I'm with Ken, you need a blog. I'm glad you are coming my way again to S Texas. It sure would have suxed if you drove to San Antonio....and then had to drive back.

 

This is not advertisement, but a pure question......?

What would everybodys thoughts on the idea of having a website just for truckers blogs?
Would be curious? I know there are a lot of free-be ones, but how about one with email and on a professional server? say like 5 or 10 a month, unlimited blog, photo use with there own Email that can be checked and send at any wifi connection with there outlook express and not web mail?

 

Nova, you should keep notes and when you decide to get out from behind the wheel go write a book about all these adventures. Call it your retirement fund.

 

Thanks for all the positive replies everyone, but to be honest, I don't even know what a blog is, as far as writing a book goes, I wouldn't even know where to start! But thanks, it makes me feel good that people enjoy what I have to say.

Well today wasn't all that good, while doing a pti I noticed that I had a small coolant leak, couldn't tell where it was coming from, but something small can turn into something big really quick so I have been keeping my eye on it.

I start my day a little later than normal since I am bobtailing and only a minute away from my shipper, plus yesterday while talking to the guard was informed that they didn't start loading or unloading till after 7am. So I got there about 15 after. But it made no difference considering that another 8 trailers arrived after I left yesterday bringing the total to be unloaded to 11(what is it with waiting for 11 here lately?).

I could tell it was going to be a while, and since I was bored and was already on the clock, I thought I would stay busy to make the time go by faster. So after cleaning the truck with a fine tooth comb, and looking for the pesky coolant leak, I decided to go out and help other drivers fold tarps and such. I finally get loaded around 12:30 and just when I get done with wrestling with lumber tarps, and walking on soft ceiling tiles stacked as tall as they can be, what happens............

They qualcom me and inform me that the load is being relayed, now why couldn't they have got in touch with me an hour earlier? So I lost my "long" load of 700 miles, and got a load just over 300 due in Oakwood Ga just outside of Atlanta. And since I was going right by a terminal, I decided to stop and see if I could get the truck looked at and spend the night at the yard where I could get a shower and have free internet access.

Dispatch promised me he would back this up with a 700 mile trip that I can complete in time to turn in by Friday so I will get a really good paycheck. That also means that I won't be starting the week with a big amount of miles though, so it's a give and take kind of deal, who knows, maybe I can finally break the 2000 mile in one week mark(have been in the 1900's so far) and have another milestone to feel good about.

But since I didn't get a work order for my truck, the guys won't look at it tonight, and I got suckered into a safety meeting in the morning. So I guess I will try to deliver this load(which isn't far) and get back to the terminal to have someone look at it after I do the proper steps and get the work order number. Just when you think you got a good grasp of everything you need to know, I forget basic things. It just never dawned on me that I would have to get all my ducks in a row to have a mechanic look at my truck, what happened to just pulling up and telling them you have a problem? Especially when there are no other trucks ahead of you, and the mechanics are leaving early cause they are free for the night. I just don't get it, but oh well, maybe tomorrow will be a better day, I can only hope.

Don't get me wrong, it hasn't' been a horrible day or anything, it just seems like I have been going all day long, and have a whopping 300 miles under my belt. One good thing that did happen is when I met the person to relay the load to, he had to be in his 70's, and he was just a great guy, pleasure to talk with, and knew more about computers than anyone I know, it was just awesome chatting with someone who has been driving longer than I have been alive, he was so cool. 8)

 

Started off the day with a safety meeting, it was exciting :roll:
Finally got done with that torture, and went to make a delivery about an hour away. Again, I am at a 1/8th of a tank and request a fuel stop, but they say I don't need one, okay, they are probably gonna let me fuel at the terminal when I finish this short load, so I go on, no big deal.

I make the delivery and although they are slow to get me unloaded, they are really nice and I could tell they were trying to hurry for me. Finally get done there and start to head back toward Atlanta to do some inventory on the truck cause I had way too much equipment. So I spend a couple hours getting everything in order(it's a pain to have too much equipment cause you only have so much storage, so you have to shuffle things back and forth and that adds to tarping time).

I get rid of 28 chains(yes, 28 extra chains, I kept 14) 2 extra lumber tarps, 34 binders, and 3 ratchet binders. All this stuff had to equal out to around half a ton or so. I also had a mechanic to check out my coolant leak, but was informed it wasn't bad enough to mess with, and that I should just keep topping it off until it gets worse, so that was nice. Then just when I am about ready to leave to pick up a load in Rome GA. I get my monthly reminder that I am a woman, I really hope dispatch doesn't try anything stupid for the next couple of days, they won't like it, lol.

So I make it to Rome, still no fuel stop, now I am right at a 1/16th of a tank, but not quite. I get loaded with steel I-beams for a building that pepsico owns in grand prairie TX.(just outside of Dallas). Cool, they did make up for the relay load, the only thing is that I am due for delivery on Friday morning, so I guess I won't be home for the weekend for the first time, but that is no big deal as long as the miles are there, and I hopefully don't have to do a reset while out on the road(I have until Sunday before I run out of time).

There were 2 other Roehl drivers there and they were taking loads to the same place as me, so we decided to run together all the way there, so it's nice to be able and chat on the cb about how the company is treating us, and small talk in general, helps the miles pass by quickly. After I sent in my loaded code, I finally got a fuel stop, but it was 250 miles away in meridian Mississippi! Now I have been getting pretty good mileage around 7.1-7.4 but there is no way I can make it that far, so I say screw it again, stop and fill up, I am sick of this. I had 23 gallons left in the tanks, no way I would have even come close to making it, and the sad part is that I will probably get in trouble for it. But other drivers have told me that if I let it run out of fuel, I might have to pay for them to bring some fuel to me and whatever else would have to be done to get it running again, since it's ultimately my responsibility, so I am darned if I do, and darned if I don't.

We got into Alabama and decided to shut down for the night, since we were both getting low on hours(lost one driver back at my fuel stop). But I was so tired I decided to lay down and rest before I wrote anything on the boards, so since I had to go to the bathroom I thought that I would take the time to update you all on my day. One other thing, people keep pm'ing me asking about what my weekly pay is, so I will start posting what I bring home, so please no more pm's asking, I usually only have a limited time to be online anyhow and since I update, I will just post it here, my check this week was $399. ops: (don't laugh)

So I am heading back to Texas, and if I can get my paperwork sent in in time, I might finally get a decent paycheck next week. I was disappointed this week, I will have to wait and get home to see my check "stub" to see why it was so low. I should have had almost 2k miles last week, but maybe I am wrong, we will see. Wish me luck in the lone star, talk again tomorrow!

 

Thursday,
I woke up to the voice of the other Roehl driver coming over the cb this morning, I got up and did a pti while he went inside to get some coffee. It wasn't long and we were on the road. About an hour into the trip, I saw that a bungee had broke, and was letting part of the tarp start to wave a little(you have to catch it quick cause tarps will get a hole in them fast) so luckily there was a safe place to pull over to fix it.

The other driver slowed down to let me catch up, and before long I do. Another hour or so goes by and another one breaks(I think I will go and buy some quality bungees myself, this is getting old). This time we were close to a truck stop so we pull in there to fix the bungee. Well, what do you know, the driver we lost last night was there eating some breakfast, turns out he decided to shut down where I fueled at last night, and didn't see us leave.

After going completely around the trailer, just to be sure, we all three got back on the road in our own little Roehl convoy, lol. The plan was to drive all day to get there tonight and un-tarp so we can be ready for unloading first thing in the a.m. and hopefully turn in the paperwork on time so I might actually get a decent paycheck.

6?? :wink: miles and 12 1/2 hours later, we are at the consignee, and totally bushed. The guard told us that if we untarped we would have to park in the street that he couldn't allow us to sit in the parking lot, so that was fine with me, I was dead tired anyway, so we just waited for morning. Since I was in the parking lot of the consignee, I didn't have an internet connection, hence the reason I didn't update last night.

Today

We decide to just "tag team" one truck at a time and help each other, needless to say that with 3 drivers and one truck, un-tarping and strapping was cake, makes me think about teaming(I never will though). So it takes about 3 hours before we all get unloaded, so we send in the qualcom and started saying our goodbye's.

Again, turns out we are all going to the same place to get loaded, and one of the drivers had been there before, so it was an easy drive. After we get loaded(I got the most miles of everyone, 940, one driver got 670 the other 430) we see that we will again be together until Meridian MS where we will then split up and go our separate ways.

But we had spent so many hours just getting to where we were, that we wound up shutting down in Dallas again, pretty much where I started, and less than 200 miles for the day. Granted we still had a couple hours, but I wanted a shower, and they both were tired, and since nobody has to deliver till Monday, we have plenty of time.

But now that I have been here a while, I wish I would have kept on going, for the first time I am nervous at a truck stop. There are about 15 men in the parking lot which the voices over the cb identify as "crackheads" now having never met one, I cant say if they are or not, but I know they are going to every truck asking for handouts. I let them know I am not interested by sliding the front curtains closed before they can get to me, I am nervous.

Thankfully one of the other drivers I have been running with is only 1 parking spot away, and both of them told me to just ask if I wanted to be "escorted" to the building if I need anything since I am as far away as you can get. This is the first time I have felt uneasy, but it's no big deal, I am sure I will get used to it, but it's still a bit scary.

I would like to say that it is great being part of the driving profession, drivers always are willing to help, and I am not just talking about the guys I have been running with, but most truckers in general, I must have been asked 10 times in the brief moments in the truck while fixing my bungee's "west bound flat bed, you ok over there? need some help?" it's just a good feeling knowing if you needed it, they would be there to help, and just another reason I love this job.

I do have one question though, I was talking with another driver today, his cb handle was "bionic chicken" lol. He was hauling chickens, and was from my home town, and told me about all kinds of driving jobs with livestock(not interested). I told him I was tired as I was nearing the end to my journey to Dallas(this was Thursday night) and he said I know what you mean, I have been driving 16 hours straight, and the way he made it sound was that drivers that haul livestock are exempt from the hos rules, does this sound correct? I could see them being different, but no rules at all, c'mon!

Anyway, I don't get hometime this weekend, dispatch said I would have extra time next weekend to make up for it, doesn't matter to me, as long as the miles are there. For those of you wondering about hometime, this is only the second time I didn't make it home on the weekend.

Thing that gets me is, I have a 3 part load, first stop in Birmingham, second in Murfreesboro Tn(less than 3 hours from home) and the third is in Clarksville Tn(again, less than 3 hours from home). I come within 60 miles of home at one point, and I don't deliver till Monday morning, I don't understand why they couldn't just let me deadhead home after the last load, but oh well, as long as the miles keep coming.

 

Nobody knows anything about the hos rules for livestock? I will try to find some information about it and post it for others whom are curious.
Nothing really to report, just been a easy couple of days, I am about 5 mins. from the consignee, so I will get an early start tomorrow, and hopefully all 3 places will let me deliver instead of 2 and getting the 3rd on Tuesday, who knows, maybe I can do all 3 and be on my way to Texas again, I can only hope.

It's funny that they told me that I most likely wouldn't be able to get loads to Texas when I started, but then they send me once, and I tell them I love it, and I have gone back twice since, that should say something about the company and how they try to keep their drivers happy, of course I have to admit that it might have been a fluke, but we will all find out in the coming weeks, as long as people don't get tired of me posting.

Sorry there isn't more to the story, but I have just been cruising the days away, really laid back, of course that doesn't get the miles, but I had to wait till Monday morning to deliver, I called and tried to deliver today, but they would have none of it, oh well. Only thing that I haven't liked about the past few days is talking with other drivers, and hearing their reactions to what I get paid, but that is for another post.

 

Livestock haulers are not exempt from the HOS provisions.

 

What don't you like that other drivers were saying about your pay?