Camaraderie Isn't Dead.........Entirely

05/26/2012

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To know Lou is to like Lou. He is laid back, and always smiling. He treats everyone fairly, until they push him past his limit. Basically, if you don't like Lou, it's typically because there's something wrong with you.

Lou never knows a stranger, and talks freely with people. One of his favorite activities was to shoot the crud with the other drivers at the truck stop. Although he had me on the road for the longest time, he remembered the lonely days on the road, and what it means to have someone hold a conversation and smile, letting you know you're not alone.
Lou helped in almost every situation he came across. The exception of the rule came on an early morning run (just after midnight) on I-70 in Indiana, right before Illinois. A suicidal woman stepped out and stopped in front of our truck. He knew it was a situation better handled by another woman, and let me handle it, while he watched from the cab, until the situation between her boyfriend and her required back up from him.

He didn't care what company you're with. He'd call out to every truck on the shoulder, to see if they needed help. Once, one did. He walked back a mile to try and help the guy, to no avail. He still had to be towed off. An old man came up to him in negative temps and a snow storm, asking help sliding his tandems. He helped a Werner driver learn where to put coolant in and what the coolant light meant. He re-routed for several drivers who needed help with break downs. To him, a little extra time or miles was worth it if he could help someone. Two of the things he enjoyed most were Wishes on Wheels Midsouth and Trucking Santas, for he could see the help.
The load above changed something on helping matters. Lou severely damaged his back while transloading it from trailer to trailer. He herniated a disc in two different spots, causing nerve root compression, facet hypertrophy, and pressing the disc into his thecal sac (the sac of fluid protecting your spinal cord). He fought the pain for six months. Then, one day, he couldn't even climb into a truck. Within two weeks, his world had been turned upside down. He no longer drives, for he ended up having issues getting the brake pedal to agree to his leg, for he had issues pushing the brake pedal down hard enough to stop. He is awaiting the doctor to pull his medical card and sign off on disability, and has already secured a disability attorney. We are also a month into waiting for a decision from St. Christopher Trucker Fund. He now has me tend to him around the clock, for he can't move very far before his body is ready to quit, but still tries to be hard headed about it.
The hardest part, though, has been to accept that he needed help. Our friends realized that him being done trucking meant that we were in bad shape. They realized this meant that we didn't have the money for the doctors or even for rent, and they weren't taking no for an answer of being there to help. We literally came off the truck, not even having a place to live. Lou tried to refuse their help, not wanting to have it get in the way of Trucking Santas. Finally, Mitchell Stein told me to make a fundraiser on YouCaring. So, that night, while Lou was asleep, I swallowed my pride, and did just that. The turn out was amazing, and humbling. Many times Lou and I were both left speechless and in tears, realizing how blessed we were to have such great friends. We would like to take a few minutes to thank everyone who helped out, including the anonymous people I can't list on here. We would like to thank those that we know will be continuing to help us as we wait for security and for my work to start paying off. We would also like to thank those that couldn't help, but have been there with tremendous moral support. Having all of you there, and knowing you care have made a huge difference in our lives. It has given Lou a new belief in humanity also.

We would like to thank Todd McCann, who couldn't help himself, but ended up relentlessly pursuing others to get involved, with good results. We would also like to thank Evan Lockridge from The Lockridge Report, for raising awareness of the situation online and on the radio.

We would also like to thank Brenny Transportation, Lone Star Large Cars, Jack Goldstein, Michael Goldstein, Christy Kuppler, Thomas Heatherman, Joel Sims, Gracie Berry, Jana Huolt, Jeremiah Adams (especially for hauling all our heavy stuff for us), Shirie Shipp, Lightning Logistics (Bekins), Riggs & Recruits, Sarge Lewis (he's been our transportation, and forced us to eat out), Brian Peters, Jacquie Vincent, Shane ?, David Beem, Jurgen & Tracy Reid, Matt Grigsby, Michelle Sutton, Mike & Tina DiBartolo, Porter Corn, Everett & Melody Appelt, George Baisden, L. Dawn Tait, Mike Laffey, NosillaCast on Twitter, Deuspenny on Twitter, Good Time Charlie, Todd Neva, Steve & Michelle Piatkowski, Yvonne Mansini, Carrie Marrero, Timothy Boswinkle, Danielle Donnelly, Sheri Olson, Ang Anderson, King (who is King?), Dale Buckley, Peter Toft, Hole in the Head (James Hightower), Bartkomt Overal, Mack & Becca Allison, Roadway Safety Store, Jim Johnson, Tess & Ravin Smith, Frog Truck Escort, Tiffany & Allen Parker, MaidenAmerica on Twitter, Eddie Gudino, Marty Hunt, Lisa Yingling, Mitchell Stein, Mark Fornaro, Bear and T Whiterhurst, Deb Swenson, Tim Nichols, the anons, and the person who threatened to kill me if I ever mentioned his name in so many words. I will adjust this list as more people step up, for they deserve full credit.

Thank you again, everyone, for your full support of whatever kind, while we go through such a hard transition, I'd list the names of everyone who reposted, but that would be enough to fill up an entire book. You've touched us to no end, and we will never forget the love and support.

So that I don't have to answer how to help every time that someone would like to help, I'm including an easy donation button at the bottom of this. Thank yall again! We can never repay yall for what your love has done for us.
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I'm Big! I'm Heavy! Quit Picking On Me Already!!!

09/28/2011

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I'm heavy!
I'm wide!
I'm tall!
I'm long!
QUIT PICKING ON ME ALREADY!!!!

Rules and regulations for truck drivers are hard. That much is granted. How do you remember every state's laws as well as the federal laws when there a long list of outdated laws that, if given the right officer, could nail you to a wall?
Now, take all those rules, and multiply them, but anywhere from 3 to 30. Welcome to the world of overdimensional freight hauling.
There's an old saying that flatbedders must be out of their minds. If this is true, then oversized haulers borderline on institutionally insane, and heavy haulers don't have a prayer.

We will be going over rule after rule, what they mean, and their burden on the driver. I can't promise to cover every rule for there are a plethora of them.

Lou, when finding out what I was writing, mentioned one right away. He can't recall states, but during a crane move, the states had to make it harder than necessary. One state required a dolly to be with the piece. The other state wouldn't allow the dolly for then it would qualify as a divisible load and couldn't be permitted. I don't know how they managed to haul it, but it was hauled somehow.
Let's go into divisible and non-divisible. You can carry a divisible overwidth load. You can carry a divisible overheight load. You can't carry a divisible overlength load. You can't carry a divisible overgross load. What is divisible? If one piece is overwidth or overheight, it can have other pieces added to the trailer. You can't be overwidth due to two or more pieces being side by side, and you can't be overheight with two or more pieces stacked. You can't have any divisibility on overlength or overwidth pieces. It must be one singular long or heavy piece.

You can be overwidth, overlength, overgross, and overheight all at the same time, but must obey the divisibility rules.

You can't haul 200,000 pounds on a flat, step, or rgn of regular axles. There are weight limits for overweight loads and axle weights on overgrosses. There are also bridge laws for weight and axle spacing on overgross loads. And believe me when I say they will axle you out and grab a tape measurer. One state will allow 25,000 lbs an axle, while the next will only allow 18,000 lbs an axle, and the state after will allow 28,000. So, make sure you have all your permits in line before loading that big piece.

Overheight is always fun. If you want to see every back road possible, grab a 14'4" high load. Some states require a surveyed route at as high as 13'8" high (Hello Massachusetts!). Some states require escorts at 3 inches over. Some states don't require permitting until after 14' high, and some states won't permit an overheight load on a flatbed at all. (Hello California!)

Overwidth loads require escorts after a certain amount of feet, varying from state to state, and highway to highway in each state. Most states are good up to 13'. But, hit 15 in AZ, and you will need one at 11'. These states will fine heavily if you missed the inch that would've made you escorted.

Overlength loads can only be a certain amount over the trailer if you are using a standard trailer, and that varies from state to state. Certain lengths and certain commodities require special trailers. I'm not about to get permitted to haul a bridge beam or a windmill blade on a flat, step, or rgn.

When one hauls an overdimensional load, they have a permit. This permit has the route the truck must travel. YOU CAN NOT DEVIATE FROM THIS ROUTE!!! If you deviate, in any state, the fines start off in the $1,000's. Every single permit in one way or another states that the state is not responsible for the accuracy of the permitted route, and that they aren't responsible for any damages done by driver/truck/trailer/load. The driver accepts all responsibility for the route that the STATE gave them. Case in point: Indiana routed us on a closed highway. It was closed for approximately three blocks, and opened a block after our delivery locale. This highway was closed for three months before we applied for the permit. Now, put yourselves in these shoes:
Riggers will cost you hundreds if not thousands of dollars an hour if they have to wait for you. Due to time constrictions based on permitted rules, we would be 30 minutes late if the highway wasn't closed. Now, you can either sit, call for a revised permit, take the chance of being routed 50 miles or more around due to a 3 block closure, and may not get the re-route for days, while not being able to move from the downtown city street, or you can route yourself through the residential area, not be later, save yourself hundreds if not thousands, not be ticketed for illegally parking, and hope you don't get caught. That's right, ladies and gentleman. You are now illegal either which way. But remember, the state's not responsible, yet they gave you the route.

Permitted loads have time constrictions for running hours. These time constrictions also have to fall within your HOS (wouldn't we love it if in the summer time they'd let us throw the last part out). The running hours are also weather incremental. That's right, you're darned if you do, darned if you don't some days. Some loads can run at night, some loads can't run at night, and some loads can only run at night. This once again varies widely from state to state. And, you have to go from one state with only night running to another state with only day running back to back. Some states, if you have to run daytime only, will allow you half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset. Others will do sunrise to sunset, no leniency. Then there are those who have half an hour after sunrise to half an hour before sunset. On top of this, you have curfews. Yes, you are a bad child in your teens, and have to stop before you get spanked. Some states do curfews for every population above 5,000. Some don't do any curfews at all. Some will shut down the entire highway for football games. There are bridge curfews, city curfews, county curfews, within the city highway curfews (mile marker to mile marker only), etc. In Atlanta, you can travel the entire loop at rush hour, but don't dare go into Atlanta, and watch out if you're Pauly and have a moron with a camera not understanding you just want the hell out. Other places, like Chicago, have them from mile marker to mile marker. A good part of Chicago is covered, but the west side has gaping holes. These curfews vary each time you hit a new one from time to time. Now, here's a good one. New Jersey said no travel the Friday before Labor Day. We would have to be at the George Washington on Thursday. Then, we'd have to sit there until Saturday at 0100 EDT for New York City. Oh no, no, no, you say. So did I! We now have a framed permit from New Jersey. I sweet talked them into allowing us to be the only oversized load through New Jersey on Friday.

What is incremental weather provisions? That's not an easy question. Once again, it varies from state to state. FEDERALLY, if chains are required, you are required to sit as long as it takes. Now, certain states, as long as chains aren't required, will let you drive through a blizzard. Certain states will allow you to drive through rain. Then, certain states won't allow you to drive at all if someone sneezes wrong. In Maryland, if there's a plow six counties away, you're shut down. Pennsylvania and Ohio are huge on shutting down for rain and snow. Each state gets the right, along with each individual officer, to decide on incremental weather. Did you know? Certain states will shut you down for high winds.

You have a permit for 44 in Oklahoma, the toll roads in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, etc, so you're ready to go. STOP! You now need a permit for each and every individual toll road. That's right, multiple permits are needed for the same state on occasion. In Ohio, I would suggest you get it online. At the toll plaza, it's $50, online it's $25. By the way, after getting your permit, you still have to pay the toll. If crossing the George Washington Bridge over 10' wide, expect to pay for Jersey's permit (try to come in untolled), New York City's permit, and the $250 GW permit, minimal. (Hey box haulers, do you really want to gripe about costs now?)

Now, let's talk expense real quick! So, we have multiple permits, multiple toll permits possibly, and we have escorts. These escorts, if they are good, are typically $1.50-$1.75 a mile, plus another $50-100 (depending on state) for overnight (thanks to my dear friend Dale for quoting me these rates!). We still have to pay for fuel too. Unfortunately, many shippers and brokers do not understand the overall costs, and try to get it gone for cheap. If you need a load moved big enough for escorts, be prepared to pay through the nose!

Now, many of us have PrePass and EZPass. We go through the weight stations only if red lighted. Not anymore! If you are oversized and your light is green, you still go to the weight stations in certain states, or you are legally blowing the weight station. It will say on your permit whether or not you must stop, and whether or not you must go straight to the back.

One way the states like to find out if you're reading the permits is that some states will want you to sign, others won't. The ones will sign vary also. Some want only black ink, some want only blue ink, some want only red ink. If it is not signed in the appropriate ink, you may as well use it for toilet paper. Some states want provision sheets included, some states want maps included, and some of those won't give you what you need. Pennsylvania, for example, wants you to have provisions and a colored Urbanized Map. If you don't have one or both, your permit is invalid. If you have a black and white copy of the map, your permit is invalid. Yet, they don't send these with your permit.

Last but not least, quit getting pissy at slow moving oversized loads. They are forced to go slower in certain states, and forced to stay in the right hand lane in certain states. Now, as you can possibly guess, this is another "varies state by state" rule. Some are equal to the speed limit, some are 55, some are 45, and anywhere in between. Just pass them, but ensure you give them their space.

Now, you know what oversized drivers go through law wise! You want to keep griping about your normal driving job?
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