I just posted last post. I had left it as a draft and wasn't able to get back to it. Figured post that, even tho not finished, and start fresh.
Well first, I left my power cord for my computer in the motel room. I could kick myself. I scoured through that room this morning making sure I wasn't leaving anything behind, but, I left something behind lol. I called them, they have it, I'm going to stop in there tomorrow morning and pick it up. Of course, that means I have limited time on my laptop tonight, which is fine, I can do my writing, put up the post and shut it down, use my Iphone for everything else.
So, today, I wanted to verify my going home this weekend. I sent my manager a text, I need to go home this weekend. I'm willing to work through Saturday, etc. Hours went by and then just now, I get a message: I'm going to be off until Monday. Etc etc etc. This is a text she sent out to everyone. But I tried to contact her well before the work day was over. I'm not staying another week. I'm just not doing it. Or, if they try to force me to, they will be putting me up in a hotel every single night after the first 2 weeks are over, which will be Saturday.
I just can't believe she just decided to ignore it. That doesn't give me a good feeling. Like they are going to try to pull a fast on on me and try to keep me up here longer. I agreed to two weeks, it's in writing. Well, anyway, I'm going to wait until about Thursday and then I'm going to talk to the manager up here about it. He can get the same thing done she can, but she is my direct manager and takes responsibility for paying for hotels and airfare and such. We'll see what happens. I"m a bit anxious about that because I really want to go home. I really do not want to stay up here another week after this one. I'm getting home sick. I've already been gone 10 days. It's just too much for me to think of staying up here another week.
Anyway, I think about Thursday is a good day to start talking with the manager up here about it, maybe even Wednesday. I told him from the get-go that I was here for 2 weeks. That discussion was brought up the first night I arrived. I wanted to make sure he knew that this was not an indefinite assignment. I'm doing them a favor, thanks.
So, venting that out of my system. I needed to get that off my chest. The lady driver that came up after I did is also not liking it up here, at all. She's got a bit better situation tho. She is in a day cab (tractor that does not have a sleeper) so they are getting her a hotel every single night. I would be much happier if that were my situation, instead of being dumped in this old truck with all kinds of problems with it. I can deal with it, I guess, but not indefinitely. I'm just going to have to stand my ground on this one. If they "beg" me to stay, I might agree to it, but with the string attached that I am staying in hotels, not this piece of s***.
Right now? I'm sitting at a travel plaza off a toll road. I had thought these places have truck parking. Sure, like enough for 10 trucks, maybe. I pulled in here running out of hours. I will have to take a pic of where I'm parked. I sat in the front of the truck for an hour to see if anyone would come out and object to where I"m at. There are trucks parked all over. I would have stopped 30 miles back at a truck stop if I had known this. I wanted to get as far as I could up here so I wouldn't use up a lot of hours. I'm stuck here for like 15 hours.
Oh and that's the other reason I don't like being up here: not enough miles. I did over 500 today, not bad but not great. Other days have been less than 500 and that's not good at all. Sure, we get stop pay and detention pay up here, but you still have to rack up the miles to get a decent paycheck.
And the final thing that really gets to me: eating out all the time. It just makes you fat. There aren't a lot of "healthy" choices at a McDonald's, the only thing at this travel plaza. I don't have time to stop and eat along the road, you lose too much time. It's a rat race in the trucking world. You have to keep moving as much as possible. The only time you stop is to load, deliver, fuel or take mandatory 30 minute break. Other than that, you are going going going trying to get the most out of your 11 hours driving/14 hours of on duty service every day. The faster you get done, ,the faster you are off the clock and saving those hours for the rest of the week. Hence the idea of getting further up the road today. I can only hope and pray that they don't come out here knocking on my door telling me to move. There is nowhere to move to except on down the road.
Alright, well at least I was able to get my clothes and my bed sheets washed before coming back out here. That's a plus.
I'm trying to decide whether I want to go into anything else. I'll tell ya what got me going on getting home: Rene (lady roommate) sent me about a 5 minute video of Addler today. She said: "Where's daddy" and he started romping around all over the place and going to the side of the house to look at the street and see if daddy is home. Of course, daddy is 1300 miles away in a strange, foreign place that daddy doesn't want to be in.
I mean, it's hard to really think about the things I want to do when I'm sitting in the sleeper of a truck that far from home.
Okay, well the other fresh bit of news is that Taylor and James (my friends, who own the house I'm living in) are contemplating moving back in August. I don't know what happens in August, but he is thinking about getting his CDL license and going OTR. ATT is not really doing him any favors. They lay people off in that company frequently. They reassign them to different regions - or lose your job. Meaning, get up, move the entire family and there ya go.
But OTR? With a wife and 2 young children? That doesn't really sound like a great plan to me. Sure, he can make money, but at what cost? At least I'm not married and my son is out of the house. I could live in a truck if I wanted to - I don't haha - it really wouldn't affect too many people. But his kids are very young - 8 month old and a 3 year old - who turned 3 today. I dunno. I kept my mouth shut about that plan. They have to be free to live their lives the way they want to. For some reason, he wants to go OTR.
OTR has none of the allure it once did. Trucking used to be lightly regulated. You could drive, drive, drive and no one to tell you you couldn't. You could get off the Interstates and check out the back country. There are a lot of things that are different now, but the over-regulation is the biggest part of the problem with trucking today. Big Brother government wants to control you. Granted there are a bunch of idiots that have no business driving trucks that are getting into the profession. But why do we all have to suffer over a few that make stupid mistakes or plain out doing stuff on purpose?
I'm done with this one. My mind is just cluttered with thoughts that have no useful purpose I need to kick back, refocus and get myself motivated.
Monday, January 8, 2018
Well checking the trailer the pressure had risen more than I expected. Had to blow off 8 pounds - which doesn't sound like much until you think of a tank that holds 10,000 gallons. I'm going to have to go out yet again and check it again before going to bed. I'm pretty much a bit on the overload side when it comes to safety with this stuff. Any of it, it's all cryogenics and it's all highly flammable. Anyway, I'll be checking that through the weekend. I have until Monday morning, basically What time Monday morning I don't know, I'm guessing I'll be given an early slot to get loaded which will mean getting up really early Pay for this time off, I suppose, but I'll take it however I can get it.
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That was around 8 pm last night. 3:30 am, I had to get up and go check it again. I might have just let it wait until later in the morning when I got out of bed, but this trailer seems to be having problems. And sure enough, up to 31, blow it down to 20 again and then, at around 9 am, blow it down from 29 to 20 yet again. I contacted the manager up here - is this normal? No, we'll have to check it out when we this all slows down. Just keep doing what you're doing and it will be find.
Okay. I fully expect to have to blow the thing down at least 3 more time before I leave out of here tomorrow morning. It wouldn't be such a big deal, but a check of the temp a while ago pegged it at 12 below zero. Since then, the temp has come up to 3 degrees. In my world, that is still bitter cold, especially with wind chill taking it down to well below zero.
And, attempting to stay in this room another day, I was informed that I would have to change rooms. Well, turns out the change was for the better. I ended up at the back of the hotel on the first floor instead of the front of the hotel on the second floor. Well where I'm at now is close to where the truck is. And, someone wasn't having a good morning. I was out there releasing pressure and watched a brand new looking GMC pickup back up into a late model Toyota. That ordeal cost them a couple of hours, it appeared.
Well other than that I'm starting to consider getting into a much newer - and nicer - vehicle. I'm not the biggest fan of car payments, but if my paychecks stay anywhere even remotely close to what I got this week, affording the payments and higher insurance rate won't even be an issue. Something like a 12k pickup and try to get a 3 year loan on it. I'm not going to do that right away, I still have to make sure I pass their 90 day probation period which is a bit over another month off and I want to see a few more checks before I make a decision. In fact, tho, if I get enough checks like that one, I won't need a car loan. I'll have enough cash to just buy one outright.
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Another lapse. I took Uber to Chili's. I'm now finding out that Lyft is cheaper. From now on I'll compare the prices on any given trip. On Uber, the price can change every time you click on it.
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That was around 8 pm last night. 3:30 am, I had to get up and go check it again. I might have just let it wait until later in the morning when I got out of bed, but this trailer seems to be having problems. And sure enough, up to 31, blow it down to 20 again and then, at around 9 am, blow it down from 29 to 20 yet again. I contacted the manager up here - is this normal? No, we'll have to check it out when we this all slows down. Just keep doing what you're doing and it will be find.
Okay. I fully expect to have to blow the thing down at least 3 more time before I leave out of here tomorrow morning. It wouldn't be such a big deal, but a check of the temp a while ago pegged it at 12 below zero. Since then, the temp has come up to 3 degrees. In my world, that is still bitter cold, especially with wind chill taking it down to well below zero.
And, attempting to stay in this room another day, I was informed that I would have to change rooms. Well, turns out the change was for the better. I ended up at the back of the hotel on the first floor instead of the front of the hotel on the second floor. Well where I'm at now is close to where the truck is. And, someone wasn't having a good morning. I was out there releasing pressure and watched a brand new looking GMC pickup back up into a late model Toyota. That ordeal cost them a couple of hours, it appeared.
Well other than that I'm starting to consider getting into a much newer - and nicer - vehicle. I'm not the biggest fan of car payments, but if my paychecks stay anywhere even remotely close to what I got this week, affording the payments and higher insurance rate won't even be an issue. Something like a 12k pickup and try to get a 3 year loan on it. I'm not going to do that right away, I still have to make sure I pass their 90 day probation period which is a bit over another month off and I want to see a few more checks before I make a decision. In fact, tho, if I get enough checks like that one, I won't need a car loan. I'll have enough cash to just buy one outright.
____________________
Another lapse. I took Uber to Chili's. I'm now finding out that Lyft is cheaper. From now on I'll compare the prices on any given trip. On Uber, the price can change every time you click on it.
Saturday, January 6, 2018
Well here's the current deal. I added up my hours for the last 7 days including today, trying to calculate what I would have left for tomorrow and came up with 6 hours available. Not unusual considering it will have been 7 days working. Tho tomorrow will only be about 3 or 4 hours worth to deliver at the plant 15 minutes from where I'm parked. Dive truck stop, great diner. Don't quite get that, but it is what it is. Only place anywhere near where I"m delivering to park. Well actually, I can park outside the gate where I'm delivering, but no food there!
Anyway, after figuring out available hours, I told the manager up here - I currently have 2 managers now. 1 is Ann my regular manager and then this guy up here giving me info what to do next. Ann still has to do my paperwork tho, even tho it's a different division of the company she is doing it for. Which is cool, she is very thorough and will make sure I get all the money I can make. Oh, well I told the manager that and I now have a 34 hours reset coming after delivery tomorrow.
That means that I have a day and a half off, basically, to lounge around and do nothing. I don't get paid for it, but I've had enough of this for one week and that's the norm for the industry: work your ass off all week and then take a break. 34 hour resets are something the feds came up with. You can do them, but they are voluntary. Usually, it's better to take the reset than the try to keep driving, you run out of hours and have to shut down long before you get ot where you're supposed to be. Most companies just make drivers take the reset, doesn't other me a bit. I don't want to work 7 days a week and more so, it's freezing freaking cold up here. It's zero degrees right now and the wind chill going down as much as 35 below. My truck wouldn't even start this morning.
I got up this morning - and my goodness staying at that hotel was so nice - got out there and the thing wouldn't start. I tried plugging in the engine heater for 45 minutes and still wouldn't start. Finally gave up on it, went to the Freightliner shop next door, asked them to come over and jump start it. Company couldn't pay for it, so I shelled out the bucks - though I will definitely get reimbursed.
Anyway, while I tried heating up the engine, I walked up the hill to the restaurant to get a bite to eat. I mean, it was 7 degrees out but the wind was fierce and blowing right into my face. It felt like my face was burning. I found out later the wind chill was 20 below. I'm not used to this kind of weather, but excepting for my face, I've been keeping warm. I brought extra heavy duty winter clothing with me, I have stuff in my closed for just such occasions. I was so glad I went to the trouble of bringing that heavy coat.
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Okay that was last night, Friday night to be exactly. It was frigid, bitter cold this morning when I got up. The APU heater was struggling to keep up with it, even with the curtain closed separating the sleeper from the cab. I was at the dive truckstop but with the nice diner. I decided to get up early and get some breakfast and drink several cups of nice, hot coffee. That really helped. Because when I was offloading the methane, their bottom fill valve froze and we sat there - a long, long time. Out in the cold, out in the blowing wind, it was miserable. I endured it, but I was longing to get it over with and get into this hotel.
Well, the hotel was another story. I mean, they didn't offer me anything. I just decided that whether they offer or not - my company that is - I"m getting a room. If I don't get reimbursed, oh well. I mean, this company is great in some ways - really not that great on information sharing in others. I don't know what they will do or not do. Anyway, I went through all the usual hotel sites for a cheaper rate, but I eventually came in to the hotel itself after pulling the truck into this rather small parking lot and asked them. A king sized bed for $93. The internet price on all of those sites was at least $110!
So that's where I am. I got a very nice room, with a king sized bed, 44 inch flat screen tv - though I have yet to turn that on, tv doesn't do that much for me anymore - a nice computer table, microwave, fridge, coffee pot. I'm set. Laundry room is just down the hall, intend on doing 2 loads of it before I leave here. I was going to do it today, but I"m so worn out from all of this ordeal here. I just ordered delivery. It's far too cold to walk the mile it is to Texas Roadhouse. I could call an Uber, but I simply don't feel like it. I just want to relax and kick back. Maybe tomorrow I'll Uber it, it's 6 bucks each way. After a 4 thousand dollar paycheck, I don't see a problem with spending a bit for comfort purposes.
I was told that the weather was going to get better and then get bad again. Well I'm looking at a 10 day forecast for Amherst. Cold today and tomorrow, Monday it warms up. 60% chance of snow on Monday, but that doesn't bother me. It's the temps and the wind chill that has been sending me to an early grave. I'm looking at the rest of the week and I see nothing that warrants this idea that it's going to get cold again after Sunday.. If it's in the 30's, that is much more bearable than the unbelievable ice cold temps that have been going on ever since I got here in all 3 states that I have been travelling in.
So, to me, it's all good. I won't be back on the road again until early Monday morning - that will suck but I'll deal with it. I have the APU unit running on the truck - it uses minimal amount of fuel and I filled up 67 miles away from getting here. Figured better safe than sorry. The APU runs the heat (or cooling) and it also recharges the battery I left it at 65 degrees. Not toasty but not freezing either. It doesn't need monitoring. However, the trailer? I"m going to have to get on my winter gear here in a little while, trudge out there and see what the pressure is at. I have a feeling I'm going to have to blow off some Methane before this is over. I parked that truck well away from any and everything just in case that happens.
If the pressure gets too high - 70 pounds - there are safety valves that open up and blow it off automatically Uhh, they don't want that to happen. It forces the trailer off the road and into a shop to service the safety valves and more importantly, those valves apparently - more often than not - won't shut down after they open up. It's really an emergency thing, you should be dealing with it long before that happens.
I'm learning is all I can say. At least they do have safety valves. The alternative is the tank blows up and people probably die, including me. I never assumed hauling hazmat was without risks. I just knew it pays a lot more money and that assumption - but backed with a lot of research - turned out to be true. Honestly, I'm more fearful of rolling the thing over than some sort of fire or explosion.
Okay, after I got this room, I did text my manager. I thought it lame this "temporary" manager up here didn't offer anything. But perhaps I'm supposed to go through my own manager, I really don't know. I just said hey! I got a room, I dunno if the company pays for it but if they do, great! If not, I'll just tack it up as to the cost of coming up here.
About an hour later, she replied a lengthy text: we do NOT expect you to do a 34 hour reset in a truck. We always get rooms. Especially in those circumstances. If you want to, next time, call me and I will prearrange a room, prepaid for you. Now that sounds like a plan to me. Well, heck, I only paid for one night, I"m going to ask her to have the second night paid for in advance and then I am only out a hundred bucks or so. Now that I have that settled.....I haven't had to do a reset away from home working for my manager. She makes it happen I"m home long enough to get it.
Now then, Rene - lady roommate - is sending me videos of Addler. I haven't been gone this long from him - ever. Not 8 days. And yet 7 at least to go. This particular experience will ride with me a long time. First being away form home - already knew I hated that - but also memories of frigid cold temps. I can only say I'm very glad I brought all my heavy winter gear, I would be over at Walmart right now or somewhere, buying stuff if I didn't have it. Okay. Well, that's it. For now. I've got more, but I"m putting all this junk on and going out and checking the pressure on the trailer.
Anyway, after figuring out available hours, I told the manager up here - I currently have 2 managers now. 1 is Ann my regular manager and then this guy up here giving me info what to do next. Ann still has to do my paperwork tho, even tho it's a different division of the company she is doing it for. Which is cool, she is very thorough and will make sure I get all the money I can make. Oh, well I told the manager that and I now have a 34 hours reset coming after delivery tomorrow.
That means that I have a day and a half off, basically, to lounge around and do nothing. I don't get paid for it, but I've had enough of this for one week and that's the norm for the industry: work your ass off all week and then take a break. 34 hour resets are something the feds came up with. You can do them, but they are voluntary. Usually, it's better to take the reset than the try to keep driving, you run out of hours and have to shut down long before you get ot where you're supposed to be. Most companies just make drivers take the reset, doesn't other me a bit. I don't want to work 7 days a week and more so, it's freezing freaking cold up here. It's zero degrees right now and the wind chill going down as much as 35 below. My truck wouldn't even start this morning.
I got up this morning - and my goodness staying at that hotel was so nice - got out there and the thing wouldn't start. I tried plugging in the engine heater for 45 minutes and still wouldn't start. Finally gave up on it, went to the Freightliner shop next door, asked them to come over and jump start it. Company couldn't pay for it, so I shelled out the bucks - though I will definitely get reimbursed.
Anyway, while I tried heating up the engine, I walked up the hill to the restaurant to get a bite to eat. I mean, it was 7 degrees out but the wind was fierce and blowing right into my face. It felt like my face was burning. I found out later the wind chill was 20 below. I'm not used to this kind of weather, but excepting for my face, I've been keeping warm. I brought extra heavy duty winter clothing with me, I have stuff in my closed for just such occasions. I was so glad I went to the trouble of bringing that heavy coat.
_____________________________
Okay that was last night, Friday night to be exactly. It was frigid, bitter cold this morning when I got up. The APU heater was struggling to keep up with it, even with the curtain closed separating the sleeper from the cab. I was at the dive truckstop but with the nice diner. I decided to get up early and get some breakfast and drink several cups of nice, hot coffee. That really helped. Because when I was offloading the methane, their bottom fill valve froze and we sat there - a long, long time. Out in the cold, out in the blowing wind, it was miserable. I endured it, but I was longing to get it over with and get into this hotel.
Well, the hotel was another story. I mean, they didn't offer me anything. I just decided that whether they offer or not - my company that is - I"m getting a room. If I don't get reimbursed, oh well. I mean, this company is great in some ways - really not that great on information sharing in others. I don't know what they will do or not do. Anyway, I went through all the usual hotel sites for a cheaper rate, but I eventually came in to the hotel itself after pulling the truck into this rather small parking lot and asked them. A king sized bed for $93. The internet price on all of those sites was at least $110!
So that's where I am. I got a very nice room, with a king sized bed, 44 inch flat screen tv - though I have yet to turn that on, tv doesn't do that much for me anymore - a nice computer table, microwave, fridge, coffee pot. I'm set. Laundry room is just down the hall, intend on doing 2 loads of it before I leave here. I was going to do it today, but I"m so worn out from all of this ordeal here. I just ordered delivery. It's far too cold to walk the mile it is to Texas Roadhouse. I could call an Uber, but I simply don't feel like it. I just want to relax and kick back. Maybe tomorrow I'll Uber it, it's 6 bucks each way. After a 4 thousand dollar paycheck, I don't see a problem with spending a bit for comfort purposes.
I was told that the weather was going to get better and then get bad again. Well I'm looking at a 10 day forecast for Amherst. Cold today and tomorrow, Monday it warms up. 60% chance of snow on Monday, but that doesn't bother me. It's the temps and the wind chill that has been sending me to an early grave. I'm looking at the rest of the week and I see nothing that warrants this idea that it's going to get cold again after Sunday.. If it's in the 30's, that is much more bearable than the unbelievable ice cold temps that have been going on ever since I got here in all 3 states that I have been travelling in.
So, to me, it's all good. I won't be back on the road again until early Monday morning - that will suck but I'll deal with it. I have the APU unit running on the truck - it uses minimal amount of fuel and I filled up 67 miles away from getting here. Figured better safe than sorry. The APU runs the heat (or cooling) and it also recharges the battery I left it at 65 degrees. Not toasty but not freezing either. It doesn't need monitoring. However, the trailer? I"m going to have to get on my winter gear here in a little while, trudge out there and see what the pressure is at. I have a feeling I'm going to have to blow off some Methane before this is over. I parked that truck well away from any and everything just in case that happens.
If the pressure gets too high - 70 pounds - there are safety valves that open up and blow it off automatically Uhh, they don't want that to happen. It forces the trailer off the road and into a shop to service the safety valves and more importantly, those valves apparently - more often than not - won't shut down after they open up. It's really an emergency thing, you should be dealing with it long before that happens.
I'm learning is all I can say. At least they do have safety valves. The alternative is the tank blows up and people probably die, including me. I never assumed hauling hazmat was without risks. I just knew it pays a lot more money and that assumption - but backed with a lot of research - turned out to be true. Honestly, I'm more fearful of rolling the thing over than some sort of fire or explosion.
Okay, after I got this room, I did text my manager. I thought it lame this "temporary" manager up here didn't offer anything. But perhaps I'm supposed to go through my own manager, I really don't know. I just said hey! I got a room, I dunno if the company pays for it but if they do, great! If not, I'll just tack it up as to the cost of coming up here.
About an hour later, she replied a lengthy text: we do NOT expect you to do a 34 hour reset in a truck. We always get rooms. Especially in those circumstances. If you want to, next time, call me and I will prearrange a room, prepaid for you. Now that sounds like a plan to me. Well, heck, I only paid for one night, I"m going to ask her to have the second night paid for in advance and then I am only out a hundred bucks or so. Now that I have that settled.....I haven't had to do a reset away from home working for my manager. She makes it happen I"m home long enough to get it.
Now then, Rene - lady roommate - is sending me videos of Addler. I haven't been gone this long from him - ever. Not 8 days. And yet 7 at least to go. This particular experience will ride with me a long time. First being away form home - already knew I hated that - but also memories of frigid cold temps. I can only say I'm very glad I brought all my heavy winter gear, I would be over at Walmart right now or somewhere, buying stuff if I didn't have it. Okay. Well, that's it. For now. I've got more, but I"m putting all this junk on and going out and checking the pressure on the trailer.
Friday, January 5, 2018
I'm at a hotel in a town, if you can call it that, named "Tunkhannock", in Pennsylvania.
The situation started today with a known fact: a blizzard or blizzard like conditions are coming, will be here by morning. I got up this morning at the Love's Travel Center in Canaan, New York and there was nothing besides the snow already on the ground from a previous storm, that I did not and did not want to partake of.
I got the truck fueled up, got on the road. 10 miles up, light snow. A few more miles - heavier and then - driving snow. But it had just started so the roads were still decent. But, by the time I got up to Amherst, it was a full fledged snow storm, roads were covered with snow, people were driving 10 miles an cause' they have no clue and I was pushing an appointment time.
Got there on time tho. Stood outside for an hour and a half making the delivery, got out of there and knew the roads were going to be bad. It had been snowing sideways for hours now, the snow was filling in our footsteps shortly after we imprinted them into it.
Miserable driving conditions. That's what I will call that. I mean, you couldn't see asphalt. Snow plows weren't keeping up with it and people were literally stopping their vehicles in the middle of the Interstate. Now why the hell would you go do something as stupid as that? Cause they were terrified, that's why. It was an intense storm and driving in it was no fun. It took 2-1/2 hours to go 70 miles.
I got back to the loves, fueled up again and got down the road. When I got to 87, the roads were "clear", a heckuva lot better than what was on the Massachusetts Turnpike. I amped up the speed, let's get this over with. Cruised on over here - here being a small town in PA - and started looking for a place to park. Found a couple, but I thought, I'm going to have a 17 hour layover, I'm getting myself a hotel. After 5 days of this nonsense, I was ready to get out of the cold, get into a nice room and just relax in a comfortable bed. I got a deal at $60. This whole wing of this old hotel is brand new. New furniture, new carpet, new everything. Stupid people that trash out hotel rooms haven't been in this one - yet.
Well, it's still an hour and 40 minutes until i have to be at the plant to load up with methane. There's a restaurant 500 feet away, I'm contemplating whether to brave the 4 degree temps and the bone chilling wind to go get a cup and maybe a couple of eggs or something.
Well, that's it for this one. I'ma enjoy the rest of my time here.
The situation started today with a known fact: a blizzard or blizzard like conditions are coming, will be here by morning. I got up this morning at the Love's Travel Center in Canaan, New York and there was nothing besides the snow already on the ground from a previous storm, that I did not and did not want to partake of.
I got the truck fueled up, got on the road. 10 miles up, light snow. A few more miles - heavier and then - driving snow. But it had just started so the roads were still decent. But, by the time I got up to Amherst, it was a full fledged snow storm, roads were covered with snow, people were driving 10 miles an cause' they have no clue and I was pushing an appointment time.
Got there on time tho. Stood outside for an hour and a half making the delivery, got out of there and knew the roads were going to be bad. It had been snowing sideways for hours now, the snow was filling in our footsteps shortly after we imprinted them into it.
Miserable driving conditions. That's what I will call that. I mean, you couldn't see asphalt. Snow plows weren't keeping up with it and people were literally stopping their vehicles in the middle of the Interstate. Now why the hell would you go do something as stupid as that? Cause they were terrified, that's why. It was an intense storm and driving in it was no fun. It took 2-1/2 hours to go 70 miles.
I got back to the loves, fueled up again and got down the road. When I got to 87, the roads were "clear", a heckuva lot better than what was on the Massachusetts Turnpike. I amped up the speed, let's get this over with. Cruised on over here - here being a small town in PA - and started looking for a place to park. Found a couple, but I thought, I'm going to have a 17 hour layover, I'm getting myself a hotel. After 5 days of this nonsense, I was ready to get out of the cold, get into a nice room and just relax in a comfortable bed. I got a deal at $60. This whole wing of this old hotel is brand new. New furniture, new carpet, new everything. Stupid people that trash out hotel rooms haven't been in this one - yet.
Well, it's still an hour and 40 minutes until i have to be at the plant to load up with methane. There's a restaurant 500 feet away, I'm contemplating whether to brave the 4 degree temps and the bone chilling wind to go get a cup and maybe a couple of eggs or something.
Well, that's it for this one. I'ma enjoy the rest of my time here.
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Well, here I am again at the same diner/truckstop I was at a few nights ago. Like for New Year's Eve. they have some great food here. But, when I came here New Year's Eve, there were hardly any trucks in here at all. Tonight? I drove around in here twice looking for a spot and finally just parked, partially blocking a lane. Went inside, had some great food and conversation. Cool place. I sat in there for an hour and came back out and just sat in the driver's seat, hoping someone would leave.
Would rather not stay in the "lane", tho this truckstop is a dive. Not a branded name truckstop, at all lol. The "Travel Center" is half the size of any convenience store you might find and nothing is marked for parking lanes. Just find a spot . Anyway, a truck came whizzing out of the hole it was in and I went whizzing right back into it haha.
So what's new? I'm just biding my time, getting through this one day at a time. A couple days before 2 weeks is up, I'm definitely telling them it will be time to go home.
_________________________________
That was last night. Got too tired to do anything but go to sleep.
Now, I'm back in Canaan, NY at a Love's Travel Stop.
I pulled in here thinking I was going to find a place to park - not. I found a "space" that had had snow piled up but maybe, perhaps I could get the trailer backed in there. Well after a couple of pull ups, I had the thing lined out to get back into that space - but - I hit the unpacked snow and started losing traction. Yeah, I said the hell with that.
I pulled around front to leave and low and behold, a place where trucks prolly aren't supposed to park but other trucks there, I pulled in the last remaining spot. I've been here for several hours and no one has said a word to me, so I'm here for the night.
I got the thing shut down, got the APU fired up and got the heater going in the sleeper and then went into the store - I need a shower. I have several free showers on my Love's card. I don't have to pay for them but I literally haven't had a chance to take a shower in 3 full days - yup, disgusting. I got into the shower room - it's quite large just for a shower. I mean, considering being stuck in a truck, it's rather "luxurious". I got into that hot shower and just stood there for 30 minutes. It felt so good to just get away from all this fiasco that has been going on with this ordeal coming up here.
I mean, on top of everything else, I found out a blizzard is coming through here tonight or tomorrow morning.
How did I find out? I'm sitting in the driver's seat, waiting for the truck front heater to heat everything down so I can turn on the APU - it takes a while between the two - and here comes this SUV buzzing up, parks right next to me, gets out and goes up to the dude that is offloading his tanker full of diesel into the underground fuel tanks. The SUV didn't have anything written on the side so I just thought they were friends. But, they didn't talk long and then the came directly over to me, this one dude with a huge video camera in his hands. They knock on the door, so out of sheer curiosity I opened the window. What's up?
Hey, we're with whatever news agency, I wish I remembered what they said, can we do an interview of you? Well I guess, what's up? How do you feel about the blizzard coming in? What blizzard? I heard there was going to be some snow but just light. Nah bro, up to 16 inches of snow. I looked on my Iphone on the weather app and it shows anywhere from 4 to 18 inches depending on what part of this area you are in, PLUS, 35 degrees below zero wind chill factor coming into tonight or tomorrow morning. WTH.
I didn't sign up for this. I haven't been in this kind of cold in years. I really can't even remember the last time I was in zero degree weather, nothing recent that's for sure. I started cutting it up with them. Yup, I had both of them in stitches. What's to fear? They got me, the got the front of the truck, the side of it and the rear of it on film. Albany news station. Whether any of it makes it on there, unknown. Maybe a 2 second blurb, who knows. Maybe not at all. They take 30 minutes of video and put 5 seconds on lol. Whatever the case, umm, were they exaggerating? According to the newscast I just watched, not really. Not to where I'm going anyway. \
I just got off the phone with a lady truck driver who also was sent up here from the location I'm out of. She was disgusted. They originally told us freezing babies and senior citizens, we get up here and find out it's - a university. Well send the kids home and shut the place down, it's a holiday week anyway, there aren't any classes being held. Not that simple, obviously, even if you send people home, you can't shut the heat off to everything and you can't shut all that stuff down without a major, time consuming ordeal to fire it back up.
I'm just curious as to what I"m going to wake up to in the morning. Nothing? 8 inches of snow? The alleged 35 below with wind chill factor? Who knows. I intend on getting up earlier than I need to to get to the place on time if possible. Like I need to be there by 9 am. It's almost 11 pm now. I figured get up at 6:30 am, see what's going on, get the fuel filled up and get up there. It's 67 miles from here, just over an hour's drive - under normal conditions.
Well, I would go on but I really need to get to sleep. I've been on the phone and texting people literally for hours now.
Would rather not stay in the "lane", tho this truckstop is a dive. Not a branded name truckstop, at all lol. The "Travel Center" is half the size of any convenience store you might find and nothing is marked for parking lanes. Just find a spot . Anyway, a truck came whizzing out of the hole it was in and I went whizzing right back into it haha.
So what's new? I'm just biding my time, getting through this one day at a time. A couple days before 2 weeks is up, I'm definitely telling them it will be time to go home.
_________________________________
That was last night. Got too tired to do anything but go to sleep.
Now, I'm back in Canaan, NY at a Love's Travel Stop.
I pulled in here thinking I was going to find a place to park - not. I found a "space" that had had snow piled up but maybe, perhaps I could get the trailer backed in there. Well after a couple of pull ups, I had the thing lined out to get back into that space - but - I hit the unpacked snow and started losing traction. Yeah, I said the hell with that.
I pulled around front to leave and low and behold, a place where trucks prolly aren't supposed to park but other trucks there, I pulled in the last remaining spot. I've been here for several hours and no one has said a word to me, so I'm here for the night.
I got the thing shut down, got the APU fired up and got the heater going in the sleeper and then went into the store - I need a shower. I have several free showers on my Love's card. I don't have to pay for them but I literally haven't had a chance to take a shower in 3 full days - yup, disgusting. I got into the shower room - it's quite large just for a shower. I mean, considering being stuck in a truck, it's rather "luxurious". I got into that hot shower and just stood there for 30 minutes. It felt so good to just get away from all this fiasco that has been going on with this ordeal coming up here.
I mean, on top of everything else, I found out a blizzard is coming through here tonight or tomorrow morning.
How did I find out? I'm sitting in the driver's seat, waiting for the truck front heater to heat everything down so I can turn on the APU - it takes a while between the two - and here comes this SUV buzzing up, parks right next to me, gets out and goes up to the dude that is offloading his tanker full of diesel into the underground fuel tanks. The SUV didn't have anything written on the side so I just thought they were friends. But, they didn't talk long and then the came directly over to me, this one dude with a huge video camera in his hands. They knock on the door, so out of sheer curiosity I opened the window. What's up?
Hey, we're with whatever news agency, I wish I remembered what they said, can we do an interview of you? Well I guess, what's up? How do you feel about the blizzard coming in? What blizzard? I heard there was going to be some snow but just light. Nah bro, up to 16 inches of snow. I looked on my Iphone on the weather app and it shows anywhere from 4 to 18 inches depending on what part of this area you are in, PLUS, 35 degrees below zero wind chill factor coming into tonight or tomorrow morning. WTH.
I didn't sign up for this. I haven't been in this kind of cold in years. I really can't even remember the last time I was in zero degree weather, nothing recent that's for sure. I started cutting it up with them. Yup, I had both of them in stitches. What's to fear? They got me, the got the front of the truck, the side of it and the rear of it on film. Albany news station. Whether any of it makes it on there, unknown. Maybe a 2 second blurb, who knows. Maybe not at all. They take 30 minutes of video and put 5 seconds on lol. Whatever the case, umm, were they exaggerating? According to the newscast I just watched, not really. Not to where I'm going anyway. \
I just got off the phone with a lady truck driver who also was sent up here from the location I'm out of. She was disgusted. They originally told us freezing babies and senior citizens, we get up here and find out it's - a university. Well send the kids home and shut the place down, it's a holiday week anyway, there aren't any classes being held. Not that simple, obviously, even if you send people home, you can't shut the heat off to everything and you can't shut all that stuff down without a major, time consuming ordeal to fire it back up.
I'm just curious as to what I"m going to wake up to in the morning. Nothing? 8 inches of snow? The alleged 35 below with wind chill factor? Who knows. I intend on getting up earlier than I need to to get to the place on time if possible. Like I need to be there by 9 am. It's almost 11 pm now. I figured get up at 6:30 am, see what's going on, get the fuel filled up and get up there. It's 67 miles from here, just over an hour's drive - under normal conditions.
Well, I would go on but I really need to get to sleep. I've been on the phone and texting people literally for hours now.
Monday, January 1, 2018
Happy New Year's!
Well, sitting for the night at a Pilot truck stop somewhere along I-90 in New York. Not New York city, btw, have absolutely zero desire to drive anywhere in that place. Not too far from Boston at the moment. Oh heck, I just looked, I haven't written a post in a while now.
I haven't had time. You see, on Saturday, coming back from Oklahoma, our manager started sending out text messages to everyone. We have a situation in Pennsylvania and we need a driver to go up there and help out. I knew I would be "targeted" for any such things cause I'm the newbie, but she actually asked everyone. Just that a lot of the old time drivers are reluctant to do much of anything beyond what they normally do. They want to be home all the time - which I fully understand, but there aren't any runs that have you home the same night.
She asked for replies by noon, so I replied. We talked back and forth and I finally, reluctantly, agreed. I mean, I knew Pennsylvania was cold, I grew up there, but I didn't remember how cold this entire region can get. I woke up to -4 this morning. Anyway, she said she would find out if they could use a person that doesn't have any experience with LNG - Liquid Natural Gas. I didn't hear back from her. Until maybe 3 hours later. And there she was, sending out mass texts again. I didn't reply with anything - but how bad that sounds, the situation. I was told that people would be without heat in some community somewhere if she couldn't find drivers to go up there.
I simply agreed to do it. Okay, brace yourself, Ben, this is two weeks of being away from home in frigid winter conditions. That was Saturday evening that decision was made, Sunday afternoon I was on an airplane to Philadelphia. Philly has no great draw on me, I had an aunt that lived here long ago, she died, long ago. I think I had some other relatives that lived there but they left the area. It's all the same to me anymore. No matter where you go, there is going to be something "wrong" with the place. Too hot, too humid, too cold, wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes - you get the point.
I asked a lot of questions, I was given very little info. The info I was given, I found out, was completely wrong.
I mean, the problems started at the airport. The plane landed we taxiied off the run way and then we - stopped. And we sat and sat until the pilot come on and said: "sorry folks, there is a plane stopped in front of us. It isn't communicating with anyone and we don't know why it's stopped. It's in the way of getting to the gate we need to go to so we are going to have to wait until it moves". 45 minutes - 45 MINUTES later, that plane finally moved.
Anyway, the manager had come down to pick me up, he wasn't ecstatic about the wait but he could have just stayed home until I told him the luggage was beginning to get tossed out onto the conveyor.
Long story short - for the first day anyway - I didn't get to bed until 1 am. We - another driver from somewhere else - were given a crash course on nothing, because as it turns out, this dude really didn't give us much of any useful information at all except this is your truck, tomorrow morning you are going to hook up to a trailer and go up to a plant to load and then over to UMASS. Both of us drivers just looked at him and then each other. We have no clue how to do this stuff. Considering that type of product it is, would be nice for some kind of training.
I was getting pretty uneasy about this. So the next morning, the manager sent down a driver that knows his stuff. He gave us a crash course. Connect the two hoses here, open this and that valve, open that valve over there to build up pressure. I asked a lot of questions since he was willing to answer. At least I had some kind of knowledge about what I would be doing.
Fast forward, we get to the loading plant and another driver showed up with us. He was knowledgeable enough. He showed us how to do the paperwork - something the manager didn't do - and then said the manager was going to have him meet us at the LNG plant. Ok. I drover over to UMASS - I had no idea I was going to a University, I was informed it was a community and that old people and babies alike would be freezing to death if we didn't get this product there.
Well I got there late last night and the experienced driver told me about a truck stop near the delivery site. So I went there and there is this old fashioned diner at the truck stop. Like walking into the 60's. It was very cool, actually, excepting for the screaming teenagers at a table. Unsupervised, definitely not even 18 and making a lot of noise.
This morning, I find out the experienced driver's truck broke down and he won't be making it to help us unload. Great. I have a bit of head knowledge about what I'm supposed to do, I have no hands on training whatsoever. So I get there, do everything I was supposed to and then the plant tech opened up the valves and let'er rip. Only to have this almost 300 below zero cryogenic start to pop out of the vent stack. Shut it down, shut it down, he was saying, so I closed the valves, this stuff pouring onto my jump suit. I was like, what the heck? So I get the valves shut closed and then this guy didn't know what to do.
So, I got on the phone and called the experienced driver, who didn't know what was going on and directed me to another driver that does know what's going on. He asked a few questions. Well are all the valves shut? Yes. What about the bleeders? I dunno, I'll go out and check. And sure enough, one of the bleeder valves was just barely opened - trust me I didn't open it, I wasn't doing anything with that stuff that I wasn't told to - and it was venting through the vent system.
This has really been the day I have been dreading with the Ethylene that I haul, having to unload. Welp, I got my feet wet now. I don't care anymore, I'll unload whenever, if I mess it up, tough. Today's mess up only cost a bit of time, nothing else.
Alright. Well I'm stuck here two weeks and that is the extent of it, for I will forcefully ask for a flight back home after that time period is up if it isn't offered.
Oh, and yes, this place is the University of Massachusetts. It's huge. It's like a city within itself, replete with high rises including 4 dorms that look like high rise apartment buildings. I guess cause that's what they really are. They have their own water treatment plant, electric substation and this huge plant that uses the LNG to heat everything. And there was the problem. It is an unusually cold winter, the LNG is getting used up in massive quantities, the plant that normally feeds it through a pipeline is shut down and it's only us trucks that are the gap between either keeping the place heated - or not. I doubt there are dying old people or freeing babies there, but it was a nice story to get people up there.
The problem - the drivers that do this run have been going at it so long, they haven't had time off in over a month. Some of them had to be on their 34 hour reset. UMASS was basically saying get wit the program, we NEED this LNG. So, the company has put out requests to all 10 other of the divisions to send any available drivers.
I'm getting sleepy. I know it's early but I haven't gotten much sleep in the last two nights and I didnt actually mind the manager calling me saying that they won't be there to load me tonight, find a place to park, get on your 10 hour break, get up at 3 am and get over there as fast as you can. At the plant today, I overheard the conversation: we have at least enough to last us through tomorrow morning. WTH. 4 truckloads of this stuff delivered there today and it's only enough to make it until tomorrow afternoon? How much money do they spend on this stuff every year? I just don't believe them. 4 trucks delivered today is 40,000 gallons, give or take a couple thousand. But, who am I. I'ts definitely cold out here - around zero degrees.
Oh well. Anyway, I went into the Pilot a while ago and finally found what I had been looking for: a freaking pillow. $6.99 for a small "travel pillow" but I'll take it over the nothing I had last night. I brought my sheets with me cause I figured there wouldn't be any, but there was no room to take a large pillow. Or even a small one. My bags were cram packed with bare minimum I figured I would need to survive in the cold, have enough clean clothes to last at least a week and all the other stuff I would need. 1 large suitcase and a duffel bag cram packed.
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