11/05/06

Hello again all, sorry it has been soooooo long since I wrote last.  I simply have to get in the habit of making time to write each day.

Well it has been about 10,000 miles since I spoke with you last and I have put 12 trips to bed since the 12th.  Since that time I was able to spend time with my best friend in the Phoenix area for a couple of days.  Not only was I able to be with a very good friend and his family but I think I was able to help raise his spirits some.  Recently they had a miscarriage and it seemed that my friend had taken it particularly hard.  Not only was I able to help by being his friend but I was also able to give him a blessing, I am also an ordained Elder in the LDS church.  I was able to bless him that he would find the answers to his questions as to why this happened but in the blessing it reminded him who he is in that he is a main pillar in his family and to take strength from the Lord to maintain that strength.  I also blessed him with health, that his asthma would not hinder him in times of need.  I feel that this will be a great help to him but it also helped me.  I was able to feel the burning in my bosom and feel the power from the Lord as I gave him this blessing.  Not only did he and his family gain strength through this blessing but I also gained allot in being the instrument of the Lord in their lives.

Right now I am spending some time with my kids.  Taking advantage to a lull in freight to see them for a couple of day.  I have been given my next assignment that will take me to Denver.  One thing nice about driving in the container fleet is that we not only get the miles to get the cans to the first drop but that can must be returned to where it started.  So we will get round trip miles for each can we take out.  For instance, if I pick up a can at Kodak in Windsor, CO and it goes to Long Beach, CA we then need to get the empty that I get from the port back to Kodak.  SO they will find freight to put in the can to get back to Windsor.

One major pain that I had to deal with this weekend was the replacement of  my power inverter.  For those that don't know what a power inverter is, it is a device that converts the power in my truck with is 12vdc to power that all my appliances, ie microwave, computers, tv, can run on at 120vac.  After 1 1/2 years my 2500watt power inverter died.  It has been acting up and finally gave up the ghost.  Needless to say I had to go to the nearest truck stop and purchase a new one.  $300.00 and 20 minutes later my new inverter was in and working.  Lets hope that this one will last at least as long.  I might buy a spare just to have when this one dies.

11/06/06

Not much really happened today, I just picked up my first part of my load but before that I had to get pallets for a pallet exchange.  I decided that I would call and find out how many I would need to exchange when I got there.  I got a hold of  my first pick up and told them my pick up number.  She then came back and told me that I would need 18 pallets.  I though ok that is much for 9000lbs but we figured it might be a lot of small stuff and can be stacked high which is what would have to be done if it was all to fit on the container, especially since you can only get 22 pallets on at most.  I then called my second pick up and found out that I would be picking up 7 pallets and they can't stack them.  I couldn't get a hold of  P03 so I'll have to wait and see.  At this point it will all depend of what P01 does.  It turns out that they were looking at the wrong order and I only got 4 pallets.  So now I have 20 empty pallets and will have many being how the second pick up doesn't exchange pallets.  With the first pick up being a lot less then what I was told I will have lots of room for the other stops.  Hopefully all will go quickly tomorrow and I will be able to make tracks.  There is a lot of time on this load, it doesn't have to be there till the 10th.  I'll be there early on the 8th so I'm hoping I will be able to drop the trailer at our yard in Denver and someone else can deliver it on Friday, that way I can keep moving.

11/08/06

Yet another load has been completed.  This load was originally scheduled to be delivered on Friday the 10th but I arrived today and went to US Foods to see if by chance they would unload today.  When I got there they took my bills and talked about it.  They decided to take it today instead of Friday which would be busier.  So with that out of the way I'm now on my way to Long Beach, CA with yet another load.  It was late enough that I wasn't going to get very far so I decided to crash at the CRE yard in Denver and get a good start in the morning.  When I got there I ran into another drive in our fleet.  To be honest I'm not crazy about talking with him because it always turns political and he is so much of a democrat it is ridiculous.  There are two problems that I have in talking with him.  First, he never stops talking so he never stops to listen to what others might have to say.  Second, all he was doing was repeating what the far left talking heads rant about.  I have to admit he is well rehearsed in their rhetoric.

11/16/06

So much to say and not enough space to say it.  First for those that are reading this and don't drive a truck.  It is my opinion that the most dangerous place that you can be close to a big truck is directly behind and tail-gating.  The reason I say that is this, if a tire on the trailer where to blow, guess who is going to get the fallout.  If the tread where to peel off you are looking at a piece of rubber that can weight 50 to 75 pounds and that could go right through your windshield.  At least if you are riding alone side you could get out of the way but if you are tail-gating me and a tire blows, your not going to come out of it untouched so back off and follow at a safe distance.

Second, why are people so blind to what is going on in this world.  I see our and other governments doing the Chamberlain moments over and over again.  Why are we trying to apeese Iran.  The President of Iran has plainly stated that ALL the world will either convert to Islam, be a slave to Islam, or be DEAD.  Why is it that our so called leaders don't seem to get it.  Why are they playing with this snake called Iran.  I see that if they keep playing we are going to be bit.  This is what I see, when we cut and run in Iraq, Iran and Syria will swoop in and fill the void.  That will mean that Vietnam will happen all over again.  There will be mass, and I do mean Mass killings of those that wanted a democratic republic.  Iran will not stop there, they will see that we, the USA, are showing weakness and strike us again.  We will have another 911 and I'm thinking it will be bigger than the last one.  I would say that within 2 to 3 years from the time that we start our cut and run we WILL BE HIT AGAIN..  I'm afraid that it might take two hits for America to truly wake up.  We have shown that 911 was nothing more than a pesky mosquito that we swatted and the giant rolled over and fell back to sleep.  What is it going to take to wake the giant.  In the end we will win but at what cost and the cost is just going up as long as our so called leaders keep being STUPID.  What are you going to do.

11/26/06

Well a lot has happened and it's not all good.  Of course Thanksgiving has come and gone and I was able to spend it with my family, ie parents and brothers and sisters.  It is amazing how much everyone changes in such a short time, but then again they can say the same about me.  We all had a great time.  The food was great as usual and it was nice being with everyone again.  Next gathering will be Christmas and my kids will be part of the crowd then.  Other things have also happened.  First the reason for the delay in updating my site here, my computer in the truck here decided to crash and I had to reinstall Windows 2000 and thus reinstall all the programs that I had in before that I wanted to keep using and today I finally got my editing software loaded so I can now edit my web pages.  The next thing that happened was my clutch went out on me and at a most inopportune time.  I was backing into a dock to unload my last load only to find that my clutch wouldn't disengage.  When I pushed in the peddle I heard a pop and then nothing.  It was a good thing that I had a good alignment on the dock because I hit the dock pretty hard.  It is pretty amazing how big of a bang there is when you idle into a dock and can't slow down.  Anyway, after hitting the dock and as a result killing the engine I couldn't get the transmission out of gear because of the pressure between he engine and the dock.  I ended up having to be pulled out away from the dock so the pressure could be taken off the engine.  So far it seems that there wasn't any damage done to the transmission.  After that I dropped my empty can at the yard in Denver and bobtailed all the way back to SLC to have the repairs done.  It is a good thing that I know how to float gears.  Without my clutch all I could so is put it in gear and start the engine.  I'm glad that they designed these trucks with a powerful starter motor.  I had the that replaced two days ago and now I'm good to go.  I'm not looking forward to the size of the bill but I'm very glad for maintenance accounts.  lastly, but I guess it should be first, my generator is having problems.  About a month ago it stopped out putting electricity so I have been going without it.  When I got here my brothers, dad and I removed it from the truck and I took it to the place I was told to see about getting it repaired.  Well because it isn't a Honda they would touch it.  Then later I tried starting it only to find that the engine wouldn't budge so now the engine needs to be looked at.  One Monday, tomorrow, I will call Pramac again and see if there is another place it can be taken to.  It needs an overhaul anyway, it has reached 500 hours and that is the first recommended overhaul time.  So when I find a place to have it repairs my dad will take it there to have it fixed.