Thanks To The Nice Trucker Who Told Me My Load Was Wacky

This is a big thank you to the trucker who actually made the effort to let us know our load was losing a battle to stay put.

We're hauling lumber and that stuff can be iffy and want to wiggle out of the back, no matter who tight you tighten the straps. 

We'd been on rough roads and some pieces wanted to go their own way but the trucker alerted us, we stopped and pounded them back in and back on the road.

Flat-bedders may not like each other but overall, they understand how quickly a load can go south and have a sense of 'there but for the grace of God, go I' and will help you. 

Yep, there are still good guys out there.  Thanks to whomever you were!! 

Kenworth Ticked Me Off

I had a problem with my beloved KW900L and had to take it in to the KW dealer in Atlanta. 

"Only be a couple of hours before we get to you."  says the note-taker guy as he walks away after getting my complaint.

Alright! think I, I can wait and still get on the road to get the freight to my customer...who is demanding I get there.

Stoopid me, eight hours (count 'em, 8) later the specialist guy finally deigns to show up (yes, show up at work!  Whatta concept!) to work on my Precious.  Took him about three hours to fix her right up. 

Okay, I'm happy he fixed her but couldn't they have told me the guy wasn't there and wasn't due in for hours??  I could have scooted to my customer and then while empty, gone to the KW dealer in that town to have her fixed.   So, I lost a whole day for three hours work.  Sumbitch. 

The good news is, the fixed part is working like a champ and the guy did a whopping good job.  I'd had it worked on a couple of times and the problem kept popping up, sooooo's, I guess I should be happy.  Well, I am for the most part, just not happy with being lied to.  Boo on Atlanta KW!!  :-P  

Clueless Customers Who Can't Give Directions

"Where are you located??  I'm on (example) I-70, exit 72, Ohio.  I need truck route directions to your place." says I.

"Oh, dear...I don't know how to tell you to get here.  I drive here everyday but I don't pay attention to the street names.  Let me see if I can find someone to help you." says clueless customer lady in the clueless cutomer's office while she rumbles around asking, off-phone, if anyone can give directions.

Seriously??  The above is just the NICE version of what usually happens.  I've had clueless customers spout off directions so fast once and then just hang up!  I'll call back and pretend that my silly cellphone (hey, I do what I have to) must have cut out and could they repeat the directions again??  I've also had clueless customers get mad at me and tell me that I should just KNOW where the hell they are and hang up.  Let me see, my intuition is out of whack at the moment and I don't know, you stoopid twit!!  Do you want your friggin' freight or not???  Hmmmm???  I'm waiting!! 

Then, I gotta say, there are the customers who have nice direction lines, although some of them could use some work but still, they are direction lines, I can always call back or loop it.  Or the good customer who actually has the directions written down somewhere on their desk/wall and will ask where I'm coming from and give good directions.  I always make sure to thank them and let them know how much I appreciate their thoughtfulness.

As for Garmin??  Furgeddaboutit (or however you spell that).  I finally turned the damn thing off, just sits on my dash, looking forlorn.  It has sent me to some seriously wrong places, so I'd rather not mess with it. 

I do have Trips and Streets, and even though it's for 4 wheelers, it's turned out to be pretty dang reliable!  Sometimes it takes the long way but I get paid by the mile, I'm good with that!! 

Anyway, back to the clueless customer.  About the best advice I can think of is to just be pro-active and develop your arsenal of excuses or whatever it takes to get decent directions out of your customers!! 

How To Merge Onto The Interstate...Lesson Follows...

When a four wheeler is merging onto the highway, they are supposed to get up to highway speed and then 'merge' into the traffic. Now, that means they are supposed to assimilate their little selves into the moving traffic, not just plow through like they own the road.

Today, TWICE, two four wheelers almost caused big time wrecks by bombing onto the highway and not looking back.

I'm telling you, my four BIG horns atop my cab got really great work-outs by blaring at the offending party's.

Then the looks I got when the drivers' looked into their rear-views, like, "What?? Where?? Who??". Totally clueless boobs.

However, now they are well aware of what not to do, especially in front of a 40 ton big rig. I wonder if the lesson(s) will take...I sort of doubt it...*sigh*....

Common Sense Is Dead??

I have an XM radio and to listen to all the politicians, you'd think this country is just dying to turn into a socialist utopia.

That ain't the case when we talk to other truck drivers on the road. Out of all the truckers we talk to, a whopping ONE has been for all the taxes and sludge that Washington is trying to force down our throats.

If the pols would listen to the people, I'm sure common sense would save the day! It's not hard to do or figure out. Just use your head!!

It's That Global Warming Thing

Heading out to Ole Miss and OF COURSE there are tornados already. What fun.

I'll let everyone know if we make it through...or not...

However, just yesterday, we were in a blizzard and couldn't see a thing. Before that, we were in rain storms and hail.

Yep, it's that global warming thing....

Truck Is Sick, She's In The Shop

I loff my truck but she is getting on in years and well over a million miles so it's to be expected she gets sick now and again. But she'll get well and we'll be back on the road in no time flat. So today's post will be short and sweet. I need to be on the road to find things to gripe about and today, well, things are just too mellow for me to get excited.

So, will be back soonest with some more silly stuff from the road. Please keep reading and tell your friends about this blog! :-)

Taking Pictures While On The Road

Down below in the Gay Trucker report, someone left a comment about taking pics of things while I'm out and about in America.

I missed a perfectly good shot of the two truckers holding hands!! Damn!! What was I thinking?? I used to write for several newspapers and do my own photos and I've let myself down, so, now I have to redeem myself.

I will do my best to get some shots, now and again. The problem is my camera is uber fancy and I keep it in its' case all the time and I can't whip it out to take a shot. I do have a camera in my phone but the shot is usually gone before I can get the thing open.

At any rate, I'll do my best to get some shots of SOMEthing, don't know what, but it'll be something, hopefully good!!

Found THE Perfect Way To Keep Refers Away From My Truck

Remember a few days ago I was grousing about how my truck is a refer magnet? No matter where I park in a truck parking lot, a refer will search me out, home in on my truck and make a beeline for the space next to me. Usually, the refers are working in pairs and one will go on either side. They work in tag-teams also...one pulls out and there is another one just waiting to take its place.

Weeeelllll, read on, I now know how to fix this problem!!

I have two little yappy dogs. The yappiest things you've ever seen. I can't make them mind one bit but they are the apples of my eye.

(Can you see this one coming??)

So, what you do is park and leave your windows down just a tad, enough that their full throated yaps carry all over the parking lot. Just enough that when you're inside the c-store you can hear them yapping, pretending you don't know who-the-hell would own such critters.

Voila! No trucker in their right mind is going to park beside such PITA (that Pain-In-The-Ass for you who don't know...remember this because I'll use it plenty in coming posts) yapping dogs!!

So now, I can finally, finally compete with the friggin' refers on noise!! Better yet, a refer you get used to, a yapping dog who yaps intermittently, not so much. hehehehe..... Life is sweet....

Found THE Perfect Way To Keep Refers Away From My Truck

I have two little yappy dogs. The yappiest things you've ever seen. I can't make them mind one bit but they are the apples of my eye.

Customer Yelled At Me Using Jesus' Name In Vain

Let it be said, I'm not religious in any sense of the word, just so's you'se knows.

Someone, somewhere screwed up and gave me a load that I was supposed to be 70 miles away about 3 hours before I even learned of this particular short load. So, when I called the customer, he was about to blow!

"Jesus H. Christ!! Where are you!!" Before I could tell him, he went on in fine fashion. "I've had someone waiting to load you since 9 o'clock this morning and you're not even close?? Jesus H. Christ!!"

Now, at this point, I'm getting seriously annoyed...annoyed at whomever screwed up the load and is blaming me (yep, I know who is it but I'm not naming names...) and uber annoyed at the customer for using Jesus' name in vain.

That is just not right. No matter who ticked you are, don't use Jesus' name. Uh-uh, not on my watch. Grrrr!!

Got My Fix-It Ticket Fixed And Got The Hell Out Of California

The title says it all for me. Whew!!

Burly Truckers Holding Hands

*Disclaimer: I do not care what one's sexual preference, the following is a report on something I saw, so take it that way and don't make any more of it than there is, alright??*

Day before yesterday, we stopped at the industrious Wal-Mart and hubby went inside for me. I didn't feel that well so I parked the truck and sat in the driver's seat to watch the world go by.

Oh, boy, did it.

From down the row some'eres, two big guys, dressed in the usual trucker garb of untucked shirttail, baggy jeans, worn-down at the heels boots and ballcap from Cabela's or similar, went tootling up to the front door of Wmart. One guy was pushing a cart from the parking lot, which I thought was strange, there are plenty of carts inside the store but I digress, and the other was a leeetle close to the 'pusher'.

Well, in a few strides, both men were holding hands but trying not to appear too obvious in acting like they were both pushing the cart. That's not obvious?? Hello?? They were laughing about something and even holding their heads together.

Welp, to each their own. As long as they don't make a play for me and keep their hands to each other, I'm good with it. I'm aware of gay truckers but usually, it's pretty well hidden, guys don't hang on each other in public that I'm aware...but this could be a start of a trend, ya never know!!

California Is A Pain In The Neck

I got a fix-it ticket in Cali a few weeks ago. The officer had to look really hard to find SOMEthing wrong with my rig. We take excellent care of her and she's in the shop every 10K miles to get her oil changed and a good look-over. Something is wrong, we get it fixed asap.

Well, he found a 'worn' spot on a push rod in the brake cannister thingy and one brake was out of adjustment.

So's....we take it in to the mechanic and, get this, he can't find where the Cali officer was pointing out. We actually had to show him the 'worn' spot. So, he replaced the cannister/push rod thingy (hey, I just drive the truck, the mechanic does all the other stuff) and adjusted all the brakes, just to be sure.

I called Dunsmuir to find out how to get the ticket signed off. Twice the officer told me wrong info and luckily, I'm obstinate enough to find out the right info. The officer said any DOT weigh station across country could sign it off and then send in the cardboard copy. Only problem is...no other state will touch anything that had California in its name!! So, I called back to another office and got it worked out that I have an extra two weeks to get the thing signed off. I haven't been back to Cali since getting the truck fixed and...you get the picture.

Let's just hope the officer (I got name and number and all sorts of info on him) lives up to his word!!

I can do without ever going to Cali again...too bad there are so many loads to and from the freakin' place!!

In A Blizzard On Tuesday, Today It's Hot

It's that global warming thing.

In Montana, just day before yesterday, I was driving in a blizzard and down to 25 miles an hour on I-90. No other truck(s) were on the highway. I wanted to get going and so just bombed out onto the road without really, really looking too closely.

Once out there, I noticed that I seemed to be there by my lonesome. You know that 'uh-oh' feeling you get when you do something you shouldn't-a-oughta-done feeling?? Well, that's the one I got.

I could have turned around but the offramps looked kind of black icey and pretty much steep grades of varying degrees. So, I kept going.

Finally, I got past all the mountains to Three Forks and I'm telling you, that place never looked so good!!

So, after unloading in Minnesota, Minneapolis to be exact, we picked up a load just south of that fair city and headed south to Des Moines and west to California.

NOW it's pretty warm and we're running the a/c all the time!!

What a few thousand miles...how the weather can change....hehehe....

At Home Time, So This Will Be Short

Just had to check in and say it's really nice to be home for a few days.

We loaded our truck today but it'll sit till Sunday and then we'll hit the road and start all over again.

Nothing much is happening, life is going along nicely and I'm pretty damn happy.

Hope everyone is enjoying life and I'll be back soonest. Please keep reading!!

Just Had To Honk At Snippy Californians

This is will be a short post tonite...

Some preppy, latte-drinking Californians in a Prius (or some silly little car similar) honked at us while my hubby was trying to get onto the interstate.

Not a good idea...we have FOUR big horns on the top of our cab and we let them have a good honking right back.

For some reason, they didn't seem inclined to want to mess with us..........................

Saw The Aftereffects Of A Fatal Accident

Just today, on Hwy 30 in WY, just up from I-80, there was a wreck. Nothing was left of the truck, looked like one of those mashed cars you see from the junk yard. The doubles were akimbo and the crews were doing their best to salvage the load.

The sad thing is that someone on the CB said there was a body bag taken away. So sad for a family, so sudden. Just *Bam*, someone's life is gone. I'm not making any sort of comment on excessive speed or whatever, just someone died today and it's just a waste.

Things like this shake me up for a few days. When driving a truck you never know when your accident is going to happen. With truck driving, it's not IF you have an accident, it's WHEN you have one.

Everyone, please drive safely. Think of your family and those that love you. Is it really worth it?? Think about it.

Almost Biffed My Stacks On A Tree Limb

I have the fanciest KW900 on the road and am plenty proud of her. Lots of chrome and a neat color too. I take great care of her and she comes through for me when I need extra power from her 550 Cat engine.

So, imagine, the other day, I pulled into a rest area to use the bathroom and then was pulling out when my hubby noticed a low branch.

ALMOST got the driver-side stack...almost.... It would have been a very sad day to put any sort of damage on my baby. But, I tacked port and missed the *(&#$*&% limb and all is well. Did scare me a bit though and I'm still not over it, never will be in all likelihood.

Slow Down In The Parking Lots!!

As if this is rocket science, if you go fast in a truck stop parking lot, eventually, one day, you will run over someone or hit another truck.

What is the big deal about going fast in a parking lot?? You want to go fast? Head on over to Darlington and have a blast.

A truck stop parking lot is NOT the place to go fast. You ain't 'pressin' no one. Sheesh!