When I last updated, I was still in the Dallas area. I know, I know, I'm not doing a good job of keeping
ya'll up to date with where I'm at or what's going on with us.
Anyway, I got a relay load right out of Lancaster with a load of salt to Springfield Missouri no less. It was a very heavy load running over 45 thousand pounds. But I guess as you can see by a few of my pictures, Springfield really needed the salt to help out with the ice clean up.
I took off a few days to patch holes in the roof of our mobile home and cut up some of the trees that had fallen on our house and yard. I road around town a bit and the whole city was a mess. Belinda said we had no electricity for about a week. I just can't imagine all the noise she heard as the trees were snapping and coming down on our house and yard.
I left Springfield on Jan 20 to grab a load in
Monett and take it up to
KIRKSVILLE,MO, from there took me to BURLINGTON,IA . I took that load to
GORDONSVILLE,VA. I then had to run down to Richmond and pick up a load headed for ST JOHNS,MI. Of course this took me right into the Lake effects snow and I had snow about half of that trip. I just thought I had driven in the snow up to this point. My next assignment was to go pick up a HEAVY load in
MUSKEGON,MI and take it down to Cincinnati, OH. Oh my God! I got down to
Kellog City (Battle Creek, MI)
ok, and needed to take my 10 hour break. When I got up there was a light dusting of snow on the truck and I headed out. As I eased along south, the snow got heavier. And heavier, and heavier! At one point, I could only use the ditches to guide me and keep me in the road. I would have pulled over and parked to wait it out, but there was no where to stop. I slogged on and was about ready to just attempt to stop on the shoulder when I was finally able to see the center line again most of the time. Then the salt trucks decided that maybe a little road clean up was in order and things got a bit better. Needless to say, it was a very interesting night of driving.
From there, I relayed a load from Cincinnati, to Columbus, OH so that a team could run it on to it's destination. Our daughter Kelly lives in Columbus and she took off a bit early to come have a short visit with me in my truck. I had already been assigned another relay load to pick up there and run down to
Pocohontas, IL. Part of all this relay
assignments was to also help me. Belinda and I had a party we wanted to attend coming up on Febuary 3rd and I had requested to go home.
I now got my assignment to get me home. I ran over to St. Louis and picked up a reloaded trailer to relay to Joplin headed for
Calexico, CA. Darn I've been waiting on a load like this to get me out of the north east and let me see some of the western states. All I was going to do was take it to Joplin and some other lucky driver gets to take it to California. This sounds like a nice little short run to get me home. It ended up being one of the worst drives I have made so far. The place I had to drop and hook was like a mess and very hard to negotiate in. Of course ice on the lots made it even tougher. When I backed under the trailer, I thought it was empty. I opened the doors and could not see anything. This was about 2 in the morning and dark. I went back to the cab and got my flashlight and then saw my load. It was one piece of equipment sitting right up in the nose of my 53 foot trailer and weighed only 1000 pounds. Any other day this would be a dream load to haul, but today was not that day. I was treating my
throttle like it was an egg and I didn't want to break it. You see there was black ice off and on from St. Louis
until I got almost to Springfield. There were several big rigs and cars off in the median and ditches. There was a bad wreck under the overpass at
Strafford that required life flight
ect...
I'm watching all of this as I head west for Joplin to take my days off. I was giving the throttle a feather touch and still broke traction and had a power skid several times as I pulled the hills of Missouri. One time I had tractor in one lane and trailer was still in the other. Yes, the crease in the seat got more and more built in as I moved west. The truck, load, and myself finally arrived safely in Joplin and I had a very enjoyable visit with my wife and friends.
February the 5
th sees me back on the road. I get a nice long run to
Bridgewood, NY. Almost 1300 miles one way. Guess where
Bridgewood is??? I should have gotten my map out and looked before I accepted this one. You see,
when we are in the Joplin terminal, we are normally offered a choice of what ever loads are
available. I took the longest one!!! After I got back to the truck and found
Bridgewood, I was having regrets. You see
Bridgewood sits right where Queens and
Brooklyn meet in NEW YORK CITY!!!! The drive there was great, but the night mare began soon after I crossed the
Manhattan bridge. This delivery was about 4 miles off the interstate and my directions were no good. They led me down streets designed for horses and wagons back in the 18
th century. I came to streets with signs that said "CARS ONLY" and had no idea of how to get around them, so I went down them anyway. A 53 foot trailer and over the road tractor is no place for this city, but we must delivery there every now and then anyway. At the consignee, I had to block traffic for about an hour while I used all the street and sidewalks to
persuade my trailer to get inside the building where they had a dock hidden. Finally, I get it there and unload. When I leave, I have an assignment to pick up
across the Hudson on the New
Jersy side. It's only a 28 mile dispatch and they give me an hour to get there. It's now 5pm in New York and I am to drive 28 miles in 1 hour. Of course I'm late and operations keep sending messages to me about being late. 4 and 1/2 hours later, I reach my destination.
The best thing about going to New York is LEAVING :)
I pull this load down to Louisa, VA and then deadhead to Richmond for a load going to
Alachua, FL. It sure was nice to get out of the ice, snow and cold. This assignment allowed me plenty of time and I was able to stop in Dunn, NC to visit with a friend of mine that I have only known by
Internet communication and telephone. And it was my Birthday no less. He took me out for a fine steak dinner and we had a great visit.
Now I knew it would happen sooner or later. I've been told about them, read about them, but so far have not seen or heard from them. And in DUNN, North Carolina, I least expected it! A small quite southern town.
But this is where I was
approached by my first "Lot Lizard"
I've stayed at truck stops all over the big cities and even on the "South side of Chicago" and in the small town of Dunn is where I had my first encounter.
LOLFreight is rather slow coming out of Florida, but not for me. I am assigned right away to run over to Jacksonville to grab a load that is needed in Selma, NC. Then it's off to Raleigh to load up for
Greenville, IL. Deadhead to Mt. Vernon, IL for a load headed for Atlanta, Ga. I hit Atlanta on early Friday evening and the traffic is
horrendous. This was taken to our drop yard that is located on the south side of Atlanta. I then had to go back thru Atlanta and pick up a few miles north at Cartersville, GA for a load headed to Rockledge, FL. This of course meant going back south thru Atlanta again for the 3rd time. Florida was interesting negotiating all the tolls thru the Orlando area to get me over on the East coast for Rockledge. A short run from ther for Palatka, FL to pick up a new load took me back to the north east. A delivery was required in North Andover, MA. A tea party was in order as this is a northern suburb of Boston. From there it was off to Providence, RI for my first really Over the road long haul trucking. Not that the last load wasn't bad at over 1200 miles, but this one is the kind I have been waiting for. 2700 miles to Nogales, AZ!!! YeeHaw, I'm trucking with the big boys now! A few days later I'm in Nogales, make the delivery and get assigned right away with a load for Buford, GA. Look out Atlanta! Clear the streets because, I'm on my way back!!As I sit now getting a reset on my log book, I am assigned from Buford, to pick up a load in the morning at Calhoun, GA destined for Seymour, INWhew!!!! That was long and I'm now out of breath, so I'll quit for now and hopefully, I won't get this far behind again. By the way, the only states left for me to visit east of the Mississippi are Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. I've got special plans for Maine ;) but only my wife can know about that.Oh Yeah, somewhere in one of those trips, I missed a turn in Washington D.C. and figured I could just continue north on I-395 and continue my trip on the north side of D.C. Wrong!!! I'm too tall for the tunnel and ended up screaming like a little girl for someone to help me get this truck out of Washington. A very nice driver stopped up ahead and waited for me to get my truck moving and he led me out. I owe him a BIG steak dinner if we ever meet again out on the open road. It was a very scenic route that I took and I got a close up view of the Washington monument, the White house, and even drove right by Arlington Cemetary. I may go back, but you can bet your sweet arse, that it won't be in a big rig.Belinda worked her last day this past Friday and I will soon be working my way back home to pick her up. This is what I've been working toward the whole time. Getting her back by my side to spend our time together. I'm really looking forward for us to see spring bloom all across America as we travel the interstates and hiways together.
Untill next time, I'm living my dream.
