Back on My Head

Vacation is over. I can't think about it much. It makes it hard to think about living in this deprivation chamber for the next few weeks. Well thats what I used to call my office at my old job.

I noticed a lot of snowbirds on I75 south today, all loaded up in their rv's with extra trailers or cars in tow.

I'm having a time posting this. I turned off my usb modem and got a Motorola DROID smart phone to save money. It's harder to write with bu Ishould be able to put up pictures and video easier now. Verizon is going to allow tethering early next year.

Speach Recognition, Cell Phones and Corn

I've noticed that there are still hundreds of acres of corn still standing. I don't know anything about it but seems kinda late for harvest. I's been well below freezing a lot of nights up here in the north. Is that normal? Maybe its not for food but for methanol refining and it doesn't matter. That's just a guess.

My company doesn't allow using a cell phone while driving. It's their truck so it's their call. I don't see the problem. Using a cell phone with a head set seems harmless to me. I agree that texting, reading texts or holding the phone is a problem. I think that companies are concerned about their insurance riders with all of the lawsuits these days. The States passing laws about this are looking at stats that are influenced too much by teens and other drivers that are not trained to think about safety. I do think that there are a lot of us who don't use the phone responsibly. As usual the powers that be choose to deny everyone rather than holding individuals responsible for their actions.

I spent an hour yesterday trying out the Speech Recognition software that came with Vista on my laptop. I was surprised how well it worked. I was able to get most of the commands down in about an hour. It will write your dictation, allow you to make changes and corrections and open and close apps. I was able to open my email app, address, label, dictate a message and send it without touching a thing. I think I can really take advantage of this tool. My next test will be to use a digital recorder to speak the commands into and see how well it will work, playing the commands into the mic port to fill a document with text. I have a lot of ideas and thoughts throughout the day, especially in the morning. By the time I get stopped at night my senior status kicks in and I can't remember any of it. A recorder will save my thoughts for sure but if I could use it with the speech recognition tool to write the text, well, that would be sweet.

Headless Deer

I'm trying something different. It seems that all I do is write where I am and where I'm going every day. I'm going to do that as the day goes on with twitter. You can find that on the right side bar. Once in a while I will sum it up with a main blog post. I want to use the main section to write about things I see or think about during the day and to post pictures when I get good ones.

I don't know if any of you other drivers are seeing this but I have noticed it and a friend of mine has too. There are a lot of headless deer in the road. Everyone has heard jokes about people eating road kill and there is certainly plenty of it but apparently a lot of people stop and take the heads off of bucks when they are hit and lying on the side of the road. I know that buck horn is uses in a lot of crafts but is it that valuable? It just seems strange to me.

It seems that global warming is back on again. When I fueled in Austinburg OH today it was 83 degrees. That's right up by lake Erie and it's October  November14.

When I got 10 new tires a month ago, my fuel mileage went down to around 6 mpg or less for a while. Now that they are worn in I am getting 7.2 mpg, according to the Qualcomm. My over idle is at 1.53 %. That should make Millis happy. I think I'll monitor the miles driven and gallons purchased over the next few days and get the true mpg 's.

That's it for tonight. I want to play with my tech toys a while and eat the other half of that Subway I got at lunch.

West on I90, Again

I arrived in Weedsport to drop my load and before I could uncouple I was receiving my next load.

I am 8 miles south now in Auburn NY picking up a load of glass to take back across I90 west to Richfield WI., 756 miles. This load will drop in the Millis yard there. I have plenty of time since it doesn't have to be there until Tuesday. I'll be early and so I can watch some NFL on Sunday.

I got a load that deadheaded me 157 miles to Cary IL to pick up a load going to Clinton CT. It only took them about 20 minutes to load me and it is only around 9,000 lbs. It's never fun to have to drive through Chicago twice but even that wasn't too bad. I also got a message later to drop this in Weedsport at the terminal. It is'nt due until Monday so I hope there will be a pre-plan coming tomorrow to carry through the weekend.

So, after about a 550 miles I am in the last travel plaza in Indiana on I80/90 resting for the night.

Day Shift Again

If you have read this blog you know I'm not fond of driving at night all the time. When you have an appointment that is at 0800 but you have to start driving at 0100 then for that day you will be tired and running out of hours early. So you get in a cycle where you have to keep getting up that early. Yesterday I was able to deadhead to my next load and get close enough to the delivery to catch up on sleep and wake up at a 0600 and get here by my 0900 appointment. It sure feels good to be caught up.

Now I am in Elkhart IN getting unloaded. I hope there is another load when I'm done to keep me running.

This Bud's for You

Well I messed up yesterdays post. While the miles were right I forgot what day it was so about 1,100 of those miles will count on the next period.

I got sent from Greenwich NY to Baldwinsville NY to get a beer load that I am delivering right now in Brecksville OH. There were already two other Millis drivers here and another one just drove up. This place is known to be kind of slow to get you unloaded so it might be a while.

The other drivers are long time Millis and both have new '09 Kenworth T2000's. I am in an '06 t2000. They were saying that in the future we will only see T660's. I hope not. Mine will be turned in next year but I may not get a new one anyway. Shippers are wanting to put on more all the time so companies are having to find a way to get lighter.

Good Finish for the Week

I'm MT in Greenwich NY. What a beautiful place. Click the link for a tour. Being and old village it is a tight spot for driving the big truck though. Millis pays weekly and from Tuesday to Monday is the pay period so delivering this morning gives me 3,213 miles for this week. Not bad since I just came out last Wednesday.

I am sitting in a K-Mart lot now waiting for dispatch. A Smith Transportation driver came over to chat. He said he has thirty years experience and most of it with one company that forced him to retire. He's not happy where he is and wanted to know about Millis. I gave him a recruiting pamphlet and he seemed to like what I had to say about Millis and said he would give them a call. A recruiting bonus would be nice right now.

A Long Day

Following my tracks back to upstate NY I am again in a rest area just east of Bath NY. This time I don't have the time that I did going west. I will have to leave by 0300 tomorrow to make the 0800 appointment. I've gone as far as I can today. With only 30 minutes left that I could drive, I don't know of another place to stop up ahead.

As on old country gentleman I once knew would say, "Some time it be's that way".

Ping, Pong

I made it to Neenah and got unloaded and then sent a ready message. The new load picks up right at the same plant in Neenah and delivers in Greenwich NY, That's almost right back to to where I came from.

The paper rolls I delivered here in Neenah are used to make variorn tissue paper products. I have to hustle. I need to deliver on Tuesday at 1000 and that's 1,100 miles.

Another 540 miles and I'm hold up in the service plaza just west of South Bend IN. I could have gotten through Chicago but the sun angle was really bad and I didn't see a need to.

I found out that a friend is delivering in Green Bay tomorrow and is already preplanned to pick up a load Neenah WI going to Cherokee AL. May be they have two of those and we can do a two truck convoy.

It's 25 degrees here. I can't wait to get to Wisconsin.

Thank you sir, may I have another

I got unloaded. Thank you sir, may I have another.

The next trip began with a 150 mile dead head to South Glens Falls NY. A beautiful drive up I67 just east of the Catskill mountains along the Hudson river to north of Albany NY and just into the Adirondack mountains. It is a live load of 27000 pounds of paper going about 1100 miles to Neenah WI.

I went back down I67 to Albany, I90 west, to I88 west to Binghamton NY then I86 west. This route is slightly longer than the I90 throughway but avoids those tolls (makes Millis happy) and I have plenty of time. I86 will put me back on I90 just east of Erie PA and will have bypassed most all of the New York throughway tolls. (Excuse me while I get a tissue. I have something on my nose.  : > )

I am in a rest area just east of Bath NY now.

 I got up this morning to a beautiful day. I sent my ready message and within minutes had a load. I picked up a load of beer right there in the yard and after scaling to be sure I'm legal I trucked on up to Montgomery NY. It was a 569 mile run up I81 to Scranton PA and across I84 to exit 5 in New York. This customer lets you stay over night so I backed in right here and should be empty some time mid morning after my 10 hour break.

It stayed beautiful all the way except for about 70 miles through the mountains of PA where the temps were down around 34 degrees and it was snowing and blowing hard.

Rolling Again

Some times things happen that really bring your priorities into focus. Don't take life and family for granted. Life is fragile.

When I left Cincinnati I got a load to East St Louis IL and after delievering that I loaded in St Louis MO and headed to Lagrange GA. Then home on Thursday for a while.

I came back out yesterday, loaded around noon in East Point GA, and delivered last night in Eden NC.

Now I'm all caught up and ready to roll some miles. I think this blog will be updated more regularly now. I want to include more pictures and maps. Also details about my company, this truck and the tools I use to do this job.