12-6-06 - Wednesday - Haulin' Broccoli
Wow, it's been over a week since I have had an internet connection that was decent enough to do more than check email. Well anyway, I'm in Little Rock, AR tonight. I got a good dinner and I get some good reception on the TV, so it's a good evening.
To bring you up to date on the past week, it started on wednesday on my way out of Grand Island, NE. I ran on all the little country back roads going south. Very pretty country. As the sun was setting I got to Tucumcari, NM. About the same time that I got to NM, it started snowing like crazy. By the time I got just 15 more miles down the road, it was really coming down. They closed I-40 and I ended up parking it for the night. I woke thursday morning and did my best to crawl down I-40. I hit US 54 south and again started my crawl south.
It was slow going for the first several hours. At about noon, the snow on the road turned to slush and then to just wet roads and then finally to just beautiful dry roads and sunshine.
I delivered in El Paso and parked it for the night. A few words about the delivery. I got there at about 2:00 pm and ended up waiting till about 5:00pm to start getting unloaded and they were done by about 6:30pm. The door I had to back into was crazy too. It was on a strange angle and there was another building straight across from it. Pain in the ass.
Friday I woke up and waited for a load. By 10:00 I still didn't have a load. My DM, (driver manager), sent me on a deadhead trip, (a trip with no load), up to Friona, TX. I started out of El Paso and got about 20 miles before I got another message from my DM to go ahead and go directly to Laredo, TX. OK, so I turned around and headed towards Laredo. I got about 150 miles across I-10 and my DM sent me yet another message. I was to go up to Friona to get a load of meat from Excel meats going to El Paso. I guess he didn't really know what was up. Anyway, I dialed up Friona on the GPS and got to within about an hour of Friona and stopped at a truck stop on some back TX road with about 5 spots for semi's. I squeezed in and put it to bed for the night.
Saturday I loaded at about 11:00am at the Excel meat plant in Friona. I wasn't schedualed to load till 11:00pm, but I got there and they were ready. You never know, sometimes things go right.
I drove down to Big Springs, TX and stopped at the TA there. The trailer I picked up was a bit damaged. The mud flap bracket on the right side of the trailer was bent down so badly that the mud flap was dragging the ground. I didn't want to risk getting stopped by the police, so I stopped at the TA to get it fixed. Because it's a problem with the trailer, I don't have to pay for it.
On sunday I got down to Encinal, TX, about 10 miles from where I was to deliver at 3:00am monday morning. I delivered with no problem and waited for a reload. By 3:pm monday afternoon I told my DM I would be waiting at the Pilot truckstop about 10 miles away. I didn't get a load until 2:00pm on tuesday afternoon. Ouch! I got my 34 hour restart to reset my working hours, but sitting like that isn't good.
My load was from Laredo to Bells, TN. I grabbed the loaded trailer from the CRE drop yard in Laredo and got up to close to San Antonio before I stopped. I grabbed a shower at the Loves and watched some TV.
Today I drove about 600+ miles to Little Rock, AR and stopped at a Petro and ate dinner and again enjoyed some network TV. Tomorrow I expect to get up at about 6:00am and drive the last 3 hours to my delivery. I will be asking for a reload before I deliver with the hope of keeping rolling.
Below are some pictures from the past week.
Farm country in Nebraska
Small town Nebraska
Strike One! Pickup truck in the ditch,,,
Strike 2, horse trailer in the ditch,,,
Fair weather in south New Mexico!
To bring you up to date on the past week, it started on wednesday on my way out of Grand Island, NE. I ran on all the little country back roads going south. Very pretty country. As the sun was setting I got to Tucumcari, NM. About the same time that I got to NM, it started snowing like crazy. By the time I got just 15 more miles down the road, it was really coming down. They closed I-40 and I ended up parking it for the night. I woke thursday morning and did my best to crawl down I-40. I hit US 54 south and again started my crawl south.
It was slow going for the first several hours. At about noon, the snow on the road turned to slush and then to just wet roads and then finally to just beautiful dry roads and sunshine.
I delivered in El Paso and parked it for the night. A few words about the delivery. I got there at about 2:00 pm and ended up waiting till about 5:00pm to start getting unloaded and they were done by about 6:30pm. The door I had to back into was crazy too. It was on a strange angle and there was another building straight across from it. Pain in the ass.
Friday I woke up and waited for a load. By 10:00 I still didn't have a load. My DM, (driver manager), sent me on a deadhead trip, (a trip with no load), up to Friona, TX. I started out of El Paso and got about 20 miles before I got another message from my DM to go ahead and go directly to Laredo, TX. OK, so I turned around and headed towards Laredo. I got about 150 miles across I-10 and my DM sent me yet another message. I was to go up to Friona to get a load of meat from Excel meats going to El Paso. I guess he didn't really know what was up. Anyway, I dialed up Friona on the GPS and got to within about an hour of Friona and stopped at a truck stop on some back TX road with about 5 spots for semi's. I squeezed in and put it to bed for the night.
Saturday I loaded at about 11:00am at the Excel meat plant in Friona. I wasn't schedualed to load till 11:00pm, but I got there and they were ready. You never know, sometimes things go right.
I drove down to Big Springs, TX and stopped at the TA there. The trailer I picked up was a bit damaged. The mud flap bracket on the right side of the trailer was bent down so badly that the mud flap was dragging the ground. I didn't want to risk getting stopped by the police, so I stopped at the TA to get it fixed. Because it's a problem with the trailer, I don't have to pay for it.
On sunday I got down to Encinal, TX, about 10 miles from where I was to deliver at 3:00am monday morning. I delivered with no problem and waited for a reload. By 3:pm monday afternoon I told my DM I would be waiting at the Pilot truckstop about 10 miles away. I didn't get a load until 2:00pm on tuesday afternoon. Ouch! I got my 34 hour restart to reset my working hours, but sitting like that isn't good.
My load was from Laredo to Bells, TN. I grabbed the loaded trailer from the CRE drop yard in Laredo and got up to close to San Antonio before I stopped. I grabbed a shower at the Loves and watched some TV.
Today I drove about 600+ miles to Little Rock, AR and stopped at a Petro and ate dinner and again enjoyed some network TV. Tomorrow I expect to get up at about 6:00am and drive the last 3 hours to my delivery. I will be asking for a reload before I deliver with the hope of keeping rolling.
Below are some pictures from the past week.
Farm country in Nebraska
Small town Nebraska
Strike One! Pickup truck in the ditch,,,
Strike 2, horse trailer in the ditch,,,
Fair weather in south New Mexico!
posted by BigJohn at 7:23 PM
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