Tuesday July 7th 2009
We woke up at 4am and rushed over to the receivers in hopes of getting this done as quickly as possible, as painlessly as possible, and as soon as possible. They tell us to park in the waiting area and they’ll call us at 5. There’s about 10 other trucks sitting there waiting too. While we were waiting I shaved. A little after 5 they call us over the CB and assign a dock to us. We have to check in with our usual paperwork (a Bill Of Lading that tells what we’re hauling), but we have to sign up for lumpers too. It’s going to cost $260 to get the truck unloaded. Little did I know, but, by the time they’d got done unloading I‘d need another shave! It took them nearly 6 hours to unload the truck! We finally got out of there at 10:45.
It didn’t take too long to get another load offer. Deadhead 44 miles to Princeton Kentucky and pick up a trailer full of crackers from Roundy’s. Saltines, Honey Grahams, Oyster, Vanilla Wafers, Wheat, etc. We’re taking them to Oconowoc Wisconsin just West of Milwaukee. Apparently they needed some crackers to go with their cheese & beer. South of Chicago, in the town of Effingham Illinois was the Worlds Largest Cross. It’s 198 feet tall! If you look at the photo long enough, you can see images in the clouds over the cross! I saw the Fall Of The Rebel Angels. What do you see?
A ways north of there, in the town of Kankakee, at an equipment rental place, amongst a small forest of up-stretched cherry pickers was a giant Abe Lincoln statue.
We stopped for the night just south of Chicago at a Petro truck stop in the town of Monee. We had to pay $10 to park in a lot across the street, but they give you a voucher good for $10 in the truck stop, so it all worked out ok. It was a pretty large truck stop. They even had Asian massages upstairs near the laundry. We did laundry there. No massages.
It didn’t take too long to get another load offer. Deadhead 44 miles to Princeton Kentucky and pick up a trailer full of crackers from Roundy’s. Saltines, Honey Grahams, Oyster, Vanilla Wafers, Wheat, etc. We’re taking them to Oconowoc Wisconsin just West of Milwaukee. Apparently they needed some crackers to go with their cheese & beer. South of Chicago, in the town of Effingham Illinois was the Worlds Largest Cross. It’s 198 feet tall! If you look at the photo long enough, you can see images in the clouds over the cross! I saw the Fall Of The Rebel Angels. What do you see?
A ways north of there, in the town of Kankakee, at an equipment rental place, amongst a small forest of up-stretched cherry pickers was a giant Abe Lincoln statue.
We stopped for the night just south of Chicago at a Petro truck stop in the town of Monee. We had to pay $10 to park in a lot across the street, but they give you a voucher good for $10 in the truck stop, so it all worked out ok. It was a pretty large truck stop. They even had Asian massages upstairs near the laundry. We did laundry there. No massages.
Wednesday July 8th 2009
“We had a short way to go, and a long time to get there” so we slept in a bit, had breakfast at the restaurant, and headed out at 9:30. I was hoping to drive through Chicago (my favorite) but we pretty much bypassed it. I could see the Chicago skyline way off in the distance but it was overcast so I couldn’t get a picture. I was wishing I was driving along Lake Shore Drive with a huge wall of skyscrapers on my left and Lake Michigan, beaches and boardwalks on my right. Instead, we were driving through miles of construction zones. It was overcast and slightly rainy, but that didn’t stop people from having fun at Six Flags Over Chicago.
We drove right through Milwaukee. It was mostly construction zones there, too.
We drove by the Harley Davidson Museum. I’ll have to check that out sometime! I love vintage motorcycles. We also drove past Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers. There was a game going on and there were a bunch of people out tailgating.
Across from Miller Park was the Miller Brewery.
I didn't see the Pabst Blue Ribbon Brewery though. In fact I never even saw a Pabst sign. I did see a couple things named after Pabst though. Did I ever mention that I love Pabst!
We were scheduled to drop in Oconowoc at 10pm. They said we can get on the lot no earlier that 4 hours prior to our pick up time, so we got there 4 hours and 18 minutes early. The guard at the gate said he wouldn’t turn us away for being 18 minutes early. Being there early didn’t do us a bit of good because we were told to sit and wait until an hour before our pick up time, then go check in at the office. I went into the office about 10 minutes early. I was third in line. I stood there waiting for about a half hour as the two guys in front of me were telling each other horror stories of how awful it is to drop off here. The line behind me kept getting longer. About 10 to 15 drivers deep. The lady finally showed up at the window and began checking us in and assigning us docks. We were to back up to our dock without opening our doors. Their dock was designed to so our doors could be opened from inside the warehouse. We never even saw this load. For all we know we could have been hauling top secret nuclear devices or alien corpses or something. Top Secret Crackers! That’s going to be the name of my new TV show about two white guys (aka crackers) who deliver snacks in semi trucks but moonlight as secret agents. When we backed to the dock, we were supposed to talk to the lumpers. Lumpers, for those of you who don’t know, are the people who unload the trucks. Where’s the lumpers? We thought they’d be at the dock. After a while of confusion trying to find them, we walk back to the receiving office. Guess what I found? The lumpers. It’s going to cost $190 for their service plus extra for any broken pallets that need to be replaced. Once again, it took forever to get the truck unloaded. I guess there were some broken pallets because it ended up costing $250. We even ended up spending the night in their lot. We got a load offer to pick up a load of dog food near Madison Wisconsin and take it to Crete Nebraska.
We drove right through Milwaukee. It was mostly construction zones there, too.
We drove by the Harley Davidson Museum. I’ll have to check that out sometime! I love vintage motorcycles. We also drove past Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers. There was a game going on and there were a bunch of people out tailgating.
Across from Miller Park was the Miller Brewery.
I didn't see the Pabst Blue Ribbon Brewery though. In fact I never even saw a Pabst sign. I did see a couple things named after Pabst though. Did I ever mention that I love Pabst!
We were scheduled to drop in Oconowoc at 10pm. They said we can get on the lot no earlier that 4 hours prior to our pick up time, so we got there 4 hours and 18 minutes early. The guard at the gate said he wouldn’t turn us away for being 18 minutes early. Being there early didn’t do us a bit of good because we were told to sit and wait until an hour before our pick up time, then go check in at the office. I went into the office about 10 minutes early. I was third in line. I stood there waiting for about a half hour as the two guys in front of me were telling each other horror stories of how awful it is to drop off here. The line behind me kept getting longer. About 10 to 15 drivers deep. The lady finally showed up at the window and began checking us in and assigning us docks. We were to back up to our dock without opening our doors. Their dock was designed to so our doors could be opened from inside the warehouse. We never even saw this load. For all we know we could have been hauling top secret nuclear devices or alien corpses or something. Top Secret Crackers! That’s going to be the name of my new TV show about two white guys (aka crackers) who deliver snacks in semi trucks but moonlight as secret agents. When we backed to the dock, we were supposed to talk to the lumpers. Lumpers, for those of you who don’t know, are the people who unload the trucks. Where’s the lumpers? We thought they’d be at the dock. After a while of confusion trying to find them, we walk back to the receiving office. Guess what I found? The lumpers. It’s going to cost $190 for their service plus extra for any broken pallets that need to be replaced. Once again, it took forever to get the truck unloaded. I guess there were some broken pallets because it ended up costing $250. We even ended up spending the night in their lot. We got a load offer to pick up a load of dog food near Madison Wisconsin and take it to Crete Nebraska.
Thursday July 9th 2009
We got up and beat feet over to pick up our dog food and we were off to Nebraska. It’s a very un-eventful drive through Wisconsin and Iowa. On the way into Iowa we go through Bettendorf Iowa.
For those of you who watch mixed martial arts (UFC), you know that the small town of Bettendorf Iowa is home to one of their biggest training camps. I’ve always said that you definitely wouldn’t want to get into a bar fight in Bettendorf because, more than likely, the baby faced 21 year old kid your picking a fight with can actually hand you your ass on a platter without even spilling his beer! A little ways past Bettendorf was a miniature golf coarse (?) with a bunch of Hamburger Men and other characters holding burgers. Strangely enough, I couldn’t find any mention of it on Roadside America. I’ll have to become a Roadside America informant! Is that like tattling?
I got paid again today. We get $500 a week during our training period. After taxes (and probably child support) were taken out, I took home $338.34.
Of coarse, we drove right through Omaha. Too bad I couldn’t stop. We had a load to deliver or the poor dogs of Crete Nebraska would starve to death. We stopped briefly in Lincoln right next to Crete Carriers Headquarters to check out the progress on the new Shoemakers truck stop, then we continued on to Crete (the city, not the trucking company) and dropped off our load. Afterwards we stopped at the Walmart in Crete to get a few groceries. I also got a Net10 phone so, for the next month, I can (hopefully) actually have phone service all around the country. Well, 300 minutes worth anyway. My current plan (Cricket) only has service in select cities. The only times I’ve had service in the last two weeks were when we drove through Omaha/Lincoln, and when we drove through Denver. Since I was planning on switching phone service anyway, I figured why pay $70 for Cricket and no service when I can pay $30, get a phone, 300 minutes, and nationwide service. This phone is only temporary until I switch to a good nationwide provider. Anyway, where were we? Oh yeah, while sitting at Walmart, we get word that there is no freight in the Lincoln area. We’re going to be sitting a looong time waiting for a load. We ask if it’s ok to deadhead back to the Crete terminal in Lincoln. They say that’s all right. We spend the night there, all day the next day, and will probably get a load the next morning.
For those of you who watch mixed martial arts (UFC), you know that the small town of Bettendorf Iowa is home to one of their biggest training camps. I’ve always said that you definitely wouldn’t want to get into a bar fight in Bettendorf because, more than likely, the baby faced 21 year old kid your picking a fight with can actually hand you your ass on a platter without even spilling his beer! A little ways past Bettendorf was a miniature golf coarse (?) with a bunch of Hamburger Men and other characters holding burgers. Strangely enough, I couldn’t find any mention of it on Roadside America. I’ll have to become a Roadside America informant! Is that like tattling?
I got paid again today. We get $500 a week during our training period. After taxes (and probably child support) were taken out, I took home $338.34.
Of coarse, we drove right through Omaha. Too bad I couldn’t stop. We had a load to deliver or the poor dogs of Crete Nebraska would starve to death. We stopped briefly in Lincoln right next to Crete Carriers Headquarters to check out the progress on the new Shoemakers truck stop, then we continued on to Crete (the city, not the trucking company) and dropped off our load. Afterwards we stopped at the Walmart in Crete to get a few groceries. I also got a Net10 phone so, for the next month, I can (hopefully) actually have phone service all around the country. Well, 300 minutes worth anyway. My current plan (Cricket) only has service in select cities. The only times I’ve had service in the last two weeks were when we drove through Omaha/Lincoln, and when we drove through Denver. Since I was planning on switching phone service anyway, I figured why pay $70 for Cricket and no service when I can pay $30, get a phone, 300 minutes, and nationwide service. This phone is only temporary until I switch to a good nationwide provider. Anyway, where were we? Oh yeah, while sitting at Walmart, we get word that there is no freight in the Lincoln area. We’re going to be sitting a looong time waiting for a load. We ask if it’s ok to deadhead back to the Crete terminal in Lincoln. They say that’s all right. We spend the night there, all day the next day, and will probably get a load the next morning.
Friday July 10th 2009
Like I’d just mentioned, we’re stuck waiting at the Crete terminal for a load offer. Al gets us free lunch at the cafeteria. It’s actually pretty good food. Pot roast, cabbage, taters, carrots, salad bar. I spend most of the day unproductively surfing the internet. There’s a good concert going on in the streets of Lincoln tonight that I can’t go to (The Killigans and Brave Combo). I finally get myself motivated to do my blog (man, this is a lot of work!). There’s a lot of other drivers here waiting for a load, too (Note to self: Watch what you eat and get some exercise!!!).
Abe Lincon, the world's largest cross, and the Miller brewery. Man, you are livin' tha dream!
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