Run In with Low Clearance

I wasn't going to post about this, especially after the 'kind words' I had to say about the guy in the truck stop in Gilroy, CA back in October, but Collin said it would be okay. And since he was driving, his is the voice that matters here.
So what happened, you ask? In a nutshell, inattention at a critical moment. We were coming home on Christmas Eve, and we were talking about our plans for the evening, when "CRUNCH" - we struck a low structure built over the road. It is a place Collin had driven under several times in the old truck, so he wasn't thinking about clearance issues in our new, taller truck. Me? Collin was driving, and I just totally wasn't thinking about our route.
But like the neighbor kid told Collin, "Sh!t happens."
My lesson is the classic "Judge not..." You can be sure I will be far less quick to call someone else a genius for inattention when all it really takes is a quick moment that makes the difference between a good move that goes unnoticed among dozens of others, and that one event that will be something to kick oneself about for a long while to come. Yes, it was totally avoidable, but it happened. Nothing to do but go forward, since we can't go back and undo it.
The end result is that we did nearly $20,000 damage to the truck, and even worse, it looks like 3 weeks of down time while the truck is in the shop. That is the worst, the downtime. We will rent a truck to do some runs and mitigate the hole in our income, but the profitability of that is pretty slim.

Electrical Storm

Drove into the teeth of the biggest storm I've seen in a while, last night. Lightning lit up the sky for miles around, and seeming minutes at a time. Rain so hard I could hardly see the road for the standing water, and wind buffetting the truck. I'm happier driving a semi in that stuff, except we have a load of coiled rebar on.

I mean, I know we're not grounded because of the tires, but still... I was nervous enough to call the best voice of reason I could think of when it comes to vehicles. Thank you Johnny for your reassurance. ; )
 
We were coming out of Kingman, AZ and hit some weather that had the emergency broadcast system going, then the one I mention here was approaching Barstow, CA. Drove through some of the areas that were flooded but today they're mostly dried out.

Spaceport, America and My Birthday

Delivered some more of these insulated panels to Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, NM.

This is the building being constructed for Richard Branson's commercial space flight program. Kinda cool that we have a small part in what is surely an historic project. The site is heck and gone from just about anywhere - thirty miles outside the town of Truth or Consequences, which in itself could classify as the middle of nowhere. There IS Elephant Butte Lake Park, which looks like a nice place to be, even in December. They have houseboats to cruise around the lake on, and nice picnic areas with little shelters to keep the sun out.

Sunrise over New Mexico

Yes, we finally found the sun on this trip.

Today was my birthday - we ended up at Route 66 Casino and Hotel. Took showers at the truck stop, got a little dressed up, then ate at the buffett, which was pretty darn good. Then we gambled just a tad. We each got $20 and Collin burned through his pretty fast on the slots and video poker. I made $10 last for over a half hour. Then we found the place we should have started - the arcade. Spent another $10 there driving (and crashing) race cars, and motorcycles. Much more fun than gambling.

Nice birthday.

The Ball & Chain at Spaceport Amercia (under construction)

Elephant Butte Lake

Birthday Load - crushed cars

Those are Buffalo out there

The Mighty Rio Grande



Very Large Array

Driving through New Mexico, in the plains of Saint Augustin, 50 miles west of Socorro, I spotted what looked like old fashioned satellite dishes lined up in an X.

I actually recognized what it was from the movies - a Very Large Array. Who says you can't learn anything from movies?

In order to be better informed, I Googled it and found out this is 27 dishes that are 82 foot in diameter, and can be moved on tracks to cover an area as large as 20 by 20 miles; linked together they form a single image of the radio source being studied. They are part of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory Very Large Array, and the information it gathers is combined with information from other facilities at Green Bank, WV, Tucson, AZ, and Charlottesville, VA. It was constructed between 1974 and 1982.

National Radio Astronomy Observatory Very Large Array

Tehachapi in the rain, at dusk.

A complete polar opposite from the last time I drove Hwy 58. Last time I was driving the 2000 Volvo with pink clouds heralding the dawn, and the windmills gently turning were just about the only other things moving besides us. I could hardly tell there was a town there - it was light enough for street lights to be off, and I got the impression of a tiny hamlet just out of view from the highway.

Today we came out of Bakersfield in rush hour traffic, climbing the hill with RVs, other commercial trucks, and I assume commuters, in pouring rain. (We are beginning to wonder of we will find our way out of the rain this trip.) No sign of the windmills in the fading light, but the streetlights showed me how big Tehachapi is - I would never have guessed from my first drive through.

LA Driving

First time driving in LA for me. Drove from Kingman, AZ and missed the best opportunity to pull over and let Collin drive. Since we were in a hurry, I just kept driving. It wasn't too bad. We were ahead of the lunch rush, and I didn't try to keep up with the fast traffic, opting instead to hang out in the right lane and leave stopping distance.

We did miss our exit onto the 605 due to construction, and I had my first experience being behind the wheel while we were lost in LA. Not fun driving on surface streets, but I pushed through and got back on track.

When we missed the next exit due to a difference of opinion about where the exit actually was, I got out from behind the wheel at a stoplight and let Collin drive while I used the iPad to figure out where we were in relation to where we needed to be.

(The iPad needs a little redemption, by the way. If I had been using the direction feature on the mapping program, I would have seen that it actually is pretty good about telling what the signs say, and it gives decent written directions. I still like to verify with directions given by a person who is actually at the site, though.)

The truck continues to be hinky on us. This time it didn't want to start, and we were afraid we were going to have to call emergency roadside service to get out from our pick, but once we were loaded, it started for us. (We took it into the shop again on Saturday and they said it was batteries.)

Tonopah, Nevada

Drove through the town of Tonopah, NV. Strange little town perched near the top of a mountain. The whole town is on a slant. Couldn't see much purpose to it's location, although I reckon there is/was a mine involved.

Going to meet up with Dad and Donna for dinner tonight in Pahrump - and hopefully Sheldon and Tammy.

All were able to come, including Donna's son Henry and his girlfriend Tammy. We had dinner at Terrible's Town at the buffett. Yummy.

We Are (officially) Not Terrorists

We now have our TWIC cards in hand. Hoorah! I'd post a picture of it, but that would probably be a bad idea.

Delays

The load we have on will deliver at Longview Fibre in Longview, WA. This outfit requires a signed Safety Standards form before you can even set up the delivery appointment. Makes delivery on Monday dicey, since I didn't get the form returned until Saturday and there were only two appointments left. We have to leave Monday morning on the hope that we will get the 9 am appointment we asked for, and we won't find out until we are already on the road.

If we miss the 9am we still have things to do in Portland, like picking up our TWIC cards.

LAX

Had our first experience getting inspected at a regulated port - LAX of all places.

The guys were nice about it, overall, except that they insisted we have our escort with us before we even come up to the line. We were early to start with - hadn't even called for our escort the first time - but the second time the escort had found us, and was on his way back to his vehicle and the guards tried to turn us away again because we were ahead of him.

Anyway, for those of you concerned about the safety of our ports... I'm not sure our experience there will make you feel especially safer, but they did search under the chassis, looked inside the cab, and under the hood, they checked our load and licenses, and in general chatted us up - mostly about Buddy. That's where the 'meh' comes in. They seemed easily distracted by a big dog, and us ordinary looking folks. Not that  I wanted to get super searched or anything, and we did have 3-4 guys crawling over everything. I guess it was an okay experience. I'm just glad Collin didn't tell one of his jokes that he things is funny but I think will just end up with us getting body cavity searches done... : )

While we were waiting, the Goodyear Blimp flew over us

Gail, Texas

Gail, Texas - possibly the most remote place I have ever been. Looks like a black hole on my iPad map from a distance. Closer up, you can see the grid is only about 6 streets square.

Driving through at dusk, there was a church with a lit nativity, and one other building with lo ely Christmas light on it. Didn't see a soul stirring, not even any dogs, cats, or birds.

Left me feeling a little sad.

Retirement Idea

I figured out what I want to do in retirement. We'll move to West Texas and I'll pick cotton up off the sides of the road - it's everywhere! - and clean it, card it, spin it, dye it and weave it into stuff: linen for shirts, or banners or whatever.
We decided we rather liked Texas. The people are friendly and polite, including the kids. The weather is sunny, and there is a plain beauty to the flat landscape.
So maybe we wouldn't live there full time, but maybe in the fall and winter.

Break Down! (again)

We took the week off around Thanksgiving, thinking it wouldn't be that busy, so why be out on the road, stressing?  Well, for future reference, Holidays = bigger pay for the loads that need to go.
We had already decided to put the truck in the shop for its 500,000 mile tune up.  Once we had it in the shop, we started getting calls - lots of them - that we had to turn down.  : (

So we had lined up a string of loads - we were taking a 'quick' load from the OSU Forestry Center up to an Electric company in East Portland, then picking up some aluminum coils in Kalama going to Vacaville, where we were going to pick up another load going to Salinas.

Things started going south a little sooner than we were planning.  The load from OSU - more reclaimed wood from a construction project - took +3 hours to load. Collin was helping to hand stack the wood, and the guys weren't very fast running the forklift. It was just as slow coming off.  What was supposed to be a quick load to help us get up to Kalama with a paying load was taking so long it was cutting into our driving time for the next load. We got loaded in Kalama by 8:30, which meant we weren't going to make a 7 am delivery in Vacaville, since it was a 12 hour drive. Plus we were both tired - I had been trying to sleep, but not getting much rest. We were stressing, because it was raining like crazy and we were expecting snow in the mountains, and we were running late to a customer we had already been late delivering to at least once. What was supposed to be a gravy run was turning into a bit of a nightmare - or at least a bad dream.

Then we were given our excuse for being late - we stopped at the Shasta scales to switch drivers, and Collin noticed that the passenger side of the truck was covered in oil. Um... that's not good. We limped down to Redding, CA, worried about an engine fire, or at least burning up the engine.



All the shiny? That's oil...



To shorten the story, when the shop that did the tune up was putting the valve cover back on, they pinched the gasket, and that's all it took. Our excuse to the receiver was very true - we had to wait for the dealership in Redding to open at 7am. What they didn't need to know is that we only waited about 10 minutes. : )

Even better, because it was a recent tune up at a dealership that caused the problem, we didn't have to pay for the repair. Sweet!

So we rolled in to Vacaville around 12:30pm. We lost out on the load to Salinas, but instead picked up a load of fabricated steel out of Pittsburg, CA that was a 5 drop load. We got done with that in enough time to get loaded with some lumber bound for Somerton, AZ - near Yuma. From there we got a load of hay out of Tolleson, AZ going to Lubbock, TX - where we are right now.

Tomorrow we go pick up some cotton from Plainview, going to the Dallas area. From there we hope to get a load back to Sacramento, or there is a multi-drop load ending up in Portland, OR. That would be ideal, since we need to get to Portland to pick up our TWIC cards (Transportation Workers Identification Credentials) that will let us get into regulated ports around the country.

It has been nice being here where the sun is shining and it is pleasantly warm. I understand it has been raining non-stop at home.

Red Roof Inn

Holed up in the Red Roof Inn in Lubbock, Texas to watch the Civil War Game. Ducks won!

We decided we like Red Roof Inns, because they have trucker discounts, pets and wi-fi are free, and at least in Lubbock, the staff is nice and friendly.

North of the Border

Drove within spitting distance of the Mexican border today.  Saw the infamous fence, and the border patrol hard at work.

Snow!

A light dusting of snow this morning turned into an all out winter wonderland. We decided to chain up again, while Buddy had a fun time racing around in the snow.


We ate a breakfast of oatmeal and waited for the receiver to show up and open the gate. We were more than a little concerned that they would decide not to come in, since the snow was falling steady and heavy.

The receiver did show up, only about 10 minutes later than they promised. Yay!

By the time we were unloaded, more than 6" of snow had fallen.

Very glad the 'kids' came out to unload us despite the snow. (The operations manager looked like he was maybe 25 years old, and the forklift driver looked about 19.)




 

Once we got to I-5, we were pretty much in the clear, and were able to unchain at the Black Butte summit.

Homeward Bound

Sunset over Iowa

Driving across Nebraska and Wyoming we encountered high winds and icy temperatures. There was no precipitation, so we didn't encounter any nasty ice, but in the dark it is hard to know if there is or isn't any ice, so we slowed down some to be sure.

Sunset over Iowa



We hit Utah right at daybreak, and so were able to speed up once we cleared the mountains. High winds continued to buffet us around a bit, but the nice thing about our load is that it is heavy enough to hold us down, and it is low and not a solid wall of material - in other words, the wind could go through it enough to mitigate the buffeting.

Iowa Randomness

By the time we got to Reno, we were really noticing storm clouds to the west. Sure enough, between Reno and Susanville, it started to snow. We were doing all right, but decided to chain up anyway - we happened to be at the Bogard Rest Area on Hwy 44, that one I was waxing poetical over a few weeks ago. We drove over the summit, and the roads were clearing off. We stopped and had some cup-o-noodle soup while we decided whether to push on (which meant taking off the chains) or wait until morning to see if we would need to be chained by then. We opted to take the chains off and push through, and arrived at our destination without having to chain again. We parked just outside their gate, and went to bed.

Evidence of Multiple Roadside Bloodbaths

In the course of this trip we have come across evidence of literally hundreds of struck animals. In addition to the coyote Collin hit, we have seen dead fox, dogs, squirrels, owls, at least one elk (in Utah) and deer of every stripe (black tail, white tail, brown...) I even had one deer stumble out in front of me on a back road in Nebraska. It looked like a school kid getting pushed out of the bushes by it's peers, because it stopped in the middle of the lane and looked back where it had come from. Luckily I saw it in time, sounded the horn, and applied just enough brake to give it time to get across the road. The other deer I saw later that night stopped before coming out onto the freeway, which was good, because if he hadn't, I would have hit it for sure.

Weather and...Recyling...?

We stopped somewhere north of the Maryland state line for the night, as Collin was too tired after the Chesapeake mess to get all the way into Delaware, and anyway we had been specifically instructed not to come into the yard for the pick until 6am.
All day on the radio they had been forecasting wind, and boy did it hit some time in the wee hours. And I am glad we were parked. We woke to the truck being shaken by wind, and rain pelting the cab. The blow lasted about an hour, then by morning it had cleared off.
Again the iPad showed it's limitations. I had pinned the drop based on the address we had been given, and the satellite photo even showed what looked like a lumberyard. However when we got there, the pin actually marked a place called the "Rock Pile". The map app had just marked the highway, not the actual address, and I had no way of knowing it, because when I tapped the pin it showed the address I had entered. It turned out we hadn't gone far enough.
This pick was interesting. We loaded at a place called 2nd Time Designs - which is artwork made out of recycled items. The proprietors are retired husband-wife truck drivers, and it was interesting to hear their take on the profession after 30 odd years on the road together. They had enjoyed their time together, and Judy wasn't sure what she was going to do once they parked the truck, but now she finds it hard to leave home.
What we picked up was more recycled material - 100 year old redwood pickle vats from Vlassic Pickle company, broken down. (Apparently Wal-Mart told Vlassic that they wouldn't buy pickles made in wooden vats, so they changed them all out.) Makes me wonder what this project is.
The third pick, from a place called Tindall's Virgin Timbers in Peach Bottom PA, was walnut: beams and tongue and groove flooring. This was beautiful wood that we had to tarp for sure. (The pickle vats we did not tarp - they had been sitting outside at the shippers, not to mention that in their previous life, they had held briny pickling water in them.) Getting to Peach Bottom...talk about your country roads... There was no direct route to or from this place. We didn't get lost, but the windy roads and stop and go through traffic in small towns was eating up our time. In Lancaster, we had planned to cut straight up through about 30 more miles of country road, but we opted to go out of route by about 50 miles, just to get on a proper highway so we could make up some time. As far as I'm concerned, it was a good call.
We made the fourth pick, in Scranton, PA just in time. The guy was still there to load us, and it was still daylight in a rather scrofulous part of town. What did we load here? The guy just called it 'olde wood' - from a shipper called Olde Good Things. I think I heard Collin say it came from a boardwalk in New York. It looked like crap wood to me, all bug eaten and weathered. But whatever... We were getting paid to move it, and crappy wood like that wouldn't need to be tarped, either, which is a bonus.
Once we were strapped down, we beat feet out of there. While the place was located next to a high school, it still didn't look like a place to be after dark.
We had been debating whether to take the I-80 turnpike or not. It is the most direct route on the map, but it is a toll road, and we didn't know how much it would cost us, or even how the toll roads work. Since we were running behind, we thought we would give the turnpike a try. At the very least, we would know what it was like, so we could make an informed decision next time.
I think it was a good move. Near Hubbard, Ohio, we took a ticket at the booth, then it was pretty much smooth sailing through Ohio! And it 'only' cost us $36. Indiana was the same way - driving through at night, we pretty much had the whole thing to ourselves. Indiana 'only' cost $30, and the bit to get by Chicago? $3
The really nice part was knowing that we were staying on the same route the whole way, and not trying to string a bunch of highways together. I'm thinking what we saved in time and aggravation more than makes up for the expense.        

Moving Right Along

We delivered the insulated panels at the jobsite in Clayton first thing in the morning, then hightailed it to Columbia SC to get the first of four picks bound for McCloud, CA.
This first pick turned out to be old bleacher boards from schools around the east, that the shipper salvages and restores.
We had called the second pick to tell him we would be there first thing in the morning, and to get directions. The guy was a little vague, and turned out not to be the guy at the shipping location. He said if he were going to go from the Carolinas to Delaware, he would go through Baltimore, and cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.
When I started looking at the map, I could see that the Chesapeake Bay Bridge (which I had wanted to go on anyway) did not go from Baltimore to Delaware. So we decided on a route that would take us over the famous bridge/tunnel - the only drag is that we would be doing it at night.
We (I) made some unfortunate choices driving through the cities of Norfolk/Chesapeake. The iPad is limited - or perhaps it is just the way I use it - in that I can't tell it what route to take, and it will sometimes ignore intersections that I need to take. Another maddening thing is that the silly blue line that shows the route, also blocks the street names and highway numbers, so I have to zoom up so close in order to read them, and then I loose sight of the big picture, and miss key turns or make them too early. Another complaint I have is as much for the road signs as anything. We were driving in Chesapeake, trying to cross the world famous Chesapeake Bay Bridge, and all the roadsigns were telling us were about Richmond VA (way inland from where we wanted to go) and Virginia Beach, which was too far east, and not far enough north. I'm glad it was so late, because we were driving in places a semi truck and trailer had no business being. When you can read people's expressions and they seem to be saying WTF? then you know you're in the wrong place.
Collin's comment (now) is: "Sometimes you have to get lost to know where you are."  
The only thing I can say about the bridge/tunnel is that the waves were whipped up pretty high, and we seemed to be very close to them. By the way, Collin concurs with Elaine. We were NOT underwater when we went in the tunnels: we would have drowned. The tunnels were underwater, and we were in the tunnels. ;)

Early Arrival

 We arrived in Clayton, NC early. We had been given a bad address and had an adventure driving shoulder-less country roads, and turning down a residential dead end road that fortunately had a circle at the end just big enough for us to turn around. We decided to stay put for a while until we found out where we were really going. We took a walk, and took some photos of the stunning fall colors.

 Once we finally got through to the contractors, we got a good address, but we were unable to get anyone to unload us - contractors weren't on site, yet. Turns out they are building a bakery, and the panels are for the cooler. This bakery will specialize in buns for McDonald's. Who knows? Down the road you may eat a Big Mac whose bun originated in this bakery. (Not that I am endorsing eating Mickey D's - I don't, myself...)



See! Buddy gets to play sometimes!

We ate early (for us) and too much dinner at Venero's Pizzeria where they let Buddy sit with us out on the back patio. We had a lot of time to kill. I watched "The Brothers Bloom" while Collin fell asleep. The movie was as good as I had hoped it would be when I bought it.

Speaking of time, as a truck driver, crossing the country is an exercise in temporal gymnastics. For our logbooks, we have to keep using the time at our Home Base - Pacific Standard for now - but when we call people for appointments, we have to be aware of local time at the delivery site. We also have to be aware that any receipts we get at stops will not necessarily match the time we need to mark in our logbooks. To make matters even more interesting, the clocks on the truck both show Home Base time, and so does my Blackberry, but the iPad and Collin's phone both adjust to the changing time zones as we cross them. I find I have to be very conscious of which clock I'm looking at, and I'm always either adding or subtracting time...

Family Connection

Today we had brunch with Lyn and Michael at truck stop in Oak Grove, MO, (outside Independence).

Me and Cousin Lyn Halama - with Buddy - in Oak Grove, MO

This is the first time meeting my cousin as an adult.

It was a wonderful connection and one of the things I had hoped for when we were talking about me getting on the truck with Collin.

I hope for many more such connections as we continue.

Then we drove through St Louis, past the arch, and within a dozen miles of the neighborhood where I was born; interesting that I felt more of a connection driving through this time than I did in 1997 when I was there for the Kelly Family Reunion.

St Louis Arch at Sunset

There was a lot of road construction and at one point while I was rubbernecking at all the old buildings, I almost failed to help Collin navigate to stay on the I-64, and we 'almost' ended up in East St Louis. I remember hearing stories about bad things happening there when I was a kid.

I spoke to Mom shortly after we got out of town, and she remembers her Dad telling stories like the time the casket in a funeral procession was filled with guns. I looked out the window, and I'm pretty sure I saw apartments that have been featured on COPS, or on one of those other true crime shows that Collin likes to watch.
 
Mom reminded me that my Great Grandma was originally from Nashville, TN, and while we drove through there, I didn't get much of a connection there, maybe because it was midnight, I don't know. We saw some landmark type buildings - isn't Nashville where Radio City Music Hall is? We saw road signs for the Opry House, but I'm not sure we saw it from the freeway.

(editorial note: Mom has since clarified that my GG was from Nashville Illinois. No wonder I didn't feel connected in Tennessee!)


The thing I noticed most about the change between the Midwest and the Carolinas - a transition that seemed to happen in Tennessee - is the return of the roadside trees. By daybreak in North Carolina, there were once again proper forests. It felt like a return to some semblance of 'normal' or 'home'.

Eastbound and Down...

Today we loaded six 50' foot bundles of insulated panels at Vacaville, CA bound for Clayton North Carolina.
Another tarped load. We had to make it good, since we were going nearly 3000 miles with this one.
While we were waiting to get loaded, another truck showed up for a load. We decided to help Art from AMT Transport tarp his load (bound for Tacoma, WA). He was grateful as we saved him a lot of time and climbing up and down ladders. He said we should contact him about work in the future, since he is looking for Owner/Operators.

Then we drove through snow in Laramie, WY and into Nebraska.

Not super deep, but blowing.










On the far side of Nebraska, Collin had a run in with a suicidal coyote, which has damaged the front of the truck slightly. He is really wishing he had gone ahead and asked TEC to install the big bumper (deer catcher) before we even picked the truck up.
We will do that before we head east again.

This should be interesting...

7:05 AM
We are supposed to load 4 40' container chassis on our trailer. That seems like it is going to be really high! We shall see.
9:11 AM
Well, they turned out to not have any wheels on them, so loaded up they come to about the top of the truck. I'll have to take a picture before we unload. They sure were bouncy, and slowly walking toward the right edge of the trailer. Good thing we didn't have further to go than Oakland.

Four 40' Chassis

Another Day of Waiting Around

This time we got loaded at Morning Star packing plant in the pre-dawn light, and were on the road to LA as the sun was coming up, only to find out that we wouldn't be able to unload until 4pm at the earliest. This when we could be there by 1pm, easy.
Well, that put a crimp in our plans for getting reloaded today, too, but there was little to be done about it. We just took our time, looking for possible reloads and not stressing in LA traffic. When we got to Golden State Foods, we missed our entrance, but knew there was another around the back side. We checked in at the gatehouse, and the guard said "Your appointment isn't until 6pm, I'll call you."
So we parked near the entrance and waited, looking for reloads and watching episodes of Deep Space Nine on the DVD player.
We finally got the load we have been waiting for to stretch our wings - we are going to North Carolina! And we found a load out of LA that will get us near the place we are loading for that trip. It was nice, for a change. The computers were accessing the Internet, the printer was hooked up and working, ah! At last.
Around 5pm we started thinking about getting unloaded, so we got positioned to turn into the gate, anticipating the guard's call. Collin decided to check in, just in case there had been a shift change, and guess what? There was a new guard, and HE said "Oh, you should have been at the other gate. You could have backed in and unloaded already." What a pain!
So we drove around the block and assessed the driveway situation. One of the reasons we had missed it earlier was that it was on a very busy street - and now we had to back in? I checked with the guard and told him our story, and he was sympahetic, and let us come in ahead of a bunch of trucks that were stacking up, and he didn't make us back in from the busy street.
We finally got unloaded, and then drove to romantic (not!) Long Beach where we spent the night waiting for our load out in the morning.

Buddy the Sled Dog?

Worst Day Yet

Worst day yet. Still would rather be out here than at the nursery.
Just the continuing challenges of getting the computers to work out here on the road fast enough to catch the good loads is crazy making.
We were under the impression that Collin had to be home on Sunday to help with the guest speaker, but it turns out they want to keep the event small, and will just serve coffee and tea, which anyone can do. Wish we had known that earlier in the day, sine we spent most of it sitting sound trying to find loads that would get us home, when we could have headed for parts unknown.
We ended up taking a load from Los Banos (I've always been curious what kind of town would be called "the bathrooms" if there was an ~ over the n) to City of Industry - freaking LA again!
We did spend a bit of time speaking to a fellow named Peter who is originally from Ireland, and now drives truck. He was very interesting. Very well traveled around the world, so it was rather gratifying to hear him have come to some of the same conclusions that I have come to about people, society, and the world, even religion. Peter was a self proclaimed gregarious soul. We stood in the Flying J for almost 2 hours shooting the breeze. I loved hearing his Irish accent, bastardized as it was from living in the states for 16 years.
He spoke about his childhood in Ireland, and how simple life was, and how satisfied and happy he and his family was, even though they were dirt poor. He also spoke of the need for people to get back into the habit of giving with no thought about what we'll get out of the deal, and that society shouldn't have to be forced by the government to take care of our own - people should WANT to help each other. Wouldn't that be nice to get back to neighbor helping neighbor? Kinda like the song "I miss Mayberry"...
Not a day I would have planned, but it did have some niceness to it.

Delays and a "New" Truck

Got the new truck, finally. We made a delivery in Vancouver with no problems. The load we went up to Kalama to pick up should have been pretty easy. We got it loaded, strapped it, chained it, and tarped it, which took, oh, an hour plus, only to find out they had loaded the wrong order. Grr. So we had to un-tarp, unchain, unstrap, then get unloaded then re-loaded, re-strap, re-chain, and re-tarp.

The lady in the guardhouse said "I only missed it by one number..." but it may as well have been off completely. What a pain, and on a day when we were really on the ticking clock, because of how much we had to do. Not only the delivery and pick up of these loads, and picking up the new truck, but we had also scheduled an appointment with the TSA (Transportation Safety Administration) to apply for our TWIC cards (Transportation Worker Identification Credentials) which will allow us to go into regulated ports to pick up and deliver loads. With the 2006 truck and these credentials (when they come through) we won't have to exclude ourselves from loads going into and out of ports like Long Beach, Oakland, Longview, and others around the country.

Despite the do-over on this load, we still made our appointment with time to spare, and then got over to Tec Equipment to pick up the truck, which was ready and waiting for us. We signed all the dreaded paperwork, and got the keys. Then it was time to transfer all our stuff. Thankfully we had been home the day before, so we had offloaded most of it here at the house. Then Collin got to drive it home. He was hating it at first, until he figured a couple things out - but by the end of the run he said he could easily get spoiled by the automatic. I'm looking forward to driving it myself, come Sunday.   

2006 Volvo - Our "New" Home on Wheels

Needed: New Truck

Long day. We started out in Linnton, OR (near Portland) unloading roofing material we brought up from South Gate, CA (LA). So we untarped, and while it was nice to get reloaded without moving the truck an inch, we then had to tarp again immediately. I like to think I'm helping more and more with that, but it sure takes a long time. And boy is it dirty work. I don't mind it, though. It's more physical work than I have done in a long time, and while my body is achy, it still feels better than just sitting at a desk day in and out.
After we tarped, we headed over to Tec Equipment to look at this truck that Tony the salesman has been telling us about. A 2006 Volvo, auto shift, with a 77" sleeper, fridge, inverter, double bunk, lots of storage... A good deal more space than we currently have. We worked a deal out and got payments down to where we needed them to be. Things could be a little tight until we really get out there, but I think we'll be able to manage.

Needed: New Truck

10:49 PM
New trucks and rushing to retreat
Long day. We started out in Linnton, OR (near Portland) unloading roofing material we brought up from South Gate, CA (LA). So we untarped, and while it was nice to get reloaded without moving the truck an inch, we then had to tarp again immediately. I like to think I'm helping more and more with that, but it sure takes a long time. And boy is it dirty work. I don't mind it, though. It's more physical work than I have done in a long time, and while my body is achy, it still feels better than just sitting at a desk day in and out.
After we tarped, we headed over to Tec Equipment to look at this truck that Tony the salesman has been telling us about. A 2006 Volvo, auto shift, with a 77" sleeper, fridge, inverter, double bunk, lots of storage... A good deal more space than we currently have. We worked a deal out and got payments down to $825/mo. Things could be a little tight until we really get out there, but I think we'll be able to manage.
Then we headed back home so I could clean up and head to McKenzie Bridge for SOAKED retreat. I wasn't sure about coming, but I am sure glad I did. It will only be for tonight, but even just for the meeting tonight, it's totally worth it.
But it is time to sleep, now.
Goodnight. 

Break Down!

The truck broke down last night, just as Collin was trying to get to the truck shop in Buttonwillow, CA.
We had noticed an air leak on the last little descent of the Grapevine, heading north out of LA. It was intermittent so we were able to limp ahead a little further but when he tried to pull in, he got stuck behind some trucks stopped at the corner, and couldn't get it going again. At first we thought the brakes had locked up due to the air leak but that wasn't it. We blocked the intersection for at least a half hour, upsetting several truck drivers who couldn't speed around like they apparently desperately need to... I got the joy of flagging them down, trying to get their attention so they would slow down. (Yes, I was wearing a high viz vest, and waving a flash light.) 
What it turned out to be was the air line to the splitter on the shifter. We were stuck in high range, and didn't have any low gears for starting out from a complete stop. (Think of starting your manual transmission car in 4th or 5th gear...)
Thanks to Paul Wolfe for getting his tractor out to pull us put of the way, and the two young mechanics who crawled around under the truck to fix it, and only charged us $75. We were back on the move within 3 hours. 
We had been debating whether to push hard and try to get to Portland before 3pm today, or to take it easy. We had our answer after this incident... It was time to take it easy. 

Oh, And Driving in LA..?

I'm not ready for this, yet...

And these pix are only of the slow traffic. Never mind once it got moving, and we're hauling ass just to keep up with traffic...

LA on a Wednesday night - rush hour anyone?

  

I could have reached out to touch this truck beside us...

Delivering Plywood to the Army at Fort Irwin

We arrived in Fort Irwin in the morning, and had to ask for help locating the actual building we were to deliver to. It seemed a little disconcerting to me that after only a cursory glance at our driver's licenses at the gate, we could drive a half-camouflaged semi truck around with a tarped load, turning around, making aborted darts at various driveways, without being challenged. Then again, we were passing troops training with guns...

Once we located the supply depot, we untarped and unstrapped, getting ready for the forklift operator. When she came out and asked us to move forward, the truck wouldn't start. We had our first inkling that the "Duck Hunter" as some of the loaders have come to call it may be about ready to give up the game. We were able to have the forklift driver pull start us - although Collin had to tell them how to do it. A forklift pull starting a semi, you ask? Well, you know how the Army has giant everything? Well, they have giant forklifts, too. :)

It was an interesting delivery, seeing our nation's brave troops training, and seeing a glimpse of how they live life on base. Fort Irwin is in the desert, but I was very glad we visited on a very pleasant fall day. Clear skies, temps at about 75. Perfect.    

Dawn in Tehachapi

Driving on Hwy 58 out of Bakersfield, CA, I was climbing the hills at a crawl as the sky grew pink with the light of dawn. There were windmills turning on the peak of the ridges, and on the slopes leading down toward town.

Who would have thought that I, Kristi the night owl, would be up before dawn, driving to see these kind of sights? 

Snow in the Cascades

Driving up over Hwy 58 was a little bit of a gamble. It had been snowing pretty heavily overnight, but by the time we were ready to leave it looked better.
It paid off. The roads were clear, but there was a good 6" of snow on the roadside. Very pretty, with the fall leaves still showing yellow and red against the snow.

Early snow, or just Fall hanging on?

Willamette Pass Ski Area... Are we ready to ski, people?

Winter Wonderland

Audit In A Day's Work

Had our Safety Audit on Friday the 22nd, and hooray! We passed!
Not only did we pass, but the auditor told me he was impressed with how organized our records and files were. He said I made his job easy, which really gratified me. I worked really hard to get ready - so did Collin. It is very good to be done with it.
Our Safety Rating? 'Satisfactory' - which is the highest rating available. Works for me!

Salt Sparkles in the Sunlight (and other things I noticed)

I got the pleasure to drive by the Salt Flats near the Great Salt Lake. Some people might find that boring; you can see where many cars have run off the road and been pulled out of the salt - but I enjoyed it. In the late afternoon sun, the salt sparkles like frost on a cold morning.

People apparently pass the time by using rocks to write words in the salt - think of SOS in the sand - just typical graffiti, I think; I couldn't read more than what looked like hearts and initials. The prettiest displays were created out of beer bottles stuck neck down into the salt. I don't know if they spelled words, but in the evening light they caught fire.

(Sort of) Near Espanola, NM

In a little burg called Espanola in New Mexico, (north of Santa Fe) Animal Control officers had blocked off several streets off the highway. We listened on the scanner, but never heard what that was about. It could have been anything. A cougar, a herd of cattle, a rampaging rattlesnake... Well, okay, that last one was just silly. :)

It absolutely astounds me the number of people who text while driving. In LA, in pre-rush hour traffic (which just seems to mean slightly fewer cars going twice as fast) I saw teen drivers trying to merge onto the freeway and nearly getting run into the wall, all for texting. I can't imagine anything so important that can't wait until I get to my destination, or at least a stoplight...

The Exit Sign for Sunset Blvd - Los Angeles

Speaking of LA...  This was my first time down there, and it rained. I saw Sunset Blvd (from the freeway) and I think I saw the strip mall they filmed part of 'Next Friday' at. I saw a lot of places that looked familiar from movies. Enough to tell me that it really is a lot like what you see in the B footage from any number of shows filmed there. And confirms that every day I don't spend in LA is a day I'm ahead of the game. We were in Greater LA for all of 16 hours, yet it felt like about three days.

The nicest rest area I think I've ever visited is up on Hwy 89 - I think it is Eagle Lake. Super clean, nothing boarded or barricaded off, glass block windows, and wedge windows with screens, and all the stall doors locked. There were video screens with safe driving tips, recycling bins, great landscaping, clean, sturdy benches and even a hopscotch grid painted on the sidewalk. I would almost go there for a picnic. (Ah, waxing poetic over a rest area already!)

Let's see, what else? Last week my allergies turned into a chest cold. I found it interesting that the congestion was relieved in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Utah, but in California and New Mexico they came back. I almost dread going back over the hill into the Willamette Valley. When I came over the hill last week, it was like a... Well, let's just say my sinuses started to drain very heavily.


The Long Un-winded Road

 There are places in New Mexico where I can't even start to pronounce the names (Abiquiu anyone?) which were beautiful with stark landscapes punctuated by green river bottoms with the poplar (?) trees in their fine fall foliage.


Near Abiquiu, New Mexico

Lots of rundown houses that we joked could be our summer house with a little fixing up. But seriously, what can one do in that kind of country besides ranch? Just getting to a grocery store in some of these places would be an all day endeavor.


Finally, I must say my husband is a saint for dealing with my insecurities and my limited driving skills that on the one hand are improving, but on the other hand I go through periods where I seem to forget everything I ever learned about shifting...



Technical Difficulties... Please Stand By

So things aren't working out as I hoped in the technology department. I thought I'd be able to set up the laptop and printer and invoice loads as we deliver them. Turns out the converter we have isn't powerful enough to power the printer. So I couldn't print load confirmations, or load leads, or invoices. Totally shut down, there.

Then, the reason I bought the iPad was so we could look for loads and get and receive emails and send back signed confirmations. When I set it up for the 3G service, I only chose 250 mb of data, because you are supposed to be able to upgrade really easily, and I had no idea how much we would actually use. Well, I had used up all my internet by Albuquerque NM. After several tries that failed, I was unable to purchase more data. And guess what, the nifty little map app that I found so helpful doesn't work without Internet. Guess what else? I suck at old school map reading...

So there are a few technical details that need to be worked out. A new, more powerful converter to run things like printers and coffee pots. And I get to get on the phone with AT&T to get the data purchase figured out. And... No more using the iPad for social networking. I'll have to use the air card for that - or my phone. (ed. - turns out the bank had helpfully put a block on my account, since I was suddenly making charges hundreds of miles from home... Nice that they were trying to protect me, but open the account back up!)

Oh, and the worst thing? The charger for Collin's DVD player wore out, and he couldn't finish watching the Matrix Reloaded for the umpteenth time. I wasn't so crushed, but Collin was/is.  :(

Then there is the issue of space and the condition of roads out here. Our sleeper isn't big enough to get all my stuff set up in and leave it up, and even if I could, the roads are so bouncy that it would be hard to work. Typing would be hard, much less expecting a printer to work while being jounced this way and that. So we have to work out a solution where I get as much done as I can during stops - or better yet on weekends when I can work from home, or if we are stopped somewhere for longer than it takes to 'freshen up', get loaded, or fuel up.

So yeah, it doesn't look like we've got everything ironed out just yet.  

Colorado Rockies by Moonlight

We drove through the Rockies at night Tuesday. I'm sure they are grand and spectacular by daylight, but by moonlight they are stark and beautiful. Looking down in canyons at moonlight-washed rock fields, downed trees bleached white as bones, rivers and lakes reflecting silver, even back country roads taking on sepulchral qualities - paths of the dead and wandering. Looking up at snowfields and cloud caps and rock faces staring blackly out at eternity.

Yep.  The Rockies by moonlight sure had an impact on me.

I wonder what I'll think when I go through them in daylight?

On the Other Side at Sunrise - Montrose, CO

It's Official

I had my first official run as a full time truck driver this week. We took a load of lumber down to Salinas, CA and then brought some insulated panels back from Vacaville. I didn't quite see it through - the insulated panels delivered in Seattle this morning without me. (I have a couple doctors appointments this afternoon and then the Family and I are going to scatter Dad's ashes tomorrow.)



Valley Pallet in Salinas, CA

It was a trip that had a little bit of a lot of things: night driving in the Siskiyou mountains; my first inspection at a scale crossing in Vallejo CA (passed, hooray!); heavy traffic on the I-80 and 680 going around SF Bay; hanging out in a truck stop waiting until it was time to go get our reload; an unexpected roadside stop when a strap fell off the trailer (those bumpy CA roads!) and when it went under the tires, it shredded the little ladder the strap had wrapped around; daytime driving in the Siskiyous; trying to be organized and conduct business in a very limited space...

Oh yeah, and lots and lots of driving.



The driving by itself isn't that hard - I still need to work on downshifting - and I quite like it. There's a lot to deal with that will take more getting used to. Scale crossings, road construction, truck stops and parking in them. 

A Real Piece of Work!

I am amazed at how fast truckers drive in truck stops. The picture at left is testimony of genius at work at a truck stop in Gilroy, CA.  The driver was coming in so fast, looking for a parking space instead of paying attention to what his trailer was doing, that the back on his trailer ran completely over a giant cement bollard! Then without checking, he backed up, so that it took a tow truck to lift his trailer so he could get off of it.

He damaged the brake lines and it took hours to fix them, plus his bumper will need to be pounded out. All of this, and all kinds of trucks flying in and out the while...

I thought I would be able to slow down as a driver. While this is very true while I'm actually driving, I can see I will have to work at it a little more while in truck stops.
Anyway, it was a good 3 days.

Buddy on the Truck

Not sure if Buddy would agree. He is always so tired when he gets home. I hope he can adjust to life on the truck. I think I can, but I worry about him getting what he needs to be happy - I don't really think he gets what is going on, yet.

Well, off to the allergist.