WORKING MY WAY BACK HOME

Been on the road 3 weeks now and this load is taking me closer to home. FAYE has been chasing me for the past week, from Florida KEYS, to northern states and WEST towards Louisiana. I've been keeping a few steps ahead. I don't expect she'll make Illinois, although we'll probably get some remnant weather from her.

Am in West memphis OC for the evening to deliver by Monday in Woodridge, IL..NO PROBLEM. MAY take some time for myself tomorrow and go fishing. I'll still deliver by Sunday.

Tomorrow I'll get my laundry done and other shopping for necessities.

When I get home next week, I'll finish oving with the help of my WIFE and SON.

BY THE WAY .. RAY....YOU CAN COMMENT ON THIS WEBPAGE IF YOU WISH.

PLAYING CATCHUP

Well Ray, I said I'd try to catchup on this site when I got to an OC..Well, I'm sitting in ATLANTA, and may deliver to Walmart in Louisiana, tomorrow or Thursday. This and my last three loads were to WALMARTS. I don't have a student with me, lost him on his first day out. He decided he didn't want to drive afterall. His name was EARL. FROM EARLVILLE, IL of all places. I don't have a foto of him. Perhaps its for the best. After leaving him, I proceeded to deliver my load, and enroute, I dropped my driveshaft (AGAIN) in Council Bluffs. Spent a day there, went to deliver the load, that evening to be told it was rescheduled to the next night. Well I did get breakdown and layover pay for those days.

Prior to Earl there was STEVE. He was a truckfull of laughs. He even liked my jokes. He called me on Saturday while I was visiting my mom and brother in Shelbyville, KY. He got through his testing and is on the road.

I ran into SIMRANJIT again at Gary, Ray...you remeber him.. we went to eat on Ray's boat. That was a good evening.

Before Steve, was Carl. I was worried about him, but found out he got a 92% on hiws testing up in Greenbay. He met me in Gary also and showed me his CDL, and introduced me to his wife., I need to find his and Steve's fotos so I can update the site.

ANGELS SENT TO SERVE

Well we were stuck in Dallas for 2 days. couldn't get a load out for living. refused 2 loads south because we needed to go north. After fighting with trip planners and support shift, I was frustraded. Here's where the ANGELS come in..I you been following htis, I need to get Mike home on Wednesday..FROM DALLAS.

Dave heard me in upset mode, and ended up giving me this load, 1500 miles to Canada. Thereis a picture of Me, DAVE, Rachel and Mike. Dave and Rachel were Angels in my book. GOD bless them both. Earlier i n the day, Dave went to Walmart to be burgers and hot dogs, and grilled out for all who wanted to eat.

THE McDANIEL SHUFFLE

I'll get back to the shuffle latter.

I picked up MIKE at the CHICAGO yard a week ago SUNDAY. Needless to say, no 2 student experiences are alike. The shuffle is from his ball playing day at JJC. Mike has good driving skills and pays attention to detail.. we've been working more so on his soft skills. We've had loads that took us to MICHIGAN, MISSOURI WISCONSIN, and Texas. Some routes repeat themselves, and thisis where the SHUFFLE comes in. In trip planning we needed to take the Interstate system, I70, 55, 39, and 43. back and forth on several occasion. To help MIKE remember his routing, we named it the McDANIEL SHUFFLE. (70, 55, 39, 43, HUTT, HUTT).

While on the road, we had a blowout on the right rear trailer tire. When it went, Mike thought he was going to have a heart attack, not knowint the sound. We got changed within a hour and were back on the road to spend the night at idleaire in Bloomington, IL

Now we're sitting in DALLAS waiting on a load. Mike had a couple family issues, so we ended up relaying a SAN ANTONIO load to DALLAS, and now hoping for aload routing us back home to Gary.

While here at Dallas, I ran into and had supper with Rich and MARITZA. She passed her SQT and got her CDL. They're here picking up an 07, and headed on load to North Carolina. I'm sure she'll do well, and wih them the best of the LORD.

BEST TO YOU MARITZA

Well today MARITZA and I parted company, only to look forwards to the day(S) ahead when we meet again on the road. We had 11 gr8 days together. As a student, She's been the best. I couldn't have ASKED THE LORD for a student with a better attitude. After loosing my previous student, to accept a challenge in a FEMALE student, I find the LORD put both of us together for a purpose. Perhaps to re-enforce both or our needs. She being a CHRISTIAN, perhaps needing the understanding nature of another CHRISTIAN, and vise versa. I want to believe we were there for each other. We worked through a number of different senarios, between the loads, the scales, the paperwork and the MOTEL arrangements. We ate some gr8 meals at he CHINA HOUSE in WOOD RIVER, near EDWARDSVILLE OC, and LAMBERTS, in SIKESTON, MO.

We arrived DALLAS on FRIDAY, met Rich, went out to eat at the local ROADHOUSE, and got to our hotel rooms. We came back to the DALLAS OC, and I continued working on her backing (with help from her husband, RICH) today. Together, we found a new explaination for "GET UNDER IT", describing the manueuver as a broken trailer, stearing the tractor in reverse, to straighten it out. BY GOLLY, I THINK SHE's GOT IT!! (FROM what musical??)

Well at about 3PM, Maritza and Rich, left for their hotel, to stay the weekend, and prepare to take her SQT on MONDAY, with a CDL test later in the week.

I just got a load (RELAY) from DALLAS OC to TULSA, OK, delivering on Monday @ 0800. Plenty of time.

I guess I'll be holding her up as a standard, for future students.

ANOTHER WEEK DONE

Am sitting @ INDY, waiting on a load assignment, working with Maritza on trip plannig. She's been asking a lot of good questions throughout the week. We've put on about 2500 miles together in 5 days. We took turns at staying in the hotel vs the truck. Schneider requires that with a female student we get a hotel for one of us. Some TEs maintain that the student stays in the truck, even at truckstops. I decide based on the area and conditions at the truckstop and/or hotel.

Yesterday Maritza was put from the PAN INTO THE FIRE...She had to drive thru the mountains of NC, VA and WV. I guess descriptively one could say she had her ups and downs that day. Her shifting improved gr8ly since we first hooked up together last tuesday. She really tries hard, talking to herself (driving narratives), sometimes a little frustrated, knowing though that tomorrow will be better.

I'm supposed to have her back in DALLAS this next weekend, in time for her SQTs and my headed back home. Naturally she's looking forwards to seeing her husband (RICH) and teaming with him after passing her tests. I believe she will do quite well.

STUDENT FROM DALLAS - MARITZA

HAving delivered my last two load since releasing odilon at Gary, I arrived at DALLAS on Saturday. I checked with the DALLAS TE supervisor this morning and asked if she had a student available. As luck would have it, SHE DID!!

I met with MARITZA this morning, along with her husband, RICH. Rich is a 6 yr veteran with SCHNEIDER, and when Maritza finishes training, they paln to team together. He didn't want to be the one training his wife.

I received our assignment, a relay load from the Dallas OC to NEW BERN, NC. about 1300 miles. INTERSTATE most of the way, the last 250 Miles (+/-) on state truck routes. Should be interesting. Will keep you posted. Will try to add a foto when one becomes available.