Stevens Transport aviary

I deliver at Wally world at 9 am on sunday.. so if you get there it would work out. I'm 9591.

 

TL...there ain't no justice. Here I had this Cheyenne load, wanting to go to Boise. You have the Ontario load, wanting to go to Cheyenne.
I traded my Cheyenne load this morning for a Seattle load. Didn't want to sit and wait for Donner to open. They think MAYBE it will be sat morning.
In Portland tonight. Dinner with my sister and brother. Up to Seattle for sunday morning drop. Then spend day with daughter and family.
Have preplan for Monday. PU in Yakima, the off to Iowa. Got some time on the load, so I'll cruise thru Boise and see my wife and if they're REALLY nice to me, I'll see my two oldest kids and their families.
So I guess it worked out.

 

At least I know my DM was telling the truth. I had checked on donner, and saw the chain law was still up. So here I set this morning, watching the snow fall..Radar is showing a large mass of snow off to the west, dry across Idaho, and then snow at the Utah line, gonna be a fun day. Checked in early at Americold, hopping to get loaded early, but it is not looking good. Oh well. Trucking, the job I love

 

checked in at americold, early, on the slim chance I might get loaded early... did not happen. Rolled out at 1600. Plan was to stop at Little America WY tonight, but mother nature, and a massive pile up stopped that.. So here I am at the Port of entry, Evanston WY, waiting for the road to open.

Thanks comic for the offer of help, but I won't be able to roll until 11 am, and I am 6 hours away.

 

Well, dropped my load at Whole Foods in Seattle this morning.
I had completely forgotten about this place. Years ago, I use to deliver to this building before Whole Foods. Had a 45' trailer at the time and it was a pain backing in. Place really was made for 45s and daycabs. I was driving a cabover with a sleeper at the time.
I watched five other drivers jockey their trucks for 15-20 minutes to finally get in the slot, then I did it in one shot. I thought they were going to lynch me.
Told them the secret of how to line up. Hopefully they remember it.
Now I'm sitting in North Bend, WA at the TA. Heading over to Naches tomorrow morning. Thats in the Yakima area (if anyone cares), then off to Iowa to my favorite receiver...Target!
The only place I got a 10 in while sitting in the dock.
Not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES!
But its a nice run. Who am I to complain.
Smker...that storm that kept Donner closed for so long is headed your way.
Oh boy!
BTW, this is one of those rare sunny weekends in the Pacific Northwest. They are rare, but when they come, they are beautiful. Crystal clear air with the city buildings standing out against the snow covered Olympics to the west and the Cascades to the east. And the Sound is as blue and beautiful as ever.
Too bad it doesn't look like this more often!
Got a chance to have dinner with my brother and a sister in Portland on Friday night. Went to the Old Country Kitchen. Thats the place that gave birth to the 72 ounce steak ordeal. The Texan in Amarillo sent a letter in the 50's and asked permission to copy the program. They hang it in a frame on the wall.
I don't eat steak often, but this place, like the Texan is phenomanol.
Had dinner last night with an old friend and his wife at a german restaurant.
Again...great food.
Now, after having dinner with my daughter and her family tonight, I'm going to have to go on some kind of diet/exercise program.
Fat Fat the River Rat!
Stay well everyone. Let us know if you ever get that load home, TLea.

 

This load to Denver, is considered my load home. And I am going home after dropping it off at 0700 at kroger... might get out of there before I take a 10 hour break...
Target, I think they have to count each individual apple. 8 to 10 hours is the norm there.

Found me a nice rib eye steak tonight, that beats the hell out of TA/petro, and was cheaper. Pepper Jacks grill at exit 235 on I25 north of denver. I was planning on stopping at Johnson's corner, but at 6pm the place was already over packed. Did not want to try and find parking in commerce city on a sunday night, and Don't feel like parking at the receiver, although I could.

I also did not feel up to fighting sunday night traffic going into denver, it was getting awful already, after fighting snow, wind, ice, and stupid truckers all day.

Smokr, what can one say, but you need to change your karma.I sure hope you can find a place with a fence, that you can send a picture of to Stevens, to get it approved as a place to park close to home. I had to go thru the same thing. Glad you were able to offer some help to the other stevens driver. (i wonder though if your FM was not cussing you out for stopping though)

Be safe all.

 

Made it home after dropping in Denver, and then dealing with that so wonderful wind that Wyoming is so famous for.

 

Glad to hear you made it home Tlea.Im sitting in Morris,Il. waiting on a Prologis Kraft load going to Boise,Idaho.Go fiqure.My student needs a Northwest and this is what popped up after I unloaded at Fresh Express in shytown.To the driver on trk 11401 that ripped me off for 4 load locks on our repower.I hope you thought that was funny,because you are now getting charged for two of them.Lmao,the jokes on you.I quess you just thought I was gonna take it in the rear and like.The guy picks up a load in yuma going to shytown,has 1900 miles on it,with 38 hrs of drive time available to him and his student,and then goes up to the truck stop and goes to sleep.After putting about 900 miles on it,he calls dispatch and says hes sick and cant make the load.He is 1100 miles out/with 15 hrs until delivery.Really.Im dying for loads like this,and jerkoffs like this guy are getting them and then because they dont want to do whats necessary to get the job done,i.e. drive through the night,and hard,or for 19 hrs w/two drivers,to deliver other drivers like me have to take up the slack.Not that Im complaining,thats why my truck averages the miles it does.What a slacker.And then he rips me off for four load locks.WTF.Gonna see this guy somewhere and its not gonna be pretty.What do you think his student is learning from all this.I pray he makes it.3200 miles in the last 5 days.We are moving pretty well.1800 on this load in three.Been pretty good the last week.Be safe guys,we still have some bad weather around.

 

Well took off for central WA for a three pick load of apples bound for my favorite receiver....Target in Cedar Falls.
Got up on top of Snoqualmie Pass when the phone rang:
"Where you at?"
"On Snoqualmie. Whatcha need?"
"Got a load in Olympia on a broken down truck. Can you help?"
So I turn around and head down the mountain, find the truck and swap him.
Doing my pretrip on the trailer, I find 8 tires that are all about 90#.
I ask him if he ever checks his tires. "Sure. every day!"
"Then," I ask him, "how did you check that inside left on #4 axle?"
The valve stem is hidden behind the outside wheel.
One only can wonder how long it's been this way and how long since anyone checked the tires.
None the less, head on back to Whole Foods in Seattle. QC says to just back into dock 55 when I get there. Same dock I did yesterday.
Come on in, whip right in with one try, feeling pretty good. Get out to chock the tire and notice I'm in 56.
Went inside, asked if 56 would be ok (no other trucks there, docks empty inside)
No...gotta move it.
Twenty minutes later, I finally get it in the hole.
Jeez!
Of course no one saw me put it in 56 like a pro, but three trucks watched me struggle putting it in 55.
Takes forever to get unloaded, but finally I get out of there 6 hours later at 3:30. New load. Forget the apples.
I'm off to Wallula for a meat load.
These are my old stomping grounds, so I feel pretty much at home. Did a lot of trucking around this part of the country.
Got here this morning and sat from 7am until 6:30pm to get loaded at Americold. Got a call from my DM at around 2:30. "Where you at?" (don't these guys just look at their computer screen?)
"I'm sitting here in Wallula waiting to be loaded."
"How'd you get there?"
Is this a trick question? "I drove?"
"But the pass is all screwed up."
"Was dry and clean when I came across yesterday."
"yesterday? Why'd you come over yesterday?"
"Because the pass was suppose to be screwed up today."
I feel like saying things I shouldn't when these conversations come up. My tongue has scars on it.
Then across the street to Tyson to finish up the load. Typical meat patch. Probably won't be out of here until morning. I think my DLD is 0515, but now I understand my frist drop (of 4) is at 2030 tomorrow in Burley, ID...679 miles away.
Good luck Charley!
Then it's Billings and Houston.
Nice load. New storm coming in. Probably will dog me all the way. I don't look forward to running up the back roads to Billings. They have me going over Yellowstone, but that's a nightmare in bad weather, so I'll probably have to divert to Bozeman up the 15, then east on the 90.
That route follows close to the coldest place I've ever been. Salmon, Idaho.
It was -51 degrees ambient. Not wind chill...ambient.
Like to have froze my face off.
It gets cold in those sawtooth mountains!
So, everyone stay warm. Time for a nap.