Winter is here and stuck in Califonria

Hello everyone!  I'm writing this from the cafeteria/driver's lounge at Schneider's Fontana, California OC (Fontana is near San Bernardino, about 40 miles east of LA, where I-10 and I-15 intersect).  We are currently on day 3 of being stuck in LA -- more on that later.  

Too hard and too fast for me.  The last time I wrote, I mentioned that Terry and I had been asked to run a dedicated route for a week.  All I can say about that week is that the tight schedules on those runs just about exhausted me; we had to run at top speed non-stop the whole week.  And, the last load, we just didn't have enough hours to run legally (it would have put us well over our 70 hours in 8 days limit), so we just made our last run from Wisconsin to Carthage, Missouri (just east of Joplin), and then decided to get a hotel and tell Schneider we'd be available to run the next day (a Saturday).

I normally sleep about 5 or 6 hours a day, and in the truck while it's moving, it's hardly ever that long at one time; I typically just take little naps when I'm in the truck and we're rolling.  Some days I sleep better than others.  But by the time we shut down that Friday morning in Joplin, I was physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted.  Maybe 20 years ago I could have run like we had that week without lingering ill effects, but it ain't 20 years ago and I'm feeling every minute of my 42 years when we stopped.  

I lay down at 3:00 pm Friday and didn't stir, roll over, wake up until the next morning at 5:30.  I got up then just long enough for a visit to the reading room (but no reading this time) and then went right back to sleep until I finally got up about 8:30.  That's about 17 1/2 hours of sleep.  And I needed it.  I felt great when I woke up the next morning.

Some truck drivers like to run hard and fast, at full-tilt capacity, all the time.  They like to drive as fast and far as they can.  

I'm not like that.   I like to pace myself.  One reason is that I love to drive, but I hate to rush.  And I have to ask the question:  "Why?  What's the advantage?"  All of us have the limitations imposed upon us that we can only drive so many hours in a specific amount of time (8 days in this case).  If a driver uses up his hours in 6 days, he's sitting for two days anyway.  There is no advantage; he's not running (in theory, all else being equal) any more miles or making any more money than I am as a slower driver.  

My ideal pace (this is what I did most of the time as a solo driver) is to start early in the morning, run about 500 miles and then shut down in the middle of the afternoon.  That's what works best with my natural body rhythms and inclinations.  Of course, there are times when you can't run like that; a truck driver's schedule is dictated by the pick-up and delivery schedule of the load he's under at that moment; some loads are tighter than others.  Sometimes you just have to rush; there's no remedy for it.  I don't mind that occasional sprint.  But if I had to do it all the time, I would quickly lose my love for driving a truck, and I'd go be a greeter at Wal-mart or something else that I'd like to do.  

I'm too old to do something I don't like to do, and I am very fortunate to have experience and skills so that I've always been able to choose jobs that I've liked very well.  

Seeing family.  For the first time since we started driving in March, a couple of weeks ago, I scheduled some time to see my family in Georgia.  I enjoyed it tremendously, but, as always, there was not enough time to see everyone I really wanted to see.  

I got to enjoy some great time with my Mama (we took a day to go to a place in Tennesee called The Lost Sea that we'd been to when I was 5 or 6 years old and that was very enjoyable for both of us, I think), my sister and her family, and some cousins.   I got to see my grandmother (Nanny) also.

Winter at last.  This past week, we experienced our first dose of real winter driving in Colorado and Utah.  We were on a series of loads for Fed-ex that took us from LA up to the Chicago area, and then from Chicago over to Salt Lake City, Utah.

To get to Chicago, they routed us (for some reason) up I-15 to I-70, and that took us east through Utah and Colorado.  As we started heading up into the mountains that night (Terry's shift), we encountered quite a bit of snow.  I slept through the whole thing in Utah, but then we changed shifts and I got my turn.

There is one area (beginning near the Vail pass on I-70 -- you've heard of Vail as a ski mecca before) where trucks are required to have tire chains.  I've had training in using those things, but have never had to use them before, so it was a new experience for both of us.

About daylight, we were in a place where we had to put them on:  it was about 21 degrees, snowing, and the roads were pretty messy; not icy yet, but just covered in snow in places.  The wind wasn't really bad or we just wouldn't have been able to (safely) cross the pass and make it down to Denver.

I was a little anxious about driving for the first time in that much snow on the mountains, especially coming down; coming down, you have the load behind you pushing you down, making you pick up speed very quickly, but you are limited in your options for slowing down.  So, I just started out slow at the top and kept it that way as best I could.  Since we didn't fall off the mountain or crash, I guess I did alright.

When we got to Denver, I was able to meet my Daddy at a local truck stop (he's working in Denver for several months) for about a half hour.  We had a very nice visit.

After we got through Denver, all the way across the rest of Colorado and Nebraska, there were very high winds (but no snow or rain) that made driving hard in some places.  

On our way back from Chicago to Salt Lake City, we ran into more high winds and winter weather going across Wyoming and Utah.  From Salt Lake City, they had us take an empty trailer over 600 miles down to LA.  We left Salt Lake last Saturday night.

As we came out of the mountains, by the time we got to Las Vegas (one of the most beautiful sites I've ever seen is coming out of the high desert from northern Nevada and seeing miles and miles of lights from Las Vegas suddenly sprawling across the desert horizon.  One moment it's totally dark out there, and then you come over this rise, and it's there.   Just breathtaking every time I see it.) it was in the 50's and we were driving in dry weather.

Then we got to California.  It was early Sunday morning.  I saw these signs "High winds ahead.  High profile vehicles not recommended."   After 20 miles, when there weren't any winds, I stopped looking for them.

Then, almost out of the mountains north of San Bernardino on I-15, close to the Sierra Avenue exit, the first gusts hit.

I thought the truck was going to turn over; remember, we've got an empty trailer, so it didn't take much wind to shake it around.  These gusts were (we found out later) up to 80 or 85 miles per hour.  

It scared me much worse than driving in the snow over the Vail pass last week.  I yelled at Terry to wake up:  "Wake up Terry!  The truck's going to turn over!  Wake up!"

I slowed the truck down, tried to keep it in the road, and pulled over under an overpass, which provided some shelter from the winds, if not very much.  The truck shook like we were in a hurricane or tornado.

We were the only truck pulled over for a while, except for a couple of trucks and an RV stopped on the northbound side.  But, several hours later, when we were still stuck there -- only 12 miles from the Schneider OC in Fontana, where I am writing this entry -- we were in a crowd of trucks, RV's, cars and motorcycles that had stopped.  

I took some video with my phone.  The quality is not great, but if I decide it's worth posting on Youtube, I'll update the entry with links.  

Just when I was starting to think about maybe trying to leave where we were after several hours (Terry had been able to go back to sleep after my imitation of Chicken Little was over), I was watching the traffic, and suddenly, this truck on the northbound side which had been stopped on the side of the road for over an hour started to move again.  After only about 100 yards, the wind caught it and flipped it on its side like it was a little toy.

It was scary to watch.  The driver was able to get out and wasn't hurt.  But it made me realize that I had made the right decision to stay put.  

After about 12 hours, the winds started to die down a little bit (they are worst at night and early morning), we did make it the rest of the way to the OC, but we have been stuck here ever since.  We have been assigned 3 loads, but have been unable to even make it to go pick them up.

Fires and winds are all over the TV news -- you may have seen it if you haven't been living in a cave.  

Anyway, we are okay.  That's the main thing.  But we are ready to get on the road again.  I know that for sure.

Movies.  Terry and I have been able to see a couple of good movies lately.  The first one, 3:10 to Yuma, we saw several weeks ago while we were up in Illinois, near St. Louis.  We took time one Saturday afternoon to drop our trailer in the Schneider facility in Edwardsville, Illinois, and we bobtailed (just drove the truck with no trailer) up to Altonville, Illinois, a small village northeast of St. Louis.  We enjoyed a great movie (which  was a remake of an earlier movie, which was an adaptation of a short story by Elmore Leonard; I haven't seen the original movie or read the short story yet, but plan to) and the downtime outside the truck was good.  

Yesterday, we took a cab to a mall a few miles from here and saw the movie Michael Clayton and we both found it interesting.  It took me a while to get into it, but once I did, it was very intriguing.  

In a little while, we're going to see Into the Wild, which could sometimes be the title of a movie depicting a trek into many truck stops.  

Billy Day.  Our good friend in Texas, Billy Day, is having a procedure done this Friday -- Billy, you are in our prayers and we expect to hear from you soon by e-mail.  He will think it is funny to see his name in the blog this time.  

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy.  I'm currently enjoying this book that Terry recommended to me.  It's my first book to read by McCarthy (to my surprise), and it's quite a graphic tale of violence and brutality in the Old West.  Another McCarthy book, No Country for Old Men, is soon to be made into a movie.  I'm looking forward to reading others book he's written.  

I'll cut things off there.  It's almost time to leave here to go to the movie.  Hopefully, before I write again, we will have been able to leave here.  

Until next time . . . keep the wheels rollin' (except when the winds are blowing 80 mph) . . .
Allan

One result of thinking while driving . . .

My, how time flies! Hello, everyone! I thought since it's been a month, it should be time to write in the blog. Lots of things have been happening in the Orange truck we call Lori.

A word of explanation before I begin in earnest: this entry will likely also bleed over into some personal journaling, but I'll cover the trucking stuff first, and then will warn you before I venture off into more personal thoughts and journaling. Then you can decide if you want to continue reading or not. I hope you do.

“Roll on, big wheels, roll on!”. Those words are adapted from a cool Alabama song called “Roll on”.

Last time we joined our heroes (isn't everyone the hero of their own story?), the wheels were not rolling. They were waiting.

The only thing drivers do more than drive is wait. Wait for a load. Wait to be loaded. Wait to be unloaded. Wait in construction. Wait in bad weather. Wait for payday {laughing}. Wait while the truck is being repaired.

We had picked up a load on a Friday down in Laredo that had to be up in St. Charles, Missouri, for a live unload at noon on Monday. (That would have been September 10th, if you are keeping track.) It didn't make sense to go all the way to St. Charles two days early; we could have gone to the Schneider OC (Operating Center) northeast of St. Louis, but we would have been no better off. So we opted to stop in St. Robert, Missouri, just off I-44, and wait out the time there until Monday morning.

Terry spent that time mostly watching football, watching movies, and catching up on sleep. I spent time on the computer, reading, watching some TV and also sleeping quite a bit. Terry also made a run to Walmart to get some things that he needed.

Monday morning came and we drove the rest of the way to St. Charles. We got there early (but only a couple of hours instead of a couple of days). I went in to find out which door we would be assigned to back into on the dock, and the guy in the office didn't have our load number scheduled. He said our load wasn't scheduled until Wednesday! What!?! We've already had this load as deadweight for almost 3 days, and now we still can't get it unloaded!?!?

It was really funny; at worst, we would have been told to drop the load somewhere so it could be relayed by someone else on Wednesday. But, after a couple of phone calls (“have your people call my people and we'll do lunch”), we were able to get unloaded as we were originally told we would be. There was just a mixup when various folks were talking to one another (and I'll bet there was no lunch, either).

I'm going to fast-forward through time a little bit and simply list the places we've gone since the last entry. Hold on to your hats.

St. Charles, MO --> Kansas City, MO --> Portland, OR --> Sumner, WA --> Portland, OR --> Clackamas, OR --> South Gate (LA), CA --> Wurtsboro, NY --> New Milford, CT --> Newport, MI --> Grand Rapids, MI --> Laredo, TX (yay! Texas! My fave place in the world!) --> Pharr, TX --> Olive Branch, MS --> W. Memphis, AR --> Ogden, UT --> Fontana, CA --> W. Memphis, AR --> Dallas, TX --> Grapevine, TX --> Stuarts Draft, VA --> Chesapeake, VA --> West Jefferson, OH --> Hilliard, OH --> Mt. Pleasant, IA --> Wisconsin Rapids, WI --> Carthage, MO --> Logan, UT (we are at this very moment as I write this on our way to Logan, traveling with 40,000 pounds of cheese (that's a lot of pictures to smile for) through the mountains of beautiful Wyoming with gusting winds of over 65 mph) --> then back to Carthage, MO --> then to De Pere, WI.

In the 3 weeks and 3 days since the last blog entry in going to all those places, we've have driven over 19,000 miles. It still amazes me how many places and how many miles we go in a very short time. And that time includes some downtown (3 days) when we had to attend Winter training, put the truck in the shop, and Terry had to have some things done.

Some notes about the last 3 weeks.

• We have managed recently to make it to all of the remaining lower 48 states that we hadn't been through yet except North Dakota. These included Oregon and Minnesota. Not too bad for six months on the road to have been to 47 states and Canada. Pretty cool if you ask me – I think I have the very best job in the world! Go ahead and envy me.
  

• The place in New York that we went to (Wurtsboro) was a beautiful little village (maybe they would call it a hamlet up there in New England) in western New York, not far across the Pennsylvania line. After we delivered our load there, we took time to just walk around the little town (we didn't have a trailer so it was easy to park the truck) and we found a great little pub and grill (Benny's) where we had a nice meal, and Terry got to watch some of a football game.
  

• Have you ever had a problem with your car, or washing machine, or another appliance, but it disappears as soon as you have a repairman take a look at it? The car clangs, bangs, hiccups, and sputters for weeks. When you finally take it in to the shop, it runs as if it just drove off the factory floor. Well, we've both felt like something wasn't quite right with the brakes on our nearly-new (it's a 2007 model) truck since shortly after we started driving it. It stops – it's not as simple as that. It just feels and sounds funny. It's nothing I can put a finger on. But we've told several maintenance folks at several Schneider OC's; they always either ignore us or look at it and tell us everything's okay. Hmmm. I don't know what's up, but everything's not okay.
  

• The drive from Laredo to Pharr, Texas, down US 83 towards Brownsville and McAllen is beautiful. Most of the way on that road, you can literally look over to the southwest and look into Mexico. And, for all practical purposes, as far as language and culture is concerned, that area resembles Mexico in a beautiful way (not the least of which is that there are plenty of beautiful women to smile at and acknowledge, and think about later – ah, Heidi, you are everywhere at all times, are you not?).
  

• Last Sunday, when we were on our way to Hilliard, Ohio, with our load, we got a phone call from someone at Schneider who coordinates loads for a dedicated account (the drivers who work on a dedicated account only work with that customer, and usually deliver to the same places all the time; Terry worked on Schneider's Family Dollar account before we started teaming.) for a frozen foods company. She wanted to know if we would be willing to help them out because some of their regular drivers were sick (or maybe one of their regular teams more precisely). Very tight schedules but the runs would be all drop-and-hook (no live loads or unloads) and we'd get plenty of miles. She told us some of the places we'd go: Wisconsin, Missouri, Utah. Of course we'll go; you had us at “Utah”. Or anywhere out west. So, that's what we're doing now, probably through the end of this week.
  

Well, that pretty much catches you up on what's been going on with the Lonesome Dove Xpress the past few weeks.

We'll have a short intermission so that those of you who wish to leave at this point may do so without disturbing others. House lights, please. (My eyes look in vain for Heidi – she was here only moments ago in this entry, I would swear it! But she is gone faster than a wisp of smoke taken on a whisper of wind. * sigh * )


{cool music from Norah Jones and Blueground Undergrass plays for your enjoyment}


Are you still here? Great! The rest of this entry will mostly be personal, not directly related to trucking. What I've written here (as always, but especially now) are my own opinions, and have nothing to do with Terry or his own views. I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you kept that in mind, especially if I write something that upsets you (and I hope I do; I hope, if you bother to read this part, that something I write challenges you to think, challenge yourself, come outside the confines of your boundaries).

Ready or not, here we go!

Last lecture of a dying man: Randy Pausch. If you were sick and knew you had about a month to live, what would you do? How would you react? That's exactly the situation that Dr. Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie-Mellon University found himself in.

Amazing story of courage and what's really important – at least to this one man.

This first link is to a short summary of the speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a60ATArNEcQ

Here's a link to the entire speech (about 2 hours total): http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=362421849901825950&hl=en

Do you use Youtube a lot? If you use Youtube, Googlevideo, or other similar sites to watch streaming video very often, you've probably wondered how you could save those videos to your computer. The answer (at least one that I've found that I like) is a program called Atube Catcher. Download it here:
http://easynews.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/youtubecatcher/YouTubeCatcher_1_0_rc2_r109_english_setup.msi


Just for fun: “What old people do for fun” video. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8735889757702013026&q=what+old+people+do+for+fun&total=1184&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

“Never talk about religion or politics.” Except when it's your blog and you can talk about whatever you want. You could have left during the earlier intermission. * laughing *

I confess: I'm a political junkie. I have been since high school when my political belief system was being formed. I even got to work for my senator (Sam Nunn) when I was in high school. There are several things to write about under this general heading.

Rudy! What were you thinking?!?! Recently, the major Republican candidates for President spoke to the NRA, a group most people acknowledge is important to be on friendly terms with as a possible Republican nominee. Rudy Giuliani was one of the ones who spoke.

Rudy already scares many conservative Republicans because of his past statements on various social issues. He really needed to make a good impression with this already-dubious crowd. During his speech, his cell phone rings! His cell phone rings! He answers. It's his wife. He talks to her, interrupting his speech to do so.

I like Rudy, and have been leaning toward supporting him over the other Republican candidates for months now (the only other possible person I've considered supporting is John McCain of those I think are electable to begin with; many of the Republican candidates are nice guys who stand for many things I agree with, but they are not, in my opinion, electable for any number of reasons.), but this gives me pause.

Link to one version (among many) story here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297649,00.html

Hillary will be the Democratic nominee and she may win the election. Here's why. First of all, in my opinion, unless something truly dramatic and unforeseeable happens, Hillary is already the de-facto Democratic nominee. The formalities still have to be gone through, but in the end, she is the only credible candidate for the Democrats.

Barack is nice – but he needs to be in the Senate a little longer, in my opinion. He caused a splash when he first entered (much like the idiot known as Howard Dean), but it's for all practical purposes died down already.

John Edwards is a joke. Please. Do any Dems even take him seriously?

Is there any other Democratic candidate who could seriously contend for the nomination, much less the Presidency?

Why I think Hillary might win. First of all, let's get this out of the way: Hillary is one of the shrewdest, most intelligent, and ambitious people in the country today. To dismiss her or not take her seriously is to almost certainly spell defeat for anyone who does so.

Hillary is also one of the most divisive personalities in any public arena today. Even within her own party.

She has the advantage of many loyal supporters, access to sufficient financial resources, and the expertise of the most gifted politician of the baby-boomer generation in her husband, Bill. (Whatever you think of him personally, or his politics, I think Bill Clinton is the most naturally gifted politician certainly since Ronald Reagan. As an advisor, Karl Rove is probably in the same league, but I'm talking about just the politician as a man or woman.)

The reason I think Hillary might win has more to do with the Republicans than anything else. In this upcoming 2008 election year, several things are happening at once:

• You have a very unpopular President and a very unpopular war. Even those who were passionate supporters of George Bush and, in particular, the war in Iraq, have waned in their support, for whatever reason. At best, except for a few loyalists, most people are ambivalent towards both Bush and Iraq right now; perhaps weary is the better word.
• The so-called “Religious Right” is losing its influence and is unfocused for 2008. This is a two-part development. For over 20 years, beginning in 1980 with the election of Ronald Reagan (some would date it from the beginning of the Moral Majority in 1976), politically active conservatives (mostly Christians and mostly evangelicals) have grown in power and influence in the Republican party at large. This has had the practical effect of making the support of this group (who vote more actively than some other groups of Republicans) necessary to win the Republican nomination, and, by extension, the Presidency.
  

           Last year, some conservative Republicans not part of the “religious right”, voiced some dissent about the extent to which the religious conservatives had “hijacked” the party away from its traditional base of the party (those who are economically conservative, but not necessarily socially or religiously conservative).
          The most prominent example of this was an editorial written by former Texas congressman, Dick Armey. Link here: http://www.freedomworks.org/informed/issues_template.php?issue_id=2731
          In addition to a split between some parts of the Republican base that used to be allies, there is the fact that there is no single candidate in the Republican field (I should say “electable” candidate) to whom the majority of conservative religious voters have cast their alliegiance. And, in my opinion, this development, coupled with the split in the base, could equal a victory for Hillary.
          If people are not passionate and committed to something, they are not going to vote. Just look at the last congressional elections for the practical effect of this.
          I don't see anything or anyone on the horizon to change these things before the elections of 2008.
         Can you say “President Hillary Clinton”?

Political resources I like. Like I said, I love politics. Here are some blogs and a web site that I love – there are many more; these are just off the top of my head.

Real Clear Politics: in my opinion, the best web site for political junkies; has a conservative slant:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/

Ann Althouse blog: she's a law professor (formerly at University of Wisconsin in Madison, but she recently moved to Brooklyn and I never kept up with what that was all about), but writes about her political opinions a good deal. One of my fave blogs. http://althouse.blogspot.com/

Betsy Newmark's blog: Betsy is a teacher of AP Government and History in Durham, North Carolina. Always interesting. Definitely a conservative perspective. http://betsyspage.blogspot.com

Michael Barone: a writer for U.S. News and World Report, and a regular contributor on Fox News, his perspectives are always enlightening and many times challenging. Great read. http://www.usnews.com/blogs/barone/

Meagan McCardle: writes about economics (from a mostly Libertarian perspective) and other things; always interesting. The comments on her blog are almost as interesting as the original entries. http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/


Now, on to other things . . .

R.I.P. Robert Jordan. Robert Jordan, author of the best-selling fantasy series, “The Wheel of Time”, recently passed away after a long bout with illness. I was very sorry to hear about his death. His series is my favorite modern fantasy series by far. It has spanned 11 books so far, and the last one is still to be published (sometime in 2009 I think I read somewhere). Excellent series I'd recommend if you like fantasy. More info here: http://www.dragonmount.com/

Speaking of fantasy and science fiction . . . If you like fantasy and/or science fiction, I'd also recommend the Order and Chaos series by L.E.Modessitt. Wonderful stuff. Link to a good fansite here: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Rampart/9679/

Also, fantasy, anything by David and Leigh Eddings. Especially the Belgariad and Mallorean books.

Dark fantasy: try the first six novels by Stephen R. Donaldson – the Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever series. Very thought-provoking.

Science fiction: anything by Isaac Asimov (esp. the Foundation series) and Robert Heinlein (Stranger In a Strange Land should be read by every sci-fi fan – you grok?). Scores of other great writers that don't come to mind at the moment. For Christian sci-fi/fantasy, try anything by Stephen R. Lawhead. Excellent stuff.

Books I'm reading or have read recently. No energy to comment right now. I winding down as far as my energy goes, but this stuff is on my mind, so it demands expression, I suppose. Just a list:
Lonesome Dove and Roads (Larry McMurtry); The Outsider (Colin Wilson); Slaughterhouse Five (Kurt Vonnegut); Lisey's Story (Stephen King); False Memory (Dean Koontz). Others too numerous to remember; I'm a voracious reader. Ask anyone who really knows me.

Tornado in Eustis, Florida, where I used to live. For ten years when I was married, I lived in Eustis, Florida, about 30 miles northwest of Orlando. Almost two weeks ago, a good friend of ours (Terry and me), Van Freeman, called and told us about a tornado that went through Eustis. I hadn't heard anything about it, so I called Charlotte (my ex-wife) and made sure she and her family there were okay. She told me she was fine, and the house we had bought just six months before we separated was not damaged very much. But the tornado went right down that street, and most of the houses right around hers were destroyed or damaged a great deal. Link to the story for those interested: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/orl-eustisstorygallery,0,6188558.storygallery

I'm tired and that's all I can write for now – if you have made it this far, I admire your perseverance.

Until next time . . . keep the wheels rollin'!

Allan

Running hard and hardly running

Terry returns from vacation.  As planned, Terry returned to Dallas from his vacation, and by Monday morning after the last entry (this would have been August 20th), we were ready to roll.  And, as we had been told to expect, we got one of those "expedited" loads (the ones with possible escorts that you have to go 250-300 miles without stopping on and that you also have to tell Schneider every time you breathe on) going from Fort Worth up to a suburb of Chicago.

We picked up the load in Ft. Worth with no problem and (yippee!) there was no escort.  Now you're talkin', baby!

We had planned to change shifts up in Eufaula, Oklahoma, like we did last time on this load.  Several times on the way up, Terry said things like he couldn't "wait to get behind the wheel" and "I'm so ready to start driving".

It's funny how it's nice to be out of the truck sometimes, but after just a little while, it feels good to be back in the truck, too, seeing the next bend in the road.

Alison Krauss (ah, be still my heart!) has a song that sums up my feeling about driving and the road called "Gravity".  It is the theme for this part of my life, I suppose.  Great lyrics.  

About 20 minutes before we changed shifts, the cruise control went out on the truck, suddenly without warning.  We figured it was a short that we would have them look at in Chicago after we delivered our little top-secret (oh, gimme a break) load.

So we pull into the truck stop in Eufaula, change shifts, and Terry gets his wish to start driving.

For about 500 yards.  

Then the automatic transmission starts acting up, and the truck won't go any more.  By this time, we are out on the access ramp to get back on U.S. 69, and there is nowhere to go but over on the side of the road.

Just great.  

We have this load that they are so paranoid about being hijacked and stolen (I doubt they've even had anyone ever try to steal one of these loads, really), and here we are stuck on the side of the road out in the middle of nowhere.  Well, yes, I know I said we were in Eufaula, Oklahoma.  Like I said, stuck on the road in the middle of nowhere.  

One nice thing about Schneider in a situation like this is that when we do break down, we call a toll-free maintenance hotline that is staffed 24/7/365 up in Green Bay.  So we called them, explained the situation, and found out that Schneider is having a lot of problems with these automatic transmissions in the newer trucks (we have a 2007 model).   

One nice thing about us having this valuable load was that it sure got things moving in a hurry.  It still took about 3 hours to get someone out to tow us, but at least someone came.  We were still able to idle the truck with the air conditioner going, so we didn't have it so bad.  

Of course, Schneider had to decide what to do with the load we had.  Once they figured out our problem was major and the truck would have to be put into the shop to fix, they could either send someone out with another truck for us to drive (neither of us wanted to have to lug all our junk out of our truck into another truck) or they could have another team meet us wherever we were taking the truck (oh that's a funny part of this story -- just read on) and continue the load on up to Chicago.  They ended up decided to let another team meet us up in Muskogee, which is where we ended up being towed the first time.

They guy who came to get us was Dewayne, who owns D's Towing in Checotah, Oklahoma.  He also has a shop in Muskogee.  He was a nice guy and his business does lots of work for Schneider.

They had told us we were being towed to the Freightliner shop in Muskogee to have our truck looked at.  When Dewayne came to get us, he told us that he knows the shop in Muskogee and he told us they couldn't work on our transmission there because it's a small shop.  He told us we'd need to go to Tulsa to have it worked on.  

We figured that Schneider would like to know this since Dewayne knows the local shops really well.  So we called them, they thought about it for half a second and told us to go to Muskogee anyway "and we'll just see what happens in the morning when they open."  In other words, "You're just a driver so how could you know anything about this?"

We told Dewayne what they said, and he said, "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you in the morning when I come back to get you and take you up to Tulsa."

The next morning, the shop opened, and the guys told us exactly what Dewayne told us they would:  they couldn't work on it, and it would need to be towed up to Tulsa.  

One day wasted.

So Dewayne (and the wonderful calendar in his truck) came back to get us and take us on into Tulsa.

We had stayed in the truck that first night, but when we got to Tulsa the next afternoon, and they told us they wouldn't even get to look at it that day, we found a motel nearby and checked in.  

They had our truck ready the next day (day two).  There was some kind of "data link" in the computer that controls the automatic transmission (that's right:  our truck's transmission is controlled by a computer) that went bad and had to be replaced.

So we were ready to roll again.  And did we ever!

Running hard.  If you've been reading this blog at all, you know that we like running lots of miles because it gets us into a groove and the money is good.  If the wheels aren't rolling, we aren't making money.  It's as simple as that.  

After our truck was repaired, we ran non-stop for two weeks and a little more.

From Tulsa, we went down to Oklahoma City and picked up a loaded trailer that we took to Calexico, California.  That took us down on I-10 from El Paso into Arizona, and then on I-8 into California.  

Then we went back up to Phoenix and picked up a load going to Valdosta, Georgia.  Then we went to Mobile, Alabama, and picked up a load going to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Then, down to Colonial Heights, Virginia (just south of Richmond), to pick up one of those "expedited" loads going to Kent, Washington, near Seattle.  That load was our longest ever at about 2900 miles, and it took us through some of the states along I-90 that we hadn't been on yet.  

We got to go through South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and Washington state.  And it was probably my favorite run we've had so far.  I just loved going through that whole stretch, especially western Montana.  

That part of Montana was so beautiful, I'm already planning on taking my vacation up there next year, probably around Glacier National Park.  Can't wait to drive on the famous "Going To the Sun Road".  Read about it here if you want to.

By the time we got to Seattle, we were out of hours to run legally (you can only drive 70 hours in 8 days, and Terry and I both were against that limit), so we took a day to just relax and restart our hours at zero again.  

The next morning (this would have been Friday, August 31st), we picked up a load in Everett, Washington, that was going to McDonough, Georgia.  I could have stopped to see my family for an hour or two if we had been going through at the right time, but it just didn't happen.  

From there, we got loads that went up to Chicago and from there down to Laredo.

Hardly running.  Now, we have a load that's going from Laredo up to St. Louis.  We picked it up yesterday (Friday) and it doesn't deliver until Monday.  It's normally a run we could do in one day, but now it's a 3-day run because we can't deliver until noon on Monday.

So we drove from Laredo up to Oklahoma to visit with Terry's daughter and grandson, and now we are in St. Richard, Missouri, and will probably just stay here until Monday morning.  

Driving a truck is generally one extreme or the other:  running so hard, you're exhausted all the time, but making money; or, hardly running at all and having plenty of time, but not making money.  

But you know what?  In spite of those extremes, and the irritation of loads like the one we have now, I still love driving a truck as much as anything I've ever done, and to be able to drive through the country we have been able to see the past 3 weeks makes times like this tolerable.

And it's not like I mind taking a break.  That means I get to write in this blog.  

I love this life!

Until next time, keep the wheels rollin' (as long as your transmission holds out) . . .
Allan

Has it really been 3 weeks? Wow! Guess I need to write something . . .

Hello.  I'm writing this entry from the "Schneider hotel" -- the place Schneider uses for drivers to stay.  It's a Comfort Inn in Red Oak, Texas, just south of Dallas.

Terry has been on vacation for the past week, so I've been driving solo for the first time in several months.  Our truck was due for some routine maintenance, so I put it in the shop here in Dallas.  We're going to be rolling again tomorrow morning.  Julian (our dispatcher; Schneider calls them STL's; well, actually, they have a new name for them now, but I don't remember what it is; it's sort of like spring cleaning at many big companies:  well, it's been six months since we jumbled things around, so let's change some names and realign some departments so it will look like we're doing something) told me Friday to expect one of my favorite kinds of loads tomorrow:  one of those endearing "expedited" loads that I wrote about last entry.

Guess the joke's still going on even though the audience didn't laugh at it the first time and they've all gone home.

Before Terry's vacation.  The time since the last entry before Terry went on vacation was mostly good for us as far as miles go.  At one point right after the last entry, we had taken a load up to Pennsylvania.  From there, we picked up a live load in Long Island, New York.  To get there from where we were, we had to go through New York City (to me, any time we have to cross the George Washington Bridge on I-95, that's going through NYC).

It actually wasn't too bad this time.  We had some rush-hour traffic on our way out, but it still moved better than I've seen it in the past.  

The load we picked up in NYC was going Los Angeles, so we could put up with traffic for a while.  At almost 2800 miles, it's the longest single load we've gotten so far.  It was sweet.  If we had our choice, we'd just drive back and forth from coast to coast all the time -- so would every other driver out there, just about.

From LA, we got a load going up to Canada, near Toronto, Ontario.  I've been to Canada twice before:  once, in the early 1990's, I went up there for a month driving as part of the road crew for a Christian rock band.  I got to drive from Chicago (where I was living at the time) west to Washington state, and then north up into British Columbia.  During that month, we worked out way east through the Rockies and the plains of southern Canada, ending up in Montreal.  It was one of the most special times of my life.  For some of the concert stops, we got to stay in the homes of people in the area, so that was special, too.

The only other time I went to Canada was in December, 2005, when I was driving solo for Schneider.

We were both excited about going to Canada.  Most drivers hate going to Canada, but I think we would go to Canada as often as they will send us.  

Getting into Canada was a little bit of an adventure.  The shipper in California didn't have all the right paperwork for part of the load, and, to make a long story short, they gave us incomplete instructions about the proper procedures for handling that type of load (most of the time, everything is electronic, and if everything is done correctly, it is almost like going through the check-out line at Wal-mart or somewhere).  We got delayed at the border, and a couple of times, we thought they were going to send us back across the border.  

They did finally let us through, and we got to spend the better part of two days up in Ontario.  Beautiful country, and the people are very nice also.  

We didn't have any problems getting back into the US with our return load.  

Terry's vacation.  Terry had scheduled this past week for his vacation several months before we started teaming.  He has been looking forward to it for a long time.  He had scheduled it to coincide with his grandson, Deegan's, first birthday.

So, one week ago, I dropped Terry off in West Memphis, Arkansas, where his truck has been parked since we drove there in March to pick up our truck (Lori).   From there, he went up into northern Arkansas where his daughter and her husband (Allicia and Jesse) and, of course, Deegan, live.

We talked on the phone a few times while he was on vacation, but pretty much, we've had the longest time apart since we started teaming.  That was probably good for both of us -- gave us a chance to take showers and that sort of thing.  

Terry's coming into Dallas later today and he has some things to do before we head out in the morning.  

Driving solo.  It was very weird being the only one in the truck after teaming for over five months.  Sometimes, with two people sharing such a cramped space 24/7 for months on end, the truck seems very tiny.  This week, it seemed inordinately large.  I enjoyed the solitude most of the time, but I also missed Terry, and am glad he's coming back today.  I missed him.

When I dropped Terry in West Memphis last weekend, we were under a load to Laredo.  I drove as far as Dallas before shutting down, and then drove the rest of the way to Laredo the next day.

There was some confusion in Laredo about my next load because they gave the wrong trailer number (the trailer they told me to get was actually empty in Laredo, but they showed it being loaded and in Mexico).  So I waited all day Monday in Laredo for a loaded trailer to come in from Mexico when it was sitting there empty the whole time.  

Finally got the trailer confusion cleared up, and I was able to leave the next morning up to Tulsa, Oklahoma.  I stopped in Dallas for my break on the way up.  

Then it took forever it seemed to get my next load:  picking up in Muskogee, Oklahoma, for delivery over 24 hours later about midnight in Fort Worth.  From Muskogee to Fort Worth is about 300 miles, so I spent most of the time on that load waiting.  

Actually, I spent much more time last week waiting than I did driving.  The total miles I drove last week (about 1800) Terry and I typically will cover in about 36 hours (including stopping for breaks and that sort of thing), so it was a real change of pace.

I was sort of on (unpaid) vacation this week myself, and I'm sure I'll know just how much of a vacation I've been on next Friday when I find out how much I'm getting paid.  

That's just the way things work sometimes.

Well, that about catches things up for you.  

Until next time . . . keep the wheels rolling!

Allan

When the joke's on me . . .

It may be funny now -- it wasn't funny at the time.  At the time, I was more stressed and frustrated than I have been in a long time driving a truck.  

Terry was asleep.

When he woke up and I told him about it -- all seriousness -- he laughed harder than he's laughed in a while.

And -- after a while -- I laughed too.

It all started about a week ago, on a Sunday.  We delivered a load early Sunday morning to a Sears warehouse in downtown Dallas.  If you know either of us, or have read this blog much at all, you know that we love going to "The Great State of Texas" (to borrow a statement from the President), and especially Dallas.

A bit of a detour from the story here:  we exited off I-30 in downtown Dallas at Ervay Street to get to the Sears warehouse.  It was like coming full-circle for Terry and me, because we first met just a few blocks north on Ervay back in July, 1986.   We met when he came in to take over at the job I was just leaving.  We went to college together, and did similar work with inner-city kids, and now, 20 years later, we're back there, still working together (with a 20 year break in between of course).  It's odd the turns life takes sometimes.

Okay, now back to our original story:  when we are in Dallas, several times we have gotten what's known as an "expedited load".  

Originally, we thought, "Oh boy!  A chance to deliver some really valuable freight on time and show them how well we do this job!"  

Now we know the truth:  "expedited load" means a whole lot of hassle with no extra reward.

We always get these "expedited loads" from the same place, and the loads are either going to California or up to Louisville, Kentucky.  At least the load going California has the miles to make the hassle a little more tolerable:  we get paid for the miles and we end up in Southern California -- a place we like to go almost as much as "The Great State of Texas".  But loads to Louisville have all the hassles and the miles are short, so we're not making that much money -- and, nothing against Louisville, but it's not a place I just long to go to.

Okay, here's how these "expedited loads" work:  first of all, they are live load and live unload.  And the place that we pick up the load in Dallas doesn't know what "expedited" means.  Every time we go there, it takes forever, and twice -- TWICE -- we have had them put the wrong stuff on our trailer, only to have to take it back off and reload it.

The security is so tight, it would be easier to get into the White House -- and yet they can't do the basic job of keeping things in their warehouse straight!  It would be laughable if we weren't so irritated at the long wait -- it takes about 30 minutes to load or unload a full trailer with a skilled forklift driver, but it takes the "expedited load" folks anywhere from 2 to 7 hours to load our trailer.  This is time that we are largely uncompensated for -- well, we start getting paid a nominal hourly rate after we wait over a certain amount of time, but it is a fraction of what we would make driving.

Once we get the trailer loaded, the hassles really begin:  we cannot stop for any reason for the first 250 miles (due to the possibility that someone would try to hijack the load for theft); and after that, whenever we do stop, for any reason, for however long (and it can never be for too long), we have to send a message to someone on our satellite unit that we have stopped and why, and then send another message when we start moving again.  There is also the very real possibility that we could be followed by someone the shipper contracts with to monitor load security to make sure we are following all these procedures.  

Before we leave (this is when we are at the shipper waiting until we are almost old enough to retire to be loaded), someone from that company "interviews" us to make sure we understand all the rules.  (There is one woman who does the interviews about our age that I love being interviewed by; the other guy there I have nicknamed "Lurch" because he's tall, thin and reminds me of the guy on the Addams Family a little bit.)

So, this Sunday about a week ago, we get a load from this place to the place in Louisville.  You could have heard our groans from wherever you were -- and I'm sure you did.  You thought someone around you had indigestion, didn't you?

We get loaded, and deliver the load right on time on Monday morning.  Monday afternoon, we drive north about 50 miles up the road to Seymour, Indiana, and get a Walmart load (drop and hook on both ends -- yay!) that's going back down to Palestine, Texas -- oh, good, we're going back to Texas!  Hooray!

Wait a minute -- not so fast!  The next load (by now it is early Tuesday morning; you almost have to buy a program at the box office to keep up) is in Dallas -- good so far -- and it's from (say it isn't so, Auntie Em!) that place!

Double GROANS this time!  It's going to (please say "California") Louisville.

All of that to tell you the story of what happened in the middle of the afternoon last Tuesday.

On all the loads we've had from Dallas to Louisville for these clowns (except for you, E!), the place we have been told to stop is in Prescott, Arkansas, which is roughly 241 miles from the place we pick up in Dallas.  But since we were told it was okay to stop there several times, we just figured it was close enough for the people so worried about their precious stuff.

So, I've been driving several hours, from Dallas to the first place we can stop -- Prescott.  I decide to go to the TA truck stop at exit 44 off I-30 in Arkansas.  I'm hungry and I've really gotta go -- worse than I can remember in a long time.

Of course, I've got to send in a message letting the folks know what I'm doing.  Well, I decide to be funny -- I do this all the time, and if you know me at all, you know I am telling the truth.  

So instead of a boring message like "Stopped for break" I type something like this:

"Stopped for break because there has been too much flooding in this area already."  

You probably know that there has been much too much rain in the southwest, especially Texas, Oklahoma, and parts of Arkansas.  I thought (erroneously, it turns out) that someone would read that and make the connection to the joke (so clear to me when I typed the message) and that I was stopping for a bathroom break.

They didn't.

Anyway, while someone up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, is reading my little message and not thinking it is a joke, I am blissfully ignorant, going into the truckstop and taking my little break.  Once I made sure that area would not be flooded any more, I sat down to a meal in the restaurant.

One thing I thought I would do while I was stopped was turn in the paperwork from our last load.  Paperwork we turn in to Schneider is proof that have made the delivery, and it's the basis for how we get paid for the loads we have.  We have these envelopes we put paperwork in called "Trip Pak" envelopes -- it's a service similar to Federal Express or UPS -- they deliver paperwork the next day to Schneider.  Trip Pak has drop boxes at most truck stops.

They didn't have one at the TA in Prescott, Arkansas, however.  They just had a regular blue mail drop box from the U.S. Postal Service out front.  But no Trip Pak.  No problem.  I'll just drop it in West Memphis (Arkansas) when we fuel at the Schneider place there.

I have it at the table with me in the restaurant when I'm eating.

Finish my meal and go out to the truck, taking my time, plenty of time on the load to get it there, Terry's sleeping, I'm feeling good (now that I have been able to do the whole flood-prevention thing), ready to drive on down the road.

I get in the truck, hear Terry turn over and start snoring again (acutally, he and the truck engine sound very similar sometimes), and I pull out of the TA and on to I-30.

That's when I notice two things -- two things that would become very important to my little peaceful day right away:  (1) I notice that the Trip Pak envelope (the one with the paperwork that is how we get paid for that load) is not with the book I was reading.  Book is in the truck; envelope is not.  I know I didn't drop it in the box, because it wasn't there.  It must still be on the table in the restaurant.  (2)  At the same time, the little satellite unit goes *beep* to let me know that we have a new message from Green Bay.  I've turned around at the first exit so I can go back to truck stop and rescue our envelope, so I stop and read the message.

"Can you tell us which road is flooded and more about the situation about why you stopped?"

I was so irritated -- at myself for trying to joke around and at these folks in Green Bay for not getting my joke, for taking it so seriously.

I sent a message back that said something like:  "I stopped to use the bathroom and to eat."  

Okay, if you want to know the stupid little details, I'll tell you.  Do you want me to let you know when I breathe in or out, when I tilt my head more than 10 degrees in any one direction (probably to look at . . . scenery), when I change channels on my XM radio, when I last changed my socks . . . ???  (That's just me ranting about it; I didn't say any of that to the fine folks up in Green Bay -- YOU, dear reader, aren't taking me too seriously, now, are you?)

By now, I'm stressed out about leaving the envelope (that's our money!) in the restaurant, and I'm stressed that my attempt at a joke fell flat (something that has happened so many times in my life, I've lost count).

I get back to the truck stop, run inside the restaurant (if you know me, you know it takes a lot to get me running, and how funny it looks -- you can hear the chip-pa-pum chip-pa-pum chip-pa-pum as my extra weight bounces back and forth from the ground to hit me in the head -- I am borrowing that from an old Mike Warnke comedy routine -- hilarious when he does it), go to the table I was at before -- there is someone else there already (the place wasn't even that crowded) and the envelope wasn't there.  The guy sitting there hadn't seen it.

More stress.

Find the server.  Ask her:  has she seen the envelope?

Yes.  She has.  She helped me out by just dropping it in the box outside.

Not the Trip Pak box -- remember, they didn't have one.  She dropped it in the U.S. Postal Service box -- the envelope has an address, but no postage.  

I don't know what I'm going to do, but I can't break into the post office box, and I'm blocking traffic at the fuel lines, so I have to run back out (again, me running is a rare event, and funny in its own right -- chip-pa-pum and all that) to the truck.

I get in the truck, start it up, and notice the little red light on the satellite unit -- I've got a new message.  By now, I know that any message from Green Bay is not going to be good.

"Why did you stop before 250 miles?  Customer is concerned.  Please explain."

Remember:  I've done this very same load, Dallas to Louisville, three times, and we have stopped in Prescott each time.  And that's where, several times, I was told to stop!  And, in any case, remember, it's 241 miles.  And now, it's not far enough?

You can imagine what went through my mind at that point to tell them in response, but because my mom and Terry's mom read this blog (Hey Mama!  Hey Pat!  We both love you guys and appreciate you more than you could ever know.  And I will state for the record that my warped sense of humor does not come from my Mama -- she trained me right, or tried to.), I will not print what it was I was thinking.  I'm sure you can imagine.  They weren't warm and fuzzy thoughts of endearment.

I stopped the truck (I had started moving back on the road), and called the nice folks up in Green Bay.  The lady I talked to was very nice, and I found out what happened on the other end when I was in the truck stop just enjoying my book, a nice meal, and losing my envelope.

When the person in Green Bay got the message I sent, they thought I meant that I was literally stopping because there was flooding where I was, so they called the customer (oh no!), the customer (who is uptight anyway, remember) checks the weather on our route, sees that it is nice and clear -- no rain anywhere around, and no flooding problems right that moment, especially on major interstate routes, and they are a little nervous thinking maybe I've stopped the truck, and am selling their stuff out of the back to the highest bidder.  (Well, if I was going to do that, almost any place would be better than Prescott, Arkansas.  I mean, really!)

Then the customer gets a little more uptight because we've stopped before we were supposed to -- well, actually, as I said, we stopped exactly where we were told to, and stopped the same place (or town) all three times we've had that stupid load.  

I apologized profusely (something I'm about as good at as trying to play jokes, probably because of all the times they backfired) for starting the whole thing in the first place, and then got grumpy and told them that I stopped exactly where I was told to -- ("I stopped where the guy I call 'Lurch' told me to stop."  At least that got a chuckle out of the young lady in Green Bay -- and alas, the only number I have for her is this toll-free number that goes to Green Bay *sigh*) and suddenly everything was okay again.

"It's all straightened out she said."

Well, not quite everything.  There's still that Trip Pak envelope in the U.S. Postal Service mailbox.

To be continued . . .

Blogging About Nothing

It is 7:20 local time in Viroqua, Wisconsin, and we are at a small shipper waiting to be loaded with paper that is going to a place in Morristown, Tennessee.  Terry is sleeping.  We got here about 1:30 this morning after delivering our last load to a Walmart distribution center about 50 miles up the road.  I slept all night, and Terry was up most of the night, in keeping with the schedules we are currently living on.  

The sun is coming up, and I can't believe that even here, in a small town in the middle of Wisconsin farm country, I still can sit up here in this truck and have an internet connection -- it is slow, and reminds me of my AOL connection from 1996 or so, but at least it's connected.  I've just balanced my checkbook and paid my bills.  

I went inside to see about using their facilities, and spoke to the woman who will be loading us:  a nice lady, she reminds me of a grandmotherly type, and she was pleasant, as most folks in Wisconsin are.

I have been wanting to blog the past few days, but usually I have to have something in mind to write about (ah, Heidi),  and the past couple of weeks have been pretty routine and unremarkable for us.

This is the first live load we've had in quite a while; the past couple of weeks, everything has been "drop-and-hook" for the most part.  This means that we get to a place anytime -- 24/7 -- and deliver the load we have, and then leave right away to go pick up the next load.  We have been dealing mostly with large companies (Wal-mart, Georgia-Pacific, Kimberly-Clark, Proctor and Gamble) whose facilities are open all the time.  So we get into a groove where we are pretty much rolling the wheels all the time, just stopping for short breaks here and there.  That's the way we get lots of miles and good $$ even if the loads are not that long (anything under 1000 miles to us is a short load).

Now, we've hit the live load/unload on both ends of this load.  We got here at 1:30 this morning, but they didn't open until about 7:00.  And tomorrow, we can deliver anytime after 7:30 am, but we will get there well before that.  So on these kinds of loads, we spend a fair amount of time waiting.  And if there are several of these kinds of loads together (like we had back in May after the first time we went to Virginia Beach), it can be frustrating because we don't get the miles or $$ that we could otherwise.

It's frustrating when we are doing everything we can do, and some limitation in the system, or the mechanics of the way freight is moving in a certain area or time caps our potential earning capacity.  It is already capped to some extent by the arbitrary government regulations we are saddled with (only working so many hours a week, that sort of thing; ostensibly it is for safety, but most of the time, to be honest with you, in my opinion, it's more of a headache than a safety net in practical terms), but at least if the loads we get are good miles and drop-and-hook, we can maximize our resources of time and energy.

The past few weeks have seen us in a routine that has been good for us in many ways:  we haven't had a load up in the northeast in what seems like a long time; I can't even remember the last time we had a load up there.  We've been mostly running in the south, midwest or southwest:  a couple of runs to Laredo (or more), several loads up here in Wisconsin, a couple of times in Florida, Louisiana, Mobile, Alabama -- places like that.  Not long runs, but good runs to and from good places with a minimum of hassles.  It lets us set a good pace for ourselves.

We had a run to Laredo after we left Virginia Beach the last time a couple of weeks ago, and on the way back through Dallas, we had to have some work done on our truck:  oil change, and routine maintenance that has to be done on a new truck.  We also had some problems with the front tires wearing unevenly, so that had to be corrected.  It took the better part of two days, so that gave us a little bit of a break, which was nice.  

We learned a little over a week ago that both of us got our first quarterly bonuses since starting to team together.  That gave us a boost, of course.  We see it on tomorrow's paycheck.  It adds up to be about a week's pay (a little more) for both of us, so that's nice.

I found another blog written by a guy who drove for Schneider but now drives for Wal-mart.  I haven't had time to read very much of it, and don't remember how I found it.  But you can click the link to check it out.  

I love reading journals, blogs, diaries -- anything like that.  One of the funnest and most helpful things to me when I was first considering driving a truck was to read online journals of some folks who had done it before me, especially over at the newbie trucker website, where I was able to read about the experiences of other people just coming into trucking from other careers.

Doing this blog is a bit of a journaling and creative outlet for me; writing has been one of my motivating passions since I can remember anything -- along with reading, computers and gadgets, and traveling, it is one of the cornerstones of my inner life.  I have kept a journal for most of my life -- the earliest journal I have dates back to 1977, when I was 11 years old.  My life on paper.

While I was driving a couple of days ago, somehow (don't ask; driving long distances lends itself to weird thoughts and daydreaming) I started thinking about what I would do if I had enough money to not have any need to work.  What would I do exactly?

Well, first on the list was to make sure no one in my family (of course, if I had this kind of money, my family would suddenly become much larger, I know, so I'm thinking of my immediate family) ever had to work again unless they wanted to.  (Remember, it's my daydream, so I can have enough money to do this, and have plenty left over for  me -- ha ha)

And me -- what would I do?  I'd travel.  I wouldn't buy a house (probably) -- I'd buy the nicest RV they make, with all the gizmos and gadgets that exist (satellite TV, but the kind that tracks wherever you are, and you always have a clear signal, no matter where you are; satellite phone; all that kind of thing), and would just live and travel in it.  And I'd do some traveling in other countries -- mostly Europe, living there for several months at a whack before moving on to the next place.  

And while I know that may never happen exactly like that, I guess I'm a pretty lucky man:  I'm getting paid good money to drive around the country, literally living in a truck, doing mostly what I love to do.  And I'm doing it with my best friend.  Doing this because I want to, not because I have to -- that's the essence of true freedom, isn't it (at least one type of freedom, anyway)?

So, really, I don't have to do too much daydreaming to realize that I'm for the most part living my dream on some level.  How many people in this world can say that?

And I'm grateful.  Blessed.  

Until next time . . . keep the wheels rollin' . . .
Allan

Dear Heidi . . .

Hello.  I am sure that by now, almost a week later, you have forgotten two truckers who came into Chevy's the night of July 4th.  But we have not forgotten you.

We were supposed to be there on July 5th so Terry could visit his son Elliott before he left on his Naval deployment on the 7th.  Well, the way things worked, we got there a day early, on the 4th.  We couldn't check into the hotel we had booked a day early, so we settled for one near where you work.

We were hungry and tired and just wanted to eat a simple meal, relax, and maybe play some pool.  We walked over to the shopping center and were actually going to go to another place close to Chevy's, but it was closed for the holiday.  

And I'm glad.  Because that's when we saw your place, and decided to check it out.  

The pool tables were all being used, and the tables were all full.  We talked to a couple of people before settling in at the bar.

And there you were.

Terry and I both noticed you at the same time, and we both remarked on what a beautiful woman you were.

You took our orders, made small talk, and were genuinely sweet and engaging.  Because of you, we forgot all about playing pool or getting back to the hotel early.

Thank you.  

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Some comments.  According to the website Behind The Name.com, Heidi is a derivative of a name which means "of a noble kind or type" (my wording of the meaning). And, while Heidi was indeed real (though I have no illusion she will ever see my note to her), she was also more than real.

For me, Heidi was more than just one beautiful woman in a sports bar and grill. Heidi represents all women in some sense; she is Woman, Everywoman, the archetype.

I was married for 10 years, and have been divorced for two. But before, during and after marriage, there was this longing for relationship, intimacy, interaction with the woman of my dreams, the woman who would be my soulmate, my companion, the One True Love the universe had selected just for me, if only I could find her.

And it was true: Charlotte was as near as I will ever come to having a true One Love. And even that was flawed, fell short somehow.

And, now, in my truck-driving life, I am content. As content and settled and at peace as I've ever been in my life. For the first time in my life, I'm not looking for the One, not waiting on the soulmate, not looking to some heaven somewhere to bring me what I most desire.

I am alone, at peace with my alone-ness, content to be -- just be and let be. Most of the time, I am so happy not to be dealing with the flaws in my experience of Woman that it doesn't matter that I'm not experiencing the closeness, intimacy, intensity.

But sometimes I'm reminded. I will see some anonymous beautiful creature (Ah, Woman! My Chosen One! My Soul -- is it You, at last? Or again? Could it be? But, no . . .) and the fire burns, the desire awakens -- (what am I doing alone?) -- and then, like a shimmer of shadowy film over my vision, it disperses, and is gone.

But sometimes -- O! Sometimes! Glorious Sometimes -- that fleeting Everywoman -- MyWoman -- THEWoman -- takes shape before me and stays for a little while, passing conversation, smiles and laughter over a bar somewhere, and teaching me about Mojitos.

Dear Heidi.