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Finally time to leave home after our Christmas vacation and the year starts out COLD. We headed up to Davenport, IA for our first load of the year early as we were watching the weather around our house and we were going to get a lot of snow. The weather also mentioned that Davenport was going...

A new development--generating electricity from snow. Just kidding. This is just an example of the solar panel’s capability. The kind of weather we’re seeing this week in Michigan puts me at the limits of my solar powered set up. With heavy cloud cover and snow that the snow removal crews had...

After Christmas I finally had a chance to visit the South Carolina Artisans Center in Walterboro, SC. I originally spotted one of their billboards on Interstate 95 about three years ago. Last year I made it as close as the parking lot before I was rolling on a load. After Christmas I finally...

A comment was posted after the last blog (Riders in Your Ride) by a reader who remembers when trucking was fun. It made me contemplate if at any time I have had fun while at work within the trucking industry. I’ve worked in the most mundane, dry, technical and regulated sector of the industry. I...

Knowing what was done in the past helps plan for the future. In our operation spreadsheets are one of the tools we use to make decisions. Spreadsheets are easy to create and easy to maintain with very little effort. There are several that are used in our business and here are a couple...

Given the large number of people dumped from private health insurance plans to “ObamaCare”, formally known as the “Affordable Care Act”, I thought I’d end the year by talking about how Deductibles can affect us in ways we might not always consider. Your Deductible on an insurance policy is...

Jill kept telling me to turn right. GPS routing instructed me to take the bridge over the river, make a u-turn and come back across the river. READ MORE...

Sometimes second chances work out for the best... This friendship started out rocky on both sides and through a set of circumstances we had to give each other a second chance. What we realized was the first impressions, first thoughts, and what we had heard was not really the way it is...

Merry Christmas. Michigan is having a White Christmas. READ MORE...

I followed this weather system from Del Rio, Texas to Detroit. I ran the diagonal just where the ice met the rain and still managed to stay on my less-miles route. Here is a sample of fuel prices from Texas to Michigan: READ MORE...

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and save travels! READ MORE...

There I was… two weeks and only making my second fuel up and only 25 loaded miles on my account… Muncie, Indiana to Laredo, Texas. 1280 miles in 28 hours. I have that route down pretty well. READ MORE...

We no longer stand with other drivers while waiting for our shower number to be called. I downloaded the TA/Petro Truck Smart iPhone App and now I book our showers from the truck. The app is available on other smart phones so check the web site to see what is available. With the app I...

In all of our years involved with trucking I have yet to meet what the truck stop counter drivers call a Real Trucker. I looked up a few definitions of truck drivers and here are my results: Dictionary.com Truck Driver - A person who drives a truck Wikipedia - Truck Driver - is a person who...

Last week I spoke about my improvised strategy to get through the wave of ice that swept across the country. I ended up working on the one load longer than I’ve ever sat on a load. Thursday to Monday was the original span from call to pickup. READ MORE...

This post of Look Both Ways will discuss the realities of having riders in your Commercial Motor Vehicle. Let’s look at the Federal Regulations regarding passengers, the driver’s perspective, the perspective of the trucking company and the view for the insurance companies. Things are...

We were iced in Fort Worth for a few days and walking to the buildings was a recipe for disaster. An experience in Fort Worth, TX reminded me why we carry some of the things we carry. Many years ago I was very excited to see chains for my shoes actually called Yaktrax but I prefer shoe...

Hi Everyone, For the last few years Load One has supported Wreaths Across America. This year John Elliott, in typical generous form, sponsored 100 wreaths for this year's pledge along with 3 units to help transport over 5,000 wreaths. READ MORE...

We hear this comment way too often and I wonder what in the world are you thinking? There are many reasons to chain and for us it is often a matter of safety or getting out of a bad spot. We just recently were in a bad ice storm in Fort Worth, TX. A very slight hill was causing severe...

Close management and luck may have gotten me through some of the latest deep freeze. Early in the week I made my way from Nebraska to Dallas for jury duty. In Oklahoma I was diverted to Tulsa for a dry run that covered most of my deadhead miles to Dallas. Jury duty on Wednesday took 45...