stinking CH Robenson load. But I got loaded quick. When I scaled the load...the day turned cloudy. This was what the scale ticket said:
Steer:11940
Drive: 35140
Trailer: 32560
Gulp...I only had one hole to slide!!! So I slide it and reweighed....
Steer:11940
Drive: 35120
Trailer: 32580
so when i slide the tandems it only transfered 20 lbs!!!
I knew I had 2 Missouri scales to cross... so 20 miles back across St Louis to rework the load. This was my first time as a truck driver in this predicament.... Of course when I called dispatch...no answer...when I called Pepsi...no answer... when I called my trainer...no answer.... so I had to make the decisions.... rework the load, run it anyways, find a way around the scales.... I decieded to get it reworked.
Pepsi wasnt very happy.... but what could they do. of course I had to make a really hard back inbetween 2 long nose petes.... but it was the prettiest back Ive done yet! I didnt let one problem blossom into more.... I just did my job. No drama, no stress...
Got it reworked and rescaled it
Steer:11880
Drives: 33880
Trailer: 33820
Gross 79580

Easy breezy!!! Headed to Oklahoma City for a Monday AM delivery.
Kept my head, learned some good leasons, and moved on.