Starting in Trenton 8/22

Cottage and I want to say its 111th or 113th street. Its by Mead Packaging. So for those that want to know here it is. I turned right off Cottage to get to customer. No problem. Leaving the customer my gps is routing me a diff. way. So i check the atlas and see no low clearance issue and its not route restricted. Get to the intersection with Cottage ( which is the way I came ) but GPS says to go straight up and get on State St. and turn onto highway. No big deal. Its a blind right curve from the light. At the light is a sign says 14' clearance ahead. Again no big deal I can clear that. Light goes green I am in second gear, start around the bend and slam on the brakes. The bridge is marked 13'6". Throw on the 4 ways and pop the brakes. Now I can drop my air and creep under, or I can get out and tell the person behind me to back up to the light as I am going to back up and turn onto Cottage. Turns out it is Chicago's Finest. He says trucks go through all the time and the sign at the road should be right. I say I can risk it and roof my trailer on a overpass. He throws his lights on, backs up traffic past the light. I back up, turn onto Cottage and all is good.

Now some of you may ask well if I came from cottage why not go back that way to start, simple answer you can't always come back the way you came. Other answer is the GPS and atlas both said I was good, even the first sign said I was. Could I have made it, maybe, was it worth trying, nope. I can always look up the exact road if needed, but this is why you don't blindly follow the GPS and something you will learn after your first trip to Chicago. The rail system is great but its the pita for a driver trying to get around.

Not the first time I have had a cop help me out, Dallas P.D. block traffic to allow me over when the lanes where closed due to a wreck one time, I have called Delaware State Patrol about alt. routes due to wrecks. I know most people think D.O.T. and the Police are out to get you but they are very helpful when you ask them something. Plus they can't give you a ticket for asking for help, but they can if you don't and they catch you in the wrong spot.

 

Sitting a 100 miles away from D.C. and can say, I wish I was further away than that. Had a two stop load, one to Mont. County Liquor and the other to North East Maryland ( that is the actual name of the town, and by far one of the worst names you can get ). Was late for the first drop as I had to drop down 65 out of West Allis to get to 70. Stayed in Breezewood for the night as it is about the closet place I knew I could find parking. This place was screwed up. No room in the lot, inside docks with no lights to see once you start into them, and then they stage the next truck right in front of you. Got unloaded and had to slide tandems and close doors on the street as 10 other trucks where trying to pull in and out of the place at once. This made me late for the second drop, but they were nice and unloaded it even though they had stopped recv. for the day.

Good week 3100 miles and an extra stop. Now waiting till tomorrow to get my load, conserving hours, start running on a good recap tomorrow. Guessing Avenel NJ is where I am heading as that is where I go when I get on the East Coast.

 

At the Flying Hook in VA at the 320 something. Doing a 34, pickup sunday in Luke,MD heading to Fond Du Lac. Came out of GA over to Courtland AL, and up to Berryville MD. Trip sucked. Left a peelot in dalton to find a big wreck as I was pulling onto the ramp, so clock is burning. Then a Pumpkin decided to put his truck in a ditch at the paper mill blocking the road. He was pulling out of the mill and put it there no idea how that happens. Was 79990 so got pulled into every scale in TN and VA. The final had inside docks with no lights again, but they had lines painted on the ground which helped a ton.

If you go to Courtland, stop at the Gas station by the mill, its on the corner when you make the right to get to the mill. They have awesome cheesburgers, 3.99 for 2 pieces fried chicken, mac and cheese,mashed potatoes and corn bread. All homemade and not healthy for you in a good way.

 

Sitting at some little "truckstop" in New York off of 68, doing a 34 and delivering tomorrow in Roulette PA. Bunch of NY and PA state highways to deal with tomorrow to get there and more I am sure to get out of there. Been running good, hit a bit of snow up by Albany earlier this week, got to drive through it over to CT empty, was a good exp. Picked up a lunch box stove, have to say its nice to have to, have cut my food budget in half easily.

For those interested here is my mileage breakdown since I got out solo.

12/6-12/12= 1020, started on a Thursday and was first week out, so easy runs with long delivery windows.

12/13-12/19= 2211

12/20-12/26=1768 hometime week

12/26-1/2=1722 hometime carried into this week

1/3-1/9=2302

1/10-1/16=3071

1/17-1/23=974 hometime week

1/24-1/30=2407

1/31-2/6=2403

2/7-2/13=3028

2/14-2/20=2671

2/21-2/27=819 hometime week

2/28-3/5=2598 bad weather cost me a lot of driving time this week

Doesn't count multistop and detention pay ( yes we do get it just have to ask for it ). Last pay stub I was on had grossed 7000 for the year no counting the 2/28-3/5 week, and was on pace to have 30000 miles for the first 3 months of the year. Remember it all balances out in the end. Don't freak out over a bad week here and there.

 

Sitting in Eau Claire WI, doing a 34. Flood gates of freight opened this week ran 3574 miles, and had a preplan to pick up in BRF today and take to Whitesnow IN for tomorrow. Couldn't take the preplan have 22 minutes left on my 70 hr clock. Gonna be a short week next week due to hometime scheduled but hopefully the miles keep rolling in. And for those that haven't been in a while NJ still sucks.

 

Hometime tomorrow, ending the week with about 2500 miles. Sitting in Ind. delivering in cincy in the morning. 8 minutes shy on my drive time to be able to make final and be home tonight instead of tomorrow. I hate Chicago, there is nothing good about that city, may the cubs suck for another 200 years.

 

Going to have my first truly bad week with millis this week. Came off hometime wens. found out the qcomm was down. Called in for a load and got Chicago Bev. for a 3am delv. Did find a better way than the qcomm directions at least imo. Thursday was to pick up at Ill. FMB Whse. in Bolingbrook, took them 10 hrs to load 20 pallets, and it wasn't just me it was every truck there. There were trucks that checked in at 8am still waiting to be loaded when I left. Told dispatch couldn't make my 2pm friday delv. in Birmingham. Now I sit in Birmingham till monday. 1000 miles and 80 in detention pay. No one at Millis fault, just bad luck. My dispatcher was tee'd off that night dispatch didn't tell me to drop it in Streator since customer doesn't rec. on weekends. But u take the good and bad. Hopefully will get to stretch the legs on my truck next week.