Waiting for the next load

Lori made it into Utah last night, spent the night at a truck stop near her delivery location, and finished up the trip by dropping off the load at 4:00 a.m. this morning. After that, it was off to Wal-mart and then down to the Salt Lake City terminal to take a shower and do the laundry.

It seems there are lots of loads looking for a driver but all of them are headed too far east (since Lori is scheduled to be home next weekend for Liz's shower). Since there's no other loads available as of Saturday evening, Lori told her dispatcher that she's going to church tomorrow morning and that she'll be ready for an assignment after that.

The Salt Lake City terminal is close to a church in American Fork that's being pastored by a former assistant pastor at our church in East Anaheim, Joe McCormick. Pastor Joe and his family moved to the Provo area five years ago to start the church and it has grown considerably. Mike went to the church about four years ago as part of a worship music group headed by Pastor Joe's brother, Ed, who leads the group that Mike plays with every Wednesday night.

Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less

We've blogged earlier about what we believe needs to be done to help reduce fuel prices. There is a movement afoot to help convince Congress to reverse the laws and policies that restrict access to the HUGE oil reserves right here in our own country. Click here to read more about the "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" program (endorsed by Newt Gingrich) and add your name to a petition being sent to Congress.

One of those days

It wasn't a bad day, really - just one of those days when the little annoyances combine to mess up the whole flow of things.

First, a group of Vietnam vets on motorcycles decided they wanted to stage a protest by blocking the entrance to a truck weigh station - one hour delay. Next, Lori missed a turn off and had to head down to the next highway - another extra hour. Road construction added even more delays. Before you know it, Lori was still driving when she should have been stopped for the night. Oh well...

There was one highlight in the day, though; a stop at Grandpa's Cheesebarn in Ashland, Ohio. (That's Grandma and Grandpa Baum, owners of the Cheesebarn, on the left.) Lori stocked up on some Lebanon bologna, honey-glazed jerky, a loaf of bread, and some bacon cheddar spread. (She decided against going into the ice cream/fudge shop!) That bacon cheddar spread was mighty good melted on the baked potato she cooked in her lunch box stove for dinner. You've got to take your silver linings wherever you can find them.

Mike's newest "hero"

I (Mike) really like the writings of Thomas Sowell (so much so that I've added a link to his website on our "Favorite Links" menu on the right). I stumbled across a commentary of his related to gas prices a few weeks back and have been checking his website ever since.

His style is easy to understand and he cuts right to the heart of whatever topic he's discussing. For those of you who would like to get the conservative point-of-view on today's issues, I encourage you to read Mr. Sowell's pieces.

Boy oh boy, it's back to Utah

It's another long haul for Lori, following exactly the same route she just took to get to Pennsylvania. This time she's hauling 42,000 pounds of that "ol' school" favorite, Beefaroni (along with a variety of other Chef Boyardee products).

SIDE NOTE: For those of you who might have thought that the "store brands" were different than the name brand products, this load includes equal parts of Chef Boyardee branded products and the exact same products branded with Walmart's "Great Values" label. I highly doubt ConAgra (the manufacturer) uses a different recipe for each of the brands.

You have to wonder what's in those recipes, however, after looking at the "best if purchased by" dates on these products. Lori was going over the bills of lading for this load and noticed that they included the "best by" dates. They were all at least TWO YEARS away! What the heck is in those cans that can last that long? I'm not sure I want to know.

The load is due in Corinne, Utah by Saturday morning. Lori would like to get it there by noon Friday so she has a better chance of getting another load before the weekend; many shippers don't work on weekends so she doesn't want to take the chance of having to sit around all weekend. A lot will depend on the weather, driving conditions, etc. so we'll see how it goes.

Memorial Day cookout

Usually, you wouldn't want to eat something that came off the grill on a truck - unless it's a portable barbecue grill carried on the back of a truck. One of the drivers that was at Prime's terminal in Pittston carries a portable grill with her so she invited Lori and several of the other drivers to have an impromptu Memorial Day cookout this evening. Only in America!

Thanks to all those service men and women who fought and died so that we would have the opportunity to enjoy all the great things this country provides - including cookouts in a trucking company terminal.

Lori's going to spend the night at the terminal and then head over to her delivery location tomorrow morning at 5:00 a.m. After that, she's coming back to the terminal to have a scheduled preventative maintenance done on the truck and have the mechanics look at the air conditioner and her brake pads.

Home for the Holiday

Lori thinks everybody has stayed home this Memorial Day weekend. She thought she might see a few more people out on the road but to her surprise there are LESS than she sees even on a "normal" weekend - both tourists and big rigs. Rest stops, which typically have few if any open parking spaces, are practically vacant and the truck stops have about 1/2 the usual number of parked trucks.

It would be easy to say the high price of gasoline is the reason people are staying home but it might also be the bad weather in the areas she's been driving through. While Lori's been able to avoid most of the bad thunderstroms that sprang up in Nebraska and Iowa over the past two days, the fact that she saw several "storm chaser" vehicles is a good indication the bad weather wasn't too far away. Tornadoes in northern Iowa today have killed seven people.

The lack of traffic has made for a fairly relaxing drive. For the most part, she's been able to click on the cruise control and just glide along. That, along with the FLAT terrain, has resulted in some excellent fuel mileage - over 8 mpg average so far for this trip.

Lori will spend the night in Beaver Dam, Ohio, before setting out for Pittston, PA on the final 430-mile leg of this trip. The plan is to spend Monday night in Prime's yard in Pittston and then head to the delivery site Tuesday morning.

More big news from this weekend

Shannon's graduation wasn't the only big event that took place this past weekend while Lori was home. Her boyfriend, Chris, became her fiancee Saturday after "popping the question."

They're planning on an August wedding; thankfully it's August 2009 so Mike and Lori can have a year to "recover" from Lizzie's wedding this coming July.

Packing potatoes from Pocatello to Pittston, Pennsylvania

Excuse the alliteration; I couldn't help it!

Lori made it to Corinne, Utah this morning with enough time to take a 1-1/2 hour nap before dropping off the delivery. After that was done, she got another two hours to sleep before her next load assignment came in; 42,000 pounds of Idaho potatoes headed to Pennsylvania.

It's exactly the type of load she was hoping for in that it will get her through the Memorial Day weekend. Given the length of the trip (2,300 miles), she won't get to the delivery location until Tuesday morning, meaning she won't have to sit around all day Monday waiting for the warehouse to open after the holiday. It will also allow her to drive at a reasonable speed and get her five nights of uninterrupted sleep.

Driving at a slow steady speed across miles of relatively flat land will also give Lori the chance to for some good fuel mileage. Prime recently introduced a bonus program where company drivers can earn additional pay if they keep their fuel mileage at 6 miles per gallon or higher. Lori has been able to get the bonus for each of the past two weeks running at 6.7 mpg the first week and 6.5 mpg the next week.

Like family

The longer the two of us are with Prime, Inc., the more convinced we are that this is a top-notch organization that truly cares about its employees.

Shortly after Lori got back on the road following her tire blow out, she got a call on her cell phone from someone who identified himself as a retired Prime driver living in St. George, Utah. He had heard that Lori had been stranded on the side of the road all afternoon and wanted to see if there was anything she needed. She was so astonished she didn't know what to say other than "no thanks" since she was moving again. He said to let him know if she changed her mind or needed anything next time she was in the area and hung up.

The more Lori thought about, the more amazed she was that not only did the staff at Prime make the effort to make sure she had what she needed but that there are also retired drivers that are willing and able to help out their "brothers" who are in need out on the road.

Blow out!

Whew, Lori dodged a bullet today. TWO of the tires on her trailer blew out as she was driving north on I-15 early this afternoon.

Fortunately, the trailer stayed under control and she was able to get off the roadway safely with no other damage. She was also fortunate that she was only about 30 miles away from a "road assist" truck stop that was able to send someone out to fix the tires. Unfortunately, when the mechanic got there, the generator on his truck wasn't working so he had to drive BACK to the truck stop and get another truck.

In keeping with Dept of Transportation safety regulations, Lori put out her emergency reflector triangles but is was so windy they kept blowing over! One of "Nevada's finest" stop to check on her to see if everything was under control. He told her he was going to ask her if she was "having a good day" but he figured the answer to that would be an obvious NO.

All in all, Lori was "out of commission" for about six hours - 1:00 to 7:00. The load is due at 7 a.m. tomorrow morning so she'll have to drive most of tonight to make it on time.

There she goes!

Break's over! Lori headed back out on the road this afternoon after her time off. It was a hectic yet worthwhile weekend that included a T-ball game, time with the grandkids (including a trip to try on "flower girl" dresses with granddaughter Jenna), a college graduation, visits with family, 2 doctor's appointments, an eye doctor appointment, and a teeth cleaning!

Lori's first load back was her shortest ever - about 45 miles from a drop yard in Chino to Ralph's distribution center in Compton. After completing that load, it was out to Riverside to pick up a load headed for Corinne, UT for a Thursday morning delivery.

The next trip back home will come in three weeks when Lori will be back for daughter Lizzie's wedding shower the weekend of June 8.

More on gas prices

Ask people why they think gas prices are so high and most of them will answer "greedy oil companies." Commentator Thomas Sowell has written a great article explaining why they think that, and it's not because it's true. Instead, Mr. Sowell says the real reason - the laws of supply and demand - isn't as "emotionally satisfying" as having a villian to blame and bring to justice.

Click here to read the article.

Heading Home!

Lori got a load assignment headed for Southern California. Well, she's not sure where it will eventually end up but she's taking it from Americold in Salt Lake City to Prime's drop yard in Fontana, just down the freeway from home.

She expects to drop the trailer early Friday afternoon and then head home for the weekend.

Hurry Up and Wait

After getting to drop her trailer last night (instead of the original delivery time of 9:30 this morning), Lori was all set to head out on her next assignment early today.

Unfortunately, there weren't any loads to be had (at least any going towards California). She did receive a message to go to Indiana (!) with a load, that is until Lori called her Fleet Manager and reminded her she was scheduled to go home this weekend. "Oops, that's right," was the answer. "It seems your "home counter" got erased from the system." Whatever...

Anyway, that meant Lori has sat all day at Prime's truck yard in Salt Lake City, along with about 12 other trucks. Word is that there are simply no loads to be had in the Salt Lake area today (except for the one to Indiana Lori couldn't take). That, unfortunately, is part of the biz.

Hopefully, there's something to deliver tomorrow...

Let's See, Where Were We...

After getting sidetracked to Springfield to have her truck fixed, Lori is heading back west so she can be closer to home for her planned weekend off. Plans include visiting with kids and grandkids on Saturday, going to daughter Shannon's college graduation on Sunday morning, and doctors appointments on Monday (plus some plain old time off!).

The trip to the body shop this morning went smoothly and quickly, so Lori went back to headquarters to pick up a trailer of frozen food headed for Ogden, UT. She was on the road by 9:30 a.m. The load isn't due until Wednesday morning so Lori can travel at a "normal" pace.

Hopefully, her next load will be down to Southern California!

Safe Harbor

It was a tough drive, but Lori made it to Springfield this morning. She said adios to her trailer full of apples and headed over to the Freightliner dealer to get the truck looked at. It didn't take the technician long to figure out that the truck needed the latest version of the "object ahead warning" software. With that taken care of, her cruise control started working again, too. She also got her turn indicator, foot well light, and right front speaker fixed. It's almost like a new truck!

She got back to headquarters, did her laundry, and checked into a bunk room for some sleep. However, an hour and a half later the tornado warning siren went off. Luckily, the tornadoes weren't close enough to require a trip to the storm cellar, so she got some dinner and headed back to her bedroom. She's just glad she's not on the road; yesterday's storm in Nebraska was enough for her for awhile.

The weather seems to have passed by for now, so she's going to sleep - hopefully for the rest of the night.

She has an appointment at the body shop (to get her front bumper fixed) first thing Monday morning so she's headed to Calvary Chapel Springfield (after a breakfast of pecan pancakes - mmmm) Sunday morning. Mike and Lori went to several services and met some of the folks there, several of which are originally from Southern California, over Christmas. Lori is looking forward to talking with them again.

Once the bumper gets fixed, Lori will get her next load and start heading west for her three-day weekend at home.

Apple Run - Day Two

Lori's still on her way back to the "mother ship" (Prime's headquarters in Springfield) with her trailer full of Washington apples. She has an appointment at the Freightline service shop at noon on Saturday so she's having to move along at a pretty good clip in order to make it on time.

She was afraid she might arrive with a load of applesauce after the hail storm she drove through near Ogallaga, Nebraska this afternoon. Besides getting pelted with golf ball-sized hail, the large amount of rain meant Lori had to slow the truck down to about 45 mph. Fortunately, she was able to get out in front of the storm and into better weather.

She's enjoying a dinner of roasted chicken and asparagus from her "lunchbox stove" before heading to her next rest stop near Rock Port, MO.

What Government Should NOT Do to Lower Fuel Prices

We've heard more and more talk from politicians (especially presidential candidates) about what the government can and should do to address the ever-increasing price of gas and diesel fuel. While things like a "gas tax holiday" might ease the pain temporarily, what's really needed is for the government to "do" less - in terms of restrictions and regulations.

A recent commentary on the website of The Heritage Foundation echoes what Mike believes needs to happen in order to address the problem - allow more drilling and construction of new refineries. Human Events.com contains a related article discussing how over-zealous environmental groups are impacting our ability to maximize our oil resources.

An Apple a Day

It's actually more like 30,000 pounds of apples for the next two days. Lori's current load consists of apples and pears from Washington state headed for Florida. Lori won't be taking the trailer to it's final destination, however. The truck has a few electrical problems and a cracked bumper that need to be taken care of so she will be swinging by "world headquarters" in Springfield, MO to get the truck looked after. A team truck will take the trailer full of apples and pears onto Florida.

I left out another of Seattle's famous tenants from the last post. In addition to Starbucks and Microsoft, Seattle is the home of Boeing, a fact that Lori was reminded of as she drove to her last drop off spot in Everett. Her route took her on the Boeing Freeway and right alongside Boeing's main production facility.

Lori did get the chance to spend Tuesday evening with her cousins in Grandview, Washington. They had a nice dinner and swapped the latest news from each of their respective families.

Today's pickup locations were both a ways off the main highway in the apple growing regions near Ellensburg and Yakima. Lori said the scenery was beautiful and the truck is filled with the smell of apples.

She's looking forward to a couple of days of just driving since the past two days have involved pulling in and out of five different facilities, including one that had so little room to manuever she had to have the "yard jockey" use his specialized tractor cab to get her trailer up to the loading dock.

Off to the Land of Coffee and Computers

Lori dropped off her load of pre-cut veggies (which happened to be short one case of "carrot coins," but because the load was "shipper load and count" it's the shipper's problem, not Lori's or Prime's) and was quickly sent over to a nearby truck stop to wait for another Prime truck so they could swap trailers. Lori would take their trailer (loaded with frozen veggies) to three stops near Seattle, the birthplace of Starbucks coffee and Microsoft's world headquarters, while they would take her empty trailer for their next trip.

The first drop is due at 6:30 tomorrow morning so she'll be driving all night. It looks like she'll be heading back to Boise with her next load, which will take her by her cousin's home in Grandview, WA. If all goes according to plan, they'll have a chance to visit for awhile tomorrow evening.

Not the Best of Days

While today wasn't the worst day Lori's ever had as a trucker, it was far from the best.

It started when her drive wheels got stuck at her pickup location. The concrete parking pad only extended about 10 feet out from the loading dock; the rest of the lot was gravel. For whatever reason, the gravel in front of the dock they sent Lori too couldn't handle the weight and her drive wheels starting digging a hole as she backed in. She tried rocking the tractor back and forth to get out of the hole, but it was no go. So she climbed out of the truck and started moving gravel from behind the wheels to the front of the wheels. She eventually got out of the hole and moved to another loading dock.

After she was loaded (with pre-sliced veggies) and on the road, she got a message from headquarters that the refrigerator on her trailer wasn't working. She pulled over at the next rest stop and proceeded to check the refrigerator unit. It was running and the temperature gauge showed the correct temperature inside the trailer; 37 degrees. So it was back on the road and off to Boise, about six hours away. She'll spend the night at a local truck stop before dropping off her load at Sysco Foods in Boise Monday morning.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Mike took the opportunity to take some photos of Lori's truck while he was in Utah with her. Here they are...

Lori's co-driver's (below)

A Tree Grows in...

Lori delivered her frozen pizza just south of Portland early Thursday and received her next load assignment shortly thereafter; trees and plants to be picked up from four wholesale nurseries. It seems the area around Portland has quite a few nurseries that ship plants all over the country, most of them run by the same Japanese families that started them many years ago.

Nurseries loads are a little different from what Lori is used to; no big lots with lots of trucks and fancy loading docks. Basically, it's just pull the truck into a dirt lot and wait for the workers to load the plants into the trailer. This load is a combination of some fairly large trees in wooden boxes and flats of plants.

As she was going from one location to the next, Lori had to go through a weigh station - and was asked to pull to the side for a Department of Transportion (DOT) inspection. The officer looked at Lori's time logs, her trip paperwork, and the entire truck and trailer from top to bottom. Unfortunately, he found a defective brake slack adjuster so Lori got a "fix it" ticket. This particular problem is something that a driver can't check as part of their daily visual inspection so Prime won't "ding" Lori. She will have to bring the truck into the yard at Salt Lake City, though, to get the problem fixed.

The delay at the weigh station meant Lori didn't make it to her fourth pickup location before they closed at 4:30 so she spent Thursday night near Portland and made her last pickup this morning before heading back along the Oregon Trail. The load is eventually going to Springfield, MO but Lori is going to drop it off in Salt Lake City for a team truck to pick up and take the rest of the way.