Travels with Charley....

The sweat is sticky running down my neck, and the back of my new truck is like an oven on wheels, even with the windows open, as i write this.  Salt Lake City is having a very muggy start to its summer....   Most of the snow -- but not all -- is gone from the mountain tops surrounding the Salt lake basin.  Hard to believe that  a short three months ago we were training on the backing range here in snow and rain.  These days, even in the early morning, shorts are appropriate attire.  Too bad i didn't bring any and can't afford to go buy any....  Can't afford much of anything, actually.  I think they expect people to have a healthy bankroll to start their training.  I haven't had a paycheck of more than $250 for the past three months -- and most weeks i don't get that much.  Basically enough for food and to send a little home to help with the girls' summer activities.  It's pretty tough holding on for what i hope are bigger paychecks when i start making longer runs as a full-fledged driver.

Speaking of that, i am now officially, if not gainfully, employed as an independent contractor driver to CR England.  I have passed all tests, suffered through all necessary training voyages and sat through all required classes.  I frankly never thought the day would come, as people have dropped off left and right at each step of the program.  No wonder they say that student turnover is 145% (how the math on that works, i can't really say.  But that's what "they" claim).  I have also leased the above truck, which i am naming "Charley", after author John Steinbeck's French standard poodle, with which he traveled America near the end of his life and wrote the book "Travels with Charley".  Charley was a male, by the way, and since i haven't had much luck doing the right thing by females lately, adopting a male persona for the truck seems appropriate.  Don't want to jinx things right out of the box....

Today i was assigned my very first load: a short haul from Salt Lake City to Nampa, Idaho.(about 340 miles), hauling bottled water to the Nampa Costco store.  Turns out i had a problem with the trailer, though.  It had a cracked brake, which meant i lost about four hours sitting around the Salt Lake City yard while it was being fixed, and which also meant i lost enough time on my "14-hour clock" to be unable to make Nampa, by the delivery due time (4:30 am).  Let me explain:  Truck drivers operate on three separate, yet simultaneously running, clocks.  The first is the 11-hour clock.  You can drive no more than 11 hours in a shift.  You can turn it on and off, depending on whether or not you are driving, but you cannot exceed 11 hours of driving without taking a 10 hour break.

The second is the 14-hour clock.  Once you start "on-duty" driving, the 14-hour clock never shuts off.  You cannot exceed 14 hours of combined on-duty and off-duty driving without taking a 10-hour break.  An example would be like today, where i was on-duty for about five hours, then off-duty for about four hours waiting for the trailer to be repaired.  That left me with just five hours of drive time before being required to take a break, which was insufficient to drive the 7-8 hours to Nampa.  Therefore, a truck of team drivers picked up my load and headed off to Idaho.  Which also meant that i don't get paid a nickel for today -- you only get paid when you complete the run and submit the paperwork.  Sad, poor face....

There is also a 70-hour clock, which counts your drive time over the course of a 70 hour period.  Once you have reached your 70 hours you need to do a 34-hour "restart", or rest, to start that clock all over again.

That's it in a nutshell.

Just got a message on the truck computer that i am being dispatched to pick up a load in Ogden, UT tomorrow at noon with delivery on my birthday, July 3, in New Mexico.  Hopefully this load will not be star-crossed, as i desperately need the paycheck.  Hopefully the fact that it's on my birthday will mean good luck.

That's about it for now.  Charley and i are going to hope the evening cools down a bit.

Stay safe.....

KWA

Apprentice no more...!!

It's official -- as of yesterday i am no longer a student/apprentice driver.  I have no more hurdles to jump, tests to take or classes to sit through.  No more quirky trainers. I am now a full-fledged truck driver with a no-restrictions Commercial Drivers License.  It has been a long time coming.   It feels like an eternity.

I picked out my truck, a 2010 navy blue Freightliner Cascadia.  I'll post a picture of it tomorrow.  Did about half of the paperwork on it today, with the rest to complete tomorrow.  It's a six-month, no strings lease for $541 per week.  Needless to say, it's going to take a lot of running to cover the bills. But i've found a partner to run with, Kelly from Medford, Oregon, who was in my training school class.  He's a great guy and a really good golfer.  We're going to have to figure out a way to get our clubs on our rig!

I'm really excited about the next step of the journey.  Now I'M the boss and can run the truck as i see fit.  Looks like i'll have a couple of weeks to run solo while Kelly finishes his Phase 2 training.  It will be nice to be solo for a little while.

It was refreshing to have a couple of conversations today with drivers who are lease operators and who like working for England.  You hear SO MUCH grousing and complaining about the company from students and drivers that it can really wear you down and make you wonder if you have made a poor decision to run with CR England.  These guys, however, were positive about the company, which was good.

Girls are in the midst of summer camps, so haven't talked to them since leaving Salem.  That's about it for now.

Stay safe....

KWA

Back to Salt Lake after home time (finally!)

I met the nicest skinhead yesterday.

His name was Kent, a 40-year-old homeless drifter from Texas.  We met at the Portland Greyhound bus terminal.  He was asking for tips on using the MAX train, which i could not provide, and we struck up a conversation.  I immediately noticed the tattoos on his arms, which includes large Nazi "SS" letters on one arm and a confederate flag with the words "Southern White Pride" surrounding the flag on the other.

While i would usually be repulsed by the tattoos' explicit meaning, i decided to play investigator and asked him the story behind his tattoos.

"Well sir," he said, with impeccable manners and a pleasant tone, "I'm a racist skinhead."  His reply was neither a challenge nor defensive.  It was a simply a friendly answer to my question.  I might as well have asked him for the time of day.  He went on to explain that he has been a skinhead since he was 16, when he was beaten and left for dead by several blacks.  "I've been one ever since," he said.  The son of a Pentacostal minister and raised to love everyone, he also explained that he doesn't go looking for trouble and doesn't instigate violence (although he has in the past), but is ready for it if "anything goes down".  Then he showed me the knife he carries, being careful to explain that the blade is short enough to be legal.

I told him that Portland was very much a "give respect-get respect" sort of town.  He agreed, based upon what he has seen, said people were very friendly and said that he was glad to be here.  I'm not sure that's a good thing, nice personality notwithstanding.  We shook hands and parted company after a few minutes, as he was off on a mission to find pancakes for breakfast.

I have discovered i much prefer to find out what makes people tick to categorically judging them and missing out on a potential learning/growing experience.   Not sure what i learned from Kent, other than not all racist skinheads are bitter, angry people.  I guess that's good.  But they still have abhorrent views....

So why haven't i blogged lately?  Well, things have been busy.  I got to spend about a week at home and had some great times hanging out with the girls (including going to see the Green Lantern movie on Father's Day -- a fun outing for us and the movie wasn't bad). Saw a few friends, and got to hang out with my brother, which was really overdue fun.  Good to take a break from the blog.

On a down note, i picked up the paperwork on my pending divorce.  Looks like it's going to go through, despite my pleas that we not go there yet.  Next step will be divorce court.  Ick.

In Salt Lake City now, after a brutal bus trip of about 22 hours.  Tomorrow i have one final upgrade class to take, then i pick out my truck!  Have found a Medford guy to team with, which i think will be a really good fit.

Guess that's it for now.

Stay safe....   Respect all people.

KWA

Getting bored with Steve....

I feel bad because Steve is just too easy of a target -- it's getting boring.  Maybe it's time to move on to other subjects.

I'll leave you with these choice items related to food:

* He won't eat fast food (or any restaurant food for that matter) if it's served by a man.  He'd rather go hungry than have a man serve his meal.  Has to be a woman.  He goes hungry a lot.

* He has some hang up about bathrooms, and every time he uses one before eating he decides not to eat after all because the restroom is "so disgusting".  Even when the bathroom is quite clean, as i can attest, having used it minutes before him on most occasions.  Maybe he should eat FIRST....

* He refused to use one of the plastic spoons i bought (which came in a pack of 30) because he prefers to use his own plastic fork, spoon and knife, which he saves, and which are clear plastic.  He likes to "see" his food.

* He is staunchly opposed to meat and other processed foods because of the chemicals used in them.  But he has no problem eating Doritos or candy bars.  No chemicals there....

* The devil tempts him to eat McDonald's french fries.

Anyway, enough of that.

Just finished my driving shift, having driven through Texas and New Mexico.  On our way to Oakland, Calif with some pig byproducts (an irony that totally disgusts Steve), and then on to Oregon -- i am told -- for a quick stop to get my permanent Commercial Drivers License.  We will then go BACK to Utah, where i will get my truck, and THEN i drive solo back to Oregon for a four-day break.  Whew....  Can't come soon enough.

Why the picture of Darron Thomas? Because he's cool.  And he'll win the Heisman Trophy next year.  Go Ducks!

Stay safe....

KWA

Steve lives in a parallel universe....

The bottom line is just that Steve is simply not a very smart man.

As a driver he gets lost, barely knows east from west, can't read a map and doesn't read road signs well.  What am i doing here??

Let's see, what was today's latest....  Oh yes, i remember.  He is a musician.  He plays over 30 instruments including the bassoon, oboe, trombone, saxophone, piano, drums, guitar, etc.  How a poor, fatherless black man from the Baltimore ghetto (by his own description) learned to play the bassoon and 29 other instruments is beyond me, but i'll choose to give him the benefit of the doubt.

What i find harder to believe is that he has written over 400 songs that are "really good" and that they will make him a millionaire (so why are you driving a truck, Steve...?).  He has a rickety old guitar that is missing a tuning peg and simply will NOT stay in tune that he broke out this evening to pick on some blues.  And no, it was not very good.  He asked me to tune it for him first. I asked him to play one of his songs, but his response was, "Oh  no, those are private.  M-m-m."  I didn't have the energy to inform him that it's hard to make money on songs if you won't play them for people.  But of course, he was worried that i, as a fellow musician, might "steal" them, so he could not expose his works of genius to an unscrupulous competitor for fear of losing the millions of dollars that are rightfully his.

The chatter and the logic go on like that non-stop, people.  I am thoroughly exhausted by him. I have GOT to get off of this truck.  He also does nothing but badmouth CR England, which gets to be a downer when i'm already in a cranky mood from his constant babbling.

Drove through an unbelievably wicked rain and lightening storm in North Carolina this evening.  Visibility was almost zero, even with the wipers on high speed.  Glad to have found a Flying J truck stop.  Got showered and feel a little better.

Steve is asleep.  The only time he shuts up.  I may put a pillow over his face tonight.... God help me.

Stay safe.....

KWA

Who would win....

Steve's wisdom:

Who would win between an elephant and a rhino?  The elephant.

Who would win between a tiger and a lion?  The lion.

Why won't he eat McDonald's french fries?  Because they are cooked in whale grease....

Stay safe....

KWA

Steve's continuing monologue....

Haven't blogged for a couple of days as there really hasn't been that much to say.  Can't say the same about Steve -- for whom there is ALWAYS something to say. He basically reads every single billboard and store name, says it out loud and has something to say about it.  For example, "oh Fred Meyer.  My cousin used to work for Fred Meyer, and did you know that the real Fred Meyer was really a satanist who made a pact with the devil to start his grocery business?"  (this story is obviously made up, but it's the type of thing he would say, as it usually includes an outlandish and questionable anecdote he has "researched" because he likes to "study" things).

This is Steve, not Ray Charles, to the left, catching him mid-monologue on some topic.  I had to snap the picture surreptitiously, as he will NOT have his picture taken.  He even stuck his head out of the passenger window, turning away when we were at a receivers window that had a camera installed to view the drivers who were coming through the gates.  Drivers are definitely weird people.

Let's see, recent topics have included the conspiracy behind Bruce Lee's murder by Kung Fu leaders, Jackie Chan being a Buddhist monk who doesn't cut his hair, an inmate having his eye popped out by a fellow prisoner while Steve was watching, a friend of his beating up 40 cops at once, being able to jump over a car because of his Kung Fu "chi", bears being all over the state of Pennsylvania, how to kill a pitbull that's attacking you, and who would win in a fight between an alligator and a hippopotamus (the answer is a hippo, by the way).

And the answer as to how to kill a pitbull is to shove your hand down its throat and pull out its heart.  "You'll  get bit a lot, but you'll live to tell the tale."

Omg....

Oh, and he's terrible with directions.  He's gotten us lost at least twice, including last night while i was driving (i was furious because i was tired), and as i write this he has announced that he thinks he may have missed an exit because he wasn't paying attention but he's not sure.

Anyway, as previously said, i'll still take his talking over someone who has no patience and is mean-spirited.

Driving through Indiana now on way to Illinois with a load from the Pennsylvania Hershey plant.   May have only one more run until being dropped off in Salt Lake to pick out a truck and then home time!

Stay safe everyone....Don't text and drive.

KWA

Phase 2 in full swing....

Finally.....  I have my Phase 2 trainer and we are on the road!  I hoped for a nice guy, and i sure got that.  His name is Steve (with no other names!) and he couldn't BE more pleasant, considerate or patient.  I've learned more today than in the last month with my Phase1 trainer.  He's great and we get along really well.

However, all good things come with a slight downside.  The downside is that he is the chattiest individual i've ever met.  He truly  never stops talking.  I can't even give a fair description of his ramblings right now, except to say that it is an absolute stream-of-consciousness monologue.  Whatever pops into his head he says and it is the most ADD, unassociated stuff you've ever heard.  I tried to remember it all but it's a complete blur.  However, it usually comes around every 20 minutes or so to his Kung Fu that he has practiced for 20 years, being a strict vegetarian (who eats Doritos) or his family, which is all screwed up with drugs, alcohol and gangs. Even his 300 lb mother is a heavy (literally) consumer of Bacardi rum and once got so drunk that she stabbed his brother.  He finally had to leave Baltimore to get away from all of it, being a very Christian man, and that's what led him to trucking.  But he also plays bass guitar and prefers the notion of being in a band and making money that way.

He doesn't have the best short-term memory and i am constantly having to remind him of things he just told me to do or to remember (which is funny, because i've never been accused of having a great memory myself).  But he always appreciates it when i do.  It is quite exhausting, but i have to remind my self that i'd prefer his foibles to the alternative of having a jerk for a trainer.  He's also a very good teacher, even though i'm only his second student, and he has already improved my downshifting immeasurably.  All in all, i'm pretty thrilled.

I have to say, though, that it's a little intimidating knowing that 10 days from now i'm going to be on my own, and you wouldn't believe all the things you have to do and pay attention to as a truck driver -- especially the computerized logs and electronic messages you have to continually send back to the mother ship.  It is REALLY complicated and i'm terribly afraid of making big mistakes.  I have to look at it philosophically, though, and realize that i WILL make mistakes and no matter what they won't take away my birthday, so it's all good.

Anyway, we're currently in Idaho and leaving tomorrow for Pennsylvania.  I'm expecting to be home in just under two weeks, so that's a huge light at the end of the tunnel.  Hope everyone is well.

Stay safe....

KWA

No more tests!!

Well, i took my last written test, and....failed it.  Thankfully, you get a second shot at it before they send you home, and i passed it the second (and last) time.  Whew.  Which means all my testing is DONE. Feels somehow anticlimactic, since it seems all we've done is go from one test to another....

Now i am just waiting for my Phase 2 trainer to give me a call.  He is supposedly here at the Salt Lake City facility (as am I), but when i tried to call his cell it was not accepting calls.   So i need to wait on him to call me.  My god, we do a lot of waiting here.  And we're also hearing so much negativity about the company that it's hard to stay upbeat, even when you reach a milestone like passing your final test.  The way everyone bitches you'd think that the company was going under because they can't retain a single driver.  I'm committed to sticking it out though.  I've got to believe that a company that has stayed afloat for over 90 years is doing something right.  So i'm going to simply stick with the program and see what happens.  It's getting to be a pretty tough grind though.  Especially after being away from home for two months.

One bright spot has been my new friend, Junior Fa'apuna (left), a Samoan from Hawaii, who is also here for his Phase 2 upgrade.  He and i met just the other day, but we hit it off like old friends.  He's Mormon, and we've had a great time talking about spiritual matters, trucking, music, women (neither of us understand them) and football (he used to play for the U of W, and is a big Chiefs fan).  But mostly music and spiritual issues.  We've pretty much been inseparable since meeting.  As you can see, Junior is a pretty big guy and apparently he's the smallest in his family, which includes at least one Sumo wrestler, and former all-pro linebacker Junior Seau.

It's been great getting to know Junior, and our conversations have been fun.  Much deeper and philosophical than the usual BS you hear around the pool tables or the lunch room here. He's got his Phase 2 trainer already and leaves tomorrow morning.  I'll miss him, but i'm sure we'll remain friends and will stay in touch.

Once i connect with my Phase 2 trainer i should be out on the road with him for 10 days and then back to  Salt Lake City to lease a new truck.  Then (fingers crossed) home.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Stay safe everyone....  Remember, tread on your drive tires should be no less than 4/32" deep.

KWA