So it was a nice long trip, but here I am! Outside of Pepperidge Farms here in Logan, Utah. I enjoy trips like this somewhat, because since it was a 2,200 mile trip, literally I just drove and drove. Most of it was on Interstate 80, which was cool. I stopped near Council Bluffs on my 2nd driving shift because while I was a little ways from there, I got curious about how close I was going to be getting to where my good friend James lives. I thought he was in Sioux City, but apparently he is in Omaha, and when I was like "i'm curious, how close to interstate 80 are ya?" He was like "like, 20 minutes I think." Then I was like "ah, cool, looks like I will be coming right by you then." Next thing I know, my phone is ringing and it's james. He was like "what do you mean coming right by me?" I was like "well, I have this load from philly to Utah, and I'm on 80 right now currently in Iowa, not far from Council Bluffs and will be on 80 all the way through nebraska, and Wyoming before I get to Utah." He was like "really? Well Damn we haven't seen eachother in 8 years. Where are ya stopping?" I was like "well, how close to council bluffs are ya?" He was like "within a half hour or less." I was like "ok, I can stop in council bluffs at a truck stop for the night and we can meet up. What do you think?" He was like "sounds great! Let me know where you stop and I will drive over and we can take my car."
So I ended up finding this Pilot that had a decent amount of parking available. Not too surprising since it was about 6PM. James was still going to be about 40 minutes or so because he hadn't left yet, so I went in and paid to use the showers to get cleaned up. I wasn't like stinking or anything, but it had been about 2 days (not that i had been doing a lot). Mostly what I enjoyed it for was being able to shave and stuff. By the time I got done, I had a message from James saying "i'm here! I'm in the game room." I was like "i'll be out in a few." So we went to find a place to eat first (since most driving shifts, I might not get much to eat until I stop and so then I'm usually really hungry). So I was like "i thought I saw a kracker barrel not far from here. He had his gps and keyed the name in and it found it, and I was right, only like 2 miles away. He had never eaten at Kracker Barrel. Normally when I go there (which is a long time between visits lately), I usually get their chicken and dumplings and it comes with 3 sides, so I get 2 sides of fried okra, and one of something else. Usually if I've eaten normally during the day, that meal leaves me stuffed. That night though, I finished the whole plate, passed on desert, but actually was still hungry a little bit, but I wasn't worried since when I talked to james on the phone, he was like "i'll take ya out to see avengers! My treat!" I was like "i'm not going to say no!"
So we got to the theater and I was like "you wanna just split a large popcorn?" They had these package deals like large popcorn and 2 drinks and a candy for $20 or medium popcorn and 2 drinks and candy for $17. So of course, we went with the large. Avengers was BAD ASS! There were parts of that movie that were funnier than any movie I've seen! I wont go into detail so I don't spoil it for you, but you gotta see it!
So when we got out of the movie, it was around midnight and I had to get up around 7ish, so james was like "i have an extra bed at my place if you wanna crash there." I was like "i would, but I've got a load and shouldn't leave it unattended for very long. Now that I know where you are, and since I know I'll come by on 80 again, I will make it a point to stop and get together with ya!" I invited him in so he could see what the inside of a semi looks like, since like most, i figured he had never seen inside one. We sat around for probably a good half hour just chatting, and we were both yawning, so he was like "i'm gonna hafta take off. Im falling asleep!" I was like "i hear ya." So the next morning, I got up and was on the road about 8AM. Got to my next stop which was in Wyoming at a Pilot by about 5PM that night. With one more drive shift to go, and me not being due here in Utah till 10PM tonight, I literally just layed in bed a few hours last night watching episodes of "Heros" on netflix, and I would have gotten online, but I hadn't gotten much sleep the previous two nights, so I just crashed. it was 8PM when I went to sleep, and I didn't get up till about 9 this morning, watched another two episodes on netflix and ran inside to use the restroom really quick, and took off about 11:15. Got here to the customer around 7pm. They literally do not even "open" until 10PM tonight, so I parked and got online to do my assignment that is due tonight for my class, and then come on here to blog, and pretty soon I will log off and just continue waiting. It's not long now. It's almost 9:30, so I will be able to get checked in soon. I still keep telling myself "i need to resume writing my book". I really do. I want to get it written completely so I can work on getting it published and maybe have another source of income, then in addition to that, I wasnt to find out how I might be able to get my guacamole recipe in stores as well because that will help us out too. Funds are a bit tight currently, and stress levels are high. I literally am in a love hate relationship with my job. Yes I love what I do, and I have come a long way and gotten very used to how to do it, and I do enjoy it...but..........I hate it at the same time. I'm alone 99% of the time, I miss my family, and it's just, that really drags me down. I try my best to just take the bad with the good and do the best that I can. It's hard to do. Please keep me in your prayers everybody! Financially as well as spiritually! Thanks. Talk to you all again soon!
C
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Utah again!
So last time I posted, I was sitting in New Jersey at the drop yard waiting to get a load out. They had asked me about taking a new york load with the promise of getting a really good load, and based on my last experience with helping them out based on 'promises,' I said no. I told my DM that the last few times I helped out, that I felt like I got screwed in the end. He was like "what if I could guarantee you a load to like california or something?" I was like "well if you could guarantee it, then sure, I will help out. I'm tired of helping out and then ending up with a 300 mile load or worse."
So he was like "let me get with the load planner. I'm going to see if they will stack the good load ontop of the local to new york so you have both from the start." I was like "that'd be great. Thank you Mike." I told him how I 'do' trust 'him', because he has always had my back and tried to get the best loads possible. What sucked was when he was out of town and the guy that filled in for him really didn't care at all and so after a few days of saying "i need this many miles," then he was like "ok," and then I got 2 150 mile local deliveries, and all he said when I said "hey, you said I'd get a good load after this local delivery. What's the deal?" he was like "and you will, just run this other one back to Laredo and they will get you loaded with a good load out," which didn't happen either because they wanted me to do other local's there. The main reason I end up doing it some times is they say "we'll give you an extra $75." I figure "shit..............i might as well do it and hope that it pays off." Being an independent contractor though, I have every right to tell them 'no i'm not doing it.' In fact, it felt easier to do this week when they wanted me to go to new york. I simply said "no, I can't help you. I need something headed out mid west. I have been burned with locals too much the past two weeks." And this one was quite interesting!
So they load me with the local new york load *about 120 miles away with one drop scheduled for 6 am and another at 10 am*, and just after i get that assignment, I get the load assignment going from Denver, PA to Logan, Utah. I talked to my dm and was like "that works for me, thank you very much mike." And thankfully, one of the customer service people didn't remove it from my truck by the following morning, which I was very happy about. The plan was, the first drop (both of them were different restaurant depo's), wanted me to bring their load that night. They wanted it by 8, but I didn't get the load till almost 7, and it took me 3 hours to get there because of contruction, so I told customer service my estimated arrival was between 9:45 and 10:15, and i arrive just after 10, like 10:05 or something like that, and the whole place was completely shut down. I'm talking all lights off, nobody home, locked up, the whole shabang! ;) What the original plan was, was for me to drop that load that night, then drive all the way back to new jersey, drop that trailer with the last load in it still at that yard, pick up an empty, and head to denver,pa to pick up my new load (either that, or sleep and let my time reset first and then go to denver). Well, that didn't quite work out because of them not being there when I arrived, so I parked on their lot, and went to sleep. Got up by 6 the next morning, and they put me in the dock, and got me unloaded by 7:30. I had to wait about an hour for my time to completely reset, then I took off to the other drop. The directions took me past where I needed to go. in fact, I spent two hours driving around in circles because I knew I "had" to be close, but yet it was obvious that the location was behind one of the other buildings, I just didn't know where. So following the local directions I got from customer service, it took me to another building about 2 miles down and on the side it said very faint, "restaurant depo" so I thought "cool, i'm here." But they right away were like "you're in the wrong place." I was like "ok, please tell me. Where is it? I've driven past it several times already and I haven't been able to locate it." He was like "look for sleepys. Turn right past sleepys, it's literally behind their building."
CR England had not said a word about sleepys, in fact this was the first I had heard about it. But, I found the Restaurant depot, and got backed in and unloaded. The funny thing is, the other drivers were complaining "all they said was 'look for sleepys!' " I was like "at least they told you about sleepys! The directions they gave me took me 2 miles down the street to a different location!" So after I left there, it was 200 miles to denver. Took me probably about 4 hours because coming through the bronx and stuff, lots of construction, and quite a bit of 45 mph, so about 4:45 I finally made it there. Got my load, and was out of there probably by 6. Erin had talked about maybe driving up to meet me so she and the girls could see me, but changed her mind. My time was running down low, so I drove about 40 miles and found a safe place to park at a Sunnoco Travel Plaza, but then when I got out of the truck after talking to erin on the phone, my spare key, which I normally have clipped to my belt loop, had fallen on the floor and I didn't realize it. I hopped out, shut the door, and instantly was like "where's my key?" I looked at the door and went "oh no you have to be KIDDING me!" Yup, I was locked out of the truck. That's twice in about 3.5 months. Thankfully this time I had my phone in my pocket, where as the last time it happened, I didnt and had to go around trying to find a phone I could use. Man that sucks! Especially cuz this is basically my home away from home so if I'm locked out, I'm screwed, and it was raining last night too! lol.. Thankfully I found a locksmith and was able to use a comcheck to pay him. When I got locked out the first time, the locksmith got in because he had this bucket of freightliner keys and he found one that opened my door. This guy last night was $20 cheaper, and he literally had his wd40 and lock picking stuff and he got my door open in 2 minutes by picking the lock. So, I felt better paying him $80 than the other guy $100 just for him using a spare key to open my door. I wonder if I would have said "can i borrow that key for a second?" and then opened the door myself if I could have said "nvm, I got in on my own!" ;)
I know, that wouldn't have been right, but hey, it feels good to wonder.. ;) So this morning I got up and drove over 500 miles of the 2,000 mile trip, and i'm here in indiana at a travel plaza. Parked, went in to hit the rest rooms (no the rest rooms did not do anything to me.. i just hit them for the fun of it.. jk.. ;) ) Then hit the mcdonalds to get my double fillet of fish sandwish (no tarter, add ranch of course. Yes I know it sounds weird but you guys really should try it.. Fish with ranch is yummo . ;) ) Then Facebook messaged for a bit, texted my beautiful wife.. I love you Erin!! MWWWWWWWWWWWWWAH! ;)... Called my financial aid rep for phoenix to find out what 'exactly' she needed from me in order to get my financial aid for this year rolling, then went to the irs website per her instructions and re-ordered our tax transcript. That'll take 10-15 days and then we will both sign and fax or scan and email to my finance rep and then I should be all hunky-dory. I look forward to that since there's the pell grant and loans and all other stuff, and it beats them having to harp down my back about owing them money (which so far hasn't happened since i've been a phoenix student.) My finance class is going well. I'm nearing the end of week two and so far aso good! I've gotten all posts done, and all assignments in on time, even though none are graded yet, and so I'm just trying to stay on track! I guess this goes with that saying "i'm so close I can almost taste it!" That is the case with my graduation. I'm only a few classes away and I just need to hang in there.
On that note, I will let you all go. One of these nights I will probably try to resume writing in my book. I borrowed my own flash drive when i was home. (sounds weird right? I'm sure you are all like "borrow your own? Pfft! how can you borrow something that is yours?" Funny story. Erin wanted to have the flash drive at the house so she could use it, then somehow ally figured it's hers *which it so is not!*, and has been taking it to school to use for her projects. I'm ok with her using it for school, but when she pointed out that she needed it back, eventually after I saved everything from the flash drive to my computer so i have my full progress on my book *all 130 pages of it so far*, I gave it back to her and was like "here's mommy's and my flash drive there munch magnet!" She was like "yeah yeah i know, it's not 'mine', i'm just borrowing it.. " I was like "good stuff.. Just dont lose it!"
So Anyway, that's it for now, sorry if I seem like I ramble, but that's just what i do! ;) Ta ta ya'll!
C
So he was like "let me get with the load planner. I'm going to see if they will stack the good load ontop of the local to new york so you have both from the start." I was like "that'd be great. Thank you Mike." I told him how I 'do' trust 'him', because he has always had my back and tried to get the best loads possible. What sucked was when he was out of town and the guy that filled in for him really didn't care at all and so after a few days of saying "i need this many miles," then he was like "ok," and then I got 2 150 mile local deliveries, and all he said when I said "hey, you said I'd get a good load after this local delivery. What's the deal?" he was like "and you will, just run this other one back to Laredo and they will get you loaded with a good load out," which didn't happen either because they wanted me to do other local's there. The main reason I end up doing it some times is they say "we'll give you an extra $75." I figure "shit..............i might as well do it and hope that it pays off." Being an independent contractor though, I have every right to tell them 'no i'm not doing it.' In fact, it felt easier to do this week when they wanted me to go to new york. I simply said "no, I can't help you. I need something headed out mid west. I have been burned with locals too much the past two weeks." And this one was quite interesting!
So they load me with the local new york load *about 120 miles away with one drop scheduled for 6 am and another at 10 am*, and just after i get that assignment, I get the load assignment going from Denver, PA to Logan, Utah. I talked to my dm and was like "that works for me, thank you very much mike." And thankfully, one of the customer service people didn't remove it from my truck by the following morning, which I was very happy about. The plan was, the first drop (both of them were different restaurant depo's), wanted me to bring their load that night. They wanted it by 8, but I didn't get the load till almost 7, and it took me 3 hours to get there because of contruction, so I told customer service my estimated arrival was between 9:45 and 10:15, and i arrive just after 10, like 10:05 or something like that, and the whole place was completely shut down. I'm talking all lights off, nobody home, locked up, the whole shabang! ;) What the original plan was, was for me to drop that load that night, then drive all the way back to new jersey, drop that trailer with the last load in it still at that yard, pick up an empty, and head to denver,pa to pick up my new load (either that, or sleep and let my time reset first and then go to denver). Well, that didn't quite work out because of them not being there when I arrived, so I parked on their lot, and went to sleep. Got up by 6 the next morning, and they put me in the dock, and got me unloaded by 7:30. I had to wait about an hour for my time to completely reset, then I took off to the other drop. The directions took me past where I needed to go. in fact, I spent two hours driving around in circles because I knew I "had" to be close, but yet it was obvious that the location was behind one of the other buildings, I just didn't know where. So following the local directions I got from customer service, it took me to another building about 2 miles down and on the side it said very faint, "restaurant depo" so I thought "cool, i'm here." But they right away were like "you're in the wrong place." I was like "ok, please tell me. Where is it? I've driven past it several times already and I haven't been able to locate it." He was like "look for sleepys. Turn right past sleepys, it's literally behind their building."
CR England had not said a word about sleepys, in fact this was the first I had heard about it. But, I found the Restaurant depot, and got backed in and unloaded. The funny thing is, the other drivers were complaining "all they said was 'look for sleepys!' " I was like "at least they told you about sleepys! The directions they gave me took me 2 miles down the street to a different location!" So after I left there, it was 200 miles to denver. Took me probably about 4 hours because coming through the bronx and stuff, lots of construction, and quite a bit of 45 mph, so about 4:45 I finally made it there. Got my load, and was out of there probably by 6. Erin had talked about maybe driving up to meet me so she and the girls could see me, but changed her mind. My time was running down low, so I drove about 40 miles and found a safe place to park at a Sunnoco Travel Plaza, but then when I got out of the truck after talking to erin on the phone, my spare key, which I normally have clipped to my belt loop, had fallen on the floor and I didn't realize it. I hopped out, shut the door, and instantly was like "where's my key?" I looked at the door and went "oh no you have to be KIDDING me!" Yup, I was locked out of the truck. That's twice in about 3.5 months. Thankfully this time I had my phone in my pocket, where as the last time it happened, I didnt and had to go around trying to find a phone I could use. Man that sucks! Especially cuz this is basically my home away from home so if I'm locked out, I'm screwed, and it was raining last night too! lol.. Thankfully I found a locksmith and was able to use a comcheck to pay him. When I got locked out the first time, the locksmith got in because he had this bucket of freightliner keys and he found one that opened my door. This guy last night was $20 cheaper, and he literally had his wd40 and lock picking stuff and he got my door open in 2 minutes by picking the lock. So, I felt better paying him $80 than the other guy $100 just for him using a spare key to open my door. I wonder if I would have said "can i borrow that key for a second?" and then opened the door myself if I could have said "nvm, I got in on my own!" ;)
I know, that wouldn't have been right, but hey, it feels good to wonder.. ;) So this morning I got up and drove over 500 miles of the 2,000 mile trip, and i'm here in indiana at a travel plaza. Parked, went in to hit the rest rooms (no the rest rooms did not do anything to me.. i just hit them for the fun of it.. jk.. ;) ) Then hit the mcdonalds to get my double fillet of fish sandwish (no tarter, add ranch of course. Yes I know it sounds weird but you guys really should try it.. Fish with ranch is yummo . ;) ) Then Facebook messaged for a bit, texted my beautiful wife.. I love you Erin!! MWWWWWWWWWWWWWAH! ;)... Called my financial aid rep for phoenix to find out what 'exactly' she needed from me in order to get my financial aid for this year rolling, then went to the irs website per her instructions and re-ordered our tax transcript. That'll take 10-15 days and then we will both sign and fax or scan and email to my finance rep and then I should be all hunky-dory. I look forward to that since there's the pell grant and loans and all other stuff, and it beats them having to harp down my back about owing them money (which so far hasn't happened since i've been a phoenix student.) My finance class is going well. I'm nearing the end of week two and so far aso good! I've gotten all posts done, and all assignments in on time, even though none are graded yet, and so I'm just trying to stay on track! I guess this goes with that saying "i'm so close I can almost taste it!" That is the case with my graduation. I'm only a few classes away and I just need to hang in there.
On that note, I will let you all go. One of these nights I will probably try to resume writing in my book. I borrowed my own flash drive when i was home. (sounds weird right? I'm sure you are all like "borrow your own? Pfft! how can you borrow something that is yours?" Funny story. Erin wanted to have the flash drive at the house so she could use it, then somehow ally figured it's hers *which it so is not!*, and has been taking it to school to use for her projects. I'm ok with her using it for school, but when she pointed out that she needed it back, eventually after I saved everything from the flash drive to my computer so i have my full progress on my book *all 130 pages of it so far*, I gave it back to her and was like "here's mommy's and my flash drive there munch magnet!" She was like "yeah yeah i know, it's not 'mine', i'm just borrowing it.. " I was like "good stuff.. Just dont lose it!"
So Anyway, that's it for now, sorry if I seem like I ramble, but that's just what i do! ;) Ta ta ya'll!
C
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Its Raining! It's Pouring!
So home time was really great, as usual. ;) I made it to PA Thursday evening, which was May 3rd, but when I pulled up to the customer, they told me they wouldn't take me until after 3 am. They advised me where I could park, and then I drove two blocks away and parked and called erin to let her know that I wouldn't be home that night, but instead would be home the next morning. We made plans to go to IHOP for breakfast. Then I changed into my sleep clothes and went to bed for just under 5 hours before I had to get up to head back to the customer. My hours were all used up, and I still had to be listed as in the sleeper for another 2 hours to get my time back, so I knew I couldn't "drive" back. So what I did is I literally idled my way back to the customer, which basically meant I didn't use the accelerator at all, and ended up going 5 mph all the way back. It was only 3 blocks, but going 5mph made it take about 30 minutes for me to drive back. Then by the time I was able to dock (because there was another trailer in the dock they assigned me and I had to wait for the yard-jocks to move it out of the way), it was like 4:30 am, then I was parked at the dock for another 2 hours before they got me completely unloaded.
Then, despite that the guard the night before told me "oh you can leave your empty here, that's fine!" So I got done, I disconnected from my trailer, picked up my paperwork, and drove to the guard shack. The guard working at that time was different and he was all huffy with me like "where's your trailer?! You were a live unload, you have to leave here with your trailer!!!" I was like "Sir, I was told you guys allow emptys to be dropped here." To which he just repeated what he said and was very snippy. Finally I was like "look, I'll go get my trailer. I 'm just telling you what I was told by one of your other guards." He was like "oh, ok.. Well I'm not mad at 'you', it's just we can't use the types of trailers you guys use." So I went back in and rehooked back up, and ended up going down the street to where I parked the night before which was owned by nestle, and figuring that we also deliver for nestle, I pulled up to their call box and was like "could you guys use an empty cr england reefer trailer?" And they were like "sure! You can drop it here!" then they asked me a few questions like "how much fuel does the reefer have?" which is very common for them to ask, but then they asked "what's your drivers license number?" I was like "seriously?" But I went ahead and gave it to her. I'm guessing it was so that if I ended up giving them a trailer with tons of damage or something, that they would have my information on file. Obviously I wasn't giving them a crap trailer, but I guess it makes sense to take precautions.
So I left home today to come over here to New Jersey to get an empty trailer and wait for a load. I got a message from my dm saying "hey, they have this short delivery to new york, would you be willing to help them out with that?" I was like "not really. I've been burned too many times in the past two weeks. I don't think I would be willing to risk it again." Then the load planner messaged and said "we really need your help. You are our only option. Can you help us with this load?" I responded "as I told my DM, I have been promised this and that the past two weeks every time you needed a local delivery and each time I was burned. So they assigned me this local delivery for tonight, and they stacked a 2200 mile load going to utah from here in pa on top of it, and at first I was like "ok, fine, i'll do it." I haven't officially accepted the loads yet, and I was sitting here remembering how they gave me a 400 mile load to dallas from Laredo, and made it more worth it by giving me a 2,000 mile load to washington state, but then I got up around midnight to take off for the dallas load, and when i woke up, I had a message saying that the washington load was pulled from my truck by a different load planner. I was like "WTF man?!" By that point, I had already officially accepted the short load to dallas, and the only catch was, i then didn't have the big load that was promised. So I took the load to dallas, and that's when I ended up going to colorado instead. 700 miles versus the 2,000 that I was originally going to do.
So I just called my dm back and said "i have a concern before I accept these loads." He was like "whats that man?" I was like "remember in laredo when I agreed to take the one to dallas and I had the one following that, going to washington state for 2,000+ miles?" he was like "yeah?" I was like "and then by the time I went to pick up the dallas load, the big load was removed from my truck. I'm concerned about accepting this local delivery and then the big load with awesome miles gets removed from my truck." He was like "i guarantee you no matter what happens that I will see to it that you get a great load with great miles out of there." So apparently this load i'm taking from the yard here tonight has 2 drops in new york, but they are having me take the loaded trailer to ny, go to the first drop right away *which it's a little over 100 miles away, so i will get there quick*. Do the drop at the first one, then come back here to the yard I'm at right now, drop the load, and pick up an empty, and then they will have a different driver deliver the 2nd drop tomorrow. I will then go to the location where i'm picking up the load for utah. I'm like "wow...why are they doing it like that?" He was like "i'm not sure... it's weird, but hey, atleast its only one drop and not two."
So my current class that just began this week is Finance. It's technically a re-take, because when I took this class last time, I was in 2 classes at once, and it was during my cdl truck driving school and I had to withdraw because I was so busy that I was having trouble finding the time to work on the homework. But it has made my assignments that I'm working on easier, because I technically have already been through the class, so I am familiar with the stuff to read and look for and how to answer. I was only failing last time because I was turning stuff in way too late because of time issues and what not, but i'm trying to make every attempt to get all my assignments in by the deadline so I can get the max points available to me.
So on that note, I'm going to call that it for tonight. I hope you are all having a blessed evening, and I will talk to you all again soon!
Then, despite that the guard the night before told me "oh you can leave your empty here, that's fine!" So I got done, I disconnected from my trailer, picked up my paperwork, and drove to the guard shack. The guard working at that time was different and he was all huffy with me like "where's your trailer?! You were a live unload, you have to leave here with your trailer!!!" I was like "Sir, I was told you guys allow emptys to be dropped here." To which he just repeated what he said and was very snippy. Finally I was like "look, I'll go get my trailer. I 'm just telling you what I was told by one of your other guards." He was like "oh, ok.. Well I'm not mad at 'you', it's just we can't use the types of trailers you guys use." So I went back in and rehooked back up, and ended up going down the street to where I parked the night before which was owned by nestle, and figuring that we also deliver for nestle, I pulled up to their call box and was like "could you guys use an empty cr england reefer trailer?" And they were like "sure! You can drop it here!" then they asked me a few questions like "how much fuel does the reefer have?" which is very common for them to ask, but then they asked "what's your drivers license number?" I was like "seriously?" But I went ahead and gave it to her. I'm guessing it was so that if I ended up giving them a trailer with tons of damage or something, that they would have my information on file. Obviously I wasn't giving them a crap trailer, but I guess it makes sense to take precautions.
So I left home today to come over here to New Jersey to get an empty trailer and wait for a load. I got a message from my dm saying "hey, they have this short delivery to new york, would you be willing to help them out with that?" I was like "not really. I've been burned too many times in the past two weeks. I don't think I would be willing to risk it again." Then the load planner messaged and said "we really need your help. You are our only option. Can you help us with this load?" I responded "as I told my DM, I have been promised this and that the past two weeks every time you needed a local delivery and each time I was burned. So they assigned me this local delivery for tonight, and they stacked a 2200 mile load going to utah from here in pa on top of it, and at first I was like "ok, fine, i'll do it." I haven't officially accepted the loads yet, and I was sitting here remembering how they gave me a 400 mile load to dallas from Laredo, and made it more worth it by giving me a 2,000 mile load to washington state, but then I got up around midnight to take off for the dallas load, and when i woke up, I had a message saying that the washington load was pulled from my truck by a different load planner. I was like "WTF man?!" By that point, I had already officially accepted the short load to dallas, and the only catch was, i then didn't have the big load that was promised. So I took the load to dallas, and that's when I ended up going to colorado instead. 700 miles versus the 2,000 that I was originally going to do.
So I just called my dm back and said "i have a concern before I accept these loads." He was like "whats that man?" I was like "remember in laredo when I agreed to take the one to dallas and I had the one following that, going to washington state for 2,000+ miles?" he was like "yeah?" I was like "and then by the time I went to pick up the dallas load, the big load was removed from my truck. I'm concerned about accepting this local delivery and then the big load with awesome miles gets removed from my truck." He was like "i guarantee you no matter what happens that I will see to it that you get a great load with great miles out of there." So apparently this load i'm taking from the yard here tonight has 2 drops in new york, but they are having me take the loaded trailer to ny, go to the first drop right away *which it's a little over 100 miles away, so i will get there quick*. Do the drop at the first one, then come back here to the yard I'm at right now, drop the load, and pick up an empty, and then they will have a different driver deliver the 2nd drop tomorrow. I will then go to the location where i'm picking up the load for utah. I'm like "wow...why are they doing it like that?" He was like "i'm not sure... it's weird, but hey, atleast its only one drop and not two."
So my current class that just began this week is Finance. It's technically a re-take, because when I took this class last time, I was in 2 classes at once, and it was during my cdl truck driving school and I had to withdraw because I was so busy that I was having trouble finding the time to work on the homework. But it has made my assignments that I'm working on easier, because I technically have already been through the class, so I am familiar with the stuff to read and look for and how to answer. I was only failing last time because I was turning stuff in way too late because of time issues and what not, but i'm trying to make every attempt to get all my assignments in by the deadline so I can get the max points available to me.
So on that note, I'm going to call that it for tonight. I hope you are all having a blessed evening, and I will talk to you all again soon!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
waiting game
I can be very patient. Sometimes in life you really have to be, otherwise you will go mad. Sometimes though, it is very hard to be patient. Yesterday and today have been those types of days. Yesterday, I arrived here in Virginia, and found my way to the Walmart Distribution Center I was delivering to. My appointment time was 5pm, and I arrived at 2pm, and they were like "woh man, you're way too early." Usually with customers, if you're within a few hours, they check you in and you're usually ok. Some of them however, like wal mart, are extremely picky about you being there around your appointment time, and not really early, and especially not late. So I had to go a mile down the road to a truck stop, kill time for about 2.5 hours, and then they said come back around 4:30 and I should get right in. So I did, I was back by 4:30, I got checked in, they told me "drop your trailer in door 224, go ahead and break the seal and open the doors, and then go park in the bobtail area and come back in and tell us which bobtail space you are in so when you're trailer is unloaded, we can knock on your door and let you know."
So I did. I dropped my trailer in dock door 224, and then I went and parked in bobtail spot 17, then walked inside and told them where I was parked. Then I turned my truck on to idle so I could keep cool (since it was like 90+ degrees outside), and layed in my sleeperbunk and watched vampire diaries on HuluPlus. I signed up for huluplus at first yesterday after I had finished the last of the ones that were available on netflix, and then I didn't think they had all the season 3 episodes available yet that have played, so I canceled, but then seeing what they had available, I must have just been looking at it wrong, so I re-signed back up. Got on huluplus app on my phone and watched probably 2 of the 5 available episodes that are on there so far. Then last night I watched another one when I got back here to the truck stop, and then today I finished off the other two. So now I'm all caught up and can watch the episodes as they are aired, or just afterwards on hulu since I'll be on the road and not at home most weeks. So let me backtrack a bit.
So it took them a little over two hours to get my trailer unloaded and for me to get out of there. I had messaged my dm saying "hey, I have this many hours left on my time, I can reload asap." But, I never heard back from him, and so I got out of walmart, came over here, got parked, covered my windows up and did the hulu thing while waiting, still no messages throughout the rest of the night, and couldn't reach my dm on the phone because he had left for the day. So this morning I message my dm and say "hey mike, whats the plan?" Then I got this message from a load planner asking if I could swap my empty trailer with a team driver's loaded trailer delivering where I just delivered. I messaged back saying "well, its not that i'm not willing to help, but I need miles, and doing this local delivery wont do anything for me." Of course, he called me and offered to pay me $75, and honestly I have nothing better to do but sit here anyway, so I said "ok I'll do it." Plus he said that the reason they havent gotten me outa here yet is apparently in Virginia, or at least this part of virginia (not sure if they meant the whole state or not), freight wasn't really shipping out today. So I accepted that local load, and then later I received a load assignment 50 miles away picking up by 8am and delivering to ohio by friday morning. I'm supposed to technically be home "tomorrow" to start my home time, so I called my dm and asked "so what's the plan? Take this load to ohio, drop it off sometime tomorrow at a drop yard, pick up another load and keep rolling towards pa?" He was actually kinda surprised about the load, i guess it wasn't what he was thinking that the planner was going to do. So he said "let me get with the planner and see what we can work out for you, see if we can do a swap so we can get you home."
When I had called him, that was the 2nd time I had called him today. I talked to him around noon, and asked what the plan was, and he said he would get with me later today, but then when I called him again, it was 4pm, and then an hour later after still no word, i messaged on the qualcom computer basically saying "hey, I know you guys are working on it, but fyi, it's hard to wait around and not know what you guys are planning or what is going on, so please keep me in the loop. I'm willing to take this load first thing and take it to ohio and drop it at a yard tomorrow and keep rolling if that is what you decide is the best course of action. My daughter's 11th birthday party is saturday and I need to be there for that. Also, it's very important to my wife that I get home preferably tomorrow, but definitely saturday will not work, so please do what you can and keep me informed." He just messaged me a minute ago saying "i'm still looking into what options we have available, I will call you before I leave today." That brings me to another point. Saying you're going to do something and following through. One problem I have with CR England is, at least in my experience, they say "if you help us with this local load, we will get you a good load out!" So I say "sure, I'll help," and then I come back and it's "can you take this other local delivery for us?" If you give someone your word that you are going to do something, then follow through. That's all I expect. If you don't mean it, don't say it, is that so hard? Being that I try to think of myself as an honest guy, and a man of my word, if I don't know if I can pull something off, or do something that someone wants me to do, I usually say "i will see what I can do," or "i will do my best, but I can't promise anything." At least in my opinion, and as my dad likes to say "oppinions are like a-holes, everybody's got one," at least I'm being honest about it and not making promises that I don't know if I can keep. However, if I say i will, then I try to do it.
When I spoke to the planner though, he asked me "how vital is it for you to get home by thursday?" And I said "it's very important to get home on thursday, because a) my wife needs me and has plans, and B) it's my daughter's birthday party." Also I was like "even if I get home later than I want to, I'm still taking the full number of days." he was like "of course! even if we couldnt get you home till monday, you could still take the full 4 days that you requested." Not that I want it to be delayed like that, because that would suck! So I'm pushing as hard as I can for them to get their heads on straight and figure out what to do. Definitely really frustrating, but there is only so much that I can do about it. But, on the plus side, these issues with cr england have me looking into possible other types of driving stuff, like dedicated CRE routes that originate on the east coast. Dedicated routes basically mean you run the same route each week, and get the same miles, and you get home every week (depends on the route). It might be a route where you drive 6 or 7 days and then home 3, and then out 6 or 7 days again. That's not too bad at all. I especially like the part about teh miles being the same. I hate going through the crap i've gone through last week and this week where I tell them "i need this many miles" and they give me something with half that or even less, and then they want me to help them with local deliveries, which I don't make hardly a dime on because there's no miles, and yet i'm still paying out a truck payment and insurance and my benefits and all that fun stuff each week, so any weeks I lack in miles, my paycheck is less, and worst case scenario, I end up negative one week. So, we'll see what happens, but I messaged the lady that is in charge of putting drivers on dedicated routes, and asked her if I qualify for one on the east coast, and if so, what would I have to do to get on the list to be considered for one, etc, etc.
The other thing I might look into is while I was just hanging out here at the truck stop after I swapped trailers with the other driver, I saw there was a truck parked that said "AAFES" on it. Aafes is basically the military store, like the BX and stuff like that on any military base. I mentioned it to Erin and we both agreed maybe it's worth looking into. Maybe I can drive for them, be considered a civilian government employee or something, and after 20 years, retire and collect a government retirement check each month. I'm not sure if it works like that, butt like I said, it might be worth looking into. Other than all that, I have basically been killing time hanging around watching episodes on my phone, or chatting on facebook, or as you see now, writing my blog, because the load I now have isnt due at walmart dc until 8:30 tonight, but I figure I'm going to go over there around 7:30 to get in there. Then after that, obviosuly I'm going to go to where I'm picking up from at 0800 and see if they will load me much earlier, and if not, I will simply park whereever I can and wait till they will, and then leave asap to drive to ohio. I figure, the sooner I get to ohio, the sooner they hopefully get me something else towards home. At least with a dedicated run, I wouldn't have to "request" home time, i would most likely get home every week for atleast 2 or 3 days probably, and so there would be none of this waiting for them to get me a load back near home so I can see the family. So anyway, on that note, I will call that it for tonight. Thanks for reading, and talk again soon. :)
C
PS. On a side note as far as doing as you say, since my DM said "i will call you before I leave," i'm curious as to whether he actually will call because he's done it in the past 6 weeks where he said he would and then he didnt. It makes you're trust and faith in him or anyone go down when they won't even call you like they said they would, even if its a 30 second phone call to say "hey, I couldn't figure anything out yet, but pick the load up and run with it and in the morning i will touch base with you." At least then I would feel better and be like "great, thank you for the update." But when you blow me off, it's like wtf dude? That's it for my little rant.
So I did. I dropped my trailer in dock door 224, and then I went and parked in bobtail spot 17, then walked inside and told them where I was parked. Then I turned my truck on to idle so I could keep cool (since it was like 90+ degrees outside), and layed in my sleeperbunk and watched vampire diaries on HuluPlus. I signed up for huluplus at first yesterday after I had finished the last of the ones that were available on netflix, and then I didn't think they had all the season 3 episodes available yet that have played, so I canceled, but then seeing what they had available, I must have just been looking at it wrong, so I re-signed back up. Got on huluplus app on my phone and watched probably 2 of the 5 available episodes that are on there so far. Then last night I watched another one when I got back here to the truck stop, and then today I finished off the other two. So now I'm all caught up and can watch the episodes as they are aired, or just afterwards on hulu since I'll be on the road and not at home most weeks. So let me backtrack a bit.
So it took them a little over two hours to get my trailer unloaded and for me to get out of there. I had messaged my dm saying "hey, I have this many hours left on my time, I can reload asap." But, I never heard back from him, and so I got out of walmart, came over here, got parked, covered my windows up and did the hulu thing while waiting, still no messages throughout the rest of the night, and couldn't reach my dm on the phone because he had left for the day. So this morning I message my dm and say "hey mike, whats the plan?" Then I got this message from a load planner asking if I could swap my empty trailer with a team driver's loaded trailer delivering where I just delivered. I messaged back saying "well, its not that i'm not willing to help, but I need miles, and doing this local delivery wont do anything for me." Of course, he called me and offered to pay me $75, and honestly I have nothing better to do but sit here anyway, so I said "ok I'll do it." Plus he said that the reason they havent gotten me outa here yet is apparently in Virginia, or at least this part of virginia (not sure if they meant the whole state or not), freight wasn't really shipping out today. So I accepted that local load, and then later I received a load assignment 50 miles away picking up by 8am and delivering to ohio by friday morning. I'm supposed to technically be home "tomorrow" to start my home time, so I called my dm and asked "so what's the plan? Take this load to ohio, drop it off sometime tomorrow at a drop yard, pick up another load and keep rolling towards pa?" He was actually kinda surprised about the load, i guess it wasn't what he was thinking that the planner was going to do. So he said "let me get with the planner and see what we can work out for you, see if we can do a swap so we can get you home."
When I had called him, that was the 2nd time I had called him today. I talked to him around noon, and asked what the plan was, and he said he would get with me later today, but then when I called him again, it was 4pm, and then an hour later after still no word, i messaged on the qualcom computer basically saying "hey, I know you guys are working on it, but fyi, it's hard to wait around and not know what you guys are planning or what is going on, so please keep me in the loop. I'm willing to take this load first thing and take it to ohio and drop it at a yard tomorrow and keep rolling if that is what you decide is the best course of action. My daughter's 11th birthday party is saturday and I need to be there for that. Also, it's very important to my wife that I get home preferably tomorrow, but definitely saturday will not work, so please do what you can and keep me informed." He just messaged me a minute ago saying "i'm still looking into what options we have available, I will call you before I leave today." That brings me to another point. Saying you're going to do something and following through. One problem I have with CR England is, at least in my experience, they say "if you help us with this local load, we will get you a good load out!" So I say "sure, I'll help," and then I come back and it's "can you take this other local delivery for us?" If you give someone your word that you are going to do something, then follow through. That's all I expect. If you don't mean it, don't say it, is that so hard? Being that I try to think of myself as an honest guy, and a man of my word, if I don't know if I can pull something off, or do something that someone wants me to do, I usually say "i will see what I can do," or "i will do my best, but I can't promise anything." At least in my opinion, and as my dad likes to say "oppinions are like a-holes, everybody's got one," at least I'm being honest about it and not making promises that I don't know if I can keep. However, if I say i will, then I try to do it.
When I spoke to the planner though, he asked me "how vital is it for you to get home by thursday?" And I said "it's very important to get home on thursday, because a) my wife needs me and has plans, and B) it's my daughter's birthday party." Also I was like "even if I get home later than I want to, I'm still taking the full number of days." he was like "of course! even if we couldnt get you home till monday, you could still take the full 4 days that you requested." Not that I want it to be delayed like that, because that would suck! So I'm pushing as hard as I can for them to get their heads on straight and figure out what to do. Definitely really frustrating, but there is only so much that I can do about it. But, on the plus side, these issues with cr england have me looking into possible other types of driving stuff, like dedicated CRE routes that originate on the east coast. Dedicated routes basically mean you run the same route each week, and get the same miles, and you get home every week (depends on the route). It might be a route where you drive 6 or 7 days and then home 3, and then out 6 or 7 days again. That's not too bad at all. I especially like the part about teh miles being the same. I hate going through the crap i've gone through last week and this week where I tell them "i need this many miles" and they give me something with half that or even less, and then they want me to help them with local deliveries, which I don't make hardly a dime on because there's no miles, and yet i'm still paying out a truck payment and insurance and my benefits and all that fun stuff each week, so any weeks I lack in miles, my paycheck is less, and worst case scenario, I end up negative one week. So, we'll see what happens, but I messaged the lady that is in charge of putting drivers on dedicated routes, and asked her if I qualify for one on the east coast, and if so, what would I have to do to get on the list to be considered for one, etc, etc.
The other thing I might look into is while I was just hanging out here at the truck stop after I swapped trailers with the other driver, I saw there was a truck parked that said "AAFES" on it. Aafes is basically the military store, like the BX and stuff like that on any military base. I mentioned it to Erin and we both agreed maybe it's worth looking into. Maybe I can drive for them, be considered a civilian government employee or something, and after 20 years, retire and collect a government retirement check each month. I'm not sure if it works like that, butt like I said, it might be worth looking into. Other than all that, I have basically been killing time hanging around watching episodes on my phone, or chatting on facebook, or as you see now, writing my blog, because the load I now have isnt due at walmart dc until 8:30 tonight, but I figure I'm going to go over there around 7:30 to get in there. Then after that, obviosuly I'm going to go to where I'm picking up from at 0800 and see if they will load me much earlier, and if not, I will simply park whereever I can and wait till they will, and then leave asap to drive to ohio. I figure, the sooner I get to ohio, the sooner they hopefully get me something else towards home. At least with a dedicated run, I wouldn't have to "request" home time, i would most likely get home every week for atleast 2 or 3 days probably, and so there would be none of this waiting for them to get me a load back near home so I can see the family. So anyway, on that note, I will call that it for tonight. Thanks for reading, and talk again soon. :)
C
PS. On a side note as far as doing as you say, since my DM said "i will call you before I leave," i'm curious as to whether he actually will call because he's done it in the past 6 weeks where he said he would and then he didnt. It makes you're trust and faith in him or anyone go down when they won't even call you like they said they would, even if its a 30 second phone call to say "hey, I couldn't figure anything out yet, but pick the load up and run with it and in the morning i will touch base with you." At least then I would feel better and be like "great, thank you for the update." But when you blow me off, it's like wtf dude? That's it for my little rant.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
New new new new york!
I made it! The way this trip went, I left Laredo, got to dallas which put me from 1800ish miles to like 1300, and then Friday I left Dallas and did a little bit shorter day, driving about 5-6 hours putting me at 1,000 miles to go, and then yesterday and today I did 500 miles each both days, working about 9.5 hours both days. Last night when I was reaching the mile point that I had planned on stopping at, I knew there was a Loves coming up within about 30 miles, so I pushed myself and made it there, got parked *which they had a ton of spaces open being that it was only 5pm when I made it there*. I always expect places to fill up rapidly because a lot of times they do, but I guess it really depends on where you are at and how busy the highway is. I guess there were either (a) not as many trucks passing by that location, or (b) a couple of other truck stops near by, because I layed awake for a while watching vampire diaries on netflix on my phone till probably around 11PM, and I kept looking out the window thinking they were going to fill up. Basically when I pulled into the Loves, I went around the corner to where all the 90 spaces were. They had half of them on the side closest to the fuel islands, and then across from those spaces they had the rest. The side farthest from the fuel island had all the trucks parking over there, and when I got there, nobody had used the other side yet. I thought "hell, wide open spaces, might as well!" So I backed into the first space to be taken on the other side.
However, at 11 when I looked out, there were only two other trucks parked over near me. I was like "wow, that's a first! This late and this many open spaces. Why couldn't I find a truck stop wide open like this in dallas!!!" Sucked when I was in Dallas, because I had planned on this one rest area for my nightly stop, and yet when I got there, it was already packed, so I had to keep going. I stopped at a few other truck stops but they were all over crowded, so I just kept driving and looking for a good pull off place. Eventually I found one which was ok. So tonight, I got here to new york about an hour and a half ago. Drove straight to the customer (which it appears they are closed on the weekend because the building is quiet). I had read in my load assignment that there was a lot with a ton of parking near by, so I came straight to where I am dropping off, and literally right next to the building is a huge vacant lot that I right away noticed another england truck parked with their windows covered, and a few other trucks parked too. I'm talking a lot that looks to be about the size of a football field, and only a few trucks parked all scattered out. So I was like "great!" I parked, did my 15 minute post trip inspection, did a small walk up to the building to check it out, then back to the truck, got changed into my good ol windpants that I sleep in *ask erin about them, she hates them.. lol! I've had them for forever, and they literally are falling apart, but hey, they're comfy to sleep in and so that's what I do! ;) )
Made myself a peanut butter and marshmellow sandwich, washed down with a koolaid single, and then I got online and did my final assignment for my current class. Now I'm all done with Nutrition! WOOHOO! I begin finance tomorrow, and so I believe with that one, I have 3 total classes to go. However, I'm considering studying for and attempting to take the algebra clep test one of these times when I'm back in town to see if I can pass it and not have to take it again with phoenix. For those of you unfamiliar with CLEP, it means that you take a test in a certain subject, and if you pass, the school gives you credit for the course without you having to actually take the class. Granted I have already taken and failed it twice(the class, not the test), so I personally do not want to take it again. I don't think I failed because I can't do it, it's just a ton of work and if you don't really have the time to put in, then you struggle, so if I can CLEP out, that'll save me some headaches. Anyway, so my appointment is at 0700 tomorrow morning. Since I'm here at the customer, I will have full hours available to me when I get out of here, and I'm going to try to get in touch with my DM to say either give me a 1200 miles load delivering wednesday so that this week will end with 3,000 miles, or give me 800 miles to get to by tuesday night, giving me 2600 miles this week, but then it'll give me time to hopefully get an 800-1000 mile load back near my house by thursday afternoon before going home for home time. If it works out that way, then when I get back on the truck starting the following monday, I can hopefully get a 1200 to 1500 mile trip delivering by that wednesday afternoon or so, which will give me around 2,000 ish miles for my hometime week, which would make it so that I shouldn't be 2 payments negative on everything. It all depends on my dm and the load planners. Sometimes they can work with you and get you what you're asking for. Other times i'm like "i need an 800 mile load at minimum," and they gave me a 30 mile local which I threw a fit about, but in the end i ended up going ahead and helping them. So hopefully I can average decent miles for both this and next week so that I don't play catchup like I did the week after I left hometime last time. But, we will see.
Anway, going to call that it for tonight. I hope you all are well and I will talk to you soon!
c
However, at 11 when I looked out, there were only two other trucks parked over near me. I was like "wow, that's a first! This late and this many open spaces. Why couldn't I find a truck stop wide open like this in dallas!!!" Sucked when I was in Dallas, because I had planned on this one rest area for my nightly stop, and yet when I got there, it was already packed, so I had to keep going. I stopped at a few other truck stops but they were all over crowded, so I just kept driving and looking for a good pull off place. Eventually I found one which was ok. So tonight, I got here to new york about an hour and a half ago. Drove straight to the customer (which it appears they are closed on the weekend because the building is quiet). I had read in my load assignment that there was a lot with a ton of parking near by, so I came straight to where I am dropping off, and literally right next to the building is a huge vacant lot that I right away noticed another england truck parked with their windows covered, and a few other trucks parked too. I'm talking a lot that looks to be about the size of a football field, and only a few trucks parked all scattered out. So I was like "great!" I parked, did my 15 minute post trip inspection, did a small walk up to the building to check it out, then back to the truck, got changed into my good ol windpants that I sleep in *ask erin about them, she hates them.. lol! I've had them for forever, and they literally are falling apart, but hey, they're comfy to sleep in and so that's what I do! ;) )
Made myself a peanut butter and marshmellow sandwich, washed down with a koolaid single, and then I got online and did my final assignment for my current class. Now I'm all done with Nutrition! WOOHOO! I begin finance tomorrow, and so I believe with that one, I have 3 total classes to go. However, I'm considering studying for and attempting to take the algebra clep test one of these times when I'm back in town to see if I can pass it and not have to take it again with phoenix. For those of you unfamiliar with CLEP, it means that you take a test in a certain subject, and if you pass, the school gives you credit for the course without you having to actually take the class. Granted I have already taken and failed it twice(the class, not the test), so I personally do not want to take it again. I don't think I failed because I can't do it, it's just a ton of work and if you don't really have the time to put in, then you struggle, so if I can CLEP out, that'll save me some headaches. Anyway, so my appointment is at 0700 tomorrow morning. Since I'm here at the customer, I will have full hours available to me when I get out of here, and I'm going to try to get in touch with my DM to say either give me a 1200 miles load delivering wednesday so that this week will end with 3,000 miles, or give me 800 miles to get to by tuesday night, giving me 2600 miles this week, but then it'll give me time to hopefully get an 800-1000 mile load back near my house by thursday afternoon before going home for home time. If it works out that way, then when I get back on the truck starting the following monday, I can hopefully get a 1200 to 1500 mile trip delivering by that wednesday afternoon or so, which will give me around 2,000 ish miles for my hometime week, which would make it so that I shouldn't be 2 payments negative on everything. It all depends on my dm and the load planners. Sometimes they can work with you and get you what you're asking for. Other times i'm like "i need an 800 mile load at minimum," and they gave me a 30 mile local which I threw a fit about, but in the end i ended up going ahead and helping them. So hopefully I can average decent miles for both this and next week so that I don't play catchup like I did the week after I left hometime last time. But, we will see.
Anway, going to call that it for tonight. I hope you all are well and I will talk to you soon!
c
Friday, April 27, 2012
Beat The Heat!
Wow it's been hot! I of course was stuck in south texas for at least 2 days this time, and oh boy oh boy was it a hot one! I'm talking temperatures of 106 degrees outside! I think I already mentioned in another post how I would literally walk from the truck to the customer's building to check in, and within those 5 minutes or less, I would be drenched. It's like HOLY CRAP! And of course, with that kind of heat, there's no way I can hang out in my sleeper bunk in my truck without having my engine idling so that the ac keeps flowing. That's why I have been on the hunt for the past week or two looking for anything that would go in the "portable ac" category. Basically, let me explain it like this. When it's cold outside, I have this spaceheater built into the truck, and i can keep the truck warm and only use like 3/4 a gallon of diesel fuel in 12 hours. That's a cost I can handle. However, to idle the engine to run the ac, I use 1 gallon of fuel every hour, and typically if I idle, it's when the sun is out and then when it gets dark and the sun is not beating down on me, I will go ahead and shut it off, and if the night cools down to at least between 70-80, then I usually sleep ok. But the last few nights, I get to sleep ok, but then the temp only got between 80-90 at night and so in the morning I wake up hot. I hate being hot! Ask Erin, I'm a heater. I would take being cold any day because 1) i sleep great because I just wrap myself in my huge blanket, and 2) you can always put more stuff on to warm up, but in the heat you can only take so much off. Eventually you are completely naked and yet still sweating your butt off, then what? Can't take off more clothes if there are none! :P So I'm going to post a picture of what I just ordered:
The image above is what I call a "portable AC". I debated over the last few days whether to buy it or not, but if it saves me from having to run my engine and using extra fuel, then I think it is a good idea, so tonight I went ahead and ordered it with the idea that hopefully it will arrive sometime by the end of this next week so that I will be able to get it when I get home for home time. Basically what it is, it's a cooler. The cooler can be used as a simple cooler, but then the blue lid attachment you see there is the cool air part. It has a plug that I can plug into my 12volt plugs that I have here in the truck. It has two different fans. One takes warm air in, and the other blows cool air out. Based on what the information the offer on this product, it was invented to be used with these types of boats and tents that have like 15 or whatever feet of square feet inside, and it cooled about 30 or more degrees below the outside air temperature. Plus I checked out what bags of ice cost earlier and on average I noticed that for a 10lb bag of ice it was 3.00, which is not bad. Compare that to a gallon of diesel per hour. Diesel right now is around $4.00 per gallon unless you go to the east or west coast, and then it's like $4.40 or so per gallon that I pay for, and so if i can go through one bag of ice to keep cool for my 10 hour sleeper reset, versus over $40.00 in fuel, to me it seemed like a no-brainer. The only concern I had was that to spend the purchase price plus shipping was a good portion of what funds I had available to me right now, but then I parked at the truck stop for the night, and right away I was noticing that even though here in Arkansas, it's 85 outside and not 100, it's still heating up the truck pretty good, so I thought two things. 1) if I didn't get it and try it out, I would basically just be sleeping as well as possible even though I'd be hot. 2) it is technically something i'm buying for the truck so it will lessen how much taxes I pay out and I will also be able to write it off as a business expense. To check out what else they have, go to the link below. :)
CLICK HERE!
Little side note before going on, they have a ton of stuff from this portable ac/cooler, to what I like to call "cool-bands" which are basically bandanas that if memory serves from when I had one while ref'ing soccer, you put the bandana in water, it has these beads or something inside that make it absorb the water making the bandana puff up, and then you put the puffed up bandana in the fridge and let it cool off. Then when you're out in the heat, you wrap it around your neck and it helps you stay cool. Or you even don't have to put it in the fridge (that's just what I did when I ref'd soccer because i was normally out in the heat all day so the colder it was at the start, the longer it lasted). But it works to cool you off with the evaporating moisture from the bandana. It's something that I have a feeling when Erin checks out this site she will probably see things that will be great for our girls with them being in soccer and the summer months approaching and what not. So check it out!
So I'm currently headed to New York. I swore up and down that next time they try to assign a small load of 150 miles or something like that, I'm going to decline right away. I still might, but they redeemed themselves a little bit. When I say they, i mean CR england. Basically after running that load there, then coming 150 miles 'back' to Laredo (which I wasn't happy about), and then they asked me to do a local delivery (basically the trailer I was delivering was empty but they wanted me to deliver it to this one customer, and pick up a different trailer that was empty) They wanted me to have the other empty trailer washed out because apparently it was not in good shape. They weren't lying either. Looked like it had been in a few accidents, was dented in a few places, and i opened one of the trailer doors and flies everywhere and the trailer was covered in blood. I'm guessing it had a meat load and of course some of it ran, which I don't get because meat loads usually are transported at freezing temps so there shouldn't have been blood running anywhere. So I took it to the truck wash, and they washed it out, and then I went to pick up the load with that trailer that I was assigned at that point in time which was going to Iowa. To Cedar Rapids to be exact. So I get to the place, and they tell me "oh no, the appointment is tomomrrow!" I called dispatch and their like "it's for today!" I go back there again and try to confirm and their like "it's for tomorrow. Come back tomorrow." So I go to the truck stop, and come back the following morning by 10:45 AM. The appointment wasn't until 3pm, and although dispatch said 'go there at 8am', i know that chances are if you are 'very' early for your appointment, you are still going to have to wait, so i figured I would try to sleep in, but haha, with the heat I woke up around 8:30 and couldn't go back to sleep cuz I was so hot I had to turn the truck on to cool off. (I guess that'll change soon with my new ac cooler eh? ;) ) So I go over to the customer, find out what dock i'm at, I go over and get backed into the dock, and I get a message saying "bring the load over to the yard when you get it" I was like "what's going on?" and then the load planner calls me and tells me that they are having a team driver come meet me, I'm going to drop the trailer at the dock when they get there and the team driver will take over (since it was 1200 mile by the following afternoon, which if I left on wednesday I coulda done it, but leaving thursday and getting there on friday? wasn't possible for me as a solo.) So I was like "ah, ok, so what do you want me to do after they take over?" She was like "Bobtail over here to the yard and we have several loads here in the yard that you can pick from." I was like "great! I will see you soon!" So about 2 hours later, I was still docked and hadn't been loaded and the team showed up. I dropped the trailer and left, and headed back over to the laredo yard, and they offered me that 1800 mile load. So here i am! I've grown and learned since I've been out here though. I'm all for helping, but now I think i'm more willing to say no. For example, this morning a cr england customer service person calls me and says "we need you to pick up a student in dallas and take them to new york with you and drop them off." I thought about it for a minute (because I really do not like the idea of taking random people on my truck. I think i work better as a solo. Now, if I had someone I care for like a close friend, or family member, etc riding with me that'd be different, but just random people that I should pick up and give them a ride?) I was like "I'll be honest, I'd love to help, but I don't work well with others on the truck." he was like "of course it's your choice, if you don't want to, you don't have to and I will just see if I can find someone else in the area." So I was like "then , yeah I'm going to have to say no. I'm sorry, I just can't do it." He was like "no big deal. Thanks anyway." And hung up. I mean, think about it, this is basically my home away from home. I don't want just "anyone" in here.. lol.. not that i'm a slob (despite what my parents might tell you.. ;) but it's like my own personal appartment. I work here, I sleep here, I eat here. And the big thing for me is when I was on here with my trainer, if he was in back with the curtain closed, I drove really well.....when he joined me up front, suddenly i was grinding gears and all sorts of screw-ups, so that's why any time they've pushed for me to take on a student and train, i'm like "nooooooooooooooo wwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.. not interested!" No matter how much they tried to guilt me by saying "we're a team here! We help eachother!" And i'm like "that's great! You take on students and help out. I'm a SOOOLLLLOOO DRIVER!"
lol.. so yeah, that's pretty much it for now. Like I said, they have a lot of realy cool products so check them out! I'm going to call that it for tonight, later all! C
The image above is what I call a "portable AC". I debated over the last few days whether to buy it or not, but if it saves me from having to run my engine and using extra fuel, then I think it is a good idea, so tonight I went ahead and ordered it with the idea that hopefully it will arrive sometime by the end of this next week so that I will be able to get it when I get home for home time. Basically what it is, it's a cooler. The cooler can be used as a simple cooler, but then the blue lid attachment you see there is the cool air part. It has a plug that I can plug into my 12volt plugs that I have here in the truck. It has two different fans. One takes warm air in, and the other blows cool air out. Based on what the information the offer on this product, it was invented to be used with these types of boats and tents that have like 15 or whatever feet of square feet inside, and it cooled about 30 or more degrees below the outside air temperature. Plus I checked out what bags of ice cost earlier and on average I noticed that for a 10lb bag of ice it was 3.00, which is not bad. Compare that to a gallon of diesel per hour. Diesel right now is around $4.00 per gallon unless you go to the east or west coast, and then it's like $4.40 or so per gallon that I pay for, and so if i can go through one bag of ice to keep cool for my 10 hour sleeper reset, versus over $40.00 in fuel, to me it seemed like a no-brainer. The only concern I had was that to spend the purchase price plus shipping was a good portion of what funds I had available to me right now, but then I parked at the truck stop for the night, and right away I was noticing that even though here in Arkansas, it's 85 outside and not 100, it's still heating up the truck pretty good, so I thought two things. 1) if I didn't get it and try it out, I would basically just be sleeping as well as possible even though I'd be hot. 2) it is technically something i'm buying for the truck so it will lessen how much taxes I pay out and I will also be able to write it off as a business expense. To check out what else they have, go to the link below. :)
CLICK HERE!
Little side note before going on, they have a ton of stuff from this portable ac/cooler, to what I like to call "cool-bands" which are basically bandanas that if memory serves from when I had one while ref'ing soccer, you put the bandana in water, it has these beads or something inside that make it absorb the water making the bandana puff up, and then you put the puffed up bandana in the fridge and let it cool off. Then when you're out in the heat, you wrap it around your neck and it helps you stay cool. Or you even don't have to put it in the fridge (that's just what I did when I ref'd soccer because i was normally out in the heat all day so the colder it was at the start, the longer it lasted). But it works to cool you off with the evaporating moisture from the bandana. It's something that I have a feeling when Erin checks out this site she will probably see things that will be great for our girls with them being in soccer and the summer months approaching and what not. So check it out!
So I'm currently headed to New York. I swore up and down that next time they try to assign a small load of 150 miles or something like that, I'm going to decline right away. I still might, but they redeemed themselves a little bit. When I say they, i mean CR england. Basically after running that load there, then coming 150 miles 'back' to Laredo (which I wasn't happy about), and then they asked me to do a local delivery (basically the trailer I was delivering was empty but they wanted me to deliver it to this one customer, and pick up a different trailer that was empty) They wanted me to have the other empty trailer washed out because apparently it was not in good shape. They weren't lying either. Looked like it had been in a few accidents, was dented in a few places, and i opened one of the trailer doors and flies everywhere and the trailer was covered in blood. I'm guessing it had a meat load and of course some of it ran, which I don't get because meat loads usually are transported at freezing temps so there shouldn't have been blood running anywhere. So I took it to the truck wash, and they washed it out, and then I went to pick up the load with that trailer that I was assigned at that point in time which was going to Iowa. To Cedar Rapids to be exact. So I get to the place, and they tell me "oh no, the appointment is tomomrrow!" I called dispatch and their like "it's for today!" I go back there again and try to confirm and their like "it's for tomorrow. Come back tomorrow." So I go to the truck stop, and come back the following morning by 10:45 AM. The appointment wasn't until 3pm, and although dispatch said 'go there at 8am', i know that chances are if you are 'very' early for your appointment, you are still going to have to wait, so i figured I would try to sleep in, but haha, with the heat I woke up around 8:30 and couldn't go back to sleep cuz I was so hot I had to turn the truck on to cool off. (I guess that'll change soon with my new ac cooler eh? ;) ) So I go over to the customer, find out what dock i'm at, I go over and get backed into the dock, and I get a message saying "bring the load over to the yard when you get it" I was like "what's going on?" and then the load planner calls me and tells me that they are having a team driver come meet me, I'm going to drop the trailer at the dock when they get there and the team driver will take over (since it was 1200 mile by the following afternoon, which if I left on wednesday I coulda done it, but leaving thursday and getting there on friday? wasn't possible for me as a solo.) So I was like "ah, ok, so what do you want me to do after they take over?" She was like "Bobtail over here to the yard and we have several loads here in the yard that you can pick from." I was like "great! I will see you soon!" So about 2 hours later, I was still docked and hadn't been loaded and the team showed up. I dropped the trailer and left, and headed back over to the laredo yard, and they offered me that 1800 mile load. So here i am! I've grown and learned since I've been out here though. I'm all for helping, but now I think i'm more willing to say no. For example, this morning a cr england customer service person calls me and says "we need you to pick up a student in dallas and take them to new york with you and drop them off." I thought about it for a minute (because I really do not like the idea of taking random people on my truck. I think i work better as a solo. Now, if I had someone I care for like a close friend, or family member, etc riding with me that'd be different, but just random people that I should pick up and give them a ride?) I was like "I'll be honest, I'd love to help, but I don't work well with others on the truck." he was like "of course it's your choice, if you don't want to, you don't have to and I will just see if I can find someone else in the area." So I was like "then , yeah I'm going to have to say no. I'm sorry, I just can't do it." He was like "no big deal. Thanks anyway." And hung up. I mean, think about it, this is basically my home away from home. I don't want just "anyone" in here.. lol.. not that i'm a slob (despite what my parents might tell you.. ;) but it's like my own personal appartment. I work here, I sleep here, I eat here. And the big thing for me is when I was on here with my trainer, if he was in back with the curtain closed, I drove really well.....when he joined me up front, suddenly i was grinding gears and all sorts of screw-ups, so that's why any time they've pushed for me to take on a student and train, i'm like "nooooooooooooooo wwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.. not interested!" No matter how much they tried to guilt me by saying "we're a team here! We help eachother!" And i'm like "that's great! You take on students and help out. I'm a SOOOLLLLOOO DRIVER!"
lol.. so yeah, that's pretty much it for now. Like I said, they have a lot of realy cool products so check them out! I'm going to call that it for tonight, later all! C
Sunday, April 22, 2012
oy HTML
Short addition here. I just realized that although I might put a few spaces between paragraphs, because I didn't put the < BR > in there (without the spaces of course), basically i noticed when I went to the blog frontpage that all paragraphs were running together. So I edited the last few blogs with those to make them a bit more clear and neat. I'm not going to go through all the blogs, but I will try to make sure I remember those breaks when I post from here on so that everything comes out looking the way I intended. Happy reading everyone. :)
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