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It’s taking a while to clean things up. I usually don’t take this much time off in one stretch, but I’m getting a lot done. Oil and filter change, check. 580,000 miles on the odometer. It took a four foot cheater bar to loosen the drain plug for the differential case. READ MORE...

This will change once you start driving a truck... Truck Stops and the Interstate are not Quiet places! It is amazing the noise level out here and all of the different noises that we hear all day and night. The sounds never stop unless we are lucky enough to park at a customer’s lot that’s...

I posted my freight diary during the month of March. This is the final list for March. I started listing the numbers to show what a good string of loads looks like. It ended up being one of my best months ever. READ MORE...

Out of Service, spring cleaning. The record setting month of March didn’t give me much time for housekeeping, so as usual I use the early parts of the month or better yet the early part of the quarter to take a few days off to catch up. Rolling into my final parking place my check engine and...

Changing one kind of stress for another, desk job to holding a steering wheel each day. This discussion of stress came up the other day and it caught me by surprise, as it is something I do not think about often. One study I looked at listed truck driving as 8th on the list of most dangerous...

A Look Both Ways into Regulated Alcohol and Controlled Substance testing. This post of Looking Both Ways is about the Federal Regulations contained in 49CFR Part 382 – Controlled Substances and Alcohol Use and Testing. Back in the mid 1990’s the government mandated drug and alcohol testing of...

For anyone that follows my blog they know I am a believer in continuing education and I am constantly trying to learn more about the trucking profession and to keep our business profitable. Years ago in our first year of Expediting I enrolled in CABS (Course for Advanced Business Standards)...

A couple weeks ago, Gene mentioned his recent serpentine belt failure which prompts me to revisit my original dealings with belt issues. Summed up, if I change one part of the belt group, I replace all the components. At 200,000 miles, the original serpentine belt was crumbled and cracking. I...

After twenty years of marriage this is how we became part of the truck driving community. Bob hit me with this brilliant idea 16 years ago and I gave him one of those looks. When Bob switched jobs from being a car mechanic to a diesel mechanic MANY years ago I could not wait to learn to drive...

For drivers and non-drivers, I’ve put together a history of my freight for the month of March. March has been busy for me, so I thought I would compile a snapshot of the work. READ MORE...

Some Challenges we go through as Team Drivers. What a change from our former lifestyle. Normal routine before trucking was to get up before the rest of the household, brew a pot of coffee, settle down with a cross stitch picture I was working on for about 45 minutes before it was time for the...

Busy month, better start for the year. Low clearance. I came across a clearance that I couldn’t make in Warsaw, Indiana. The gps screams at other truck restrictions but never saw this one from either side. READ MORE...

We get some of the funniest looks and comments about our Trailer Tail. Our favorite story is while pulling onto a base to unload we were directed to the line for inspections. In a few minutes one of the young MP's with his dog came over and told us to get into the line to be taken back and...

The best way to view Semi-tractor expediting. This post of Looking Both Ways will enter the world of Expediting in the larg est freight moving vehicles on the highway – the semi-tractor trailer combination. The tractor-trailer combination is trucking in the superlative form. Writing about...

This year at MATS the MATS Driver Health Awareness Walk will be a little different then it has been in the past. We will have a destination walk over to Churchill Downs about 1/2 mile away from the Papa Johns parking lot. The walk will start near the TA/Petro Shower Trailer and the OOIDA...

I was out of service most of February. One of the issues I eliminated was a bad turbocharger. From the end of December and into January I spent much of my time going into and out of Florida. I didn’t fight it, because everywhere else was under bad weather. My last trip out of Florida was with a...

Ice Road Truckers - Stuck on I-55 and I-44 for almost 30 hours before finally breaking free. We were a decent looking load was offered and accepted on Friday for a Monday pickup and would get us back in the freight lanes. When we looked at the route for our pickup we realized that we would be...

Getting ready to drive for eleven hours can be time consuming... Bob usually wakes me up about a half hour before I start driving so I can prepare. Yes it takes me that long to gather all of my necessary items so that there will be no need to bother Bob or stop to often once my shift starts...

The puddle of oil that has been following my van the past year is gone. February was only a three load month, and it was still productive. Most of February was consumed by jury duty, time in the shop and bad weather. The time in shop was the most productive. I finally managed to nail the oil...

This has not happened to us but the stories are endless of one team driver calling the other one saying, 'HEY, you left without me!' This problem of losing a team partner usually happens when the person driving stops for a rest break, comes back out to the truck, starts the truck, puts it in...