As I stated previously Melissa came along for a trip, a short one, but a pretty decent one.
After we left the hotel in Dumas, Texas we ran up to Cactus, Texas and picked up our load. It was going to be a good trip and we were going to be able to take our time as it wasn't due till Monday morning in Sioux City, Iowa.
Out trip took us through the Oklahoma Panhandle into Kansas, and we spent the night in Dodge City, Kansas.
I have found out Melissa doesn't like the smell of cattle yards :)
The next morning we took off and headed up through Kansas into Nebraska and stopped in York, Nebraska for a few hours to shower and eat.
Once we were finished in York we ran up to Sioux City and then camped out at a rest area about five miles from the receiver till the delivery time.
Delivery went pretty smoothly and we were able to pickup another load going back to Fort Worth just a few miles away at Sara Lee.
The trip back to Fort Worth took us through Nebraska, Kansas and into Oklahoma again. It was pretty uneventful actually. However, I will note that it rained pretty much all the time once we left Dodge City till we crossed the border into Texas on Tuesday.
Frankie seemed to enjoy the trip though as usual when he comes he just sits and broods as there is nothing for him to really do other than sleep. Usually he plays a bit, but we forgot to bring toys for him.
The trip was short and sweet, not a lot of miles but a good five day stretch for the two of us. And it was time well spent together.
In five days Melissa crossed five states, Texas, Oklahoma (twice), Kansas (Twice), Nebraska, (Twice) and Iowa for a total of 1880 Miles.
She'll probably come out again when she has more time and no pressed schedule.
I'm heading out to Denver tonight, will post again in a few days.
[Miles Driven Since Last Post: 1483]
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Lots of Miles
Well, since I left the Wal-Mart in Irving last week I have been super busy. I got to Terrell on time and delivered my load and then started a six day super drive fest.
It was just me this time around and with it the fact that a holiday was coming up and many drivers had taken off, the promise of good freight was good. And I wasn't to be disappointed.
After unloading in Terrell I was told to deadhead out to Friona, Texas (nearly 500 miles) to pickup a load heading for two stops in Denver. Talk about nice, that long of a deadhead is rare and it is a good thing to have, especially as fuel mileage is so good when empty.
Got to Friona late in the evening and found out my load wasn't ready yet and that I would have to wait till at least 6:00am for it. This was kind of a good thing since I was so tired. Unfortunately, Friona had one of it's heaviest rainstorms in history that night, and in the morning I had to be towed out of the mud in the parking lot at the truckstop. Was embarrassing, however I wasn't the only one.
I picked up the load and made the mad dash for Denver and unloaded both my loads early in the morning and took a nap. Shortly after I got to sleep, I got the call to head out to Fort Morgan to pickup a load heading to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Another good load, however it was hot. The load was running late and if I could they wanted me to try and get it there on time.
So, being the kind of guy I am I did the whole 17 hour stretch in one run, and arrived at the receiver exactly at 5:59am Eastern Time. One minute before the scheduled delivery time. More brownie points :)
Once done there I was told to pickup a load at SaraLee in Zeeland, Michigan about 45 minutes away and then take it back to Fort Worth. It was going to be due anytime on 7/4. Well since it was Tuesday 7/2 I had plenty of time.
I picked up the load and then crashed for about twelve hours in Benton Harbor, Michigan at the Flying J. Was a good sleep too, it rained the entire time I was there, good heavy thunderstorms so I slept like a rock and it was nice and cool in the truck because of all the rain.
I got up around midnight, took a shower and ate at the restaurant then decided I would drive straight through to Texas without stopping if I could. The company was complaining that they had a ton of freight sitting on the yard and no drivers cause everyone decided to take off for the 4th.
So in route I called Melissa and asked her if she wanted to come with me for the weekend since the kids were gone, she said yes so I cleared it with the company.
I got into Fort Worth just after midnight on the 4th and dropped the load at the yard for the local driver to deliver and headed home to sleep.
Friday afternoon I got a load heading from Fort Worth to Cactus, loaded up the wife and the dog and off we went.
Unfortunately, she has to be back early Wednesday morning for class so it is going to be a short trip.
We got up here to Cactus and they told us that Swift was closed for the Holiday and we would have to wait for our next load which is going to Iowa, and then back to Texas.
We stayed at the Dumas Inn last night, and now we are in the truck waiting for the load to be ready.
It was a breakneck week with a ton of miles but was quite a lot of fun. I don't want to do it often but those kinds of weeks are good paydays.
[Miles Driven Since Last Post: 3799]
It was just me this time around and with it the fact that a holiday was coming up and many drivers had taken off, the promise of good freight was good. And I wasn't to be disappointed.
After unloading in Terrell I was told to deadhead out to Friona, Texas (nearly 500 miles) to pickup a load heading for two stops in Denver. Talk about nice, that long of a deadhead is rare and it is a good thing to have, especially as fuel mileage is so good when empty.
Got to Friona late in the evening and found out my load wasn't ready yet and that I would have to wait till at least 6:00am for it. This was kind of a good thing since I was so tired. Unfortunately, Friona had one of it's heaviest rainstorms in history that night, and in the morning I had to be towed out of the mud in the parking lot at the truckstop. Was embarrassing, however I wasn't the only one.
I picked up the load and made the mad dash for Denver and unloaded both my loads early in the morning and took a nap. Shortly after I got to sleep, I got the call to head out to Fort Morgan to pickup a load heading to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Another good load, however it was hot. The load was running late and if I could they wanted me to try and get it there on time.
So, being the kind of guy I am I did the whole 17 hour stretch in one run, and arrived at the receiver exactly at 5:59am Eastern Time. One minute before the scheduled delivery time. More brownie points :)
Once done there I was told to pickup a load at SaraLee in Zeeland, Michigan about 45 minutes away and then take it back to Fort Worth. It was going to be due anytime on 7/4. Well since it was Tuesday 7/2 I had plenty of time.
I picked up the load and then crashed for about twelve hours in Benton Harbor, Michigan at the Flying J. Was a good sleep too, it rained the entire time I was there, good heavy thunderstorms so I slept like a rock and it was nice and cool in the truck because of all the rain.
I got up around midnight, took a shower and ate at the restaurant then decided I would drive straight through to Texas without stopping if I could. The company was complaining that they had a ton of freight sitting on the yard and no drivers cause everyone decided to take off for the 4th.
So in route I called Melissa and asked her if she wanted to come with me for the weekend since the kids were gone, she said yes so I cleared it with the company.
I got into Fort Worth just after midnight on the 4th and dropped the load at the yard for the local driver to deliver and headed home to sleep.
Friday afternoon I got a load heading from Fort Worth to Cactus, loaded up the wife and the dog and off we went.
Unfortunately, she has to be back early Wednesday morning for class so it is going to be a short trip.
We got up here to Cactus and they told us that Swift was closed for the Holiday and we would have to wait for our next load which is going to Iowa, and then back to Texas.
We stayed at the Dumas Inn last night, and now we are in the truck waiting for the load to be ready.
It was a breakneck week with a ton of miles but was quite a lot of fun. I don't want to do it often but those kinds of weeks are good paydays.
[Miles Driven Since Last Post: 3799]
Friday, June 27, 2008
Nikki's Ride
As I stated in my last post my daughter Nikki rode with me this last week.
Unfortunately, her trip wasn't as fun in my opinion as her brother's trip. But she stated she had fun and wants to go again in August after she finishes visiting her mother in July.
We left Fort Worth and headed to Amarillo on what has become a regular run to Affiliated Foods from Cargill for me to start off my trips with.
The drive isn't that long, but in that eight hours Nikki got to see quite a lot of things she never gets to see. Her favorite thing it seems is cows. Every time we passed one or even a herd she would moo out the window at them.
Though she did quite enjoy all the horses as well, but not as much as the cows it seemed.
After we unloaded at AF we spent the night in Amarillo then headed up to Cactus to pickup a load heading to Denver, a place she's never been and wanted to see badly. Especially the mountains. However, we stopped off in Dumas at the Wal-Mart to pickup some supplies and to buy her some new tennis shoes.
You should have seen her when we passed the feed yards in Cactus, talk about her going crazy seeing all the cows ... was quite funny.
Our run up to Denver was pretty boring in my opinion, however she did get to see some Antelope and a few Buffalo on the way. Once we got to Denver she was all bug eyed staring at the mountains. She wanted me to detour there so bad it was funny, unfortunately we were not able to.
We completed our unload in Aurora, Colorado outside of Denver and then spent the night in Denver.
The next morning after running some local work moving trailers, we loaded out of Greeley, Colorado heading down to Houston. However we never made it that far.
As we started to pass through Cactus on Thursday with the intent on being back in Dallas on Friday, dispatch called and asked us to do a load swap with another driver in Amarillo.
Apparently he had to get home to Houston (we have 3-4 drivers who live in Houston instead of the DFW area) for personal reasons. We were going to give him our load and take his empty trailer and do another run instead.
After doing the swap I found out that I was going to be better off for the switch. They had us deadhead to Dodge City, Kansas to pickup a two stop load. This was another bit of excitement for Nikki as she got to visit another state and see even more cows at the extremely substantial feed yards surrounding Dodge City.
After picking up our load in Dodge City we headed back to Amarillo for the first stop. Unfortunately since time was critical I drove all night while Nikki slept so she missed some nice sights. However, I did stop in a non-lighted rest area just outside of Stratford, Texas on the way back and woke her up so she could stand outside under the stars in the near pitch black night and marvel at the sky.
That rest area is on top of a butte with no lights for about 20 miles so it is nearly 100% pitch black. The view of the night sky is incredible. The whole spiral arm of our galaxy is visible, and the stars themselves seem alive. You can even see the faint traces of the red and blue clouds of the Horsehead nebula when the sky is that clear. And was it ever clear, and quite cool. An awesome sight to behold.
After unloading at AF again in Amarillo I crashed for a few hours, and then started the run to Terrell, Texas for the second stop at the Sam's DC there.
However, it was Friday and I have no idea when I was going to be back in town so I stopped back at our house and dropped Nikki off. She goes to her mother's on Tuesday for a month, and I didn't want her to miss her time with her. Nor did I want to fight with her about Nikki not being back if we were out a long time.
So here I am sitting at the Wal-Mart parking lot in Irving getting ready to head to Terrell to unload at the second stop in the morning.
All in all Nikki saw a huge chunk of Texas, parts of Oklahoma and Kansas and a good bit of Colorado. Four states in five days, not too bad for a 12 year old on her first real trip away from home.
[Miles Driven Since Last Post: 2350]
Unfortunately, her trip wasn't as fun in my opinion as her brother's trip. But she stated she had fun and wants to go again in August after she finishes visiting her mother in July.
We left Fort Worth and headed to Amarillo on what has become a regular run to Affiliated Foods from Cargill for me to start off my trips with.
The drive isn't that long, but in that eight hours Nikki got to see quite a lot of things she never gets to see. Her favorite thing it seems is cows. Every time we passed one or even a herd she would moo out the window at them.
Though she did quite enjoy all the horses as well, but not as much as the cows it seemed.
After we unloaded at AF we spent the night in Amarillo then headed up to Cactus to pickup a load heading to Denver, a place she's never been and wanted to see badly. Especially the mountains. However, we stopped off in Dumas at the Wal-Mart to pickup some supplies and to buy her some new tennis shoes.
You should have seen her when we passed the feed yards in Cactus, talk about her going crazy seeing all the cows ... was quite funny.
Our run up to Denver was pretty boring in my opinion, however she did get to see some Antelope and a few Buffalo on the way. Once we got to Denver she was all bug eyed staring at the mountains. She wanted me to detour there so bad it was funny, unfortunately we were not able to.
We completed our unload in Aurora, Colorado outside of Denver and then spent the night in Denver.
The next morning after running some local work moving trailers, we loaded out of Greeley, Colorado heading down to Houston. However we never made it that far.
As we started to pass through Cactus on Thursday with the intent on being back in Dallas on Friday, dispatch called and asked us to do a load swap with another driver in Amarillo.
Apparently he had to get home to Houston (we have 3-4 drivers who live in Houston instead of the DFW area) for personal reasons. We were going to give him our load and take his empty trailer and do another run instead.
After doing the swap I found out that I was going to be better off for the switch. They had us deadhead to Dodge City, Kansas to pickup a two stop load. This was another bit of excitement for Nikki as she got to visit another state and see even more cows at the extremely substantial feed yards surrounding Dodge City.
After picking up our load in Dodge City we headed back to Amarillo for the first stop. Unfortunately since time was critical I drove all night while Nikki slept so she missed some nice sights. However, I did stop in a non-lighted rest area just outside of Stratford, Texas on the way back and woke her up so she could stand outside under the stars in the near pitch black night and marvel at the sky.
That rest area is on top of a butte with no lights for about 20 miles so it is nearly 100% pitch black. The view of the night sky is incredible. The whole spiral arm of our galaxy is visible, and the stars themselves seem alive. You can even see the faint traces of the red and blue clouds of the Horsehead nebula when the sky is that clear. And was it ever clear, and quite cool. An awesome sight to behold.
After unloading at AF again in Amarillo I crashed for a few hours, and then started the run to Terrell, Texas for the second stop at the Sam's DC there.
However, it was Friday and I have no idea when I was going to be back in town so I stopped back at our house and dropped Nikki off. She goes to her mother's on Tuesday for a month, and I didn't want her to miss her time with her. Nor did I want to fight with her about Nikki not being back if we were out a long time.
So here I am sitting at the Wal-Mart parking lot in Irving getting ready to head to Terrell to unload at the second stop in the morning.
All in all Nikki saw a huge chunk of Texas, parts of Oklahoma and Kansas and a good bit of Colorado. Four states in five days, not too bad for a 12 year old on her first real trip away from home.
[Miles Driven Since Last Post: 2350]
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Picture Crazy
Folks have been happy with seeing things through my eyes so here are some more ...
[The Saint Louis Arch]
[Missouri Vinyards]
[Lake Arrowhead in Oklahoma]
[Crossing the Red River from Oklahoma on US69]
Monday, June 23, 2008
Pictures
And more ...
[Michigan Christmas Tree Farm]
[Fuel Prices outside the Canadian Border]
[Looking across the lake at the USA from Canada]
[Rest Area on the Canadian Side looking across at the USA]
[At a scenic rest area in Canada looking back at the USA]
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Easy Few Days
After my post from Cactus my load finally got ready at 10pm, only eleven hours late. However, due to my stunning trucker skills I got the load to the first stop on time :)
One thing I can say about that last eastward load, it sucked. One load and had four stops and took me three days to get rid of it because of the scheduling. Frankly it blew chucks of stuff I just can't describe. Delivering four stops in a 300 mile radius over three days, means small paycheck.
After I unloaded at the last stop on Wednesday in Lancaster, NY (The other stops were Forrest Park, IL; Chicago, IL; and Lansing, MI) they ran me down to Olean, NY deep in the Seneca Mountains off the Allegany River.
The load was a pickup of Native American hand cast tile flooring. Was a nice load, and the tile was just beautiful. It had two stops which were not to bad, one in Cleveland, OH and the other in Lavonia, MI.
The next run was a treat, I ran up to the Canadian Border (and even crossed in for a bit) to pickup a 44,000 pound load of frozen strawberry cream pies from Sara Lee heading back to Texas. Unfortunately, they would not give me any samples.
The drive back down to Fort Worth was very uneventful which I quite like :)
So, I'm back now at the house, and I leave again tomorrow morning. And this time Nikki is going with me.
[Miles Driven Since Last Post: 3791]
One thing I can say about that last eastward load, it sucked. One load and had four stops and took me three days to get rid of it because of the scheduling. Frankly it blew chucks of stuff I just can't describe. Delivering four stops in a 300 mile radius over three days, means small paycheck.
After I unloaded at the last stop on Wednesday in Lancaster, NY (The other stops were Forrest Park, IL; Chicago, IL; and Lansing, MI) they ran me down to Olean, NY deep in the Seneca Mountains off the Allegany River.
The load was a pickup of Native American hand cast tile flooring. Was a nice load, and the tile was just beautiful. It had two stops which were not to bad, one in Cleveland, OH and the other in Lavonia, MI.
The next run was a treat, I ran up to the Canadian Border (and even crossed in for a bit) to pickup a 44,000 pound load of frozen strawberry cream pies from Sara Lee heading back to Texas. Unfortunately, they would not give me any samples.
The drive back down to Fort Worth was very uneventful which I quite like :)
So, I'm back now at the house, and I leave again tomorrow morning. And this time Nikki is going with me.
[Miles Driven Since Last Post: 3791]
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Pictures
More pictures for you fine folks.
[Iowa Corn Field]
[Downtown Olean, New York]
[Westbound on I-86 in the Seneca Mountains]
[I-86 Allegany River along the Seneca Mountain Range]
[Saw this farm outside White Cloud, Michigan and thought it was pretty]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)