Enjoying North America while earning a living...: November 6, 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

November 6, 2009

November 6, 1989, 2009

FIRST 5 YEARS: (Monday-Provo, Utah)
Had the whole day off. Walked out my door and saw those mountains. Just beautiful; and the day was great also. I enjoy taking walks and the Provo tire store isn't that far from me so I walked to it. I talked with the manager and told him that I was fine with a Wednesday delivery, but I could delivery earlier if he wanted. He said they had a load coming in tomorrow's AM but tomorrow after I PM should be fine. I said I would call him late tomorrow AM to make sure it was still OK. I finished the walk and came back to the restaurant across the street and had the lunch buffet. The waitress asked what I did as I told her I was just passing through but would be here for a couple days. I told her that I was a professional tourist and that is all I said. Ate and went back to my room and watched TV the rest of the day. Bought munchies for dinner...

SECOND 5 YEARS:(empty trailer, mountains, rain, snow and a lot more snow-Part 2...Part 1 on November 5, 1989, 2009)
I woke after sunup and the roads were in good share with plenty of travel. Got all legal and checked to see that my brakes weren't frozen and then I was gone. Went through Burlington, Vermont shortly after getting going. I decided to stay on I-89 through St Albans, Vermont and get off it at Swanton(Vermont). Caught Hwy 78 to Hwy 2 to Champlain, New York. I am now only a couple miles from Quebec, which I've been in several times. At Champlain, I took Hwy 87 south to Plattsburgh (New York) where I was to pick up my load. The shipper had been notified I would be late. I got there around noon with all great driving this AM. The shipper loaded me quite fast and very light(17,450 lbs). I was taking it to Olathe, Kansas. Looking at the routing, the best way was to go past Buffalo, New York and Erie, Pennsylvania. The weather reports I got from the radio and other drivers said different. From Rochester and Buffalo(New York) through Erie, Pennsylvania there were roads closed with snow and the three mentioned cities had numerous feet of lake effect snow. I choose to go I-87 to Albany, New York where I caught I-88 to Binghamton, New York. I then took I-81 through Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania down to I-80. There I took I-80 west to our fuel stop in Milton, Pennsylvania. As I drove down the steep grade of the Interstate off ramp, my engine acted like it was out of fuel...I took 195 gallons. I had two 110 gallon tanks.