Trip 003

Well, we're on our way back from the big city. We dropped off our load of hay to we were bringing to the New Ulm area yesterday. What happened since then... hmm well right after we left the drop spot Dad was having trouble with the truck, the brights were not working and the blinker wouldn't work correctly either. He decided that the problem with the brights was that the headlights weren't on so I got online to find a Freightliner repair shop for the blinkers.

They acted like a kid pretending to be sick to miss school and strangly started to feel better once they heard we may have to find a doctor to fix them. We got through the trafic in Minneapolis and to the place in Mounds View I was supposed to be staying at for the next year and started packing. My sister and her friend also volenteerd some time and effort to help me carry and pack. These are also the same two who got my car outta the truck stop long term parking, before it got towed to the impound lot's long term parking. THANK YOU SO MUCH KACE. You were a huge help! I hope I get a chance to help her some day :)

We were leaving my place and on the radio happened to be home by chris daughtry. It was a pretty emotional feeling hearing that song and just assessing everything that was going on in my life... I spilled a couple, but it was brief and I got a txt from a friend that's timing was just perfect (Thanks ;))

We wen't out to Buffelo Wild Wings for dinner that night, played the trivia game and dad and I got our pictures taken with the BW's crowns, I grabbed a princess one, but didn't notice until my sister pointed it out.

This morning the plan was to get set up with a new broker and take a load of cement walls and the stuff from my place through SD to Dakota Dunes, but this morning I missed a couple phone calls from our broker because my phone was on vibrate and I didn't know she was going to be getting ahold of us. But I guess we were too late getting to a fax machine and lost the load. UGH, I felt terrible. I'll have to leave my phone off vibrate at night.

We found a couple of partial loads to combine to get us back home. We finished loading the first partial and got a call from the second one. Long story short (because I don't really know what all was said over the phone) but something about... It's Friday, they're going home early, sorry for messing up your plans. So now we're almost to Worthington with my stuff and a partial load of these huge drilling tools.

I have some pictures I'll post after a bit when I can get them off my phone.

Home Again, Jigidity-Jig

Well we just dropped off the last of the bricks to Hebron Co. in Sioux Falls and are headed home to get some food. It's been a long day and we're both tired. 6:30am was a pretty early start [for me], did get to see the sunrise, but my Mt. Dew hadn't fully kicked in and forgot to take a picture of it. I ALMOST forgot to take a picture of this load of bricks too. Luckuly for you all, here they are.

The bricks being used for the new Sanford building in Sioux Falls. The old Seminary across from Augustana College. I should have marked one of them with something unnoticeable unless I knew what to look for and go back years from now once it's all put together and say "I helped bring THAT brick here!" It wouldn't be a momentous day in my future, but full of memories. I'm sure I'll still go back or happen by it just to see exactly where these 8x8 bricks from Kansas Brick and Tile were actually used for.

We got to this work site pretty easily, Dad didn't quite believe the directions we were givin but we made it. Going back in my posts, remember when I talked about city drivers? Tonight we had another run in with a 'cell phone using, mirror makeup checking, totally oblivious' female city driver and dad gave me my next piece of Trucker Wisdom. "When you're driving, pay attention to driving." [Refering to all sexes :)]

I could find any deep intellectual way to apply "When you're driving, pay attention to driving." to my life, but I'd like to see who all is reading. PLEASE post a comment on this post and tell me how I could apply it. Truckers aren't the only people in this world with wisdom, let's see what you got. ;)

"When you're driving, pay attention to driving." TruckerWisdom.

The Truck That Can Float - 002

We decided that the trip from Cloud Ceramics to Sioux Falls was a little dry, so we decided to see if we could float the truck across the Missouri River on the South end of Yankton, SD. If you have ever seen the old rickety bridge that we'd had to cross, you would know that either way was a risk.

I said we'd sink like a 'Semi Truck full of bricks', since that's literally what we were.

I posted some photos of our floating adventure of the GPS so you can see, we did make it across!




I guess that doesn't prove we made it across, but kinda fun to watch that little GPSmobile swim it's way to the other side of the river.

Truth is, the old bridge in Yankton was discontinued for a newer updated model that our handy navigator didn't know about, so we crossed the new bridge completely dry and unharmed. Here's a picture of the new bridge.

Trip 002, Back to the Heartland

Well, my second official trip post. We picked up a load of bricks from a couple places in Kansas. One place called Kansas Brick and Tile and the second half at their sister company, Cloud Ceramics. We're taking them back to Sioux Falls, SD! A couple of updates:

Dad felt lonely with his hurting finger, so accidentally squished mine between two of our trailer's side wenches, I'll post a picture of the situation, but my fingers don't look bad enough to be honored by a picture.

We stopped last night and ate at the truck stop Bosselmans in Salina, KS. Which leads me into my next piece of advice I've gained. I guess I don't really know if I actually gained anything, or just a reaffirmation of my already pretty good people skills.

Imagine this, we're sitting down in a booth to look through the menu, already a bit disgusted by the story on the news about an anti tolerant Gay and Lesbien group raiding the Sunday services with chants and flyers of an Evangelical Church in Michigan. OK... FIRST OF ALL! How does this help a cause? If they wanna go after some of the biggest anti homosexual groups, don't interupt their service and yell in their face; be tollerent for the sanctity of a Church Service and save the pickets and leaflets for the political arguments downtown or even outside the church... What really gets me, is when these people came into the service that morning, leaflets hidden; I'll bet 10 to 1 they were welcomed with a smile and a handshake by the people who apparently hate them so much.

So I was a little peeved at parts of society even before I had gotten my water. Then we were waited on by a nice lady who wasn't mean or gruff or aggitating in ANY WAY in my opinion. She took our orders and we waited. I played the triangle peg game on the table, completed it down to one peg once, but couldn't repeat. From behind us, a lady started to slam her coffee cup onto the table instead of politly asking for some assistance.

She filled her cup and was obviously a little angry with the lady at the tables 3 year old behavior and when she came back to our table we said, "Don't let them people get to you!" the waitress smiled and gave us a 'I didn't know what I did wrong or how to make it right' looks and dad and I nodded to reassure her she didn't do anything wronge and she wouldn't be able to do anything to make it right with them.

OK, I could live with it, but it did draw my attention to their table and here's what I saw: They were a couple in their early 50's. Dad says "Angry people always seem older." so it could have been much less, because they were pretty angry. The man had a mullet that would make Macgyver jealous, with a traditional trucker cap (even though I wonder if he wasn't a local) and the smell of smoke lingered around him. The wife sat across him in a booth type table. They wouldn't have been able to sit side by side if they wanted to, she was a large lady. I would assume she was having the buffet, which featured all the ribs and fried chicken she could handle.

OK, I could live with the cup banging and the almost movie-esque whitetrashyness about them, but what happened next blew my mind. The waitress brings out the guys dinner, supprising to me he had orded a taco salad. They brought it out in the traditional crispy edible bowl, it looked full of toppings, good green fresh lettuce and we couldn't see what inspired him to proceed to yell at the waitress for a number of things she didn't have control of and also yelled at her because his taco salad wasn't in a soft shell.... WHAT?! Who serves taco salads in a softshell bowl?! Come to think of it, I don't even know how that would work...

The waitress got the manager and they left from view. I hope they fill out a comment card and never come back, business owners don't need to deal with people like that, who are professional swindlers. Who can make a big deal out of anything in their meal to get it free and have learned the unfortunate truth, that they can get away with it. Anything to shut them up and get them out the door.

Everyone in our sectional felt terrible for the waitress and about 5 booths either appologized to her, or added a couple more extra dollars to make up for the couple who obviously left with a free belly full of ribs and chicken and didn't leave any tip. The waitress asked why she "Can't take them to the back and shoot them, just this once?" we didn't have a great answer why not to shoot them, but adviced against it anyway.

Again, reaffirmation of things I already am that I can't take for granted.

On a lighter note, here's how they transport bee's! :)

All Quiet on the Colorado Front

Well, we finished Load 001 yesterday. We traveled to Calhan and saw Pikes Peek in the background that added some natural beauty.



We delivered the mowers to a large turf farm out in the middle of no where, but despite the remote location, the equipment they keep is pretty impressive. I had never seen turf tires, I only am familiar with the tractor tires that make a lopsided "y" shape.



Here you can see the type of mower we brought down attached to one of the turf tire tractors, they look more like road tires very flat, not to disturb or destroy the precious grass. We talked to their 'farm manager' and got a little tour of the operation. Here is a picture of the all important turf cutter:



If you click on the picture and see the enlarged version, you can see beneath the lower roller, the knife that cuts under the ground and slices the roots in half, enough to allow them to keep growing in the turf that's cut, but also leaving enough to regrow in their "Turf Circles". [They are circle shape because the sprinkler system is a permanent and they just grow what they can water, like the big hand on a clock in a square frame.]

Dad is hurting a bit on account of a hyper extended right ring finger. My same finger was sprained my Senior year of High School during a football game and has never been the same, mine always hurts at the middle knuckle, I think his is hurting all the way up to his elbow. Here's a picture, If you can't tell it's the swollen one that's shades of purple, blue and in some fortunate places, still skin toned.



We just left our truck stop this morning and are less than ten minutes on the road and leaving the little "Flyin B's" behind us for a stop that may have an oil parking lot a little closer to a civilization. Not that I'm extremely excited about that. Last night was quiet and secluded. Here's some of the surrounding area.



But the night sky was awesome, with not lights or clouds to disturb it, the bright dots were accentuated by the dark blue and engulfing black around them. The almost full moon did hinder our view a bit, but I was willing to suffer through, since it was a Waxing Moon and looked to twice the normal size.

We drove toward pikes peek giving us a couple more looks before we turned and headed a different dirrection and now we can watch the peek in the distance again, dunno what one it is. Here's a couple more of Pikes.



Well this post was more for pictures than anything. Hope you enjoyed the posts and pictures, hopfully we wont be the only truckers at the next stop and I'll maybe get some more Trucker Wisdom.

Icy Road Wisdom - 001

Today, we started out at around 3:30am. I stayed in bed, but got up around 7:30 and we had made it into Colorado. It started off OK and the sun was coming up; a nice golden morning... that didn't last long. Before I knew it we moved from dry roads to a sort of frost.


After the frost, we came to snow and slushy roads, the further West we drove, the colder the air got; slush turned to ice and we found ourselves in the back of a long line of cars and trucks being escorted by a highway patrol. One driver said "I feel kind of Presidential being escorted like this." I didn't feel his enthusiasm. The roads were glazed over and we moved our right side onto the shoulder for more traction. Those behind us must have thought it was a good idea and followed suit.

We didn't have to go long before the CB was chattering with talk of more bad roads to come, drivers in the ditch and Coops (weigh stations) being "Open with a smile". Sarcasm comes naturally to most drivers who talk on the CB. [That last sentenced reminded me that I never knew what "CB" stood for. Google will surly know. Citizens' Band radio, now you know too. :)]

I grabbed the camera we keep in the truck and hoped to see some of the accidents in the road. I wasn't dissapointed, thought I'd share:



I heard over the radio, from either one of the drivers in the accidents or another one with experience in the matter, and inadvertently got my first official piece of Trucker Wisdom. in regards to icy roads; "Stay the hell off them brakes, and don't accelerate!" How can this be applied to my life?

"Stay the hell off them brakes, and don't accelerate!" I think to me this means that sometimes when the road is icy, don't be in a hurry to stop, but don't be in a hurry to rush either. Take every situation one step at a time and try and predict the outcome. Once you have the firm knowledge of the situation it turns into instinct and instead of having to judge each situation in your life, you instinctively know if you should stop what you're doing or thinking; or to press forward. When instincts are the right one, you're a better person for it.

We ended up stopping at a Truck stop in Limon, one mile after the second spin out. I went in and heard an 'old timer' talk either about the first accident we had seen, or one previous in his life. I couldn't be sure which. I sat down hoping to over hear more and got a coffee from the waitress. She was as classic looking as any truck stop waitress, old and hard with hands molded to a coffee pot. We had breakfast, which seemed more like lunch time to dad, I'd forgotten that he's already been up since 3 driving.

"Stay the hell off them brakes, and don't accelerate!" Trucker Wisdom.

Trip 001

I'm going to start posting on this trip, I suppose it's about third in our quest to my successful Part Deux, but I didn't get pictures taken from the other ones and I was still trying to get things arranged and organized.

A bit of catch-up: I met up with my dad in the big city and left my car at a truck stop (now about a week and a half later, may or may not have been towed away to who knows where, I'll keep you updated) We are on our way to a place in Colorado called Calhan. Here's our pickup. 3

Before this we had a shipping container, 9 Air Compressors and a Gehl load that the obviously non farm raised dispatch lady described as "Little Tractors" which ended up being one Telescopic Handler, like this one.I still have yet to ask for any Trucker Wisdom, but today as we sat eating our lunch in the truck, we heard over the CB two guys talking about their lifes and where they were and where they came from. One guy was 45 and the other 55 and were talking about how they never listened to anyone growing up and this and that.

I kinda wandered back in my memory which is about only half as long as these guys'. But looked at some of the times I didn't listen to those around me. I started easily picking out the wise people in my life, I've had a lot. I started thinking about in a different life how things could have wound up. Nothing to spectacular, but no court. I listened in and took what I could from it, they were each on their 3rd marriage and reaffirmed to myself that I wanted to do it right the first time, whenever that is.

Shortly after we started loading the trailer. We backed up to a portable load ramp and started chaining and strapping down as fast as we could to keep up. We ended up leaving probably 2 hours later with 7 straps, 6 chains and some duck tape holding everything down.

On every load I continue to learn and feel more comfortable with what needs to be done, and each time I unintentionally take on one extra task that I didn't know before. I've learned that our trailer is a 53 foot Step Deck trailer. Which means it has one step and 2 levels in it (opposed to a 'double-drop' or 'low boy' that has 2 steps and 3 levels or flatbed with just one level). Some of the things I've learned, are how to correctly secure a straphook onto the trailer and wench it down, how to correctly fasten chains down, call in trip numbers and to release chain tighteners.

If you know how to do it, it may seem silly that I am proud to know how. But let's think, if I do any of them wrong, we could lose something of the trailer on the Interstate, I could lose a finger releasing a chain or if something gets messed up on an order, we may travel across a state and a half only to arrive and realize we got the wrong stuff!

Slowly my hands are remembering what physical work is like and even after a few days the smoothness is being transformed to dry rough patches. I hated having soft hands and glad they are leaving me for a more friendly replacement. 4 years in front of a computer will brainwash your hands from getting dirty and digging into to what needs to be done.

Anyway, just a quick one for now, I'll be posting nightly or whenever I feel the need from now on and will have a more detailed description of what's happening and more Trucker Wisdom.

Got - R - Did!

I'm on the road, I don't know for how long, and I don't know where I'll be at the end of any given day. I am a Professional Semi Truck Rider and I'm on the open road traveling across the U.S. and I'm starting a little project called TruckerWisdom. Maybe truckerwisdom.com some day, for now, I'll start with the blog and see where it takes me. At no particular time or place, I'll be asking truckers for pieces of wisdom they've learned on the road, throughout life or maybe even read on a bumper sticker.


I saw a truck at a truck stop the other day that had a quote opposite Larry the Cable Guy's "Get-R-Done" that I thought it would be appropriate for the first Title to my TruckerWisdom Blog and personal accounts of being on the road, because I finally started the blog after about a week and a half of procrastinating! A little background: My name is Chase, I'm 23 years old, college graduate (B.S. in computer graphic design) and pristine in all ways... yeah right.

Like all college students I was very much involved with my school and community. Along with being a respected member of the Resident Life staff for two years, student senate president for one, 4 year member of the "work to put yourself through college" club, I was charter member of many on campus groups. Unfortunately, some of my extra curricular activities off campus were not as pleasing to the Resume.

I had slipped away from my High School, B-I-B-L-E singing lifestyle into the much more dangerous and costly lifestyle of alcohol and substance abuse. At the time it was a 'phase'; in my mind. Now it's a costly and stressful cycle of court dates, attorney calls, questions and the thought of 'I wish this were all just a bad dream.' Well it isn't. I won't go into all the nitty gritty's but my 'phase' was abruptly halted by a police officer, drug test and felony charge.

Now, I had some decesions to make. Before anything involving the 'Red and Blues' whaled into my life, my plan was to move to the 'big city' and get a job and start my new life. My life had taken a drastic change since my new life plan ever really got a chance to start. Hence, new life Part Deux. Part Deux starts with moving home. I'm still working on getting all the details sorted out at my 'big city' house, but that will hopfully come in time. ANYWAY.

Why am I trucking you may ask? Well, I'm really not. I'm more riding. My father is owner/operator of his own Semi and travels all over most of the U.S. I always found the idea of traveling everyday to new places very inticing. I think it makes the world feel less small to me... Or myself less small in the world. Knowing that you can cross 3 states in a day or two without flying? I don't think some of the suberbians in the 'big city' have ever even considered it, and God willing, they never do. Keep those city drivers to their commute and distance plane vacations and out of our way.

If you're wondering, this WAS my choice and actually asked to go on the road two days before my 'training session' at a job I was hired at (which included passing a drug test! [a little personal monument]) So I'm considering this my "Year off, after college." I've already been to Mexico, South America, Canada and Europe; so now, I'm going trucking and excited about it! My task's include mangled duties of a secritary, bookkeeper, map reader, roommate, physical laboror, mile counter, computer programer, photographer and two of the more important ones: conversation partner and son.

I have been in the same place, with the same people, with the same thoughts, with the same attitudes and the same EVERYTHING for far too long. Don't get me wronge, these people are my friends and I'll always cherish them, but I know they aren't mad at what I say becuase $10 says they feel the same way! Ready for change. (Different thank Obama's change -- [Lord protect us all])

And this is how I'm changing my life. Going on the road, seeing the country and learing from Trucker Wisdom.