Carry On

It was only yesterday when I got down to acquiring the 5 stickers and 15 pages of permits for 2013 I realized a lot went down since I last posted... again.  Mainly because work has been a whole lot of the same day in and day out.  An unwelcome change to that came in the form of forwarding (and subsequently chasing) an extremely time sensitive envelope from Old Bridge, NJ to Georgetown, MA to finally Gary, IN.  I'll make a point to update my mailing address now.  Nice of them to tell me it was coming after they had already been sent out.

And I'm damn well not blogging on home time

If you're reading this you probably don't need to hear about my belated thanksgiving, because you were either there or I told you about it.  Nice to see the family as always.
The moment has passed for a 1 year anniversary post for FTF or a political rant (November 5th and 6th, respectively) or even how I weathered 3rd storm of the century (in 10 years)

Thus:
-Thank you all for following me since 11/5/11 and my journey through this tangent in my working life.  It's been real and will go on for a bit longer.
-Voting for the lesser of two evils and its front for a rigged system is the biggest joke we all put up with and only 1% of America was interested in changing that this time and I believe myself and 1.2 million others did the right thing.  Other than that I won't complain about the outcome.
-I spent the beginning of the storm traveling from home to Portland, then spent the night there after a live unload during the worst of it.  Got up and continued on my way, haven't been back to NJ or southern NY since.  Climate change is real, and it IS man made.  Anybody who tells you different is either blissfully ignorant, misinformed, or on Koch Industries' payroll.  The 50 gallons I chew through every day doesn't just magically disappear and I'm not proud of it.

North Massachusetts born and raised, Playin Halo is how I spend most of my days.
This isn't me playing, but I'm in these matches.  Look for the tag "M80"
Credits to Rob for recording our latest college reunion.  This is what I only wish I could do out on the road.  If you listen carefully you can hear me on the TV here and there

Back To Good

Sometimes delayed launches turn out to be worth the wait.  1432 miles, plus Canada bonus- Stratham to the Twin Cities via over the lakes.  The first weekend of the month I spent rolling to the highest hemisphere I've ever been to, 46° 34' in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.
The only drawback- with every mile my allergies were turning into a head cold.  By the time I got to my destination I was down 3 boxes of tissues and about as miserable as could be.  As I moved on to my next destination and one more tease of a swing within 40 miles of headquarters, then down to Gary, I finally got a promised run from Gary to Tomah, WI, then just a 50 mile empty ride to HQ to get some well deserved work in the shop.

Thunderstruck.

Fast forward to 10/14 and I'm having a bitchin time with my hot meals and coffee before I even open the door every morning.  It won't bring back the Xbox but my diet doesn't suck so much anymore.  Should be a great winter now. 

Check out my last inverter-less ride:

Welcome To The Family, Ima Made no Arasuji

Over The Road?  Yes.  Cross country?  Not really.

(Otaku says "The Story Up To Now") Where have I been?  Where have you been?  It's likely you haven't gone very far from where you stood visiting FTF on June 25th.  I, on the other hand have moved about 35,000 miles.  But its kind of like your commute.  You can drive the same route for 10+ years, drive tens of thousands of miles, but at the end of the day you haven't gone far on the map.  Scale up a little.  Aside from 2 extraordinary exceptions, I didn't take Sheila outside this box for most of July and August.

Besides that, on July 16th I got a call I've been dreading since I first got Sheila 1774 that freezing cold day in Philly exactly 6 months before.
"2013 models are moving in, you're at the top of the reassignment list."
There were 2 distinct reasons 1774 was better suited for somebody else from the get go.  Obviously with a full condo she was meant for a team operation, and with the outside equipment boxes- a flatbed one at that.  I've maybe seen 3 other Columbia's in my 6 months on the job with the exact same configuration. Its a pretty atypical set up being used by a driver who needs a run of the mill unit.  The next day was spent in Appleton, where I got the keys at the desk and was introduced to 5063.   Sheila 2.0-


2013 International ProStar+
Diesel MaxxForce 13
4-Cycle Straight 6
10.5L
475 HP @ 1,900 RPM
1,700 lb-ft @ 1,000 RPM

...with Jake brakes that couldn't slow down an empty Radio Flyer with square wheels.  New noise reg compliance vs. public safety?  Welcome to America.  Complaining citizens are king.  Good thing maintenance doesn't cost me a dime.
Still an "Upgrade" I guess.

Fix'd

The biggest beef I have with her, and half the reason I was dreading a new ride, was a lack of a Tripac APU.  No longer would I have a limitless 1000W AC power supply at my disposal with an HVAC unit that could heat or cool a football stadium.  I knew back in November at training that they were already phased out from new purchases because of maintenance costs.  Luckily for me I already had experience with the new trend, given John's truck I trained in was a 2012 Cascadia.  The new system in both Freighliner and International units use extended battery packs that last longer than a standard truck battery, thus being able to power an HVAC unit to keep the cab cool. Not nearly as effectively but it does last as long as advertised.  When the power runs out on the Cascadia an alarm goes off and you have to idle to recharge it.  Luckily for me the ProStar's have an auto-start feature.  When the battery gets below a certain threshold the engine starts itself, then when its charged, it shuts off automatically.  Luckily a combination of noise reduction and better insulation than the Columbia's means sometimes it doesn't even wake me up, and certainly doesn't keep me awake.

Though there is no factory installed power inverter, I need to get one installed at HQ.  Unfortunately there has been one reason or another I haven't been able to get it done, but this time out its finally going to happen.  One of the reasons for this is that apparently my FM is no longer with the company and nobody bothered to tell me I got reassigned.  When you take my microwaves' power source away, now I live on cereal, yogurt, pop tarts, apples, nectarines, and bananas.  I'm really looking forward my chicken strips, hot dogs, and soup again.

Back In The Saddle

EscaLADE!

By the saddle I mean Gary of course.  I got pegged by a rock on the way back up home last week, thanks to the dude in the Escalade passing me doing 80 and effectively kicking a golf ball in my face.  3/4" crack 2" below my straight line.  Between that, the rear toolbox panel peeling off, and my drivers seat back being angled 10 degrees to the right and screwing up my back for the last 4 months (Somehow I only noticed it 3 weeks ago), it was time to head in for some work.

I just happened to land on the weekend that 4 techs were on staff, 1 of which was assigned to trailer repair.  I have to give them credit for staffing the shop 7am-2am 7 days a week, but there are only so many tractors that 3 guys can fix in a weekend.  Considering that number was about 7 I can't say I could have done the same.  So I got done with my run which took me from Southboro to just down the street in South Holland, IL.  It was a 5 hour unload so while I spent 6 hours there I was surely losing my place in line here at the terminal.  When all was said and done I handed them the keys at 1pm on Saturday.

Well, fast forward to about 20 minutes ago, I was up and ready to head in and start another long day in the lounge and I got a knock on the door.  "Door 31 whenever you're ready"  So alone and back upstairs I am now, a far cry from what it was all weekend.  Looked kind of like a Superbowl party without the food... or beer.  Shoot the shit about our jobs, watch bad Sci-Fi original movies, Law and Order, and Nascar.  The satellite package they have is rather limited here, though it is a nice HD box.  Next time I'm at Wal-mart I'm getting a $30 dvd player and bringing in Christmas in July.

I estimate it will be about... 6 hours before they're done here. Though we've gone from 3 techs to 23 techs they are very... thorough. 

No Sleep Till Brooklyn

Recap?  Well when we last left our heroes Matti and Sheila, they were on a quest taking them to the perilous and dreaded streets of the Bronx.  Or so the Prologue said.  In reality, Taking a semi into the Bronx at 3am isn't really a challenge.  The truck routes are numerous and well marked, and with a little help from Google Street View the night before it was like I had already been there.  Easy $75 bonus.  Funny how I get $50 for a Canada crossing but $75 for a NY/Long Island run.  Should be the other way around.  I pulled up to the empty curb with the other trucks, (first time I was ever happy to see a "No parking 1-5am sign) checked in, and they said the other 2 trucks were ahead of me and they'd come get me.  I went back, passed out, and was woken up by the sun in my eyes and about 20 minutes after that, a knock on the door.  Maneuvering into the place was also cake, even though it was 2 and a half hours past appointment (and 1 past receiving hours) and there were significantly more cars on the street.  I don't know what happened to truck #1, but #2 and myself couldn't have been at the dock for more than 15 minutes each.  Ice cream spill, somebody tripped, who knows.  Whatever it was it made me late for my last stop in Trenton, whose receiving hours are STRICTLY 6-9am.  I arrived at 10.   Nice of them to set me up with overnight parking and get me first in line in the morning.

Freakin' Space Terrorists

Though that 15 hour setback had screwed up the initial plan to get me home on Saturday.  Better luck next time but at least it was sunny this time.  Also, Prometheus wasn't the most badass piece of the Alien franchise, but worth a watch for fans of the first movie.  There were some hallmark moments reminiscent of the 1979 masterpiece but there was a serious lack of  Lance Henricksen.  Thanks Pat for buying our tickets, matinee is really the only way to go.

Six figures. Twice

That's the milestone Sheila will reach later today, at least.  200,000 miles.  Though it will be 45,800 with me behind the wheel.  Not too bad, considering I got my keys just shy of 5 months ago.  I haven't counted up the paid miles, though I'm sure its significantly fewer.  That's the trick to reaching 125,000 PAID solo miles.  That's the zip code to zip code formula.  Which in the case of picking up cranberries in Philly and dropping them off at the Bensalem yard, it works in my favor.  Z-Z it pays me 14 miles.  Physically its 2.3 miles around the block.  #winning.  On the flip side, whatever my final assignment ending point is + x miles to home time doesn't count.  Those miles aren't on my own dime, but they are on my own time.

Though I don't know my paid miles off the top of my head, my pay stub brought a startling realization this week.  My YTD gross surpassed the maximum potential of my perpetually part time job I held dear for so long.  Considering it was marked June 5th, that's pretty damn good.

Today my delivery takes me to a town I've seen on the map and on signs but never passed through.  Every time I do I think "Okay, there has to be a story there".  The unincorporated town on the outskirts of Pittsburgh- Eighty Four, Pennsylvania.  Much to my dismay, the story is pretty boring.  Its just the HQ of the 84 Lumber Company.  Much like the [former] industrial center of Gary, IN is named for the founder of US Steel, Elbert Gary.  My drop is on Eighty Four Drive, but its not at number 84.  Which is good, because there is probably a black hole behind that mailbox.

Anyway that's later this afternoon.  I shut down here last night but am only 2 hours out, and if I have to spend 18 hours anywhere, an Ohio Turnpike plaza is the place to do it.  Panera, KFC, Pizza Hut, BK, Starbucks, and free wifi.  All they need is a Dunks and a Cold Stone and they'd be all set.  I dragged my laptop in to do a bit of modeling but here I am of course, doing the important stuff.

The tricky part will be traversing through Pittsburgh for an inner-city pickup at 0700 tomorrow.  You'll probably find me rolling VERY early for that one.  What time of day is it easiest to do a ghetto run?

Dad and Unlce Dennis will be happy to know 20554 is behaving mostly fine, except for the ABS light showing its ugly face in stop and go traffic.  Oh wait, all our reefers do that.  nvm lol.  With the normal record of drop and hooks all the time I was sure I would have ditched this one by now, but here I am 8 days later and she's still following me.  As long as the shoes don't rust on me overnight we'll be good.  Given this is real life and not Far Cry 2, that shouldn't be a problem.

For pretty much everybody here clueless,  Far Cry 2 is a shooter where you go through the jungles in Africa and the designers at Ubisoft thought it would be realistic to have an MP5 or AK47 go from factory operating condition to rusty as an old shovel in 15 minutes.  No, literally 15 minutes.  I'm no chemist, but I'm calling bullshit.  And I think they know full well because they actually have a multiplayer map called "Rust".

Who'll Stop The Rain?

I've been doing okay with my getting home time every other weekend, and alternating between the house in NJ and back home in MA there's a decent interval between visits to each.  Well, the contrast in scenery is getting a little stale.

Summer in The Garden State

New England.  Just wait 5 minutes, right?

I seem to bring a 4-5 day binge of rain that parks itself until I leave.  The one upshot is that on this last tour of duty the wash bays in Gary and HQ seemed to be perpetually broken so Sheila never saw a drop of water.  But come on, once every 4 weeks and I get THREE washouts in a row now?
Well soon I'll be doubling those odds, this should be the last month I'm a physical resident of NJ.
Mr. Social Life machine GO

Still Alive

Gators gonna gait...

You knew that title was coming after a month and a half with no updates, didn’t you?  Let’s see, where was I since 3/26?  Tell ya where I haven’t been- NJ.  Back in for the weekend, but the last 2 times I managed to get home I got up north to MA.  1 hiccup in the chain of command and suddenly I get an assignment from Madison to San Antonio on a Wednesday.  “Well, guess I won’t be home for the weekend…”

 

Yea, somebody misplaced the memo apparently; the best thing that came of it was seeing The Avengers opening night, which kicks ass, btw.  Despite ending up getting a Monday-Thursday off that was a nice change of pace from the constant east-west runs on I-80, or the errand boy trips from Green Bay to Madison and back.  The pain was the reminder of just how old an invention ice cream is that being eons older than the standardization of the 53’ container.  Thus, access to these facilities are a little… ehh.

I enjoy seeing this in the plans

Blocking a 3-lane road with a 50mph limit (with assistance) was a very satisfying experience.  That is, only after approaching the wrong way up said one way street from a block down, because otherwise it would be a blindside.  Still, they don’t seem to be sending me to the nightmare places quite as much as they used to.  Google Street View is an invaluable asset in planning ahead.

I managed to save up a few bucks to get myself a mobile workstation, namely an ASUS G53S.  Beats the hell out of my rig about 3 fold, but doesn’t look half as good doing so.  I started working on a new model during a 14 hour layover at Vince Lombardi service plaza in NJ.  Finished that day with 25 seconds left on my 70.  Weekend coverage was all “Why the hell did you cut it so close?”  I’m all “I didn’t, ran the numbers and it equaled over 90 minutes of leeway” The one thing I had forgotten in planning this run from Hartford to Newark is that I-95 in CT, no matter what time of day, what day of the week, always manages to get unprovoked pockets of congestion, despite there being no significant interchanges or choke points for miles around.   

Faux News isn't the only place to get political commentary

What there IS a significant amount of is lack of overnight truck parking on I-95.  There is a Pilot in Milford, CT and heading south after that its 65 miles to VL Plaza, the northernmost one on the NJ Pike.  That’s pretty much it.  I reached the point of do or die in Milford, the numbers still looked good, so I made the call to keep going.  A few miles later CT said NOPE FU MATTI WELCOME BACK HAHA LOL LETS DO SOME RANDOM STOP N GO EVERY 8 MILES.   Ironically, I hardly stepped on the brakes the whole approach to the GWB, and had my foot on the floor after passing it.  It wasn’t just the numbers, the big reason I didn’t want to call it in CT is because I would have to traverse the GWB AND the NJ Pike early Sunday morning instead of 1300 like it was at the time on Saturday.  Weekend or not I don’t like doing cities unless it’s either before the sun comes up, or after noon.

The real kick in the ass is that dispatch receives my total hours in increments of 15 minutes from Sheila’s computer.  This is because their computers are built on the paper log foundation, which also logs in 15 minute increments.  Enter Qualcomm and Windows Truck PC, who wonderfully log with increments of FIVE SECONDS.   Biiiiiiiig difference between 15 minutes of play and 5 seconds.  They’ll never see increments of less than 15 minutes on their end, but they WILL see the red flag that goes off at 70:00:05

Despite all the zero tolerance, do I miss doing paper logs like we had to in training? 

…NOPE.

Spinners next time?

Product plugs!  This has been a long time coming, but a whole bunch have stacked up recently and I’ll be using for a while.

I’d like to thank uncle Don for recommending Nevr-Dull, taking care of the wheels and fuel tank crap.  Effortlessly dissolves all the mess into a fine greasy film that needs a whole bed sheet and a lot of elbow grease to get 3 square inches to a mirror shine.  But DAMN does it look good.

Don't know how high 13'6" is until you reach for it

Second is Dad for picking up Meguiar's Ultimate Compound for Sheila’s sunburn.  Sitting in a parking lot for 2 years paint oxidation runs pretty mean especially on fiberglass.  Works great with minimal effort, the biggest drawback is that its literally like applying a 5oz bottle of sunscreen to an elephant using only a napkin.  I’ve done all I can reach from the ground and steps, will need a pretty serious setup and a whole day to hit the roof.

Lastly, Prestone Bug Wash.  $1.89 a gallon at Wal-Mart and its clearly marked “Skin irritant avoid contact” Not “avoid prolonged exposure”, straight up do not touch.  That’s how you know it’s good.  It’s made to be used undiluted as windshield washer fluid, but I need to take it a step further.  In comes my multi-purpose pesticide spray bottle and she’s good to reach the mirrors, the visor, grille, headlights, everywhere those pesky bugs like to stick to.  I use that just before I drive through the auto wash bay in Gary and it works *almost* perfectly.

I’ll update as things progress, for now know that I’m hanging in there, having fun when I can, and in retrospect, making bank doing so.

The best laid plans

While the trucking business is all well and good, one of the unspecified points of this blog is to keep my ass on track with my original career goals. Thus, you get to read about my journey back towards video games from time to time. Don't act surprised- people who know me already knew this wasn't going to be permanent. Though its not exactly going to be done with next week, either. It's going to be ranted here because working in solitude for 2 weeks at a time does things to you if everything ferments inside that 7 square foot box. Both in your mind and the laundry basket.

And nothing motivates you to getting back in the business quite like these 2 things:
-Attending GDC (which I sat out on this year)
-The conclusion of this weekend's project:

I'm not sure I've ever heard of a video game trilogy whose conclusion was so disappointing that an overwhelming majority of fans rise up and dead seriously demand that it be re-made while the studio defends their decisions without a hint of regret.

While that would be nice and all, I'm content with refusing to accept what I saw as the ending, imagining my own variant, and convincing myself that is what I really witnessed yesterday. Funny enough, it was very easy to do so. You know how when you have a dream that seems like real life but some element is just so out of place that you can easily believe it wasn't real? Yea, that's kind of how this was.

Back to Rocksmith we go!

Back out at 0700 tomorrow, and time to start harassing dispatch about routing me up north for Easter weekend. And if it starts with a burnt out headlight, I know to start running this time.

Fast, thorough, and sharp as a tack.

So whats to say about a handful of runs between Wisconsin and the north eastern seaboard?  Well, not a ton since the weekend mudding.  I got  home, got my Mass Effect 3 fix, (and by got I actually mean started a long binge)  and shortly got ready to head out again.  Not before doing a quick Shoop of last weeks photo.  Say hi to my facebook header image.

Now I've been taking frozen cranberries from Philly several times now, but I have yet to actually visit an Ocean Spray facility.  Every time I get to or just past Gary I get a call for a relay and then get assigned elsewhere.  Maybe next time will be different.  At least I got a bit of nostalgia in the process, I got to do a switch at HQ, which I havent seen since the first week in December.  I couldn't stop to search for people because I was already behind thanks to some Chicago rush hour mess the night before.

Yesterday I had the best experience in Canada to date, second only to the niagra jet boat ride.  Form 7512b is my new weapon against shenanigans.  "United States - Canada Transit Manifest" says Matti came in with x stuff with seal x at x crossing and returns at y crossing with said seal intact.  Thank you very much have a nice day.  Enjoy your easy shortcut around Lake Erie and your $50 bonus.
The best part is, I fill out the form myself, don't have to contact anybody, and cross when I want to.

As long as I don't have to do any inbound/oubounds anymore I won't complain.  Seriously though people in the passener car lanes were taking longer than I was.  Good thing too, because there was no line no wait in the CMV lane.  I arrived within 40 minutes of my destination here in Rochester at 1430 yesterday.  Now what to do with this 22 hours of free time?

Tether wifi through my laptop, play a game genre that has historically been very well "offline", but thats ancient history now.  The world needs a full time internet connection so you can use the products that YOU paid for to prove that you didn't steal them.  But content protection is another day, another blog.  Suffice it to say, getting technologically ready to play ME3 for 9 hours yesterday was more difficult then switching on your Game Boy used to be. 

So yea, that was my St. Patricks Day this year.  No green beer this time.  I was disappoint.

Somebody help me root my phone so I can steal internet from Sprint.

Cold As Ice

Oh yea, that whole truck driving blog thing.  How could I forget?  Easy.  I didn't.  There is a fine line between forgetting and lack of motivaion.  At the end of each day I justified it as "oh, nothing new happened today".  Fact of the matter is, thats how the first week on reefer went.

I lost count of how many trips between eastern PA and central to northern WI I made since this tour started.  The 800 +/- mile stretch of I-80/90 that I used to dread in my road trips is now the highlight of a run.  Its the only time I can set the cruise at 60 and just sit back in the zone for 3 hours at a time and never have to worry about shifting for hills no matter how much I've got behind me.  Maximum wage ftw.

It's gotten to the point where I go by what anybody else would see as one of dozens indistinct crumbling barns or silos and think "Oh hey, I'm this far already!"  Also, every travel plaza has free shower suites for truck drivers, facilities which put Gary to shame, despite the lack of free towels.  Free shower every 40 miles?  I'm okay with this :)

So the week was a long slew of tight schedules taking a certain product of WI to the east coast and bringing back a whole lot of stuff I mix with vodka.  Its not a dedicated fleet per say but I certainly don't feel like such a mercenary anymore.  I don't mind consistency in this job, I really don't.  If things had been just running like they had on dry van for the rest of my time here I would still be feeling like every day was a transitional period from not knowing what I was doing to getting stuff down right the first time.  Its like every day feeling like the first again.  That SUCKS.

Just because the routine was coming together doesn't mean it was all good.  You know how when stuff is going so smooth, your kicking ass with 550+ mile days and you're like "damn, somethings GOT to mess this up"?

Yea Tuesday was one of those.  I was assigned to run couple of multi stops to distro centers in OH and IN, each with appointment times of either 3am, 4pm or 9pm respectfully.  How do you juggle the clusterF of  live unloads with inconsistent timing and procedures while maintaining your 14hr day rule?

Not easily.  Think too hard and you get more tired, think too little and you get your head stuck in some mud.  And by head I mean wheels.  Yea that was todays episode.  At least there was no damage to anything, but I still wonder why I'm kept on board here when my slip ups so far have costed the company about the same amount I already owe them for my training.  Not sure what I want for Christmas this year now, a tank or a CMV tow truck.

Don't Fear The Reefer

Back up in WI now, it was a long ass ride through some nasty snow in the beginning tied in with some EARLY starts, but its done and soon to be a nice pay day.

With the Orange to Green Bay run under the wheels and fairly uneventful, its time to get down to business.  That is, the business I signed up for back in August.  The Refrigerated National Fleet. 

I'm on standby in Appleton, right around the corner which is a terminal fortunate enough to have a WORKING wash bay.  Sheila is all clean now after the snowy mess in NY on Saturday.  I'm here to pick up my first reefer unit this morning, I'm a little anxious because its just one more thing to worry about all the time.  Or worse, something you set and forget so you only worry about it SOME of the time and then screw up something.

Well, somebody is set up to give me the rundown on operational procedures for one.  Off we go.

The tour is over, I've survived

And back on the road again.  Like hell I'm going to be so bored as to make a report on my 4 days off.  Not this time.  After a nice 4 weekdays home, its Friday and Sheila and I are off again, headed all the way to Green Bay.  A long ass run straight off a break but at least this weeks pay won't dissapoint.  Definitely making up for lost dollars over the weekend.  Got a way early start this morning and ended up getting here 2 and a half hours early.  The snow and sleet in western MA was a total bust.  At least this was a place that was happy to see me early and expedite their day.

Thats one in a dozen.

Thanks to dad and uncle Dennis for the help getting Sheila back to a pro level interior.  We got a proper ground on the CB's power supply so there is no more engine interference.  Also got a sweet antenna for it, all I need is a bit of coax cable to get it running.  And though we don't yet have my awesome stereo in, I at least left with a new XM subscription for my 7 year old reciever.  The only problem is the antenna is for a flat roof, which I now lack.  Going to have to get a directional one to mount on the mirror

I also discovered that 3M Command Hooks are the best thing ever.  No more crap sliding around on the dashboard.  Winning.

A funny occurrence happened yesterday while rectifying my reimbursement reports for the weekend snafu an old favorite song came on.  Funny I always thought the lyrics to Blink 182's Anthem Part 2 went "... if *work* f*cked up you're to blame", though the proper lyric is "we're". Had I not misheard the lyrics this would have been pretty awesome.

Going Nord to get Sud.

Another delayed post, right now its 2/16 and I'm at a familiar consignee in Montreal.  My 3rd of what is sure to be umpteen-bazillion runs over the border in my time here. 

Good thing is I'm starting to get the customs procedures down.  The bad thing is that its sometimes a real hassle and the $50 bonus compensation just doesn't equal the same time in miles. I'll keep doing it though for now, I don't have too many reasons to bitch- besides that and the tolls I have to front to get in because none of the bridge authorities up here have heard of this thing called EZ PASS.

I did get to take the top end of I-81 over the Thousand Islands area and I'd love to know what real estate goes for on those colonized sand bars.  It sure is a nice view from those 2 suspension bridges.  Still haven't figured out why they both go from ground level to 300' up in a span of about a mile each.  Its not like a boat taller than a 30' could roll through those waters anyway. 
Not too fun when you're tipping 78k but can't argue with the scenery, especially when it was overcast instead of the miserable sleet and road slime on my last tour of QC.

ANYWAY, 24 hours until I better be packed and ready for this annual camping trip and im about 300 miles north of where I wanted to be by this time.  The worst part is that the job isn't even done yet. Got a big pickup heading to Albany in the late morning and then I'm free to use what hours I have left to take the pike to get back home.  This is going to be a mad dash to the finish line to beat the HOS clock and if I miss this trip I'm going to seriously lose it.

I've been out on the road for 18 days running ragged with moderately tight schedules, but something always screws up and they become red line marathons or worse, carry over to the next day and the ripple effect just won't alllow me any slack.

I need this weekend.  Loading on jettys without guard rails and maneuvering into docks over busy grade crossings really takes its toll on your sanity. 

Edit: Friday @ 1345
With another paperwork near disaster that could have seriously delayed me up here averted, I arrived here across Montreal this morning slightly early as planned feeling pretty good that I was going to make it with plenty of time left.

Well, that was 10, its now 1400.  The shipping office was nice enough to inform me that my scheduled pickup was Monday morning  Why? I don't know, nor am I surprised at this point, why would ANY speed bump phase me.  The effect of that is at the time they didn't know when I could even BEGIN to get loaded.

A little while ago I saw how they load trucks here with their products and it kind of terrifies me.  Imagine loading a 53' trailer of... Saltine boxes.  No pallets, just all neatly stacked as far back as the order calls for.  I can feel they've been loading this since I got here, but we make our plans out to allow 2 hours for a live load. Usually they take slightly less than an hour.  When I get the green light I still have to play the "wait for a fax before you go-go" game.

You guys remember how we always lol at how Lego didn't take the bid for the Halo building toys and a certain other multinational company did?  Well, you won't believe who's DC I'm at right now. XD

No I'm not really laughing given the circumstances, and if you're reading this its probably being posted while I'm waiting on customs or getting fuel in NY. 

Its 7:45 DRIVING time from here, to the RV point, to Saugus.  I've got 8:22 left on my 14.  Guess whos gonna win this time?

Yes, it could have been done with a few hours to spare.  That is assuming that EVERY last duck falls in line, at the exact time it should.  And what I have to ask is, when do all the ducks fall in line when we deal with border crossing loads?

Its looking something like 1 for 6 on my watch.

I should have just said no.  I don't know what the hell I was thinking going along with it.  As a good man says a lot, "F*** everything about this."

P.S.  I also want to know where all these days were during training.  If the runs were like this when I was out with John I would probably be working the repack for aisle 13 at the moment.  And I'd be smiling too, knowing I was about to take a hike in the woods and party with family and friends for 3 days.

Edit Edit:  Saturday, 2/18 00:47
I should have known that when I finally got the green light at the dock the nightmare wasn't over.  It was merely signaling the next chapter.  This was confirmed when I got to the shipping office and instead of an average 3 page manifest, I was presented with a matching stacks of 65 pages each, and they weren't pre-sorted the way I needed them to make my life easier.  I was also the last horse out of the yard, even the shipping staff left the office behind me.  Long story short, I'm now at a travel plaza a few clicks north of Champlain, and have been through an ungodly amount of faxing (5 pages at a time) and making phone calls from the payphones all over the place.

The last run I did up here from a small place, the shipper filled everything out for me and faxed everything to the broker right there on the spot.  You would think a multinational billion dollar toy company would have at least ONE fax machine in their place.  Well, $2 a page on my stack of reimbursements is only one more reason I didn't need to say screw this gig next time.

So now not only have I been robbed of the weekend I was promised, I feel very much like I've been thrown under a truck, in both senses. 

Given how tired I am from only dozing off during the last 24 hours I'm going to take a big long power nap before I head down to the pleasant faces at Champlain and see how they like my 200 pages instead of the NONE I showed up with last time and got my ass kicked for it.  Irony much?

Last edit:  09:42
At customs.  Communication breakdown on all ends.  Grounded until its sorted out.  FML
Matti out.

Back Through Time

Back Through Time As a good man once said, “hens forth” the first post that was not made in real time.  The current place I landed is without free wifi and though I’m just outside Toronto, something technical about Canada’s 3 and 4g being superior to the US 3 and 4g renders my Galaxy SII a very expensive media player and not much more as long as I’m 30 miles past the fence.  At the moment, it’s Tuesday the 7th.

I haven’t reported in in a week+ because it started with a run up to Montreal, then back empty to Albany for another pickup.  WELL… I had a nice episode with Homeland Security on the way back, and it pretty much snowballed for the next 700 miles.  I ran out of hours, ended up going to the shipper late, waited HALF a day to get loaded, delivered in Ohio late…  It’s been a hell of a week.

I finally caught a break when I was given from Friday afternoon to Monday morning to go from Akron to Newark.  I slept in EVERY day, took 2 hour lunches, and FINALLY broke out the Xbox.  Topped it all off with a little help from my friends watching the super bowl on my phone.  My SPRINT phone.  

We all know how the weekend concluded so really it was another week I could do without. Back to the first run from Philly to Montreal- it’s too bad this was my first visit, because although I did my homework and it was cake finding the place with no wrong turns, the weather sucked.  Foggy, with that freezing mist so the roads are always wet, if you turn on your wipers it spreads the road slime all over, and literally every, every, EVERY vehicle that passes you, you need a shot of the washer fluid.  I chewed through 2 gallons on my 8 hours visit.  Once back in NY I was filled with joy as the big, fluffy flakes came down over the headlights.

Conversely in Toronto today, it was partly cloudy, a little lake breeze, and a beautiful sunset over the skyline as I headed west down the 401.  I probably could have taken a picture because it was stop and go for about 15 clicks.  Yea, that’s 9 miles for us countries still stuck in the stone age.  I left that mess and now I’m on my way around the lake to go back through Michigan.

Funny enough, that’s one state I’ve never been to.  Been close many a times, but not over the line.  I found out Toronto is crazy about Home Depot’s and Cold Stone.  Also it’s perfectly legal to hang your rear license plate from your hatchback windshield wiper with a bungee cord.  

Okay back to the beautiful first visit to Montreal: Just a heads up, if you ever happen to drive a CMV south through the Champlain, NY port of entry- no other apparently, JUST Champlain- you better damn well have a piece of paper written BY YOU saying your trailer is empty.  If you don’t, there is one of two possibilities waiting for you at the booth.

1:  You get helped by one of the cool agents, who greets you with a nice “Welcome back”,  walks you through what you need to fill out, how to get on your way quickly, and get a “drive safely hope to see you again soon.”

2: You get the other guy.  Thinks he’s a hero for putting on the uniform, going to shake down everybody to catch the one in a million terrorists and if anybody trying to do legitimate business gets questioned, they should thank him for asking, because as a member of the Department of Homeland Security and that means he is the highest authority of enforcement on the planet.  And by “asking” I mean of course repeatedly talking down to said business person in complete disbelief that he did NOT know the procedure step by step from the get go, did NOT know exactly where to go, who to talk to, what to say, and overall, know what he needed to move on in the first place.

Guess who I saw first?

Oh yea, almost forgot the punch line.  I got back in to the office after filling out the paperwork (alone, at my truck) Agent 2 was busy chewing on somebody else in a similar fashion so at the next window Agent 1 demonstrated his people skills from the training class Agent 2 obviously was out sick for, explained it to me, stamped my sheet, I paid my $10.75 (yes, you have to pay to get back in) and said I was all set.  I showed the agent at the gate, she took the sheet, said have a nice day- south I drove. Anybody want to point out the security flaw in this procedure?  Seriously you could drive a truck through it- literally.

So today I toured Ontario, with its plain English signs, Wal-Marts, IKEA’s, KFC’s and people driving regular minivans and SUV’s.  I really could believe I was still home except if you look closely you are at a “Wal-Mart Supercentre”.  And you set the cruise control at “100” on Queen Elizabeth Way.  Other than that, it’s America 2.0, and I’d be happy to come back.  I say that now, but ask me again after I meet customs at Port Huron with what will probably be more paperwork than I need.

And if they’re going to keep sending me up here, I’m coming back with a phone that can read signals from these towers.  BTW, if you ever wonder what all the 3G/4G LTE/not LTE is all about?  Once and for all?  I did too, so do what I did:  Go to the Wikipedia pages for both, respectively.  If you can read the first 2 out of the 40+ paragraphs and not feel like a clueless caveman who was mercilessly beaten over the head with a technical jargon stick, then you’re probably qualified to work for NASA and take somebody to Mars.  So really, all you need to know is that A) They’re both blanket terms made for marketing and B) Much like cell phones 20 years ago, it STILL DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU’RE STANDING.

Still Alive

Ok, not the big post you expected, but technology has been failing a bit.  Hard to find free wifi to post with my laptop, and apparently many US version of smartphones are physically incapable of receiving signals in Canada.  I found one unsecured spot up there but I was tired as hell.  But when I was feeling up to it I wrote a massive post from my laptop and saved it locally to post when I got back to the states. 

Unfortunately the wifi in Gary where I swung in last night was down, and I'm currently disinclined to save that word doc to the phones SD card and copy paste the whole thing.  Though I have done that once already.

Just know that I'm still alive, back in WI,  and freezing my ass off when step outside.  Heading down to VA tomorrow, is it still winter there? 

I shouldn't bitch about the insulation in the truck because only ONE WEEK TILL CAMPING TRIP BOOYA!

Back at base, bugs in the software

An early morning relay run across Ohio in a snowstorm, my old friend I-80 in PA, and a little TA in a small NJ town ended my first solo tour of duty.  It's great to be back at my own desk.

IN and IL were bad, OH was worse.

Coming in from the cave to Columbus, it rained pretty much from the MO-IN line all the way.  After delivering that mess I drove a whopping 3 hours on Thursday.  And the computer wonders why my mileage sucks.  The APU burns more fuel than the damn engine does to keeping me warm for my layovers.  The hour spent navigating the cave at 2mph in reverse didn't help, either.

This last one was complicated.  The trailer saw 3 company drivers in it's 18 hour (Google-time) journey. 

We all knew it was going to be close, but about the time I was exiting the OHT I ran the numbers and my 11 hours drive time vs my ETA was looking in the ballpark of 1 hour difference, and if it took them 61 minutes to unload this I wouldn't make it home before I had to shut down.  In my better judgment I called for a relay driver to take it the last 90 miles.  The sick part was, the destination wasn't 20 miles from where I park the truck for my home time.  But traversing the central Newark area on a late Friday afternoon?  Forget it.  I traded trailers with Candice at the same TA I met up with John at on the 2nd.  I shut down, had a big juicy burger and fries for my last dinner, and washed it down with a REAL vanilla shake.  I don't know if there was something else in it, but for the next 9 hours I couldn't sleep. In fact, despite the fact I began the day at 0400, it was now 2300 and I felt like running laps around the lot.  Also, the empty one I got is one of the new ones with the aero-wings and is nice and shiny inside and out.  Oh wait, there's a couple of sloppily repaired  holes in the roof.  Maintenance is having me swing by a local place on Tuesday to get it fixed properly this time.

I got up early and confident I was awake enough to drive an hour and 10 minutes, I drove back down home and promptly passed out waiting for kyle to pick me up a few hours later.  When I got in the first order of business was getting a new battery for my car so I could go back and get all my crap.  No way I was going to pack up all that and bring it back to the house before another coffee.  Long story short, our Wal-mart doesn't have maintenance free batteries and I proceeded to pick up one that I didn't realize was overfilled- at least not until I got to the counter with a wet sleeve on my winter jacket.  The maintenance guy was great and let me use the shop sink to hose it off, then chewed out the guy who loaded them on the racks.  Even after washing it there and later at home I've got a nice acid-white splash with a little hole burned through the outer lining.  Better it than my hand, though.  We got one that wasn't leaking, but so far my first home time was off to a great start, but speaking of start, it works fine now.

You explain that one to me.

Later after hiking back to the truck I found out that the radio wiring harness on a 2007 Freightliner isn't your standard aftermarket radio format.  Actually upon doing a little research I find out they use the same double-high stack that most Volkswagens made in the 90's have.  So I'll be stuck with an mp3-cd / fm radio for almost 3 weeks this time.  Solution?  Go back to my PC and burn an ass-ton of mix cd's.  I got an adapter online and had it shipped back home, where I'll be spending my next time off for the winter camping trip.  With any luck, I'll be listening to XM or Pandora through an aux jack next time on a receiver that doesn't melt cd's or have engine interference issues.

Independence, Missouri. a.k.a. Gotham City

Today is certainly worth blogging about.  I picked up this run from a cave. 

Well, the truckPC directions said "park to the area right of entrance and call before entering cave."
Cave?  Is that like a technical term for some kind of warehouse?  Like they call some permanent weigh stations Hen Houses?  When I got to the address I found out-  though I had passed a few other rocky cliffs on the side of the highway that had garage doors and "Space For Lease" signs on them.  Don't see that every day.

Come to find out, the area around Independence is littered with old limestone mines, this one is owned by a real estate company that rents space to over a hundred organizations and individuals.  There were dozens of trucks coming and going all the time, most were day cabs but a few were condos like myself. 

Luckily the place I was going was off the main trunk and not very busy.  That didn't change the fact that I still had to pull past, and BACK down the branch about 200 yards and then another 90° into the dock.  All the while dodging the natural pillars, barricades, employees cars, and the mailman that rides around on a vespa to all the offices.  Also in less than perfect light conditions.

All in all, it took almost 2 hours from when I sent the arrival call to when my bumper hit the dock.  2/3 of it was doing ridiculous maneuvers but it still took a LONG time to navigate to the section I had to go.  It was weird driving down a straight part then all of a sudden a tractor trailer just POPS out of this alcove like it was invisible.  Needless to say I had another perfect opportunity to use my strobe beacons, which was good because the UPS and Fed Ex guys in their box trucks fly around there like they own the place.

I should send these pics up to RDTC so they can show the rookies how good they have it practicing under blue sunny skies on 200 acres in the middle of a corn field with a few cones and barrels.

I can't help but wonder if this was random or not.  Its no secret that backing in anything other than a straight line has been my biggest weakness since day 1 in Marshfield.  I'm getting better by the day, though.

And after this I drove out into the sunlight feeling like I could put a trailer anywhere, as long as the tandems were all the way forward. 

And I wasn't wearing hockey pads.

Recovery

The mid-day recovery after my last post went off with no problem, this other company driver, Kim, was routed by the small town and we set up a relay.  I took the empty she hade had and she took my trailer on its way to Toledo, where if I did the math right couldn’t have been more than a couple hours late by the time she got there.  Satisfied that my truck could limp with an empty trailer, dispatch had me backtrack to SC to get repaired at a dealership, rather than have me continue over the Appalachians to the next one in front of me.  That would have been ugly.  It was only an hour back and I didn’t even have to touch the gas for the first 15 miles.

I can’t think of any place I’d rather get auto repairs done than one like Triad Freightliner in Greensboro, NC.  Though there is something to be said about getting repairs done on day 3, I’m not yet sure what it is.  All I know is I got some local diner food, talked with some cool drivers, got to watch the debate on a massive TV, and though at 7 hours I was the last horse out of the lounge, I was the only one getting repairs that didn’t have to get a hotel.  Turned out it was the EGR valve, like HQ had suggested.  Only a 3 hour job once it was my turn.  Ironic because my order the following morning took me on a very flat road and once again, Matti went down to Georgia.

Hard Rain- Remember that level from Left 4 Dead 2?  Yea, that’s where I had to do a drop and hook last night.  Funny enough I’m near Savannah, Georgia in the dark- but at a massive paper mill and distro center that has some areas lit better than others.  And in the whole place it was 2 guards at the gate, and a few yard dogs rolling around, and me.  Once I stepped out of the truck I might as well have been on the moon.  The empty trailer I picked up was backed right up where the dirt lot 15 meets the swamp, about 200 yards from the nearest light pole in the place.  The worst part was it being in the mid 60’s at the time.  I was sweating my ass off running around this place.  The only difference between this and the game was that there were no witches anywhere, and it actually wasn’t even raining.  I would have heard the witches from a mile away though, it was so quiet.

When I finally checked out, I took a ride down to the local Wal-Mart and did some shopping, finally got a microwave, a wrench so I can actually change a fuel filter now, and floor mat to catch all the dirt- I’ve only visited a paved yard once, that was on day one and it was an ice rink at the time.  I shut down there after I loaded all my stuff and by the time all was said and done it was about 2 in the morning.  I got up at 10 and got my next assignment.  

What are the odds?  It’s a trailer from the paper mill.  BACK up the hill I went, got in and out quickly (though the place was no longer a ghost town and more like a grocery store the day before thanksgiving)  Now with the sun up and no wind it was easily 70 degrees.  I was almost sad to leave.

Where to?  Kansas City; Just a pinch over 1000 miles away.  Luckily I have until Tuesday morning to get there.

I took I-16 west to get over to Atlanta from I-95.  You know what I-16 is?  It’s a hurricane evacuation artery that has the ramps configured to sometimes have the eastbound side reversed.   More importantly, its 150+ miles through the woods with no rest areas, hills, or sometimes even curves in the road.  What few towns the ramps lead to don’t seem to have more than a few trailers worth of inhabitants.  I literally had the cruise control on for 3 hours, until the sky got black and I drove through another hour of “45mph on the highway” rain.  I used my semi-obnoxious flatbed strobes in addition to my 4-ways so nobody would hit me, it was kind of fun.  I have to do an inspection of the truck every 3 hours, but I’m not supposed to stop on ramps.  Funny, because every on and off ramp on Georgia interstates are plastered with no parking signs every 10 feet.  I mean, even the obvious ones.  Imagine the entire I-93 tunnel in Boston lined with no parking signs, even where you can’t fit a Prius.  That’s what it’s like.  I guess they want us trucks to keep driving until either our wheels fall off because we can’t stop and make sure the lug nuts are still there, or we fall asleep because there’s no safe haven to shut down for 100+ miles.

Now I’m almost out of peach land, and managed to get a shower after the sticky mess last night.  For me it’s the ultimate motivation boost out here on the road.  I’ll punch as far as I can tomorrow, and with any luck have half a day to kill once I get near KC.  I get to go right by the Arch in St. Louis the way I’m going.  Haven’t been by there in a few… Damn, has it been that long?

P0401

If the suspicions of maintenance are right, then the reason I'm shut down in no mans town in the mountains of Virginia is due to the EGR valve on my truck.  Funny because that is the same OBD-II code my car gets after a long road trip.  The only difference is that like most idiot lights, the performance isn't affected.  However, tractors are.

It started yesterday going up a few moderate hills on the highway.  The engine boggs down earlier than it should, but downshifting doesn't help at all. Once it starts, no gear will get any power from it.  Until you get to 1st. 1st works.  Needless to say that creates an unsafe condition when the speed limit is 65.

If I wanted to play games with the truck for the next 450 miles I could probably have made this load on time.  But as the company policy dictates- safety first, punctual second.  I made a few phone calls from the small truck stop at the next exit and shut down early last night.  Which royally sucks because I lucked out and got loaded 3 hours ahead of schedule at my last shipper.  The consignee message said I could arrive to unload early, too.

As for my first delivery, I made it on time and almost without a hitch.  Had I not taken so long to park at that BK I would have made it to the consignee with more than 93 seconds on the clock.  I drove 557 miles and burned up 10:58:27 of my 11 hours of legal driving time.  Funny for my first time and I'll laugh about it later but I plan on preventing that every time now.  It was a 6am appointment so I didn't want to shut down 20 minutes down the road and get up at 4:30 if I could just pull up and sleep at their dock.

Anyway, I'm waiting on a driver to come and relay this load for me- then I'll bobtail it to the nearest repair place maintenance will find for me.  6 hours to appointment time and 450 miles out.  I feel like shit for already breaking a date though it wasn't my fault.  Apparently Sheila has a history of this, according to HQ.  Other than this little hiccup I really like her and want to keep going as long as I can.

P.S.  Just when you thought I had enough bullshit for one day-  I wake up this morning, and the roof is leaking.  Luckily its in the middle of the floor and I have a few empty coffee cups.  It rained like hell the night before last and not a drop.  Last night is was just cold, but now I have a leaky roof.

FML