Denver is Beautiful This TIme of Year

We left here, Denver(which is beautiful this time of year), last Monday evening at about 1500, well that was the first time. You see, dispatch called, they said they had a load from the airport in Denver to the airport in Dallas. They said it was to load at 2000 supposedly local time. I called the shipper, because that sounded awful late for a load at the airport, and they said that they close at 2000 and we needed to be there prior to their closing.

I went and found an empty trailer, we went out to the airport, and they loaded us with 1 300# pallet, on a 53' trailer. Hmmmmm. I called dispatch before we left to make sure that I had all the freight that we were supposed to get. Both, dispatch and the shipper, said that that was all I was supposed to take to Dallas so we proceeded on to Dallas International airport.

About 45 minutes after we left the airport dispatch called and wanted to know when we were going to go pick up the load. I advised them to hold on for a minute so I could pull off the highway so that when I threw my phone it wouldn't cause glass to blow back into my face. I then exited at the nearest off ramp and continued the conversation with the dispatcher from Sacramento. After exchanging pick up addresses, names, pickup numbers etc. they made another call to the shipper and it was determined that we left without getting all the freight and that we needed to turn around and go back to the shipper for reloading.

We headed back to the shipper and they reloaded us for our trip to DFW. Finally, about 2040 Eastern time we were on our way again and after a brief fuel stop we were off and running. We got to the assigned address about 2 hours earlier than the appointment time. Upon arrival, we were told that we were at the wrong address. They did have the correct information though and we were only a few miles from where we were supposed to deliver.

We made our way to the correct delivery address, they removed the freight from our trailer and we headed to our Dallas terminal. We took a call on the way over there, which was actually only a few miles, and we were asked to pull a load to Orlando out of DFW at about 0100 on Wednesday. We agreed to take the assignment.

We piddled around most of the day in Dallas. Went to get a bite to eat and came back and went to bed pretty early as we were up all night driving to make delivery. Not griping, driving is our job, just stating the facts.

The Qualcomm system woke us up at about 0400 with a message letting us know that our Orlando load had canceled. We drifted back off to sleep and got up at about 0800 and went for breakfast.

We seen a couple of our friends there on our way out so I left one of them a message and woke the other from a sound sleep to go with us to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast. After much wrangling, Jose' and Ceci finally got up and met us for breakfast and to catch up on much needed fellowship.

After breakfast we went back to the terminal so that I could do some maintenance on the 9/12 Truck. I changed the FS2500 bypass filter and did a chassis lube. I also had some wires that needed re-tied and a loose fender bracket that I had to tighten.



Joe and J.B., both who are pictured here, Joe is the red and J.b is the blue truck, had gotten their dispatch for the day and I was beginning to wonder if we had been forgotten. I called dispatch in Columbus and sure enough, they had accidentally skipped over us t-on the available power list in Texas. Rich said he'd work something out and call us when he had something. Rich is a stand up guy that always does as he says and can admit a few and far between mistake.

Rich called back just as I was finishing up with the maintenance and asked us to find an empty and head for oak Grove MO. We would meet another driver there and take his load on to Denver. Again, Tina accepted the load assignment and told Rich it would be about an hour before we got moving because I was working on the truck and needed to finish up before leaving.

I finished up, cleaned up, and headed for the fuel island. There were no available empty trailers in the parking lot so I was going to have to go to the office and have them find me one. Just as I pulled onto the fuel island, another driver came in with an empty and I had him drop it so that I could take it to Oak Grove.

We got to Oak Grove at about 0130, went to bed and woke up to the ringing of the telephone at about 0530 with the other driver calling to let us know that he had arrived with our load. After Tina dropped our empty trailer and hooked to the loaded trailer, she performed a pre-trip inspection and headed for Denver. I remained asleep like all good men might do in such a situation.

Tina got to Denver at about 1615 yesterday thinking we might get a dispatch right back out. That didn't happen. We went to bed pretty darned early again and got up this morning and went for breakfast at the local Denny's. We are still awaiting a dispatch. Again, If we have to sit somewhere, there are far worse places this time of year. The weather here is absolutely fantastic right now.

In the mean time...Here is a novel item for the coming election year.
When The Politicians Are On TV, Blowing Hot Air And You Want To Scream, Just Grab Your Doll And Give It A Fling, Let Them Know...Hey, You Work For Me.

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND
A useful, bipartisan doll to give you something to throw while watching the news and listening to the politicians lie with every motion of their lips. Throw your doll and scream while never causing any damage to your television. These dolls now come with a retrieval string for retrieval without moving from your perch on the couch.

All Dolls are bipartisan, Republican on 1 side, Democrat on the other.



In closing, we hope that you can find it in your budget to help with a small purchase or a donation in support of our mission.
We have launched into a couple of apparel stores so that everyone can show their support of the 912 Truck. Click here to show your support, or go to www.printfection.com/912truck. For those of you that would rather have a hat or mug you we have another outlet at cafepress.com/912 Truck. You can also use any of the donate buttons on this page to make a contribution directly to our endeavor to Waking up America.
Thanks for your support.

In God I Trust
Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow
ADW

Phoenix AZ, Waiting for Las Vegas Load

Our load out of Columbus OH was finally ready at about 1745 Friday night. By the time the the paperwork was ready, we got fueled, hooked to the loaded trailer, and performed our pre-trip inspection, it was nearly 1900 when we drove out the gate at the terminal.

We hit some pretty nasty weather around Indianapolis IN. Heavy rain, lightning and high winds mostly. The rain and winds lasted until we got to Effingham IL and then it cleared up pretty nicely.

It was very warm in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, around 100-103 most of the day yesterday. This was a relatively uneventful trip. We did have several folks waiving and taking pictures of the truck but other than that, just a run of the mill drive across America.

We arrived in Phoenix at about 0330 this morning and had a great nights sleep. We got up about 0930 and got ready for the day. We dropped our trailer at the terminal, headed of over to the closest truck stop for some breakfast. After breakfast, I decided it was way too hot for me to wash the truck wo I went across the street and had the fells at Danny Truck Wash perform the dreaded feet. They done a great job washing the truck and making sure it was clean.

We are just sitting around, watching the Nascar race and waiting for another load. It's pretty darned warm here today. The thermometer says 108. We were asked if we could run one up to Vegas out of here. We like going up there so we accepted the load and it should be ready sometime this afternoon.


In the mean time...Here is a novel item for the coming election year.
When The Politicians Are On TV, Blowing Hot Air And You Want To Scream, Just Grab Your Doll And Give It A Fling, Let Them Know...Hey, You Work For Me.

A useful, bipartisan doll to give you something to throw while watching the news and listening to the politicians lie with every motion of their lips. Throw your doll and scream while never causing any damage to your television. These dolls now come with a retrieval string for retrieval without moving from your perch on the couch.

All Dolls are bipartisan, Republican on 1 side, Democrat on the other.



In closing, we hope that you can find it in your budget to help with a small purchase or a donation in support of our mission.
We have launched into a couple of apparel stores so that everyone can show their support of the 912 Truck. Click here to show your support, or go to www.printfection.com/912truck. For those of you that would rather have a hat or mug you we have another outlet at cafepress.com/912 Truck. You can also use any of the donate buttons on this page to make a contribution directly to our endeavor to Waking up America.
Thanks for your support.

In God I Trust
Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow
ADW

Headed Back to Columbus

Just before we got to Rock Tavern last night, at about 2230 or so, I received a text message from the driver with whom we were to switch trailers and he had just left Boston MA. He was about 3.5-4 hours away.

We decided we would take advantage of the down time and catch a short nap. The wrap on the door came, from the other driver, at about 0200. He was already unhooked from the trailer and was waiting for me to unhook from mine.

I jumped up, got dressed and hurriedly unhooked, re-hooked performed my pre-trip inspection. I caught up my logbook and we were headed for Columbus, OH. We are currently in western Pennsylvania on I-80 and it is snowing, raining, sleeting nasty combination of weather. Again, every time we come this way, the weather is nasty. Granted, it isn't sticking to the roads but man, what's the deal. It was 70 degrees here yesterday, on the way up and now it is just about 35 degrees or so.

We should be back in Columbus OH by about 1230 or so. I have no idea where they will want us to go next but we readily await their dispatch.

In God I Trust
Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow
ADW

04/08/10 Off to Rock Tavern (Newburgh) NY

Well, we finally made it to Dallas about 0530 on Wednesday morning. We had received notice that our load back to Columbus was ready, even before we arrived in Dallas. That notice came at ab out 0440.

We dropped the loaded trailer, fueled the truck and hooked to the trailer going back to Columbus. After a pre-trip inspection of the truck and trailer, as required by D.O.T., we were off and running. We left Dallas at about 0615.

We, rather uneventfully, arrived back in Columbus OH this morning at about 0030, dropped the trailer and went to bed. A 38 hour turn from Columbus OH to Dallas and back to Columbus, with a 2 hour flat tire delay, is a pretty quick turn by any standards. I know there are plenty of folks who'll say no big deal, and it isn't, it's just a pretty quick turn, but anyway...

We got up this morning and headed to our favorite greasy spoon restaurant, just down the street from the terminal, only to find out it had been closed up, out of business. What the??? Oh well. We decided on Wafflay Hoosay, that's frenchy french for Waffle House for those of you who aren't quite refined as I. So while we were having breakfast, Frank called and said he didn't have much out of Columbus today but here's what I do have, he said," Philly, I said not looking for a cheese steak He said Portland, OR, I said too liberal for us there, he said Rock Tavern NY and right back to Columbus, that's all I got. We took Rock Tavern.

After breakfast, we headed over to the local big box grocery store and done some shopping for groceries and Tina's craft supplies. We then headed back to the terminal for some R&R before the load was to be ready about 1500. We no sooner got back there and the message came that the load was ready and needed to leave right away.

We just went through Youngstown and we are about 360 miles or so South East f Rock Tavern. We are supposed to meet another driver there, with a load from Boston, that is to go back to Columbus and he will take ours on to Boston.

This is beautiful country up here but the weather seems to always be nasty. It seems that every time we come up this way it is either raining or snowing.

I guess we are about 6 hours or so from our Rock Tavern destination. We just got a message from dispatch telling us that the other driver would be there about 2 hours or so later than us. Looks like we'll get another nap before returning.


In closing, we hope that you can find it in your budget to help with a small purchase or a donation in support of our mission.
We have launched into a couple of apparel stores so that everyone can show their support of the 912 Truck. Click here to show your support, or go to www.printfection.com/912truck. For those of you that would rather have a hat or mug you we have another outlet at cafepress.com/912 Truck. You can also use any of the donate buttons on this page to make a contribution directly to our endeavor to Waking up America.
Thanks for your support.

In God I Trust
Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow
ADW

DFW to ATL to RDU to CMH to DFW and back to CMH Tomorrow

We did get out of Dallas on time. The load was ready at 2300 and we were hooked to the loaded trailer, had the pre-trip inspection performed, and out the gate by 2330. We traveled out tx114 to I-30 to U.S. 80 and on to I-20.

We had to make a quick stop in Terrell TX for a splash of fuel and then again in Greenwood LA to fill up with fuel. We arrived, uneventfully, in Atlanta at about 1300 and figured that since it was Easter Sunday, we would likely be there all day.

We were enjoying the Rick Warren special from Angel Stadium in Anaheim CA when the phone rang and it was dispatch. They had some short runs that they didn’t have enough solo trucks to cover and asked if we would take a load to Raleigh NC and then run empty back to Charlotte NC. Again, we accepted the load.

The load was actually ready when they called so we hurriedly headed to dispatch for our manifest and hooked to our loaded trailer. I performed the pre-trip inspection and again, we were off and running.

The load wasn’t scheduled to deliver until 0500 on Monday so we decided to find a place for dinner. We stopped in Commerce GA at a T/A truck stop. Now that was a mistake. The service was pretty good, but they had very little food. The restaurant manager had apparently forgotten to plan for Easter Sunday and they were out of many entrées and even condiments on the salad bar.

We had dinner and relaxed for about an hour and we were off again for Raleigh. We arrived at our terminal at about 2230 or so and I unhooked from the trailer so that I could install a kingpin lock and go find a parking place to go to bed. Not so fast, they had plenty of king pin locks but there were no keys available to install them. I had to stay hooked to the trailer until someone from the warehouse arrived to keep watch of the freight.

The warehouse supervisor arrived about 0130, woke me up so that I could pull away from the dock and open the trailer doors and bump the dock again and then I dropped the trailer and went to bed for the rest of the evening.

We were supposed to go to Charlotte with an empty but that plan changed as well. We were asked to stay put and they’d let us know in a bit where we would be going.

In the mean time, I decided to make contact with an internet friend, Karen Allen, the amazingly talented young lady who done the header for this blog site and is also the purveyor of Annieoakley.org. Karen told us if we were ever in the area, she and her kids would love to see the truck. We made arrangements, I gave her directions to where we were parked and she and her wonderful kids came and visited, signed the truck, and took some pictures.

Just before Karen and family arrived, dispatch called and asked us to hook to an empty trailer and go to Reynoldsburg OH (North Columbus area). After our visit, we did as they asked and were headed for our next load by about 1445. Again, the load we were going to pull from Reynoldsburg wasn’t going to be ready until about 1000 the next morning, Tuesday.

We stopped in Wytheville VA for dinner and to kill some time. About an hour and a half later we were gone again. We traveled up I-77 to U.S. 33 and arrived in Reynoldsburg about 0100. Went to bed and this morning, before we could hook to the loaded trailer, dispatch called and asked if we would pull a load to Dallas rather than the Miami that we had been assigned to earlier. That was a great call.

It seems that every time we go into Florida, we get stuck there for 2-3 days and we just really didn’t want to be there at this point. We headed back to the terminal in Columbus, about 18 miles or so south and dropped our empty, filled up with fuel, and hooked to the loaded trailer. We were hooked, fueled and rolling by about 0945.

We are now south of Cincinnati OH between there and Louisville KY. We will be traveling I-71 to I-65 south, to Nashville TN. In Nashville we will access I-40 west and run that to Little Rock AR. From there we will exit to I-30 west and run that the rest of the way into Dallas.

As I sit writing this entry, dispatch just called and asked, when we get to Dallas, whether we might want to turn around back to Columbus OH. Since we aren’t out here for our health, but rather to make money, we accepted the load. Our trip back should be ready when we arrive in Dallas, so it should be a pretty quick turn. I’m guessing that we should be back in Columbus by about midnight Wednesday night. We shall see.

In God I Trust
Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow
ADW

Location and Destination Update

Tina and I left Dallas this morning at about 0445. We were notified at about 0400 that out load was ready. By the time we got up and got ready to go, I hooked to the loaded trailer, fueled the tractor and performed a pre-trip inspection though it was about 0445 before we drove out of the gate at the terminal.

We ran I-30 out of Texas and into Arkansas all the way to Little Rock. We got onto I-40 in Little Rock and ran that to Nashville TN where we got onto I-65N and went into Louisville, KY. From there we will run I-71 into Columbus OH.

We were contacted early this morning about a load back to DFW, so that is where we are headed at about 0600 on Sunday morning...if the load is ready on time.

We are going to need to run out to the Flying J travel plaza, East of Columbus, to empty our waste tank after we drop this loaded trailer at the terminal. We really don't want to run out there, it is about 40 miles round trip, but the tank has to be emptied and we can't do it while we are hooked to a trailer, there just isn't room at the truck stop to turn around where the dump stations are located. Oh well, we should still be in bed shortly after midnight and get a pretty good nights sleep.

As far as routes we will travel back to DFW, just reverse the routes above and that will get you there. Assuming the load is ready on time we should be in Dallas at about 0100 on Monday and then who knows where we will be headed.

We have another 5 weeks before we take off for 2 weeks over Christmas. We have actually worked the last two Christmas', so we decided we would take this one off and spend it with family. We will, however, be on the road for Thanksgiving.

Finally, we hope that you can find it in your budget to help with a small purchase or a donation in support of our mission.
We have launched into a couple of apparel stores so that everyone can show their support of the 912 Truck. Click here to show your support, or go to www.printfection.com/912truck. For those of you that would rather have a hat or mug you we have another outlet at cafepress.com/912 Truck. You can also use any of the donate buttons on this page to make a contribution directly to our endeavor to Waking up America.
Thanks for your support.


In God I Trust
Have a Great Day and a Better Tomorrow
ADW