Anne & Craigs Great Adventure

After delivering the tires to Ford in Chicago this morning we grabbed a Fedex load in Rock Island and we are heading to Portland Oregon.  Fingers are very crossed as we head across Nebraska (Nebraska has not been good to us).  Delivery at 2:00 AM on Saturday morning and then ?????  Loving the miles and it looks like it will be a good paycheck next week.

Anne got her HazMat endorsement on her license when we were home last week.  The security clearance letter had been sitting at home for six weeks and she finally got home to get it done.  So now that we both have it we will get a .04 per mile bump in pay.  That will help a lot.

Max is starting to adjust pretty well to the truck.  He is still panicked that Anne is going to disappear again and does not want to be out of her sight but even that is getting better.

Hopefully there will be nothing exciting to report the rest of the week 🙂

just when we think we know what is going to happen……..in literally the exact same spot we got the repower call last week we get one again. A solo driver has run out of hours an hour Southwest of St Louis with a critical load of tires for the Ford Chicago Assembly Plant. It must be delivered by 6:00 tomorrow or the line will shut down. We turn around and head to Pacific Missouri and swap trailers with him and we are now heading to Chicago.
It really sucks we will not be there for Anne’s Dad’s birthday.
The important thing is we keep moving….and we are

With apologies to Horace Greeley for misquoting him.

We had an awesome but short time home.  We saw the kids, the ones who live in Colorado anyway, and we made some changes in our wardrobes and we picked up Max.  Max is adjusting to his new life and is still scared to death that Mommy is going to disappear again.

Max, day 2 in the truck

Anyway, we had a slow day yesterday.  We picked up a trailer at the drop yard in Denver and took it to a Home Depot in South Denver.  It was a live unload so it took about two hours for them to empty.  We than ran 30 miles to Golden to get the trailer loaded with 35,000 pounds of pneumatic post hole diggers that we are taking to Tractor Supply in Hagerstown Maryland.  We are currently nearing St Louis MO and will deliver at 1:00 AM Friday morning.

Last night I had a very scary moment.  It was 11 PM and I was driving in Kansas on I-70 about half way across the State.  A couple of Police cars had passed me with lights on and flying about 20 minutes before so I had been expecting something.  I passed a couple of stopped police cars on both sides of the freeway.  About 2 minutes later I see many police cars heading West (towards me) and headlights coming straight at me.   A pickup truck is going the wrong way on the freeway and he was driving fast.  I turned on my flashers, hit the brakes and pulled way over on the shoulder and he went screaming past me.  Very close call.

So it turns out our delivery in MD is only 60 miles from Anne’s fathers home in Virginia so we SHOULD get to see him.  Thursday is his birthday and Anne has not seen him in two years and I have never met him. We really hope that it works out.

I wanted to say a little more about living in a small place with another person. Craig and I are lucky because we communicate really well. Even with that we still have our moments. Those things that can start out small can turn extremely large if you don’t deal with them. If you are a team driver and are married/dating/engaged you need to take a deep breath and let a lot of things go or you will go crazy. Craig and I were trained by different people, we drive differently, we learned different styles of driving. My trainer did OTR and Craig’s trainer was on a dedicated run. Translation for those that don’t know: OTR is over the road, you go wherever they send you. Dedicated means you do the same run and make drops along the way, usually. Both are great but I have never done dedicated and enjoy the OTR. New places every week but I think the day will come where that gets old. But for now it is a blast.  My biggest suggestion when you are teaming is to stay talking. There are times that Craig wants to shoot me and visa versa. We luckily have this habit of talking everything over. It might be later but we still talk it out and learn a lot about what was bothering us.

I was talking with Shelby and Aleena and sharing some of the trials of being in a small space and issues that I never would have known about. Bathrooms: when you are in a car you can find a place to stop at every exit. In a 18 wheeler you can’t just pull it over. You have to plan a little in advance and let me tell you. If you don’t it SUCKS. I have had to hold it  since there has been NO where to stop. Shelby asked why not just cop a squat outside. (those are her words in case you were wondering) well the time it happened to me the weather was not cooperating. Copping a squat in a blizzard is not my idea of fun.            Food: I can’t wait till we get our fridge so we can buy “real” food and be able to cook a little more healthy. Max (min pin) is coming out on the road with us and since he needs to walk I am hoping that Craig and I will get more exercise, especially since the weather is nicer now. On our way home the temperature ranged 35 degrees!!!! Today we are going to get his shots updated and health certificate so he will be legal on the truck. Some rules about driving over state lines LOL Being home has been AWESOME. Sleeping in a non moving object is one of the major pluses. I LOVE seeing our children!! But I sort of miss the truck. Major clue there is sort of LOL. I love our truck when we are out and think I will be happier now that I have been able to put all my stuff in it. I was so sick of the clothes I had from the last two months. It’s going to be a whole new world out there.

So, here is what a “typical” day looks like.  Generally Anne drives during the day and will shut it down about 11 PM to Midnight.  If we have time in the schedule, and we usually do, we both sleep for a few hours and then I get up about 3:00 AM and I start driving.  It is hard to sleep while the truck is moving, I think this will get easier as we get more miles under our belts but those few hours of solid sleep are important.  I am a morning person and I would usually be up by about 5 AM even if we were home so this works out pretty well.  I think 3 to 5 AM are the most dangerous times to drive unless you are well rested.   The Dept of Transportation will only allow a driver to drive for 11 hours before taking a 10 consecutive hour break.  And after you go on duty, you cannot drive after you have worked 14 hours before the same 10 hour break.  As a team this is not too much of a problem but it means that we cannot legally switch off on the driving as the 14 hour clock would start and we are on e-logs, which means the computer in the truck keeps track.

We stop every few hours for bathroom breaks at truck stops or rest areas.  To save money we usually eat in the truck.  We have a microwave and a tea kettle.  We will be adding a refrigerator this week. (yeah!)  We eat the Hormel Complete meals, Taste of Thai noodle meals (nummy) and Cup O Noodles.  Water in the truck is kind of a big deal so we buy gallons at the dollar store and usually have 3 or 4 gallons on hand.  Truck stops are very expensive so it is important to stay away if possible.  I will usually go in and fill my thermos cup with ice and then fill with Ice tea in the truck.  We fuel two or three times a day when we are running and each time you fill you earn a free shower.  We always take the time to take a shower each day.  You need to feel good and I do not want to look anything like half the truckers we see.  You can make time almost every day to take care of yourself.  There are times that the schedule makes it impossible.  We will usually get by a terminal sometime during a week and we will immediately throw laundry in when we arrive so we have yet to pay to wash clothes.  Terminals also have showers so you can take care of that if you have time also.

Your fleet manager controls your life so a good one makes all the difference.  We have a great fleet manager. Another couple who are also a husband and wife team for USX told Anne they heard about an awesome fleet manager and they were going to try to switch to him.  It was our FM.  Pretty cool.  Communication with your FM is key.  Make a friend and make sure you have your weekend planned BEFORE the weekend fleet manager comes on duty.  Our FM handles around 50 teams, the weekend guys handle about 250 teams each.

One of the hardest parts of this adventure is living with another person in about 45 square feet.  I love my wife a lot but we are both passionate people and sometimes you just need to close the curtain and be alone.

I think it is also very important to keep the truck clean.  We put everything away after using it, we use disposable plates and bowls (love my Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal in the morning) and the trash goes out a couple of times a day.

The bunk is just a little larger than a twin bed but we are newlyweds 🙂  We have a brand new mattress but you want a memory foam topper for it.  We use the upper bunk for storage and we will be strapping our fridge up there also.  There is a ton of storage in all of the cabinets on both sides and under the bunk (which lifts up)  We have a bunk heater which is a small furnace that is diesel fueled and we have a thermostat above the bunk to control it.  So nice to not have to idle the truck for heat.  In the summer the company allows us to idle for air conditioning if the outside temp is above 70 degrees.

For entertainment in the truck we have a flat screen tv (amazing how many digital channels there are in metro areas) Satellite radio and the stereo has a aux input for the ipod also.

Fatigue is your enemy, make sure as your shift goes on you take the time to think through each move before you make it.

That is pretty much it.  I have been asked by a couple of people to write this so if you have any questions, please ask.

So here are a couple of pics that kind of show why I love this job/lifestyle

Morning in St Louis

A demonstration of Anne's Navigational Prowess

OK, we have been running hard for the last week so let me try to catch everyone up.  After our delivery in Hayward there was nowhere to park.  We were sitting at the curb near the consignee’s waiting for a load assignment.  I was on the phone with my friend Shannon and she looked online and found a truck stop in Oakland, so we fired up the truck and headed over there (about 10 miles)  I will go ahead and call it a truck stop because the name included the words “Truck Stop”.  It was a joke and their parking was on the road.

The grand Oakland "Truck Stop"

This was right behind the Oakland Colosseum and NOT in a good area.  Anne sent a message to our fleet manager saying “It is scary here, we need to get to a truck stop”  He replied with “Get Going”  It was 57 miles to the nearest real truck stop near Modesto so we went there.  Nice warm day, we had showers and lunch and then got a message “No freight in the Bay Area, head to the Terminal in Colton”  That is our terminal in Southern California near Ontario.  We drove down and made some new friends, got our laundry done and a good nights sleep.  At 5:00 AM we got a load assignment from Long Beach California to New Jersey.  This was going to screw up our home time which was supposed to start on Friday but we accepted the load and got rolling.  It was a High Value Product load which meant that we had to have one person in the truck at all times and there were a ton of restrictions on where we could stop.  We ran through CA, AZ, NM, TX, OK, KS, MO and Illinois.

As we were crossing the bridge from St Louis to East St Louis Anne’s phone rings and it is our Fleet Manager.  Did we get the repower?  Nope…just then the computer dings.  We are to head 100 miles North to Springfield IL and meet another team who we will swap loads with.  They have a load going to Denver.  HOME TIME!!!  We grabbed the load from a very interesting team who hated each other.  It was a man and woman, they were not a couple and really did not know each other very well.  They both were rolling their eyes all the time behind each others back.  I cannot imagine that situation.  We got out of their quickly. 🙂

We ran through the night and made the delivery at 8:00 AM today.  We then ran to the USX drop yard in Denver and dropped our trailer and then, after talking to our service department about a number of small problems with the truck, they wanted us to stop by the Freightliner dealer and have them look at it.  It is now 3:45 in the afternoon and they are still working on the truck.  Also, we walked across the street for lunch and Anne badly twisted her knee.  I now have a very whiny (but cute) wife who just wants to go home.

——Letter to Craig=====

Dear Craig – As Yet Unmet son-in-law and FD,

I finally found out how to get to your blog and have enjoyed reading of your adventures. I find the technical details of special interest. It is hard to realize that my gently-reared daughter (FD or Favorite Daughter) is driving big rigs all around the country! When I was 17 I had a summer job involving driving smaller trucks with building supplies in CT but nothing like yours’! Let us know if your wanderings ever get anywhere near Northern VA. We have a neighbor and friend in rural France who drives such rigs all over the country. Ogden

Hey FD (favorite dad) I like the reference to your gently reared daughter. I can understand you having a hard time registering the fact that your little girl is driving an 18 wheeler cross country. We are having a blast doing it. We will totally try to get a trip east. Right now I am trying to get routed home so I can get some clothes, pack up the truck with our stuff, see Shelby and pick up Max. My trucker dog to be. We are sitting in California waiting to be unloaded of Yukon Jack. I didn’t know it was full I thought they were empty bottles LOL

I have not enjoyed California as much as I thought I would. The best part was In and Out. Love that place. We had trouble finding a place to park the tractor. They let us park the trailer at the shipping dock but we weren’t allowed to stay. Not the best part of town and we got kicked out of Walmart parking lot. And honestly I don’t think we wanted to stay there. Pretty sketchy is all I have to say. Weather is a lot nicer than Nebraska. I don’t think I’ve ever been that cold. I know it was cold too because Craig said so. LOL. He calls me a wuss about the cold so when he says it’s cold I know it’s cold. See what a good wife I am. Anyway we are almost unloaded and now we find out where they will send us. Please let it be somewhere we want to go 😉

The good news was the truck was an easy fix, the bad news was that nothing was really broken.  Just a clogged emission fluid injector.  The problem with that is there is no telling when it will happen again and there is no preventative actions that can be taken.  We got the truck back on Friday afternoon and headed out to the truck stop on I-80 where we waited for a new load from our fleet manager.  We were worried as there is not much freight that originates in Nebraska.  Big surprise when the computer “dings” with a load assignment in less than an hour.  It is a repower and we need to run 150 miles East to Aurora NE to meet a solo driver who is bringing the load to us that we will then run to Hayward California (just south of Oakland)  No rush since he will not arrive until the wee hours of the morning.  The weather sucks and bobtailing on ice is not fun so I take my time.  We also run into Grand Island to a Best Buy and get a TV for the truck.  I saw an ad online for a 16″ flat screen for $99.  Too good to pass up until we can afford something better.  We get to the Love’s Truck Stop in Aurora and go to sleep.

The load arrived at 4 AM and we started West.  Nebraska was a mess, ice and snow the whole way.  We made it to Cheyenne just after noon and our daughter, Shelby, met us with one of the dogs and a few supplies since we were only 45 miles North of home.  Anne had not seen her daughter in two months so it was so nice to spend an hour with her.  Then we were off across the rest of Wyoming, Utah and into Nevada.  About midnight, Anne decided she was done driving and we stopped in a rest area.  We were so far from anything that the computer listed our location by latitude and longitude instead of a town.  pretty funny.

We sat still for a few hours then we were off again across Nevada and into California.  The weather was cool but clear and beautiful.  Donner Pass was clear and dry and we are now sitting in the parking lot of a mall in Hayward CA.  No parking anywhere near here and no truck stops.  Had dinner at an In-N-Out Burger.  So tasty.  Delivery is at 7:00 AM tomorrow and then we will be off to ?????

OK, so we got up the next morning and called our fleet manager to check on the repower.  My FM was not in and so I got another guy who was LOSING HIS MIND!  It was kind of funny, this guy is going to have a stroke.  Turns out he had not checked messages from the night before and was not even working on a repower for us since he was not aware of it.  So I got him to calm down a bit and told him we would wait to hear.  An hour later we got a message on the truck computer that a team was on the way and would arrive at 2:00 to get our load.  We had a nice lazy morning and Anne reorganized the cab.  Tim and Amy, a great husband and wife team who have been with USX for 3 years showed up 1/2 hour early.  They have a 2011 Freightliner Cascadia and is was awesome to see how they had theirs set up.  I called breakdown and they wanted to send a wrecker to tow us 50 miles back to North Platte, I suggested we try to drive it and they agreed.  So we bob-tailed to North Platte and made it with no problem, stopped at Walmart to restock the food cabinet and then stopped by the repair shop to make sure they were going to get us in.  They had told us Friday originally but now said Thursday afternoon.  That was good news.  We headed back out to the freeway to park at a truck stop.  We had gotten a call from Mike and Peggy who I mentioned earlier we met in Tunnel Hill, they were running a load from St Louis to Sacramento and would be coming through North Platte that evening.  They met us at the truck stop and we all went out to dinner together.  It was great to see them.

So today we got up and I ate my Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal (tasty)  We then both had showers and waited until about 1:00 to fire up the truck to run it over for our 1:30 repair appointment.  We got a half block before the red “STOP ENGINE” light came on and the power just about shut down.  I had been debating whether I had made the right decision to give up the load.  Decision was now confirmed as a good one.  Called breakdown and they sent a wrecker to get us and tow us to the shop.  Then they put us up in a pretty nice hotel where we hope that the truck will be fixed tomorrow.  We will see.

On the hook

OK, you just gotta love freezing rain. Day started off badly when I missed the stop signal at a Weigh Station entering Kentucky. I really did think I had the green light but just looked down too soon. He came chasing after me and made me come around. My sales skills really paid off and I got off with a warning. Be nice makes a difference folks. I made a joke about it and got him talking about everything BUT my stupidity. I felt pretty fortunate pulling out of there for free. The fine, by the way would have been $500. VERY cheap lesson learned.

Then the weather turned nasty. Hard, cold, blowing rain in Indianapolis and then it turned to freezing rain. Very treacherous so we cut the speed down to about 35 and limped into the Markham IL terminal where we dropped our trailer and got an empty. Headed to Moline IL 155 miles away for a Fedex load to Boise. We had a fuel stop at the Lincoln NE Terminal so we took showers and did a load of laundry. Weather is cold and dry so driving was going great……..was.

About halfway between North Platte NE and Sidney NE I got a bunch of waring lights on the dash, all amber so not an emergency. I was able to drive about 10 miles to Ogallala where there is a TA Truck Stop. Pulled out the manual and then did a check with the on board diagnostics. Have two fault codes for the engine. Both are Amber (Red means shut down in 30 seconds) I called breakdown and they had me try to reset it but to no avail. We have been shut down and need to go back to North Platte to a service center. They are going to re-power our load (have someone else come and get it) so we need to wait for the new team to arrive. We are not anywhere near a populated area so the wait may be long. I also called Fedex to let them know their freight was going to be delayed. Going to hop in the bunk and get some sleep.
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