There are some broken entries in this month that I am working on fixing.

I like these long runs and dislike them at the same time. Running across I-40 is always an adventure. I ran into a bit of a problem near Little Rock, AR. but other than that, it was pretty smooth sailing. I managed to make a waypoint in Barstow CA. And then roll into Costco in Tracy. Amazing dock. If I had not had to take a 30 minute break, I could have been in and out in about 20 minutes. And that was for a live unload. They work very hard. But I am almost done with this run and then we will see what the world has in store. I have started working on my big todo list. I have things on there like getting my audio books to work on the Nook and getting this blog backdated, day-by-day, for about four years. Should be run. Keep your eye on things and you should see the updates.

Nothing ever goes as planned, it is one hell of a notion. But sometimes, things do not go as we want them to. And that is how today turned out. I got loaded last night with kitty food, and, being in California, I have to pay special attention to my weights. I had to rush and set down outside of a rest area early this morning and then roll out, fighting against my 70-hour rule. I got loaded, set down, and then rolled to the first scale at Joe's truck stop - that scale is down. so I popped on over to the CAT scale at the Triangle Truck Stop. Nope, cones all over the place and everything is all tore up. So 55 miles up the road to Santa Nella CA, to the Loves. I could not balane the load because it was tail loaded by about 3000 pounds. Back to the shipper, still fighting time. I got reworked, rescaled and all was good. But I had to set down for my 34 in Santa Nella. Not my first choice of places to take a long break, but it worked out pretty well. Getting a shower was like a Gladiator event, but I finally made it in. I also tried Del Taco for the first time, and the last time. It was better than Taco Bell, but not by much - and overpriced.

Life is buggy right now. It is like no matter what I try to do, it takes longer than expected, or has some kind of glitch. Right now, I am rolling West-to-East from California to Georgia, and I just can't seem to get my wheels under me. I had this blog all updated, from late April until yesterday, and I made a boo-boo. About a month ago, a Windows update disabled a portion of my MS Expression software. Sadly, it was the portion that allows me to upload these posts easily. After a lot of investigation and troubleshooting, I found that there is not going to be a fix to this and I had to find an alternate program. I got this little piece of freeware, installed it, and like any big dog, ignored all the warnings that popped up. One of those warning was about flipping tags about holding or deleting files once uploaded, and of course, turning on verifcation. Nope, I took part of my 34 hour break and got about 10 pages of updates done, uploaded them and thought I was done. The serevr failed to accept them, and of course, they were deleted from the drive. Back to square one. But no worries, I found a much better program and installed it today. I double checked it, and because you are reading this, it works. So back to the drawing board. I have a LOT of updates to do and I was able to retrieve my notes, so I will try to get one or two done a day. If you are following this and really interested in what is going on, make sure you check the backdates including April. There are going to be quite a few of them.

So, I was rolling out of California, and that took about two hours longer than I hoped for. But that was the day before yesterday. But, out of Cali, things get better. Yes? Sort of. As of yesterday, I was able to roll through Arizona without incident, even coming up on the scales during the DOT rush week, and did the open sign in New Mexico changed to closed just as I approached it. SCORE. Then I came into Milan and heard that wonderful BANG sound that we hear when we blow a tire. All this heat, and recaps on the trailers, the glue gave way. Of course, it was JUST as I entered the prison area near Milan, no stopping or picking up hitch-hikers. But I guess that worked in my favor, because SpeedCo was quick to respond. I will not get as far as I wanted to (again), but Ops reset my drop time by 10 hours, and I have a window now, so it should all be good. I am very much looking forward to home time next week.

I have managed to get all of May caught up to date. I am sorry that there are not a bunch of pictures, it has been an annoying few days. But hopefully, there will be more coming soon. I still haveot backlog the end of April for those that are following me closely, and i promise that I will get to it. And once I do, I will let you know here. I have a lot going on right now. I need to get a bunch of drivers to come work for Variant, I am working on my last two weeks of my second to last course in my Master's degree, and next week is home time. Time time time - it is an evil mistress.

PhotoCredit: Christopher Klein

Frustration and Hope

Okay, we are on the last leg toward home now, but the planners are a bit of a problem. I received a call from planning with my “home run,” but it sends me 125 miles in the wrong direction, and then I get to backtrack. I figured the time, and if everything goes perfectly, with no delays at all, I will be about 90 minutes short to make it back to Olive Branch. Considering all the things going on when I take these 72 hours off, that is not a good thing. The most important thing, of course, is the doctor’s appointment. If Wong does not update my medication, I cannot drive. And I have to talk to him about the recent wrestling match with Angina. I don’t think that it will be a problem, but when you consider how long it takes to get an appointment at BMG, it could turn sour quickly.

Greetings from Georgia

A quick update for those that are following the ways of this wayward driver. Right now, I am in Georgia. I had a meeting with the big dogs of the company and I feel it turned out well. I cannot share details, because I am actually in a private information bubble. But it looks like there are many big changes coming and I am in the middle of, at the very least, some of them.
I am very behind in the blog. I made home time and got my COVID shot and it has knocked me around a bit, but I think that I am finally coming around and things should be okay. There are a lot of updates, but i have to get them all together. More to follow soon. And I am backdating about a month and a half, so there will be changes to both May and April. I will notate for that that are interested in taking a look.

Yesterday was annoying - so is today

I woke up on time and did not have to rush, but made it over to the shipper by about 400am. The only problem with that is that they are not a 24/7 shipper like they advertise, and like they have reported to the customer service rep. I had to find a safe place to park until they opened at 730am. I sure as hell was not going to go back to that Marathon and let them suck me dry for another $10. So, on the advice of the shipper guard shack, I used a concrete pad about 3 miles away. Without going into great detail, there is a very adverturous local man that will sneak up behind you and chain your tandems. He did this, informing me that he will remove the chain for $500. He would return in two hours. There is a NO PARKING sign, but the sign itself is not really legal. I spoke to a Sherrif crossing kids for a local school, and he informed me that it is a questionable practice. I could pay, remove the chain without damaging it, or wait for a civil case. I managed to pick the lock and wrapped the chain around a pole with fire ants at the base. Fun times. I feel that was the Goddess saying that I was having a bad day and she was going to help me out. I did not even know that I could pick a lock.

On a brighter note, Keely was finally hired by USX and should be starting very soon. I am excited for her. I am still not feeling great from the COVID shot, but I am getting there, so all good. I am still lethargic and have some muscle aches, but they are not quite as bad as they have been. So things are looking up. Once I got re-worked, it was still a little questionable on the drives, but close enough that I could get past the scales with the 550 exception. Woo hoo

I have been battling a bit of the letharia from the recent COVID-19 shot and it has had me running fatiqued, if not downright tired. I guess I am past that now, because I ran a full 11 hours drive into Pennsylvania, and arrived in Allentown wide awake. We will add some fun to that because I managed to have enough time to drop at the Home Depot distribution center and make it over to the Allentown, PA. terminal. This is a new terminal. I met the head of security, Larry, and he was quite informative and helpful. There was another Variant tractor and two trailers on the lot, and that was it. I wandered around the terminal, and it is decent. They have three (male) showers, about eight washers and dryers, and a wide open form break area. Not terrible. Once people realize it is here, it is an excellent place to set down near Allentown, especially since there are not really too many other options available

800 is a bad number

In Logistics, there are always a few things that can go wrong. Here at Variant, we have a few very old trailers, and we are assume there are going to be problems when we see the 800 series trailers on our pickup list. This morning, I picked up one of these monsters and the brakes are so bad that they will not hold, and it is impossible to slide the tandems. The good news is that these trailers are for sale and will soon be out of the system. The bad news is that I have one now, and I have to wait for service. This is compounded by being in Leesport PA. first thing in the morning so there is an extended wait for a technican. But we have to take the good with the bad.

The positive from the negative

Since I got back on the road, I have had to piecemeal my staples for the truck. Bread, hot dog buns, water, bread, and milk. For some reason, none of the Pilot's or Love's had all of these things. In many cases, they have had none of them. I had gotten everything everything except for bread as of this morning. With the breakdown, I had to stop at Rutters, a place that I normally don't use. And they have loafs of italian white bread. It is wonderful, expensive, but wonderful. So we are going to call that a win. And, since it will be at least two hours before the technican comes to service the trailer, I can get this blog updated, and get my paper done for school. We will call it a win.

Back on Track

Recently, I have been feeling like poo. But it looks like that has passed. So I am back to the projects. As things stand right now, I have about five weeks left in school, I am recruiting all that I can when I stop, and I am working on my internal projects such as my reading and writing. There is a lot to do. Now that I don't have to sleep as soon as I set down everyday, I am hoping that these blogs will get more consistant, and of course, be filled with more visuals. Keep safe out there.

Down and Out for a moment in time

Sometimes, when things go wrong, they go very wrong. And that is where I am right now. I pulled into Shippensburg PA. to get a trailer repaired, but it did not end there. First the trailer could not be fixed, which would not be a big deal, and they could put me out on something else, and then my Climate control on the truck blew out. It took a day or two, but they identified the problem. To add to the tale, the system required parts that can only be ordered during the week. So I will be here until tomorrow morning, when those parts can be ordered, and then installed. Who knows how long that will take?

Taking the advantage

I do not use hotels when I have a choice. So because the climate control is down, I can’t run the Dclimate, but when I wait until the sun goes down, I can make the cab tolerable. So for now, I am waiting in the driver’s lounge during the day and sleeping in the cab at night. I am working on my projects, and since I am in my last class for my Master’s course, that is working out. But I am already itching to get back on the road. Hopefully, tomorrow will bring good news.

Some minor changes

I did take a chance and make some minor changes to the main menu for the journey. The new master menu now includes the previous years. You can check it out at Journey Main Menu. Granted, only the menu is in place right now, but I am working on the updates. So stay tuned.

The parts for my truck will be in tomorrow. But Kathy from the service desk informed me that DClimate will be onsite on Wednesday and they would like to keep the truck until then so that the broken unit may be used as a training tool, and it will be fixed properly by those that are trained to fix it. I communicated with Kaitlyn in operations and we came to an agreement that this would be the best plan. I am really not happy about being down five days again, but with a bit of luck, I will be ready about mid-day and rolling hard on Wednesday. Time will tell.

Comes the night

I was not going to spend another two nights in the truck without AC. It has been making me feel very fatigued, so Variant sent me over to the Best Western in Shippensburg. Nice, quaint little place. There is a Walmart, Chinese food, Rutters, and a few other things right down the street. If I had the gumption, I could buy a bathing suit at Walmart and hit the pool, or pop on down to Planet Fitness and check on my membership. I am not sure If I have that much energy.
Another driver came over with me to the hotel. Josh is nice, but young. He has been driving a truck all his life…all 32 years of his life. Well, since he was able to get a license anyway. It is funny to hear people that young talk about how long their lives have been. Something to meditate on. But he was a nice guy, and we walked down to China House together. I got enough food for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow. The Hotel is doing bag breakfast. I will grab one if I remember.
I was so tired that my though functions were slipping. That was what a lack of sleep will do to you. But I popped off into bed, 583Hz black screen rolling in the background. This one is supposed to assist with lucid dreaming. We shall see.

A full day in the hotel and feeling very tired. I am ready to be back on the road, but that is not going to happen until tomorrow. I managed to get some more school done, and read my entire text for the class, so that is something. I misplaced my data keys, and that is annoying, but I am hoping that they are in the truck.

An exploration of fear

When I finished school, I met an incomming guest at the hotel, Una. She was a talker, and always acted like she was on too much coffee. She plays guitar for a traveling band. She gave me the link to one of their YouTube videos, and I checked it out. But it sounded like cats being tortured. They have a following, so I am sure they are good, but not for me.
I tried to work on my fantasy story about Lilith and Osparia, but I got nowhere. They just are not talking to me. So I figured I would do a short horror for the upcoming rush season in September, leading up to Halloween. I want to do something original, and that is a lot harder than it sounds. I am trying to figure out what fears will speak to the lizard-brain of the human race, but there is no one method of thought on this. The main belief is that spiders and snakes are the main phobia. However, I feel that a good idea may be being trapped within oneself. Being a prisoner inside you own mind sounds like an interesting plot line. I just have to figure out how to bring it together.

Nah, just kidding.

Nope, we are not running a happy, happy, joy joy, game right now. I am still stuck in Shippensburg, even after a Dclimate technician was onsite all day working on the truck, and training others to do so as well. So, from the time that the shop opened at 700am, to when it closed after midnight, they were unable to resolve the issue. Interesting. But in theory, the tech will be back tomorrow, and the truck will be done. I am tired of being in the shop. I did not go to the hotel because I found out too late that I was going to be stuck here again, and because the Best Western, though decent inside, is covered with ticks outside. They skeeve me out.

So what did I do?

I got out of the Best Western first thing in the morning and hit the terminal. I spent the day in the driver’s lounge talking to Juan and Brittney, dedicated USX drivers, as well as a few others. I caught up in school, reviewed some of my writing, and transcribed my voice recorder. I have remained calm, though my patience is nearing its limit. But there is still tomorrow. I am going through my old story ideas, trying to get something to flip a switch for me. But that just is not happening. Sometimes things just won’t come together. But I have a feeling that it has something to do with being down. I did hear from Keely, she has been assigned a trainer and a truck, so she should be rolling soon. I am excited for her.

The Saga Continues

There is not much to update, but I did promise to keep this blog up to date. I have not been able to take any pictures to add because I am still in Shippensburg PA with a broken truck. The Dclimate tech has been here working on it, but it just has not come together. As of tonight, the 28th, we are waiting for one more part that should be here tomorrow. Emic finally called me and offered me a a re-seat to a new truck. There are problems with this. There are no V trucks here in PA, so I would have to rent a car or catch a plane to another terminal, then make my way back here to move my stuff. All on a holiday weekend? Yeah, that is not going to work. I agreed to stick it out and see what happens tomorrow.

Another Annoyance

I got them to move the truck outside again last tonight, the 28th, so that I would have a place to sleep. My Lynx camera and other things on the windshiled were dangling. They changed my windshield. But I have no idea why they did this. There was nothing wrong with it. William, another V Driver, had a bad windshield, his truck number is 383 and mine is 380. I am wondering if they changed the wrong one. Tomorrow morning, I have to make sure that they resecure all the windshield items, and now I am going to have to run through Tunnel Hill to get my Bestpass replaced. Those don't transfer. Grrr.

Using Time

I have not wasted the downtime. I have read my entire book for school, studied for my final exam, done some writing and a few other things. I talked to a lot of drivers, and I am getting daily updates from Keely and her new adventures with her trainer. I did send Donald an email about a few of my concerns, but I probably won't hear from him until Monday. We shall see. For right now, my plans are to talk to the shop tomorrow to make sure that they address the small changes such as my underbunk light not going off, the stuff on the windshield and such. With a bit of luck, I will be heading out of here tomorrow and life will be good. I am unsure where they will send me. In a little over two weeks, I have to be in Atlanta for a meeting, but that is another story.

The truck is not fixed. But Sandeep has finally tossed his towel into the ring. The rig cannot be fixed here in PA, so I am going to bobtail it to Olive Branch MS, a bit closer to the headquarters for Dclimate. Sandeep is going to meet me there on Tuesday and he will have everything he needs to fix or replace the system, including a helper. My frustration level is at a peak right now, but I think that I have it under control. Time to get some rest before I head out on a two day bobtail.

I am in motion headed back to Mississippi from Pennsylvania to get the DClimate fixed once and for all. The only problem is that I have been sitting for nine days now, and most of the time I was feeling fine, except for eating too much junk. By junk, I mean take-out food every day. I think that it finally caught up with me. My head and stomach are feeling rough and I just feel generally off. I was able to push it through the day and make some serious mile toward my home base. But as soon as I set down, I went right to sleep. Not the greatest day.

Unplanned home for a day.

I rolled out at midnight and hit Olive branch around dawn. The jeep started up just fine and I spent the day at home base. This was unplanned, but I managed to get a few things done around the house including setting up the filter for the pool and doing an assessment with Laura of the downstairs. In the evening, Rachale popped over and took pictures of Willow for her senior year and then some of the family. She topped it off by doing my graduation pictures for a few weeks from now. The day was very rushed, but I think it was a better choice than sitting in the truck all day.