Spent my first night in the truck last night and slept pretty well, rose early and contacted the fleet manager for a load.
Saturday 2nd April 2016
Spent a relaxing day at home and got my first load sent out, Deadhead to Houston and then on to Monroe, LA for Monday morning.
Sunday 3rd April 2016
Left Nacogdoches at 1pm and headed south to my pickup in Houston, found it fairly easily and arrived at 4pm, by 5.15pm I was heading north again towards Louisiana. I managed to stop for my 30 minute break in Nacogdoches and had dinner with Bonnie. Then off to the Loves truck stop just inside Louisiana for the night.
Monday 4th April 2016
Woke with the alarm at 7.30am and went for breakfast. my drop was about 2 hours away and I set off at 9am. The folks at the drop were very efficient and I was offloaded by 11.45am and in the local Pilot by 12.30pm waiting my next load. My next load was from a paper mill in McGehee, AR and was bound for Kentucky. So I set off for the pickup and was loaded by 7pm with 8 huge 5000lb rolls of paper. I spent the night in Earle, AR.
Tuesday 5th April 2016
After my 10 hour break I set off towards Hopkinsville, KY hoping they would take my load early, but the luck wasn't with me and ended up in a truck stop about an hour from my destination.
Wednesday 6th April 2016
A 7am rise and after breakfast set off for Hopkinsville, KY and managed the drop around 9am. Then my next load came through while I was getting supplies from Walmart. A short hop from Evansville, IN to Indianapolis, IN. Once again I had to stop in a Loves overnight as the business closed at 5pm and I would get there around 6pm.
Thursday 7th April 2016
Left the truckstop early and arrived at the drop in Indianapolis around 7.15am, I was unloaded and back at the truckstop by 9.30am. My next load was not long in coming, it was a 12pm load from Vandalia, OH, so I headed straight out. I was loaded early and set off for Salisbury, NC I stopped part way up at a Petro in Carlton City, KY for the night.
Friday 8th April 2016
Up at 6am and the drive to Salisbury, NC.
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| Sunrise over the Kentucky hills. |
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| An old Caboose in rest area in Slade, KY |
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| Strange rock formations in Kentucky. |
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| More Prettiness |
Saturday 9th April 2016
Up at 6am again and headed to my next load in Huntersville, NC. This was a load of plastic cups and was surprised to find a pre-loaded trailer waiting for me. I was off on the road by 10am and headed up to Manassas, VA but the warehouse closed at 1.30pm so yet again another night in a truck stop nearby.
Sunday 10th April 2016
I got to the warehouse around 6.45am and they were slow. I didn't get out until 9am and the headed to a rest area nearby to wait for the next load. This was an extended stop as I was in the middle of nowhere and had to wait until Monday morning.
Monday 11th April 2016
A load at last (well 2 actually). I had to go empty to Harrisburg, PA and drop my trailer at the JB Hunt yard, then go to Rutherford Norfolk & Southern rail yard to get a container. It was only going 45 miles so this was quickly dropped and then off to Covington, VA to get yet another container. I spent the night in the Walmart at Covington.
Tuesday 12th April 2016
Set off at 8.30am to get my container from the nearby yard, and found that it was overweight on the front axles so had to have the load redistributed (12 large rolls of paper). This took 2 hours and put me behind for the day.
I finally dropped the container at Shippensburg CSX yard around 3pm. Then it was off to Harrisburg, PA to get an empty trailer, but I decided to stop at a nearby Loves for the night and rest.
Wednesday 13th April 2016
Arrived at the JB Hunt yard in Harrisburg around 7am only to find there were no empty trailers. So after a few messages I was sent to Lancaster, PA to pick up one, then to Belcamp, MD for my next load which was bound for Greenville, OH. I firstly went to the wrong warehouse, and wasted about 30 minutes, but found my trailer eventually.
Thursday 14th April 2016
I got to the warehouse in Greenville at midday which was nearly a day early, but luckily they unloaded me. Then off to a truck stop for the night.
Friday 15th April 2016
Spent the next 2 days running between Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, with a load from Frankfort, IN to Hopkinsville, KY and then Pulaski, TN back to Frankfort, IN.
Sunday 17th April 2016
Delivered early this morning at Frito Lays, and headed for a nearby truck stop for breakfast. The FM told me it was going to be a slow day so I decided to head to the nearby town of Lafayette, IN for some real food. About an hour after getting there the phone rang and I was given a load from Frankfort, IN to Scottsville, KY which was running late. I had 7 hours top do 300 miles, I made it with 20 minutes to spare. The unloading was to say the least, slow. I docked at 8.30pm and didn't get my signed bills until 4am, so at least I caught up om some sleep.
Monday 18th April 2016
My next load was a little less rushed, I ran Starbucks coffee from Lebanon, TN to the Walmart DC in Bentonville, AR. I stopped overnight in West Memphis, AR and headed towards the drop at 6am.
Tuesday 19th April 2016
Got to the Walmart DC at 2pm and after dropping the load headed for the Lowell JB Hunt facility.
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| The Ozark countryside in Arkansas |
I spent the night in the truck in the yard before my visit to Corporate HQ.
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| Painted for the Arkansas Razorbacks football team |
Wednesday 20th April 2016
Up at 7am and told to go over to the hotel, I was given a ride over there and got to my room around 11am. Meanwhile the truck was taken in to the shop to be looked over. Spent the day in the hotel as the Driver Experience wasn't until Thursday.
Thursday 21st April 2016
We eventually got picked up at 8am and taken to JB Hunt's HQ in Lowell, AR. On arrival we were given id badges and then taken to meet our fleet managers while having breakfast. There were 7 of us on this tour. My fleet manager was Zach and a very laid back guy, he showed me his workspace and how he controls his end of the loads. Then it was off on the tour, 2 buildings with 4 or 5 floors and about 2500 staff. We even got to look round Mr JB Hunt's original office.
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| JB's original Stetson |
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| The original office |
Once the tour was over we had lunch and a few meetings, then outside for a more practical test. We had to do an obstacle course in the truck with 2 reverse maneuvers, I did pretty well and then more class work before ending the day with pizza. It was then back to the truck for sleep.
Friday 22nd April 2016
Had a bit of a wait for a load and then was sent 100 miles north for the pick up in Springfield, MO (the opposite way to go home). This meant the I would not get home for my 3 days until late on Saturday. By 2pm I was heading South and stopped the night in West Memphis, with only a short trip to Dallas in the morning.
Saturday 23rd April 2016
After dropping my trailer at the Dallas yard, I eventually got home at 3pm and a well earned break.
Tuesday 26th April 2016
Had to be up at 5.30am and so this was the night my granddaughter decided to have her baby. Troy Jr was born at 4.20am today. So after a broken nights sleep I set off to Dallas to get a load bound for Pulaski, TN.
Wednesday 27th April 2016
After dropping in Pulaski, I headed to Lebanon, TN for a load bound for Front Royal, VA.
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| A stormy sky over Kentucky |
I finished the month off by traveling from Virginia to Baltimore with a load of beer and then picked up in Hurlock, MD before heading south once again to Lebanon, TN.
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| The Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland |
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| On the way down the bridge |
