Daily Dose of Life

Its been a while since I have gotten to take a long distance run.  Most of my trucking loads are more local along the I-24 East to I-40 East corridor of Nashville.  Today was a little different and while I am not a fan of the East Tennessee backroads, they do provide for some of the best views of nature.

My trip today started in Nashville and took me to Cookeville. There I delivered new cabinet tops and millwork to the new wing of Cookeville Regional Hospital.  From there I went I40 east to exit 301 and up state highway 62 to highway 27 into Helenwood, TN.  Both are about 20 to 25 miles of sweeping roads along the hills and mountains of Monterey and Jamestown, TN.    Most of the smaller towns still are simple life towns with a post office, a grocery and a fuel station.  None more than a couple miles in lenghth.  But the views are somewhat breath taking.  As you cross one hilltop or mountain top and you see the valleys below, you wonder why anyone would want to live in a big city. 

As I got loaded in Helenwood, TN and headed home, I came back down state highway 27 to state highway 52 west, also known as Rugby Road.  About a mile and a half on highway 52, you start passing homes and small land plots that appear to have never changed since the early 1900′s.  It is very well kept, the properties are fenced and each one with a hanging sign welcoming you in.  A bed and breakfast,  the Episcopal Church, a Library, School.  All as if time stood still.    Its a pretty amazing sight to see.  The road weaves on to highway 127 then south to I-40 west back to Nashville.  I did find a link on the city which describes the city founded in the 1800′s as a Victorian class-free cooperative. The link is  http://www.historicrugby.org/index.html.

Honestly the roads were state highways which are not really the best roads for large trucks, but cars would find then almost normal and motorcyclist would find them downright fun.  In any event, its trips like these that make finding the roots of our country in remote areas worthwile.

I did my civic duty on Saturday morning by taking advantage of the early voting process offered in Davidson County.   My heart was to vote for John Edwards.  He just inspired me more than the other candidates.  He spoke more to my beliefs and on items such as the economy, war, and health care than the other two candidates.  

When I got to the booth to vote, my heart tore for the reality that John Edwards was so far behind in the primaries that my brain and hand had me voting for Hillary Clinton. 

Today, John Edwards did the right thing and suspended his campaign.  I am sure many other feel the way I did for John Edwards but knew the reality of him getting the nomination were slim.  He and Elizabeth are a true resemblance of the American family dealing with daily life and tragedy. 

I am not unhappy with my vote for Hillary Clinton.  She has clear laid out plans on the economy, health care, immigration, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.  She was tested and vested as the First Lady during Bill Clinton’s presidency.  Tested again as the Senator of NY during 911 events.  She has the experience needed to be the President, having served as a First Lady of Arkansas, First Lady of America, Senator from New York.  She has served on the Senate Arms Committee, been to Iraq or Afghanistan nearly a dozen times. 

Why I didnt vote for Barak Obama?  Barak is very inspiring, a very afluent speaker, very Kennedy like.  But lets face it, anyone that take office after President Bush will be a change for the better and unfortunately, I just do not believe a one term Senator, who has just really started his political career, does not have the experience necessary to lead in/on or with the many major problems that Americans immediately facing the next President.

I look forward to a day when the problems facing America are not so great that an inspirational person without a lot of political experience can be elected President.  Now is just not the time. 

We need true grit and strenghth, ready to lead person now.  I will miss the possibility of John Edwards as President and wish him and Elizabeth well.  Time to look forward to cleaning up the damage done by the Bush Administration years.  I believe Hillary Clinton can lead this nation and repair our reputation around the world.

Here we are again, its almost primary time.  This time we could be starting as early as December 2007 as each state tries to one up the other to be first or the most important in the primary season.  Florida, which played a very crucial role in the 2000 presidential election which placed our current President Bush in office for his first term, wants to have a more important role in deciding the Democratic and Republican Candidate for the 2008 POTUS.  Shouldnt the voters decide instead of state election commissions?

Heres what I think we should do… Scrap the current  primaries and convention system and have a 50 States/10 Weeks of elections to decide the final political party candidates for President.  With the final election for President in November. 

This would force the political party nominees to show importance to each state by traveling the full 50 states to win the political party nomination for President.    With little time to caucus between states, each state would be important.  This would test the personality, stamina and ability to handle the possible stesses of the office of President for each possible political party nominee.  Each voter would be selecting a nominee from each party, no longer being asked to declare a party when voting.  Each moninee from a political party that wins the Popular vote in that state for the presidential nomination would get one point.  The nominee with the most points at the end of the 50 state election from each party, would face off in the fall Presidential election.

This 50 States in 10 Weeks primary would start on the first Monday of the first full week in January following the 1st of January New Years Holiday.  Each voting day would consist of a 12 hour period starting at 7am and ending at 7pm local time.  Voting order would be by Date entered in the Union and each state would have one day to vote. Voting would be Monday through Friday with no candidates allowed to caucus or travel to the next participating state on Saturday or Sunday, for 10 consecutive weeks until all states have participated in the election.   

At the completion of the 10 weeks, total points would be tallied and the highest total points nominee from each political party would be the political party candidates for the Presidential election.

At the completion of the 50 States in 10 Weeks primary, a period of no political caucasing, fundraising or traveling by the candidates from each political party would be allowed for 30 calendar days.  This would give the candidates and their respective parties 30 calendar days to select a Vice Presidential Candidate. The full Presidential caucus season would  start on the 31st day following the 50/10 primaries.   

I would also add that this is my opinion that the system of selecting candidates from nominees and voting for the highest office should be more standardized, and less confusing for the voters.  With billions being spent on elections, voters should have one less thing to worry about.

Ben Brady  Nashville, TN

dailydoseoflife.wordpress.com 

As many of you know,  I jumped head on into driving a truck for a living.  Here is some excerts from my log.  I have not kept up with it daily for a couple weeks. Just know that it is extremely important to choose a company that meets your needs first upfront.  Even though I did lots of research on companies, Werner as it turns out is not the company for me.  I start Monday, April 23 with DMW Expiditers.  Its a local company that will allow more hometime and steady pay.  I will copy and paste my logs in clips on several entries.

2/27/2007I arrived at the Werner Terminal in
Indianapolis via the hotel shuttle bus.  To explain the ride on the hotel shuttle is a book on its own, let’s just say… dance music and the bus doing its own dance thru morning rush hour.  My trainer is Matt.  He’s from
Martin, Tennessee via
Detroit, MI.  He reminds me of a casual down-home friendly guy.  Matt is shorter and skinnier than me, long dark hair and a few missing front teeth.  Fairly attractive, married 10 years with a daughter in high school (from a previous marriage). I meet Matt in the drivers break room and I follow him out, bags in hand to the truck.  He sets the top bunk down for me to put my stuff on and then tells me that I am driving right away.  (He later explains that it’s to see if he needs to turn the truck around if a person cannot drive or he feels unsafe with the trainee.)  I am told we have to hook up to the trailer in the yard and take it to
Marcy, NY to a Wal-Mart DC.     

The truck is a Kenworth W900.  It’s cramped for two people but Matt has a TV/VCR combo and a DVD player and a Sony Cube playstation for entertainment on down hours and a refrigerator.  The truck is Werner blue with grey interior and fairly nice dash layout.  It has a 550hp Caterpillar Engine governed to 65mph with a 9 speed Eaton Transmission.  Since I trained on a Super 10 transmission, the 9 speed is another learning curve. The drive to
Marcy, NY is not bad, I am learning the transmission pretty quick though my downshifting needs some work and Matt actually felt comfortable enough that he slept most of the way.  The only bad spot was driving 55mph thru
Ohio.  We bunk down for the night at the TA truck stop in
Harborcreek, PA after seeing several cars slide off the road. 

2/24/2007Driving will be fun today.  We leave out to finish out run to
Marcy, NY.  The weather has been crappy with snow from 15 inches in
Indianapolis to 15 feet in
New York state and blistery cold winds.  The snow covered scenery is nice but already missing the warmth of the south.  We arrived at the Wal-Mart DC and I did a real good job of blind-side parking the trailer we dropped.  After picking up our empty trailer which had to be jerked free from snow up to the floor and frozen brakes, we are told to deadhead to
Rochester, NY and load for a run to
Dallas, TX.    It wasn’t a very long drive to
Rochester from Marcy.  After arriving in
Rochester, we are told by the company that the load has been cancelled.  Matt is pissed and calls Dispatch to find out what we need to do next.  We are told to deadhead to P&G in
Tunkhannock, PA.  I am out of hours so I have to climb into the bunk for sleep. 2/25/2007Matt has been driving all night.  He dropped the empty trailer we had and picked up another at P&G and I awake to find us crossing the

George
Washington
Bridge into
Long Island/
New York City.  Our directions on the Qualcomm are wrong and we end up about 10 miles out of the way in a residential neighborhood.  Fortunately we find a trucking cross-dock to turn around at.  We arrive at C&S Wholesale early and we pay $70 for the lumper to unload the trailer. After waiting 3 hours to get unloaded, Matt goes in for the paperwork to find that the lumper has gone on break.  He explains to the manager that he paid the lumper to unload, not for a break.  He gets our paperwork and we are off again.  I drive out of
New York, which is nothing like I imagined and the West side of
Long Island is nothing like I had seen years before in downtown
New York City.  There is more housing on the west side, but more blight compared to the bling of the lights on the city side.  Traffic is really bad and the drivers are rude.  On top of rude drivers are the narrow roads.  We are told to north on our Qualcomm directions, but the road goes west to east.  After making a quick decision to go east we realize we should have went west.  I exit off a narrow ramp and turn at the bottom of the hill.  I barely clear a concrete wall with the trailer and then a lady runs out with her baby carriage in front of the truck.  I lock up the brakes and stall the truck.  We get back on the interstate and get out of the city quickly. 2/26/2007Our next stop takes us to
Hazleton, PA to Officemax/PowerMax DC where we are loading for a 4 stop run of deliveries to stores.   After loading at the DC we are off to
Massillon, OH.   An over night stay at the TA at Harborcreek, PA and we head for our first store only to arrive to find they wont take us a day early.  Matt has me back to the dock door with the trailer.  Due to the snow banks around the parking lot, a foot and a half of water in the lot, I attempt to make a 90 degree back to the dock.  Matt tells me that I am doing great backing and I really look like I know what I am doing.  I am having to pull up and back several times because the truck does not have very good turning radius and because of the tight squeeze of the lot.  Unfortunately during the backing my wet foot slips off the clutch and I plow into the dock guide and it punctures thru the trailer door.  I figure that I am done, off the truck and fired.  Matt assures me that it’s not big deal, just a little damage and since no one saw what happened and the fact that we straightened out the door, no harm no foul.  He elaborates on some of his trailer misfortunes.  This only comforts me some, but I still manage to beat myself up about it.  Since we don’t unload until the next day, we find a Pizza Hut up the road and leave the truck at the dock.  After eating, we bunk down for the night. 

2/27/2007We woke to the employees knocking at the door of the truck. They are ready to unload and we are to help.  They are helpful and they take us earlier than we expected.  After unloading we receive a message via the Qualcomm to swap trailers with another driver at the Ft Wayne, Indiana Truck stop.  He will finish our store drops to
Kenosha, WI and
Racine, WI.  We arrive and swap with the driver later in the day.  We are now headed back to
Tunkhannock, PA at P&G.  Matt seems to be pleased to far with my driving performance and the fact that I keep up with my hours without him reminding me.  We have swapped driving when the other runs out of hours or when we are delayed we just bunk down to save hours.  After arriving at P&G, we drop off the loaded trailer.  P&G does not have an empty Werner trailer there so we call dispatch, they advise us to bobtail to Rochester, NY to the Staples DC to pick up a JT (just in time) load headed to Milwaukee, WI.  We arrive at P&G late in the evening and bunk down.  I have driven most of the way. Bobtailing in the snow and I on really bumpy mountainous roads leaves a lot to be desired.   2/28/2007We leave Staples and head west to
Milwaukee.  We hear of bad weather coming in so we are really pushing the truck and doing the best we can to get there on time or early.  The appointment is on 3/1 but we arrive in the late afternoon and the Tree of Life DC takes the load.  They can’t believe we were sent with only 4 pallets on the 53 foot trailer 419 miles. I explain that I only drive the truck… lol.   Since it’s late and I am out of my driving ours, we bunk down and wait for our next load place and time.  By the way, Driving thru
Chicago is almost as bad as
New York City, just with wider roads. 

3/1/2007I haven’t been sleeping to good since leaving home, but last night I slept like a baby.  Guess I was really tired.  I woke up early and felt really good.  Our load assignment is another JIT load from BAX Global in
DesPlaines, IL to
Freemont, CA.  Yahoooo! We finally get out of the snow.  We make the arrival time early and drop the empty trailer for a loaded trailer.  After being released to leave with instructions from dispatch to follow assigned route due to BAX load, we head south on 94 to I-80 west.  I drive to the I-80 TA Truck stop off exit 284.    We refuel and decide to grab a good sit-down dinner.  Probably a lifesaver because we learn that I-80 has been shut down west of
Des Moines, IA due to blizzard like conditions.   A quick call to the JIT coordinator and our dispatch and we bunk down at the TA until we are told the road has been opened. 3/2/2007There must be 6 inches of snow on the warm hood of our running truck and a foot on the ground.  Ice surrounds the trucks in the parking lot.   The interstate is worse today and we are told that it will not open until probably tomorrow at the earliest.  The truck stop we are at is the worlds largest.  I believe it.  It has several tractors from the early 1900’s to current, including a newer Freightliner Classic series truck with a 53 foot trailer that has a mural of the
United States on the side.  They have a chrome light accessories wall, movie theater, Wendy’s, Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen, and a full sit-down restaurant with a food bar.  They have showers and laundry facilities and since we are stuck, use the time to get showered and our laundry done.  I meet several people who work for Werner and a few trainees to.  It’s a relaxing time but we are all ready to hit the road.  Dispatch sends us a message stating our load delivery has been changed to 3/5.   

3/3/2007The weather looks better but the interstate does not open til after noon and they highway patrol says to travel at own risk.  No emergency services available until 3/4/2007.  We decide it would be better to let the other drivers from several companies leave and wait out the traffic until tomorrow morning.  Going to get some more sleep and maybe catch a movie later.  3/4/2007I wake up early and wake Matt.  We grab a bite to eat and then refuel with intentions of stopping at the Werner main terminal in
Omaha, NE.  We leave out at 8am and in discussion, decide that we would skip the main terminal and drive to our next fuel stop.  After driving thru
Des Moines, IA and seeing all of the carnage of vehicles of all types on the shoulder and in the medians, I am glad we waited to leave when we did.  Several flipped, some stuck together and a few rigs on their sides.  The roads are good so I drive on.  The weather is getting better driving west and at one point the outside temperature gage reads 57 degrees.  The scenery is nice though almost all farmland. The sky is blue with contrails and at one point I see what appeared to be over a thousand ducks/geese taking flight.  What a view out the window.  Plenty of farmland, herds of animals from sheep to cattle.  It amazes me that seeing the farm animals and plots of land, how far apart the houses must be.  Very little town structures visible from the interstate.  As I approach our fuel stop the sun is setting and the sky is a beautiful purple to orange to black from the sky to ground.  Amazing sight the man upstairs has provided.Matt has cleaned up the bunk area, fixed the refrigerator fan and slept most of the day.  After 10 hours and 637 miles I only have an hour left to drive, but decide to bunk down and let Matt drive after we fuel the truck.  It really has been nice, almost like a team instead of a trainer and trainee.  Matt is very thorough in the things he explains to me about the trucking business.   3/5/2007After Driving all night, Matt relinquishes the wheel to me about 60 miles from the
Utah,
Nevada state line on I-80.  I drive all day through what has been interesting scenery.    Along the balance of
Utah is mostly the Great Salt Lake Deserts.  There is what appears is a wall on either side of the interstate but turns out to be railroad tracks just high and far enough away to create an illusion of sorts.  The land runs from runny salty ground to the dry
Bonneville Salt Flats, famous for speed records.  As you enter
Nevada, the salt bottoms turn to the rocky mountain range of Winnemucca.  The land is pretty barren but the peaks provide what amounts to several hundred feet of snow.  It looks unstable and ready to fall.  Wild animals are abounding from horses to geese to buffalo and who knows what else. The northern parts of the

Sierra
Mountains are beautiful.  The roads are narrow and the people here drive crazy. The higher up the more green and white, but near the bottoms is mostly grey and barren.  I arrive in BAX in Freemont just after rush hour and they take the load we have early.  The time change has given us 2 more hours.  Palm trees are everywhere but it time to go to bed.   3/6/2007After thinking Matt was driving all night, I am surprised when I find that we are still at BAX when I awake.  We didn’t get a load confirmation from our dispatch until about 8am local time.    Matt has me drive from Freemont to Avon Products in
Pasadena, CA.  What I thought was beautiful scenery yesterday, turns out to be so much more today.  We take 680 to Cal 101 to the famous I-5.  When you get out of the city and on 101, just over a few hills, you are greeted with the smell of fresh wild onion grass.  The road is narrow and slow, but the mountainous hills surround you with luscious green grass and smells of fresh produce.   Houses are built on the only available flat lands along the road each with their own gardens.  The dew of the morning is burning off with the rising of the sun.  I cannot believe the smell.  We leave highway 101 to the I-5 and find after leaving the snow capped mountains a very flat land.  The west side of the
Rockies provides tons of land for produce growers and cattle farmers.  The 55mph speed limit is slow, but allows for the best viewing of the land.  The exits are mostly for farmers.  There are so many fields of produce trees and vineyards the land a washes with the sky.  With the exception of a farm we pass with about 1200 head of cattle, the air is crisp smelling and warm.   After arriving at our shipper and loading up in
Pasadena, I get the pleasure of driving in
Los Angeles in rush hour.  Rush hour is about 4 ½ hours long and we creep along at about 10-15mph for almost 60 miles.  I am out of hours so Matt takes over at the fuel stop.  He does most of the driving and I go nap.  Mat wakes me just about the time we get into
LasVegas, Nevada.  The lights are awesome and provide a unique show.  We don’t get to see the strip but the night lights are like fireflys as they flicker in the evening sky.  Bright little orange lights.   I am off to bed. 3/7/2007Matt drove most of the night and I am up and ready to drive today.  I take over with about 50 miles from the
Utah,
Colorado state line on I-70.  This interstate is much different from the northern I-80.  The lanes look like they just paved over the land without even using a bull dozer to smooth it out.  The land is barren with very steep and sharp cliffs of the

Gray
Canyons.  Most of the area is Indian reservations and protected lands.  There are very few exits and almost no conveniences.  If you gotta go, you take the risk of going out in public.  As I get closer and cross over into
Colorado the mountains become steeper and the flat lands more few. 
Colorado seems more progressive with the land as you see more towns and cities along the route.  As I get closer to
Aspen and Vail, the mountains become more treacherous and snow covered.  The interstate is built with the West bound lanes elevated over the East bound lanes.  The sun only appears in a few places along this route and even though in the sun the temperature was around 45 degrees, with no sun the roads were icy and slick.  They had grades of 5 to 7 degrees up and down the mountains.  The

Great
White River
Canyon is beautiful and runs down the mountains to the
Colorado River, probably freezing cold this time of year.  Once you finish crossing the mountains, you begin to enter
Denver and the land begins to flatten out.  We make our stop early and while waiting on them to unload the trailer, we head for the Pilot truck stop and get showers and dinner. 
Time for me to turn in and get some rest.  I got word that I can now drive after midnight, so I guess I will be trying to sleep in the day now to.    3/8/2007I am learning that a trucker’s life is always changing.  I went to bed last night looking at driving about 4am, unfortunately my alarm didn’t go off and fortunately the load to
St. Louis was cancelled at midnight while I slept.    The new load we received took us to a recycling company in
Denver, CO.  We arrived to pick up scrap carpet to go to
Augusta, GA.  While they shipper loaded the trailer, we watched the crane, snipper and crusher operators tearing up scrap metal and cars.  Interesting how they can recycle so much these days and we don’t even take advantage of it.  The drive from
Denver east toward
Augusta, GA is nice.  The land is mostly soft rolling small hills of farms and croplands.  As you enter
Kansas, it’s much the same.  I finally got flagged to stop at the scale house as I crossed into
Kansas.  Usually we get a green pass light on our PrePass which allows us to drive by the scales.  Being my first time, I was hesitant but not quick enough for the scale house lady so she yelled to stop over the loudspeaker.  So I stopped and she gives me the green light to go.   Being that we have a pretty heavy load, this meant starting from nothing verses rolling along.    I stopped at the TA off exit 76 on I 70 to eat and sign off for the evening.  I am trying to work my hours so I don’t have to take a 34 hour reset break.  Matt will start driving shortly.  As we got here, we found out we are now swapping loads with another driver in
St. Louis instead of going to
Augusta.  Such is life as a truck driver. 3/9/2007 to 3/18/2007Finally getting some long runs and between driving and sleeping, haven’t kept up with my log.  Will try to do better.Our journey starts in
E. St. Louis, IL where we pick up a load headed to Kimberly Clark in
Jenks, OK.  The weather is nice and sunny but with chilly winds. 
E. St Louis is a factory town which appears well worn with a few hints of reconstruction in the works.  The drive to Jenks is performed by Matt, so I missed most of the scenery.  I am taking the night shift more now and trying to balance sleep with driving.  I find driving at night to go by quickly, but about 2:30am to 4:30am convincing myself that I only have a little farther to go.  I stop about every 150 miles to stretch and let the cold night air wake me up.  Driving at night allows for you to see the lights of towns in the distance and in
Oklahoma and the midsection of the
US, they are few and far between.  From
Jenks, OK our next run takes us to Kimberly Clark in
Chester, PA.  This takes us through
Missouri,
Illinois,
Indiana,
Ohio and
Pennsylvania to near Philly.  Most of the land through this area is farmland.  When you get into the lower sections of
Missouri, you get into the

Ozark
Mountain range.  In
Tennessee, we would call them hills.  They are nice and green but compared to the
Rockies or
Appalachian Mountains, they are just hills.   Lots of lakes and streams.  Plenty of road kill already.  We arrive in
Chester, PA with plenty of time to spare.  The view of Philly is quite nice and the skyline is fairly clear.  This is the home of the Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.  Our countries first capital if you will.  After making our delivery, we head further east to Constar in Havre De Grace,
Maryland.  Along the route we stop at a Service Area.  In
Pennsylvania, the service areas are built in the median of the interstate.  They consist of several fast food and sit down restaurants, shops, fuel stations and restrooms.  We grab a bite to eat at Burger King.  It’s like a buffet of fast food.  Grab, pay and go.  The people are interesting to watch.  Every age, race, color seems to be here and the emotions from sad to happy to just downright strange come out of nowhere.  Along the route to
Maryland the traffic is heavy and the lanes are narrow.  People are not very friendly drivers and on more than one occasion I catch a fiery fist or wave of the middle finger in the window.  I just smile and wave full handed back. I cannot believe how crowded everything is in the north.  I know my families roots are in
Maryland, but I cannot imagine ever living there.  It’s as if we need more concrete and stucco to make us happy.  Yuk.  I am sure if we had traveled thru
Washington, D.C. I would give a better review since I love history and there is plenty to discuss there, but there seems to be a lack anything else to see in the
Philadelphia, D.C.,
Baltimore tri-city area.From Harve De Grace, MD we are headed back to Commerce,
California.  We fuel up and start back across west across
Maryland (now actually the further west near
Fredricksburg toward western PA to WV is nice. Some farmlands and upper parts of the
Appalachian Mountains) to
Pennsylvania,
Ohio,
Indiana,
Illinois. As we reach
Illinois we receive a message to swap our load with another driver in
Chicago. 
Chicago at night is not too bad.  The lights are amazing to see and the snow appears to be melting quite quickly.  After getting some rest we head north the next morning to
Franklin, WI.  Our load there is waiting on us at ConWay Shippers.  From there we will head to
Atlanta, GA.  I am glad we are headed south.  Our route takes us back through
Illinois,
Kentucky,
Tennessee and
Georgia. 
Southern Illinois is mostly farmland with a few factory towns and the same with western
Kentucky.  The grass appears to be getting green in
Kentucky and we pass thru the land between the lakes area.  Nice.  As we pass thru
Tennessee, it’s hard for me to not want to stop for more than fuel, which we do just 10 miles from home at the TA truckstop at exit 62 on I-24. I grab a couple pieces of chicken from Popeye’s and head back to the truck.  No time to rest.  It’s nice to be in familiar territory.  I want so much to just have one day but know the quicker I get thru the training the quicker I can get in my own truck and have more frequent trips home.  The drive down the interstate over

Monteagle
Mountain is nice.  Even though the month is March, certain trees are starting to bud and you know spring and the return to blooms is around the corner.  Along I-75 into
Georgia is nice, the Pine trees are green and the road is not too bad.  We circle the loop to our stop near the airport.  From there we go to Lithia Springs four our next load.  When leaving I make the mistake of missing the 240 loop around
Atlanta.  For a transfer truck to be in
Atlanta without a designated stop is a fine of $500.   After talking with Matt, we decide to chance the driving instead of turning around.  Fortunately for us we do fine and our on our way back north toward
Chattanooga.  The drive around
Atlanta is not as bad as expected and the skyline at night is an awesome site to see.  It’s as if everything is confined within the loop and when outside the loop, you return to the country pretty quick.I get to make this run pretty much by myself while Matt sleeps.  The drive is only about 400 miles and I have 10 hours to drive.   I drive all night thru
Chattanooga,
Knoxville,
Bristol to Rural Retreat, Virginia.  I love this drive because it mixes just enough of the cities, countryside, mountains and valleys to keep the driving interesting.  
Chattanooga’s Aquarium,
Knoxville’s World Trade Fair Globe and the signs for Bristol Raceway are highlights for me.  You should ever get the chance, visit all three.  Do they even do the Worlds Fairs anymore?    I am please that I made this run by myself without Mats help.  I arrived in Rural Retreat and stop to make sure the directions that I have are correct.  The guy at the gas station along the interstate says they look right and I head out.  The little roads take me thru the middle of a farm and several farm houses.  I wonder for a second if the guy told me right at the gas station.  Along the route a cow is standing on the side of the road.  The factory I am going to is across from a well lit milk barn and I make the turn in.  I cringe because the truck is so loud in the middle of the night and I know the people here have to be sleeping.  I hate to wake then.  My load doesn’t deliver until 7am and its 3am.  I get the truck parked and turn it off even though the night air is cold.  I am along the western side of the
Appalachian Mountains.  I am amazed that I can hear the farm animals.  The window is cracked just a little and the sounds put me to sleep.  I awake to the sound of another truck delivering a shipment.  Its 645am and I run to the door to beat him to unload.  After backing in the dock, it takes the young lady inside about a half hour to unload the trailer and sign the paperwork.  I pull out and park to wait on our next load.  Matt takes the wheel while I sleep and I miss getting the load information until I wake up.  I get up and we are headed to
Youngsville, NC to a plastic packing company.  The load is to go to
Laredo, Texas, but we will carry it to
West Memphis to swap with another driver.  Matts daughters birthday is this weekend so he wants to be home.    He drives most of the way to
Knoxville, TN then I take over and drive to
Memphis.  After arriving in
Memphis, we sit while waiting on the other driver.  The weather is warm and we hope it stays that way while on break. After swapping with the other driver, we are told to bobtail to home.  Since Matt lives in Martin, I have to go to a hotel in
Union City, TN.  I drive to get more hours toward my training completed and arrive at the hotel around 640pm.  The hotel is nice and Rich is on his way to pick me up to make a quick trip home. 3/19-3/20/2007 Matt picks me up from the hotel at 7pm.  We are headed to
Bessemer, Alabama.  We are both pretty tired since we were due to leave out around 9am but dispatch did not get us a load until later in the day.  Matt is already logged as the driver so he takes the night shift and heads to
Bessemer, I get to sleep.    After waking up at 630am, Matt explains that he got to the shipper early but fell asleep while waiting on the load so he got under the trailer 2 hours late which goes against him for on time pickups and it puts us 2 hours late on a load that has a 24 hour deadline to Henderson, CO.    I take over just northwest of
Birmingham on hwy 78 and drive the northern sections of
Alabama into
Mississippi.  This is a nice road and shows a lot of countryside.  It is amazing how much the trees are starting to bloom.  I find buttercups along the road and remember how they use to grow between the houses when growing up in Pleasant View.  You knew spring was soon when they buttercups arrived.I get thru
Memphis and stop for fuel on i-40.  A quick 15 minutes to get fuel, hot dog, chips, and a drink to go and gone.  Matt doesn’t even wake up.   I drive on into
Arkansas and am pleasantly surprised that the roads here are much improved from when Mom and I made a trip thru here to
Houston several years back.  This is a relatively nice state.  About halfway through you go thru
Little Rock.  The skyline is nice but not overwhelming and drivers here are much friendlier than most places that I have been.  I make a quick stop to use the restroom and they welcome center lady offers me a free coke for the road.  The drive is nice and takes you below the Ozarks and above the

Ouachita
National Forest.  Birds are in full flight, a sea of birds in waves across the sky.    Getting into
Oklahoma our route takes us up the Muskogee Park Tollway.  As you drive this, its almost a history and geography class rolled into one.  There are signs at the beginning of the road telling you that you are entering
Indian territory and it gives some details to look for.  There is lots of flat land here, but the grass is already very green and in the middle of know where you run across horse farms and cattle farms.  The horses run in packs and  are beautiful shades of red brown to black.  Cattle is everywhere.  The drive takes me thru
Tulsa and the qualcomm directions tell me to go north on a road that runs west-east.  I take the wrong exit and make a loop around
Tulsa to get back on track.  I guess you could say the scenic route. 
Tulsa is a lot like
Little Rock and
Nashville but with a lower skyline.  It’s a quick trip through and I am back in the country.  My drive continues along US 412 west, just south of the Osage Reservation.  After 598 miles and 10 hours of driving, I find a service area with a McDonalds and gas station and stop.  The parking lot is full and I have to do my first parallel parking with the truck and trailer.  I get lined up and start backing and get into the spot with only one pull up to correct my trailer.  This makes my feel good and ends my day happy.  I wake Matt and grab some food.  Matt will drive us into
Henderson, CO while I type this and sleep.  Our preload message says we are leaving
Colorado to
Cheyenne, WY to just south
Tacoma, WA.  Welp, off to sleep.  3/21/2007 -3/24/2007As luck would have it, when I woke up this morning, the load to
Washington state had been cancelled but was replaced by a load to
Texas.  Matt had completed his shift driving and as I started to take the wheel we received a qualcom message to go by the terminal to pick up an empty trailer.  As we arrived at the terminal, the Service Manager red tagged our truck for routine service.  Upon further inspection, they decided that the right front hub seal needed replacing.  While they were doing all of that we checked the tires and found that two of the rear tires had nails in them and that the right front tire tread was separating.  They said that they would replace them.  After sitting all day and losing the load to
Texas, the day shift service guys went home and the night shift came on, when I checked on the truck, none of the tires had been replaced and they didn’t fill the antifreeze. I explained to the night shift what was still not completed and they stated that we would be put back in rotation for service.  Finally at 430am they changed the tires and by 830am we were ready to go.  After waiting on a load, we finally are able to leave the terminal at 330pm.  From here we are headed to
Wichita, Kansas and then on to
Memphis to drop this trailer for another driver to take.  If you ever drive in the
Midwest at night, the sky becomes you scenery.  It’s very cloudy and storms loom miles ahead of us.  The lightning creates a show that with music would be mesmerizing.  We never actually run into rain, but the show goes on ahead.  I arrive in
Wichita, a small city and get off the interstate to head toward the shipper.  I don’t load up until 9am but I’m here at 245am.  The shippers name given by our dispatch doesn’t match any names on the buildings and I miss the address and pass the street where I am to turn.  Seeing a 12’6” bridge sign ahead doesn’t help and I come to an immediate stop.  Nothing else to do but turn and go around the block on the road before the bridge.  After getting back to the road I started out on, I find the address and turn down a pig path road next to the building until I reach a huge opening with dock doors.  No one is here so I have to wait until they open to load.  Guess I’ll just get some rest and bunk down for a few hours. Matt took over around 845am and got the load and started driving.  He drives until we get to a service area on the

in
Oklahoma.  We grab a bite to eat at McDonalds and I start driving to
Memphis.  Going east on 40, I seem to notice more now than before.  The trees are blooming and what appears to be huge white puffs of cotton on tree limbs is really huge spider webs and nest.  They look like cotton candy but with no color.  People are amazing and scary.  They will just about show anything to a driver to get attention.  A red
Pontiac passes and this lady lifts her blouse to show her boobs which really are fat and not attractive, at least not to me.  Some are vulgar with hand gestures I assume because we’ve held them up in some way, and then there are kids who smile, wave and crank their arm to have us blow the air horn.  I arrive in the dark of night in
West Memphis, Arkansas to our drop yard and contact dispatch for our next load.  Off to
California it says.  I head over to
Conway in
Memphis with an empty trailer from the yard and they tell me to drop the trailer and come back in at 530am.  Its midnight so it’s time for Matt to take over and he says he will get up and go in at 530is and start driving then.  I climb in my bunk to sleep. Morning comes fast and I feel the truck shaking and bouncing.   So much for any extra sleep.  I get up and find out where we are and Matt says we just started out, so back to bed I go.  I try to sleep but it really doesn’t come.  I am going to start driving at 3pm and drive my 10 hours.  The final location has changed to
Pasco, Washington and I am hoping to be on driving shifts through the northwest where I haven’t been in the truck before.  Our route is taking us through
Arkansas,
Oklahoma, the pan handle of
Texas, back through
Oklahoma,
Colorado,
Wyoming,
Idaho,
Oregon over into

Washington
State.    Should be some nice stuff to see heading northwest.  The weather is dry and sunny and warm.  I may even break out shorts to wear….. 

3/25/2007 – 3/26/2007

I start driving just outside of
Oklahoma City, OK and head westward toward
Amarillo, TX.  The drive across I-40 is nice and it’s starting to get dusk out.  Lots of farms and the land are somewhat hilly.  As it gets dark I see what looks like red beacon lights in the hundreds.  The closer I get I realize that they are windmills.  I have never seen so many in one place.  I wonder if they really work.  I would guess there are five-hundred or so across several acres.    I cross over into the upper
Texas panhandle and as I arrive in
Amarillo, I am greeted by a nice little city.  The closer into town you see lots of green grass and pine trees.  We get routed up Highway 287.  This is pretty much a two-lane highway through a bunch of old towns from
Amarillo to Kit Carson, CO where I catch Highway 40 to I-70.  The speed limit is 65mph until you reach the city limits of each little town and then the speed usually drops to 30-45mph.  Each town is small and reminds me of towns like Pleasant View,Ashland
City and a few with town squares like
Lebanon and
Springfield, Tennessee.  It would seem like this would take a long time to drive, but it’s actually pretty nice to be off the interstate and see how people live in the plains.  It truly is small town
America.  I get to a rest stop about 15 miles from I-70 and have Matt take over since I am out of hours.  Matt decides to sleep a little longer and then he takes off about 6am.  I sleep.

I take back over in
Rawlins, WY.  I can tell you from driving this route at night, its much more beautiful driving during the day.  The mountains become more prevalent and steep.  The terrain is moderate to extreme depending on where you look.  I cross over into
Idaho on I-84.  I am amazed at the little mountain ranges.  The roads are pretty decent and level despite the elevation.  Trees abound and for the first time I see gazelle farms.  The occasional road kill includes deer and large rodents.  As it gets dark, you get to see how big the little cities lay in the mountains valleys.  The use of land is good.  Windmills also are plentiful here.  My hours end around
Boise and Matt takes over.  He’s not been feeling well and sleeps over; this could make us late for our delivery. 

I as I wake, Matt has delivered the load in
Pasco and picked up our next load.  For some odd reason, I sleep extremely well.  I sit upfront while Mat drives. We are about 60 miles out of
Spokane, Washington and the view is awesome.  This is real farm country.  The farmers seem to have taken every hill and mountainside and planted crops to the extent the land would allow.   The farms are laid out in traditional fashion with farm houses, barns, grain feeds and cattle and horse corrals.  Most of the barns are painted bright red and white.  I take over driving in
Spokane and drive most of the night through
Montana.

Montana is interesting in the fact that I-90 takes you through the valleys and mountains of the Western range of Anaconda.  Farms here are not as nice as in
Spokane and you see a lot of old time stuff here from automobiles to farm equipment to abandoned old farm home sites.  Towns are few and far between.  The creeks and rivers you see have strong currents and you can sense the cold of the water.  As you drive eastward the sky becomes dark and cold.  The towns eastward are more along the interstate and as I approach
Billings, my stop for the night, you find more and more refineries and steel plants, something I wouldn’t have expected for this area. 

Yeah for 2007!  This marks a very new begining for me.  As some of my closest friends know, I will be starting the new year looking for a new job.  While at first this seemed kinda scary for me, I am actually very excited to find something new and exciting to spend the rest of my life doing.  This is a fresh start to really make something out of the rest of my years. 

My prospects are good and at the moments plentiful.  I am hoping that a prospective employer will be someone that knows the importance of their employees, understands that training is vital to employee experience and growth and sees the big picture of the department and company as a whole. Someone who is open and willing to explore new ideas.

I also look forward to a new year of enjoying life.  While I look forward to the holiday weekends with my partner Rich, and family,  I want to get out this year, ride my motorcycle, go camping, take a vacation to somewhere I have never been, see things I could only dream about. 

So here’s to the new year,  may our wishes be blessings in 2007!

I promise starting January 1 to start keeping a daily post.  Times have been tough the last month, but the new year will renew the spirits.  Check back soon!

As my sister Chrissy would say “You change cars more than your underwear”.  So I am sure it was no surprise to her that I traded vehicles again.  I think this makes the 18th vehicle that I have purchased since turning driving age of 16.    Cars to me, keep a time and place of when and where I have been. Almost like a hobby, and everyone has a hobby.  I test drive cars just to have fun and see what’s new.

I have driven some very nice cars, trucks and SUV’s. Foreign and domestic.  Very few have held my interest for more than a year, some as few as months.  The longest I kept a vehicle was 38 months.  Fresh off of Active Military Duty and in a stable job, the car was a 1992 Ford Probe LX.  It was the last year of the semi-squared body.  I first saw the car in the March or April 1988 Motor Trend Magazine and I fell in love.  My Aunt Charlene had a fire engine red GT and that solidified my decision that I had to have one. Finally in 1992 I was able to purchase one.  The  Probe’s appearance was as if it was a baby Lotus Esprit Tubro.  It drove great, ran great and was always a pleasure to drive.  Unfortunately, I made a bad decision to trade it in or I would probably still have the car. 

The nicest car I have ever owned was a 2000 Lincoln LS.  It was a beautiful car, great to drive and very powerful, but warranty experation and maintenance cost took some of the ownership pleasure away and it soon was traded in.

The worst vehicle purchase I have ever made was a 1999 Kia Sportage.  This thing had more problems than a plugged in toaster in a dishwasher.  Everything from electrical to tires was just plain awful.  Needless to say, I kept it less than 6 months. 

Best Memories:  1974 Grand Torino Sport Two Door Hardtop.  My Momma Linda and Uncle John special ordered this car from Crown Ford in 1974.  It was a sport model with bucket seats.  The car was a metallic brown with a tan tanau roof and an orange pinstrip down the side.  With 351 engine, the car was fast.  In 1979 my uncle had a slight accident  and momma Lin, was starting in Home Interiors decided she needed something new.  She purchased a 1979 Thunderbird and sold the Torino to my mom.  That car made many a trip to wherever she wanted to go and back.  Many trips was to Washington DC to see family. The car had an 8 track player that mom would play Kenny Rogers, Barbara Mandrell and Billy Crash Craddock or Tom Jones on it.  She would sing her heart out as if she was right there with the artist.    I remember we had to make a trip to pay the electric bill and we didnt have much gas in the car or money.  Along the trip was several hills, one we called Race Car Hill, since everyone seemed to pass on it.  She driving and me co-piloting, would drive really fast down the hill and coast going back up,  she would tell me to save gas.  Not sure it was true, but it made the ride fun.  Mom passed the car to me when I turned 16 and I sold it back to my uncle shortly thereafter.  I believe I got the same amount back from him, that my mom paid for it 11 years earlier. 

Other vehicles I have had include  a  Couple Silverado, S10 Sonoma, Couple F150′s, Thunderbird, Couple Isuzu Amigo’s, Hyundai Excell, Oldsmobile Cutlass, Dodge Ram50 Lowrider

Wished for:  70 Mustang Boss 302, 92 Lotus Esprit Turbo, 76 Ferrari

My latest vehicle is a 2006 Ford F150.  Bright Red, brand new right off the lot of Crown Ford.  It is probably the best truck I can ever remember produced.  The 4.6 liter V8 provides plenty of power and torque for driving around town or on long trips.  Exterior and Interior materials are nicely textured with great fit and finish. The seats are very comfortable.  The dash layout is quite nice and controls are within arms length of a nice seating position.  With the extended cab layout, the truck provides plenty of elbow room and leg room for 6.  With the fully formed boxed frame, the ride is more like a car than a truck with very little feel of body flexing or roll.  With a few options added on, the truck is proving to be one of the best purchases I have ever made.  

So, little sister, guess i’ll be doing more laundry than usual and hopefully making new memories.