Screw Cesar Milan. I am the truck whisperer, and trucks are much more useful than dogs. I gave the old Kenworth a stern talking-to before we got rolling this morning. Apparently it listened. The incredible self-healing T-600? I don't know man. Accelerating, pulling hills, no trouble at all today. The main test came just east of Chattanooga. A truck was disabled on the right shoulder, it was raining, and traffic was at a dead stop. I had to accelerate from a standing start up a wicked steep hill to freeway speed. No problemo, senor. Beauty. Let's hope tomorrow's pep talk is equally effective.
I write to you this afternoon from the Corleone family's Tennessee estate, located in room 304 of the Econo Lodge. I saw a sign saying that it was $32.95 a night, with truck parking, and I'm 20 miles from my drop. A quick trip to the convenience store yielded a bounty of 18... err... iced teas. Mix in a call to Domino's and we've got ourselves an impromptu Super Bowl party.
It was a nice easy ride today. Even the rain didn't slow things down too much. Now I'm going to excuse myself and crack my first... iced tea... of the evening. Tomorrow's drop is about a half hour away, then I'll pick up in the same town and head for Laredo.
Patriots 48, Giants 17
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Saturday, February 2, 2008
2/2/08
I'm not the jealous type of person for the most part, but they were playing golf in Mississippi today. That made me jealous.
The drive was a pretty easy affair, across Louisiana and angling up through Mississippi into Alabama. I had enough hours to go further, but it was a pretty good day so I stopped while I was ahead. Back when I was a somewhat civilized and classy individual, I learned to enjoy a good cigar. Part of enjoying it is knowing when to let it go. You hang on too long and you end up with overheated smoke that tastes like ass. Days out here can be like that too. Know when to say when.
So I have a few hundred miles to drive tomorrow ahead of my Monday morning drop. So far the truck is doing pretty well. On quite a few hills it went all the way over with no problem. A few other hills caused it to sputter pretty badly, but it still seems to hold its speed fairly well. My computer says I got 7mpg today so I guess whatever the issues is, it must be tolerable. I am just glad there's only 7,000 pounds in the box. If I actually needed all kinds of horsepower to pull the hills, we might have some problems. Things will get a hell of a lot steeper by the end of tomorrow's drive, so I'm preparing for a rough ride. Hopefully the load coming back south will be a light one too. We'll see...
So I got a few messages from wise gamblers asking about the Super Bowl. They're wise because they know that they should bet against whatever I think will happen tomorrow. The only catch fellas (and I'm sorry to break it to you) is that I was over .500 on the NFL this year. I wasn't real good, but I wasn't real bad either. So I can't be counted on to back the wrong team like I always do with college football. Be that as it may, I've seen the line as low as -12. I would be all over New England at that mark. The AFC was -16 before the playoffs, and that was back when there were good NFC teams (Dallas, Green Bay) in the pool. I think the New York population has bought this thing down way below where it should be. So, the rule now is that New York probably wins outright, but like I said it's not as sure a thing as college football. Sometimes I get the NFL right.
The drive was a pretty easy affair, across Louisiana and angling up through Mississippi into Alabama. I had enough hours to go further, but it was a pretty good day so I stopped while I was ahead. Back when I was a somewhat civilized and classy individual, I learned to enjoy a good cigar. Part of enjoying it is knowing when to let it go. You hang on too long and you end up with overheated smoke that tastes like ass. Days out here can be like that too. Know when to say when.
So I have a few hundred miles to drive tomorrow ahead of my Monday morning drop. So far the truck is doing pretty well. On quite a few hills it went all the way over with no problem. A few other hills caused it to sputter pretty badly, but it still seems to hold its speed fairly well. My computer says I got 7mpg today so I guess whatever the issues is, it must be tolerable. I am just glad there's only 7,000 pounds in the box. If I actually needed all kinds of horsepower to pull the hills, we might have some problems. Things will get a hell of a lot steeper by the end of tomorrow's drive, so I'm preparing for a rough ride. Hopefully the load coming back south will be a light one too. We'll see...
So I got a few messages from wise gamblers asking about the Super Bowl. They're wise because they know that they should bet against whatever I think will happen tomorrow. The only catch fellas (and I'm sorry to break it to you) is that I was over .500 on the NFL this year. I wasn't real good, but I wasn't real bad either. So I can't be counted on to back the wrong team like I always do with college football. Be that as it may, I've seen the line as low as -12. I would be all over New England at that mark. The AFC was -16 before the playoffs, and that was back when there were good NFC teams (Dallas, Green Bay) in the pool. I think the New York population has bought this thing down way below where it should be. So, the rule now is that New York probably wins outright, but like I said it's not as sure a thing as college football. Sometimes I get the NFL right.
Friday, February 1, 2008
2/1/08
I know I tend to be a rather unlucky fellow in matters of life, but somehow this truck driving thing just seems to go my way. Well, not completely, but for the most part at least. About five minutes after last night's blog entry, I got a beep...
I headed in and expected to hear some shitty run that I was being assigned, to be taken after I made my drop this morning. Instead I was told to leave my loaded trailer on the yard for a local driver to take in the morning. (I do despise Laredo deliveries, so this was very sweet news.) Then I was given the choice between an 800-something miler to Mississippi for Monday, a whatever miler to Illinois (that's where it's really cold) for Monday, or a 1284 miler to Tennessee for Monday. The longest one isn't always the best one, but in this case I took the Tennessee run because it's right on I-75 (Loudon, TN) and we always have shit running back and forth around Knoxville. It was a calculated move on my part. Plus I figured Tennessee shouldn't be quite as cold and snowy as Illinois, even if it is on the chilly side.
I rolled out of Laredo this morning and headed up US-59 toward Houston. Things were going smoothly when my truck decided to play some games with me. It started sputtering pretty badly going up a hill. I basically concluded that it was going to stall. It didn't stall, or even lose a lot of speed actually. It just kept sputtering, sometimes violently. Then it started running fine again. A few miles later, more sputtering on another hill. Across the top of the hill, everything was fine. This repeated a few times, so I pulled into a truck stop to have a look (as if I would know what was wrong if I saw it). Nothing is dripping, nothing is broken, and nothing is loose. That's about all I can tell. I put in a call to road service to see what they had to say. "Maybe fuel filters." Nope, brand new. "Maybe loose bolts on the turbo." Every bolt that I can see is tight, but I have no idea what a turbo looks like. They said I should stop at the T/A in Ganado if I could make it there, so they could have a look. I drove the hundred miles or so to Ganado, only having issues whenever a long climb or abrupt increase in speed (leaving a town, e.g.) presented itself.
I got to the T/A and explained to the dude that the engine was sputtering any time it reached back for a little extra horsepower. He asked how it was idling. It idles fine. He asked how fast it goes before the problem comes up. Really, the speed is irrelevant. If I'm cruising at 65mph on flat terrain, it's fine. If I'm accelerating from a given speed to a higher speed, or trying to pull a hill, we have issues. He took a look, saw whatever I saw apparently, and said there was nothing he could do. He mentioned the turbo thing too, so maybe that's my issue. I don't know.
So I placed another call to road service to see what they wanted me to do. The guy asked me what model of fuel filters had been put on. I checked. They were the right ones. He thought maybe they were too tight, so I checked that too. I could rotate them by hand, but they were pretty snug. He said that's about right. Oil is good. Fuel isn't low. So the conclusion was that I needed a dealer to look at the engine.
Apparently nothing good can happen if you have engine trouble in the Houston area. The road service guy named a few places and, each time, said that CTL doesn't like to use the place in question. There was some place north of Houston on 59 that is apparently okay to use, but they closed at 8pm. It would be a pipe dream to think I had time to get through Houston during a Friday rush hour and up to the location in time. Then there was some place in Louisiana that was open until noon on Saturday, but that was too far away. Then there was the Peterbilt place in Houston, but I called and they couldn't get to my truck until Monday at the earliest. So I basically had to say screw it and keep driving. I guess I could have made CTL send someone to take this load and then sat in a hotel all weekend, but that sounds pretty shitty to me. The truck runs fine 90% of the time, so I'll just have to deal with it until I catch a break. As long as I keep the boost gauge thing from going over 20, I seem to do okay. Only the climbs are a major issue. The hills in Tennessee... shit, I don't even want to think about it. We'll deal with that one in a couple days.
As all this was going on, I got my next load assignment. Not just a plan summary, but an actual assignment. I've never seen that before. Even when we're pre-planned like this, we don't get the assignment until we're empty. The reason is that we respond to that assignment and then get dispatched. I wasn't sure what to do, so I shot a message to my fleet manager. He told me to confirm the assignment once I'm empty so that's what I'll do. I'll be picking up in Loudon, Tennessee and going to... Laredo, Texas. Creative planning there, eh? At least I'll be familiar with the route. I have to admit that the number of pre-plans does seem to be on the rise. We were told that we would see more of that after the merger and for a while we really didn't. Speaking only for myself here, I have definitely seen more pre-plans in the last month or two. I guess anyone who reads this on a regular basis could tell me if it's just my imagination. Not a ton of pre-plans by any means, but definitely more than before. That's what it seems like to me.
So I suppose the truck issue is going to be played by ear for a few days here. I hope I don't have to pass on that next load, as the miles will fit nicely within my available hours in the early part of next week. Then I can bobtail to a shop in Laredo or something.
I'll finish up with 3,216 miles for this week, in addition to $35 for the cleanout at UPS and $35 for the extra pickup in Ohio. Pretty good week. Sunday (first day on the next check) will be burned finishing off this run, but I already know I'm getting a few good days of work starting Monday so I'm feeling rather fortunate. At least I'll be as fortunate as the engine situation allows me to be. As long as my truck gets me to Tennessee and then back to Laredo, things will be A-OK with me. I may very well take it in the ass for a couple days trying to get my truck fixed down there, but I'm trying to stay optimistic.
I headed in and expected to hear some shitty run that I was being assigned, to be taken after I made my drop this morning. Instead I was told to leave my loaded trailer on the yard for a local driver to take in the morning. (I do despise Laredo deliveries, so this was very sweet news.) Then I was given the choice between an 800-something miler to Mississippi for Monday, a whatever miler to Illinois (that's where it's really cold) for Monday, or a 1284 miler to Tennessee for Monday. The longest one isn't always the best one, but in this case I took the Tennessee run because it's right on I-75 (Loudon, TN) and we always have shit running back and forth around Knoxville. It was a calculated move on my part. Plus I figured Tennessee shouldn't be quite as cold and snowy as Illinois, even if it is on the chilly side.
I rolled out of Laredo this morning and headed up US-59 toward Houston. Things were going smoothly when my truck decided to play some games with me. It started sputtering pretty badly going up a hill. I basically concluded that it was going to stall. It didn't stall, or even lose a lot of speed actually. It just kept sputtering, sometimes violently. Then it started running fine again. A few miles later, more sputtering on another hill. Across the top of the hill, everything was fine. This repeated a few times, so I pulled into a truck stop to have a look (as if I would know what was wrong if I saw it). Nothing is dripping, nothing is broken, and nothing is loose. That's about all I can tell. I put in a call to road service to see what they had to say. "Maybe fuel filters." Nope, brand new. "Maybe loose bolts on the turbo." Every bolt that I can see is tight, but I have no idea what a turbo looks like. They said I should stop at the T/A in Ganado if I could make it there, so they could have a look. I drove the hundred miles or so to Ganado, only having issues whenever a long climb or abrupt increase in speed (leaving a town, e.g.) presented itself.
I got to the T/A and explained to the dude that the engine was sputtering any time it reached back for a little extra horsepower. He asked how it was idling. It idles fine. He asked how fast it goes before the problem comes up. Really, the speed is irrelevant. If I'm cruising at 65mph on flat terrain, it's fine. If I'm accelerating from a given speed to a higher speed, or trying to pull a hill, we have issues. He took a look, saw whatever I saw apparently, and said there was nothing he could do. He mentioned the turbo thing too, so maybe that's my issue. I don't know.
So I placed another call to road service to see what they wanted me to do. The guy asked me what model of fuel filters had been put on. I checked. They were the right ones. He thought maybe they were too tight, so I checked that too. I could rotate them by hand, but they were pretty snug. He said that's about right. Oil is good. Fuel isn't low. So the conclusion was that I needed a dealer to look at the engine.
Apparently nothing good can happen if you have engine trouble in the Houston area. The road service guy named a few places and, each time, said that CTL doesn't like to use the place in question. There was some place north of Houston on 59 that is apparently okay to use, but they closed at 8pm. It would be a pipe dream to think I had time to get through Houston during a Friday rush hour and up to the location in time. Then there was some place in Louisiana that was open until noon on Saturday, but that was too far away. Then there was the Peterbilt place in Houston, but I called and they couldn't get to my truck until Monday at the earliest. So I basically had to say screw it and keep driving. I guess I could have made CTL send someone to take this load and then sat in a hotel all weekend, but that sounds pretty shitty to me. The truck runs fine 90% of the time, so I'll just have to deal with it until I catch a break. As long as I keep the boost gauge thing from going over 20, I seem to do okay. Only the climbs are a major issue. The hills in Tennessee... shit, I don't even want to think about it. We'll deal with that one in a couple days.
As all this was going on, I got my next load assignment. Not just a plan summary, but an actual assignment. I've never seen that before. Even when we're pre-planned like this, we don't get the assignment until we're empty. The reason is that we respond to that assignment and then get dispatched. I wasn't sure what to do, so I shot a message to my fleet manager. He told me to confirm the assignment once I'm empty so that's what I'll do. I'll be picking up in Loudon, Tennessee and going to... Laredo, Texas. Creative planning there, eh? At least I'll be familiar with the route. I have to admit that the number of pre-plans does seem to be on the rise. We were told that we would see more of that after the merger and for a while we really didn't. Speaking only for myself here, I have definitely seen more pre-plans in the last month or two. I guess anyone who reads this on a regular basis could tell me if it's just my imagination. Not a ton of pre-plans by any means, but definitely more than before. That's what it seems like to me.
So I suppose the truck issue is going to be played by ear for a few days here. I hope I don't have to pass on that next load, as the miles will fit nicely within my available hours in the early part of next week. Then I can bobtail to a shop in Laredo or something.
I'll finish up with 3,216 miles for this week, in addition to $35 for the cleanout at UPS and $35 for the extra pickup in Ohio. Pretty good week. Sunday (first day on the next check) will be burned finishing off this run, but I already know I'm getting a few good days of work starting Monday so I'm feeling rather fortunate. At least I'll be as fortunate as the engine situation allows me to be. As long as my truck gets me to Tennessee and then back to Laredo, things will be A-OK with me. I may very well take it in the ass for a couple days trying to get my truck fixed down there, but I'm trying to stay optimistic.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
1/31/08
You guys who make the porno noises while you're taking a shit - what's up with that? Is it that painful? Or is it that pleasurable? Or is it... I don't know... what? What the hell is up with all the noise?
Anyway, even aside from the porn-shitters, today was a pretty weird one. I hung out in Lancaster all morning. For some reason I just didn't feel like getting out of the shower. I don't know if it's the nozzle that lines up with my chin, the water pressure dropping every time someone flushed a toilet, or the cold draft that was pouring in over the door. For some reason though, it felt like I could hang out in there all day. Once I got prune hands, I decided that was enough. I watched a couple of movies and then headed south.
What's up with the wind? Seriously. Is there anywhere in this country where it's not blowing a hundred miles an hour this week? Between the gusts and the shitty surface on I-35, it was a bitch driving for the most part today. For a while I was leaning far enough left to make Hillary Clinton and V.I. Lenin proud. And I think we all know how I feel about the 'no trucks in left lane' stretch there. I was officially back on road rage alert.
I got a message from the shop telling me it was time for fuel filters, so I fought my way through Austin and got to the T/A in New Braunfels. The guy said it would be a little while, but I was ready for a little break anyway. I also needed a mud flap for my truck and the shop added a tractor lube and trailer inspection to the menu. Four hours later... I was rolling again.
The part of the trip after I left the T/A was a hell of a lot better. The wind was gone and the traffic was lighter. I rolled into Laredo a little while ago and heard what I expected to hear. The broker opens at 9am. I was dispatched to be here at 2am, why? Whatever man. I got on the board at #5 so there's a pretty good chance I'll be assigned to something before I drop this one off tomorrow. It's been a long time since I've seen Laredo with this few trucks. All I ever hear is how slow the freight is and how everyone's sitting, but I just keep rolling.
It sounds like the weather back home is a bitch these days. I wouldn't mind staying down south here for a while. The last couple of times I've been to Laredo, I've requested home time and headed north. This time I'm not going home, so I guess there's a chance I'll stay out of the real cold stuff for a few days.
Anyway, even aside from the porn-shitters, today was a pretty weird one. I hung out in Lancaster all morning. For some reason I just didn't feel like getting out of the shower. I don't know if it's the nozzle that lines up with my chin, the water pressure dropping every time someone flushed a toilet, or the cold draft that was pouring in over the door. For some reason though, it felt like I could hang out in there all day. Once I got prune hands, I decided that was enough. I watched a couple of movies and then headed south.
What's up with the wind? Seriously. Is there anywhere in this country where it's not blowing a hundred miles an hour this week? Between the gusts and the shitty surface on I-35, it was a bitch driving for the most part today. For a while I was leaning far enough left to make Hillary Clinton and V.I. Lenin proud. And I think we all know how I feel about the 'no trucks in left lane' stretch there. I was officially back on road rage alert.
I got a message from the shop telling me it was time for fuel filters, so I fought my way through Austin and got to the T/A in New Braunfels. The guy said it would be a little while, but I was ready for a little break anyway. I also needed a mud flap for my truck and the shop added a tractor lube and trailer inspection to the menu. Four hours later... I was rolling again.
The part of the trip after I left the T/A was a hell of a lot better. The wind was gone and the traffic was lighter. I rolled into Laredo a little while ago and heard what I expected to hear. The broker opens at 9am. I was dispatched to be here at 2am, why? Whatever man. I got on the board at #5 so there's a pretty good chance I'll be assigned to something before I drop this one off tomorrow. It's been a long time since I've seen Laredo with this few trucks. All I ever hear is how slow the freight is and how everyone's sitting, but I just keep rolling.
It sounds like the weather back home is a bitch these days. I wouldn't mind staying down south here for a while. The last couple of times I've been to Laredo, I've requested home time and headed north. This time I'm not going home, so I guess there's a chance I'll stay out of the real cold stuff for a few days.
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