Enjoying North America while earning a living...: Septembter 28, 1989, 2009

About this blog's layout...BLOG UPDATED ONCE PER DAY...

I follow my journal daily by writing under the daily title, "FIRST 5 YEARS:" The first five years will strictly follow my 5 year journal. If I find the day I am writing about to be boring, I will either write about thoughts I remember(placed under the title of "SECOND 5 YEARS"), write a trucker tale(placed under "A Trucker's Tale"), give a helpful trucker hint, ask a "student driver" question or do something.....When a location appears after the day of the week after "FIRST 5 YEARS:", it is where I am at the start of that day((IE: FIRST 5 YEARS: (Sunday-Kansas City, Missouri))..... I would encourage those that find themselves enjoying North America to follow me day by day.....REMEMBER: THIS IS A BLOG ABOUT WHAT LIFE IS LIKE FOR A TRUCKER THAT DOES NOT HAVE A DAILY ROUTINE ROUTE(called a "dedicated" route). THERE WILL BE MANY TIMES WHEN THE ROUTING, SCENERY AND DAY'S ACTIVITIES WILL BE SIMILAR(boring???) TO PREVIOUS DAYS; THAT'S TRUCKING! THERE WILL BE DAYS WHEN THE ROUTING, SCENERY AND DAY'S ACTIVITIES WILL BE TOTALLY NEW; THAT'S TRUCKING. Frustrations? I mention the frustrations I had as a driver. I loved my job while earning a living and realized that all jobs have frustrations; truck driving is, and was, no different..... Many pictures on this blog can be left-clicked and made larger.....Questions?...Please E-mail PT at fabalt2000@centurylink.net

September 28, 2009

Septembter 28, 1989, 2009

FIRST 5 YEARS: (Thursday-New Paris, Ohio) Woke up in New Paris, Ohio at the "Just A Truckstop", and shortly headed for Cleveland, Ohio. Often I will take the roads through Plain City and Delaware(both OHIO) and then hook into I-71 north but his AM I decided to go through downtown Columbus(OHIO). The traffic should (and was) be minimal. Just took I-70 east to I-71 north. Since my truck weight wasn't close to being 80, 000 lbs (It was around 49,000 lbs), I decided to fill my tanks in Berkshire(Ohio), take a break and then continue to Cleveland. Found the customer real easy as instructions were "right on". Cleveland, Ohio morning traffic was a lot of FUN!!! My unload time wasn't until the afternoon. There was a small shopping center a couple blocks from my drop off point so I pulled into it-plenty of parking. Called my customer and they said to "Come on in" and they would get their mattress material unloaded. I wasn't unloaded until 3:30 PM and back to the shopping center parking lot by 3:45 PM. Had called dispatch and was told to wait a bit. Was sitting in my driver's seat getting my logbook caught up when a friendly Cleveland "cop" walked up to my door. My first thought was that he was going to tell me to move on, but he didn't. He was stationed there to walk around the shopping center and he just wanted to talk. I believe he said that the shopping center paid Cleveland for the "extra" protection of having an officer walk around. We got talking about trucking and the law-obviously I am an expect with less than a year trucking. I jokingly (inside me I wasn't joking) told him how so many truckers(in 1989!! in 2009???) didn't like the Ohio High Patrol as they were far too strict with the 55 mph speed limit when all states-except Pennsylvania(even they did later )-had risen their speed limits. His reply really surprised me as he said that he and some of his fellow officers didn't like them either!!! He even said that they(OHP) had been known to pull over Cleveland police cars that were speeding without their RED/WARNING lights on. HOPEFULLY these patrol cars were unmarked; he didn't say!!! My conversation was a nice one as I enjoy meeting new people and hearing some of THEIR stories. I called in about 5 PM EST and was told to pick up a load of jars in Zanesville, Ohio, tomorrow. The load of glass jars was going to Muscatine, Iowa. Took off for Zanesville and headed for the "ALL RIGHT TRUCKSTOP"off of I-71 where I just bedded down for the night. ---Saturday...Would you like some flies with that Ketchup???