So Much Time....................

So much time has passed since my last update and with the time, an unbelievable amount of miles (aka Travels) and bumps (aka Travails). At times it is very hard to remain optimistic and upbeat, I keep telling myself, things will get better.....I guess if I tell myself this enough it will surely happen - right????

Since my last post, I stayed in Independence MO for a total of 5 days while my trainer stayed out on what turned into a workers comp claim for her hand. It was a difficult week knowing the holiday was in full swing - Memorial Day - and I was losing a week of training time to boot. I was grateful for a little down time but it brought my morale down too.

A REAL PLUS and highlight came in the form of some time with my sis Michelle in Texas. Wow, that was awesome!!!! Actually, I not only saw her once but TWICE!! Each time was very short but MUCH MORE than had I not seen her at all. Michelle has lived out of state for her entire adult life and it was such a joy to visit her in her home with her own family there.

As my training continued and concluded I visited a total of 13 states. Pretty impressive huh? FINALLY - on June 17 I returned to Tunnel Hill GA to complete the process and undergo the testing that I had been preparing for. I took one day off for myself to "re-group" before going and spent it with my Mom and Gen-o. Did me a WORLD of good and recharged my battery. Mom even quizzed me on the written test - just like the old days of school - more years ago than I care to admit! HA HA!

My testing consisted of a 50 question written test, a simulator test with 4 different scenarios, a road test - about 45 minutes of driving, backing of 45 and 90 degrees, blind side and straight line and mapping out a specific route with mileage and fuel stops noted. Believe it or not, I PASSED!! They said I missed 1/2 pt. I don't know what I missed, after all that, I really didn't care. Probably should have checked it out but the instructors seemed very happy so I didn't inquire.

Immediately following the testing I was sent to the equipment manager for an assignment of a truck. Before I could blink, they had me on a bus (oh for joy!!) to Birmingham Alabama to pick up a 2008 Volvo. Wow!! I couldn't believe this!!! This company was actually going to trust me - ME with a piece of equipment like that!!!!! I know I have worked hard and proven myself, just seemed like - WOW!! I MADE IT!!!!

The truck was at a Volvo Truck dealership that stayed open until midnight. I arrived in Birmingham and taxied to the dealership arriving @ 11:50pm. I was met with the keys. That's it. The keys. I know NOTHING about this truck, where I am or where I'm going. I don't know the condition of the truck - mechanically or otherwise. I know I was fortunate enough to have brought a light blanket with me as there were no sheets, pillows, etc. My first SOLO assignment was to pick up a load that was for repower. That may be a common term in trucking but I had never heard it so had to ask for an explanation. Another USX truck was not able to complete a load assignment due to a breakdown. The vehicle was in a locked fence with the bills locked inside. The trailer was outside the fence so I hooked up and made my way to McDonough GA with my first load. No matter what I tried, it turned into a full scale mess as hours and hours were spent waiting for the bills to come from the shipper. The original arraignment was for the USX driver to get the bills out of the truck and fax them to the destination company. I have no idea what happened but do know that the papers were not faxed. My appointment was for 7:30am. I was on time but my papers did not arrive until after 5pm. What a horrible first trip. Actually, it was just a beginning to what was nothing short of a difficult, long, stressful and "WHY AM I DOING THIS" solo journey. I couldn't seem to get home but instead further and further away from home. I was still interested in the awesome places I was going but after 2 days shy of 8 weeks on the road without home time, it was hard to appreciate some of the beautiful places I was visiting.

During my solo trips I went to an additional 9 states. That's 22 states I have worked in since starting my "Travels and Travails" journey. Holy Cow!!! Hard to believe!!!

One of my trips was to Westfield MA. The route I was given was to follow I95. Well, I always check out my route before blindly following but somehow, didn't check it completely as I "surprisingly" found myself in the heart of NY. Yep, that's right. I95 takes you straight into the Bronx. Yes, I said THE BRONX!!! H E L P!!! I am a new driver!! Someone must be laughing like crazy over what they did to me!!! This is NUTS!! Then I see the signs for the Holland Tunnel. WHAT???????????????? And now I'm on the George Washington Bridge! Surely this is all a cruel joke!!!! Further north on I95 is New Rochelle. If I am not mistaken, Rob and Laura lived there. You remember them of course! The Petree's on The Dick VanDyke Show.

Finally, F I N A L L Y on the eve of 6/28 I got to come home. It was for about 11 hours and then I had to complete the last leg of this trip which was to SC. I was so exhausted and the receiver took over 5 hours to unload my trailer. It was more than I could handle. On the way back I was 40 minutes away from home and could go no further. I had to pull off in a rest stop at 3am to take, what I had hoped to be a 30 minute nap. It turned into 3 hours. Guess I was a bit tired.

I took my truck to the Lexington terminal for a check up as some warning lights had been coming on. I left the truck with them and came back to pick it up on 7/2. I got an assignment and realized then that the issues I had taken the truck in for had not been repaired. Crazy me, I did not check some of the obvious things when I picked the truck up, like the navigation system. I was so anxious to get back to some home time that I failed to follow safety procedures and take care of business and not just "trust" that someone else would take care of what was important to me. So, off I went on this assignment with a broken/not fixed navigation system. I was no more than 20 minutes from home when a horrifying event happened to me. I lost total 100% power to my truck. No steering, no brakes, nothing! I was so horrified I could hardly breathe!!! I was going into a slight curve when this happened and just before a bridge that is known in the area to be one that needs to be repaired. I had to fight with all my power to get this beast off the road and stop my shaking! I didn't know whether to stay put or continue my trip which was to go to Charlotte, at the SC line. I did continue on and lost power many more times. I became aware of what to look for and could recognize when this was going to happen. I made it to Charlotte and picked up my load and was coming back toward Lexington with Raleigh as my destination. I could not go more than 5 miles without a power failure. It was miserable and of course I am aware, dangerous. I finally got the the LX terminal and they took a look at it. They found some issues and fixed them. Within a little over an hour I was back on my way toward Raleigh. No longer had I started to relax but - boom - another fault code and here we go again. I lost power again. I turned around at the next exit and went right back to the terminal. That is where I left the truck overnight and the entire next day. They were not able to find anything wrong after running every diagnostic test possible. I went with the tech for several test runs with different scenarios. We ran bobtail and then went back to get a trailer trying to recreate the fault code but could not get it to fault. Took it back for the maintenance history to be run and found what had been done and I got the mileage for the coming PM work. Got two new rear tires and my navigation system repaired. After a little over 9 hours at the terminal, I called into dispatch to make myself available. I am pooped but need to get back out on the road. No miles equals NO MONEY!! Doesn't take lots of thinking to figure out that I have to get back out on the road. So, with all this time today, thought I would try to catch up on updates to anyone who may be interested. I am hoping for a brighter journey this coming trip out. Wish me luck.........until next time................keeping it between the lines.............