Kansas to PA.....3hrs sleep, straight throughZZZZZ
Well we got our first truck for the new company, which necessitated myself and the backer driving to Kansas. Trip out was in his ford 'amarillo' edition diesel. we got there,truck wasn't even close. i ended up staying there and completely rewiring ALL the lights. door latch broken, belts squealin. left it there, went to local fleabag motel. mom and pop joint called the 'gable'. the clueless stoner that took our money and gave us the key re=enforced my opinion of 'urban youth'. but I digress.
Now Phil, who is my partner is 77 years old, opens the door....one bed. the look on his face was PRICELESS!
"I said, 'dudue, I like ya but, I'll just sleep over there on the floor"
Back to the desk. "The only way to get 2 beds is 2 rooms' (stoner strikes again). "Wait we gotta rent 2 rooms? "No, we have a room wioth 2 rooms."...Phill: You mean a suite"
anyhoo, back to the shop, new belts on the truck, 40 miles to the local T/A for some lunch. Smell of gearlube. $400 for new bearings and seals and we're off again. 985 miles 3 hours sleep in Ohio, just got through the door. (It's a Hendrickson rubber block rear end with 'Canadian Spread' axles, so the first 500 miles were like the morning after a really bad barfight....Mr Hendrickson, apparently went to the josef Mengele school of engineering).
The upside? We're officially in business! Columbus Ohio, and Kansas city are stunning at night.....got to see the Arch, and Finally at age 43, made it west of the Mississippi! (Phil's take? 'Man you gotta get out more. that's rediculous!" He's in a club in Vegas, and isnsists that we have a couple of junkets there over the course of the year......
Now Phil, who is my partner is 77 years old, opens the door....one bed. the look on his face was PRICELESS!
"I said, 'dudue, I like ya but, I'll just sleep over there on the floor"Back to the desk. "The only way to get 2 beds is 2 rooms' (stoner strikes again). "Wait we gotta rent 2 rooms? "No, we have a room wioth 2 rooms."...Phill: You mean a suite"
anyhoo, back to the shop, new belts on the truck, 40 miles to the local T/A for some lunch. Smell of gearlube. $400 for new bearings and seals and we're off again. 985 miles 3 hours sleep in Ohio, just got through the door. (It's a Hendrickson rubber block rear end with 'Canadian Spread' axles, so the first 500 miles were like the morning after a really bad barfight....Mr Hendrickson, apparently went to the josef Mengele school of engineering).
The upside? We're officially in business! Columbus Ohio, and Kansas city are stunning at night.....got to see the Arch, and Finally at age 43, made it west of the Mississippi! (Phil's take? 'Man you gotta get out more. that's rediculous!" He's in a club in Vegas, and isnsists that we have a couple of junkets there over the course of the year......
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I thought you were getting new trucks???[:0] 0 -
no, My goal was midrange trucks that I can pay off quick. this one was a 92 Western Star....also have a deal on an '02 pete.... go to www.house-of-imports.com, it's the red one at the top left of the page....... 0 -
Where in Kansas were you? 0 -
Im in Fort Riley right now..... shoulda stopped in [:D] 0 -
Dude, you've got one heck of a cool job. 0 -
Rob, we were in Kansas City Kansas. (we lost the bearings at Kansas city MO.)
The PA Oil Patch is very cool...some days.....0 -
Well if you're going to get into trucking, you might as well get used to sleep deprivation.
I once left Tulsa @ 4AM on Dec.22. Delivered in L.A. Calif. @ 10AM on the 23rd. Reloaded in L.A. the same day and was back home in Okla. for Christmas morning. About 6 hrs sleep in 3 days. Taken 1 hr here, 2 there.
Once drove straight thru from Pocatello Idaho to Tulsa. Got home @ 9AM, loaded up the car and went to the Wannenmacher gun show.
Just a couple of MANY such instances.
Drove for a Company out of Springdale Ark. for awhile hauling cheese to the east coast.
Would load on Friday @ Joplin Mo.
Deliver on the east coast (usually Philly area) on Monday AM. That was the easy part.
Then reload on Monday afternoon w/set delivery back in the SW Mo./ NW Ark. area for Weds. AM. Take a day off and go again.
BTW: If you're buying trucks in Kansas and driving them back to PA. How are you handling your state permits?0 -
Will run apportioned plates. The majority of our business will be in the state of PA, but there has been increased activity in the oil fields of NY, so eventually we hope to expand out to there.
Mike is well-familiar with the joys of sleep deprivation. He's been running a pumper truck for four years, working 12,14, sometimes 16 hours a day. During the winter, he works even more, because oil is being pumped a the well 24/7, so Mike is constantly drawing off pumping, or transporting it someplace before it freezes.
He's gotten pretty well adapted to catching a cat-nap in the cab when he can.0 -
It's incredable how much good as liitle a 15 or 20 minute nap can do.
After years on the road, I'm so used to living on naps, it's hard for me to go back to sleep if I am awakened.
He'll need permits for all states between KS and PA on the trip home. Might get lucky and most scales closed. But watch out for OHIO!0 -
That driving all night is for the birds. A friend with bad eyesight asked me to fly to Toronto to the auto auction to, like you, buy a truck. By the time we got out of the auction with a beauty of a Ford F-250 Club Cab it was 4:30 PM and we had to stop in Niagara Falls to get clearance from the broker. Got out of NF at about 7 PM and hit Ashtabula, OH around 2 AM, me driving all the time. Got to KC, Mo. about noon and I was starting to hallucinate. I had a lot of coffee and NoDoz but after a point it did no good. No more all night driving for me. I would never make an over the road trucker. 0 -
Kansas to PA...straight thru....2 drivers from what I read??...
What a bloody wuss....and yes I flippin mean it...I know you have log books, and no more than 8 hrs driving by law (think its law) but come one...I used to leave canada and head for florida NON STOP...and yes I did it many many times....ONE driver, NON stop,....try it sometime....hardest part of the trip?...the georgia to tampa run...longest part of the trip hands down...0 -
State permits? Trucks at Hand put '10/26/07' on the windshield, and the bill of sale and said 'There, that'll do ya fine" (we had it insured before we went out) 6 states, rolled every weigh station fine.
As for 'Hours of service', My log books were 'creative';) the trip out was 2drivers. back was me being followed.
In all honesty, 90% of my driving here is off road. Really off road, and within a 100 mile radius of shop, so we don't run log books. 12 hours is the norm, but if I get on a string, I'll jump from job to job to job, and over the last couple of weeks I've had more than a couple of 36+ hour deals, setting my cell phone for an 11 minute nap while the truck loads, so sleep deprivation is my friend.
Fat strat, you're right about Ohio. morning rush in columbus, and the cops on I-70 are brutal, literally travelling in packs. I felt like a seal in a pack of killer whales. there were Highway patrol cars, locals, sherrifs, state troopers...man talk about 'reveue generating'! Just pathetic. i did 55 the whole way through.0
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