12/08/2009

A bit of snow, a bit of ice and away we gooooooo.

Pulled out at 3am. Rest area where I laid my head down was dry as a bone. Got ten miles north of Bloomington-Normal and it all changed. Despite the snow I was able to maintain a fairly steady 55 until I got up around rockford. There the cars in the ditches materialized and even an 18 wheeler down in the median. Fortunately all the fender benders appeared minor in scale. I got to the consignee about 12 hours early. Went to check in and was told that it would 1am before I was unloaded. No problem that was when my appointment was for anyway. 30 minutes later he pulls around and tells me to back in a bay and untarp, but that it would still be late before I was unloaded. So I backed in pulled the tarps and went to bed. 8 o'clock got woke up "All done, you can just stay in the bay and take off in the morning". An offer I shouldn't have refused!

I got a dead head to Wichita Falls, TX and figured that despite the weather I could knock out a couple hundred miles before I got to tired. So I open the bay door and there is 8-12 inches of snow. I pull out, pop the brakes, plot my course with co-pilot and mosey back to the door to shut it. Get back in the truck to take off and I'm stuck. Sixty minutes of rocking, clearing excess snow, and cussing myself for ever stopping once I pulled out ensued. Finally I manage to break free and there is no way I'm stopping now. Heading south on I-35 you can't see the lanes you just follow the tracks of the trucks in front of you. About 30 miles down the road I get a call on the CB your rear running lights are covered in snow. I find an exit and gingerly pull off not exactly sure where on the ramp I am. I find a section that looks like the break down lane area. And pop the breaks. I walk back and there is no snow the damn lights just won't work. I got turn signals and four ways but not the rear running lights. Well there goes any forward progress at least until daylight.

Two hours later a snow plow comes through and scapes a fair amount of snow in front of me. Hmmm.... Another hour later another one comes through and piles it a bit higher. At this point I figured I should at least move forward into the plowed area so I don't get buried again. Only had to rock it twice to get clear this time. Tomorrow should be interesting to say the least.

Have a good day

Bookerz out

12/07/2009

It will be nice when they complete the four laning of US35 from I-64 over to the Ohio side. All in all it was a straight forward day. Saw a quick snow flurry in WV and a couple of flakes in Ohio, but it didn't last and the roads were clear. There was some lingering evidence of vehicular mishaps, but I'm not sure when they had occured.

I'm about 30 miles east of Bloomington-Normal, IL and that leaves me a mere 460 miles to traverse tomorrow. Should the weather turn to the worse I plan to have enough lee way in my scheduling to make the appointment anyway.

Earliest I can get out of the gate tomorrow is 2:30 am. But, the plan is at this point is to get up then fire up the beloved coffee maker and take off at 3am central. With any luck that should put me at the consignee 12 hours prior to my appointment. This client sometimes unloads you early and lately my luck has been real good with them. If so I might be able to scoot out of the fall out zone before it gets too ugly.

Well this driver needs to hit the sack if he is gonna arise at that early hour so off I go

Have a good night

Bookerz out

12/06/2009

Got off my lazy butt about 10 this morning. I had to drive over to Laurinburg, NC and grab my load to cover as much ground as I could just incase the second wave of the storm proves to have some teeth to it.

Had a real nice weekend. Went to our favorite haunt and consumed a few adult beverages and then went and saw the new Twilight movie. Also got a ton of new and previously read books (audiobooks) to listen to as I drive about the country side.

Up here there is a covering of snow on all the undeveloped areas grass and what not. Sometimes the world looks so clean with a covering of snow. And despite the potential hazards the inclement weather might impose it is nice to see it that way.

I am gonna try and cover 600 of the 1000 miles left tomorrow. I figure if the weather is to turn to the worse it will Tuesday as I draw closer to the consigneee. Also if I get there early enough on Tuesday it may be possible to get unloaded earlier than originally planned. Opening the potential for a better week mileage wise.

Well thats the plan and that the update for the night.

Bookerz out

12/03/2009

Woke up around midnight. Bungeed the load and took off. Made it down to Statesboro, GA about 6:30 and 90 minutes later was unloaded and waiting for my next destination.

Finally about 11am decided to call and see where to head next. Come back here was the response. KK so off I went. No DH or work assignment but it was the boss telling me this so all is good.

70 minutes later the qualcomm starts beeping. What is your eta, we need to schedule a physical. Physical I've only been here for 15 months and the dot cards are good for 24 months. Hmmm time to pick up the phone. Found out the person in charge of this area is out for the day so it is running behind for the GA- FL area. Also found out that the dot physical was actually for someone else. 5 minutes later work assignment comes through. Wednesday delivery for Owatonna, MN. Decision time. This is my weekend home so I can proceed to the yrad grab the load and then go home or go straight home and pick up the load Sunday. Sunday option it is.

While waiting in Statesboro, GA I ran the routing for home from there 191 miles straight up US25. Now I ran it again after driving for 75 min going in a different direction. 180 miles using every little back road I can find. Alright so off I95 I go down all the 2 bit highways I can find to make it straight home. So I'm home for the weekend.

Have a good weekend

Bookerz out

12/02/2009

By the time I got to the half point (heading out of town) the in bound side was starting to get backed up. Sweet! good timing and all that. Finishing my journey into Laurinburg, NC I got my next work assignment. Taking a load down to Statesboro, GA for a 7am delivery. Just a bit of rain on the way down but nothing impedingly heavy.

That brings my total for the week upto 4100 miles and 150.00 in detention and tarp pay. That would be fantastic if Uncle Sam didn't grab such a large chunk when the miles spike like that. Over all it will still be a nice bump right before christmas.

Got to get to sleep. Getting up at midnight to secure and drive the load down.

Have a nice day

Bookerz out

12/01/2009 --- Two days in one

Surprise .. Surprise .. Surprise

Apparently the load I was under was in fact not the load they wanted at 6am on Monday. Just another screw up in a long list of screw ups on this load. My appointment wasn't untill 11am Tuesday, but they would try to work me in. It wasn't all bad. I am so out of hours I cannot even drive down to Laurinburg, NC without taking Wednesday off some where along the line. So I in effect took my 34 hour break there and got a reset in. Now I can get down to Laurinburg, NC on Wednesday which give me the possibility to get another load that closes this week. We will see how that plays out.

Anyway I was able to take off early Tuesday morning and make it down to Centerville, MD before my time ran out. And tomorrow be down in NC around 12-1pm. The drive itself was uneventful even though the early morning clouds looked like they wanted to drop a ton of snow. Perhaps they will save that for when I'm clear of the area.

Hope to get out of the gate early enough tomorrow to avoid the Washington am rush hour. As I can't legally move till 6:30 am it is at this point even odds.

Have a good night

Bookerz out

11/29/2009

What a comedy of errors.

1. Didn't get the customs invoice from the shipper before I took off. Just signed for the paperwork without looking beyond that the shipper and consignee was correct. This was at least inpart my fault.

2. The phone numbers for working out the border crossing provided with the work assignment were incorrect.

3. The broker listed on the customs invoice provided by the shipper was incorrect.

4. It was a long holiday weekend. Not an error, but a definite contributor to the added hassle of not having the correct information.

When I got to the border the Canadian agent kindly told me to pull it off to the side and go in and see about straighting it out. Phone call after phone call still no correct answers. Finally I ended up shopping the load around to the different custom brokers in an attempt to find the correct one. Finally 3 hours later everything is cleared up and I'm free to go.

The drive was nice other than having to traverse both Toronto and Montreal in the same day. Fortunately it was Sunday and the craziness associated with both those metro areas was at a minimum. I stopped east of Toronto at a service plaza to refill my internal tank. 2 Wendy's singles, large fry and a large Barqs and I'm on the road again. Finally pulled into the consignee about 7pm.

Time to call it a night

Have a good day

Bookerz out