Bob Sleasman's Blog, January, 2008

Bob's Blog

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Tuesday, January 1, 2008. Happy New Year! Nothing much is going on today. Donna and Christy fixed a great ham dinner, and the rest of us just hung out and relaxed. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author

Wednesday, January 2, 2008. The weather is supposed to change, with wind and rain by tomorrow. I made sure our three ATV's were covered, and then trapped the whole ATV trailer using lots of tarp straps. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author

January 3-6, 2008. As promised the weather changed, first with heavy winds, which knocked out electric power to the whole town. We were lucky to have the generators we use when we go camping and four wheeling. We used one for the trailer; Sam used one for the house and another for the well pump.

The rain came next, it rained from the evening of the 3rd, to the evening of the 6th, and just as the rain stopped we get electric power back. It wasn't a fun time for us. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author

Monday, January 7, 2008. The day broke with sun and warm weather. Amanda and I decided to visit the Victory Motorcycle dealer in nearby Dixon. From there we planned on going to a couple of western wear stores. We just made it to Dixon when Donna called, she said we needed to come back; we just received a load offer picking up in Spokane, WA, ASAP. The load delivers in Philadelphia, PA on the 11th.

By the time Amanda and I got back, Donna had the truck ready to go. We said our goodbyes, and were on our way.

We really enjoyed our time with Sam, Christy, and the rug rats. We would have liked to stay longer, but if our wheels don't turn we don't make money. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author

January 8-14, 2008. We ran into some snow on our way to Spokane, it slowed us down but didn't stop us. We made our pickup on time, and we are on our way.

This load is a T Val load, which commands a very exacting temperature control, it also commands a premium pay for us. This is our first T Val load since we were certified last July.

We ran into more snow in eastern Montana, once we cleared the snow it was just on and off snow showers for about another hundred miles.

Interstate 90 is one lonely road, especially at night. The road was clear, just some road spray, from the few other trucks we passed, or was passed by. I 94 into Fargo, ND was about the same. The closer to Minnesota we got, the more traffic there was.

We had plenty of time to make our delivery. We stopped in Harrisburg, PA, at the Speedco for a PM service for our truck and APU. We pulled into the bay and shut the truck down; the service person took our information, and then asked us to shut down our reefer. When I told her I couldn't she went to her manager. The manager came out and I explained that we had temperature sensitive freight; he didn't have a problem with it.

Well about five minutes later a service tech came in and said the reefer bothered his ears, at that point the manager said they wouldn't service the truck with the reefer running. We had no choice but to leave. What the heck, we figured we could have the PM done after we delivered, wrong.

We went to Bordentown, NJ, for the night, it was close to the delivery. While there we received a load offer, the freight picked up twenty miles from our delivery on the 11th, at 1600 hrs, and delivers outside of Seattle, WA, on the 14th. To make the load even better, it is another T Val load.

We got up early and went over to our delivery. We got unloaded as soon as we arrived. From there we went to a Wal Mart parking lot near our pickup.

We went in to our pickup a little before the scheduled time, and were loaded at exactly 1600. We will back track to WA, using the same routing that brought us to PA.

The trip back to Washington was a much better trip; we had good weather the whole way. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author

Tuesday, January 15, 2008. We got up in the morning and went to Christy’s. After hellos we took showers, maybe we should have taken showers before the hellos. We had just finished showering, when we received a load offer. The load picked up in San Diego, CA delivering to Bloomington, IN. The load was another T Val load, and picks up tomorrow morning. San Diego is about 500 miles south of Christy’s, so we said a quick goodbye and headed south. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author

January 16-18, 2008. We made our pickup without incident. We took I-8, to I-10, to I-17, to I-40, to I-44, to I-70, to the locals for the delivery. It was a pretty good ride. The weather was clear, cold in some areas, but that’s to be expected this time of year.

We made our delivery on the morning of the 18th and decided to deadhead home. We have been out just about two months, and we needed to catch up on things at home. We had made enough money to be able to take the time off.

We arrived home around midnight. We were greeted with a huge pile of mail. We took showers, and then decided to wait until morning to sift through the mail. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author

January 19-28, 2008. The first thing we did this morning was go through the mail, which was quite the job. I wonder if everyone gets all this junk mail. Just think of all the energy, and trees, we could save without all this useless junk. I'm not a tree huger, or anything like it, but it just seems like a pure waste of resources to me.

After going through the mail Donna and I split up. My daughter Tricia had made an appointment for her and my mother to have their hair done. Donna called the salon; all three of them use the same one, and was able to get in at the same time, which was a good thing. I decided I needed to go to my favorite gun shop, the only one I will do business with. But first I needed to confer with a higher authority, we all know who that is, just in case I found a gun I might be interested in buying. I have wanted a Springfield XD pistol in .45 caliber. I got a green light from the powers to be, which I really didn't need, right who am I kidding, and off I went.

I found the Springfield XD I wanted, but there’s more. I also found a Remington 700 VTR, in .308 caliber, which is a new model out for 2008. It’s a varmint/tactical rifle, I asked Patsy about it. She told me it was a great rifle, and a dead on long range shooter. Do you see a problem here people? Here I am a dedicated long range target shooter, with a new model long range rifle, and a pistol I have wanted to get. Knowing you know who, would not go for a two gun buy, I being the fool that I am, got on the cell phone and made my pitch. Well to make a long story short, I settled for the Remington 700.

I talked to my oldest daughter, Sherry on the phone. We were going to try to get together for a day, but it never happened. She is very independent, and always busy. We don't see each other often, but she is always in my thoughts.

The rest of our time home was spent mostly getting house stuff taken care of. I managed to take some pictures of new inventory for eBay I had ordered while on the road. Our

Our GPS had started to lose the satellites on and off. We purchased a protection warranty when we bought it from Best Buy; we took it back and were able to get a new Garmin NUVI as a replacement for the Garmin c330, at no additional cost to us.

We took care of our IRB registration forms. We also went down to the local custom mattress manufactures in town and had a mattress made for the truck. It was ready in about five days which was great.

Donna liked Dyche’s new computer and my laptop is ready for an upgrade. We decided that Donna would get a new computer, and I would get her old one which is less than a year old. Sherry needs a computer, so I will give her mine, which is a win situation all the way around. I personally think Donna got the best of the deal, but don't tell her I said so.

I forgot to mention that I bought the Diablo II game for the computer. It’s a pretty cool game, I haven't played it much yet but I plan to play it more. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author

Tuesday, January 29, 2008. We are now back in service. We received a load offer. We pick up outside of Boston, MA tonight and deliver in Chicago at 1200 EST on the 30th.

We made the pickup with no problem, it was downhill from there.

Donna drove to the pickup; I started driving in Auburn, MA. The weather wasn't bad, a little misty, temperature in the mid 30’s. It started getting warmer the further west we went. By the time I got to Utica, NY on the NYS Thruway the temperature rose to the mid 40’s, it was still a little misty, having to use the wipers to clear the mist.

I had just past exit 37 on the Thruway, one of the exits for Syracuse, when an 18 wheeler pulling a large dumpster pulled around me to pass. He drifted into my lane while passing and raked my whole cargo box and clipped my mirror with one of his tarp rollers. The driver just kept going, I'm sure he knew he had hit me.

I didn't see any reason to try to chase after him, the roads were wet, and I didn't want to make a bad thing worse. I kept track of his trailer lights and saw him pull into a service area. I entered the service area and was able to park behind him. I got out of the truck, took my flashlight to see what damage had been done, then approached the other truck. The driver got out and I told him he had hit me, his response was that if I called the police he would tell them I was weaving all over the road. At this point I turned around, went back to my truck and called the State Police. While waiting for them I called FedEx CC, and got out the accident package and took pictures of the damage to my truck.

It took over an hour for the State Police to come. I got out of the truck, we shook hands and I explained what had happened. While I was talking to the officer Donna got out and took pictures of the other truck, where the tarp roller was bent from hitting our truck.

After talking to me the officer talked to the other driver. The officer came back and said it was a case of I said he said. The office took all the information he needed, gave us the other driver’s information, and said it was up to the insurance companies to sort it out. He said he was sorry he couldn't be of more help, but there was nothing more he could do. Donna and I both agreed with the officer, he was very polite and professional at all times, and answered every question we asked.

I guess I could ask: what would you do if this situation happened to you? I believe Donna and I made the right choice. It would have been of no use for us to stand and argue with the other driver, it would have gotten us nowhere. I would not have increased my speed to an unsafe limit to try to catch the other truck, especially with the weather conditions. I would have pulled into that service area anyway and called the police and FedEx. In my mind, I am sure I made the right choices this night. I would appreciate any feedback readers might have on this subject.

After leaving the service area, I drove to the flying J at Pembroke, NY, where I fueled and added a gallon of Power Service. The temperature was supposed to take a drop, and I wanted to make sure my fuel didn't gel; I also use it to clean my injectors. With the ULSF fuel gels at a high temperature, I didn't want to take a chance so I added it just in case.

We made it through Buffalo without any trouble, but as soon as we hit the PA line it started to rain. The temperature dropped like a rock, and the rain turned to freezing rain and snow. We made it to exit 18 in PA, where we found a Marathon truck stop, we pulled in, called FedEx and told them we were shutting down for the night due to weather. We stayed up for a little while hoping for a break in the weather, but it only got worse. We settled in for the night. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author

Wednesday, January 30, 2008. With the morning the weather cleared. We called dispatch and told them we were good to go; we got our delivery time bumped to 1845. The weather remained cold, but clear. We made our delivery without further incident.

As soon as we delivered we received a load offer, it was a less than 75 load. It picked up in Chicago and delivered to O'Hare, it was a short trip, paying good money.

We picked up the freight and delivered it to O'Hare. We were given Oak Grove Village for a layover. We went to the TA truck stop in Oak Grove, had a bite to eat, and called it a night. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author

Thursday, January 31, 2008. The temperature warmed up a bit today; it went from 11 degrees to 34. The down side is it started to snow. We were offered several loads, none of which paid enough for us to take. One load was going 1200 miles paying $900; we usually won't even start our truck for under $1.50 a mile, there are exceptions, but 1200 miles for $900, we would be losing money. We are not in this business to lose money. We kept getting low paying offers from express so we went out of service until midnight. Going out of service stops the low paying offers from express, but if White Glove has a load for us they will call. Top of page Bottom of page Blog author