Mon/Tues... Sept 29,30.... Heading West....

Bright eyed, we were ready to hit the road Monday morning. We were picking up a loaded trailer at the same place we had dropped the loaded trailer on Sunday morning... the Chinet place.

We arrived there at 8:30 am, check in with the shipping department and tried to get the paperwork. Their copier was down so we waited... and waited. Finally someone decided to run the paperwork through the fax machine and we were on our way to Jackson, MI.

Our exit 7, to Portland, was too much to resist. We could not leave Maine without seeing Portland... so off the Interstate we go. Knowing parking would be impossible, we still drove down the coast and back to our intended route.

We drove on through Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and onto Michigan. We stopped in Taylor, MI where CFI has a terminal. The company requires drivers to stop (if close to a terminal) and fuel up and it's good with us... it also means showers!

Trapper talked to a couple of other drivers and I spent most of my time in the shower. We started to spend the night there, but after our break, we decided to go ahead and drive on and get closet to our delivery point. We stopped for the night just a couple of miles away from Dawn Paper Company...our Chinet plates will be in good hands, I'm sure.

We're in high hopes of a decent dispatch out of Jackson, MI.

The video is various pictures through the states mentioned above. Just click on the arrow to start.

Sun, Sept 28... What A Day!

Sunday.... we slept in... peaceful, restful, and still watchful (well, I was on hurricane watch). We didn't have to deliver until noon so we time to sit in the truck, talk, drink coffee and take showers.

During the trip to Waterville, ME, I googled the town. Again, I like port cities and their history. As I was reading the history... I recognized the name of the company we were delivering to! We're hauling scrap paper to a mill that has been a structure in Waterville, ME since the early 1900's... it was the Keyes Fibre Company (nicknamed "The Pie Plate Company") it became the Chinet Company and was ultimately bought out by Huhtamaki. Huhtamaki was our delivery point. I was looking forward to making our delivery so I could take pictures!

The truck stop was only a mile or so from the plant. We start making our way down Hwy 139 and we turn right on Hwy 201... I don't pay a lot of attention to bridges and overpasses generally... This one caught my eye!!!!

The sign says (the clearance is)... 13' 7'.... CRAP!!!!! The truck is 13' 6"!!!!!!!! Slow down, cross your fingers, cross your legs, cross your toes!!!!

Ok... we made it under and through... Whew! And just when you think it's safe and you can raise your head up.... here comes low lying bridge or train trestle, number 2!!!! No clearance sign at all!!!!! Being (what appears to be) eye level with overpasses... it doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling.
Oh yes! We made it under both overpasses and to the historical landmark I had read about. I'm excited, like a kid in a candy store! I'm looking around taking it all in, getting my camera ready and focused and then Trapper, unknowingly brings me back to the fact that I have a job to do... it was time to recite the driver directions, which driveway, what the dispatch said about the tandems... my historical picture taking will have to wait a minute.

This picture is of the "The Pie Plate Company", formerly Chinet... owned by the "H" word but still packaged and sold under the Chinet label. Our final destination.

So... we find the second driveway, slide the tandems to the back prior to docking (as per our directions)... this picture is of the dock around back. We need to turn around, of course... we're facing the dock.
The pictures look like there is plenty of room, but there wasn't. There are these "Cram-A-Lot" dumpsters sitting everywhere and this little fella driving the dumpster truck that keeps wanting to play chicken with us! After some twisting and turning... we are completely turned around and backing straight into the dock.

We dropped the trailer and now we can bobtail! Yes, I feel sightseeing on the horizon. But first, we must do laundry and run to Wal-Mart. We met a really nice man that works in the shipping department that pointed us to a laundry mat and we headed that way.

Next door to the laundry mat was the "Purple Cow". Talk about diversification. Looks like they serve a little of everything. They had a steady stream of customers, so it must be working for them. Laundry done... on to Wal-Mart. This was short and sweet this week... we still don't have our appliances because of the inverter problem. I hope we get to Joplin, Missouri soon! I miss being able to cook and it's nice to have coffee ready in the mornings.

We took the scenic route through town on the way to the Lobster Trap for dinner. I got my old building fix and Trapper will get his lobster fix!

The town of Waterville is a quaint town on the bank of the Kennebec River. In my years of "old building" photography... antique hunting, auctions, etc... I've never seen a "vault alarm" box attached to the outside of a building. This building was originally a Savings and Loan which now housed an insurance company.

Local thrift store

Various Pictures of Downtown

As we crossed the Kennebec River, looking for the Lobster Trap, this building caught my eye. It's an extremely large building right on the river bank. Researching the history... the building was built in 1866 and housed the Ticonic Water Power and Manufacturing Company. The building changed owners in 1873 and became a large cotton mill called the Lockwood Company. By the turn of the century it employed 1300 people.

The building is now slated for a major revitalization and will be developed into a shopping mall, small offices, and apartments.

Waterville's history also includes a gentleman named Alfond who came to town to marry the daughter of a prominent business man who owned Levine's clothing store. I wonder if these Levine's are also the ones responsible eventually for Family Dollar Stores? Dexter shoe company was started in this area as was Hathaway Shirt Company.

As we were sitting at the restaurant, I snapped the photo's above. And then... our attention was diverted to the waitress with our dinner!

Trapper had Steak and Lobster while I opted for ribs. I'm glad he was hungry... he had to help me with my ribs!
















We returned to truck stop to recuperate from our day and dinner! What an awesome day.

Sat, Sept 27.... Lobster Bound...

We ran our legal amount of hours yesterday which took us from Kentucky to New York.

Being pretty tired when we arrived at the truck stop, we ate, listened to the McCain/Obama debate and then we talked about the congressional bail out that is on the table. After deciding what congress should do and how the economy should react… we made the command decision that we should go to bed.

We started early this morning, knowing we had to drive our legal amount of hours again today. We drove through the remaining part of New York, Massachusetts, a little of New Hampshire and we are now in Maine!

We were excited to get this dispatch. CFI doesn’t haul a lot to or from Maine. Neither of us have been in this state before, so I did some research on the route we’re taking and we decided, if we drove smart and stopped little, we could stop and have dinner in Portland, ME. We both enjoy being close to the water… the seafood, the atmosphere, and for me… the old buildings… and for Trapper... sail boats. Port cities usually have an interesting history and always sail boats!

It’s been raining all day… we’ve been through some quaint places and have seen some beautiful landscape. We get into Maine and the temperature drops and it’s foggy and raining. The load must get there…. Regardless! We’re still on time so no problem…..





All this fog... we need this guy in front of us! We spotted (which wasn't hard to do) this truck last night. You could see this guy coming for miles!





I’m still looking on the internet at Portland, and where we’re delivering, and where the truck stop is that we’re stopping at tonight. I’m checking the map and listening to Fox News…. Trapper and I look at each other, puzzled like… "Did they say Hurricane? Where? … Maine??… WHAT????"

Ok, so, I should have been a weather person… Trapper says I’m a disaster tracker… I automatically go to the weather channel site and absolutely, positively, without a doubt… Hurricane Kyle… “Hurricane Kyle headed toward Maine/Nova Scotia”…. what the heck! We skirted around Hurricane Ike, two weeks ago, on the gulf coast… but we’re in Maine! Another hurricane??

We see the exit for Portland and our lobster dinner… we kept driving… both of us disappointed… it’s pouring down rain and a hurricane is most likely going to brush the coast of Maine Sunday night into Monday morning. We don’t leave until Monday because we have to get our reset on our hours in. The forecast, for where we are, is a little wind and a ton of rain.

As we were eating our Subway sandwiches... we hear on the radio that Maine has not experienced a hurricane in 17 years… we just grinned at each other...

Wed/Thurs/Fri, Sept 24-26... Over The Road 101

Wednesday, after making it through Texas and Arkansas we were headed to Tennessee. We started hearing this faint beeping sound that neither of us recognized. Of course, Trapper’s driving, so I go to the back to investigate. I’m checking everything, coming up with nothing, and then… the aroma of melting plastic…..

Trapper’s asking, “What is it? Have you found it?” All I can murmur is, “We have a problem… I smell plastic melting…like wires burning!” He gets us stopped and off the interstate. I turn around and see smoke coming out from under the “closet”. The inverter had burned up! The cabin full of smoke, we unplugged everything, opened the windows and vents, and just kind of looked at each other. Thankful that nothing caught on fire… we’re now appliance-less! Dang… we miss the coffee pot! We can’t replace the inverter ourselves so we’ll have to tough it out until we can make it to CFI Headquarters in Joplin, MO.

Thursday, we made our delivery in Versailles, KY. We delivered at a huge Sylvania plant and it was a live unload. Needless to say... I slept through backing in the dock. The picture was taken from the cab looking toward the street we came in on.








The second picture is looking toward the drivers side and the last picture is looking toward the passenger side.

There was "stuff" stacked all over and empty trailers, etc. This dock was a "preventable" waiting to happen. The dock worker came and knocked on the door and said we were empty and ready to go and he leaves. Of course, Trapper checks and the light is still red... we were still attached to the dock... now, whose fault would that have been?

We finished there and with no preplan we decided we had time to run me by the drug store. Google earth should have told me it was going to be difficult to get the truck in downtown Versailles. Versailles looks like Main Street, USA… two lane with cars parked in front of stores, low flying phone lines, and telephone poles on every corner. A trucker’s dream….

We’re on main street Versailles, I spot the drug store, and Trapper tells me to jump out and he’d pick me back up. (I should have asked for more specific instructions…) I walked a block, in the drug store, and back out. I wait around for a minute and I see the truck… a block away! Looking around and realizing I’m on the wrong corner… I decided my best bet was to start running….through the parking lot… cross the alley way between the dumpsters… stop and take the flip flops off… through the city hall back parking lot… and finally popped out on main street. I stop, look both ways and no truck!!!

There I stood… purse, prescription, and flip-flops in hand… hmmm… then I see the truck a few blocks ahead of me. Whew! He did come back for me, thank god! Being a little skeptical that Trapper didn’t see me, since I had changed locations… I let him get a little closer and then I took a couple of steps into the street and flagged him. He stops and I jump back in the truck. Mission accomplished…It was good to be back home!

We decided to try and second guess the trucking industry and head toward Louisville, KY in pursuit of a truck stop for the night. We get there, find one, and Trapper calls dispatch. We were then dispatched to Lexington, KY… of course that was in the opposite direction! We showered, ate dinner, and headed on over to Lexington, KY so we would be there for our appointment at 7:00 am on Friday.

Our final destination, for this dispatch is Waterville, Maine. 1100 miles and we deliver on Sunday around noon. It’s a drop and hook, which is always nice. We’re hauling scrap pieces of paper… 42,000 lbs of it! We’re already preplanned to leave Waterville, Maine on Monday to deliver in Michigan on Wednesday. We’ll have our reset on our 11, 14, and 70 hours…. Sweet…

Sat-Tues...Sept 20/23....Laredo, TX Living

We made it to the CFI terminal in Laredo, TX on Saturday (9-20) about 5:00 p.m. Being worn out from the trip from Canada… we dropped the trailer, took showers, ate, and hit the bed. Peaceful sleeping… we knew we didn’t have to get up Sunday. It was time for our reset on our 70 hours and we were going to enjoy it!

Sunday, was errand day. Laundry first… $10 to do laundry. You could nickel and dime yourself on the road, if your not careful. Laundry finished, we headed to Wal-Mart. We’re bobtailing so getting in and out isn’t that big of deal. There was a car that didn’t realize this tractor vs. their little car… the tractor would win… I was using hand motions to tell the driver to stop and he replied with his own hand motion… he flipped me off!

Grocery shopping at HEB’s (the local grocery chain) was too cool. Trapper stayed in the truck and spent his quite time. The store was like being in a Mexican grocery. I spent maybe an hour and a half in there. Cheap entertainment, I guess. We loaded all the groceries in their place in the truck, strapped everything down, and decided to go sight seeing.

Being 5-6 miles from the Mexico border… we headed toward the border. The downtown section of Laredo was actually part of Mexico until the late 1800’s when the USA decided the Rio Grande would be the border. The evidence of Mexico is undeniable. We started seeing “no truck” signs and decided it was time to head back in the other direction. Maybe next trip we can find a place to park the truck and walk over the International Bridge #1 and see Mexico for ourselves.

Monday; reset done, we were ready to go. Enough sitting, talking, and resting. At 3:30 pm we were dispatched… 600 miles to and from Houston, TX. We were relaying a load in Sealy, TX. We arrived in Sealy, at this tiny truck stop, and about 5 minutes later the other driver showed up. Perfect timing! We traded trailers, paperwork, and safe travels and we were headed back to Laredo, TX.

We got back to the terminal in the wee hours of the morning. Tuesday, we recuperated from the trip the night before. It’s been great staying at the terminal. There are other drivers around to chit chat with and showers are within walking distance. You don’t have to “pee on demand”… you can just walk to the restrooms at any time! Trapper decided to stay in bed and I decided to go shower. It’s so convenient you want to take two a day! As I was stepping out of the shower, I hear the dispatcher calling for Trapper on the intercom…. I knew we were on our way… and I knew I better hurry up.

We couldn’t leave until 2:00 pm. Trapper’s 10 hour break wasn’t up until 2. Two o’clock we were on the road again, headed to Versailles, KY. Pretrip inside the cab consist of all the Qualcomm messages, getting the map on the computer set up, set up the GPS, take out the trash, and make sure everything is strapped down. I still have post traumatic syndrome from the refrig falling! Let's get to Kentucky!

Friday, Sept 19.... Yee Haw! ... TN to AR

A lot of miles to cover today, around 600. We woke up this morning in Kentucky… we’ll go to sleep in Arkansas. We have to be in Laredo, TX in the wee hours of Sunday morning, but we’re going to try to get there Saturday night.

Some days Trapper gets up earlier than I do. It gives him a little time to himself to get his day started and a few miles of quite. I get up… on down the road.

This morning was a little different…still laying in the bunk, I noticed the road was extremely bumpy… then it happened… I thought Trapper had decided to go 4-wheeling in the truck…or I was expecting him to start yelling “yee-haw!” Kentucky doesn’t have pot holes…. they have sink holes! Whatever we ran over threw me up off the bunk! That’s when I decided to get up.

We drove through Kentucky and then through Tennessee. Tennessee has good interstates. You can type, pour coffee, and put on your make-up with no trouble. We stopped in Jackson, Tennessee and ate lunch at this little Mom n' Pop restaurant. Can’t beat good cookin’.

We’ve got a lot of miles to cover today, but we’re taking it pretty easy. I don’t think I got out of the truck a couple of days ago at all. You get used to it. It’s pretty cool. It’s interesting how you adapt to your surroundings…the truck becomes home.

We stopped at the CFI terminal in West Memphis, Arkansas. Good thing I know the truck number.. I would hate to get in the wrong one! There are all makes and models of tractors…but all red. Trapper says the rumor is that CFI (or Con-Way rather) may trade out tractors after the first of the year. He wants a T-660... 18 more inches … hmmm

Crossing the Mississippi River was nice to look at… I’ve only crossed the Mississippi further south, so of course… more random pictures.

We’re 120 miles from the Texas border. It’s been a fun day, we’ve laughed a lot and kept each other company. 600 miles, 3 states, and I think only 1 time zone… but I wouldn’t swear to it! LOL

Wed/Thurs..Sept 17/18... Canada

We left Franklin, KY yesterday morning (9-17) and drove straight to CFI’s terminal in Taylor, MI. It was cool and crisp this morning… having left the humidity in LA. (Yes!) The drive through KY and OH was really nice, except OH is 55 mph for commercial vehicles. The downtown skyline of Cincinnati is gorgeous.



We arrived at Taylor around 4:00 pm and dropped the trailer, went in and took showers, and bobtailed over to the mall. It’s nice to get out of the truck and move around when you can. We were dispatched at 4:00 am to go to Mississauga, Ontario Canada, to drop the load from Taylor.

I thought, before I actually started riding, that I wanted to come to Canada… 3 hours later… being held up by incomplete paperwork… I’m starting to have second thoughts. Paperwork… gotta love it! We’re sitting here waiting on the shipper to get the right information to the broker. We can’t use the internet or cell phone while in Canada… We could, but with the international rates we don’t. Instead we opted to sit here and solve the worlds problems, play solitaire, and work at deciphering the fuel surcharge.

We did make it to Canada (finally) and delivered the load. We were immediately QUALCOMMed to pick up a load at 5:00 pm in Cobourg… 88 miles north… and it was 3:30 pm. We were a few minutes late, switched trailers and on our way to Laredo, TX. Canada strikes me as a very organized and clean country. The interstate is not littered with construction or billboards. Billboards are 100 yards off the road and I was able to type without hesitation. There are no “rest areas”, as we know the in the states, but instead a “rest area” type set up with a small area for truck parking, car parking, and a store/restaurant. Very organized and clean. We made it back to the states early this morning. Good to be home!

The video shows some of Canada and please excuse the bugs on the windshield. Trapper says windshield cleaning is "housekeeping", I think it falls under maintenance!
(click on the arrow in the bottom right corner to start the video)