Frozen to the Bone

Wow that was some nasty weather yesterday! I had to change clothes 3 times. I un-tarped, then I tarped...then I un-tarped and tarped again. All in freezing rain and sleet. Each time I finished thoroughly soaked. Even my big water proof Columbia couldn't stand up to the freezing rain and it too was soaked all the way through. As soon as I got my last load I found the nearest truck stop. I DEFINITELY took a hot shower last night...I had to counter the ice that had settled on my bones. I woke up this morning feeling like I'd been hit by a Mack truck. That cold just took every ounce of my energy and zapped it. I even slept through my alarm this morning from pure exhaustion. 

I am most definitely glad that today was much better. I got to untarp before that rain came in to Cleveland. And then when I went to pick up my next load I was fortunate enough to be at a place that the loading and strapping takes place inside! So indeed today was so much better than yesterday! Probably the worst thing I came across today was the traffic coming out of Cleveland. I often wonder...how does it get backed up like that when there isn't an accident? You get down the road and it finally opens up. But why was it slowed down like that to begin with?

Today is my baby boy's 17th birthday. Hard to believe my youngest is almost an adult! Where have the years gone? My babies aren't babies anymore. A few more days and I get to go see him! Yay! I can't help but to think back to when I met my late husband. Zack was 7 years old. It's hard to imagine that it's been 10 years already. So now I have a son who's a father x 3. A daughter who will be going to college next school year and a son who's just stepping a foot into adulthood.

So as I contemplate the passing years I'll leave you with this little tidbit -

"In a dream you are never eighty. " ~Anne Sexton

Big Wheel Keep On Turning

Yep...that was the state of one of my tires this week. Boss man says I'm driving the tires right off of it. Well I DO put a lot of miles under me even with the time spent tarping and strapping my loads. I blame the horrible roads in Michigan and Indiana for taking off some of the tread on my tire. Those are some rough roads! But this weekend the tire got replaced and the old girl got an oil change and lubed. 

There was some really nasty weather in the mid-west this last week. It worried me as they were calling for it to be pretty bad where I was (near Chicago). Fortunately it didn't hit the area as bad as expected. I did cancel my trip to upstate NY to see my baby boy though just in case. So now the plan is to go next weekend. My baby boy turns 17 this week!

And so tomorrow another work week begins. I head for the very tippy top of WV. 

So let me leave you with these words taken from this last weeks CSI: NY
"Today is life. 
The only life you're sure of. 
Make the most of today."
And indeed...it is. Today...is the first page of your book. It's up to you to fill the pages (yes...taken from the song "Unwritten"). 

So be good to each other. Love one another. And make the most of each day you have. 

Can't You See Me?

Not a whole lot of excitement this week...which I'd say is actually a good thing. Means things are going well and I'm not making any mistakes. The only thing of any real consideration this week was today. I was turning in an intersection and of course the turn light turned red as I was making my turn. So what does the idiot in the lane across from me do? Tries to take off while I'm right in front of him. Then of course his cousin idiot #2 next to him tried to do the same thing right after he did. Uh...HELLO?!? There is a big blue semi about 10 feet in front of you...did you manage to overlook that? The level of idiocy of some people on the roads still manage to amaze me. 

"Let me hurry up and pass this semi so I can make a turn to the left 1/4 mile up the road."

"Oh hey...let's slam on my brakes to turn at the last second with no turn signal...I'm sure that fully loaded semi behind me can stop that fast."

"Oh shit...I'm gonna miss my exit...let me do a quick dash across three lanes and 3 feet in front of that semi so I can get to it!"

"Damn the traffic is heavy! I'm on this on ramp and there's a semi right next to my SUV with traffic on the other side of it so it can't move over. I'll just force it out of my way."

So to finish up the night here's a funny: 

TGIF

Another week done and time to relax! I got my first paycheck today and I'm very pleased with it! It makes the hard work worth it. 

Was so very happy to head home. It was a rough week and was ready to sit back and chill out. The ride home got very interesting. Started out as a sunny day and drove right into a snow storm. I came close to pulling it off the road and calling it a day...it was coming down very heavy. But I just kept it slow and steady and made it home safe. Hard to see in the picture below but there is a car on the median that is upside down. Saw another that was way off the road on the other side of the ditch. But let's face it...there are a lot of foolish drivers out there who don't understand that slowing down can mean be safer.


So my friends...I'll leave it at that! Enjoy your weekend...I'll certainly enjoy mine!

Army Green

Today was a MUCH better day than yesterday. I didn't get stuck anywhere. I slept in for a change...I needed it after yesterday. And it felt damned good! LOL!

My goodness what a beautiful day it was today! And today's load that I picked up in Liberty, SC turned out to be an interesting one. I am carrying five military kitchen containers (or whatever you want to call them). Definitely not something I could crawl on top of to fix straps. I had to get the guy who loaded them to throw them over because my toss just didn't have enough oomph behind it! But he was really cool about it. He told me not to feel bad...he's had plenty of guy truckers who couldn't get them over either. And I got the straps so tight I might even have trouble undoing them. But hey...that's a good thing!

So I'm about two hours from the receiver. I had enough hours left to make it up there, but I decided to stop early so I'd actually be able to find a parking spot (as they start filling up around 6 pm). And I also didn't want to try parking in PA (where I'm going) since you aren't allowed to run your truck to keep warm when you're parked there. So I'll just get up early, fuel up and head on up. I waited to fuel in the morning because I wanted to hurry up and get a parking spot. And I got lucky again...another one that I could pretty much straight back in to. My favorite parking spots! Getting the hang of swinging these split axles is still a work in progress. Not to say I haven't gotten into parking spots that I couldn't straight back in to...it's just it takes me a little longer and few more tries to get it in (which can be frustrating for me and for other truckers that I'm holding up while I try to get in the spot). Having help from other truckers to get parked the other night was a very rare thing. Usually they all sit around watching you for their own amusement. Can't say I haven't been amused at the antics of other truckers before. Especially when it's a Swift truck (they get picked on all the time but there's a reason for that).

So I bid you adieu for tonight my friends. Stay safe and enjoy the beautiful weather! 

The Little Truck that Could (but almost didn't)

It's been an interesting (and at times downright frightening) day. I really wish I had pictures so you could see the road I was on, but I was too busy trying to stay alive. See the "A" marked on the map? That was the receiver...a water treatment plant (SMALL treatment plant).

View Larger Map

So if you start the journey on 106 then to 64 and then to Hickory Hills Rd. Then, because there was NO place to turn around...I had to continue down Hickory Hill Rd on back down to 64 again. Now mind you...this map does not accurately reflect the twists and turns of the road. Lots of 90 degree turns...some of them even worse than that. I really wish on this map you could see the turns and steep hills.

Anyway, I slowly made my way up 106 and 64 doing about 14 mph all the way up due to the steep climb to get there. One of the guys who worked at the plant met me at a gas station to guide me up to the plant on Hickory Hill Rd. He told me it was going to be tight, but holy shit I had no idea! We get to the plant and I have to park in the road (pretty much blocking it) so they could unload me. They called the local police department to help escort me. Now they've escorted trucks to back down the mountainous rode before...but they weren't split axles. After much discussion it was decided to try to keep going forward on the road to get out of there. We didn't make it a 1/4 mile up the road before I came to a road block. While making a tight curve, there just so happened to be this lovely rock in the corner that I could not get around. No matter how I tried to swing it...there was no getting the trailer past it. More discussion and head scratching. I finally suggested that if we could find a tow truck that could come up there...they could use their cable to scoot the rear of my trailer over about 3 or 4 feet and then I could get around it. I knew it could be done because the tow truck that got me out of the snow had done that as well. There were no big truck tow trucks in the area, but they had one car tow truck guy who they called to come out and take a look to see if he could do what I suggested. Dude came out, pulled out his tow cable and some chains. Him and his friend, who came to help him, hooked chains around a tree and hooked the cable to those. And then, using the tow cable winch, moved the rear of the trailer over! 

From that point, I had an officer in front and back of my truck helping me out of there. The tow truck guy had his friend drive the truck and then tow guy walked down in front of my truck (I kept it in granny gear for this) and helped guide me to keep me out of any ditches. The officer in front stopped traffic when necessary. But finally we got OUT OF THERE! And all in one piece. Nothing broken on the truck, no flattened mailboxes or gouged electric poles. I'm sure everyone in that little town has heard of it by now. Small town...word spreads fast. So I'm probably famous in the Highlands, NC right now. LOL

The job was supposed to be for a 40' trailer and day cab. Go figure. But you know...while it scared the living crap out of me...I'm extremely proud of myself for keeping my head and getting through it. But I will NEVER go to Highlands, NC again.

I made it to the closest possible truck stop...and of course all the parking spaces were filled. So I'm parked in a "no parking" zone at the side of their lot and I really don't care. I'm way too tired and out of driving hours so I'm stuck here. And I have no intention of getting up super early to get to the shipper. I'm going to get some much deserved rest!

So I bid you good night...and stay out of sticky situations better than I seem to do!

Carolina in My Mind

Can you guess where I'm heading? I bet you can! Right now I'm sitting in a Flying J in Wytheville, VA (tried a TA up the road but it was tight and most spots required blind side backing...and you do NOT want to see me trying to blind side). Tomorrow...North Carolina! Town named Highlands. It's exciting to me. I spent a good portion of my life in North Carolina and sometimes I miss it (okay...I really just miss Wiener Works - found only in Fayetteville - and BOJANGLES!) Can't find anything like them up in Ohio. There are Popeye's but they just aren't the same as Bojangles. If you've never eaten at a Bojangles then you just don't know what you're missing. Maybe I'll be able to find one I can get to tomorrow. We'll just have to see. 

In other news...last week one of my chain hooks had fallen on my left index finger. And of course what happens when you have an injured finger or toe? You keep hitting and knocking it on everything which I am doing quite successfully. Jammed it today and of course it's all swollen again. Hurt's like hell...has been since it happened. Makes tarping and strapping interesting. Which today's load of course had to be tarped (with BOTH tarps this time). I am rather proud of the tarping I did on this load. I'm getting much better at it. Can't say I'm getting any faster...but the actual tarping itself is looking really good! Nothing has ended up flapping in the wind at all this time so that is a huge improvement.

Not really anything exciting to speak of today. I invested in a good headset for my phone. Not cheap by any means but definitely not the most expensive either. Next investment will probably been a truck antenna and window mount  for my Sirius radio. Won't be long before I'll need to get a new GPS too...the one I have now is trying to die on me. She just needs to last a little while longer. Truck GPS is NOT cheap. A good one will cost a minimum $299. But it's worth buying the truckers version as it gives info regular GPS systems don't have and is pretty good at keeping you on truck routes (although occasionally it'll still try to route you onto a road where they aren't allowed...hence my ticket in Lisbon, OH).

So that's it for today's update. Sleep well and stay safe on the roads my friends!