Enjoying North America while earning a living...: August 13, 1991, 2011

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

August 13, 2011

August 13, 1991, 2011

FIRST 5 YEARS:(Tuesday-Gresham, Oregon)my son Bill is riding with me for awhile.
I woke up while parked for the nigjt at my tire drop at Gresham. I was awake before anyone got there. The manager arrived and told me where to back up to. The fellows here, as in most this store chain, were very friendly and helpful. I was unloaded and on my way to my second drop by 8:15 AM PST.

I got to my second drop(didn't record it and don't remember where it was) and got my tires unloaded by 11 AM PST. Laura brought Bill(see yesterday) before I was done unloading the tires and so they watched the end of the unloading.

Said "good byes" to Laura the Bill and I were on our way south on I-5. Last drop was in Eugene, Oregon and we were there at 1:30 PM PST. There were only 48 tires here to empty me out. I was done, empty and had another load by 3 PM. The next load was paper. I drove to the city adjoining Eugene, Springfield, and picked up 37,200 lbs of paper going to Santa Paula, California. The paper factory had a scale for us to weigh and I showed a weight of 70, 260 lbs.

By 5 PM PST we were heading south on I-5 again. We entered the roads over the Cascade mountain passes. It was up & down, up & down and so on. It seemed endless to me. In a car, one might not notice it as much. We stopped at a truckstop in Medford, Oregon at 8:45 PM PST and had dinner. It was after dark when we were readying to leave the truckstop.

Going into California, I thought I had better check my trailer's registration. I checked the registration box on the front of the trailer and found no registration at all. I called dispatch and was told to buy a temporary permit for that state and call the permit department tomorrow. I bought the permit and we were on are way. We find out tomorrow that that plates and temporary registration are no good in California. I couldn't belive that I had come from Texas with this load without checking for a trailer registration; I never forgot to check again.

We got into California and the California weigh station was closed. We were about an hour and a half from my goal of Corning, California when our day ended at midnight...