I need a hat, a chain for my wallet & a can of snuff.

Parked for the day..... Accidents galore today. :mad:. Lots of two lane parking lots. I-81 through Virginia send to be a very busy corridor. Lots of traffic with little room for drivers merging. The short of it is, accidents a plenty.

Some things that I have normally given very little thought of..... Many different nationalities out here. No big deal as we're all here for the same propose but a little something that I witnessed a few minutes ago. Now, I'm not a church going individual as that wasn't my upbringing. Not because my parents weren't religious. They were extremely busy with a home business that centered around the weekends..... Campground owner's. There was never time. I'm not going to turn this into any kind of religious rant. That's a podium type topic. So, to my point..... Sitting here in my parking space I watched a truck back in beside me. I do a lot of truck watching because that's part of how I learn to navigate these truck stops. So, this truck back in beside me. The younger driver gets out grabbing a small blanket spreading it out in front of his truck. Facing East he began his prayers. Watching the reaction of other truckers driving and walking by was at the least very disconcerting. We may not all believe in the same things but we are all people. It's a damn shame we aren't all compassionate individuals. Show respect rather than resentment. I'm betting you'll live a much better life that way. /preachoff

So..... Tomorrow's delivery is about four hours Northwest of here. Going to leave about 430am to avoid high volume of traffic. It'll all be rural driving once I get about an hour and a half North of here. I'm offloading a product at a papermill. How it's used, I don't have a clue but they do need a lot of it. There's another tanker parked here that loaded at the same location just before me this morning. He's heading to the same location. I hope to beat him there. I told him I'm leaving at 6am. :D. Joking people...... But..... I will only give him a fifteen minute headstart. ;)
 
In Nhra the pro teams can't move their haulers until 1 hour after the final round of Top Fuel. So as soon as I can move on Sun afternoon I will pull around to the septic dump and dump the septic tanks and fill up the water tanks for the lounge in the trailer "not one of my favorite duties of the job but someone has to do it". Then after a quick shower I'm heading west to Ennis Tx to see my buddy Magnethead.:) I should start meeting the Nascar haulers coming back from Talladega around the South Carolina state line.
 
Michfan said:
You got to drink beer with the possum??
Click to expand...
Clutch said:
Wouldn't that be an awesome experience.
Click to expand...
Yep, can't remember the actual year but it was sometime between 1958 and 1960. Spent about 2 or 3 hours drinking beer with him in Beaumont.

Our secretary's husband was a disc jockey. One evening on my way home from work I stopped in to have a beer at a local club. The disc jockey was sitting at a table with George and invited me to have a "few" beers with them. George Jones and I were both pretty young in those days and we both enjoyed our beer. :)

I also met Faron Young one time. He and I shared a limousine from the airport to a hotel that we were both staying at. He was playing across the road at the Hampton Coliseum. I remember that he had huge rings on every finger. We had a small conversation.
 
muggle not said:
Yep, can't remember the actual year but it was sometime between 1958 and 1960. Spent about 2 or 3 hours drinking beer with him in Beaumont.

Our secretary's husband was a disc jockey. One evening on my way home from work I stopped in to have a beer at a local club. The disc jockey was sitting at a table with George and invited me to have a "few" beers with them. George Jones and I were both pretty young in those days and we both enjoyed our beer. :)

I also met Faron Young one time. He and I shared a limousine from the airport to a hotel that we were both staying at. He was playing across the road at the Hampton Coliseum. I remember that he had huge rings on every finger. We had a small conversation.
Click to expand...
I'm so jealous. and happy for you.
 
muggle not said:
Yep, can't remember the actual year but it was sometime between 1958 and 1960. Spent about 2 or 3 hours drinking beer with him in Beaumont.

Our secretary's husband was a disc jockey. One evening on my way home from work I stopped in to have a beer at a local club. The disc jockey was sitting at a table with George and invited me to have a "few" beers with them. George Jones and I were both pretty young in those days and we both enjoyed our beer. :)

I also met Faron Young one time. He and I shared a limousine from the airport to a hotel that we were both staying at. He was playing across the road at the Hampton Coliseum. I remember that he had huge rings on every finger. We had a small conversation.
Click to expand...
At George's memorial service at the Grand Ole Opry Alan Jackson sung a wonderful performance of He stopped loving her today.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
... Some things that I have normally given very little thought of..... Many different nationalities out here. No big deal as we're all here for the same propose but a little something that I witnessed a few minutes ago. ... So, to my point..... Sitting here in my parking space I watched a truck back in beside me. I do a lot of truck watching because that's part of how I learn to navigate these truck stops. So, this truck back in beside me. The younger driver gets out grabbing a small blanket spreading it out in front of his truck. Facing East he began his prayers. Watching the reaction of other truckers driving and walking by was at the least very disconcerting. We may not all believe in the same things but we are all people. It's a damn shame we aren't all compassionate individuals. Show respect rather than resentment. I'm betting you'll live a much better life that way. /preachoff
Click to expand...

DPK, if there was ever a better message posted on this forum, I do not recall it. You very succinctly created a post that everyone who reads it should take a moment to fully digest.

You are absolutely correct when you say we should be compassionate individuals.
Thank you for posting that. Maybe someone reading it will be less likely to judge others so quickly.
 
Finished up my run and I'm back home for the weekend. I think I may try to stay out to weeks the next stint. I'm heading to Wisconsin on Monday.

Lots of things on my to-do list though before I leave again. Winter's coming!
 
Been watching the weather in the north country and thinking about your sort of initiation into driving a big rig in winter weather.
 
Whizzer said:
Been watching the weather in the north country and thinking about your sort of initiation into driving a big rig in winter weather.
Click to expand...
It is what it is I guess. While I'm not looking forward to it, people do it. If it can be done, I guess I can do it too. I'll be the guy in the granny lane. My plan is to stay South as much as possible. Whether or not that'll work out is yet to be seen.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
It is what it is I guess. While I'm not looking forward to it, people do it. If it can be done, I guess I can do it too. I'll be the guy in the granny lane. My plan is to stay South as much as possible. Whether or not that'll work out is yet to be seen.
Click to expand...
Seems to me the dispatchers would have an interest in keeping a newbie south, with slow initiation to the powder.
 
Nitro Dude said:
In Nhra the pro teams can't move their haulers until 1 hour after the final round of Top Fuel. So as soon as I can move on Sun afternoon I will pull around to the septic dump and dump the septic tanks and fill up the water tanks for the lounge in the trailer "not one of my favorite duties of the job but someone has to do it". Then after a quick shower I'm heading west to Ennis Tx to see my buddy Magnethead.:) I should start meeting the Nascar haulers coming back from Talladega around the South Carolina state line.
Click to expand...
Except for the Monday nationals. They said on the broadcast that a bunch of pro teams left as soon as they could after they were eliminated.

My friend Henry Kindle (T/S) got to the motorplex around Noon today. He's number 20 in the sportsman line.
 
Magnethead said:
Seems to me the dispatchers would have an interest in keeping a newbie south, with slow initiation to the powder.
Click to expand...
Gotta learn sometime. This mornings run is from Chicago through Cleveland, Erie, and Buffalo. Probably not a desired run in another month or two. I'm leaving at 245 Central. Sitting here watching the clock for the green flag to wave.
 
591.2 miles later I'm parked for the day. Still a two and a half hour final run to the delivery point tomorrow morning. I've got to deliver @ 7am so it'll be another early day tomorrow.
 
Delivered this morning as planned. After delivery I moved on to our Massachusetts terminal where I'll be sitting until Saturday morning. Loading locally here and heading back to Wisconsin for a Monday delivery.
 
Some of the hardware used in connecting hoses together used for the offload process. There are many more. These are the ones I used at my last delivery that I have to have cleaned.

All of the connections that I use are either two or three inches in diameter. All of the hoses I use for offloading are also two or three inches as well. Sometimes, like this last delivery, I use a combination of both sizes.

My last delivery used the pump that is attached to my tractor. Both a compressor and a pump are attached to the tractor and run off of a PTO. For the last delivery, I had a rear discharge trailer. The product I was hauling was an additive that is used in the production of diesel fuel. It was highly flammable. When working with flammable products, air cannot be used. A pump had to be utilized. The only exception is if you use nitrogen to blow the product through the lines as nitrogen will not allow for combustion. For a rear discharge it takes 60' of hose to reach from the discharge to the pump input on the tractor. Then, 20' more, in this case, to go from the pump outlet to the customer. The steps to do this are basically to make all of the hose connections from there discharge to the pump and the pump to the connection at the delivery point. Open the dome lid on the tanker to avoid imploding the tank. Open all valves checking for any leaks. Finally turning on the PTO driven pump system monitoring all connections and tank levels.

When completed the pump is turned off. All valves are turned off. All hoses are capped. All fittings are capped. The dome is secured. Hoses and fittings are secured for transit. Paperwork is completed and it's off to the tank wash facility that is capable of cleaning the product that was just offloaded. Not all tank washes can clean all products. Personally I don't know which ones can clean what products. I just follow the instructions that are sent to me telling me where to transport the empty tanker for cleaning.

While I've never stood there and watched these tankers cleaned I have seen that there are quite a few different processes depending on the product. Some products require intense heat to be used. Others may simply be different cleaning solutions. Heat is induced by using steam. Cleaning solutions are sprayed. Those people that do that stuff work hard to put out a sanitary product.
d10685295008ee719f6fcaaf1f50f8ed.jpg


Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 
Made my way back over to the Milwaukee area for tomorrow's delivery. Got here just in time for NFL Sunday.

Just over 1000 miles the past two days. Started out in the Springfield Massachusetts area at 7 yesterday morning where I loaded and then drove just over 500 miles staying just east of Cleveland last night. Today started about 430 am for the final 500 miles that I covered in 8 hours. That's a 62.5 mph average. Not bad being governed at 65 mph while running loaded @ 78,320 lbs. Outside of some of the New York region, this run was relatively flat. Most of the time I just used cruise control keeping at 65 mph.

I'm currently parked less than 10 minutes from tomorrow's delivery point. Should be a fairly quick day tomorrow. I'll probably be heading to South Chicago tomorrow afternoon to drop off the empty tanker to be washed. Where they send me after that I'll find out then. All I know is I'm to be home on Friday. For me, that will be my longest stint to date. It'll be 12 days out on Friday. Will be a good pay.

The plan is to do two days at home then 12 out again. After that run I may go longer. I think I'm going to try to get in as much driving as I can this fall/winter season over the road. Then, probably local runs during the spring and summer so I'm home almost every day. We'll see how this works out.
 
I got out of the Dallas track and headed towards Amarillo as fast as I could and it paid off I think I was just in front of tornado and only got a little rain and wind. Thanks to Magnethead for keeping me posted all night on where the bad weather was. Now I'm in New Mexico and the weather is awesome.
 
Broke down along I41 about 90 miles north of Chicago. Waiting on roadside service to get here. I hope to see them get me fixed up. I've got a load heading back to New York tomorrow afternoon for delivery Thursday morning.
 
I don't know how it happened but my wiring harness got tanked apart along with my supply side air to the trailer. I just unloaded about 4 miles up the road. Right when I jumped back on the interstate, I heard it happen. My dash lit up like a Christmas tree.

864683fdea107d2293ebdf6ad31c2943.jpg
77d1e0759efd7dcff07d817fe0f72865.jpg


Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 
StandOnIt said:
I ran over a tire gator and had something similar happen, took out the trailer air lines.
Click to expand...
It happened just as I was merging onto the interstate. I was glancing more into my side mirror at the time. There had to be something on the road that kicked up that I failed to see. The good thing is that I start getting paid by the hour to sit here while it's repaired. The bad thing is that I'm still waiting on someone to show up.
 
StandOnIt said:
If those harnesses hook up ok, all they have to do is run new air lines. If they can get to it, you might not be out too much time and have to switch to another truck and all.
Click to expand...
The guy is here now working on those air lines. No switching trucks for me. This one's mine till it's done. He's trying to patch it up so I can make my Chicago terminal. Our mechanics at that location can get it fixed hopefully. Then again, let's see if I make it there first. I'll probably be the one on the news tying traffic up in front of O'Hare airport. :D. Stay tuned to your local news.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
The guy is here now working on those air lines. No switching trucks for me. This one's mine till it's done. He's trying to patch it up so I can make my Chicago terminal. Our mechanics at that location can get it fixed hopefully. Then again, let's see if I make it there first. I'll probably be the one on the news tying traffic up in front of O'Hare airport. :D. Stay tuned to your local news.
Click to expand...
:XXROFL:
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
The guy is here now working on those air lines. No switching trucks for me. This one's mine till it's done. He's trying to patch it up so I can make my Chicago terminal. Our mechanics at that location can get it fixed hopefully. Then again, let's see if I make it there first. I'll probably be the one on the news tying traffic up in front of O'Hare airport. :D. Stay tuned to your local news.
Click to expand...
:XXROFL:
 
Made it through Chicago to my terminal. I'm going to have the mechanics look at it in the morning. No issues on the drive down after the repairs.

I'm driving to one of our other Illinois terminals tomorrow around noon to pick up my preloaded trailer for delivery just south of Syracuse New York. It doesn't deliver until 7am Thursday. I made this exact same run last week. It's a good ride under a full load. Fairly level. I don't lose much time on this run. I think I averaged 62.5 mph, or close to it, last week. Money can be made quick at that speed. :)
 
Magnethead said:
As long as all the wires/pins stayed intact, those weatherpack/Metripack connectors are super easy to rebuild. The Deutsh and Yazaki types are a royal pain in the ass. Molex are the cheapest/easiest and first to fail.

https://www.waytekwire.com/products/1598/Connectors/
Click to expand...
Currently waiting on the daylight mechanics to arrive here at this Chicago terminal. Hope to get in the bay door first thing this morning. If they've got me good to go for this last run this week then I'll have my home terminal work on any problems over the weekend. Our mechanics are top notch taking pride in their work to keep the drivers moving. I think they realize how money is brought into this company and realize the importance of keeping these trucks in motion. The overnight mechanic at my current location seems to spend more time in the break room watching television complaining how overworked he is......

Wow! Just as I was typing that, he wanted me in. Must be a commercial. ;)
 
Been busy driving.....

Everything checked out with the truck. At least as far as the nightshift mechanic determined.

Shortly after I pulled out of the garage I got the message that my next load was ready. It was a preload that delivers a little South of Syracuse New York tomorrow morning. I bobtailed over to the other terminal stopping on the way at the Blue Beacon Truck Wash. After a quick wash I hooked up and headed east from the Chicago area. There was a lot of extra time built into this run. My plan was to stay last night just east of Cleveland. Plans changed. I stopped near the Toledo exit to refuel. Just as I was pulling out of the Pilot, my GPS told me that there was a 90 minute delay in 26 miles. Then I heard over the CB that a tanker hit a bridge abutment in the eastbound lane. Just a few minutes later a 2nd accident was being reported just a few miles east of that. Long story short, I90 was locked down. I was only about 300 miles into my trip but done for the day. I pulled out at 230 this morning for my run to Syracuse. Here I sit until 6am tomorrow.

Time for a nap.
 
DPK, NitroDude, and StandonIt .... youse guys is da best. I really enjoy your comments and running commentary of your days. I know I'm not the only one either. Keep them rolling in.
My Bride and I just returned from a two weeks vacation (?) and I question the term "vacation" mostly because we're retired so some might say every day is a "vacation day". But I digress.
It took me several minutes to catch up with your exploits and while doing so, got thinking how it isn't as easy as jumping in the cab, starting the engine and hauling butt. It really can be complicated. Anyway, on the last leg of our journey, a flight from Raleigh to Tampa, I sat alongside a gentleman who was an over-the-road driver for a company based near Pittsburg and was elevated to the position of safety officer. He was relating some of his duties and experiences I think mostly because I asked him a ton of questions. It was quite an eye opener and I wish everyone knew some of the issues you face on a daily basis. It isn't a simple job at all.
Meantime guys, drive safe. Maybe we'll meet at a race sometime.
 
I last delivered on Saturday afternoon near the Scranton, PA area. My next dispatch was to come out of one of our New Jersey terminals. I normally get my next dispatch about the time that I arrive for delivery of a current load. This time, nothing. I called the national dispatch which directed me to a tank wash in Jersey so I headed in that direction. A half hour later I got another tank wash dispatch to head West to my home terminal. The bad thing about that is that they weren't expecting me to come home for two more weeks. They probably won't have a load for me today so it looks like I'll be able to catch up on some work at home.
 
That's gotta be a bi-tch!! Driving and then coming home to rake leaves, pickup the yard, get things ready for cold weather, maintain the house, keep Momma happy, WAIT!! Did I just post, "keep Momma happy"? That in and of itself is a job for anyone. (just kidding)
Anyway, the life of an over-the-road driver must be hectic.
And by the way, time to start thinking about putting up Christmas decorations and lighting. Just trying to be helpful here. :rolleyes:
 
I just got back home today from our Las Vegas race this past weekend and now I have a week off before leaving for the last race of the season which is in Pomona Ca which is about 15 minutes from our shop in Ontario Ca. But next Tues I will drive to Fontana to get the hauler washed and top off with fuel before heading to the track to get in the stacking line.
 
Started this week with a run to Providence RI. Got back yesterday evening. This morning I loaded near Pittsburgh for delivery in Montreal tomorrow morning. I'm currently at a truck stop just west of Syracuse NY. I've still got about five hours drive left. Going to head out early in the am to get there by 8am. I hope to get there, offload, and then get back to this location by early afternoon. I'll then head home Saturday morning.

Got to drive through some lake effect snow today between Erie, PA and Buffalo. The ground got covered but the roads didn't freeze. I hope I'm as lucky in the morning. Not looking forward to hauling throughout the winter months.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom