Hanging Around North Georgia

Welcome to all who visit me here. Woke up this morning still in Norcross, Georgia at the same warehouse I stayed at a few weeks ago. It was nice and quiet here. I returned the rental car back to Enterprise Rent-A-Car at 7:30 AM.

My delivery appointment time was at Noon, so there was still plenty of time to get it there. Gainesville, GA was only 40 miles north on I-85 to I-985. I still got there early at around 10:00 AM. I waited and waited and they FINALLY got me unloaded at 3:00 PM, 5 HOURS LATER!! I should get detention pay from Noon to 3PM though. So not a complete waste of time. There was a geocache about a 1/2 mile away, but there was also a light rain off and on throughout the day so I didn't go after it.

After they unloaded me, I drove south on US129 back over to I-85 in Jeffersonville. About 14 miles away, that was the nearest truck stop. I waited there for my next load assignment. Around 4PM, I went next and ate a Whopper at Burger King. When I got back to the truck, they had me a load assigned. 55 miles back to Atlanta to the CFI drop yard. The pickup time wasn't until tomorrow morning and it delivers on the other side of Atlanta at 10:00 AM. So not far at all to go.

There was a break in the lite showers and there was a geocache just a mile away and being that I had plenty of time I walked down to look for it. The total walk round trip was 2 miles.

Once back to the truck, I drove down to the drop yard. My loaded trailer was already there. Earlier today a trucker friend of mine called me who was also in Atlanta on the west side at a truck stop. We took the CDL truck driving class together. Anyway he had read yesterdays post and saw that I was in the area too. So after I hooked up to my trailer I drover around the I-285 bypass loop over to the Petro truck stop where he was. We met up in the restaurant and chatted over dessert. In the 2 1/2 years since the driving school, this has been only the 2nd time our paths have crossed.

That was it for today. Tomorrow we'll empty this load in the morning and then pick up another headed for Pennsylvania. Until then, I'll see ya on the road.

A GREAT Surprise Weekend!

Hello everyone. Sorry I missed a post for yesterday. I started out Saturday morning in Murfreesboro, TN and drove non-stop to Norcross, GA, just outside of Atlanta. My delivery wasn't due until Monday and instead of sitting here over the weekend again, I rented a car from Enterprise and drove down to Orlando to surprise my wife. Boy was she happy to see me.

I arrived at home around 7:00 PM that evening. After church on Sunday morning we went out to lunch with some friends. Back home to change and then by 3:30 PM its back to Georgia. I arrived back in Norcross, GA around 9:30 PM.

A really great weekend off that totally surprised my wife. See you back here tomorrow.

From Iowa to Tenneessee

Today was pretty much an uneventful day. Woke up this morning around 6:00 AM and drove around to the side of the Wapsie Valley Creamery in Independence, IA. Shortly after I backed into the loading dock, someone came out to say they were going to start loading. It didn't take too long, about 30 minutes, and I was inside the office signing the paperwork.

A short way down the road and I saw a small truck stop with a McDonald's where I just had to pull over for my usual breakfast and sweet tea.

About 6 more hours, I stop for fuel at a Pilot in Okawville, IL. Next door to the Pilot was a family restaurant called The Hen House. So I decided to go ahead and have some lunch too. Fried catfish, coleslaw, fries, and a salad. Wasn't too bad. I'll have to stop there again next time through.

Then it was non-stop all the way to Murfreesboro, TN and another Pilot truck stop. Here is where I'm staying for the night. That's about it for today. Like I said it was pretty uneventful. See you back again tomorrow.

Finally Fixed and On The Road

Well when I left you last night, I was still waiting to get the truck into the shop. Shorty after I wrote last nights blog, I decided to just go ahead and get to sleep. That was about 11:00 PM. I'm not quite sure but I think it was around 2:00 AM when they came knocking on my door and told me they were ready. I pulled the truck into the shop and tried to lay down again, but it was just too noisy inside there to sleep. They finished up around 4:00 AM, replacing the windshield, brakes on the front drive axles, and a few other minor things.

After pulling the truck out I walked over to the dispatch window to tell them my truck was out of the shop and to put me in line for a load. I was expecting to be put in line and I'd be going back to sleep for a few more hours. But instead, there wasn't a line, I was now first, and there was a load that needed to get to NE Iowa by 4:00 PM. Okey Dokey!

I grab the paperwork and headed for the truck. When I got to the truck, I put the paperwork in and grabbed my shower bag and some clean clothes. After a shower to help wake me up, I hooked up to the loaded trailer, went to fuel up, and headed north on US71. About 45 minutes later, I saw a McDonald's at a truck stop. Grabbed a #2 meal (sausage egg cheese muffin) with an orange juice, AND a large sweet tea.

Then 7 1/2 hours straight through to Ridgeway, Iowa where I unloaded at 3:15 PM! I had 45 minutes to spare! I asked the guy who unloaded if there were any restaurants in this little town; and I mean little! He says nope but go on down the road further about 10 miles to the next and there's Sue Z Q's Family Restaurant and they have enough room around back to park the truck. So I drove on over to Sue Z Q's and ordered a bacon cheeseburger with everything on it, fries, and a sweet tea. I should have known right then I was in trouble when she asked if I wanted my tea warm or iced. I said iced and she brought me back the worst sweet tea ever. It tasted like unsweetened instant tea, not brewed sweet tea. I even added 6 packs of sugar and it was still nasty! Atleast the burger and fries were good.

When I finished I had my next load assignment waiting in the truck on the Quallcom. I map it out real quick and head down south 76 miles to Independence, IA. Here's where I now sit until the morning waiting to load at 7:00 AM. This load will be going all the way down to Georgia.

So thanks for stopping by and I'll see you out on the highways.

From St Louis to Joplin, Missouri

Another early morning today, I woke up at 4:30 AM and by 5:00 I was rolling. I started out in Hazelwood behind the warehouse I delivered at last night and went just 5 miles down the road. The first stop was at a place called the Hussmann Corp. Not sure what they did there but it was a pretty big place. But I was only there to pickup one of our empty trailers.

Quickly hooking up and now down to the southeast corner of St Louis to the Anheuser-Busch brewery to pickup a load of beer. Along the way, I passed by the Gateway Arch as the sun was rising from the east. I took a picture from the dashboard for you.


Anyway, after picking up my preloaded trailer from Anheuser-Busch at 7:00 AM, I jump up on I-44 westbound to deliver in Springfield, MO. After a quick stop at a McDonald's in Dillon around 9:00, I arrived in Springfield at noon. This distributor was on the ball because they had me unloaded quickly.

Once I was empty, I asked to be brought into our home office in Joplin, MO. There were a few items I wanted to get fixed on the truck. Arriving in Joplin at 2:00 PM, I checked in and made my way first to the tire shop. They repaired a leak in one of the tractor drive tires. From there I went over to the main shop and requested they look at my brakes and a chip in the windshield.

I left them the truck and went over to the drivers lounge. Watched TV for a little while and talked to some of the other drivers. For dinner I ordered a Papa Johns pizza; medium hand tossed with pepperoni and sausage. I ended up eating 6 of the 8 slices! Guess I need to ride my bike some more.

Well it's 10:30 here local time and I'm still waiting to get into the shop. I think they cut back on the number of mechanics. Looks like only half are here compared to what I've seen before. But it's been over 6 hours now and they haven't gotten me in yet. I used to be in and done within a few hours. I just have to wait...

I'll let you know tomorrow how long it took. That's it for now. See ya on the road.

A Change of Plans

Well I woke up this morning in Bowling Green, MO around 5:00 AM. Walked over to the Hardee's for a sausage egg and cheese biscuit (the best there is) and an orange juice. After that I headed on down the road to St Louis, MO to make my first of what I thought were going to be 5 deliveries.

I arrived in St Louis at 7:30 and after checking in, I backed into the dock for them to unload. Of course while I waited I checked online for a Geocache in the area and sure enough there was one just 0.12 miles away. So I programmed the GPS receiver and went for a walk. Well, by the time I went around this warehouse and around that one, up this street and down that street, back around this fence and over to there, grab the cache and back again, it was about a mile! But that's OK. I don't mind the walk. I just didn't expect it to be that long!

Anyway, after unloading I'm back on the road by 10:00 heading west down I-70 towards Columbia, MO. Since I didn't get my sweet tea this morning because that Hardee's doesn't serve sweet tea, I was kinda thirsty for one. A few miles down the road in New Florence, MO I see a small truck stop with a McDonald's. So I decided to stop there for a sweet tea and since it was lunch time, go ahead and eat a burger.

But as I approached the exit I saw a new BBQ place that had just opened about 200 yards down from the truck stop. Well that sounds much better than a Big Mac, so BBQ it was. Called J & J's BBQ at I-70 exit 175. I got the sliced beef brisket platter with potato salad and green bean casserole. It was very good! I'll have to mark that place down in my book to remember. And they're clearing out some space out back for trucks to park too.

So back on I-70 westbound, I go past Columbia, MO where I'm delivering in the morning to Boonville to fuel up at the Pilot. Then about a mile from the HyVee grocery store for my delivery stop, I get a call from dispatch. They wanted to know if I'd be willing to switch loads with another driver who isn't able to complete his delivery on time. So I said sure and turned around back to a nearby truck stop along I-70 to make the trailer swap.

The other driver shows up around 4:30 PM and now I'm headed back to St Louis. Arriving at 6:45 PM, I check in and back the trailer to a dock. Grabbing the camera, I walk back down to the end of the street to take a photo of the street sign. I was on Fee Fee Rd which is the nickname I gave my younger sister Sophia during high school. So I had to send it to her.

Anyway, as it turns out I had to leave my trailer there so that they have a trailer for the next time we deliver. They were a new account and did not have an empty. By this time too, my clocks have expired and I'm parked out back behind their building.

Talked to my wonderful wife on the phone for a while and now it's bed time. See ya tomorrow and see ya on the road.

Waking Up Early and Eating Late

What a day. I set my alarm to wake up this morning at 4:30 AM because I needed to be at Dick's Sporting Goods for a 5:30 delivery. Well I guess the anxiety of making sure I was awake caused me to wake up around 3:00 and I couldn't fall back to sleep. And as usual, I started dozing off around 4:25 just in time for the alarm to wake me back up!

By 5:00 I'm off down the road. Dick's Sporting Goods in Davenport, Iowa was just 7.5 miles from the Flying J truck stop I spent the weekend at. So it only took a few minutes to get there. Their dock was pretty easy to get to also. Some of these shopping centers make it difficult for the big trucks to get in and out of. I got there about 5:15 and lined myself up ready to back in. They came out right at 5:30 to break the seal, and I backed into the door.

While they were unloading, I logged all those Geocaches I found yesterday into their website. I was also thinking about getting something to eat too. There was an IHOP located in the shopping center and their Harvest Grain Pancakes sounded really good then. But it was still kinda early and I thought I'd wait until I got the next store.

OH, this was a double load. Half the trailer went to the Dick's Sporting Goods in Davenport and the other half went to Cedar Rapids.

It took Davenport about 2 hours to unload, so at 7:30 I was on my way to the other store. I arrived in Cedar Rapids at 9:00. They had a storage trailer backed into their dock. Therefore I had to drop my trailer, hook up to theirs and pull it out. Then drop their trailer, hook back up to mine, and then back into the dock. Of course after they finished unloading, I had to do that all over again putting their storage trailer back in place.

While waiting for them to unload, I went looking for a place to eat. This shopping center had a lot of good restaurants to choose from. Unfortunately NONE of them served anything for breakfast and were therefore closed! Arrgh! By the time they even opened, I couldn't get something because they could be finished unloading at any minute. And Dick's doesn't allow the drivers back inside so I couldn't know for sure.

Well, because they took 2 1/2 hours to unload, I was already running late to pick up my next load. By the time I shuffled the trailers back into place, I had barely enough time to make my rescheduled pickup time for the next shipper. I rushed down the road 72 miles to Muscatine, IA arriving there at 1:00 PM. Fortunately I was picking up a preloaded trailer so all I had to do was drop and hook. Get my paperwork, setup my GPS maps, and by 1:45 I am heading to Missouri.

Heading south on US-61, I FINALLY come across a small truck stop in Newport, Iowa that had a Godfather's Pizza in it. So after almost 12 hours from when I woke up this morning, I finally get to eat. I quickly ate a mini sausage pizza and a sweet tea and continued on south.

By 5:45 PM, my clock was nearing the end and I pulled over at another small truck stop along US61 in Bowling Green, Missouri. This load has 5 deliveries on it and the next stop is in St Louis, but it's not due until 11:00 AM. So here is where I'll stay for tonight.

I walk over to the Dairy Queen for an ice cream before calling it quits for the day. That's a truckers day for today. Thanks for stopping by.