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Phil Madsen's BlogLearning Something New Every Day |
Truck drivers Phil and Diane Madsen live, work and play on the road; transporting expedited and critical-shipment freight in their custom-built truck. Phil's blog is a blend of travelogue, brain dump and commentary on road-inspired topics.
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Blog entries are made so as not to reveal customer specifics or the current location of the truck when we are under load. Entries are updated to include location information after we leave the area. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Sunday, August 1, 2010 I learned today that I can vote in the Minnesota primary election on Monday if we are still home. Learned by hearing about the new (to me at least) absentee voting process.
Voting is something we like to do and we will use the process if we are still here. We arrived at home yesterday after delivering freight in the Twin Cities area.
Being parked in a safe and quiet place, we got a great night's sleep last night. Diane did laundry and I did some truck maintenance and other chores in the morning. After lunch I got several hours of trading time in.
The day passed and night came with no load offers received. We went to bed in the truck, not in the house, to be ready for a quick exit if an offer for an ASAP pickup came. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, August 2, 2010 I learned today the location of a nice restroom at a shipper's loading dock in Kansas City. Learned by having it offered to me by the shipper.
Diane and I woke up at 6:00 a.m. this morning at home in Minnesota. We were sleeping in the truck because we were in service, waiting for freight, and wanted to be ready to roll quickly if an offer for an ASAP pickup came in. It's a good thing we did because that's exactly what happened.
The phone woke us up and we were confused by the load offer. The pickup was in Kansas City, Missouri, but the time was just a couple hours away. I called dispatch and asked if they understood that we were in the Minneapolis express center and many hours from the pickup. The dispatcher said she understood and the pickup time would be bumped. The money was good so we took the load, started the truck and headed out a few minutes later. We were glad for the work but disappointed that we would not be able to vote (see yesterday's blog entry).
• That's all fine and good but what's so special about a bathroom? If you are wondering, you are probably not a trucker.
Part of life on the road is finding bathrooms when you need them. Non-truckers don't give a second thought to bathroom locations at their home and work. Truckers think about bathroom locations all the time.
If you name a state and ask a trucker where his or her favorite bathroom is in that state, you will likely see the trucker pause to think for a moment and then give you an answer. Go ahead and try it, drivers ...Tennessee! Try it again, how about ... New Mexico?
I sometimes think about publishing a coffee table book entitled "I've Peed in a Thousand Toilets." It would include photos of 1,000 bathrooms I have used on the road. The variety is wide, ranging from some of the nastiest shit holes (literally) you can imagine to some places that were so elegant and sensational that I hated to leave. The book will never be published because walking into a public bathroom with a camera and shooting away could create some awkward and maybe even dangerous moments.
The bathroom in Kansas City was a great find. We have been to this shipper before and likely will be again. I did not need a restroom at the time but noted its location for future reference. Clean and modern restroom at shipper locations are the best, especially when you are about to embark on a long drive.
• The shipper confirmed what we suspected. The reason we were called in Minneapolis to pick up ASAP in Kansas City was a truck that was already on the load had broken down before it arrived at the pick up.
We woke up to pleasant weather in Minnesota but drove into 100°F heat in Kansas City. We hoped the other team's breakdown was such that their truck air conditioning still worked. It would be no fun to be stuck in a broke down truck with no AC in that heat.
• Loading the freight was easy. It was one small box, weighing just five pounds. Expedited freight is seldom about the size and weight and is often about the value of the freight. That proved especially true in this case. The additional services provided en route made for a good paying run.
The quality of our lives was enhanced in two ways today. We earned a fair day's pay for a fair day's work, and learned of a nice place to pee in KC. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Tuesday, August 3, 2010 I learned today the latest batch of U.S. and global economy news and analysis. Learned by listening to Bloomberg podcasts as I drove.
U.S. housing is flat, GDP growth is slower than anticipated, some people are dollar bulls, others are dollar bears, consumer spending is slow, unemployment remains high, no further stimulus is expected from Washington this election year, talk of a double dip recession has resumed after going quiet for a few months; and so it goes.
The expediting money continues to be good for Diane and me. We are making hay while the sun shines to to fill in the revenue gaps left by the recession last year.
• We are on a run from Kansas City, Missouri to Plymouth, Massachusetts. This one is more relaxed than most because we were 12 hours ahead of the load when we picked it up. With no security protocols attached to this freight, we are able to poke along and stop to sleep in a non-moving truck instead of driving and sleeping in shifts. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 I learned today exactly where the famous Plymouth Rock is located in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Learned by seeing the signs along our way.
We did not have time to go see it so I photographed this Plymouth rock instead. From photos I've seen, the historic Plymouth Rock looks like this one, only bigger.
This is a nice area and surprisingly easy to get around in a truck for the East Coast. We would have done some tourist exploring if we had the time, but we didn't.
Immediately after the delivery, we went to the nearest wireless phone store. My phone was acting up and I was long overdue for a free upgrade. Diane is thinking about a new phone too. I got a new one. Diane will wait.
While we were at the store, an offer came in that we accepted. We are now deadheading 300+ miles to tomorrow's pickup. The load runs overnight and delivers Friday afternoon.
Update: On our way to Canada we got stuck for 2.5 hours in a Boston traffic jam. Three of four freeway lanes were closed for emergency bridge repair. It's later in the day now. We won't exit Canada until Friday so no blog entries posted until then. Roaming charges apply up there so we stay off line and off the phone as much as possible
For those of you who have been asking for updated trip maps, they are posted now. Sorry for the delay. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, August 5, 2010 I learned today the latest technology news and views. Learned by listening to several weeks worth of Future Tense podcasts as I drove.
Diane and I are on a 1,200 mile run from a Montreal, Quebec, Canada, suburb to Minneapolis. It has lots of open-road driving and time to listen to something educational. Feeling a bit saturated with financial and trucking stuff, I turned to technology for something different.
From the podcasts, I gather that building online social capital has become an important task for literally billions of people. People are putting time, effort and even money into making online friends and expanding their social networks. Online games like Farmdale are phenomenally successful, commentators say, because they give people a sense of belonging and accomplishment (same for street gangs, bridge clubs and church congregations, but that is another topic).
OK. People get a sense of belonging and accomplishment by building their online social capital. But as I listened to hours of talk about all of this, I kept asking, to what end? What's the purpose of all this beyond feeling good, if any?
I don't have an active Facebook account because I see little value in making friends for the sake of making friends. I know there are a billion people who would disagree, but I can't see how my standing in life would be better if I increased the number of online friends I might have from say 10 to 500.
If someone were to say to me, "Dude! You have 5,000 online friends! That is epic awesome!!!" What would I have really? Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Friday, August 6, 2010 I learned today that laptop computer prices have gone up. Learned by shopping for one.
The problems with my laptop continue and it crashes at an increasing rate. This led me to think about replacement or repair. I was surprised by the higher laptop prices. We paid about $400 for Diane's computer. It was a deep-discounted closeout machine but a good machine just the same. I'm not finding any such deals in stores now. We are all accustomed to seeing technology prices fall. It gives me pause to see laptop prices moving up.
• Greetings from our driveway at home in Minnesota.
"But Phil," you may ask, "weren't you and Diane just there on Monday?" Yes, dear readers, we were, and now we're back again.
We left early Monday morning on an ASAP pickup, and then drove to Kansas City, Missouri; to Plymouth, Massachusetts; to Montreal, Quebec and to a Minneapolis suburb that was less than an hour from home. So here we are, back home again. You never know where the freight will take you in this business and sometimes it gets just plain weird.
• What I'm going to write about next is important. It is a small thing we did today, but also a significant milestone in our lives and expediting business.
Regular readers know that I developed an interest in trading in late 2008. I have poured hundreds of hours into it with good results, such that Diane and I are now seeing significant financial gains. We have not yet reached the point where our part-time trading earnings exceed our full-time expediting earnings, but we can see it from here.
Taking note of our financial gains from trading, we did something today that we have never done before. We went out of service to give me time for trading that would otherwise leave us available to haul freight.
Today (Friday) is a shot day. We are tired and there is nothing better or more important to do than rest. We drove overnight from Montreal and completed this 1,200 mile run by delivering freight in a Minneapolis suburb. To be run ready, we did the usual re-supply stops at stores and then headed home to service the truck's toilet, refill the water tanks, sleep and wait for freight.
On the way, we were happy for the chance to stop at the county government center to cast our absentee ballots in the Minnesota primary election. We did not get to do that as we had planned to do on Monday because of the ASAP-pickup load offer then received.
When today drew to a close and we found ourselves run ready but not dispatched, it seemed likely that it would be Monday at the earliest before we received a load offer. With our trading results very much in mind, we decided to go out of service until Tuesday morning.
That gives me all day Saturday, Sunday and Monday to focus uninterrupted on trading. I'll take breaks, of course, but my head will be in trading and not expediting for the next three days.
We have never before taken time off expediting to put into trading. Up to now, trading was done as our expediting schedule allowed. Nevertheless, Diane and I knew almost from the day I took an interest in trading that this day would come. That is, the day when trading and expediting will rival each other as money-making opportunities; and when judgments will be made as to what time will be put into which activity on which days.
We're taking it step by step. Had we been dispatched on Friday for a Saturday, Sunday or Monday pickup, we would have gone with it. But we weren't so we instead went out of service to trade. We expect to be hauling freight on Tuesday and will stay in that groove for as long as it makes sense.
We will be full-time expediters and part-time traders for the foreseeable future. (Diane does not trade but supports me in doing so. She will likely become a trader in the future. She has been watching me with interest to see if trading can actually work. Now knowing that money can be made by trading and seeing how it is done, her willingness to try is growing.)
What's new for us today is the part-time/full-time crossover point is within sight like never before. When it is reached, we will still be expediters, but not full-time. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Saturday, August 7, 2010 I learned today that what I learned yesterday about laptop computer prices was wrong. Learned by finding a good price on a laptop.
Technology prices continue to fall. I just needed to shop a bit harder to find a low-priced laptop that meets my needs. I bought one today to replace my present laptop which is becoming less reliable. The price on the new one was low enough to replace the old one instead of repair it.
• Diane and I woke up at home this morning. We are out of service until Tuesday morning. Diane is doing some expediting business paperwork and truck cleaning. I'm using the time for trading. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Sunday, August 9, 2010 I learned today more about trading. Learned by trading.
Diane and I woke up this morning at home in Minnesota. We are out of service until Tuesday morning to give me time for trading. That was my day; church in the morning and trading the rest of the time, with a few breaks scattered in. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, August 9, 2010 I learned today more about trading. Learned by trading.
Today was the same as yesterday, except there was no church.
Now done trading for the day, I will attempt to move my computer files and programs from this frequently-crashing computer to the new one I purchased on Saturday. That includes the Dreamweaver program I use to post this blog online.
Wish me luck. If you don't see me post tomorrow you can assume I am stomping, fuming and tearing my hair out; cursing Microsoft once again. I hated to do it but buying a new laptop from a store meant also buying Windows 7. As much as I would like to move to a Linux operating system (Ubuntu), I can't just yet. Too many of the programs and vendors I use are Microsoft dependent. I am captive to them for now, and thus to Microsoft. Bit by bit I am breaking free but am not there yet. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 I learned today more about the Windows 7 operating system. Learned as I moved files and programs from my old computer to a new one.
The transition is going well but taking a long time. Older programs and devices need to be upgraded, usually with a free download, to work with Windows 7. The best part is that the move from one computer to another presents a great opportunity to better organize my files. That's an Operation Streamline thing, which itself is an ongoing process.
• Diane and I woke up at home in Minnesota this morning, in service and waiting for load offers. We went out of service from Friday night to this morning (Tuesday) to give me time for trading.
I have written before that you get more of what you think about. We were thinking about trading when we went out of service and, consequently, I got time for trading. Influencing our decision to go out of service was the fact that there were few if any trucks in the Minneapolis express center and we had seen no load offers for the weekend or Monday. We also had a financially lucrative week on the road, which took the pressure off and made it easier to say yes to trading.
Now it's Tuesday morning. There are five trucks in town, all of them ahead of us in the dispatch order. A load went out on Saturday that we might have taken. Another went out on Monday. We're OK with that since our goal was to create time to trade. What we did not think about when we were thinking about trading was the inbound trucks that would arrive over the weekend and the dwell time we would not build ahead of them because we would be out of service.
So here we sit on Tuesday morning, living with the fruits of our thoughts. Had we been thinking about freight on Friday, we would have stayed in service. But we thought about trading instead and got what we got.
That's not a complaint. Monday was a very good trading day in that I got good work done that cannot be done when the U.S. stock markets are closed. I'm glad we took the time we did for trading. It just came at the cost of now having five trucks ahead of us and no freight to haul.
Freight-wise, we broke a fundamental rule of expediting success; namely, don't break a streak. Having broken a freight streak to gain time for trading, we got what we got, and now we must have what we have.
You get more of what you think about, and we sure did.
I'll be thinking about computers as soon as I post today's blog entry. I had hoped to finish the transition by now but it will take longer. Instead of leaving the old computer at home like I want to do, we may end up taking it with us to complete the transition. We'll see how much time the freight gods give us before Diane and I roll again.
Update: We were dispatched late this afternoon and departed immediately. We are rolling now toward a pickup scheduled for 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. That freight will keep us rolling all day and overnight tomorrow night.
I did not finish the data transfer from this computer to the new one so I brought both along. Just what we need, three laptop computers in a two-person truck.
It's times like this when we are glad to have a big sleeper. As Diane drives, I'm sitting at the table in back working on two computers that are set up side by side. In trucks we drove before this one, we could not have done such a thing. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 I learned today that about 15,000 people voted for Independence Party candidates in yesterday's Minnesota party primary elections. Learned by looking for the results in the Star Tribune newspaper.
That number warms my heart. In Minnesota, there are the Democratic and Republican parties and the Independence Party. The IP is special to me because I founded it in 1992 (explained in my biography). The 15,000 number warms my heart because I remember when we counted just 15 people as party members. The party now boasts 15,000 primary election voters.
The party's high point to date was in 1998 when over 700,000 Minnesotans voted for the IP's gubernatorial candidate, Jesse Ventura and put him in office. Ventura's popularity and celebrity status helped achieve that result.
Now in 2010, I am especially glad to see the increasing number of high quality candidates that the party has fielded over the years. Don't get me wrong. Ventura was a high quality candidate by any measure. But the other IP candidates have to do it the hard way. They don't have Ventura's gifts to propel them into office, but they are credible people who do the party proud.
Voters decided yesterday that the IP's 2010 gubernatorial candidate is Tom Horner with his running mate Jim Mulder. Diane and I will be contributing money to this campaign.
• We woke up this morning in the truck at a rest area in Missouri. We drove down here from home last night to pick up a load this morning in Kansas city. It is a long run to the delivery. We'll drive and sleep in shifts to keep the truck moving until tomorrow afternoon. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, August 12, 2010 I learned today an example of how the new CSA 2010 regulations are putting the career of a good truck driver in peril. Learned by hearing his story.
The driver and his wife are friends of ours. They have served our carrier and customers very well for many years. They take good care of the trucks they drive. They have not been in any serious accidents that I know of and certainly none in the years we have known them.
The problem is CSA 2010 points are applied retroactively making a minor violation cited today to be a potential career ender because points earned years ago are counted differently now than they were when they were earned. It's like getting a ticket on Friday for running a stop sign on Wednesday when the sign was put up on Thursday.
There is nothing fair or right about that but it does not matter. It does not matter that minor violations cited years ago counted for near nothing when the citations were issued. Those points under the new system count big time, such that a violation recently cited may be enough to end this good driver's career. Such is the way of things in today's trucking industry.
If you research CSA 2010 even a little, you will see carriers with the same complaint. One major carrier talks of one of their best drivers becoming one of their worst under the rules change. He was a best driver because of his multi-million-mile accident free record. He became a worst driver because the rules changed.
Warning tickets he got for speeding did not count under the old rules but do count under the new. He did nothing different but when the rules changed, his warning tickets were counted against him. And as with my friend, a minor violation received any time soon could put him off the road.
I like the CSA 2010 rules and agree with the concept, but don't agree that the rules should be applied retroactively. Sports fans would scream like stuck pigs if game rules were changed, applied retroactively, and new winners of past-played games were declared under the new rules. Similarly it's simply wrong to put a driver's career in peril by applying new rules to old practices.
For non-truckers reading this, say your employer made a new rule about being late for work such that if you show up late for work more than three times in six months, you will be fired. Now say the new rule was retroactively applied. Your boss calls you in, sits you down and explains that your record has been reviewed. You are fired today because you were late for work four times in six months in 2008.
What would you say about that? How would you feel? To find out, go to any truck stop and listen to what some drivers are saying. This is exactly what is going on in the trucking industry today thanks to CSA 2010 and the less-than-fair-minded bureaucrats that developed and imposed the rules.
• Diane and I drove overnight last night on a run from Kansas City, Missouri, to a small town in Eastern Massachusetts. On the way we were dispatched on our next load. To set up for that, we drove south on I-95 through Rhode Island to the Connecticut welcome center where we settled in to spend the night. Tomorrow's load picks up nearby and delivers later in the day. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Friday, August 13, 2010 I learned today about some of Maryland's peninsulas, rivers and bays. Learned when I did a map study of the area as we considered our weekend plans.
I can't be more specific on the location because we have a Maryland pickup on Monday and I don't talk about our pickup and delivery specifics. But with the summer weather to be fantastic and us having a weekend with no freight to haul, Maryland tourism and RV camping came to mind. I studied the area on line as Diane drove late into this evening to deliver the load we picked up this morning. Maryland tourism came to mind but will not happen.
This morning's pickup was delayed by a couple hours after we arrived, pushing the delivery well into the evening. Traffic was no help. We picked up in Connecticut and drove inland in rural Virginia to deliver. That meant driving through New York City, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. After dark, it meant driving in the rain on very dark, winding, hilly mountain highways in Virginia.
We earn our pay every day but some days it is earned harder than others. Today was one such day. East Coast driving is tough. We can drive twice as far in Arizona and feel more refreshed when we are done than driving half the distance on East Coast.
When we arrived at the delivery, the two-man team that came in on overtime to unload us was there waiting. I asked the security officer if we could spend the night in the parking lot after unloading and was thrilled by his response. To him it was a simple yes. To us it was a blessing and the chance to stop moving and bed down in a peaceful quiet place after a hectic day of East Coast driving.
It was a "it doesn't get any better than this moment." Not because a parking lot in a large industrial complex is a wonderful place to be, but because there was no place we would rather be right then. We were stopped in a quiet place, safe, had the windows open to let a wonderful summer evening breeze flow through the sleeper (the rain stopped when we did), and had the alarms turned off. Sweet!
We won't do Maryland tourism and camping this weekend because there is not time to do it right. The pickup is early Monday morning and 250 miles away from where we will sleep tonight. We will sleep in tomorrow morning, waking to the birds and not alarms. By the time we got into Maryland on Saturday, too much of the weekend would be gone to justify an RV park stay. We don't know yet where we will stay but it won't be in a Maryland RV park. Maybe next time. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Saturday, August 15, 2010 I learned today the part numbers of all the exterior lamps (light bulbs) we have on our truck cab. Learned when I read the numbers off each one and made a chart showing how many we have on the truck and on hand.
Diane and woke up this morning to the sound of birds in a quiet parking lot in Virginia. We delivered there late last night and were permitted by security to spend the night. Monday's morning pickup is 250 miles away, giving us the whole weekend to get there. We took our time, starting by sleeping in.
There is a Volvo dealer and truck stop on the way. We stopped at the dealer to pick up lights and at the truck stop for fuel and showers. We generally carry replacement lamps for all the lights on the truck but a recent CSA 2010 shock (see above) motivated me to get more diligent.
Some of the bulbs are expensive, over $20 each, but I bought extras over the extras we already have. That was for two reasons. One is to be able to help a buddy who may be stranded without a bulb. The other is because I was replacing a bulb the other day, dropped it, and watched it shatter on the pavement. How much would it suck if you were at a scale and a decent scale cop allowed you to replace a bad bulb instead of giving you a ticket and you broke the last good bulb you had?
I've been meaning to mention several things lately but have not gotten to it. Here they are. Things we are enjoying lately include:
• Eating sweet corn, which Diane can again do now that her her braces off.
• Viewing the road through our new windshield which is free of the thousands of tiny pits that reduced visibility when driving at night and into the sun at sunrise and sunset.
• Summer weather and greenery, as we drive, and as we sleep with the sleeper windows open at night.
• The recently-purchased Florida vacation home that we have spent almost no time in but now have as a winter haven that will be put to good use when the time is right. This home gives us the ability to escape winter weather at will.
• Improved freight volume and rates compared to a year ago.
• Trading successes that lead us to believe the time I have poured into the endeavor has not been wasted and more success lies ahead.
• The sight of trucker parents who have their children with them on the road. School is out. Every summer we see children in trucks with their parents. Most frequently it is a father-son scene but father-daughter, mother-daughter and mother-son variations also appear.
It warms my heart to see a dad and his eager young son together on the road. A boy wearing brand new gloves is seen helping his dad secure a load of flatbed freight or doing a pre-trip inspection. Not visible to the eye but also clearly seen is the pride that flows both ways. The son is proud to be doing the work of a man. The dad is proud to see his son doing it.
I have read several heart-warming stories written by adult males about the fond boyhood memories they have of spending time with their dads in trucks on the road. It brings a smile to my face every time I see another such memory being created; a memory that will be cherished for life. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Sunday, August 15, 2010 I learned today that truck inspections can happen in the least expected times and places. Learned when our truck was pulled over for an inspection.
We were on our way from Virginia toward Monday's Maryland pick up, using the U.S. Highway 301 bridge to cross between Dahlgren, Virginia, and Newburg, Maryland. Traffic approaching the bridge was jammed up tight this Sunday evening as Maryland people made their way home from weekend outings. We were not expecting a long traffic jam but worked our way patiently through it as we have done hundreds if not thousands of times before.
The big surprise came a few miles into Maryland. On a Sunday night, miles from any freeway, in a small town, a uniformed state trooper in an unmarked black SUV pulled us over and said he was going to do a level 2 inspection.
For my non-trucker readers, there are three levels of inspections. Level 3 is a paperwork check. Level 1 is the most thorough where the inspector goes under truck to check certain components (thus the trucker slang name "Creeper Cop"). Some truck components are checked in a level 2 inspection but the cop does not go under the truck.
Diane was driving. The trooper asked her to open the driver's door, which she did. I am guessing he wanted that so he could make sure the driver had no weapons in hand or at the ready. It was a reasonable request.
Then he asked for Diane's driver's license (CDL) log book, medical card, the bill of lading, truck registration and other such items. When she was able to produce all of them instantly and without leaving her seat, the cop seemed to let up. It was like he decided we were OK and gave us a pass.
He no doubt looked the truck over somewhat as he pulled us over, checking the break lights and turn signals that were used. Tires were seen as he approached the truck. Everything he saw that way was in good working order.
He returned to his vehicle to write a report and came back a few minutes later. He must have changed his mind about the level 2 as he only did a level 3 and gave Diane a copy of the inspection report showing no violations. We did not protest and continued on our way.
It surprised us to be inspected like this at this time of day on a Sunday, not at a scale, but on the roadside. The trooper clearly knew his way around trucks. It was obvious that he had done many inspections before. Why he picked us at this time and place leaves us wondering.
We always knew we could be inspected at any unexpected time and place. It just seemed strange to have it happen like it did. It's not theoretical any more. The possibility of an unexpected roadside inspection is more real to us now than it was in the seven years we went without one.
• We drove further into the state to bed down for the night. Tomorrow's pick up is at 8:00 a.m. and we are just a few miles away. The weather is nice. We'll sleep with the generator off and sleeper windows open tonight.
• There is a down side to this nice weather. Cooler nights here and there mean Autumn is coming. The days are getting noticeably shorter. Behind Autumn comes Winter. Since there is nothing to be gained by dwelling on that depressing thought, I'm putting it out of my mind and going to bed. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, August 16, 2010 I learned today new roads in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Learned by driving them for the first time.
It happened all the time when we were new in the business that roads new to us would be driven. It does not happen to us much any more and is a treat when it does.
Today's run was short. We picked up in Maryland in the morning and delivered in Pennsylvania late in the afternoon. The route followed roads in those two states we have not taken before. We were forced off the freeway and onto Pennsylvania mountain roads because of the HAZMAT (hazardous material) freight on the truck. HAZMAT trucks are not permitted to use the tunnels on I-76 in Pennsylvania. It was a pleasant drive on a summer day. I would not have thought so if the same drive was done on a winter night.
• Do you remember the truck inspection I told you about on Sunday? The truck was inspected again on Monday, this time by the shipper. That inspection was part of the HAZMAT protocols the shipper follows.
No big deal, we thought, we've been through many such inspections. But to my surprise, the left rear turn signal did not work. When confronted with a defective turn signal or burned out bulb, every trucker on the planet will say, "Well it was working fine when I checked it this morning." Embarrassed, I said exactly that to the shippers who were gathered at the loading dock, and in this case it was true!
With the freight already loaded, door sealed and paperwork signed, they were not eager to cancel the load, which they would have done if we could not repair the light. Fortunately, I was able to get the turn signal working by crawling under the truck and unplugging a wire harness and plugging it back in. On the road, we checked the light again at a fuel stop and it was fine.
At the delivery, a fork lift came out into a large parking lot to unload the truck. The freight weighed 3,000 lbs and was contained in a large metal box that barely fit into the truck. That went fine and the consignees (people receiving the freight) were gone as quickly as they appeared.
Alone in the lot, we sat there for a few minutes to complete the run paperwork, remove the HAZMAT placards, and update our log books. In the middle of that, a yard dog showed up to start moving trailers around and asked us to move.
As we often do, one of us exited the truck and acted as a ground guide while the other backs up. This time I was driving and Diane hopped out to guide me back. She returned with a report that the backup lights were not working.
I protested to Diane like I was talking to a scale cop. "But they were just checked this morning at that inspection at the pick up! (Insert profanity here) what do you have to do to stay ahead of the game? You can't win for losing, can you?"
Fiddling with the connector I fiddled with this morning did not fix the lights. So what do you do? In these days of CSA 2010, where minor violations can accumulate to career-ending levels, you go out of service to get the lights fixed.
There was a truck stop just a few miles away and a trailer shop close to it. We went out of service and headed to the truck stop to spend the night. It's been a long day already. I'll get after those lights in the morning. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 I learned today that our GPS unit is useless when driving in and around the Newark, New Jersey, airport. Learned by finding that out the hard way.
Our GPS unit is designed for cars, not trucks. No brand or model is perfect, not even those designed specifically for trucks. Roads change. Construction detours get set up. Truck routes apply sometimes but not at others. Given the host of variables these little dash-mounted units must deal with, I'm amazed that they work at all, but they generally do and we would not want to be without one.
It gets dicey, however, in congested areas like downtown in any big city and places where the roads resemble spaghetti bowls instead of grids; like the Newark airport for example. Check out the map above. Pick a point A and point B in the area and then, you tell me, how would you get from A to B?
One wrong turn and you're doomed. Those ramps will send you out of the airport and onto other New Jersey streets or highways where you may have to drive miles in heavy traffic to make a U-turn. Or worse still, they will send you through an underpass that is shorter than your truck is tall or to an area in the airport where trucks are prohibited and the cops will be on you in a second if you go there.
Diane and I have been in and out of this airport several times. The more familiar you get with it, the easier the pickups and deliveries become. But how do you get familiar? What do you do if you are new in the game and this is your first trip in?
My Army infantry land navigation training came in handy when we were new in the expediting business. When you are using a map and compass to find your way through the woods in the dark (no GPS in those days), and there is an enemy out there who means to kill you, and if you get lost, what do you do?
You return to a known point. That technique has served Diane and I well as truckers. If you are lost, forget about where you are trying to go and get to a place where you will know where you are. In a truck in a city, simply drive in any direction until you find a safe place to stop. After you are stopped, take a deep breath or two to relax and think. Figure out exactly where you are and from that known point, try again to get to where you want to go.
If it takes two or three attempts, so be it. Your first job is to be safe. Far more important than getting it right the first time is keeping your eyes open for traffic, pedestrians, truck prohibited routes, low bridges, rail road crossings with ground clearance dangers, etc. Always, always, always be safe first. Then worry about finding the pickup or delivery location.
We did just that today. Paying too much attention to Gertrude (our name for our GPS unit that speaks in a female voice), we made a wrong ramp choice and knew it the instant we were on the wrong ramp..."shit!"
At that moment, the task at hand changed from getting to the pickup to staying safe while we figured out how to work our way back. We did and make it to the pickup on time as well.
We will drive overnight to deliver the freight in Indianapolis, Indiana, tomorrow.
• I should mention that the defective backup lights we discovered last night were repaired before we left this morning. The problem was the same as with the turn signal on Monday. Dirt and corrosion got into the wire harness connectors. There are a number of them under the truck. After identifying the one that leads to the backup lights, I cleaned it up and the lights work fine.
A good preventative maintenance thing to do would be to spend a day under the truck to unbundle every harness and service every connector. We plan to drive the truck for several more years. If I don't service the connectors now, they will succumb to dirt and corrosion later.
This is not a job to go out of service for, but one to add to the list. Nor is it a job to pay a mechanic to do. They are programmed to work for speed. Rare would be the mechanic that would put the TLC into this kind of job that I would. And if we found one, the cost of the hourly labor would be high. This is a maintenance task better left to me. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 I learned today that I am feeling sad. Learned by finally putting a name on the emotion I have been strongly feeling for the last few days.
It took that long to name my sadness because I don't often feel sad. It was not until I remembered how it feels to grieve at a funeral that I identified the emotion. I know now this has been building for a while. It came to a head today. It is real sadness that I feel. The urge to cry is welling up from within. It's sad what is going on and I feel sad about it.
What am I sad about? No one close to me died but I am sad about the stream of policy, personnel and behavior changes coming out of our carrier that makes our job less fun and fulfilling than it used to be. I'm sad about the new CSA 2010 rules that makes you feel like a hunted criminal even though you are doing everything in your power to comply with the law. I'm sad about changes on the road that degrade our quality of life; like states closing rest areas to save money and truck stops adding fees for dump station use that used to be free. I'm sad about the rust spots on our truck that have been allowed to continue when we would have tended to them before.
Attitude is everything in this business, as it is in most any business, I would guess. In expediting, there is time management, money management and sleep management. There is also emotional management, which is essential if a good, money-making attitude is to be maintained.
Emotions affect and feed on perceptions. If you feel sad, things that sustain that emotion tend to get noticed and are given more weight than things that would lead you to feel happy. How much of my sadness is real? Is it about real changes that have really occurred, or is it about me wanting to notice sad things to feed for its own sake an emotion that is operating at a deeper level?
It's time for some emotional management. Continuing on won't do. Shaking it off and driving on isn't working. We've been shaking it off and continuing on through a number of changes only to arrive at this emotional result. It's time to come off the road to take a fresh look at our present circumstances and future.
Everything is on the table. We have contacted other carriers and submitted preliminary applications. We have checked into the tax consequences of selling our truck. We have no immediate plans to change anything but are looking anew at everything. We have stopped hauling freight for a few days to gain the rest and quiet time needed for accurate evaluation and introspection.
We delivered a load in Indianapolis, Indiana, this afternoon. Our reefer needs scheduled maintenance and our reefer dealer of choice is in Memphis, Tennessee, about a day's drive away. We will be in that shop Monday morning and use the time in between to hole up in a hotel suite that we know and like in Nashville to sort things out.
I know I'm a few days behind in my blog. I'll catch up between now and Monday. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, August 19, 2010 I learned today of a great truck parking area along I-65 in Kentucky. Learned by spending last night and today here. I also learned more about trading. Learned by doing it.
We are on our way to a hotel stay in Nashville, Tennessee, for reasons explained yesterday.
We found a nice place to park that is not a truck stop. It is nice retail area that has everything we like in a retail area. Part of what makes it nice are the sidewalks. Most modern retail areas in most cities lack sidewalks. It is assumed that you drive your car to the mall, strip malls, theaters and such. We like walking from place to place instead of driving the truck. Having sidewalks makes it safe and easy to do. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Friday, August 20, 2010 I learned today more about trading. Learned by doing it.
Some markets are open 24 hours a day, others only during the day. When I am free to trade on a weekday, I like to take advantage of the opportunity. Yesterday and today were two such days.
Diane and I are now in a Nashville, Tennessee, hotel for the weekend for reasons explained on Wednesday. We have done some but will get deep into the evaluation tomorrow. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Saturday, August 21, 2010 I learned today about expediting, trucking, life on the road and our place in the game. Learned by taking a look at it all with Diane and talking it over.
The process continues as I break to blog today. We took a good long look at this business and lifestyle before we jumped in seven years ago. It's different looking at it again seven years later. Things matter to us now that we had no idea would matter seven years ago. Things mattered to us then that we now laugh at as naive notions once held.
Seven years ago when we thought about a truck stop or an overnight drive or what the freight might look like, we were thinking about things we had never seen or done before. Today, we are thinking about a life we know and love, and the changes — most of them at our carrier — that make it less fun.
The money is not as great as it once was but is good enough for now and may improve with the economy. The work is the same. The road continues to be a place we love. Driving will always be one of the greatest joys. But things have changed that leave us unsettled. We're sorting them through to decide how best to proceed. It's not likely to be a carrier or career change that lies ahead. It is more likely to be a change in attitude and opinions once held.
The sadness I spoke of on Wednesday is an emotion. Thoughts and perceptions proceed emotions. Our task is to identify the things that are getting us down. We cannot change most of them as the power to do so lies with others. We can change how we value or respond to them, and in so doing, proceed in an optimal state. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Sunday, August 22, 2010 I learned today what our status as expediters will be for the foreseeable future and how we will conduct ourselves. Learned by completing a career and carrier review with Diane.
The short story is we are staying with our truck and carrier for now, while being more prepared than ever to make a change. We cleared out the emotional baggage that has built up over the last couple of years by resigning ourselves to negative changes made by our carrier and lowering our expectations of the people who work there.
It's not entirely their fault that the people in our carrier's office no longer seem to have the time and interest in interacting with us as they once did. The company became as a subsidiary of another company within the large FedEx family a couple of years ago and the leadership changed.
We think many of the people who used to be fun to deal with could be fun again if they were not so stressed out. But a host of layoffs and policy changes have taken the humanity out of the place. They are too worried about their own jobs to think meaningfully about ours. They are too worried about the company numbers to care about how meeting those goals is grinding contractors to bits.
Still, the money is good where we are at, so we will stay, at least for a while. And we will, of course, continue to serve customers in the best possible way.
• We woke up this morning in the Nashville hotel where we have been for a couple days. We went there to do the above-mentioned review. I could go into a lot of detail about what was considered and discovered in our business retreat but the conclusion matters most and it is stated above.
After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we headed toward Memphis where we have an appointment for some scheduled truck reefer maintenance. We arrived before sunset at the Pilot truck stop on Lamar Avenue (U.S. Highway 78) and settled in there to spend the night. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, August 23, 2010 I learned today a maintenance trick for prolonging the life of the motors that propel the fans in our reefer evaporator. Learned by talking to a mechanic at our reefer dealer of choice.
Diane and I woke up this morning at the Pilot truck stop on Lamar Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee. We then drove the short distance to Crow's Truck Services to have scheduled maintenance done on our reefer. Crow's is our reefer dealer of choice and we will drive many miles out of the way, and past a number of other reefer dealers, to have work done by them.
The work was finished shortly after noon and we were dispatched on a load just minutes after going back in service. That load picks up tomorrow afternoon in another state. We left Memphis when the work was completed and are driving now at a leisurely pace toward tomorrow's pick up. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Tuesday, August 24, 2010 I learned today about mass casualty vehicle truck bodies. Learned through continuing research.
I've never thought before about outfitting our truck as a mass casualty vehicle but the idea came as Diane and I continue to consider our career options. Most of our career review was done this weekend at a Nashville hotel (see above), but some of the questions we asked continue to produce an inflow of information.
Mass casualty work is not a real option since we don't live in a combat zone and natural disasters don't happen often enough to keep us in business. A mass casualty truck is worth considering as a mental stretch exercise.
A whole lot of people have criticized our truck for its limited purpose. It's limited only by your mind. Shaking status quo assumptions loose by considering unlikely options opens your mind to viable options that might not otherwise be seen.
At this point, it's all a mental exercise. The decision made is stated in Sunday's blog entry.
And about the truck? Whatever happens in the future, it has already proven itself as the ideal purchase made at the ideal time. It has been paid off for a while. We love its performance and floor plan. We could not be happier with it. We could literally throw the truck away tomorrow and be money ahead. It has several good years left in it. The critics who said loud and proud that we were wrong to build this truck were themselves off the mark.
• Diane and I woke up this morning at a truck stop in Missouri. Leaving Memphis, Tennessee, yesterday afternoon, we stopped at a truck stop last night to sleep. This morning we continued to today's pick up which was completed in routine fashion. We are now carrying one pallet of small boxes on a run that will keep us rolling overnight and deliver tomorrow morning. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, August 25, 2010 I learned today that US-19 north of Tampa could be named Thrift Shop Ally. Learned by driving the road and noticing all the thrift shops.
Good morning from the Tampa, Florida, area. This is Phil Madsen reporting live from our truck cab. It is 6:30 a.m. Diane and I are at loading dock where we are waiting for this company to open at 8:30 and accept the freight we are waiting to deliver. Diane is asleep in bed. I am awake in the cab, attending the freight as required on this run. The freight came from Indiana. We picked it up yesterday afternoon and now, here we are in Florida.
It is about a three hour drive from here to the Florida vacation home we purchased in May. I developed an eye for thrift shops after we bought the house. If we were going to the house, we would probably stop at every thrift shop along the way looking for home furnishings, tools, lawn and garden equipment and other stuff. But we have no plans to go to the house so the thrift shops will have to wait.
Many expediters would head straight home if the freight took them three hours close. We might do the same but this time there is simply no need. We are well rested and fresh from our recent hotel stay. We can get a shower at the truck stop down the road. There is no laundry to do. A friend's recent report assures us that the house is OK. Lawn care is being done by people hired to do it.
Having no good reason to go to our Florida house and wanting to remain in the revenue stream, we'll stay in the Tampa area and in service, and hope for a load offer that will keep the truck wheels turning.
Update: It's now about 5:00 p.m. After going to a nearby truck stop for showers, we parked in a retail area to sleep and wait for freight. We were dispatched a few minutes ago on a load that picks up late tomorrow afternoon. It picks up about 70 miles from our Florida house but in the wrong direction to make it worth the time to go. We'll spend the night in the truck, pick up freight tomorrow and roll overnight tomorrow night.
Our Florida house neighbors are complaining about the heat. It's August in Florida so the heat and humidity are no surprise. We're glad once again to have a comfortable, full-featured sleeper since we'll be spending the next 24 hours in it, waiting for tomorrow's pick up. We could find a mall or library tomorrow in which to pass part of the day but can put the time to more productive use in the sleeper so that's where we'll stay. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, August 26, 2010 I learned today a bit about the training a company gives to the drivers of its highly specialized trucks. Learned by seeing part of the course.
I don't reveal shipper names in this blog and to say more about the specialized training would enable readers to figure it out. You'll have to trust me when I say I learned something new.
We picked up freight in Orlando, Florida, this afternoon and are now driving overnight to deliver it tomorrow. The late afternoon pick up gave us time to relax in the truck and do some business paperwork.
All said and done, it was an ordinary day. We spoke to no one in person except the shipper and the people at the toll booths who took our money. There were the usual calls to dispatch and from friends but nothing out of the ordinary. Today was just a quiet day, and there's nothing wrong with that. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Friday, August 27, 2010 I learned today what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had to say about the economy. Learned by reading the full text of the speech he delivered today to bankers and economists gathered in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
I enjoy this annual event because it put the focus on the big economic picture. Bloggers, journalists, commentators and others react to the keynote and other speeches that are presented. It is an excellent time to read a variety of views from important sources and form one's own view of the economic present and future.
• We delivered freight this afternoon in a Dallas, Texas, suburb. It was picked up yesterday in Orlando, Florida. The delivery was tricky. There was a loading dock but the lot was too small to back our truck straight up to it, or you could say our truck was too long.
We could have delivered the four skids (pallets) to the door by lift-gating them down onto the ground, but there was no way to move them to dock-high level. The only way to get up to the door from street level was by a narrow staircase; far too narrow for a pallet and impossible for a pallet jack.
After considering a number of options, we worked the truck back and forth several times between the loading dock and parked cars to position it at an angle relative to the dock. We then used the liftgate to form a bridge between the truck and the dock. There was just enough lift gate surface touching the dock to use our pallet jack to move the skids into the building. While unloading the truck, I left the reefer running so I could stay cool and not blow my shower on this hot Texas day.
We arrived at this delivery just as we like to arrive at them all if we can. The fuel tanks were full, we were freshly showered, the truck toilet was serviced, we were ready to roll on our next run if one would come.
But the next run did not come. With the freight off the truck around 5:00 p.m. and no new freight to haul, we started thinking about a place to spend the night. We also looked at the web site for the Great American Trucking Show which is going on now at the Dallas Convention Center. This is not a show we would go out of our way to see but since we are just 20 miles away, we might check it out tomorrow, freight permitting. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Saturday, August 28, 2010 I learned today about truck mounted hydrogen generators. Learned by seeing them at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas, Texas.
I also learned some things about our carrier that I did not previously know. Learned by visiting over lunch with Terry O'Connell, a former contractor and now a carrier representative.
• After the truck show and lunch with O'Connell, Diane and I went to a retail area to pass time and wait for freight. It's now 11:00 p.m. and no load offers have been received.
It looks to be a weekend in Dallas for us. At this point it seems that we will not see a good load offer until Monday, though we never really know. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Sunday, August 29, 2010 I learned today a mathematical approach to day trading options. Learned by previewing a book about it at a bookstore.
Diane and I woke up this morning in a retail area in a Dallas, Texas, suburb where we spent the night. We were waiting for freight but received no offers today.
A large shopping mall is nearby and we availed ourselves to its attractions. The day started with me staying in the truck while Diane went in and got a $100 haircut (plus tip). That was not intentional. She often goes to Regis to get her hair done and the price is never that high. Diane did not ask about the price before the stylist began. This turned out to be an upscale mall and Diane got a seasoned, high-priced stylist. It's a nice haircut but no haircut is worth $100.
Oops!
The rest of the day was less damaging. We walked the mall and had lunch together. I went to a shoot-'em-up action movie. Diane went to a bookstore where I later joined her and previewed the above-mentioned book. It was interesting but not interesting enough to buy.
During the day I also got back to the truck a few times to keep up on an online discussion I was having with fellow expediters. While I was in the mall, theater and bookstore, it was on my mind and I could not let it go until I got some things out of my system.
That was our day. It was pleasant enough but we would have preferred to be hauling freight. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, August 30, 2010 I learned today a new way to enter the security code in a freight elevator. Learned by having it explained by a security guard.
Diane and I woke up this morning in a suburban Dallas, Texas, retail area where we spent the night. After receiving and declining a couple of load offers, and discussing two with dispatchers, we proceeded empty-handed to the nearest truck stop to shower. Our truck shower does the job in a pinch but real showers are always better.
Diane went in first but returned to the truck because the wait would be at least a half-hour. Then a load offer came in that we accepted and got. It was an immediate pick up in a sky scraper in downtown Fort Worth.
The shipper and freight were located on the seventh floor which meant the building's freight elevator would be used. The security guard gave me the security code. I entered the elevator but could not find a key pad with which to enter the code. There was no card reader, microphone or any other input device by which a code might be entered.
Confused, I returned to the security desk where it was explained that the code should be entered by pushing the floor selection buttons. If the code is say 656, push the sixth floor button, fifth floor button and sixth floor button. That was a new one on me, but it helped me punch today's ticket as I learn something new every day.
• Working the truck into downtown Fort Worth and parking it was a relatively easy affair for a downtown pickup. The directions were good but the door to the sky scraper loading dock was too short for our truck.
There was a loading zone next to the building, but like most loading zones, it was filled with illegally parked cars. I double parked and blocked those cars in. As I was setting out orange safety cones around the truck I was relieved to see a city police officer drive by and keep going. That told me there would be no problems double parking for the pick up, and there weren't.
The pick up took a while. It was a tall, heavy computer server with tiny wheels. It took some effort to get it across door thresholds, across the brick sidewalk, down the curb cut, across the bump at the end of the curb cut, across the pavement, over the edge of the lift gate, across the truck door threshold and finally onto a nice smooth truck body floor where it could be padded and easily maneuvered into a secure position.
Diane and I carry a tripod dolly that is specifically made to move tall, heavy servers like this but the shipper did not want it used. I did not argue because he did much of the work moving the server.
With the item secured, we started to work our way out of Fort Worth and were delighted to find ourselves on a Texas-long freeway ramp that took us quickly onto the open road.
We will be driving overnight and all day tomorrow. We hope to gain enough time on the road to make the delivery before sunset.
Like the pick up, this delivery is downtown in a major city. We have been to the location before. We would like to finish our work and get out of there before the night people come out. At this location, if a cop came by, I would not mind if he or she hung around for a while. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 I learned today more about a customer we sometimes serve. Learned when our delivery contact gave us a tour of a very interesting facility.
I also learned that you can go through a Level One truck inspection, be found in violation and still have a CVSA sticker placed on your truck. Learned from a friend who had that happen to him today and shared a similar report he heard from another driver.
There are different kind of violations, some having to do with the truck itself and others having to do with other things (log books, shipping papers, etc.) The sticker that is placed on the windshield and signals other officers that the truck has recently passed an inspection is for the truck itself.
Fortunately, this is not a lesson Diane had to learn the hard way. Our driving records are not perfect, but for the last three years, Diane's is and mine is nearly so. There are a whole lot of drivers who wish they had our scores and a whole lot of carriers that wish their drivers did too.
• We drove overnight last night from Dallas, Texas, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The concern I expressed yesterday about delivering in an unappealing part of downtown after dark became no problem at all when we delivered well before sunset.
The timing reminds us that the days are growing shorter and winter is coming. We have seen autumn colors just beginning to appear in the higher elevations in Pennsylvania. Crops are mature in most states and being harvested in some. The shades of green have changed from the lighter spring shades to darker summer greens and tired autumn greens. The sun sits lower in the sky at noon.
August heat keeps our generator and air conditioning running when we are in the truck, but that will soon change. We will soon have two or three months of magnificent sleeping weather, depending on where we happen to be in the country. Winter driving worries are a few months off, unless we find ourselves driving high in the Rocky Mountains where winter comes early.
• On our way to Philadelphia, we got pre-dispatched on our next run. Tomorrow's pickup is at 1:00 p.m. After today's delivery we headed immediately out of town toward tomorrow's pick up. We will get a good night's sleep tonight and drive the rest of the way to the pick up tomorrow.
• Today is August 31. I'll get this month's trip map done tonight or tomorrow. Watch this space. See this page for additional monthly trip maps. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Blog entries are made so as not to reveal customer specifics or the current location of the truck when we are under load. Entries are updated to include location information after we leave the area. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page