Swift - Starting the New Year training with Swift 1/7/13 - A long read...

Lol....update to come hopefully tonight as I sit my ### in a hotel (VOLUNTARILY!!) for the beginning of my hometime.

I haven't had any internet access and it's tough to type things up on the cellphone. Plus, let me tell ya, my cell service is TERRIBLE!

If anyone out there has Boost Mobile and has excellent service, let me know. My experience is that I don't have service through various states. Basically about 4 or 5 states I have been through I have had no service whatsoever. A few off the top of my head...Wyoming, Kansas, S. Dakota, Montana....

Everything is well. Not sure how long I have even been on the road. I know it is over 2 months, maybe 2.5, I'm not sure but I pulled into the Sumner, WA terminal with 44,000 lbs. of recycleables to be dropped Monday morning and I started my hometime finally. I also am going to try and put the truck in the shop this Monday and get some issues taken care of.

Hope everyone is well and content. I am.
More later...

 

Ha, no more trainers for me. It is so sweeet to be solo. Yes, Boost sucks. I finally got a map of their coverage area and I wasn't wrong. There are entire states where there is no Boost service.

Glad you follow along. I'm thinking about going back to Verizon although I'm trying to avoid the old $75+ phone bills so I may have to compromise for a while with spotty service from Boost. I'm going to check into Verizon though anyway to see what they got.

Yes, you will still pass me. Swift company trucks are governed at 62 mph so you will most likely be passing me!

Yeah, from what I heard Swift bought Central a couple of years ago.

 

My truck went into the shop the day before yesterday and here I sit in my hotel room relaxing. I'm feeling burnt and crispy from a needed but long absent tanning but things are great.

Something I've realized is that as much as I love this job and lifestyle, when I get my hometime I want nothing to do with trucking. Shy of posting on here, which is somewhat therapeutic for me, I don't want to talk trucking, don't want to see Swift or any other trucks and I don't want anything to do with work.

I noticed myself over the past week, prior to my hometime, starting to get pretty cranky at stupid things that would otherwise not bother me. That's when I knew I needed some "away" time. My last load was a pickup just south of Ketchup, Idaho from a recycling place. It was a full 44,000 lbs. and my truck protested most of the way home. There was an open window to drop the load so I took it easy as I chatted it up with the guy that was weighing the bundles of recycling being loaded into my truck - something I have enjoyed about this job has always been meeting people and their corresponding stories.

I was near Sun Valley, Idaho, aptly and appropriatedly named for the 300+ days of sun they enjoy a year. I was told this by the gentleman weighing the bundles. He was originally from Tennessee, got tired of the humidity and mosquitos and found his own paradise here in Idaho, not far from where celebrities fly their private jets into to enjoy their winter ski home. A beautiful place indeed. I was caught outside just relaxing against a pole looking out at the mountains in the distance and nearby, looking up at a nearly cloudless, blue sky just daydreaming and soaking it all in. There is something I truly enjoy about getting off the main interstates, onto the local roads crossing through small towns with history and character, sitting up high in my motorized perch. It's a feeling I can't really explain, putting along at 25 miles per hour down a small town street looking at the layout of a town.

I've always had this weird fascination with town and city layouts, examining the epicenter for stores, churches, barber shops, pharmacies - thoes places where everyone leaves the privacy of their home and comes to the common area, the meeting place. As I drive through the main street I look down, left and right, to where the people live to try and get a better feel for the place. Is it blue collar? Industry based? Tourism driven? Where does everyone work and what do they do to play? How are they dressed? I try to soak it all in as quick as I can as I pass through. I think part of my fascination has always been my strong dislike for the mega-corporations that dot most of the suburbs and outerlying areas of cities. Year ago I read a book that I own called "The Geography of Nowhere". It was basically telling of how, through the increased growth of the most common and recognizable commercial status symbols, towns are losing their identity as they increasing become overly homogenized and bland. Dairy Queen, McDonalds, Sunoco, Walgreens, Olive Garden, Walmart and repeat and repeat. There is something that I miss about towns and places with original character, those places with unfamiliar to me names owned by a single family that cares something about community and less about profit, or at least not only about profit. It brings me back to my days of working at Lowes, as another cog in the wheel of corporate goodness and empty nothingness. I don't miss it but here I was near Sun Valley and all was good...

I was leaning against the pole taking it in while the forklift slipped quietly and mostly unnoticed behind me loading my trailer. Every once in a while I would notice the clink of the plate between the dock and my trailer but otherwise I was in my own world enjoying this. He had walked up and shook my hand like a gentleman and introduced himself. I commented about feeling the altitude and we got on the subject of the local weather. He knew it like a true meteorologist and recited the different weather patterns by season. It was interesting and I asked questions about the change in towns as I proceeded north, closer to Sun Valley, the character of the towns changing from old-timey to neaveau rich. I kind of wish I could have stuck around but I wanted to get some more hours behind me so I took care of some of my administrative tasks, pushed in the air brakes and started heading back south towards Twin Falls.

Heading back south passing by signs for the "Ice Caves", I took a right onto Highway 20 south of Bellevue, Idaho heading east towards Mountain Home. It was a great drive and for some reason one of my recent favorites. I passed by some historical markers, with names like Rattlesnake Station - an old stagecoach stop - passing by too quickly other than to read just the titles and jot them down somewhere to be looked up later. I stopped in Mountain Home for a break and, realizing that I had finally gotten a decent parking spot at a truckstop early enough, I decided to stay there for the night. It was a short day but after the previous 3 or 4 days staying in different Wal-Mart parking lots, I was happy to be at a truckstop with a good parking space. My load's drop had an open window so I relaxed for the night texting and talking to two women I had met on an online site earlier in the week loosely setting up some plans to get together on my hometime.

To digress, earlier in the week I had been driving a load through Kansas to an ultimate destination north of Ogden, Utah. I was driving across Kansas on Interstate 70 in the western most portion of the state. It was dark out, my radio refused to play any entertaining music and my phone had no service. It was back to those OTR training days with just me, driving and what was surrounding me. Looking out my passenger window into the dark night sky my eye kept on being distracted by violent and beautiful lightening in the sky. I could see if bouncing around within clouds every time it lit up the sky, otherwise I wouldn't have even seen the clouds. The radio was low but I could hear some distinct tones coming across the FM broadcast so I turned the radio up. The music I didn't want to listen to was interrupted by tones and beeps followed by warnings that the National Weather Service had determined that there were tornadoes just north of me, one county up closer to the Wyoming and Nebraska borders. There were violent storms, hail the size of ping pong balls and wind gusts of 70 miles per hour. The broadcaster was distinctly warning the listeners to find adequate shelter immediately. Do not go outside. This was potentially deadly to humans and animals and proper precautions were to be taken immediately. If you have a mobile home, find adequate and alternate shelter immediately. I was fascinated and terrified. I rolled both of my windows down and I could hear nothing but the cool air barely passing by at 62 miles per hour. No strong winds. No odd electrical smells. No sound of hail. No evidence of rain. It was just calm as lightening in the absence of thunder flashed within the clouds to my north outside my passenger window. As scared as I was I could do nothing but continue heading west towards Denver on 70. The storm was heading east so that was a relief. As I got into Colorado, the lightening to the north was not quite as evident. It was present but not quite as much. However the wind picked up to a point where I have never experienced in the role as driver. Those little tumbleweeds began rolling across the road. Then faster. Then they stopped rolling and started fllying, beating into the passenger side of my truck. I slowed down to about 45 mph and hoped to hit Denver soon. Somewhat far east of Denver the snow started to fall and blow pretty severely. I rolled into a Walmart off of 70 in Aurora, circling the place over and over trying to determine the best place to park as apparently I wasn't the only trucker with this plan. Eventually after circling the parking lot for about 45 minutes I decided to park on the side of the building where I felt I would be out of the way just as the snow started building up. The next day found me heading north on I-25 towards Cheyenne. Electronic signs warned me that I-80 was closed heading east at Cheyenne. Not sure if the western direction of I-80 was closed I continued north. It was, in fact, open but the drive alone I-80 heading west through Wyoming was one of my toughest drives thus far. All those times I had driven in the snow, across mountain passes and in storms while in training I never had an issue with my windshield wipers but I was about to have one. I had my defrosters on high, all the way hot yet ice was still building up on the blades and subsequently on my windshield. The road was snow covered and in spots it was slick with ice. I was crawling along and my windshield was becoming almost impossible to see out of. I would say the conditions, at least to a newbie like me, were absolutely treacherous and intense. I leaned forward and sat up trying to look out the little spot on the windshield where I could still see, trying to find a safe place to pull over to get the ice off my windshield. Earlier, the day prior, I had bought some of that spray deicer in the can at Wal-Mart. Although the stuff works great it does me no good if I can't find a safe place to pull over to use it. I looked at the shoulder and determined that not only would I run the risk of being hit by another semi or car had I pulled over there but also that I would most likely have been stuck in the snow in a very compromising position. Eventually I found an off ramp type road to the right whereby I could safely move my truck off the main road and spray the deicer. I smacked the wiper blades against the windshield in the frigid cold getting most of the ice off. It was pretty hairy but now I felt somewhat relieved. As I got closer to Utah the weather let up and the road was less icy. Finally. It was an exhausting night. I didn't hit snowy, at least sketchy snowy conditions, until I crossed over Snoqualmie Pass and down Highway 18 in Washington closer to my home terminal and closer to hometime.

I pulled into my home terminal and felt like I was finally "home" even though I don't have a residence to speak of. This is my residence or at least the place I come home to now. It was near midnight and I let out a big sigh of relief after being out OTR for more than 2 months straight.

Monday morning I started the truck up again and dropped my delivery in Kent at a recycling plant that was less than accomodating to large trucks. After that I returned to the terminal and waited to put my truck in the shop. I got it in later in the day, found my motorcycle was safe and it started right up. Bag was loaded and I checked into my hotel. I had a gift certificate for $50 worth of food for a casino across the street from my hotel. I've been waiting for this steak dinner for 3 months and here it was. Top sirloin and a pulled pork sandwich to take back with me. I still had at least $20 left on the gift certificate but, being alone, I could only eat so much. In the mood for slots, yet this steak casino only had card tables, I rode down in the rain to the Muckleshoot Casino a few miles down the road. I went right to the high dollar slots as I usually do and on the second or third pull of the $5 slot I hit $850. Pocketed that and played with another $100 on some other cheaper slots so I could simultaneously watch some UFC on a big screen and listen so a girl band belt out popular songs poorly. They were pleasant to watch at least. I left elated, relaxed and somewhat richer. A great first night of hometime.

I set up a lunch date this Thursday with a 39 year old woman I have been talking to at a casino up north here in Washington. On Friday I have another lunch or coffee meet-up with another woman I met on the same site. Looking forward to both of these meet-ups as the ice has already been broken on the phone and thru texting and now it's time to meet face to face. Both are attractive and have fun personalities. I'm having a great hometime and despite my desire to see my dog, I am reluctant to see my exwife so I think I may put that on hold until I come back for my next hometime in a few weeks to pick up my new, updated license...