Bob's Blog
See also: Bob Sleasman's Home Page, Biography and Photo Gallery
Jul 2007 Aug 2007 Sep 2007 Oct 2007 Nov 2007 Dec 2007 Jan 2008 Feb 2008 Mar 2008 Apr 2008 May 2008 Jun 2008 Jul 2008 Aug 2008 Sep 2008 Oct 2008 Nov 2008 Dec 2008 Jan-Apr 2009 May 2009 Jun 2009
Saturday, December 1, 2007. We have a load picking up very close to the Mexican border in California. There is almost 600 miles of deadhead, but it’s worth it. It picks up on Monday, and delivers on Wednesday, near Boston MA. It’s not a great load, but it will get us out of southern Texas, and to a better loading area.
Can you believe it’s December already? Where did the year go? Christmas will be here before you know it. We intend to spend the holidays with Donnas’ sister Christy and her family. At least that’s the plan, but one never knows in our business. The right load can change plans real quick. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Sunday, December 2, 2007. We stopped on our way to California and got the truck washed at the Blue Beacon, we try to have it washed at least once a week. We had dinner at the flying J in Eloy NM, and then continued on our way. We found a rest area near our pickup and stayed there for the night. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Monday, December 3, 2007. We got to our delivery, only to find out that the freight has not arrived from Mexico yet. We were told it should be here in a few hours. We called dispatch and told them about the hold up; they told us to keep them posted. A few hours later we asked the shipper about the freight, we were told they didn't know when it would arrive. We were also told the load might be as heavy as 6000 pounds, which is too heavy for our C unit. We called dispatch again, and were told to hang out for a while, and they would try to contact the customer.
Dispatch called us; they had no luck trying to call the customer. We went back to talk to the shipper, he told us the freight would not be ready until tomorrow, maybe. Well that was enough for us. We called dispatch and explained what was going on; they canceled the load and gave us pay for a dry run, plus our deadhead pay, and fuel surcharge. We actually made out pretty well money wise for our efforts
We received a load offer pretty fast after getting the dry run. We are picking up in San Diego, CA, tomorrow afternoon, delivering up near Barstow, CA, as soon as we can get there. The load has short miles, and good pay. It puts us in a good loading area, which is always a good thing. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Tuesday, December 4, 2007. We made our pickup and delivery without incident, dispatch gave us Los Angeles for our layover. After talking over Donna and I decided to stay in Barstow, it’s a better loading area for us. There is a Flying J there, if we went to Los Angeles finding a place to park would have been a problem. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Wednesday, December 5, 2007. Early this afternoon we received a load offer, we pick up at a Pepsi Cola plant in Riverside, CA, and delivers to a Pepsi Cola plant, in San Antonio, TX. It’s a straight through reefer load, with an ASAP pickup and delivery. The load pays over two dollars a mile, for all miles. You can't say no to a load like this, so it’s off to Texas for us. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Thursday, December 6, 2007. Donna and I made our delivery at 1630 hrs. Dispatch gave us San Antonio for a layover. We received a load offer after sitting for a couple of hours, it was a reefer load. We passed on it; the pay wasn't enough for the miles. We asked for more money, dispatch said they would try to find another truck, which was fine with us.
I noticed on our run that the price of diesel fuel has gone down by about five cents a gallon. Now if it would go down another two dollars that would really help our bottom line. But I don't see that happening, we are lucky to see the five cent drop. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Friday, December 7, 2007. I wonder if any of the younger generation knows what happened on this day in 1941, I would almost bet maybe about one third might.
We received a load offer today. We pick up tomorrow afternoon north of Houston, and deliver in Pittsburgh on Monday morning. Not a bad load for the weekend, beats sitting at the Flying j. The load gives us a nice week, money wise. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Saturday, December 8, 2007. We made our pickup, which is a HazMat load, and we are on our way. I'm not looking forward to heading north, and the cold weather. I was born and raised in the Northeast, you would think that I am used to the cold weather, but I truly hate it. Especially while I was a firefighter, cold water, and freezing weather, makes for a very unpleasant experience.
We stopped at a Petro Truck Stop, just outside or Birmingham AL, at about 0200 hrs. We stayed there until about 0500 hrs, and then continued on our way. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Sunday, December 9, 2007. Yesterday was a pleasant enough day for driving, not so today. First it rained, which was no big thing for us, but then the rain stopped, and it was like a misty drizzle thing going on. The kind of weather where you need your wipers on, but they don't really do that much to help your visibility. After a while the wiper blades start making that irritating noise, which just drives you crazy.
We are about twenty miles from our delivery. We are at a Flying J, on I- 70 in PA. We will stay here for the night and get up early in the morning to make our delivery. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Monday, December 10, 2007. Right after we made our delivery we received a load offer picking up ASAP in Friendly, WV, going to Temecula, CA. We were loaded as soon as we arrived at the pickup.
It will be nice to head west to warmer weather. We are hoping to run the west coast once we get there, and spend Christmas with Donnas’ sister and her family.
I have to say Happy Birthday, to my Daughter Sherry, I love you. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
December 11-12, 2007. We made good time on our trip west; it was a nice uneventful run, with good weather. We are spending the night at the Flying J, in Barstow CA, and deliver in the morning. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Thursday, December 13, 2007. Once more we received a load offer as soon as we delivered. The load is picking up in San Diego, delivering to Menlo Park, CA. It’s a reefer load, paying well; it also keeps us on the west coast. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Friday, December 14, 2007. We were pre dispatched to pickup in Redwood City, as soon as we deliver; the load is going to Fresno. We made our delivery and rushed over to the pickup, only to have the load cancel when we arrived.
We went out of service after the load canceled, but about a minute after, we received a load offer picking up on Monday. The load picks up at Ft. Hunter Liggett, CA, going to Ashley, PA. We took the load, of course, and went to Donnas’ sisters for the weekend, her house is about 120 miles away, she lives about 50 miles north of Sacramento.
Donna and I figured that we wouldn't get back to California for Christmas, so we did some power shopping for Christmas presents for Christy, her husband Sam, and the four rug rats. After shopping we went to Christy’s to spend a pleasant weekend. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Saturday, December 15, 2007. Donna and Christy spent the day helping Samantha, the second oldest rug rat; get ready for a big winter dance at the high school. Samantha is a sophomore, and very excited about the whole deal, especially because a certain young man will be there. Enough said. Amanda the oldest rug rat is also going. She is a senior, she and a friend are at the friend’s house preparing for the big event, and yes, they have boys on their minds.
After the young ladies were deposited at the high school, we went out to dinner at a very good local Mexican Restaurant, with Sam, Christy, and numbers three and four rug rats, who are also females. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Sunday, December 16, 2007. With the big dance out of the way, things returned to a semi-normal condition, which is the norm for Sam and Christy.
Sam managed to remove the dinette style lower bunk we have in our sleeper, and made a very nice conventional style bunk for us. We have been wanting to do it for a while now, and Sam is very good at doing things like that. He really did an excellent job. He took the dinette out on Saturday, and fabricated and installed the new bunk on Sunday.
Christy made a very nice dinner for us, after which we exchanged gifts. We said our fond farewells at about 2300 hrs, and made the 225 mile trip to our pickup. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
We stopped at a little truck stop in Salinas for the night, which is about 50 miles from our pickup. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
December 17-19, 2007. We made our pickup and its back east for us. We can deliver as soon as we arrive, which is a good thing.
I called my mother; yes I do have a mother, and told her we will be home for the holidays. We plan to go out of service as soon as we deliver, and deadhead the 125 miles home.
The trip back east was pretty good, after we drove across the two California state routes, which were 99 and 58. We hooked up with I 15 north to I 40 east. It was a straight shot over I 40 to I 81 north, to our delivery. We ran into some snow showers on I 81, but that’s about all the bad weather, if you can call it that, we had.
One never knows what will happen in this business. We were about 200 miles from our delivery, when we received a pre dispatch. This load picks up in Newtown, PA, tomorrow afternoon, and delivers on Sunday, in southern California. It looks like we will be spending Christmas with Sam and Christy after all. We will go out of service as soon as we deliver.
I had to call my mother with the news; she was a little disappointed that we would not be coming home, but understood.
We made our delivery and are laying over at the Petro, in Bordentown, NJ, which isn't far from our pickup. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Thursday, December 20, 2007. We arrived at our pickup at about 1200 hrs; the pickup was scheduled for 1400 hrs. Donna and I like to get to our pickup early, if lucky we sometimes can get loaded early, but luck was not with us. The shipper told us the freight wouldn't be ready until 1600 hrs, which was no big deal; it happens quite a bit in our business. We did get loaded at 1600 hrs, and we are on way. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Friday, December 21, 2007. We are making very good time on this run, so we decided to make a stop in Oklahoma to say hi to Donnas’ sister Pam. We met her at the Flying J, in Checotah, OK, near where she works. We visited for a little while, and continued our trip to California. We should be there on Saturday, at 1830 hrs, Eastern Time.
We made it across Texas, but ran into some pretty heavy wind around Amarillo. By the time we reached the New Mexico line it started to snow, not a lot, mostly blowing snow showers. The further west we went the harder it began to snow, and the temperature began to drop also. We managed to make it about 65 miles into New Mexico, by that time the road became packed snow, and unsafe to drive on. We found an exit with a good size turnout and joined the other trucks that were parked there. We decided that this was the safest place to wait out the weather. We knew we made the right decision to stop when a Canadian truck from Quebec pulled in alongside of us.
I tried starting the APU but it wouldn't kick over, after several attempts with no luck we had no choice but to idle the engine for the night. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Saturday, December 22, 2007. The weather cleared up by daybreak, but the roads were still snow packed. We decided to test the roadway out; going very slow we managed to make it to Moriarty, where the roadway finally cleared enough to resume highway speed. From that point on the road gradually cleared completely of snow.
In ten years of expediting, this is only the third time we had to stop due to weather. The first time was in April, 2002, just outside of Little Rock AR, we ran into an ice storm, and ended up parked at a Petro 2, for forty hours. The second time was in February, 2007, when they shut down I 80 in PA, just before the Northeast Extension Highway. We were shut down for about eight hours. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Sunday, December 23, 2007. We made it to our delivery at 0600 hrs; they unloaded us as soon as we arrived. They were very glad to see us. It turned out we were delivering batteries that powered a weather satellite that was going to be launched in the near future.
As soon as we delivered we went out of service. Besides wanting to spend the holidays with Sam and Christy, we wanted to put the truck into the shop for the cruise control problem and also for the newly developed generator trouble.
We arrived at Christy’s this afternoon; we parked the truck, took showers, had a bite to eat and called it a day. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Monday, December 24, 2007. Power shopping, that’s what we did, I took Amanda and the family car, Christy took Donna down to rent a car, and the shopping began. We both managed to pick up gifts for each other, Donna also picked up gifts for the rug rats and Sam and Christy. This was due to Donna and Christy deciding we would exchange gifts, again, which was just fine with me.
We spent a nice Christmas Eve together. We had a fire in the stove, some finger foods, and holiday music, best of all, we were with family. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Tuesday, December 25, 2007. Merry Christmas Everyone!
We were awakened at 0500 hrs by the rug rats. We made our way to the house; we stay in the travel trailer we have parked behind the house on the two acres Sam and Christy live on.
The presents were soon given out, and wrapping paper was flying in all directions. Donna gave me a nice Craftsman two piece tool chest; I've wanted one to put in the cargo box of the truck, so I can keep the many tools we have managed to accumulate in one place. I have a nice Craftsman tool assortment I will keep in the truck tool box. I gave Donna a set of gold and diamond earrings and a gold pendant and chain.
After the gift giving Donna and I returned to the travel trailer, to freshen up. I did manage to get another couple hours of sleep in also.
We had a turkey dinner around 1400 hrs, and just kind of hung around and enjoyed the rest of the day and evening. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Wednesday, December 26, 2007. Donna and I brought the truck to the Carrier dealer in West Sacramento to have them take a look at it. We dropped it off at about 1000 hrs. About an hour we got a call telling us the problem was found and fixed; it was only a loose generator belt. I had checked the belt and thought it was tight enough, so much for what I know about tight belts. We had time to take the truck over to the Western Star dealer. We told the person in the service department what problems we were having with the cruise control; they said they would get on it right away.
At 1300 hrs I had an appointment with Scotty, the guy who has been doing my tattoos for the past five years. I've 
been collecting tattoos for about twenty-five years. I am having a skull inside an ace of spades done today. I'm slowly working on having two full sleeves done.
I met Scotty at the Sub’ Q Body Piercing and Tattoo Shop. The body piercing thing isn't for me; then again many who read this will probably say the same about tattoos. I guess it’s all a matter of choice. Scotty and I started talking about having a Vargas Pin-up Girl done. I told him I would see what I could find on the Internet and give him a call. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
Thursday, December 27, 2007. Western called this morning and said our truck was ready. They couldn't make the truck duplicate the problems we were having with the cruise control, so they couldn't fix it. They didn't have a Dyno to put the truck on, so they were limited to what they could do. They did set the speed of the truck to 70 mph when it’s set on cruise control. If the truck goes over 70, then it’s the ECM, they also replaced the cruise control switch. We will have to see what happens with the new settings and switch.
I called Scotty, I had found the Pin-up I wanted done. I e mailed the picture to him and made an appointment for next Wednesday, which is January 2. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
December 28-30, 2007. Nothing much going on, we are just hanging around taking the rug rats shopping and stuff. Amanda the oldest, usually goes with me, we visit cycle shops and western wear stores. Donna takes the other three with her. We are enjoying the time off from the road. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author
December 31, 2007. We are spending New Years Eve with Sam, Christy, and the rug rats at the house. We are just having finger foods, and playing some cd’s. About 2030 hrs we turned the lights down, turned the music up, and the rug rats started dancing to the music. Sam found a couple of black lights, from where I don't know. The kids liked the glow it gave the white T-shirt Sam had on, and before you knew it they were all wearing white. It turned out to be a pretty good night. We ushered in the New Year, and soon after called it a night. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author