Enjoying North America while earning a living...: October 29, 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

October 29, 2009

October 29, 1989, 2009

FIRST 5 YEARS: (Sunday)
Got up out of my bunk around 3:30AM just west of Rolla, Missouri. Got my logbook updated and headed for Joplin. Got to Joplin, Missouri early and had to drop my NON-company trailer so that the maintenance guys could would on my tractor. Basically I just needed batteries. I think I had three that were bad. They were replaced with used batteries and I asked why they weren't new ones. I was told that my tractor was not long for the company. It was getting close to being retired. I checked with dispatch and told them I had the trailer that had the load that needed to be switched to another trailer. Dispatch got a hold of someone that supposedly could switch the load. He couldn't get it and had a couple other guys work on it. I took another nap while those guys tried to get the load moved. They never did and I was told to take that non-company trailer to Laredo, Texas. I left for Laredo about 3 PM. I was running with another drive(nicknamed-handle-roadrunner) that was heading for Laredo. We ran to Big Cabin, Oklahoma on I-44 the then took Hwy 69 south to Muskogee, Oklahoma. Took a short break at the truckstop north of town. Continued down Hwy 69 until Hwy 75 joined in and then we followed Hwy 75 to Dallas. Took I-35 E to our terminal in Red Oak, Texas. Roadrunner continued but I stopped for the night. Snnoorree!!!!

SECOND 5 YEARS: (...not only regular drivers).
Just a short "second 5 years" but was joked about among the drivers that saw it. I was going east on I-70, just west of I-465, before going though Indianapolis when I noticed a highway patrol car struck in the mud in the highway medium(the grassed area between the east/wast bound lanes). The patrolman was standing by the car. I went right to my CB radio-which I had turned off-and sure enough, the poor guy was the talk of the CB waves....Where was the muddy medium when I got my speeding ticket(read about it on Oct 1, 1989, 2009 blog).