Interesting Video... Truck Vs. Bridge

I-95 in Connecticut. I wouldn't want to go under this in a truck and if the car drivers had any sense... they would stay extremely far back when they see a truck approaching this bridge....CT has plans to correct this in... 2012!

Sat... Nov 7... We are headed to Greenville!

Last night finally ended this morning around 4:00 a.m. A person can only take so much aggravation. It's still my belief that dispatchers, sales people, and anyone else that is in the chain of moving merchandise should have to ride in a truck for a month before assuming their position!

We left West Memphis, AR this morning and headed to Birmingham, AL and then northeast to Atlanta, GA for the night. We traveled Hwy 78 between Memphis, TN and Birmingham.

As we entered Birmingham I couldn't help but remember spending months here when I worked with BellSouth. I couldn't help but take a picture of the place several of us called home back then.

I should have zoomed in... it's the place way up on the hill.

I would have never thought way back then (15 years ago) that one day I be back in the city but rolling through in an 18-wheeler.

Funny how things change.

You never know what you're going to run into when you stop at a truck stop.

Today, as we stopped to clean the windshield (that looked like a bug masacre had occurred) and I could hear Christmas music playing. It was so pretty.... it didn't sound like it was coming over the intercom... but it took me a minute to find it. Trapper got back into the truck and asked him where it was coming from. He pointed out the door back towards the fuel pumps.

At first we both thought the guy was playing for tips... but it turns out he was a driver for JB Hunt. He was walking around the fuel pumps playing this horn while he was fueling. Awesome.

He was starting to get quite a crowd gathered around... but then he was gone. He fnished fueling and was off to entertain someone else.

Our day ended in Tyler, GA, about 60 miles south west of Atlanta.

Looks like we'll be in Greenville, SC tomorrow night and hopefully home by Monday afternoon!

Fri... Nov 6... The Night The Lights Went Out in Memphis!

Our delivery was 8:00 a.m. and we arrived in Memphis, TN around 7:00 a.m. We were unloaded and dispatched to our terminal in West Memphis, AR around 10:30 a.m. Arriving in West Memphis, AR we were assigned a load to pick up at 10:00 p.m. in Memphis, TN and deliver this to Charlotte, NC on Monday at 10:00 pm.

After killing our 10 hour break we were off to Memphis, TN ready to start our trip to Charlotte, NC.

As fate would have it, our load was actually bound for New Columbia, PA not Charlotte! What the heck? Who dropped the ball this time? Oh that's right, it's called double booking in the trucking business... not ball dropping.... a thing that happens that no one takes responsibility for.

Trapper called dispatch and he was then asked to "walk back in and get the person's name that told you the load was bound for PA not NC. A phone call would have been too hard? I should get off my soapbox here.

As he was walking back in to the terminal every single light goes out. All the inside lights, the outside terminal lights... everything. It was pitch black! As we were arriving at the terminal earlier, we saw numerous blue lights and heard sirens off in the distance. By the time the power was shut off, the news helicopters were buzzing around and you could see the glow of flames (in the near distance).

Turns out that the city cut the power off. There was an old, abandonded school that was burning. It was kind of interesting watching the dock workers running around on fork lifts holding flash lights so they could see. They didn't miss a beat. Our load was ready but we couldn't get our paperwork... the office couldn't print the bills of lading... so we sat for two hours making small talk with the other drivers.

Finally, the office workers decided to hand write the time in and time out on the bills of lading and release us! In the meantime the local dispatch out of West Memphis, AR had decided we were bringing this load back to the terminal there and it would be relayed to another driver.

We arrived back at the West Memphis, AR terminal around 1:30 a.m. and we were assigned a load going to Greenville, SC that is due there on Monday morning.

By now, I've got 3 separate maps saved and still didn't know where we were headed. I was afraid it would change again. The other aggravating part of tonight is the fact that neither of us really want to start driving at 2:00 a.m. (to finish our hours for today) so the less of the two evils is to take another 10 hour break and start out tomorrow morning at lunch time. We have plenty of time to make the 537 mile run by Monday morning.

At least after we deliver on Monday, our 8 weeks out will come to an end with us being at home for a couple of days. That's always a nice thought.

Thurs... Nov 5... Making Our Way Through Texas

We left Texas around 2:30 a.m. I knew I might as well stay awake until we made it through the border crossing check about 30 miles into Texas. The last time we left Texas in the middle of the morning, the border crossing agent made Trapper wake me up just to ask me "are you an american citizen?" I probably looked more like a martian as I stuck my head out of the back.

I finally gave in around 4:30 a.m. and had to find my comfortable place in the sleeper! Sleeping on I-35 is easy... it was a very smooth ride with our 35k lbs of rope in the trailer.

We've been out 5 weeks and seems as though most of that time we've been in some part of Texas. Our trip today came right up Interstate 35 through San Antonio, Waco, and Austin. It also takes us right through the area of Fort Hood. What a sad day there today.

With our 11 hours of driving time being up, we stopped in Gurdon, Arkansas, took a nap, grabbed dinner, and Trapper is currently resting while I play on the computer. His day will start again at 3:00 a.m. with our delivery being at 8:00 a.m. in Memphis, TN.

Who knows where we will go from Memphis!

Wed... Nov 3... Ok... Back to West Memphis

We were number 22 when we arrived in Laredo today. We have now been assigned a load back to West Memphis, AR... like I said doing the terminal runs. We're not complaining though. Easier work for me... we know the way well!

So, we'll deliver in West Memphis, AR on Friday morning at 8:00 a.m. I must go was dishes now that I know we're leaving in a little bit.

Wed... Nov 4... Back South

We've been in this "terminal" mode it seems... we're back in Laredo! I think we were just here a week ago.

Our load was ready yesterday morning and we headed out of MS and made it all the way to northern TX last night. We arrived in Laredo around 10:00 a.m.

Not much going on today... but a word to the wise... if you are going to drive in TX.... be sure and wear your seat belt!!!

Mon/Tues...Nov 1/2.... You're Kiddin', right?

Just when you think you have this trucking thing down pat...

We arrived in West Memphis on Sunday around 7:00 a.m. Trying to figure out how to log the day light savings time was a trick. We gained an hour, as did all the other drivers logging this day, but couldn't really decide the right way to log the gained hour... a quick call to the log department resulted in not too much of an answer either. My recommendation was to write Daylight Savings Time across the top and someone else could figure why we were only showing a 9 hr break.

Sunday was without incident and actually another nice break. Laundry, Wal-Mart, clean the truck, and showers were on the agenda. We were given 2 pre-plans so this took up a few minutes doing the trip planning.

Monday our first load picked up at 3:00 in Memphis, TN and we delivered this in Richland, MS. When you're in 3 states in a couple of hours (AR,TN, and MS) for some reason I thought we were already in TX. Too many loads at once. LOL

We left Richland, MS and headed toward Taylorsville, MS. According to my map and the GPS it was 59.8 miles but for some reason the dispatch said 9 miles. Ok... we don't have to be there until 9 a.m. on Tuesday morning, so we have time to figure this out....

A call to dispatch didn't help much. They were looking at the same info we had. A second call to dispatch (just to ensure we were actually going to the right place) and we were able to figure out that there are 2 Taylorsville's in MS. One was 9 miles from where we were and the other was 59 miles from where we were.

We all decided we were headed the correct way and that the computer picked up the first Taylorsville, MS that is located in Hinds County.

After driving another 30 miles, following our directions and maps, we get turned on the street where the shipper is located. The name of the company, according to our directions, was Ducksworth. Ok... it's pitch dark on this little tiny unmarked country road in the middle of Mississippi. I am looking for a 214 (the building number) or a Ducksworth. Neither are happening.

Finally I spot a 214 above the door on a building and we stop. We kinda of looked at each other like... where are the docks? Again, it's pitch black outside. I notice what looks like a gravel drive around the side of the building and we decide to drive up to that driveway. For everyone that doesn't drive... it's much easier keeping this 70' of truck going forward vs. getting jammed up trying to get turned around or going down what looks like a neighborhood street vs. road of any kind.

Luckily there were docks behind the building and a couple of empty trailers. We sent in "arrived at customer". The only problem is the name of the business is Remy. We see no Duckworth's anywhere.

A few minutes pass and we get a message asking if we are at the customers? I'm thinking "What!" I sent a message back to them explaining we are at the location of the directions, however; and then I added all the crazy things with the address, dispatch, and company name and then my last sentence was "am I at the customer?"

It's been a couple of hours now and no one has responded. I guess we'll find out in the morning.

Moral to the story is check your dispatch miles. Our dispatch from here to Laredo will be wrong, as well, due to being dispatched from the wrong city. Wrong miles add's up as in lost income for the driver.

And they call this "unskilled labor!"