The final days to take us home

07 September 2014

Goooood morning!

            With nearly 3000 miles behind us, Scout and I arrived home late Thursday evening after our final load was delivered to a local distribution center near Gresham. I can say that I have never missed my own bed so much! Living with someone in that close of quarters for any amount of time can be quite the challenge and Scout was so incredibly nice and kind the whole time, always trying to make things easier. I was only on the truck for 9 days, I can't imagine that being my life. Just being allowed into it for a short amount of time makes me even more thankful to the men and women who choose this career.

            In the early morning, around 3:30 am, we were heading north on I -5 when a police car came rushing by, we estimated he was easily doing over 100 mph. It came as a shock when we finally caught up to him and the reason he had been going so fast, there was an overturned semi on the highway blocking one northbound lane. Talk about a scary site! Seeing that we had just missed seeing that happen first hand gave me pause to think about just how dangerous this job is. Scout was telling me that in order to get the roll over cleaned up that they would need 2 of the large tow trucks, a crane, another truck and empty trailer to get the items from the overturned truck into another truck and hopefully delivered as long as it was totally destroyed. The driver of the truck will likely lose his job, depending on the cause of the accident the driver could possibly lose his license too. It was extremely windy that morning, so much so that a few times I got a bit nervous with how much we were being blown around. This could possibly shut the freeway down for hours. I was so thankful that it wasn't us and that we missed the clean up and being stuck in the traffic that was sure to be backed up for hours on end.

This is the product that was damaged and had to be thrown away. I never

did get a picture of the trailer fully loaded. It was difficult because

after the trailer is loaded they put zip locks on them to assure that

there has been no tampering with the product. Also, I wasn't able to get

on the dock while they were loading.

            We had one load where we picked up a loaded trailer from the yard in Ontario to take to Oxnard. After the trailer was unloaded there were about 15 boxes of the product that were damaged. When this happens Scout puts a call in to Marten and is given instructions on whether to throw away the items, keep them to deliver to another warehouse (depending on how badly damaged they are), or he can keep the items for himself. This load happened to be boxes of egg product, the stuff the restaurants use to make omelets. The warehouse didn't want the damaged items and because it had to be kept refrigerated, we couldn't keep it. I felt awful throwing it away. What a waste! This got me to thinking that there has to be some way to manage damaged goods so that the food items to not go to waste and that they could be picked up and used by food banks/ homeless shelters.

The view of Lake Shasta

Mt. Shasta

            The  trip through Northern California was much prettier as we headed north than the trip down. On our way down the smoke from wild fires was so bad that it was actually burning my eyes and gave me a headache. This time however, there was no smoke and we could actually see Mt. Shasta. What pretty views we had! Oh and seeing Lake Shasta was shocking, the water levels were the lowest I've ever seen.

            Our final night's sleep was at a truck stop in Phoenix (just outside Medford). We had a nice dinner that wasn't at a fast food restaurant and a pretty good night's rest, the first one the whole trip that we didn't need the a/c on all night. In fact when we got up in the morning I had to put my little jacket on and turned on the heater for a bit. Quite the change from those hot Cali nights. It's good being back home and able to catch up, do laundry and actually relax. I know it sounds strange but it's hard work sitting in that truck! I thought I'd get more reading done, or blogging daily would be easier but time just went by so fast. Scout is back on the road today and while I'm going to miss him (as usual) I think I'm much better suited to life at home.

Some cool graffiti on a trailer

Someone has a sense of humor

This is what the sleeper looks like. The black on the sides is the privacy curtain. Only 1 person
can stand at a time, at least it is plenty tall!

The view from the bed. I would sit on the bed and write my blog  or surf the  internet while Scout would sit up front and use the steering wheel as his desk  for his laptop. 

This is the Qualcomm unit that Scout used to communicate with the office, update his log book, get information on his loads, and use the special GPS. The GPS unit in the trucks is used because it gives drivers routes to use that their trucks will fit on. They have to be mindful of bridges and underpasses that will be on their route so that the trucks/ trailers will fit. Normal GPS units will not give that information.

Our final destination

Hope you enjoyed my little blog about my experience on the road. Peace!

A few days behind

Being on the road and without a lot of downtime and not always a stable wireless signal, I've fallen a bit behind. I'll get more posted in the next couple of days as we'll (hopefully) be home tomorrow.

01 September 2014

The HUGE distribution center for Wally World There were hundreds
of trucks either waiting to be unloaded, being loaded, or trailers sitting
empty or loaded and waiting to be picked up. 

            So far we've delivered 2 loads, 1 hazmat and 1 snack foods. We're now delivering a load of onions from Hollister, CA to east L.A. at a Wally World distribution center. Scout told me that it was a big place, I had NO idea just how big it was. There were easily several hundred trucks/ trailers in the process of being loaded or unloaded. I feel so enlightened about where our "stuff" comes from and how it gets to us. This trip has really shed a light on just how important a job being a truck driver is. Without them we wouldn't have food, clothes, our new iPhones, tvs, cars, etc.

The row of Marten trailers at Wally World DC waiting to be
picked up or unloaded.

            I am also continually amazed at what the drivers are put through and have to put up with. They typically don't get holidays off, in fact that is the busiest time of year for them. Trying to get home for a loved one's birthday doesn't always happen. Having a meal not from a fast food joint is rare.  Showing up to a 

client and then having them be closed for the day... now THAT is a pain.

Traffic through L.A. on a Sunday. If only every day was like this!

            Today has been one of those days that he was given the next couple of loads. Nothing big until Tuesday morning and it is going to send us home from Oxnard. So we have a lot of down time, or so we thought. After the delivery of Sunday's load we got another load to pick up in the yard and deliver early Monday morning. Monday was Labor Day... not all businesses are open on Labor Day. Guess which business wasn't open when we showed up for our 6 am delivery appointment? We weren't the only truck to show up with a delivery either, there were 3 others waiting there with us. The one good thing that came out of it is that after waiting on the customer for 1 hour, the drivers get what is called retention pay, an hourly rate depending on the company they work for.

Downtown L.A. on one of the more clear days

            The day wasn't a total loss as we were driving back to the yard we got another dispatch for a delivery in East L.A. We dropped off one trailer and picked up another and headed to the other side of town. When we arrived at the new customer, they had no idea what we were there to deliver and weren't going to take the load until someone at their home office called. As we sat and waited to hear from dispatch as to what we are doing with this load, another guy came in to deliver his load and we watched him try for about 35 minutes to back into the loading dock. It was more painful watching him trying to back up that truck than watching my mom try to back up the van and boat down at the boat ramp. Finally Scout, being the nice guy that he is, got out and went over to help him. With Scout's help he was backed into the loading dock in about  minutes. I am not saying I could have done it by any means, it is nice knowing that there are guys (and gals) out there too, that are nice and willing to help out a new driver. The customer finally got the ok to accept the load and we were finally in the loading dock and had an empty trailer to take back to the yard.

            All the running around from different customers, not knowing that one would be closed, the lack of communication would be very frustrating. I can see how easy it would be to burn out in this job. There is just so much that goes into the planning of one's time. I know it sounds like a long break, 10 hours, but in that time you have to sleep, call family/ loved ones, eat, possibly do laundry, and just get some peace and quiet. I know that I've been exhausted half the time and I am not even driving. I have been trying to be good and stay awake, I find it only fair that if Scout has to keep the crazy hours and lack of steady sleep schedule that I can do it too. I am not always so successful though! One thing is for sure, it is not so easy sleeping in the bed while the truck is rolling down the road. It is REALLY bouncy! Good thing I have gotten proficient in sleeping in the passenger chair :)

A little difficult to see, but this is a feedlot with thousands
of cows. Kind of a sad sight to see and very stinky.

Our second trip passing Six Flags and Scout STILL wouldn't drop me off!

Random mammoth on the side of the freeway

Into L.A. and out again

29 August 2014

Gooood morning Grapevine!

         

   Day 3 of the tour and we were able to get a  much better night's sleep, even used the alarm to wake us up. Eating on the road can be a bit of a challenge, as I mentioned in my previous post. It's easy to see how fast food becomes enemy #1. Some drivers have a microwave and or mini fridge type system in their trucks. Not all trucks have room for those items and some of the trucking companies don't allow them, thus making it difficult to eat healthy on the road. We've been doing pretty good so far, and let me tell ya I didn't think I'd be eating pb& j anytime soon after I spent nearly my first 2 months in Korea eating them, but here I am having pb&j almost once a day and I don't even mind.

     Today we spent finishing up our first delivery of hazmat goods and then on to a warehouse in Ontario to pick up some sort of snack food items. I still haven't gotten out of the truck to get on the dock to watch them load and this second load was no different because we did what is known as a drop and hook. This is when the driver has an empty trailer that they drop off at the warehouse and pick up a trailer that has already been loaded. As long as the pre-loaded trailer is ready, then this is by far the best situation for the drivers so they don't end up waiting around for their trailer to be unloaded. The unload process can last upwards of 4 hours. This wouldn't be so bad if the driver didn't have another load to pick up elsewhere and had a deadline for both pick-up and delivery of the next load or they (the driver and trucking company) were making money for the truck and driver to be sitting idle at a warehouse.

Our first delivery of the tour. Not all companies have nice big delivery docks for the drivers to get into. This one left us taking up most of the side street, upsetting some people who were trying to get by as we backed into the dock. Trust me, the drivers don't like having to do that to people just as much as we feel inconvenienced by it. Luckily we were there for about 4 minutes. Scout keeps asking me if I could back this into the places he does, my response: Of course I can... in MY car! lol

            You see, if the truck isn't moving, then no one makes money. Guidelines for drivers is that they are essentially on the clock for 14 hours and off for 10. They can drive for a maximum of 11 hours a day and at 8 hours they must take a 30 minute break. In today's trucking world using the automated log books has all but done away with drivers being able to use multiple books so that they can get around these guidelines. Drivers have to play the game of when they need to take their 10 hour break, and the amount of time it will take them to deliver their current load and get to the next customer for pick up and the delivery time of that load. It is a balancing act to say the least. I honestly had no idea just how much goes into this job, it has been quite an experience thus far.

Six Flags Great America at sunrise

            Our route today has us going through Pasadena and over the Grapevine twice. I got to see Six Flags just as the sun was coming up and again later in the afternoon. I tried to get Scout to drop me off in the morning and told him I'd be waiting on the side of the road for him to pick me up later in the afternoon. He didn't quite go for that. Darn it! It's fun getting out of the desert and seeing some of the sights like where the A's play, the Honda Center home of the Clippers, amusement and water parks that I can' only longingly wish to be at. I know that tomorrow we'll be headed back through the farmlands once again.

And here is the shower in all of its glory!

            We FINALLY got showers today. YAY!!!! The trucking companies have fuel contracts with the truck stop fuel stations like TA, Pilot, Love's, etc. When the drivers buy fuel they earn points which can then be used to buy showers. Some places charge up to $15 for a shower so it is much better for us to go to the Pilot to use their showers and not have to pay. Since I'm not really doing any work, not having a shower every day hasn't been too awful, I still manage to clean up every morning though, don't worry! The shower rooms were surprisingly well kept and they provide towels and washcloths so it is nice that we don't need to carry our own.

     It looks like tomorrow we'll deliver just south of Sacramento and then head over to Hollister for a produce load to take back down to the Colton area for Wally World. Another fun day! I'm feeling sorry for Scout as he has to listen to me yammer on and play 20 questions. I am sure that by tomorrow he'll be wishing I'd have stayed home! haha  But seriously, he's been wonderful and teaching me a lot.

Going through a weigh station. In Oregon they show you how much your truck weighs but not in California which is an annoyance to the drivers. If your truck meets the weight requirements and visual inspection then you get the green light to keep going, if not then you are red lighted and must pull over and deal with the transportation department. This could be anything from the load being uneven distribution causing the load to be overweight on different parts of the axle and can usually be fixed without being ticketed or the entire load can be overweight and the driver is the one ticketed and responsible for paying the fee.

On to day 2...

28 August 2014

Sunset over the truck stop on our second night

My view from the front row.

            Sleep was not our friend last night as both of us were quite restless and awake by 3:30 am. Between trying to stay cool (yes there is ac but it's still warm in the cab), the noise from the refer on the trailer keeping the hazmat load cool, and other trucks rumbling throughout the night it takes a bit of getting used to. Trying to go back to sleep didn't work so we put on a movie, The Fault in Our Stars. Talk about a tear jerker! After the movie, we got up, dressed, and headed to Denny's for breakfast. A new thing for me, freshening up in the ladies restroom using baby wipes to make myself feel fresh and clean. Hmmm, not sure about this no showering thing! After getting cleaned up we headed off down the road leaving Corning, the olive capitol.

     

Trucks must go 55 in Oregon and California, they don't like it either. 

       Life on the road today was fairly uneventful. No major traffic issues, the scenery was a tad bleak at best. There is a horrible draught happening in California, it's so sad to see orchard upon orchard dried up with nothing but dead trees or fields of dirt with only tumbleweeds growing. There are signs everywhere calling this "The Dust Bowl that Congress Created". Driving through this area makes me quite thankful for the rain that we have in the Pacific Northwest. I know it's probably been said far too often however... I love that it is so green!

         

   A road trip in a truck is a little different than your typical road trip. For starters you can't just go down any road you want to and with this load that we have we have to stay on specific routes because of it being a hazmat load. If you see cool restaurants or shops that you might want to stop at, can't do that either. You are very much at the mercy of whatever is at a truck stop for all of your shopping and eating needs. Oh, and going to the restroom.... This one just about got me today. We passed several rest stops and truck stops when suddenly my bladder told me that I needed to go and go NOW. I was outta luck because the next stop was over 75 miles away. I learned my lesson!

         

Crazy gas prices

   Inside the truck there is a messaging unit called Qualcomm. This is how the drivers receive important messages like where their next load is located, directions, and any communication from the head office. As we were heading down the road late in the afternoon a message came in for our next load, unfortunately he had to turn it down because the logistics of getting across town, delivery of the current load, picking up the new load and deliver of the next was impossible do to by 3:00 am Saturday. Shortly after that though we got a new message, so now after we deliver tomorrow we will head to Ontario, CA for deliver in Elk Grove, CA.

         

   The best part about this day, In-N-Out. YUM! We went in to get our burgers and I asked how much a cup of ice would be, something like $2.50. Me being cheap, decided that was to much to pay for a cup of ice. One of the employees offered to get me some ice, about 5 minutes later she came back with a medium size garbage bag full of ice. Far more than I needed for my small cooler, but very nice of her none the less. 

And so it begins

The truck we call home

I am a day behind on the blog only because I can't always get a wi-fi signal, so this is for yesterday...

27 August 2014

Today started a bit earlier than planned. Scout set the alarm clock for 6 am so that we could be at the yard (that's trucker lingo for the place that the trucks and trailers are kept) by 9 am, get the truck packed, bed made, find a trailer, get my passenger pass, and get on the road by 10. My body on the other hand thought that it would be best for me to wake up at 4:27. I really LOVE having sleeping issues. No problem though, I figured I could just sleep away in the truck while Scout drives.

Pre trip calculations

Reality.... I was up early, finished packing, getting the house in order for being gone for so long and just as I was putting away some dishes I sliced my finger open. Sure hope that's not a sign of how this trip is going to go! We got out of the house by 7:30, took back roads to the yard and got there around 8:15. Not bad considering it's about a 35 mile drive from the house to the yard. We got all of the stuff that I brought along with what Scout normally brings on his trips. Of course prior to coming out on the road I made a couple of trips to the store for some snacks that would keep us from not having any meals in the case of not finding somewhere to eat when we stopped for the night which is sometimes the case.

We got a trailer and headed off to Springfield to pick up our first load to take to Orange, CA. The delivery of the load is expected in 2 days. It is amazing watching Scout back the trailer into tight spaces and being so precise, talk about skill!

Ohhhh shiny!

I can't tell you how much I've learned about the trucking lifestyle, let me say this... it is definitely a lifestyle and not just a job. The next time you buy anything remember how it got to you and be thankful that you or your family member didn't have to sacrifice being away from home 15 - 30 or more days at a time. It is really a different life, one that makes me thankful that there are men and women who do this. I even learned some new lingo, here goes:

1.          Lot Lizzard - Usually a female who hangs out in the truck stops going from truck to truck looking for someone "special".
2.          Alligator - Those chunks of rubber you see in the road from blown tires.
3.          Bear in the air - Cops in helicopters patrolling the freeway from above.



On the road, finally!

4.          Parking lot - Car transport trucks.

Stay tuned as the adventure continues...

The unmade bed

First official truck stop

New Adventures Await!

It's obviously been a while since I've updated this lil' blog, so here goes...

I'm still in Oregon after my year in Korea. Once again on the job search, so send em my way! I have an amazing man in my life, hereby known as Scout, and things look great! This is just a short post as I prepare to go on a road trip with Scout. He is a truck driver and out on the road for about 10- 15 days at a time. Seeing as I am not employed at the moment, we thought it would be a great time for me to see what his life is like on the road.

Over the next couple of days I'll be prepping my bags, gathering activities, and finding all sorts of yummy snacks that don't need refrigeration or heating up, talk about a challenge! I've left my little Maggie May with her grandparents, she wasn't so happy to see me drive off. Have you ever tried to convince the cutest dog ever that you'll be back soon? Broke my heart watching her fade in my rear view mirror.

I think I'm up for the challenge of a truckers life, at least for a couple of weeks. Let the games begin!

Phantom, Naked, and Lunch

Since my time in Korea is quickly coming to a close, my weekends have been packed with as many activities as possible. A few weeks ago I went with Charise, one of my fellow foreign ESL teachers who is from South Africa, to see Phantom of the Opera. I hadn't ever had a strong desire to see the show, but when she mentioned going I figured why not. What an amazing performance! What made it even better is that it was in English, they had monitors for the Hangul translation. The music was fantastic!

Chai,  me, Charise at Naked.

Chai (another teacher from New Zealand), Charise and myself had our last night together dancing the night away. The girls, Chai especially love a club called Naked, and no... people there are not naked, not really sure why the name. lol   We spent many a Saturday night dancing until the wee hours of Sunday morning and then going to Gecko's, a Western restaurant in Itaewon, for our brunch before heading back to Pocheon (about 2 hours north). As we took our last shot together we all got a bit teary eyed as Charise is leaving in only a couple of days. I will say that many good times were had in Hongdae and these 2 girls will be missed.!

Through the amazing wisdom of the GEPIK organization (gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education), the organization that us foreign teachers in the Gyeonggi Province technically work for, I was sent to a new teacher orientation last week. The fact I've been here a mere 11 months and will be going home in 1 month don't seem to be any concern. So, off to Anseong, South of Seoul, for a 3 day orientation. On the one hand it was a really good orientation, learning about banking in Korea, how to work with co-teachers, design lesson plans, basic Korean phrases.... you know all the stuff I've been doing for ELEVEN MONTHS... No, I'm not bitter, just a tad irritated that I didn't have the opportunity to do this when I got here. Meeting tons of new people that I will get to say goodbye to in a month. I am so good at goodbyes anyway.. ARG! Oh well, it was fun and I did meet some great new people. The Korean way of doing things just don't always make much sense, at least to me.

Lilly, Alyssa, Kyra, and May. Future Top Chefs!

In Korea the public schools get to take the day off on the day of their anniversary. Not only did I not go to work at my school for 3 days, I also had the Monday after the weekend off which made for a nice 5 days off. My lunch time students, May, Lilly, Alyssa, and Kyra had planned on coming to my house to make lunch for me. They wanted to share with me some traditional Korean foods. We had: ramyeon ddang, ha sun heon, gong galibbang, gob chang, gam- ja, Translated: raman. toasted (not boiled) then sprinkled with sugar, Korean pizza with a tortilla, cheese, garlic and dipped in honey, traditional Chinese bread, and pig intestine with vegetables and mashed potatoes with mayo then made into patties and fried. When we were finished eating they even cleaned the dishes and vacuumed the floor, it was great! I have to say all of it with the exception of the intestine were very good. I felt bad too because one of the girls' parents owns the restaurant where that dish came from. It is very Korean but I just couldn't stomach it.

I've been very blessed with meeting such amazing people that I will never forget and sharing some experiences that otherwise should maybe be forgotten! haha :) Peace!