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

dpkimmel2001 said:
Still sitting in Savannah.....

Waiting on them to preload my trailer. Over 12 hours and counting. It's already pushed me beyond my scheduled delivery time and seriously putting in doubt any chances of getting another load before the holiday weekend. At least I'm getting paid for the delay.

It was to have been all night driving. Changed my sleep habits starting Saturday to prepare for a couple all nighters. Now it seems to have been pushed back to day driving. I'll be ready for a long weekend after this run.
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I love Savannah and I especially love the small parks downtown with the statues. Are you able to go out and walk around? There are lots of benches to sit on while you wait. While you are there you might as well enjoy the scenery.
 
Keep us posted how things work out. I hope they get you home for the long weekend. Stay safe.
 
Ilovedthe90s said:
I love Savannah and I especially love the small parks downtown with the statues. Are you able to go out and walk around? There are lots of benches to sit on while you wait. While you are there you might as well enjoy the scenery.
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I wish I could have but I was South of Savannah @ a chemical plant. Not much to do there but I finally got on my way after waiting just over 19 hours.
 
Nitro Dude said:
Keep us posted how things work out. I hope they get you home for the long weekend. Stay safe.
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I finally got out of there and drove to just shy of the halfway point. Because of the delay, my delivery is now scheduled for Thursday. It's open ended. I'm going to get there early in the AM hours. I should be back home in the afternoon Thursday.
 
Ho Lee Fuk! Who was that guy that had to drive across the mouth of the Niagra on a rickety bridge and blindside back in around three turns in the darkness of the night?

This guy!

By far, the toughest delivery point that I've been to. I wasn't wide awake when I got here at 1:30am but I was wide eyed when I saw what I had in front of me. From the moment I had to make a sharp, short 90° left to get on this island until I finally got in position to offload, I felt like I was threading a needle without my much needed glasses on. At any rate, I'm here offloading.

Today's product is referred to as elephant snot. It's a thick, sticky, poly product that is used in large filtration systems. It's used to separate particles out of liquids. I'll let you use your imagination for what this particular load is going to separate.

Because of the thickness, I'm required to take 3 hours of trying to push this product off the trailer. I'm not allowed to leave a facility with any product left on the trailer. If I do, besides getting in trouble, it has to be paid for to be cleaned up by the company. If I fulfill my 3-hour requirement, regardless of what's left on here, the shipper then is at fault and has to pay for whatever's left over.

Working against me today is the fact that the bridge that I crossed to get over to this island is going to be closed at 6:00 a.m. . I need to be done, cleaned up and packed up to get off of this island before then. If I don't, I'm stuck over here until they reopen the bridge. I should have about 30 minutes to spare if all goes well.
 
Delivered yesterday morning. Been waiting for my next load to be preloaded. Heading from the Savannah, GA area to Creola, AL tonight where I'll drop off this preloaded trailer. I'll then pick up another in the morning where I'll then be heading to Menominee, MI for delivery sometime on Monday. I've never been to that part of Michigan before. Looking forward to the drive over these next few days/nights. Doing my pre-trip planning now
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Delivered yesterday morning. Been waiting for my next load to be preloaded. Heading from the Savannah, GA area to Creola, AL tonight where I'll drop off this preloaded trailer. I'll then pick up another in the morning where I'll then be heading to Menominee, MI for delivery sometime on Monday. I've never been to that part of Michigan before. Looking forward to the drive over these next few days/nights. Doing my pre-trip planning now
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Enjoy the U.P.!
 
Keep the reports coming. Drove up to the U.P. once to pick up a tractor. Got kinds flat and the wind off the lake was super hard. Gets sort of remote.
 
Just pulled into Creola and dropped my trailer. I don't see the trailer that I'm to take tomorrow morning. Hopefully someone is bringing me that while I sleep.
 
Just got parked for the evening just north of Louisville KY. 625 miles today. About 530 to go tomorrow. I found a small truck stop about 6 minutes from my delivery point.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Just got parked for the evening just north of Louisville KY. 625 miles today. About 530 to go tomorrow.
I found a small truck stop about 6 minutes from my delivery point.
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I thought you drove a large truck . . . . . . :cool:
 
Nitro Dude said:
Where are you going?
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That day/evening I was going to Menominee, MI. A little City just over the state line above Green Bay. From there, I took the empty tanker to the south side of Chicago where I picked up a clean tanker. I then headed to Janesville, WI to pick up a load headed for Fairfield, OH. I offloaded just after midnight last night. Waiting on my next dispatch now. I'm light on hours. Not sure they will want to pay me to sit here for a 34 reset. They're liable to just send me home today. I've got an awful lot of things to do there so that may not be a bad thing.
 
Back home just for a few short hours before I head back to the Milwaukee Wisconsin area. Load tomorrow morning done in West Virginia and then head to Wisconsin for delivery on Saturday.

I had a bunch of things on my list that I wanted to get done at home here. The first thing on the list was drink a beer or two. I think that's the only thing I'm going to get checked off the list tonight.
 
At my loading point waiting to load for a run back to Wisconsin. Already at only 7 hours left on my 14 hour clock and they haven't started the loading process yet. Not going to get in a whole lotta miles in the right direction today.
 
Long, long time loading at yesterday's load location. Finally got going but was already running off of my 14 hour clock. Could only just make it out of Pennsylvania into eastern Ohio.

Stayed overnight at one of their turnpike service plazas. They do it right in Ohio. Clean locations. Plenty of food options. Clean, free, hot showers.

Drove 499 miles today leaving only :29 minutes on my 70 hour clock. I'll be gaining 8:41 after midnight. I'll make my delivery point tomorrow morning but I won't be able to get home until Sunday sometime. The amount of time spent at the load point crushed my time for the homebound run after unloading tomorrow.

This particular run was a special one. Not so much because of what was being hauled. It's moreso where it's being hauled from. This particular nameless plant is a corporation that previously only accepted chemicals. Now, they're producing them. And they're within an acceptable range for it's to haul from. The better job we do the more likely we could become a major transportation system for them. So far, I've been on time for everything that I'm responsible for in transporting this load. It's very important that this gets to it's destination safely and on time tomorrow morning. It may mean a lot more loads for us in the future.

I've already got the call to pick up a load on Monday morning. Antifreeze, heading to North Carolina. Delivers Tuesday. Antifreeze is never fun to haul. Hazmat and heavy. Because of its weight, less volume can be hauled. A 1/2 to 3/4 full tanker is way more dangerous than a completely full tanker. Far less stable because of product movement. The route is nothing but hills, mountains, valleys and curves. I just took this same route a couple weeks ago. I could only average about 54 mph than my normal 62. Doesn't sound like much but it makes a huge difference over a days drive.
 
Finished my antifreeze run this morning. Then, headed down to Charlotte to pick up a clean tanker. Loading just over the border in South Carolina tomorrow morning. Then, it's off to northwestern PA to a paper mill for delivery on Thursday.

I hope to get in one final day of local driving in Friday before heading east to the beach for a two week vacation. Assateaque Island with family and friends for a two week workshop of beer/wine drinking along with fine cuisine cooked over the campfire on the shores of the Atlantic. And don't forget the wild ponies. Man, they're fun. A couple years back I was able to catch one taking it for a ride. It's illegal to feed or even touch one but nobody was around so I figured, 'Why not?'. My wife was able to snap this picture of me as I was riding by....

Vzx88IZ.jpg
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
That day/evening I was going to Menominee, MI. A little City just over the state line above Green Bay. From there, I took the empty tanker to the south side of Chicago where I picked up a clean tanker.
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Sounds like you were in my home town at least long enough for a cup of coffee and that you might have been at one of the numerous tanker truck washing facilities in the Chicagoland area.

Before I retired part of my job was to monitor those sites to ensure that "undesirable" materials weren't being put to the sewer system.

Fun time dealing with uncooperative company reps . . . . . :boxing:
 
pjmolo said:
Sounds like you were in my home town at least long enough for a cup of coffee and that you might have been at one of the numerous tanker truck washing facilities in the Chicagoland area.

Before I retired part of my job was to monitor those sites to ensure that "undesirable" materials weren't being put to the sewer system.

Fun time dealing with uncooperative company reps . . . . . :boxing:
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Quala wash on 120th Street Chicago Illinois.
 
A nice vacation coming to a close. Tomorrow's a travel day home and then I'm off to North Carolina for a Tuesday delivery. Only about a 500 mile run but hopefully it'll be followed by a couple weeks out on the road.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Texas bound Monday 3am. The load is going on to Mexico City but I'm dropping it off in Pasadena for someone else to go over the border.
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If you are picking up a trailer from Mexico, be sure to pick up some air hose washers on your way down there. They have a habit of disappearing coming across the border.
 
StandOnIt said:
If you are picking up a trailer from Mexico, be sure to pick up some air hose washers on your way down there. They have a habit of disappearing coming across the border.
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Loading in West Virginia on my way down. I'm not crossing the border. I'm actually waiting on my passport renewal to be completed. Currently I have no passport until that's completed.
 
Trailers going across the border From Mexico to the US often have their air line washers missing or damaged, sometimes marker lights etc. It's a good idea to have some air hose washers anyway. All it takes is one to be missing and the trailer won't air up.
 
StandOnIt said:
Trailers going across the border From Mexico to the US often have their air line washers missing or damaged, sometimes marker lights etc. It's a good idea to have some air hose washers anyway. All it takes is one to be missing and the trailer won't air up.
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Little copper flare washers? That's how we quick-fix AN/JIC hose leaks on racecars ;)
 
Loaded trailer delivered to Pasadena, TX for it's next leg of it's journey to Mexico City. In the meantime I'm picking up a load tomorrow for delivery Friday in Mississippi.

Trying to spend as much time in my truck as possible while I'm down south. These states are getting hit hard with the virus.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Loaded trailer delivered to Pasadena, TX for it's next leg of it's journey to Mexico City. In the meantime I'm picking up a load tomorrow for delivery Friday in Mississippi.

Trying to spend as much time in my truck as possible while I'm down south. These states are getting hit hard with the virus.
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Aint that bad. I'd be more worried about your lungs in that pasadena air.
 
Lots of miles on the books over the past week including 3 - 650+ mile days. Pretty much exhausting the 11 hour driving clock being governed at 65 mph.

After the Pasadena, TX run I hauled a load to Greenville Mississippi. A short run then to a West Memphis Arkansas Tank Wash followed by a load out of Memphis Tennessee to Pawtucket Rhode Island. Then, on to a tank wash in Springfield Massachusetts where I currently reside until Wednesday. On Wednesday, after a 34 hour reset, I'm picking up a load just south of Boston Massachusetts that I'll be delivering on Friday in Henry Illinois. From there, who knows?

This past weeks states included Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
Lots of miles on the books over the past week including 3 - 650+ mile days. Pretty much exhausting the 11 hour driving clock being governed at 65 mph.

After the Pasadena, TX run I hauled a load to Greenville Mississippi. A short run then to a West Memphis Arkansas Tank Wash followed by a load out of Memphis Tennessee to Pawtucket Rhode Island. Then, on to a tank wash in Springfield Massachusetts where I currently reside until Wednesday. On Wednesday, after a 34 hour reset, I'm picking up a load just south of Boston Massachusetts that I'll be delivering on Friday in Henry Illinois. From there, who knows?

This past weeks states included Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
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I Nitro Dude, who has probably driven more miles backwards while asleep then the average person has driven forward while awake... declare you as an experienced top notch veteran driver. Now you may remove your rookie stipe and chug the coldest beer you can find. :cheers:
 
Nitro Dude said:
I Nitro Dude, who has probably driven more miles backwards while asleep then the average person has driven forward while awake... declare you as an experienced top notch veteran driver. Now you may remove your rookie stipe and chug the coldest beer you can find. :cheers:
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I just got off the phone with my wife telling her that I sure could go for a cold beer. I'm going to have to take a raincheck on that but many will be had in my near future.
 
I gotta hand it to ya DPK.. You lost a long held job, picked yourself up by the boot straps, and made something work for you. It must be grueling to drive so far each day and then have to endure the waiting. You are someone who makes me proud to be able to say, "I know that guy."
 
Whizzer said:
I gotta hand it to ya DPK.. You lost a long held job, picked yourself up by the boot straps, and made something work for you. It must be grueling to drive so far each day and then have to endure the waiting. You are someone who makes me proud to be able to say, "I know that guy."
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It's not that bad but like you and Tom Petty once said, the waiting is the hardest part...

 
Delivered in Henry Illinois this morning. Next up... Riverside California. A short 4000 mile trip from my current location in Kankakee, Illinois. It's a dedicated load so it's out and back.
 
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