Today has been a day, a full one for sure. I started some fifteen and a half hours ago and am winding it down. I started in Barstow, CA early to make it to my delivery before the L.A. rush hour. It is always a challenge in a big city to know just the right time to leave to slide in before traffic but not so early that you arrive at a destination and have no where to park. I was able to get in, get business taken care of there and then move on to the next load.
It was a short jaunt up to Burbank, just 21 miles or so. I was early and got the good news, your trailer is not gonna be ready today but if you want to run illegally we have one for you now. No thanks, I'll wait for a better offer. Sure enough they offer me another trailer that is sitting there ready to go, and once everything is cleared with management I am on my way to Laval Quebec. I have a nice light trailer and it even has a pretty mural or wrap on the sides. I'll post a picture tomorrow.
See ya'll on the flip side!
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
A Hard Day and an Easy Day
Well, like most things in trucking, just wait till tomorrow. Yesterday and today were two completely different days and that is one of the things that I like about this lifestyle and also what I dislike about it.
Tuesday actually started Monday evening. It was a typical spring night in Oklahoma City, 70 degrees at 9 pm and a comfortable breeze when I went to bed. At midnight I was wide awake! HAIL!!! Well that all calmed down and I went back to my restful state. At 5 AM I awoke to freezing temperatures, high winds, and blowing sort of freezing precipitation. I dealt with the strong cold northerly winds the entire day. The only good part was that by the time I reached Santa Rosa, NM the clouds were gone, but it was still very windy and cold. I settled in at a truckstop in Gallup, NM, made some soup and went to bed.
Today when I woke up it was a cool 16 degrees, clear skies, and no wind. It was a chilly walk to go in and get my coffee and a shower, that hot water is a miracle worker. I traveled today all the way from Gallup, NM to Barstow, CA. Sunny skies, a light breeze, and good roads. A day when I traveled some 537 miles and ended the day feeling refreshed and not beat up.
Tomorrow is another story again. I deliver in Pico Rivera, CA, then run just up the road to Burbank to pick up a show load going some 3000 miles to Laval, Quebec, Canada. I'll see you on the flip side!!
Tuesday actually started Monday evening. It was a typical spring night in Oklahoma City, 70 degrees at 9 pm and a comfortable breeze when I went to bed. At midnight I was wide awake! HAIL!!! Well that all calmed down and I went back to my restful state. At 5 AM I awoke to freezing temperatures, high winds, and blowing sort of freezing precipitation. I dealt with the strong cold northerly winds the entire day. The only good part was that by the time I reached Santa Rosa, NM the clouds were gone, but it was still very windy and cold. I settled in at a truckstop in Gallup, NM, made some soup and went to bed.
Today when I woke up it was a cool 16 degrees, clear skies, and no wind. It was a chilly walk to go in and get my coffee and a shower, that hot water is a miracle worker. I traveled today all the way from Gallup, NM to Barstow, CA. Sunny skies, a light breeze, and good roads. A day when I traveled some 537 miles and ended the day feeling refreshed and not beat up.
Tomorrow is another story again. I deliver in Pico Rivera, CA, then run just up the road to Burbank to pick up a show load going some 3000 miles to Laval, Quebec, Canada. I'll see you on the flip side!!
Monday, April 22, 2013
I am Back Again!
Well, after many technical problems I am back to my blog, I am going to endeavor to make at least a short entry here everyday. First I would like to thank Jessica from Godaddy.com for helping get my domain back and operational. This is probably my most pleasant experience I have ever had with any technical support ever! She was friendly, addressed the issue, and made me a very happy customer. Now if the workers at Taco Bell could just get the sour cream all the way across the taco instead of just one end, well better not push the individual exceptionalism here.
I am back on the road after a couple of weeks off due to illness and a short fishing trip. Well I was for a few days till the old truck broke down and set me back $3000, ugh, so goes life in trucking. I am back at it and here in OKC tonight headed out to L.A.(for my MS friends that is NOT Lower Alabama!). I have a stack of chassis' going to Pico Rivera.
Well enough for today, see ya'll tomorrow!!
I am back on the road after a couple of weeks off due to illness and a short fishing trip. Well I was for a few days till the old truck broke down and set me back $3000, ugh, so goes life in trucking. I am back at it and here in OKC tonight headed out to L.A.(for my MS friends that is NOT Lower Alabama!). I have a stack of chassis' going to Pico Rivera.
Well enough for today, see ya'll tomorrow!!
Friday, November 23, 2012
Long Road Home
As I was rolling down that long black ribbon through the early morning darkness Tuesday morning, I heard another one of those songs on the radio. You know, the ones that talk about going home, or the long road home, or going back to the way things were at home. It got me to thinking about the roads I've traveled and got me wondering about where I am going. Where have I been? Where am I going? What roads do I need to take to get there? What will I find when I get there?
I have traveled all of the interstate system in the continental United States with the exception of about 150 miles. My career has allowed me to travel the entire width and breadth of our grant land and grow to appreciate every part and what it means to the tapestry of the USA. I have seen the sun rise majestically on the Atlantic coast, driven into the gales of a storm on the great Gulf coast, braved the harsh winter winds of our northern border and watched the sun quietly set serenely into the Pacific Ocean. Do you know what it really means to see the "spacious skies" of Montana, the "amber waves of grain" in Kansas, "the purple mountain majesties" of Colorado, and "the fruited plain" of California? Niagara Falls has destructive yet beautiful power, yet a high mountain river has the unique ability to calm and comfort. A dry desert wind can sting the skin and a blizzard can destroy your sight but when they stop the landscape is changed and brings about a new beauty.
Home, where is it? For the purpose of this narrative it is where I grew up, where I was raised, the place I am going back to someday. Home is great friends, my old fishing buddy Steve, my sweet neighbor Twila, my renewed friends thanks to technology. It is the place of my birth, the place where I spent time with my family both blood and extended. It is a place where I drank coffee with Uncle Odell and Aunt Ann, where I fished in the bays with My Uncle Martin and my cousins, where I climbed the fire tower with my Uncle Herman. It is that place that formed my soul and my being. It is the old elementary school, the Baptist church, The Old Place, the marinas and fish camps. It is where I would walk out on the railroad bridge by the old creosote plant, where I fished at the foot of the highway 90 bridge. It is "The Singing River", Mary Walker Bayou, the Mississippi Sound, the salt water that courses through my veins. It is a place that existed before there was a "Salt Life".
Home, where is it? For the purpose of this narrative it is where I grew up, where I was raised, the place I am going back to someday. Home is great friends, my old fishing buddy Steve, my sweet neighbor Twila, my renewed friends thanks to technology. It is the place of my birth, the place where I spent time with my family both blood and extended. It is a place where I drank coffee with Uncle Odell and Aunt Ann, where I fished in the bays with My Uncle Martin and my cousins, where I climbed the fire tower with my Uncle Herman. It is that place that formed my soul and my being. It is the old elementary school, the Baptist church, The Old Place, the marinas and fish camps. It is where I would walk out on the railroad bridge by the old creosote plant, where I fished at the foot of the highway 90 bridge. It is "The Singing River", Mary Walker Bayou, the Mississippi Sound, the salt water that courses through my veins. It is a place that existed before there was a "Salt Life".
The West Pascagoula Creosote Works
The day is coming when I will return, the day when I will rest, the day that I know I have arrived "Home". I will sit upon the beach that I played on as a child, a beach that I have introduced to my children. I want to float those back waters again. I want the peace of knowing the familiar. I get glimpses of home each time I pass through on my way to another place. It is breakfast with a friend, a gathering of family, fun times with high school pals. It is remembering the fun, the struggles, the enjoyment of all that was growing up in our own small town. I remember when going to a big city was all about Biloxi, Mobile, or that grandest of all big cities when I was growing up, New Orleans. All roads lead you somewhere and I have traveled a lot of them. But for me, the destination is home, it is the Mississippi gulf coast. All these ribbons of asphalt and concrete will bring me there someday. A day that cannot get here soon enough.
 |
| My friend Steve Bennett and I 1981 |
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Just a Truck Driver?
I would like to vent today. I rarely come across people who are so full of themselves that I must speak out against what they are. I cannot say with any certainty that it is who they are as I am not familiar with them on a personal basis. What can be said is that people allow there station in life to make up for what they are not. I ran across this in the last 2 days and must share.
I had the rare opportunity to find myself unable to locate a specific delivery point yesterday. I had done my due diligence in the days leading up to delivery but with little success. In most cases the way my situation works is that I am given contact information, I initiate that contact and make all necessary arrangements for safe and on time delivery. When I arrived in the area of my delivery, that exact address was not found. I safely parked my truck at a local business, notified the proprietor of my intentions to not be there long, then proceeded to follow standard procedure when things go wrong on a delivery. I called my company contact, I then called my contact who originated the load and was able to acquire the contact that was supposed to have made the proper arrangements. At first this person in a "management" position was very professional and helpful. I followed his instructions to call back at a specified time and that is when I heard out of his rude mouth the words I despise, "you're just a truck driver".
Maybe it was the fact that I was cold and soaked, a little fatigued from driving in rain, traffic and limited visibility, or the fact that he was just dead wrong. At that moment it all came together and I realized that after giving him the benefit of the doubt, I was wrong about what he was. He was neither professional, nor personable. His desire was not to assist me, but, rather to get me off of his phone so he could manage someone he actually held sway over.
You see sir, I am not "just a truck driver". Just a truck driver would have sat warm and dry at a truck stop 100 miles away and waited for management to get their stuff together. Just a truck driver may have still been over 1200 miles away because he was waiting on you to organize yourself and get everything taken care of in a timely manner. Just a truck driver would not make compromises in his route to take care of the customer when you failed to give correct data. Just a truck driver would not take a week without seeing a paycheck in the bank in order to wait on the prize at the end of the line. Just a truck driver would not have shown up at your public show with a clean and polished truck so that you sir are represented well. Just a truck driver does not have any desire to represent your product on the road.
While my common title is truck driver, I am not "just a truck driver". I arrived at your show clean, with hours to run, and a maintained piece of equipment ready for your multi-stop, long mileage load. I made sure that all preventive maintenance and necessary inspections were completed prior to my arrival at your venue. I arrived with a plan in place for routing, fueling, meal stops, and anticipated arrival times. Even when you failed to give me information at the time I was leaving with your equipment, I moved forward as if I had a solid plan in place. I manage a $138,000 piece of capital equipment. I maintain records for the equipment, I maintain records for myself, the driver, I maintain records for the business. I was delayed once by weather, had to push and work hard to beat the possible closing of mountain passes by weather. I made phone calls, I made arrangements with customers, I went out of my way to see that a customer was accommodated, when you gave me incorrect information.
On my final stop, which was on a narrow two lane road, was where I needed accurate data for safe and legal delivery. But because of what you are, you know, someone with more job title than "just a truck driver". You felt it necessary to use your position and title to degrade the very person that had safely, with alacrity, delivered all stops up until that point, and had even with a lack of information made the attempt at delivery. Something I am sure, "just a truck driver", would not have done.
Sir, based on the example you have given, you would not even begin to be able to handle a business such as mine. I have to be able to anticipate what a driver in another vehicle is going to do. I have to be able to comprehend weather and road reports and make adjustments on the go when those are wrong or change. I have to put the customers needs ahead of mine. I have to deal with the shortcomings and errors of management and still make safe and on time delivery. My failure in accuracy can lead to death. My inability to properly do my job causes you to miss an opening curtain. Your failure in leadership and accurate management of data, well, blame it on "just a truck driver".
I had the rare opportunity to find myself unable to locate a specific delivery point yesterday. I had done my due diligence in the days leading up to delivery but with little success. In most cases the way my situation works is that I am given contact information, I initiate that contact and make all necessary arrangements for safe and on time delivery. When I arrived in the area of my delivery, that exact address was not found. I safely parked my truck at a local business, notified the proprietor of my intentions to not be there long, then proceeded to follow standard procedure when things go wrong on a delivery. I called my company contact, I then called my contact who originated the load and was able to acquire the contact that was supposed to have made the proper arrangements. At first this person in a "management" position was very professional and helpful. I followed his instructions to call back at a specified time and that is when I heard out of his rude mouth the words I despise, "you're just a truck driver".
Maybe it was the fact that I was cold and soaked, a little fatigued from driving in rain, traffic and limited visibility, or the fact that he was just dead wrong. At that moment it all came together and I realized that after giving him the benefit of the doubt, I was wrong about what he was. He was neither professional, nor personable. His desire was not to assist me, but, rather to get me off of his phone so he could manage someone he actually held sway over.
You see sir, I am not "just a truck driver". Just a truck driver would have sat warm and dry at a truck stop 100 miles away and waited for management to get their stuff together. Just a truck driver may have still been over 1200 miles away because he was waiting on you to organize yourself and get everything taken care of in a timely manner. Just a truck driver would not make compromises in his route to take care of the customer when you failed to give correct data. Just a truck driver would not take a week without seeing a paycheck in the bank in order to wait on the prize at the end of the line. Just a truck driver would not have shown up at your public show with a clean and polished truck so that you sir are represented well. Just a truck driver does not have any desire to represent your product on the road.
While my common title is truck driver, I am not "just a truck driver". I arrived at your show clean, with hours to run, and a maintained piece of equipment ready for your multi-stop, long mileage load. I made sure that all preventive maintenance and necessary inspections were completed prior to my arrival at your venue. I arrived with a plan in place for routing, fueling, meal stops, and anticipated arrival times. Even when you failed to give me information at the time I was leaving with your equipment, I moved forward as if I had a solid plan in place. I manage a $138,000 piece of capital equipment. I maintain records for the equipment, I maintain records for myself, the driver, I maintain records for the business. I was delayed once by weather, had to push and work hard to beat the possible closing of mountain passes by weather. I made phone calls, I made arrangements with customers, I went out of my way to see that a customer was accommodated, when you gave me incorrect information.
On my final stop, which was on a narrow two lane road, was where I needed accurate data for safe and legal delivery. But because of what you are, you know, someone with more job title than "just a truck driver". You felt it necessary to use your position and title to degrade the very person that had safely, with alacrity, delivered all stops up until that point, and had even with a lack of information made the attempt at delivery. Something I am sure, "just a truck driver", would not have done.
Sir, based on the example you have given, you would not even begin to be able to handle a business such as mine. I have to be able to anticipate what a driver in another vehicle is going to do. I have to be able to comprehend weather and road reports and make adjustments on the go when those are wrong or change. I have to put the customers needs ahead of mine. I have to deal with the shortcomings and errors of management and still make safe and on time delivery. My failure in accuracy can lead to death. My inability to properly do my job causes you to miss an opening curtain. Your failure in leadership and accurate management of data, well, blame it on "just a truck driver".
Friday, February 24, 2012
All About People
It is important to remember all those that touch us from time to time. When you are out here on the road, the person you touch you may only see for a few minutes. I get the wonderful opportunity to meet folks from all walks of life. In the past couple of weeks I have learned a lot just from sitting down and listening to what someone has to say. It is an education that no college, tech school, or motivational speaker can give you. It is the education about what makes our great country great.
Last week it was the chance to meet farmers, truckers, auctioneers, tractor salesmen, carpenters, and family men. Yes, it was great to sit there and talk to those two men. Sitting down for breakfast before starting my day with a couple of men in small town Nebraska. In all the talk of things going wrong, never did these two men say they were waiting on a government handout, help from another state, or wondering what someone else was gonna do for them. No, these two men talked about what had to be done that day, and what they were going to do to get it all accomplished. There was talk of the cattle auction the day before, how many loads of grain were gonna get loaded, who was buying a new tractor, and work on the barn that had to be done.
I have also had the chance to meet new people in the last weeks. Last night I spent an hour or two talking to a new driver about some of the ins and outs of this lifestyle. I also got to meet a new friend who shares a sporting interest. It is always good to meet new folks. I also want to say a word for my friend, Dustin Thomas, Lawyer and Talk Radio Host. You can hear him at Talk Radio 1580 in Pascagoula, MS.
Keep it between the lines my friends!
Last week it was the chance to meet farmers, truckers, auctioneers, tractor salesmen, carpenters, and family men. Yes, it was great to sit there and talk to those two men. Sitting down for breakfast before starting my day with a couple of men in small town Nebraska. In all the talk of things going wrong, never did these two men say they were waiting on a government handout, help from another state, or wondering what someone else was gonna do for them. No, these two men talked about what had to be done that day, and what they were going to do to get it all accomplished. There was talk of the cattle auction the day before, how many loads of grain were gonna get loaded, who was buying a new tractor, and work on the barn that had to be done.
I have also had the chance to meet new people in the last weeks. Last night I spent an hour or two talking to a new driver about some of the ins and outs of this lifestyle. I also got to meet a new friend who shares a sporting interest. It is always good to meet new folks. I also want to say a word for my friend, Dustin Thomas, Lawyer and Talk Radio Host. You can hear him at Talk Radio 1580 in Pascagoula, MS.
Keep it between the lines my friends!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
The Drawbacks to this Job
This has been one of those weeks that truckers dread, especially those of us who own our own trucks. It is a week that we do not like and that we wish could have a do over. When you have the normal 9-5 job or at least the home everyday kind it is easier to deal with some situations.
One of the hardest things to adapt to in this lifestyle is having to handle stressful situations on the home front. Even with the technology of web cams and cell phones, it is still hard to interact electronically when the best option is face to face in person. It is important to remember this is a lifestyle and not a job. Even after all the years spent out here, these times seem to get harder and not easier. We are alone for hours each day and friends are few and far between. So when things go wrong in your personal life with either friends or family, dealing with it gets tough.
You can then add in another factor, mechanical. What makes this so hard is when it is out of your control. When you have that perfect dispatch, going right where you want to go, the opportunity to actually see someone you know and enjoy a little time away from the trucking world. The other hard part of the mechanical is the sheer cost. When you think of a major repair on your car being 3 digits, think 4 on a truck. What I am facing this week is just that scenario. We are going into the holidays and I had that dream cross country run that pays well and would allow me time with friends to blow off some steam. Then at the last minute things go wrong with the truck costing more than a weeks pay and the loss of the good paying load with benefits. I am now left with a large bill, a lonely hotel room, and no positive options for income in the short term. Now comes the hard part of knowing that there will be no Thanksgiving for me, because, i am now required to work to pay the bills and times at home just get more tense when I am not there.
So, when you are headed out to your dinner at Grandma's house, watching the parades on TV, or headed to the mall for Black Friday, and you see that truck rolling down the highway, give a wave and a little more room to the person making your holiday a little nicer.
One of the hardest things to adapt to in this lifestyle is having to handle stressful situations on the home front. Even with the technology of web cams and cell phones, it is still hard to interact electronically when the best option is face to face in person. It is important to remember this is a lifestyle and not a job. Even after all the years spent out here, these times seem to get harder and not easier. We are alone for hours each day and friends are few and far between. So when things go wrong in your personal life with either friends or family, dealing with it gets tough.
You can then add in another factor, mechanical. What makes this so hard is when it is out of your control. When you have that perfect dispatch, going right where you want to go, the opportunity to actually see someone you know and enjoy a little time away from the trucking world. The other hard part of the mechanical is the sheer cost. When you think of a major repair on your car being 3 digits, think 4 on a truck. What I am facing this week is just that scenario. We are going into the holidays and I had that dream cross country run that pays well and would allow me time with friends to blow off some steam. Then at the last minute things go wrong with the truck costing more than a weeks pay and the loss of the good paying load with benefits. I am now left with a large bill, a lonely hotel room, and no positive options for income in the short term. Now comes the hard part of knowing that there will be no Thanksgiving for me, because, i am now required to work to pay the bills and times at home just get more tense when I am not there.
So, when you are headed out to your dinner at Grandma's house, watching the parades on TV, or headed to the mall for Black Friday, and you see that truck rolling down the highway, give a wave and a little more room to the person making your holiday a little nicer.
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