STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Life Day 21433: Santa Nella Social Call

March 18, 2006 on 8:42 pm | In On The Road |

Sunday, the 12th, I’m still sick. I was given a Deadhead/Equipment re-location Trip to our terminal in Greer, SC. There was evidently no freight available where I was. I left at 1015 and drove to Brunswick, GA. I took a long break here for dinner, then drove on to Greer. I’m still not feeling 100%, so I called it a day. I drove 514 miles in 8.75 hours.
On the 13th, I recieved a Pre-Plan which picked up in Jefferson City, TN and Delivered in Mt. Vernon, TX (145 miles empty and 759miles loaded). I accepted it and left Greer at 0830. I arrived in Jefferson City (Knoxville) at 1115, did the drop/hook pick-up, then drove the 6 miles to Dandridge, TN where I took a break for lunch. I had lunch at Perkins restaurant which is similar to Marie Calenders. Very good. At 1345, I left Dandridge and drove to Denmark, TN (about 70 miles east of Memphis) where I stopped for the night. Still not feeling too good. I don’t seem to have any stamina. I drove 509 miles in 8.75 hours.
I left Denmark at 1000 on the 14th and drove to our terminal in Memphis, TN. I fueled and walked the MMM here, then drove to the Flying J in Terxarkana, AR. I had dinner here. This illness is also sapping my appetite. I could only eat about 1/2 my dinner. After dinner, I took a nice, long, hot shower. It didn’t help much. At 1915, I drove to the Consignee in Mt. Vernon. I did the drop delivery (they had no empties), then drove the 3 miles to a Loves truckstop where I stopped for the night. Still a bit “woozy”. I drove 425 miles in 7 hours.
The 15th was a long day given my frail condition. It began with another Deadhead/Equipment re-location trip from Mt. Vernon to our terminal in Lancaster. I left Mt. Vernon at 0915 and arrived in Lancaster at 1115. Along the way, I recieved a Pre-Plan which picked up at the Lancaster terminal, and delivered in Gilbert, AZ (0 miles empty and 989 miles loaded) which I accepted. I hooked to the loaded trailer, then discovered that it had an additional drop in Fort Worth, TX that didn’t deliver until tomorrow AM. My DM called the Customer and got it re-scheduled for 1400. The trailer I picked up was a real “piece o’ crap”. It had some “fresh” damage (a gouge) to the left rear side which I had to report to the Claims Department.

Also, the seal on the ‘hinge’ side of the right side door was missing and had been “fixed” with aluminum tape. I took pictures with the camera in my “accident kit” and filled out the report to “cover my Butt”. After all this folderol, I drove to the 1st Consignee in Ft. Worth. I had a nice nap while my trailer was being unloaded, then, at 1530, I left Ft. Worth and drove to Tye, TX. I had dinner here, then drove to Pecos, TX where I stopped for the night. I worked 11.25 hours using 13 hours of my 14 hour clock, and drove 560 miles in 9.5 driving hours.
On the 16th, I left Pecos at 1015 and drove to El Paso, TX. I fueled here at the Flying J because fuel was 6 cents per gallon cheaper than at our Terminal, and 3 cents per gallon cheaper than the other truckstops in the vacinity. After fueling, lunch, and a good MMM walk, I left El Paso and drove to Willcox, AZ. I stopped just past Lordsburg, NM and took this picture of the sunset.

You’ll have to take my word that it was even more spectacular 5 minutes prior to this, but there was no place to safely pull over and take a picture. The clouds in the top of the picture were tinged with a golden hue.
Anyway, after a short break in Willcox, I drove to Casa Grande, AZ and stopped for the night. I’m getting better, but still am not strong enough to put in a ‘full day’. I am now able to ‘tough it out’ during the day, but I still have to ‘heavily medicate’ in order to sleep at night. I drove 580 miles in 9.25 hours. I used 12 hours of the 14-hour window.
On the 17th, I left Casa Grande at 0815 and drove to the final Consignee in Gilbert. I did the drop/hook delivery. Shortly thereafter, I recieved a Pre-Plan which picked up at our terminal in Phoenix and delivers in Richmond, CA on Monday, the 20th (24 miles empty and 746 miles loaded). I accepted it, then set off for Phoenix. Here, I did the drop & hook, fueled, walked the MMM, then had lunch. The special was Corned Beef & Cabbage, so I naturally had that. I called brother Donald to find out where he was. He and Lou were just leaving Bakersfield heading back to Palo Alto, so I said that I would come and visit them there since I have an ‘extra’ day on this trip. At least we’ll have a short visit. The MMM really enjoy their backyard. I left Phoenix and drove to Ehrenburg, AZ to walk the MMM, and delineate the change in ’speed limits’ between AZ and CA. I left there at 1800 and drove to our terminal in Fontana where I stopped for the night. I used 13.75 hours of the 14-hour window to drive 397 miles in 7.5 hours. Too much ‘messing around’ at the Phoenix terminal. I saw no Shamrocks, and was unable to capture a Leprechaun to obtain his “pot o’ gold”, so I guess i’ll be back at work tomorrow.
On the 18th, as I was leaving the Fontana Terminal about 1000, brother Donald called to say that his back yard was flooded, so our visit had to be postponed. It would be too muddy for the MMM. Instead we arranged to meet at Pea Soup Anderson’s in Santa Nella for dinner. I arrived at 1615. Don, Lou and Dawn arrived about 45 minutes later. We had a nice dinner. I had the Politically incorrect, but ever so delicious Veal Cutlets, Don had Medisterpolse (Danish Sausage), and Lou and Dawn split an order of Frikadeller (Danish Meatballs). We all had copious quantities of delicious Split Pea Soup. After dinner, we retrieved the MMM from the truck and took a short walk around the grounds. We took the following photographs in front of the restaurant.


The MMM are in the photo top left (Wolfie doesn’t look too Hap-Pea, but Walter is always Pea-Wee). Lou and Don are in the photo top right.
Bottom left is Dawn and Don. Bottom right is Don and yours truly.
About 1930, they left and drove back to Palo Alto. I retired to the truck. I’m going to hang out here for a while.