Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

This is going to be a much shorter post than normal. I just finished a long day of 624 miles of driving from North Canton OH down to Augusta GA. I pulled into the GA welcome center off I-20 at around 9pm. There are spaces for probably 100 trucks here, but only 2 are parked there. That is amazing and too bad that’s not the case in places like CT, NY, PA, NC, TX and so many other places where the welcome center and rest area area parking is pathetic for big rigs. Hopefully I’ll be home in a couple days for some very needed R&R and I’ll be able to park the truck next to my house.

Now this is going to be a self-serving statement, and I’ve said it before so please indulge me, but, I’m making myself available to head over to China and report and/or write a book about trucking & logistics there. The subject fascinates me. China is now the world’s second largest economy and most Americans don’t have a clue about how the highway system, warehouses, rail roads, intermodal capability, and trucking industry operates there. And yes, I do think we all care. If “we” don’t now, when China becomes the first largest economy and India the second and the US drops to third, they’ll have to care. We’ll be wondering: “Gee, what happened?” I’m thinking of contacting the Chinese directly about sponsoring me to take a look at what they’re doing to write that book. I keep you in the loop about how it goes.

Take a close look at the photos. Look at their trucks. Don’t see many KW’s, Internationals or Pete’s over there, do you? Your looking at what the Chinese call their National Highway 110/207 – also known as the Beijing-Tibet Highway. Roadwork began 10 days ago and is not expected to be completed until around Sept. 17th. Right now traffic is moving at 1/3rd of a mile a day. Yes, you did read that correctly. The work is being done just outside Beijing – you remember the Olympics being there – to the border of Inner Mongolia. The news of this mess is far more interesting that anything else in the trucking industry here, which appears to still be on summer vacation. Oh, did I say that the backup goes on for 60 miles!

The Wall St. Journal reports that: “China’s roads suffer from extra wear and tear from illegally overloaded trucks, especially along key coal routes. Coal supplies move from Mongolia through the outskirts of the capital on their way to factories. There are few rail lines to handle the extra load. Though the current massive gridlock is unusual, thousands of trucks line up along the main thoroughfares into Beijing even on the best days.”

Though triggered by construction, the root cause for the congestion is chronic overcrowding on key national arteries. Automobile sales in China whizzed past the United States for the first time last year, as Chinese bought 13.6 million vehicles, compared with 9.4 million vehicles in 2008. China is racing to build new roads to ease the congestion, but that very construction is making traffic problems worse-at least temporarily.

Truck driver Long Jie said his usual trip from the coal boomtown of Baotou in Inner Mongolia to Beijing, which normally takes three days, was now taking him a week or more. The delay, he said, meant he would have to raise his rates above the usual 12,000 yuan, about $1,765, for a 30-ton truck full of cargo.”

The photos are from Yahoo News, Wall St. Journal and the Christian Science Monitor. I’m headed to bed because I can’t see straight anymore. Be safe out there. Oh, one last thing, I listened to Glen Beck today talk mostly about the mosque/entertainment center near the WTC 9/11 disaster, and, I was amazed, he made a lot of sense. I hope he’s telling the truth about the “right to” vs. the “wisdom of.” More tomorrow.

For those that are interested in the fuel economy on a 2010 KW T660, I took this photo of how fast I generally run, at what RPM and what the truck computer is calculating the MPG’s at – with about a 45K load on the trailer. As you can see, it’s showing 8.3 MPG. That’s an average, of course. If it’s important, I drive exclusively with the cruise on. My last truck, a Freightliner with a small Detroit, I remember was getting, at best, about 6.4 MPG’s. I don’t know how that compares with what you’re driving and/or how you’re driving. A reminder that I have a Cummins 1997 ISX engine with a  Eaton ten speed. I have no clue what the “rears” are or the other “specs” truckers like to argue about, because quite frankly, none of that data would help me do my job any better. I received the truck with about 625 miles on it – it’s been less than a month and the odometer is now at about 12,000 miles. The odometer reading in the photo was from a few days ago.

This is another one of those posts that I’m going to jump all over the place, so as I usually say, please bear with me. The one item that keeps popping up in trucking concerns tolls and States allowing heavier weight trucks on their roads. I’ll discuss that in a second. But first, let me ask you this question – why isn’t there a decent truck stop in the Cleveland OH area? After I delivered in Bedford Heights, I received a preplan for a 5:30pm pick-up in Tallmadge, about 26 miles South. I didn’t want to get back on I-80. And the shipper has arrogant idiots working there and don’t allow ANY truck parking.

The QUALCOM said the stupid shipper “recommends” to go to the Knack Morgan Truck Plaza off I-76, exit 26 Eastbound, exit 25B, Westbound. The truck stop directory shows a Marathon in Akron, again off I-76, exit 26 WESTBOUND, 25B, EASTBOUND. The opposite of what was on the computer. Well, I didn’t see anything at either of those exits. If there was in fact a Morgan anything, it would sure be helpful if they managed to put up a damn sign or two. For all I know the QUALCOM message and the lousy directions were written years ago and NEVER updated.

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“On Sept. 11, the store, with 80 employees, was one of 250 Burlington outlets nationwide owned by the Milstein family. That morning, recalled Stephen Milstein, the company’s former general manager and vice president, the staff was in the basement when a piece of a plane plunged through the roof, either from American Airlines Flight 11 crashing into the north tower at 8:46am, or United Flight 175 crashing into the south tower at 9:03pm.” (The New York Times/Photo by Michael Appleton)

Tonight, I’m parked about 40 miles (59 degrees!) from my final in Bedford Heights OH. I have a home time request in for this coming Friday. I wish it were tomorrow. The traffic today was absolutely miserable from Iowa through Indiana on into Ohio. Every loon with a car, RV or U-Haul was out driving today. In many parts of the country, school starts tomorrow. And, as far as I’m concerned, it is overdue. School should be year round, like a job. America long ago stopped being an “agri” based economy, however, school schedules and our time – daylight savings, etc., are determined as if we all made our living growing fruits and vegetables. This being Sunday night, there is nothing to report on as far as trucking news. The cover of Transport Topics is as boring as ever. OOIDA’s server is as slow as molasses, and they have nothing pertinent to report, certainly nothing, as usual, that will put more money in your wallet.

I need to mention as a follow-up to yesterday’s post on the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, that there are 50,000 service personnel who, just like in Vietnam, will remain there and act in an “advisory” capacity. Remember we built an embassy there (in Bagdad) fifty times larger than Versailles. Someone has to stay over there to protect it. One service member – post withdrawal – was sadly killed today. I believe that makes the KIA (killed in action) count for our troops – 4401. And for what? So Muslims can build a mosque or entertainment center adjacent to the tragedy that started this whole Iraq/Afghanistan mess? Is our democracy safer now than before 9/11? Is the world more at peace since the overthrow of Saddam? Did invading Iraq provide us with a lifetime abundant supply of oil? Is Bin Laden behind bars down in GITMO? The Iraqi’s still have no coherent government, various factions sit in tents and want to blow each other up and nobody there is rushing to erect monuments to George W. Bush.

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There are a few times when I can’t get an internet connection and last night was one of them. I had to work on Windows Live Writer off-line, which is what I use to post to WordPress. Between Denver and Albuquerque, Verizon’s cell and data service is terrible. I don’t care how many red dots they show on a map, there wasn’t any service, but there should be. I can wait until cell towers becomes obsolete and service is offered via Earth orbiting satellites, like XM/Sirius radio.

I was initially dispatched to Tucson AZ, but then was turned around to pick-up slinkies (coiled wire) today in Pueblo CO. The load is going to OH. I spent the night at a independent truck stop in the middle of nowhere – Springer NM – right off I-25. Nice place. Friendly staff. Big sign, however, at the Subway inside, saying their oven isn’t working. Sorry, I need my flatbread and sprinkle cheese toasted. So I walked into Russell’s Restaurant. And after forty days of watching every damn thing I put in my mouth, starving myself if there was nothing healthy available, I fell off the diet wagon. Not actually a fall, more like a high altitude swan dive into a deep Brazilian rain forest canyon.

I did try my best. I looked over the menu carefully. The Native American waitress sat down next to me to assist. Sorry gals, I’m a guy and when a waitress, especially a good looking one does that – sits down next to me – I have some trouble thinking. I made the mistake of asking her “What’s good?” She smelled like a desert flower after a September rain shower. OMG – did I just write that? “Green chili chicken or steak enchiladas.” I asked her name. “Nicole.” Well, Nicole (love that name) would you consider that healthy? What a moron I am. What kind of stupid question is that to ask. “Sure it is, it comes with lettuce and beans – that’s healthy, right?” I had been in the truck, on the job, in the heat, since 6 freak’n AM, off my “regular” time zone. I just kept looking in her eyes. And she stared back. I lost track of what happened next and what I ordered.

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OK, so here I am back on Mountain Time. Laptop time is 10:06pm. Log time is 9:06pm. Wife time is the same as laptop time. Today I drove the 641 miles from Carrollton TX to Albuquerque NM. Great trip. Wish I had a dedicated run between these two places. I would actually be OK with moving to Albuquerque, which I think is a pretty cool place. I’m parked right outside the consignee in an “upscale” industrial park. I have my window open and I’m not sweating. A nice change of pace from yesterday when I was tarping the load I’m under and it was 107 degrees. I finished at 9pm last night, drank an entire bottle of Gatorade and feel asleep. When I don’t post, there is always a damn good reason, like heat exhaustion.

I said before, there should be a law making tarping in 100 degree heat illegal. My delivery is for 0600 tomorrow. I met a Mercer driver the other day at the Red River Army Depot. We were talking about a bunch of stuff. I told him about how stupid late night early morning pick-ups and deliveries are. He agree. He told me to QUALCOM in my eta and tell them I’m not a dairy farmer and to make the appointment for 0800. Well, my company takes their JIT loads seriously and wants them delivered as promised. I sent in the message with the dairy farmer quote. I got a message back a little while later confirming the 0800 appointment. Thank you to that Mercer driver. To be honest with you, this driver could have talked me into buying my own truck and driving for Mercer. Thank goodness, when I left the Army Depot, I came to my senses.

Back to Carrollton TX. I really don’t like Dallas. Forget about every else there, the traffic for a truck driver is enough to make you mad as hell. The surrounding areas are no better. I’ve always felt the HUV lanes should be for trucks who are just “pass’n” through. I know I’m an old fart when I say this but, I first went to Dallas in the late ’70′s, when men were men and women were women. Dallas was magical back then. It is not now or will ever be again. On the outskirts, places like Carrollton are not better. So, why does the railroad decide to run a train though 5pm rush hour traffic under I35 NE for almost 45 minutes -backing up traffic for miles either EVERY direction?

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Good Sunday all. Are you home and off the road today? Did you attend a Church or Temple ( or Mosque) of your choice? You’ll feel better, trust me. What’s that? You’re hung over, stuck in a futon with someone named Wanda? And you have a tattoo? Well, to each his own. As far as I’m concerned, despite being in sweltering Texarkana TX, in the back of a Texaco station, I have the day off. It’s 34 hour shut-down time. I haven’t had to do that in a long while. It means flatbed freight is truly way up and I might be able to buy that Motorola Droid X soon. And a new GPS. And that new $189 Kindle. And send my mom some money. Holy smokes, I think I’ll go back to bed. But I’m starving and the Subway here is calling out to me. “Oh, Marshall, sweetie, this is your egg white ham and cheese flatbed sandwich calling you, dear heart, come to me – now.” Damn, I can’t resist that. I’ll be back in a few minutes.

That was good. Yummy and healthy. Remember, no chips – go with the yogurt. And NO cookies! The interesting thing is that inside this dump is a “classy” cigar store. It’s closed today, but it looks like it has a good size walk-in humidor. I have no clue what it’s doing here inside a gas station. There are no signs for it outside that I can see, and looking at the “patrons” who fuel here, who go inside for a wiz or to order a sub, well, they don’t like the type to indulge in a fine cee-gar. I used to love a Cuban or two, but I’m sure if I lite up anything near me, I would explode, that being with all the meds I’m using. LOL. So, no cigars for me. There is an awesome black high tech really cool looking travel humidor that would hold 4 Cubans for $19.95. Maybe some other time.

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Happy Friday 13th LOTR followers. For those drivers that are fortunate enough to get home this weekend, have fun. For the rest of us, America’s freight rolls on. There was a 1 vehicle “accident” on I-40 westbound east of Nashville this afternoon. Traffic was backed up 5+ miles to the West and 8+ miles to the East. The TN State Police did their usual miserable job of managing the situation and what in other states, on other roads would be nothing, this “event” lasted hours longer than it should have.

Speaking of TN, I truly resent that the 55/65 and 55/70 mph speed limit “split” is still in effect there. When OODIA stops wasting their time with barbeques and giving out awards nobody cares about, maybe they’ll get down to business and get the speed limits safe for truckers in TN. Split speeds anywhere are totally unsafe. And, back to the 1 car accident, there was no reason for any backup in either direction, but it was the worst case of “Oh, let’s stop and take a look at what’s happening.” These folks are as dumb as bowling pins and the truckers trying to “control” traffic are no better. Shame on all of you.

As I was trying to make time down to Texarkana, I got a call from dispatch telling me there is a HOT load that will be at our Dallas yard tomorrow night. So forget Texarkana, head straight to Dallas, drop the trailer and wait for the other load that needs to be delivered to Wausau WI next Thursday. Next Thursday? The rationale behind all this is “we” don’t have enough drivers to “handle” this load. Well, isn’t that special. Problem is, I’m low on hours. I will have 8.5 left on my 70 tomorrow afternoon and need to shut down for 36 on Sunday. I’m about 600 miles from Dallas. Long story short, turns out someone else will handle it and I will proceed on schedule. That’s the photo I took of the 1 car accident. The driver was air lifted out hours earlier. I don’t know what his/her condition is.

Moving on, my hatred of Facebook continues. I have 57 e-mails from people who are asking to be friends. I have no idea who the heck they are. I would love to comply, but Facebook has me on “hold” from adding friends because I’m abusive and annoying. This constantly happens to me. I can’t wait to meet someone who works for Facebook. I intend to shove their head in a bucket of ice water. Facebook along with Twitter are no better than the bowling pin morons who sit on the interstate waiting to see a 1 car accident. I find the fact that Facebook allows the use of profanity, repugnant. There is some intelligent “conversation” occurring, but the rest of the nonsense is no better than childish CB chatter. I’m now hearing of some influential and popular media folks pulling out of Facebook and concentrating on building their web sites and chat rooms. The photo to the left is just after I “cleared” the 1 car accident heading west – look at the other side standing still – OMG.

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I-81 Mountain Top PA. 195 miles – 3 hours away from my final in Seymour CT. I can’t wait to get out of this part of the country. What is up with I-80? The road work is terrible. Nine miles of monotonous orange cones, down to one lane of traffic and no obvious work being done. I don’t get it. Then five more miles of cones, again one lane of traffic and you finally get to the end, or the beginning? and there is a small truck picking up the cones. That, along with slow moving Floridians and those Greenpeace supporters in their little grey Prius’s, made this day a long one.

Just after 504 miles of driving, I was exhausted. I shut down here, which is a rest area. At 10:39pm there is no more truck parking. As far as getting up to CT, there is no way I’m taking I-287 to I-95 over the GW Bridge. It’s I-81 to I-84. As I’ve said many times before, there is no way I can drive 11 hours in the Northeast even in good weather with the longer days of sunlight, which is why I want the HOS changed. I logged 9.25 hours for 504 miles. No way – and the dark has a lot to do with it – I could have gone on really truly safely for another 1 3/4 hours. The consignee stops receiving at 11am. Don’t know why.

To keeps things interesting, I spent a few hours listening to the Dave Ramsey show on satellite. I don’t recall the channel. He’s the financial advice guy with a “Christian” edge to what he recommends. That doesn’t bother me. If Christ Jesus can help me out with the IRS and those pesky student loan folks, then His help is appreciated. I was truly amazed at the amount of people who call into the show and claim to be earning in the $80-90,000 range. One guy bought a home for $600K, now it’s worth $385K and it’s been on the market for over a year. Even on a $90,000 salary, he’s having problems surviving. He lives in the Pittsburgh area. I love how Ramsey refers to the IRS as the KGB. Way to go Dave. I see his books all the time, but maybe now I’ll order one from Amazon. I should make it a point to listen to him every day. It feels good to listen to other peoples problems and not focus so much on mine. And, Howard Stern isn’t cutting it for me anymore.

Hey, did you hear the story today about the Jet Blue flight attendant? Steven Slater, 38, of Queens, NY, has been charged with criminal mischief and reckless endangerment, according to a spokeswoman for the Port Authority of NY & NJ, which runs the NY area airports. The case is still being investigated but will be referred to the Queens District Attorney’s office. Slater allegedly fled “his” plane via emergency chute, two beers in hand, after getting into a fight with a passenger and then cursing out the entire cabin over a loudspeaker.

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I’m still using the Cobra Bluetooth headsets I wrote a post about back around January. I would still recommend them. I’ve never had a complaint from anyone at the other end of any conversation. I hear them and they hear me fine, despite all the truck noise. Now I’m in the process of searching for a new GPS to replace my ancient, but still performing Invion unit. QVC has offered nothing new in terms of any new technology or a deal that I could afford. Maybe closer to Christmas the situation will change. I noticed at a T/A that the price of the 7″ Cobra “truck” GPS has dropped once again to $349.97 from $399. It’s a “special” – good only until the end of August. Some special.

I believe it once was $499, which was an insane price. I have not met one driver with the expensive Rand McNally truck GPS or the Cobra unit. Anything over $199 for any GPS is just not going to fly with drivers in this economy. I have an “active” GPS on my phone which I could easily use instead of my present GPS. My cell GPS costs me nothing in and of itself. I’ve told Cobra that they’re going to be stuck with a lot of their 7″ truck GPS until that price really drops. T/A has told me that, just like at the beginning of the year, they’re not selling. Technology wise, there is nothing new going on with global positioning systems anywhere that I hear about. Slapping a Bluetooth feature on any unit is pointless. I have ideas, but the manufacturers seem to know it all – NOT.

Let’s move on. Listen, I can’t take it anymore. If I see one more driver sitting in a restaurant eating himself to death, I’m just going have to yell at him. While I was eating my salad at a T/A the other day, there was a driver killing himself with food. He had trouble sitting at the table he was at. It wasn’t even a booth. He was so fat he had to use the wall to hold himself upright. He could hardly walk to get more food. I could see and hear from 20 feet away that he was having trouble breathing. At one point, I thought he was going to faint. He was sweating profusely and constantly wiping his face with paper napkins in between bites. What am I supposed to do? I don’t want anybody telling me what to do. But I’m screaming inside – DRIVER STOP EATING FOR GOODNESS SAKES! He was on his 4th plate of ribs, potatoes and fried chicken. Roll after roll after roll. He had numerous desserts. It’s right in my face, I just can’t help but watch this disaster in progress.

I took this photo of another driver “walking” his little dog when I was in Kansas City the other day. It’s a good thing there was a McDonald’s nearby – I was worried he might eat the darn pooch. I know, I know, I’m just terrible, horrible, etc. But I can’t help it. Poor guy could hardly get in the cab of his truck. I still have trouble in my new KW getting past the tight two front seats into the bunk. And I’ve lost 25 pounds! How the heck does this guy or the driver in the T/A do it? How does a “doctor” clear this guy to drive or pass him through a DOT physical? I have no idea. I’m nowhere near this guys girth and it took a top cardiologist to clear me to drive again.

At the terminal this morning, there were too many drivers still smoking. And, no, they are NOT all thin – they are FAT. Fat and smoking are suicide. Don’t give me that crap that your BP is fine and you’ve been smoking without any problem since high school – and you’ve tried to quit, but you just can’t. Thank goodness, I never picked up the habit. Chris used to smoke when she was pregnant with our son,but she decided she had enough and stopped, just like that. No lame excuses. Just did it. Threw the Pall Mall Gold’s all in the garbage. And, the truck stops keep pushing cheaper and more dangerous 3rd rate brands of cigarettes to drivers along with candy and fatty junk foods. “Driver, want CANDY, they’re two for one.driver, want CANDY, they’re two for..

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First, an update from the idiots of the IRS. The GPS you use in your truck is NOT a business expense and you CANNOT deduct it. It is LUXURY ITEM. And, if you don’t have receipts for your steel toe boots and your work gloves, no matter what they cost – the IRS will NOT allow the deduction. When asked of the IRS functionary in Colorado, “What is the name of your supervisor?” – her response was “My supervisor.” My wife then said, “Fine, so when I mail the letter I’m going to write to your supervisor, I’ll address it to MY SUPERVISOR.

Moving forward, I’ve always said that short haul trips – anything under 500 miles – are always trouble. Today’s load from Bonner Springs KS to Tahlequah OK is no exception. It’s a 45K lbs. load of brick. I get there, they load it, I secure it. I get my bills and drive down the road. My cell rings – that’s the phone that the IRS is also not allowing as a business deduction – and it’s someone that sounds like my mother from the safety  department. It’s got to be a revolving door over there, because I don’t know who is who anymore. “How many straps do you have on the load?” I look behind me at the cargo and I count eight. “The shipper says you do not have enough securement on the load.” I respond by telling her that, fine, I’ll stop and “readjust” things.

So I stop and didn’t realize that I put two extra straps on the front and back pallets – for a total of 10 straps plus v-board edge protectors. That’s 50K lbs. of securement for the 45K load. When the loader looked at the trailer and then gave me the bills, he said, “Have a nice day.” I didn’t bother calling my mother back. But, then, a wee bit later comes the QUALCOM from Percy. “Thanks for doing what’s needed, even if it’s after the fact.” I’ve gotten other cute “messages” from him in the past. I said to myself, screw you Percy, you little so forth and so on. Later, when I sat down, for a chef salad at the Pilot/FJ, I looked out the window at the sky and the clouds and said to myself “I’m so over this.” I felt calmer and my BP stabilized.

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