BoBo’s Blog-O-Rama

Hiya folks, good old BoBo here and we’re back home in Iowa once again for a few days so that means trucker update time. So here’s the journal:

December 28:

Well I’m trying a new style of journal here since I think the last one was too boring and
clinical. I’m in Idaho now heading to Washington on I-84 from Salt Lake City, Utah. We
picked up our first load in Des Moines and took it to SLC and we dropped that one and we
are on our way with the second now. Hit some snow but nothing too serious. Not looking
forward to going over the cabbage patch though now. We have air freight too so we have no spare time whatsoever and the weather is not that great on top of it all so we are having all kinds of fun now. Trip so far was I-380 to I-80 to I-84 to I-82. So anyway, I’m not going to write daly anymore but rather I’ll update sporadically when I feel like it and when I have time and I’ll throw in random thoughts along the way. But for now, I gotta get ready to drive.

December 30:

And we are stuck. We made it to Washington and then back to Portland, Oregon. And from Portland we were directed to go to Nashville, Tennessee. Well, all went swimmingly until we got to Wyoming where we found out that I-80 is closed due to bad weather. So we are stuck here in Wyoming until further notice. Time to find something to do. The only good thing is that I drove over the cabbage twice and made it fine no chainup required. The funny thing is it’s closed now lol. Late night update: Still closed. Made a bad mistake. Watched Donnie Darko and then Smokey and the Bandit. Dreamed about team driving with a six foot bunny that time travels.

January 2:

Happy New Year! Blew the air horn somewhere between St Joseph and Kansas City on I-29 to commemorate the passing of the old year and the arrival of the new. Made it to Nashville without incident. Stopped at Waffle House in Kentucky, oh, give me a second to drool…. *mmmmmmmmWaffleHousemmmmmmmmmmm* okay. Saw some motorcycles riding around Kentucky. Such a contrast to the snow and wind and cold of days past. Once in Nashville we were stuck for about a day because there were no loads to be had. So we sat at a truckstop, played online for a bit, went to walmart and re-supplied food. And then we took off again. Picking up a load for the Gap in Nashville here and taking it to Houston, Texas. Oh I can’t wait for the sweet sweet warmth of Texas. At least it won’t be in Waco again. And hot damn it won’t be Waco! *does texas shoot invisible guns in the air and hop around dance*.

And hell, I did so much sitting around at truckstops, I had time to write a song about it
to the tune of the Smokey and the Bandit theme song.

We’re shuttin’ down
No more loads for truckin’
We’re gonna sit just like we sat before
We’ve got no where to go
And a long time to get there
Ain’t it a bitch that’s how old Paulbert runs

We shut down on account of weather
We shut down on account of dispatch
We bitch about how we ain’t gettin’ paid

We shut down in Wyoming
Sat in Waco from dusk till morning
But if we sit any longer we’ll give ‘em hell

(repeat “We’re Shuttin’ down” verse)

January 3:

Well we finally got a load. Hauled for the Gap from Nashville to Houston TX. And now
we are sitting in Houston cause the next load can’t be picked up until 7AM tomorrow. But
it’s not all bad, cause I guess Paul has a friend living down here that’s going to come
get him and take him out for supper. And the other cool thing is the next load is going to
Miami, Florida. Can you say “new state”? I knew you could.

January 5:

I drove on I-10 from Houston, Texas to about 170 miles west of Tallahassee, Florida which means I drove through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Not a bad day. Also got to see alot of towns I’d never been in, Houston is one of them but also I saw Baton Rouge, and New Orleans, LA which was neat. Drove right by the Superdome and saw alot of Katrina damage. It’s gonna be a long time before that place is normal again. Got lost thanks to my desire to take pictures and drive at the same time. Drove over the twenty mile long bridge over the swamps in LA. Also drove over lake Ponchartain witch is pretty awesome. It just goes on forever. This trip had the most miles of bridges I’ve ever been on in my life including the longest single bridge. Drove through Biloxi, Pass Christian, and the other Mississipi towns that got hit hardest by Katrina. Drove through Mobile, Alabama which was cool thanks to the tunnel, and then immediately after it, Mobile Bay with it’s long bridge and the neat battleship sitting at dock. Not to mention to backtrack a bit we drove over part of Galveston Bay in Texas. Drove over a neat bay in Pensacola, Fla as well. And, the rest areas are huge in Florida and they have on duty security guards which I never seen before until now. Well anyways, that was all yesterday.

Now today we are stuck in Miami for possibly the weekend. Paul spent over 50 dollars going down the Florida Turnpike, good thing it will be reinbursed. So anyway we talked to the security guard at DHL and he told us about a Wal-Mart that had a big enough parking lot for a truck, and it sits on a truck route, AND, it’s within walking distance of the beach.
So right now Paul and I are in the truck resting after a walk down to the beach to stare
at the Atlantic ocean for awhile. Man this job rocks. We are right here where all the
high rise resorts and condos are on the waterfront. We’re seeing rich bastards in their
yachts and speedboats and I saw no less than four Ferraris and one yellow Lamborghini
getting fuel at a 7-Eleven. The Lambo was neat, he pulled out of the gas station and
smoked the tires all the way down the street. Ahh rich people. Yeah, and Paul and me don’t look out of place at all *denotes sarcasm*. Me in my John Deere hat and bib overalls and Paul with his “if you got it a trucker brought it” hat and red flannel shirt. But either
way we had fun. Paul got to see the ocean for the first time and I got to see it again.
We sat on the beach for awhile watching the seagulls fly about and ignoring the locals
pointing in our direction and snickering. Oh well. Fuck ‘em. I’m not going to change
myself to make them happy. I’m happy with who I am. Hell, if they were in Iowa and looked like they did right now, I’d be laughing at them lol. So with that, I am going to say
farewell for today. Gonna wake up early in the morning and watch the sunrise over the
ocean and then probably go find a truckstop and take showers and get fuel and wait for a
load. I’m just glad we’re not in the west right now since they are getting hammered with
bad weather from Washington to California. High winds, heavy rains, up to 12 feet of snow
in the mountains. Glad it’s sunny and 75 degrees here. BoBo out.

Oh yeah. Florida makes 34 states out of a possible 48 that I can get to in the truck. I’m
not counting Alaska because I don’t believe we will ever get there trucking (at least for
this company) 14 states to go. Most of them the north east, the extreme east, and the
northern midwest.

January 7:

Finally got a load on Monday morning headed to El Paso, Texas so it looks like we’ll stay
in the good weather. Plus I’ve never been there so that will be fun. Backtracking a bit,
Sunday morning we woke up early and watched the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean. That was something I’ve never done before and I’m sure alot of people either never have or if they did, don’t appreciate it. Anyway, then I got to watch Paul flounder about in the surf. Then we came back to the truck and slept. I had a wierd dream about team driving with Kerry King from Slayer. Then we had some Burger King, saw some crazy homeless people like the guy talking to himself and the one we saw sleeping sitting down on a bench with his/her shirt pulled over their head. Paul ran into some bums, some guy named Joe Hollywood who has been living in his VW Van he bought in the sixties and sleeping on the beach everynight of his life. He’s been arrested several hundred times and he just says whenever the cops start harrassing him he just drives a few miles down the beach and sets up shop there. Saw even more neat cars like Aston Martins, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and a Porsche with Quebec plates lol. Paul says he saw a Lambo go through the Burger King drive through. Absolutely gorgeous weather out here. Decided to leave Hallandale Beach to find a truckstop Sunday afternoon. I think we ran over ever curb in the walmart parking lot to get out of there but by damn we made it. Found a truckstop in Fort Pierce and got fuel and showers. Showers were much enjoyed since Paul had been playing in the ocean and I was tired of being sweaty feeling from the warm weather. We eventually headed over to Waffle House where I tried grits for the first time and decided that I like hashbrowns much better. The people working in Waffle House evidently didn’t understand english very well since they had alot of trouble understanding us and the service was slow, but the food was tastey except for me wishing I had ordered hashbrowns instead of grits. Lots more homeless people here as well,
and I just love how they sleep wherever they want since it’s warm out. There was one
sleeping right next to the entrance to the truckstop. And I mean the walk in doors not the
parkinglot entrance. But either way, I am done with Florida for now. By this time tomorrow we should be in Texas. The only problem is, El Paso is on the other side of Texas which means it will take multiple driving shifts just to get across. And we’ll be WAY too close to Mexico. Oh well, maybe I’ll get to see some wetbacks. “Run Paco Run!” I’m not racist I swear. *giggle* BoBo out.

January 9:

We arrived here yesterday late and were told that the place closed early so we had to wait
all night to unload which wasn’t bad. Stopped at the Petro and had some food and bs’ed
with a few truckers and had some good laughs. Drove over to the place a few hours early
and waited until they opened. Got the load unloaded and now we are back at the Petro and waiting for another load. The bad thing is, evidently El Paso is a bad town to be in empty because there is alot of freight coming in, but not alot going out and we are too far away to deadhead somewhere else so we might have to sit…..again. But I guess it’s normal this time of year to have alot of delays what with the slow post-christmas trucking. Hopefully things will begin to pick up again. A few months from now it’ll be spring and the weather will be fine and the truckin’ will be better. I hope. But yeah, El Paso isn’t a bad place. Kinda dry bein’ in the desert and all, and not much to do but watch the parking lot fill up with trucks and watch all the illegals runnin’ around since we are only a stones throw from the Rio Grande here. Well, I’ll be back home by the weekend so hopefully this whole thing will just fly by and I’ll be back in good old Iowa. Though I’m kinda startin’ to
like Texas.

January 10:

Well, we got a load and we headed to Alamogordo, New Mexico for pickup. Got half way there and was told the load got canceled. So now we are stuck in New Mexico so at least we are closer to Iowa now. But I got some Sonic tonight so it’s not all bad. But on the same token we need to be headed home now or we are going to be hella late. So I guess it’s time for some Smokey and the Bandit 2 and possibly even number 3 cause it’s terrible.

January 12:

Paul is driving through middle of no where New Mexico as I write this. We got sent back to El Paso yesterday where we dropped our empty at Fed Ex so they could load it and we
bobtailed back to the same truckstop we were at before and spent the night. We went back this morning and picked up the load and now we are headed to Chicago for the drop. And then we are headed back home from there. We’re just supposed to grab an empty trailer and dead head back to CR for our home time. So yippy skippy we’re headed home. But we got a long way to get there brother.

January 14:

And we are home.

Ah, and that means you get the trip list:

Cedar Rapids to Des Moines to Salt Lake City, UT
I-380 - I-80

Salt Lake City, UT to Pasco, WA
I-84 - I-82

Pasco, WA to Clackamas, OR
I-82 - I-84

Clackamas, OR to Goodlettsville, TN
I-84 - I-80 - NE 2 - I-29 - I-70 - I-64 - I-57 - I-24 - I-65

Gallatin, TN to Houston, TX
I-40 - I-30 - US-59

Houston, TX to Miami, FL
I-10 - I-75 - Florida Turnpike - I-95

Miami, FL to Rockledge, FL
I-95

Rockledge, FL to El Paso, TX
I-95 - I-10 - I-12 - I-10

El Paso, TX to Alamogordo, NM
HWY-54

Alamogordo, NM to El Paso, TX
HWY-54

El Paso, TX to Chicago, Ill
HWY-54 - I-40 - I-44 - I-55 - I-355 - I-290

Chicago, Ill to Cedar Rapids, IA
I-290 - I-355 - I-55 - I-80 - I-380

So yeah. Besides having to deal with sitting for too long and not getting paid (you only make money when the wheels are turning boy), dealing with swamp ass and general trucker not smell goodery, and Paul talking in his sleep, and sometimes yelling in his sleep, we had a fun time. Almost like a paid vacation that you can’t choose the destination of, or how long you stay. Got lots of pictures so you will have to check out my other sites for those. Other than that, I’m outta here. But first I will leave you with some truckin’ inspired song lyrics I came up with while shut down. Enjoy.

“CRST”

Well I’ve been sittin’ in this rig for a whole big mess of time
My paycheck ain’t come in just yet and I’m on my last dime
The rent is due the wife is pissed and she says the baby is cryin’
I want to get back home to them but dispatch just ain’t trying

I’m out here on this interstate burnin’ off some tires
Pedal to the metal got the balls to the wall and I’m startin’ me some fires
I ain’t slept good in 50 days and my head is startin’ to spin
I’m gettin’ the impression that it’s hard for a long haul trucker man to win

Well I can’t really stand truckin baby But it sure beats bein’ broke

Got the shits from a choke and puke on mile marker 49
Made me late for my trailer drop and put me in a bind
Got a ticket from a diesel pig when I rolled on to the scales
If this run keeps up like this I’m goin’ straight to hell

I got four wheelers cuttin’ me off ain’t givin’ me no fuckin’ space
There’s big rigs ridin’ on my ass like we’re in a NASCAR race This nutless rig makes me drop three gears at every tiny grade
Man if I could just get home and get my pay I think I’ll have it made

Well I can’t really stand truckin baby but it sure beats bein’ broke

I want a better load better rig better money better weather and some fuckin’ sleep
I don’t know if I can take it man this mountain is mighty steep
I’m loosin money loosin time loosin faith loosin air and I think I’m loosin my fuckin’ mind
Runnin’ hard runnin’ fast cheatin’ logs cheatin’ death cause I’m always an hour behind

Well I can’t stand punchin’ clocks and bein’ told when I can eat
And doin’ the same thing every day just puts my ass to sleep
And workin’ in an office man that just ain’t my cup of tea
So I guess this goddamned interstate is just the place for me

Well truckin ain’t that bad maybe you just gotta take a joke
Well I can’t really stand truckin’ baby, but it sure beats bein’ broke

“Gear Grindin’ Curb Checkin’ Newbie Mother Trucker”

Well I’m a gear grindin curb checkin newbie mother trucker
I drive like I’m blind just a stupid mother fucker
Got a line of cars behind me that can’t go through
Can’t find a gear cause the shifter isn’t labled
And I don’t know my ass from my own kitchen table
And the worse thing is I’m out on the road with you

Well I’m a gear grindin curb checkin newbie mother trucker
Might as well be dead just a dumb mother fucker
Every time I jump in a rig people run and hide
When I talk on the CB you can tell that I’m a newbie
It’s so fuckin funny it should be in a movie
But the worse thing is that’s me on your left side

Well I’m a gear grindin curb checkin newbie mother trucker
My momma prolly wishes that my daddy hadn’t fuckd her
I pull up in my rig and my grandma clubs me with her shoe
I’m takin out the signs cause my wheels are in the ditches
I’m causin lots of people to develop nervous twitches
And the worse thing about it is I’m out on the road with you
And if you climbed into this rig then you’d be a newbie trucker too

That’s it for now. Have a good’n and happy new year.

BoBo