4-22-07 - Hometime and Lawn Mowing
Well, it's been a long time since I've had the chance to write here. I spent 5 weeks on the road and now I'm home for a week. I cancaled my internet access from the truck stops because it's pretty expensive and not very reliable. Maybe I'll get one of those broadband cards for my laptop.
I left Denver on March 20th. The load I got was a bit different than most I haul. I had to pickup behind an office tower. There was no loading dock and I had to back through the parking lot around to the back of the building. They load was used filing cabinets. The load was hand-loaded by about 10 guys that didn't really look that happy to be hauling over a thousand cabinets down a freight elevator and up a ramp into a truck.
The loading took about 4 hours. It was a nice day, so I didn't mind too much. I had to deliver the load in Chicago on the morning of March 22nd. I had a day and a half to get it there. No problem.
On Thursday morning I found the delivery address. Yuck! It was a warehouse on the edge of a residential neighborhood. To get there, I think I rolled over several curbs and made alot of early morning commuters mad. Oh well. I squeezed into the tiny dock and they had me unloaded in about 2 hours. I like that.
I got out of there by 11:00am and started towards my next load. I was picking up a load of bicycles in southern IL. I got there by 4:00pm, but they wouldn't load me until 6:30pm. I got loaded pretty quickly, but I was out of hours for the day, so I found an abandoned warehouse with a large empty parking lot and put it to bed for the night.
My load was going to central FL, so I hit the road early the next morning and drove all day down through KY, and TN and into GA.
When I got to northern GA, I met my trainer from CR England for a late lunch. It was good to see him. He's still training for CRE. He's been with the company for 14 years, so he figures he'll just stick it out there for a few more years and then retire. I rolled south to the southern part of GA and stopped for the night.
My delivery was for around 11:00am on Saturday. I got there about an hour early and droped my trailer at the Walmart Dist. center and grabbed an empty. I got a load out of Perry, GA about an hour after I stopped and headed that way. I drove halfway to Perry and stopped for the day. My load didn't pick up until Sunday the 25th, so I stopped and got a shower and a good meal. On Sunday, I drove about 3 hours to Perry and got a preloaded trailer full of cardboard boxes and headed northeast through GA towards SC. I stopped at a nice rest area in northern SC for the night. On Monday the 26th I drove hard north through NC, VA, MD and into PA where I had to deliver on Tuesday. I stopped near Johnstown, PA and spent the night with some relatives I have in PA. It was a good chance to get laundry done and a good meal.
I delivered in Johnstown early on the 27th and got a load that had me deadhead to Mogodore, OH to get a relay load going to Bedford, PA. Back and forth across the Turnpike.
My next load was from Westminster, MD to a paper plant near Lynchburg, VA. I picked up in the afternoon and drove until late in the evening to deliver. The traffic around Washington, DC sucked! I hit the area at the perfect time. Evening rush hour. Yuck! I ended up on a four-lane highway with trafic lights all along it for my drive south to Lynchburg. YUCK Again! The plant I was going to was in the middle of nowhere. The roads around it seemed to all have "No Truck" signs on them. The directions they gave took me down a tiny little road. It was rainy and dark and there were at least 2 bridges I went under that said 13'5. That's an inch shorter that what I'm tall. The measurment must have been wrong, because I made it under them, very slowly. I got the delivery done finally and just stayed there for the night.
More to come tomorrow. It takes a while to get caught up!
I left Denver on March 20th. The load I got was a bit different than most I haul. I had to pickup behind an office tower. There was no loading dock and I had to back through the parking lot around to the back of the building. They load was used filing cabinets. The load was hand-loaded by about 10 guys that didn't really look that happy to be hauling over a thousand cabinets down a freight elevator and up a ramp into a truck.
The loading took about 4 hours. It was a nice day, so I didn't mind too much. I had to deliver the load in Chicago on the morning of March 22nd. I had a day and a half to get it there. No problem.
On Thursday morning I found the delivery address. Yuck! It was a warehouse on the edge of a residential neighborhood. To get there, I think I rolled over several curbs and made alot of early morning commuters mad. Oh well. I squeezed into the tiny dock and they had me unloaded in about 2 hours. I like that.
I got out of there by 11:00am and started towards my next load. I was picking up a load of bicycles in southern IL. I got there by 4:00pm, but they wouldn't load me until 6:30pm. I got loaded pretty quickly, but I was out of hours for the day, so I found an abandoned warehouse with a large empty parking lot and put it to bed for the night.
My load was going to central FL, so I hit the road early the next morning and drove all day down through KY, and TN and into GA.
When I got to northern GA, I met my trainer from CR England for a late lunch. It was good to see him. He's still training for CRE. He's been with the company for 14 years, so he figures he'll just stick it out there for a few more years and then retire. I rolled south to the southern part of GA and stopped for the night.
My delivery was for around 11:00am on Saturday. I got there about an hour early and droped my trailer at the Walmart Dist. center and grabbed an empty. I got a load out of Perry, GA about an hour after I stopped and headed that way. I drove halfway to Perry and stopped for the day. My load didn't pick up until Sunday the 25th, so I stopped and got a shower and a good meal. On Sunday, I drove about 3 hours to Perry and got a preloaded trailer full of cardboard boxes and headed northeast through GA towards SC. I stopped at a nice rest area in northern SC for the night. On Monday the 26th I drove hard north through NC, VA, MD and into PA where I had to deliver on Tuesday. I stopped near Johnstown, PA and spent the night with some relatives I have in PA. It was a good chance to get laundry done and a good meal.
I delivered in Johnstown early on the 27th and got a load that had me deadhead to Mogodore, OH to get a relay load going to Bedford, PA. Back and forth across the Turnpike.
My next load was from Westminster, MD to a paper plant near Lynchburg, VA. I picked up in the afternoon and drove until late in the evening to deliver. The traffic around Washington, DC sucked! I hit the area at the perfect time. Evening rush hour. Yuck! I ended up on a four-lane highway with trafic lights all along it for my drive south to Lynchburg. YUCK Again! The plant I was going to was in the middle of nowhere. The roads around it seemed to all have "No Truck" signs on them. The directions they gave took me down a tiny little road. It was rainy and dark and there were at least 2 bridges I went under that said 13'5. That's an inch shorter that what I'm tall. The measurment must have been wrong, because I made it under them, very slowly. I got the delivery done finally and just stayed there for the night.
More to come tomorrow. It takes a while to get caught up!
posted by BigJohn at 8:07 AM
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