Trans Am Still

About 2pm I was sent to pick up an empty at Annie Bush in Newark, now 8+ hours late for my pick up so running late for delivery. It is a Lowes drop and hook so I think I can just ask my DM to ask Customer Service to change the appt. Normally these loads have plenty of time built in but now that I have a delay it has to be on a tight schedule.

Having major Regen issues with the truck now. I am getting messages to bring it in for PM, I was hoping I could keep running frequent Regen cycles, hoping I could baby it until that time, hoping I could get in this good, long mileage run, but it looks like I will likely have to bring it in to a KW shop.

We get warn down George. I have written in the past it is best to request any swaps set up for Gary to be moved to a safer area, we all know we should not hang out in Gary. We get warn down, when a swap was sent to me in Gray, I just did it. Did not want to contact my DM for a switch, did not want to get upset if they said no.

I saw a tractor trailer horse carrier today, don't think I have ever seen or noticed one like that before, now I think of the King and wonder if it was him driving in Penn today.

 

I just delivered to that Supervalu in Hopkins. Try to get there about an hour early because of the way the have you check in. They do not count you checked in until you have paid for the lumper first and they take a long time to get you unloaded. I hope it goes better for you than it did for me. At least you can park there

 

In Ft. Wayne for the night. In some dirt lot across from the J wasn't sure if the J had parking so I went in here instead, plenty of parking in this lot but I am not getting out till I can put this on pavement. It is just a big mud pit. On my way to Massillon, Oh.

Be safe out there

 

I have a terrible time watching tv.....my behind hits the recliner and it is lights out , if i am not here in the evening you can safely bet that I fell asleep watching tv!

passport, I'm sorry about your truck .....will be keeping my fingers crossed for ya!

The King is in Wisconsin this evening. He is trading them a load of beer for some cheese that needs to go on vacation. The company he works for has three divisions, he works for the logistics side of it. When his truck had to be serviced they loaned him one from the horse division. He liked the loaner truck the week that he had it even though it is not as roomy or luxurious,he liked the way that it handled and maneuvered. Long story short, he asked to keep the loaner truck providing they do a few minor things and they approved the trade. Since this truck had been in the horse division it doesn't have a rack for his load locks, etc.. He also gave up his fridge. But I believe they are going to do a few upgrades for him when he has the time. The "Mighty Whitey" was a great truck and very roomy .....it was really more than what he needed since he is home most weeks. So hopefully the trade will benefit someone that stays out and lives in the truck most of the time. I actually believe that you may have seen one of their trucks up that way today, Panhandle saw one yesterday. They have recently redone all of the horse trailers and the King says they are real eye catchers.

George, I am with honeybadger and passport, be very vigilant in Gary. Some of the stuff I see on my little grapevine is truly scary. If I had to name the truck stops that I see the most happening at Gary and West Memphis would top the list, then Nashville and Wildwood, Florida and Eaton, Ohio.

I have a question for all of you. Have you ever heard of any regulation about which side that you wear your bluetooth on? I have read posts from a couple of drivers that said they were issued citations for having their bluetooth on the left side. I know, I know .....sounds like a joke. Both of them were issued citations in the same state on the same stretch of interstate. I searched a little on Federal regulations and found nothing stating any such directive as far as headset use. However, what I did see was that while states are required to enforce the law regarding hand held devices, they have a lot of leeway to add to those requirements on a state by state basis.

 

....Really? ....I had no idea! The first time I saw it I saw it I thought it was a story, but when I saw another one saying the same thing on a different page I thought maybe there was something I didn't know! And you know we can't have that!!!! After a bit of research there is nothing in the Federal regulations that says anything of the sort but each state can write their own enforcement rules.....so I had to wonder about it.

 

I hate to say this Pete, but we were wrong....it is not just a trucker story. I just found it .....I had to reword my search. Illinois does have their own laws for the use of cell phones while driving a CMV and they differ from the Federal laws. They were part of that little group of crazy laws that went into effect in 2014. The state law does specifically state the type of headset that can be worn, etc. I think for most of you what you have and use falls within the guidelines. Also, ten municipalities in Illinois have even stricter regulations than the state. I am assuming that the two citations I read about were in one of those municipalities.

If you all want a link, I will post it for you. It's too long for me to post here .....I get in trouble when I copy long articles for you! Otherwise, be careful of your cell phone use in the state of Illinois while driving and just to be on the safe side wear your headset on the right ear.....because I still have to look up which ten municipalities have more stringent regulations. There is always the individual officer's interpretation of the law ....you still get the citation and have to fight it. I know that both citations that I read about were on I-74.

 

The cell phone laws in Illinois are jurisdictional and they are a primary enforcement law. From what I saw no cell phone use in a construction zone, school speed zone or within so many feet of an emergency situation other than to notify the authorities, that includes taking pictures. There is a lot to sift through.....some municipalities would like to ban cell phone use totally. I also found this -

Localities are explicitly allowed to create cell phone driving bans in six states (Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Pennsylvania).

 

That is true and it seems to me as if the laws are applied unequally to those that are trying to abide by them. At 4 in the morning I wasn't going to track down all of the research on this. Basically, depending on the officer and municipality, a headset worn on the left side could be considered a distraction would be my guess. Illinois has tried to pass some very strict distracted driving laws. Their law makers felt that they were not being enforced and so for the past few months there has been a push to do so. There are some cities in Illinois that have been trying to ban cell phone use altogether while driving.