Back to work after 1st hometime

The party's over. So sad. After being home for 11 days we decided we better get back at it. I know I like my job because this is the first time I've been on vacation and actually don't mind going back to work. As a matter of fact, I'm looking forward to it. I've definitely never said that with any other job that I've ever had.

This job isn't really just a job. It is a lifestyle. To us, it seems like our truck is our home and our actual home is now like a vacation home. Being away from it just makes it so much nicer when you get to go there. You appreciate being there and don't take your surroundings for granted like you do when you are there every day.

Also, when on the road, I don't have to cook, clean or do any of the normal things you have to do when you're at home every day, so when we do go home those things are actually enjoyable as well.

It's a win win situation if you ask me!

We put ourselves back in service and immediately got dispatched on a load picking up in Orlando Fl. This load will be taking us to Gladstone, Va and has a lot of extra time on it, so we will be taking our time getting there. We will be pampering ourselves along the way!

Heading Home for the First Time

After our delivery to Winnipeg, we deadheaded back down into the states. We delivered on Friday and had to wait until Tuesday for our next load. This one picked up in Mounds View, Mn and was delivering in Wrightstown, Wi.

I enjoyed the drive through Minnesota and Wisconsin. Very pretty scenery. A lot of references to cheese in Wisconsin. It brought back some good memories of a family vacation that we took with my sister and her family a few years back. We all rented a condo in Wisconsin Dells and had a great time. We went in August and it was already chilly outside. We visited an indoor water park, rode the ducks, John, Shelley and Rob got tattoos and Shelley and Johnny did a tandem skycoaster together. Those two are crazy!

From Wrightstown we headed to Portage, Wi for a pickup, Delivered that one to Morenci, Mi. We highlighted for hometime which at our carrier means that they will look for loads for you that get you closer to home. We are so ready for our visit home after being out here on the road since February!

Dispatch came through for us and we next picked up in Wyandotte, Mi and delivered in Opelika, Alabama. This still left us almost 500 miles from home but it was a Saturday and experience has shown that we wouldn't get any other load offers until Monday at the earliest. We decided to deadhead home and get started on our hometime vacation.

We plan to stay home about two weeks. We have a lot of catching up to do there!

First time to Manitoba

We ended up sitting in Kansas City until Tuesday. Almost a full week! That was not a good feeling. We were wondering if we had been forgotten, if we were being punished for something, if the economy had come to a halt. We were being told over and over by dispatch that Easter is always slow. Factories shut down for a long weekend or whatever. All I know is that we sat way too long. After a certain point, boredom sets in and the only thing to do is start picking at each other.

I wonder how team drivers who are unrelated to each other would handle sitting that long? I can't imagine sharing this small space with anyone other than my husband. I don't think I would last long in this job if I had to do that.

It was Tuesday when we finally got a load picking up in Kansas City, Ks. It delivered to Clifton Hill, Mo which was not a great load, but because we were so desparate to get moving again, we took it. Probably a mistake, but again, we're learning.

After that delivery we had to wait a couple more days for the next load. It picked up in St. Louis, Missouri and will once again be taking us back to Canada. This time however, it will be to a province that we haven't been to yet, so that makes it a little better. We will be delivering in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

One year, our son John went on spring break to Florida with some friends and he met a girl whose family was there on vacation. She was from Winnipeg. Other than that, I don't know anything about Manitoba. More paid sight seeing!

Easter in Oak Grove Missouri

Our Canada load saga continues. We left Montreal for a pick up in East Syracuse, NY but the delivery brought us right back to Woodbridge, Ontario. At least the weather is getting nicer.

We decided to hang out in Ontario and see if we could get lucky and get a load picking up in Canada. With our carrier, we get paid extra if we are loaded when we cross the border in either direction. This time it worked and we got a load picking up in Tillsonburg, On. Even better, this load was going to Kansas City, Missouri. An area in the United States that we haven't seen much of.

We made our delivery and then deadheaded to the Petro in Oak Grove, Missouri. It's a really nice truckstop and it has a Dairy Queen inside, so I was a happy camper!  We were ready for a few days rest. It's been a long time since we've been home and the stress of learning this new job is getting to us. I think we've done really well all things considered.

We delivered this load on Wednesday and it is now Sunday and here we sit. We ventured over to a Radio Shack a few miles down the road and bought a device that we can plug into our laptop that will allow it to act like a tv. We are able to pick up a few stations which is nice since we are sitting for an extended period of time.

This truck has a tv and a satellite dish. We activated the dish service, but have had no luck receiving signals. It's such a hassle trying to reposition the satellite each time you move to a new location that the hassle just isn't worth it to us. We'll try the laptop tv and see how that works out for us.

Today is Easter. We don't have any special plans. We'll probably head over to the nearby Walmart and restock the truck. The Petro is having a special buffet today. Looks pretty good! Our dispatchers tell us that freight is usually pretty slow during holidays. We'll see how long it takes to get us rolling again.

Getting Tired of Canada

With the  air conditioners off our truck, we had no desire to stay in Canada any longer. The weather was miserable and so were we, so we deadheaded back into the US. We stopped at the first truck stop we came to inside the US border and enjoyed a nice hot meal and  then a nice long sleep.

We were in no hurry for another load which was a good thing because we didn't get one for 3 days. The next load picked up in Aberdeen, South Dakota. South we went and made the pickup We then continued south to Newton, Iowa with some supplies for a wind turbine factory.

A wind turbine on its way to its final destination

Our next load offer came quickly. We picked up in Chicago, Il with a destination of.....once again...back to Canada. Kinsley Falls, Ontario. After delivery, our next load offer took us back into the US. We exited Canada through Vermont on our way to Somersworth, NH. The weather had been nice while in Canada but as soon as I approached the boder snow flakes started flying.

An unwelcome sight!

Continuing on into the states the snow started flying harder and harder. I was driving up into the mountains through a national forest. Eventually the roads were completely snow covered and I had to reduce speed to 30 mph. I was gripping the steering wheel tightly and fighting the nerves. As I started down the mountain on the other side, the lower I got, the less snow there was and eventually I drove completely out of it.

I made it to the factory and found my way to the dock for the pick up. Then for the bad part. The load was going right back up into Quebec. This time to Montreal. I have found that we don't enjoy going to Canada anymore and especially into Quebec. Montreal has some horrible roads and it felt like our truck was going to be ripped apart by the potholes and uneven surfaces of the roads.

Pretty..if you like winter

We may need to reconsider doing Canada loads. We would really like to see more of the western United States.

Air Conditioners in a Blizzard

It's been a pretty busy week. We were waiting on a load in Quebec. The load we got was picking up in Ithaca, NY. So we had to leave Canada empty, pick up in New York and then return to Windsor, Ontario. I had no idea when we agreed to do Canada loads that we would be spending this much time in Canada. I would really love to see more of the United States.

We always feel out of place in Canada. It's definitely not home. I don't have anything against Canada, I would just prefer to be in my own country.

After delivering in Windsor, we again left Canada empty and picked up in Saint Clair Shores, Michigan. Back in the US! This load delivered in Ridgeville Corners, Ohio.  After that, our luck ran out and we were again asked to do a Canada load.

This time the load would be another swap with a driver who had a load going to Saskatchewan. This driver also does not go to Canada. The swap was set up to take place in Lake Station, Indiana at Waffco Towing. We arrived and the other driver was there waiting for us. He was in a tractor trailer. We both backed up to docks and the workers there began taking the pallets off of his truck. He had eight pallets of air conditioners. These were large units that were going to a hotel that was under construction. When the forklift driver brought the second pallet over to our truck and tried to sit it next to the first one, we ran into our first problem.

The pallets were wider than standard and would not fit side by side in our truck. Because the semi is 102 inches wide he was able to sit them that way, but our truck is 96 inches wide and they wouldn't fit. There was a lot of discussion about how to resolve the problem and someone came up with the idea of restacking the units on standard size pallets. A call was put in to dispatch and they had to get permission from the customer. Finally, we received approval to go ahead and the job got completed.

We had an interesting conversation with the tractor driver. He's been with our company for quite a few years. He enjoyed telling us stories of how it used to be. Apparently the pay used to be quite a bit higher than it is now. He also said he refuses to go to Canada. As a matter of fact, he doesn't go west of the Mississippi River or east of Ohio, or South of Georgia. As a solo driver, he said he's learned over the years to stay in that box and he does okay for himself.

After loading was completed, we headed out to Stoughton, Saskatchewan. This load had a lot of extra time on it since we were picking up on Wednesday and it wasn't delivering until Friday. We decided to use some of the time to stop off and eat a good meal together and get a shower.

We drove up to North Dakota and stopped off at a truck stop. We got our showers done and were sitting and enjoying our meal when dispatch called and said the customer had noticed that our truck hadn't moved for awhile and was getting concerned. Our truck is equipped with a satellite tracking system and customers are given tracking info and can actually track our truck during the delivery process. We told the dispatcher that we had stopped to eat and shower and nothing was wrong. We just had quite a bit of extra time on the load so we wanted to stop and kill some time while in the US and had internet available.

He said okay, he would pass it along to the customer and let them know that their freight would be there on time as planned. We hung up and went back to our meal. A few minutes later, dispatch called again and said for some reason, this customer was really uptight and worried about this load. Could we please go ahead and deliver direct. We were aggravated about the inconvenience, but agreed.

We took off driving and made our way up into Saskatchewan. This being our first time there, we were wondering what road conditions would be. Turned out, they were not so great. In addition to that, the weather turned really crappy. We started running into snow, we saw a lot of deer and we were hoping and praying they didn't decide to jump out in front of us. We worked our way to the consignee according to the directions we were given. We got there and immediately realized that something was wrong. We were in a residential neighborhood. This was at 2 AM. There was no sign of a business in this area. We called dispatch and informed them. They tried to call the customer and got an answering machine. Remember the customer who was so concerned about this shipment and wanted us there asap?

With no help from dispatch or the customers, we wandered around for a little bit and eventually we found a small gas station. We decided to park there and wait until morning for someone to tell us where to take this load. In the morning we made phone call after phone call and finally got ahold of the customer who advised us that we were given the wrong address to deliver to. No duh!

The funny thing was, the delivery location ended up being directly across the street from the gas station we were parked at. We drove across to the construction site, which had no docks and found a guy who was taking responsibility for the air conditioners. We told him about the request to deliver direct and the wrong address and he apologized and said he wasn't even ready for the air conditions yet. He was going to have to find a place to store them until he was ready to install them. While he was using a machine that I don't know the name of, it looked like a forklift on steroids with forks that extended,  the snow was flying, the wind was blowing and it just struck me as funny that we were delivering a load of air conditioners in a blizzard!

First Trip to Quebec

We made our delivery to Waterloo, Ontario. From there our next load was being picked up in Woodhaven, Mi. There is a crossdock there that our company uses to do swaps. Another driver had a load that needed to go to Canada, but that driver doesn't go to Canada, so he takes it to the dock and drops it off and someone else finishes getting it there. This time, that someone else was us.

We drove down to Woodhaven and let our company know we were there. They said the other driver should be there in a couple of hours. I set the alarm for two hours and we went to sleep. I woke up when the alarm went off and went inside and asked if the other driver had shown up yet. They said they hadn't seen him. I called dispatch and asked them when he was going to be there. They said he had to stop to have a light replaced and should be there anytime.

I continued to wait and watch but never saw him. After awile, I went back inside and asked if he had been there and I had somehow missed him. They again said no. Back out to the truck and more waiting. An hour later, dispatch sent a message and said the driver had sent a message saying he had arrive and departed. I went back inside and found out that he had indeed somehow gotten in and out of there without me seeing him. It was so nice that neither he or the guy that works inside bothered to let me know.

Near Niagra Falls

We finally got loaded and headed off to Pointe Claire, Quebec. This was our first trip to Quebec and we were unsure what to expect. The only thing I knew about Quebec is that they speak French. I was hoping we wouldn't have a communication problem.

For the most part, it went okay. Our gps had major problems though. I was ready to throw it out the window. Despite the gps issues, we got to the consignee and made the delivery. The road signs were a bit confusing because they were written in French, but most of them also had an English version. The people we dealt with all seemed to know enough English so that it wasn't a problem communicating.

We decided to go to a nearby truckstop and see if we could get a load out of Canada.