So So Much to Catch Up On...

Lets see. When I left off, we were heading to Nebraska with the hazmat load. We delivered that load and immediately got a return load that took us to Michigan. We delivered there and then debated on whether we would get a load taking us closer to southern Indiana for our time off or if we should deadhead ourselves there. While we were trying to decide, we received a load offer picking up in the Indy area delivering to New Jersey on Thursday. We declined the load and told dispatch that we had to be in Indiana on Friday for a planned family event. Dispatch begged and pleaded with us to do the load because they had no other trucks that had the qualifications to do it. Finally they offered us some layover pay along with a $550 bonus so that after we delivered, we could turn around and deadhead back to Indiana and be there by Friday for our family event. We gave in and took the load. The load went smoothly and we made good money on it.

On the way back to Indiana, just as we crossed into Pennsylvania, they sent us another load offer that was picking up Friday morning in Ohio and delivering that afternoon in the Indy area. We agreed to take it because we could do it and still get to our familys house by Friday evening. We parked at a truckstop about 20 miles away from the pickup. Set the alarm for 2 AM. We got up, got dressed, had a little snack and John started up the truck and turned the lights on. Problem. No lights on the trailer. They worked perfectly fine when we parked the night before. But now, no lights. We checked the fuses and looked for any obvious problems, but couldn't find any. Finally we had to call in and let dispatch know that unless the customer could wait until daylight, we couldn't take the load. Turns out the customer couldn't wait, so we were taken off the load. We went back to sleep and got up when it was daylight. We drove to a TA in in the Columbus, Oh area and had them fix the problem. They found a broken wire and repaired it. After that we continued on to Mom's house. Finally made it there that evening and got the truck parked out in the back yard. They have almost 2 acres and we were turning it into a campground for the week. We got settled in and visited for a little while and then had a good nights sleep.

The next day, we had Mom and Dad take us to town to buy some supplies for our week of fun that was coming up. We also bought a new fridge for the truck and John got it swapped out with the old one. Turns out this new one works far better than the old one, even though they are the same exact model. Makes us wonder if there was something wrong with the old one from the beginning. For all we know, it could have been the cause of our electrical problem. We will never know, but anyway, things worked out and now we have a fridge that works great!

Our time in Indiana flew by. We have so many family and friends there that it always seems there's never enough time to visit everybody. All in all this visit was an overall success! Every single member of my family was able to make it with the exception of one nephew who couldn't get any time off from work. We had great food, great company and will have a lifetime of memories. We try to do this once a year, but we had to miss out last year due to issues with the truck. The only negative thing about the week was the extreme heat. We had temps of around 100 degrees every single day. Since we were spending everyday outside, that was a pretty big deal. Happily though, even with the heat and all the alcohol that was consumed, there was not a single argument the entire week. That's pretty good I think!

After that weeks was over, we headed back to work. I don't remember all the details of the loads that we did and I'm too lazy to look them up. I do know that we made several trips to California and Texas and we were extremely busy, which is a good thing!

On July 19th, we made our FINAL truck payment!!!! I can't believe what a huge relief it is to have this truck paid for! We bought it on contract and made payments for 15 months. It was a very stressful 15 months as we had to make payments, and keep the repairs and maintenance done. Their was a lot of catch up work to do on the truck, but we have gotten it to the point that we only have one major job left to do and that is to have the frame of the box sanded and undercoated. After that is done, it will look like a new truck! Since we got the truck paid for, the lady we bought it from mailed us the title, so we headed home at the end of July to deal with getting the title switched over into our names.

Along with that, we had to do a new contract with our carrier which is a lot more complicated than it sounds. You would think that since the truck and both of us were already on with the carrier that it would be a simple process, but unfortunately with all the government regulations involved, it gets complicated and expensive. It took us a full week to get everything squared away. While I worked on the paperwork side of things, John used the time to do some more cosmetic work on the truck. He is such a perfectionist. Even though he is driving a 2006 truck, he expects it to look like a brand new one. Which is fine, except for the fact that it was hotter than heck at home in Florida and he was trying to work outside on the truck in that heat. That and the fact that every afternoon and evening we would get storms with lightning and rain. Very frustrating, but he got almost everything done that he wanted to get done.

Our carrier for some reason required us to get a new DOT inspection done, even though our last one is only 4 months old. There isnt anywhere near us that did them so we had to drive up to Wildwood and go to the TA and have it done. We did that yesterday and finally we were cleared by the safety dept to go back into service. Of course, by that time two other trucks got on the board ahead of  us. They are both gone now, so hopefully we will get a load soon and be back in business. Florida can be very tricky sometimes to get a load out of. At least in the expediting business.

We plan to stay out for about 3 to 4 weeks and then go home again. Right now, our truck only has a paper plate since the title and registration had to be switched over. Our new plate will be waiting for us when we go home.

Did I say how good it feels to have the truck paid for?

Today is a Lazy Day...with Pay!

Yesterday we drove from Chicago to Goshen, In to pick up a load going to Aurora, Nebraska. We were told that it was a hazmat load which is not a big deal, we do them all the time. Since the load was picking up on Friday and not delivering until Monday we are getting paid two days of layover pay in addition to our regular mileage pay. I love weekend loads like that! After we arrived at the shipper and got loaded, we received a message on the qualcomm telling us not to depart until we verified some information with dispatch. I called in and went over some things with them and then the dispatcher transferred me to safety to go over some info. This is not the usual way of doing things there, so I don't really know why I was being transferred to safety. Turns out that it opened up a can of worms. Safety immediately informed me that we are not allowed to sit on a hazmat load over a weekend. We weren't going to be allowed to do the load. I said, well, we're already loaded. He told me not to leave, he was going to get into contact with dispatch. Great! Now what? I sat and waited for about a half an hour and finally I called dispatch back. I said what is going on?

I've never heard of this policy before? I ended up talking with about 5 different people in dispatch and they all said they had never heard of that policy either. They kept telling me to sit and wait while they worked on a solution. Finally after about 3 hours they called and asked me if there was anyone available in shipping that they could talk to. I had been waiting in the truck so I walked back to the shipping office and discovered that the lights were off and everyone was gone home! This meant that there was no way they could take the load off our truck now. Dispatch was going to have to figure out a new solution. Another hour goes by and finally they called and said they found a hazmat certified cross dock in Lake Station, In. We had to drive there and have them unload our freight. It has to sit there until Sunday afternoon at which time we will go back there and pick it up and then we can finally be on our way to Nebraska. The good news in all this is that we are getting paid an additional $150 for layover for our troubles along with 2 hours detention time for sitting so long at the shipper while dispatch worked to correct their mistake. I needed a 34 hour restart anyway so it's all good!

After we unloaded at the cross dock we headed over to the TA down the road and parked the truck. We'll sit here till Sunday and get the reset on our hours. We have our bicycles with us now but this area isn't really bike friendly so I guess we won't be doing that. We've been to a lot of places that would be good areas for bike riding. We will be prepared next time we get back to those areas. One in particular is in Ripon, Ca. I really like that area. We'll also be able to use the bikes next week when we take our time off at my Mom and Dad's house. It will nice to get some exercise. I hate exercise unless it's in the form of swimming or biking.
Really looking forward to our time off. Turns out that pretty much all my family is going to be able to make it. They won't all be there for as long as me and John will, but that's okay. The additional time we are there will allow us to go visit some friends we haven't seen in awhile. I just hope it doesn't rain!!

It looks like we are going to need to replace our refrigerator in the truck. We'll do that when we take our time off. We are guessing that when we had our electrical problem with the truck that it somehow damaged the fridge. The fridge worked before the problem and not after so I would say it's safe to assume the problems are related. We'll just have to buy ice and use a cooler for our drinks for a week. These kinds of problems I can handle.

When life gives you lemons...grrrrr!!

Yeah, yeah, make lemonade. Right. Easier said than done sometimes. We took the load to Laredo and got there on Sunday night. We didn't deliver until 11 AM on Monday, so we parked at the TA, had a good meal and a good nights sleep. We got up the next morning and I drove the mile to the consignee. This place, like most all places on the Mexican border has extremely tight docks. The first dock they told us to back into was too narrow to even get into. I ended up having to move over two slots to get one wide enough to squeeze in. And a tight squeeze it was! While I was working on backing in, the truck at one point acted like it was going to die. It was just a quick thing that was over as fast as it started. After we made the delivery and were driving to the Speedco to get the oil change, I mentioned it to John. We didn't really think too much about it because the truck had been and still seemed to be running perfectly fine.

We got over to the Speedco, got the oil changed, thought about getting a truck wash, but with the way the wind was blowing the sand around, we decided against it. We headed back to the truckstop, this time the Flying J hoping to get a better internet signal (didn't happen). We had put ourselves available on a 34 hour restart coming back into service the next day at 4 PM. We were getting low on hours and figured that Laredo would be a good spot to do a restart in. We had a good meal and got back to the truck. Dispatch called and wanted us to do a load that was picking up that night at midnight in Eagle Pass, about 130 miles to the north of Laredo. We told them we were doing a restart, but they really needed us to do the load because it was hazmat. We were number 7 on the board, so apparently none of the six trucks ahead of us had their hazmat endorsements. It was just a load of air bag modules, but they are classified as hazmat. After going back and forth with dispatch, we agreed to take the load which delivered in Smyrna, Tennessee. My thinking was that it would be nice to get out of Laredo where the heat was about 102 degrees and the wind was blowing the sand around which is nasty. We would do our restart in Tn. They set everything up and around 8 PM John headed out to Eagle Pass.

To get to Eagle Pass, you have to take highways. It was a nasty drive because it started storming and the wind was really blowing the dirt around. It rained, but not enough to help. It just made things worse. We got to the shipper an hour early. John pulled the truck up in front of the docks and set the brakes. He ran inside to see if they were ready for us or if they wanted us to park out of the way somewhere. Right before he came back to the truck, the truck died. I got such a bad feeling and immediately thought about the incident that morning at the consignee when the truck almost died. John came to the truck and said, good news, they're ready for us. I said, bad news, the truck died! We tried to restart it, but it wouldn't do anything. Didn't crank or anything. The check electric system light came on the dash. Our first thought was that if we sat there a little bit and let it cool off, maybe it would start. Nope, not happening. John pulled the battery cover off and looked at the connections and the new fuse harness that we just had put on two weeks ago. No sign of any problems.

I went into the sleeper to turn on the apu to get some ac running and that's when I noticed that the apu wasn't getting any power. We decided we better call our carrier and let them know that we probably weren't going to be able to take the load. They started calling around trying to find road service to come out and look at the truck and had no luck. There was not one single place that would answer their phone. There were no name brand shops within 120 miles. Nothing. This was such a bad feeling. Finally, one of the guys who worked at the shipper came over to check on us and we told him what was going on. He knew a couple of people who did road service. We called them and none of them were willing to work with an electrical problem. We realized that we weren't going to get any help until in the morning. The shipper then informed us that they were closing and that we would have to leave and go to a motel. The worker that checked on us said he would drive us to a motel. By now, it was about 3 AM. We packed a bag  and he drove us to a La Quinta Inn, which was the only place in town that would accept pets. We have a small Maltese dog that rides with us. I was exhausted, hot and frustrated!

He dropped us at the motel, we checked in and in my opinion got overcharged for a room. $119 for the night and we were only going to be there for a few hours! What are you going to do? We got in the room, turned on the ac, and nothing happened. I called the front desk and told them the ac wasn't working. She had us come back to the desk, and switched us to a different room. She apologized for the inconvenience, but we told her that was just the way our day was going. We got into the new room and thankfully, the ac worked! John fell asleep right away, but of course, I laid there awake until about 7 AM when I got up, took a shower, then gave the dog a bath. John got up, took a shower, and I called a taxi to take us back to the truck. We got to the truck and I thought maybe we would get lucky and the truck would start. Again, nope. I started going through the list of truck repair places and had no luck. I finally called the International dealer in San Antonio and they said it would be sometime next week before they could even look at it. Seriously?! He told me the only other International dealer would be in Laredo. Great! Back where we started. I called them and they said they could probably look at it the next day and they gave me the name of a towing company that would tow us there. I knew the tow bill was going to be outrageous. They charge you for the miles to you and the miles that you actually get towed. It ended up being $1055.

On the bright side, our tow truck driver was a really nice guy named Jesse. He was great at his job, and his ac worked in his tow truck. What more can you ask for? Maybe one thing, 2 seats for passengers? Unfortunately, his truck didn't have a sleeper and only one passenger seat. He had a 5 gallon bucket between the seats so I got two pillows out of the truck and sat on one and put one behind my back. 130 miles on a bucket. Actually it wasn't as bad of a ride as I had feared. But it's not one I want to do again. Jesse was a great tour guide on the drive back to Laredo. He pointed out the new oil wells that are being drilled. These natural gas deposits were recently found and are a booming business in this area. The pipeline workers are from other areas and are living in RV parks that are springing up in the area to accomodate the workers because there aren't any other places for them to live. Also on the drive, we drove through swarms of butterflys. Jesse said every year at this time they come out of the fields. Not sure how long that will last, but they were incredible. Makes a terrible mess to the windshield and front of the truck though. Jesse also pointed out George Strait's (country singer) ranch. We drove right past it, and if someone didn't point it out to you, you would never even notice it. It sits back pretty far off the road and you can mostly just see the roof from the road. Jesse is retiring on Friday. We congratulated him and wished him well. He got us and our truck safe and sound to the International shop in Laredo.

Once at the shop, we checked in, and were told that they would likely get to our truck the next day. We called a taxi and were taken to the Motel 6 North. We have a pool here. There is a Golden Corral next door. We walked about a mile yesterday down to the Walmart and got a few things. We spent about an hour at the pool and did our laundry. We are getting caught up on sleep and unfortunately, International did not look at our truck yesterday and when I called today, I was told that it would probably be around 2 today before they got to it. I still haven't heard from them, and won't be surprised if I don't hear anything until tomorrow. Our carrier has a nice load that they would like for us to that picks up on Friday afternoon, but of course we can't accept it not knowing how long our truck is going to be out of commission.
I had such high hopes for this year, but it isn't going at all like I had hoped. Thank goodness we only have two more truck payments and then the truck is paid for and is ours. We have most of the work done on it that we wanted to get done. We have one more big job to do, which is having the frame sanded and painted with undercoating. If we can just survive these bad times we've been going through lately, we'll be in good shape.

Oh yeah, one other silver lining to this mess. Our truck is broke down during the annual safety blitz. There is a 72 hour period each year that commercial trucks and buses are inspected by dot and other officials at a much higher rate than normal. During our ride in the tow truck, we witnessed several inspection sites in full swing. They were pulling in every single truck. Of course that was on a highway, so they could get every truck. On the interstates, it's hit and miss. I've heard some crazy stories about how many trucks are being put out of service for violations. The craziest story I read about is that in New Jersey, they are actually diverting trucks into a football stadium for inspection and there was up to a 6 hour delay for drivers. This seems to me like it should be illegal for our government to do such a thing, but what do I know? I'm just a lowly truck driver...

My first Post....

Wow, am I ever behind the times. I have followed other peoples blogs for quite some time but never felt the urge to have my own. Until recently. It looks like my husband and I are finally going to get to do something that we have been wanting to do for quite some time and I want to keep it documented so that I can look back on it and see if it was anything like we expected as well as keep track of our travels.

If all goes well, next month (Feb 2010) we will start our new career with expediting. Expediting is a form of OTR truck driving with a twist. Our truck will be a straight truck with a 20' box for freight. It will have a daycab with a 96" sleeper with most of the comforts of home. No shower or toilet, however, there are trucks out there that do provide those. Just not our truck. At least not the one we will start out with.

Since this is my first post and just in case someone out there in the world may happen upon this blog and take an interest, I suppose I should give a little background on us. We have been married for 27 years, have 2 sons in their 20's who live out on their own. We are both in our 40's with no real ties at home. We were born and raised in Indiana and lived there until 2005. We moved to Florida because we were sick of the cold winters. We both got very lucky and found jobs here in Florida that actually paid more than the ones we had in Indiana. However, then along came the economic recession and by by went the jobs. After not working for a year, we decided to go to truck driving school and get our Class A Cdl's. We went to a very good school at Mid Florida Tech, a community college which is part of Orange County Public Schools in Orlando. I very highly recommend this school for cdl training. We graduated and got our cdl's in Feb of 2009, all ready to go off on our new adventures only to find out that the recession had worsened and now driving jobs were even hard to come by.

We had applied to Conway Truckload and and were accepted by them. We went to their orientation in Feb of 2009 in Joplin, Mo. We made the mistake of thinking that we were hired. After all, they had done all of our paperwork and brought us out there, right? No. They take you there and put you through their testing and then select who they want to keep and who gets sent home. Needless to say, in our group, we got sent home and the drivers who already had experience got to stay. What a nightmare that was!! We had to take a Greyhound Bus home from Joplin, Mo to Orlando, Fl. First time either of us had been on a greyhound. Not planning to do that again!!

Anyway, got home and called every trucking company we could think of, and there were none that were hiring student drivers at that point. We were very discouraged and had no idea what we were going to do to survive. Luckily for us, one of our friends is a manager at Walmart and she helped us get jobs there. All I will say on that subject is that it kept us from starving.

We were so traumatized from the way we were treated at Conway that we didn't even think of driving anymore after we started at Walmart. At that point we were just so thankful to even have a job. However, as anyone who has ever worked at Walmart would probably tell you, it is not easy nor enjoyable, nor profitable working there. After about 7 months there, I started researching driving jobs again and somehow managed to stumble upon information about expediting. I mentioned it to my husband to see what his reaction was, and basically he said, Hell Yeah! When can we start?

I am the type of person who has to thoroughly research something before I am willing to get involved in it. So I began scouring the internet and learning all I could. I posted some questions on an expediting forum and received a private message from a lady who offered us an opportunity to take over driving her truck. Very sadly, her husband passed away from a heart attack and she will not drive it without him. She had read my posts on the forum and said that we reminded her of her and her husband. We began communicating by email and I let her know that we wouldn't be ready to start driving until after the first of the New Year and she said that was fine.

We had to go ahead and get our Hazmat Endorsements and our Passports, which we finally received in the mail yesterday. We will also be working on getting a clearance from the Dept of Defense for government shipments. Those actually pay better than regular loads.

We gave our notice at work yesterday and let them know that Feb 5th would be our last day there. That was an awesome feeling (and scary). It's really hard to give up a job in this economy. Even though the job sucks, but sometimes, you have to have faith and just do it or your fear will never allow you to live your dreams!

This is the truck we will start out driving. 2006 Sterling