1-17-07 - Wednesday - Got My Truck!
It's been a few days since I have written here, so here is an update. I was supposed to leave Friday evening. That didn't happen. My mentor lives here in Marshfield, so he decided to spend the night at home and we left on Saturday morning. I did get a hotel room and a van to use from Roehl that night, so it wasn't that bad.
Saturday we left from Marshfield and drove about 1 hour away to pick up a trailer that was load at a customer. The trailers I was pulling during this time with my mentor were curtain-side trailers. That's pretty much like a flat bed with a top and curtains along the sides. That means that anything loaded on it needs to be straped down. Pain in the ass.
We got the loaded trailer and I started driving. We got to Gary, IN around 3:00pm. Roehl has a terminal there. My mentor wanted to show it to me. I drove until late in the evening and got to around 50 miles from the KY border. I tried to sleep as best I could as my mentor drove for a few hours, well, it was more like 1 1/2 hours and he stopped. I didn't mind. I can't sleep very well when the truck is moving. That's why I drive SOLO! I could never team drive.
On Sunday morning, my mentor drove for anout 4 hours and I took over driving at around 10:00am. I drove us all the way to Charleston, SC where our delivery was. We got there on Sunday evening and the delivery wasn't until Monday morning, so we parked at a Super Walmart and got some dinner and called it a day.
Monday morning we drove about 5 minutes to our delivery customer and got there at about 7:00am. We were on time for the delivery, but the customer said they wouldn't be ready to unload us until 9:00am. I laid down and tried to get some more rest. They finally unloaded us and after closing the curtains on the trailer were finally on our way to our next pick up point.
We drove to Lugoff, SC, whih is near Columbia, SC and got loaded. Not much, just 4 big axles for heavy equipment. Again, we had to srap everything down and close the curtains. I like pulling vans. Simple. Open the doors and back up to a dock. Easy! None of the messing with straps and tie-downs.
We got lunch and a shower at the Flying-J in Columbia and I started driving. I got us all the way up past Lexington, KY before calling it quits at about 10:30pm.
Just a side note. It was about 8 degrees when we started this trip in Marshfield, WI, and it was in the 70's in SC. You have to be prepared for all kinds of weather and temperatures.
Tuesday morning we were in Gary, IN again. My mentor had driven most of the night to get us there. That meant that I had tried to sleep. But I didn't get much. I started driving at around 8:30am and we got into Marshfield late in the afternoon. My mentor wanted to go home for the night, so I got a bunk room and tried to catch up on some sleep.
We left at 3:00am for Owattana, MN to deliver our load. I was driving. Yuck. I don't like driving in the middle of the night. My body wants to sleep, no matter how much rest I get before I get going. Oh well. I did ok and we got to the delivery point in about 4 hours. We did the delivery thing. Unstrap, curtains, ect. Our pickup was from the same customer, but it wasn't going to be ready until 2:00pm. We went to a truck stop and I went to sleep for a few hours.
At 2:00pm we picked up again from the customer. Straping, curtains, ect!!! I hate flat bed work! I didn't drive back, I rode and got my stuff packed. At 6:00pm we got back into Marshfield and I got off the truck! I'm so glad. I like SOLO! Not team.
Roehl assigned me a truck so I could start moving my stuff into it. It's an International. I have never driven an International. It's a little bigger than the Freightliners I'm used to, but that's cool. It has about 186,000 miles on it and that's not bad for an over-the-road truck. I just hope it has good power to get up and over the mountains I'll be driving in out in CO.
Well, it's bedtime for me now. I've been up since 2:30am. I got the 3 hour nap, but I'm still beat. I already have a load to pickup tomorrow at around 9:45am. It's going to Denver!!! Homeward bound!
Saturday we left from Marshfield and drove about 1 hour away to pick up a trailer that was load at a customer. The trailers I was pulling during this time with my mentor were curtain-side trailers. That's pretty much like a flat bed with a top and curtains along the sides. That means that anything loaded on it needs to be straped down. Pain in the ass.
We got the loaded trailer and I started driving. We got to Gary, IN around 3:00pm. Roehl has a terminal there. My mentor wanted to show it to me. I drove until late in the evening and got to around 50 miles from the KY border. I tried to sleep as best I could as my mentor drove for a few hours, well, it was more like 1 1/2 hours and he stopped. I didn't mind. I can't sleep very well when the truck is moving. That's why I drive SOLO! I could never team drive.
On Sunday morning, my mentor drove for anout 4 hours and I took over driving at around 10:00am. I drove us all the way to Charleston, SC where our delivery was. We got there on Sunday evening and the delivery wasn't until Monday morning, so we parked at a Super Walmart and got some dinner and called it a day.
Monday morning we drove about 5 minutes to our delivery customer and got there at about 7:00am. We were on time for the delivery, but the customer said they wouldn't be ready to unload us until 9:00am. I laid down and tried to get some more rest. They finally unloaded us and after closing the curtains on the trailer were finally on our way to our next pick up point.
We drove to Lugoff, SC, whih is near Columbia, SC and got loaded. Not much, just 4 big axles for heavy equipment. Again, we had to srap everything down and close the curtains. I like pulling vans. Simple. Open the doors and back up to a dock. Easy! None of the messing with straps and tie-downs.
We got lunch and a shower at the Flying-J in Columbia and I started driving. I got us all the way up past Lexington, KY before calling it quits at about 10:30pm.
Just a side note. It was about 8 degrees when we started this trip in Marshfield, WI, and it was in the 70's in SC. You have to be prepared for all kinds of weather and temperatures.
Tuesday morning we were in Gary, IN again. My mentor had driven most of the night to get us there. That meant that I had tried to sleep. But I didn't get much. I started driving at around 8:30am and we got into Marshfield late in the afternoon. My mentor wanted to go home for the night, so I got a bunk room and tried to catch up on some sleep.
We left at 3:00am for Owattana, MN to deliver our load. I was driving. Yuck. I don't like driving in the middle of the night. My body wants to sleep, no matter how much rest I get before I get going. Oh well. I did ok and we got to the delivery point in about 4 hours. We did the delivery thing. Unstrap, curtains, ect. Our pickup was from the same customer, but it wasn't going to be ready until 2:00pm. We went to a truck stop and I went to sleep for a few hours.
At 2:00pm we picked up again from the customer. Straping, curtains, ect!!! I hate flat bed work! I didn't drive back, I rode and got my stuff packed. At 6:00pm we got back into Marshfield and I got off the truck! I'm so glad. I like SOLO! Not team.
Roehl assigned me a truck so I could start moving my stuff into it. It's an International. I have never driven an International. It's a little bigger than the Freightliners I'm used to, but that's cool. It has about 186,000 miles on it and that's not bad for an over-the-road truck. I just hope it has good power to get up and over the mountains I'll be driving in out in CO.
Well, it's bedtime for me now. I've been up since 2:30am. I got the 3 hour nap, but I'm still beat. I already have a load to pickup tomorrow at around 9:45am. It's going to Denver!!! Homeward bound!
posted by BigJohn at 8:27 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home