Hello there.  It's already the second week of October and I haven't written a thing since the end of August.  I am still running the Family Dollar account out of Maquoketa, IA.  I have no immediate plans to leave it or Schneider.  However, I am looking.  I am starting to get a little burned out on the account.  Did I mention that it's cold out in the morning, and it's only going to get worse.

I don't mind the cold as much as the heat.  Things are going pretty decent on this account too.  Hardly any problems.  In fact, they finally did get the ready times for my loads home to where I wanted them.  When they dropped Detroit I had figured that my loads home would be ready early in the morning on Friday.  It wasn't that way for several weeks.  They are now.  I have been getting home on Fridays before dinner.  Which is great.  Sure as heck beats midnite.

I have decided to transfer this blog to a myspace account.  I started transferring the entries a week or so ago, and should be all done in the next few weeks.  It's just finding the time to do it.  The page is www.myspace.com/diaryofaschneiderdriver . It's working, but under construction.  I plan on putting up a FAQ page for people interested in signing on with the Schneider. 

Wow, looks like its been awhile since my last entry.  Things get so busy from week to week.  Most of the time it goes by quick, and you notice everything.  Other times it is all a blur.  You can never remember where you were two days ago.  Last week was kind of like that.

I decided to stay home another night on Monday, and not leave out until Tuesday morning.  It takes about 9-10 hours to get from home back to Maquoketa, IA.  Usually I will head back on Monday afternoon, after my last stop.  Stopping in Gary I fuel, shower and do my 10 hour break.  Like I said, last week I stayed home another day and didn't leave until Tuesday morning.

I didn't get my work assignment until I was already enroute.  It was a delivery to Chicago, and northwestern Indiana.  It's roughly 700 miles from my house to Maquoketa, then back to Chicago.  The timing on all this would be very close, keeping in mind I only have 14 hours to do all this.  Also, you need to do some creative logging in your logbook to make the 700 miles work.  (Note: If and when Schneider goes to paperless logs, this scenario will be impossible)

When I got to the Chicago area I knew I wouldn't have enough time to stop and get fuel and make it back to Gary in time.  I had planned on coming back to Gary because I didn't know if I could sleep at the store or not.  I would get fuel when I got back to Gary.  I kept rolling.  On the other side of Chicago, I ran into my friend Tom, who is also on this account.  It's always nice to have someone to talk to (who you know - not just some Billy Bob trucker) when you are driving.

Just as we got into Iowa he stopped at the rest area and I kept on going.  It was only another 40 minutes to the distribution center.  I got there got my load and startd to leave.  tomn showed up and I asked him what took so long.  He said it was something he ate, and he also stopped for fuel.  He asked me if I was going to stop, and I said no.  There wasn't time if I was going to make it to Gary.  I really needed to be there by 1900 so I could get my break in, and have enough time to get to the store before 0600 in the morning. 

Let me explain something about the fuel gauge in a semi-truck.  The don't really work. (they tell you this over and over at training) At least not accurately.  You will get a different reading off of it running bobtail, as you would with a loaded trailer, as you would with an empty trailer.  There is a dash computer that keeps track of gallons used.  You just have to make sure you reset it everytime you fuel up.  I do this, and I do use it to know how much fuel I have used, and how low I am getting. I was getting low.  The tanks are supposed to hold 100 gallons each, for a total of 200 gallons.  I was getting into the 150 area.

Well, on the way to Gary I called the store I was to be delivering to.   They said there was plenty of room to park.  So I set my sights on getting there.  I got there just as my 14 hours were up for the day.  There was a Target down the street so I did a little shopping. 

The next morning I delivered and went on my way.  The next store wasn't that far away, so I made it there and delivered.  My third store was in Hammond, IN. This is right next to Gary.  I called them and told them I would be on my way.  They said they weren't ready and didn't have employees coming in for another hour.  Not a problem, I would just go to Gary and fuel up.  

I got up on I-90 and knew I was in trouble.  The truck started running rough.  I started to lose horsepower.  I was now only about 10 miles away.  I got to the toolboth at the Illinois/Indiana border, paid my toll and then the truck stalled.    I tried several times, but it wouldn't start.  I was completely out of fuel.  I had only used bout 160 or so gallons.  The cars and trucks started lining up behind me.  Then  the abuse on the CB radio started.  How embarassing!  I was only there for 5 minutes when a guy on the CB asked if I wanted to be pulled out, of course I did! 

He was pulling an empty flatbed and pulled in front of me, hooked up, and then pulled me off to the side.  Thank God for good Samaritans.  I called SEM and waited an hour for someone to bring me fuel.  I went straight to Gary and then to my next delivery.  If anything good came out of this, it's that I know the limitations on how low I can go with my fuel.

So this week was one of the hottest on record in the state of Michigan.  Yesterday there was a heat advisory, "Keep old people and kids indoors.  Keep hydrated... yadda yadda yadda."  I do my best to keep cool in the trailer.  I carry a jug of ice water, I have a fan, I wear a sweatband to keep the sweat out of my eyes.  I drink sports drinks.

Yesterday almost killed me.  The heat index (regular temp + humidity makes it feel like) was 112.  I am gonna say it is about 10-20 degrees warmer in the trailer, depending on how far in you are.  I did my first store with no problem.  I did the second store with no problem.  I started the third store and ran into problems.

I was only about 250 pieces in to an 800 piece load when I started to slow way down.  The store had at least 4 employees working to unload.  So they were waiting on me.  I couldn't move any faster.  It was so hot and humid in there I was having a hard time just breathing.  The manager decided she would help, and jumped in.  I slowed down even more.  Trying to take a break.  I squatted down to rest for a minute, which was a bad idea.  When I stood up I almost passed out.

She asked if I wanted her to call 911.  No.  I went to my truck and changed my shirt and headband.  Both were soaked like I had jumped into a pool and then back out.  When I went back into the trailer one of her other employees was in there helping.  He was a 17 year old kid, busting his ass.  He pretty much finished unloading it, with some small help from me.  The start and end times they wrote on the paperwork said it only took an hour and fiteen minutes.  But it felt like so much longer.

I have never had any problems doing the unload, but yesterday just about took the life from me.  I like to do three loads in a week, but there was just no way.  I was so exhausted when I got done, that I didn't want to do anything.  I ended up staying home another night and am heading back in a few hours.  I hear that the temps are supposed to be coming back to their seasonal normals.  One could only hope.

Did you ever notice that when things can go exactly the way you want them to, they always end up getting screwed up in the end?  For the past several times I have been wanting to come home, I have been getting assigned backhauls on Friday morning.  So I am never in Maquoketa Thursday night.  This past week I had a great chance to be there on Thursday.

My Thursday load started at 0800 in Rockford, IL.  That's a little over 100 miles from the D.C.  I had to deliver half the truck at the first store, then go another 80 miles east (west Chicago burbs) to deliver the other half.  I was told the average unload time per store would be about 3 hours.  That's great, I should have enough time to drive all the way back to Maquoketa before my 14 hours is up.

Nope, it took the first store 5 hours, because there was only one person unloading.  To make a long story short I only got to within 100 miles of the D.C. before my 14 was up.  then I found out that my load to pick up for delivery on Monday wouldn't be ready until around 1400.  This would put me home after midnite. I would also have to leave the house at 0430 on Monday to get there on time. 

Well, I called my STL and he got me a different load, one that was already ready.  Gee, if I had made it to Maquoketa on Thursday I could have been leaving there by 0800 and been home before 1800.  I did get home by 2100, so it wasn't too bad.  The Maquoketa D.C. is dropping the Detroit stores by the end of the month.  This will in turn affect the ready times for my loads.  Hopefully for the better.  We shall see.

Hello to anyone who is still getting the messages that this blog has been updated!  I am very sorry for the long absence.  It looks as though i said back at the end of May that I would update mid-June.  So, I was a few weeks off.

The past month and a half have been good to me in more ways than one.  I had my paid vacation that week after Father's Day.  That last weekend was also used to marry my girlfriend of 5 years.  It was very small and very last minute, but it was the smartest thing I have done in awhile.  Why we didn't do it before, I don't know.

I did get to work on the Fourth of July.  Unfortunately it was no where near home.  I spent the night in South Bend, IN.  I did record some of it on video.  Two weeks ago my cell phone crapped out (while I was on the road).  I had to go the whole week with minimal use of the phone.  Because if I moved it wrong it would shut off by itself.  So I got myself a Razr phone.  It's pretty cool.

The job hasn't changed much.  I am just wishing I could be home earlier on the weekends.  It seems that whenever a load is actually ready first thing in the morning, I am 200 miles away.  I had to drive 685 miles to get home last week. 

 I still appreciate readers of this blog, who choose to join Schneider National because of me, using me as a reference.  If you have used me as a reference I definitely owe you a steak dinner.If you want to use me as a reference please contact me thru e-mail and I will give you the necessary information.

Nothing exciting or unsusal happens anymore.  I still do the occasional bonehead thing, like pull away from a trailer with airlines still attatched.  I know I just have to not be in a hurry and focus on the job at hand.  Stuff like that usually happens when your mind wanders.