DJ Brian's Trucking Journal
Journal Entries Nov2002-Mar2003 Apr2003 May2003 June2003 July2003 August/Sept2003
October 2003 November2003 thru April2004 Current
July 2003
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July 01, 2003- Dropped off a load in Ocala, Florida and headed to Green
Cove Springs, Fl
. Picked up that load and
I have 2 stops, Norfolk and Richmond, VA. After pickup, I headed
north through Jacksonville, FL
.
July 02, 2003- Made it to Norfolk, VA and here you can see Navy ships in
the distance
and headed to the entrance to
a 3 mile tunnel that takes me under the bay
.
July 04, 2003- Today started out good, then quickly sank to a new low and then eventually back to good again. I woke up around 4am and headed to my new load. I'm picking up a load of Budweiser beer at the Anheiser-Busch brewery at Busch Gardens, Williamsburg,VA. Going through this area was real exciting for me because being the history buff that I am, I loved being in an area so rich in American history and my own family history. Just 50 miles to north between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers is where my ancestors on my dad's side have lived for at least 200 years. Well I got to Busch Gardens brewery and the load straps that I had would not fit the trailer so after a 5 minute segment of using every cuss word I could think of, I headed back to a truck stop in Richmond to get new straps. The truck stop didnt have the right type of straps so I had to settle for load bars instead. Two hours later, I'm finally back in Williamsburg, load secured and heading on my way to Soddy Daisy, TN north of Chattanooga. I know...I know...I chuckled too when I heard the name of my destination.
July 06, 2003- After dropping off my beer, I headed off to my next stop in
Canton, NC. Its a small town with a big paper mill
. I got loaded with 8
rolls of paper, granted each roll weighed 5,500 lbs. Destination,
Little Chute, WI.
July 08, 2003- Had a fantastic day today. Unloaded in Little Chute and
immediately got dispatched to Green Bay. Arrived at the shipper
and unfortuantely had to wait for my load for 4 hours but that was ok
because I was a little tired so I just turned on the tv and then took a
nap. When I woke up, I got my load and the trailer I got had bad
tires so I needed to head to the closest Petro truck stop to get new
tires. Since there wasn't one on my route, I had to drive a
little out of the way. I took a small country road and it was the
most relaxing drive I've experienced yet. Traveling along a small
country road with farms
on each side every mile or so, I headed 60 miles
west through rural Wisconsin to meet up with the interstate. I
made it to the truck stop around 9pm, got new tires and went to bed.
July 09, 2003- Another early day, I woke up around 4am and headed south.
About an hour later the sun was slowly rising
and soon afterwards found myself hitting patches of
thick fog
and by late afternoon was
driving through St. Louis. Finally I was able to get a picture of
the arch during the day
unlike my April 02 photo
journal entry. And now for something completely different...One
thing I want to mention here is that I'm starting to get comfortable
with my backing skills and that is making all the difference in the
world. I'm not experiencing the anxiety like I was before and
it's making my days so much more enjoyable.
July 17, 2003- This will probably be my last journal entry. Not because I'm leaving trucking but because I guess the "novelty" of keeping a journal has worn off and at the end of the day when I finish driving, I usually just want to relax and get some sleep. I'm pretty much a reader and not a writer and I've bought so many books to read and keeping my website up takes quite a bit of time away from my reading. So much happens in each day, I have a hard time figuring out how to condense it into just a few lines...sometimes wonderful things, sometimes not so wonderful things and as I'm driving I think of all the things I want to write about and then by the end of the day when I open up my journal, the flow of words just isn't there as when I originally had the experience. And now just to bring the journal up to date, this past weekend, I attended the first Gay Truckers Association in Nashville and it was so refreshing to meet such wonderful people and I know that I have made some lifelong friends. I was also nominated as a member of the Board of Directors and that is surely an honor and I want to thank Norm Flowers of the GTA for starting a wonderful organization. In 2 weeks, Tim of High Mountain Ranch has invited me to their annual weekend festivity they hold at the beginning of August with a bluegrass band, people doing various comedy skits and just an all around fun time with some great people. I'm really looking forward to that. I highly recommend that you visit Tim's website. Right now I'm currently on a load heading to Massachusetts and in the morning I will be going straight through The Bronx, NY so that will definitely be a challenge for me and I'm sure before the end of the day tomorrow I will probably have a splitting headache. I cant wait to get out of the Northeast because its like city driving the whole time...not much fun. Anyway for those who are interested in trucking as a career, please do not hesitate to email me and I will respond as soon as possible.
July 18, 2003- Okay, so this is my last entry and what better ending than to end it with New York. I drove along interstate 95 and came around a hill and all of a sudden , the skyline of New York city appeared before me. I actually gasped out loud as I saw the Empire State building in the distance and I realized that I was seeing all this in person and not some poster I see at a store. As I drove along I-95, I got in my correct lane and headed across the George Washington Bride, the upper level. Tall hi-rise brick apartments dotted the landscape all over along with gray dirty subway cars traveling to and from different parts of the city. I-95 took me right through The Bronx and everything was so surreal that I felt like I was in a 1970's movie because I could not see any new buildings and having grown up mostly on the west coast, I was used to seeing all new tall skyscrapers. I thought at any moment the original cast of "Fame" might jump out of nowhere and start dancing. The traffic was really bad and it must have taken an hour to get though this area, the whole time I felt like I didn't blinked or breathed once, with my jaw wide open in amazement. I was experiencing sensory overload. I continued my drive and made it into Connecticut and stopped at the first rest area that I could find. Although I was on a tight schedule, the traffic jams put me way behind and I just needed some time for everything that I saw and heard to sink in. Later as I continued up I-95, my load was rescheduled for Monday and I dropped off the trailer at our drop yard in Shrewsbury, Ma, ate dinner and went to bed.
I thank you for taking the interest in reading my journals of trucking and hope that it gives some insight into the trucking industry for those wishing to make a career change. Again should you have any questions about trucking, please do not hesitate to email me and I will respond as quickly as I can. Keep on truckin' and may God watch over you and keep you safe.
Brian
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July 30, 2003-
Sitting in my truck this afternoon, I thought to myself "what a perfect
day." This is what I need to put in my journal. I was also
surprised at the number of emails I got saying that they were
disappointed that I was discontinuing my journal. I don't know
quite yet how I am going to proceed with my journal as one of my main
fears of doing such is ending up with a journal that just says "Today I
did this and that...went here to there." Well we'll see. I
have been put on a special dedicated route with my company which
guarantees at least 2,500 miles a week and if I don't reach that any
week, they will pay the difference. My first load under this
assignment is a 2,036 mile trip going from Chicago to Seattle with a
few point in-between. I spent last night just outside of St.Paul
Minneapolis and got up around 12:00. Yes, 12:00 midnight. I
headed west along interstate 94 and the weather was rather cool with
patches of fog. Along the way, the only thing I could really see
since it was dark were large hen house. They must have each been 75
yards long and about 100 yards off the freeway. Through the
numerous windows I could see all the chicken wondering about in the
dimly lit rooms. I guess chickens need a nitelite too. As I
continued my drive I made it well into North Dakota as the sun was
coming up
and arrived to a
truckstop along the North Dakota/Montana border
around 10:30am local time. I fueled up and
headed in for a shower...ahem, a desperately needed shower I might
add. Afterwards, I ate lunch and went to my truck to wrote a
postcard for my 6 year old nephew. I have been sending him
postcards from the places I have been to all over the US. My
brother says my nephew gets really excited every time he get a postcard
from me and looks on a map of the US to see where its from and shows
his friends where his uncle Brian is. Anyhow, after I dropped my
current postcard in the mailbox, I just sat in my truck and just looked
out into the distance
. This picture really
doesn't do this place justice because it looks relatively flat in the
picture but the truckstop actually sits atop a hill and you can see for
hundreds of square miles. There is a patchwork of hilly grass
plains and crops for as far as the eye can see. Its sunny,
comfortably warm and breezy. Instead of keeping the truck running
for air-conditioning, I put in my window screens and I'm just
sitting here enjoying the scenery and listening to dance
music...Thank you Sirius Satellite Radio. Did I mention I just
bought a black cowboy hat. I am thankful that I am a
trucker. After spending 8 hours at the truck stop, I continued my
drive towards Billings, Montana, my first delivery stop in this load
assignment. I drove until the sun finally set in the west
and pulled into a rest area to
get some sleep.
July 31, 2003- I
got up at 4am my time, 2am local time (I always keep myself on central
time because its less confusing then) and set out for Billings. I
arrived around 5am which was my appointment time at the post
office. What am I carrying you might ask. My load consists
of 22 tons of junk mail, shrink-wrapped and palletized, heading
to a mailbox near you. So the next time you get ready to throw that
junk mail away, just remember that DJ-turned-trucker Brian may have
played a part in the delivery of that piece of mail. I was done
unloading just before the sun was getting to rise
and headed on my way
and since I was starting to see several ranches I
thought it appropriate to try my new cowboy hat
(sorry for the shaky picture but I'm not good at
aiming the camera at me while driving). After a few hours of
driving the scenery was really looking barren
. I drove until I arrived in Cour d'A rlenes, Idaho
. Hmmmmmm...I guess I hit a few
bugs along the way.