PA-OH

I was right. No loads from the Danville, PA board. Waited until after 1500 to check with dispatch and they came back with a bonus offer to the Cleveland board. I had been watching the boards and Cleveland or Akron were the two that I figured would be offered as bonus.

The way this works is that 1200 to 1500 is prime time for loads. If you do not have a load offer before 1500, chances are you aren't going to get one. If I had left Danville for Cleveland prior to 1500, I would have lost the chance for a Danville load and wouldn't be available for a Cleveland load since I would not have arrived there before 1500.

I pulled out of Danville at 1630 and arrived at a travel plaza on the Ohio turnpike at 2130 putting me #2 on the Cleveland board. I beat the #3 van by 3 minutes. Cleveland is an active board, so I will most likely get a load today.

My second truck was #1 on the Columbia, MO board at 0900 yesterday. Columbia is a slow board so he moved 20 miles to put himself on the Peoria, IL board. Peoria is active. He was #3 at 1100 and got a load to Sumter, SC paying over $800 to the truck.

It's all in knowing how to play the game and budget your time and try and end up where the loads are. The bonus pay for my deadhead was enough to pay for the fuel to Cleveland, so yesterday wasn't a total loss plus I got to see my daughter for the weekend. Priceless.

NJ-PA

No loads showed up in Allentown or points east Friday afternoon, so headed off for my daughter's place in Danville, PA Saturday morning to spend the weekend with her.

Had a real good time just visiting. She wanted me to help her find a 4X4 truck since she now lives in the mountains. Found a real good '05 Dodge Dakota at a really low price, or it seemed that way to me. Trucks are priced lower here than at home, so that was the reason.

We hit the Wally World in Bloomsburg to get some supplies and I found a couple of shirts dirt cheap and a pair of slippers to keep my feet from freezing in the truck.

There was a hard freeze in Bloomsburg last night, so when I run the 'Buster it will be on the heat side from now on. Don't see any prospects of running it on A/C for the rest of the year unless I get a load south. Of course, with the time change next weekend I doubt that points south will be that much warmer.

Waiting for a load at a truck stop in Mifflinville, PA since I couldn't park the truck at my daughters house because the street was too narrow and the trees too low. It sit at her clinic over the weekend instead. Don't know if I'll get out from here today since I don't know the freight activity on this board. I'll probably end up deadheading this afternoon to a busier board.

OH-MI-PA-NJ

Things didn't go as planned from my last entry, but that's life. Went back in service Monday the 22nd. No loads available on Monday, and I thought Tuesday was going to be the same when dispatch called at 2200. Load from Bucyrus, OH to Detroit, MI. I was surprised since they had never called that late before. Delivery time in Detroit was 0600 on Wednesday so I had plenty of time.

Dropped in Detroit and went to a nearby truck stop to eat and sleep. Woke up about 1300 and waited for a load offer. Nothing happened into the early evening so I planned on spending the night where I was. Was preparing dinner when dispatch calls with a load. Toledo, OH to Macungie, PA. Since I was #2 on the Detroit board and the Toledo board had 4 vans on it, I was surprised at the offer. I jumped on it nonetheless. Turned out that the shipper had specified a Sprinter and I was the only one in the area. Another plus for buying one. Load was three pallets, and two boxes. It would not have fit in a standard van. They had to turn the last pallet sideways to get it in. Pick up was 2100 deliver direct to Macungie. 42 miles from the pick, 533 miles to drop.

Arrived at Mack Trucks plant in Macungie at 0709. Another TS van was there just finishing his drop. Checked in with receiving and the clerk started making a stink about the last pallet being sideways. Said he wasn't going to accept the shipment since he couldn't unload it. I told him that all he had to do was get the tips of the forklifts forks on the pallet, raise it up enough to allow me to put my 2X6 boards under it and then the forks would go all the way under the pallet. He said that it couldn't be done and walked away. I called dispatch and informed them of the situation and they said they would call Mack.

Several minutes later, a man comes out and starts taking pictures of the load and he started asking me questions about the Sprinter. We talked for awhile and he asked me if I had any suggestions on how to get the pallet off. I told him what I told the clerk and he had a forklift driver come over and do what I had said. Worked perfectly and the pallet came off. Put my chain on the other two pallets so the forklift could drag them to the back of the truck and they came off. Took all of five minutes after waiting over an hour. Never did see the clerk again. The forklift driver apologized for the delay and I said it wasn't his fault that the clerk didn't know what he was doing.

Went from Macungie to Bloomsbury, NJ since it was the closest truck stop to eat and sleep. Am #2 on the Allentown, PA board now after starting at #3. Didn't get a load today, but my other truck got one from WI to Chicago. We'll see how tomorrow goes and if the weekend will be spent in this or another truckstop.

IN-WI-IL-WI-OH

Started to post last Thursday while I was sitting in Green Bay, WI. but got a phone call from my daughter saying that my mom was undergoing emergency surgery that Friday, so I dropped everything and took off for home. Took me a little over 8 hours to get there. 660 odometer miles. I was kinda moving when you consider I had to go through Chicago. Anyway, everthing turned out fine, and I hope to get out of here tomorrow.

To bring things up to date, I got a load from Indianapolis to Kohler, WI Monday morning. It was direct so I delivered it around 2000 that evening. Before I even reached Kohler, I got another load offer going from New Holstein, WI to the CAT plant in Peoria, IL. That one picked up at o700 Tuesday and was also direct. Dropped it at 1300 Tuesday afternoon.

Yet another load offer came accross the QC about 10 minutes after I dropped at CAT. This was from Straeter, IL to Kewaunee, WI. Another nuke plant. It picked up at 1300 on Wednesday and was again a direct delivery. I was starting to feel like a yo-yo going back and forth to WI.

I drove about 60 miles north of Peoria to the truck stop in LaSalle, IL, about 13 miles from my pick up in Straeter, to spend the night. I bumped into the Tri-State Road Patrol at the truck stop. Turns out he was looking for me since the truck's quarterly inspection was due. He completed the inspection, I replenished my supplies of bills of lading and trip-pak envelopes and we went into hit the buffet.

We were sitting there eating and dispatch called wanting me to go pick up a load back down in Peoria and take it to the CAT plant in Joliet, IL. turned that one down. Finished dinner and went to the truck. Now that it's getting cooler, it actually pleasant to sleep with the truck buttoned up. After chilling out watching some tv and blowing stuff on my playstation, I went to bed.

Picked up the load in Straeter and took off for WI. Arrived at the nuke plant at 1900. At least this one looked like a nuke plant. They weren't going to let me in at first since someone was supposed to call them telling them I was coming and didn't. Took about 20 minutes to straighten everything out, I dropped the load and headed for a truck stop near Green Bay, WI.

So now things are up to date and like I said earlier, I hope to get out tomorrow.

OH - IN AGAIN

Second truck completed orientation and is now running. Presently in VA after delivering a load from Lima, OH.

I lost another few days due to paperwork related to the second truck. Finally got a load from Grove City, OH to Indianapolis late Thursday. Had a delivery time of 0700 Friday, so I slept at home and left at 0300 Friday morning.

Dropped the load and am at a truck stop near Indy. I was #5 on the board when I arrived, but moved up to #1 late in the day. Will most likely not get a load until Monday now, but it would not pay me to go home since I would be #4 on my home board.

Sure am glad I brought the Playstation with me this trip, and with the record heat, the Idlebuster is keeping me comfortable. It runs off the truck's fuel tank and after running it all day yesterday, there was no noticeable drop on the fuel gauge. Had I run the engine all day, I would have burned a quarter of a tank. It won't take long for 'Buster to pay for himself with fuel now over $3.00 a gallon.

Oreintation - Day One

Second Sprinter and driver are at Tri-State for day one of orientation. Confident in his ability to complete the class with no complications.

I will be going to Tri-State Tuesday or Wednesday depending on how long it take to complete the paperwork here. I have to be here to sign documents that are being overnighted so there will be no delays in getting the memo title and such.

After working on this since May, I'm ready to relax and just drive. Next project on the horizon is to make sure the trucks are ready to operate in winter weather.