31 AUGUST 2008

Put our truck in TA's shop today to change our tires and mudflaps on both our tractor and trailer. If DOT catches you with worn tires and broken mudflaps, it's a mean ticket waiting to happen. While we waited we took some portraits and still lifes. Drove to a Flying J in Winchester, VA to park for the night.

30 AUGUST 2008

Drove to Orangeberg, SC to pick up dog food from Mars Pet Products. Headed to a Love's for the fuel/shower ritual. Drove through Roanoke, VA and stopped at a TA.

29 AUGUST 2008

Dropped our load off for a live unload at Kontane in Statesville, NC. Drove to Gastonia, NC for a drop & hook at Bridgeston Firestone carrying 41,200 lbs of fabric rolls for tires. Dropped that load off in Granitesville, SC.

28 AUGUST 2008

Made it through Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee. Stayed at a Pilot in Knoxville, TN. Was up all night cleaning images from our Red Wing shoot.

27 AUGUST 2008

(google search find)

Drove to Eaton MFG Co. in Chenandoah, IA to pick up 21,560 lbs of car transmissions. Drove all day and stopped at a Love's in St. Joseph, MO to fuel up and shower. Parked for the night in Fulton, MO at a Petro.

26 AUGUST 2008

Back at ACE this morning to finally get unloaded. Drove to Rock Island and waited a couple of hours on a live load at Conway. Close to 45,000 lbs of food products. Drove all night to Aurora, NE and stayed at a Love's truck stop.

25 AUGUST 2008

Road Ranger Truckers Entrance

one of the many oh so familiar signs

Tried to drop our load early at a ACE Hardware DC in Princeton, IL but they wouldn't take us early. Waited at a nearby Road Ranger truckstop hoping they'd call us in. No luck, parked at a Wally World and called it a night.

24 AUGUST 2008

Took photos at TA. Drove to Charleston, TN and picked up a loaded trailer from GE, Eastern Lighting MDC. 13,612 lbs of light bulbs. Made our way to Mt. Vernon, IL, stopped at yet another Wally World to pick essentials up, and parked at a nearby TA for the night.

23 AUGUST 2008

old Walmart logo

Got our driver tech fixed this morning and dropped our load off at a Walmart DC in LaGrange, GA. Drop&hook, so all we had to do was drop our loaded trailer in a designated spot and pick up an assigned empty trailer. Waited at a nearby Pilot for our next load. Have a pick-up in the morning in TN so we drove to Cartersville, GA and stayed at a TA.

22 AUGUST 2008

Drove all day and stopped at a company terminal in Tunnel Hill, GA. A little early with our load so decided to drop by, was also on the way, to get our driver tech fixed. A driver tech is a bigger GPS that also allows you to communicate with your dispatch via email, rather more like text messaging. Couldn't say the GPS is that accurate, for every load we still had to plan our route and use a good ol' map. The GPS is supposed to help guide you to the routes that trucks can go with the proper height clearance. We've gotten lost many a times following it. At most company terminals there are showers, a driver's lounge (couches and a tube), free washers/dryers, a shop (to fix your truck) and always full of frustrated company drivers. Took full advantage of all the amenities and waited on queue to get our driver tech fixed.

our driver tech

21 AUGUST 2008

Dropped off early in Wichita, KS for a live unload at Southwest Paper. Picked up a live load of cat litter from A&M in Spring Hills, KS. Stayed at a Pilot in Boonville, MO. (thought of you Tim!)

20 AUGUST 2008

Stopped at a Pilot in Des Moines, IA for fuel, shower and breakfast. Drove all day and stopped in Emporia, KS. Hit a Wally World (Walmart) to buy groceries and parked at a Phillips 66.

HU&W on Flak Photo

link

Thanks Andy!

Home on Wheels

Here is a photo of the inside of our home of over a year. Our kitchen/living room/dining room/office/ bedroom all in one. Yes, that's a free Cracker Barrel map we had up. It's actually on the bottom of the top bunk. Had that up the entire time since there was no need for it, managed to squeeze ourselves on the bottom twin bunk. Under the bottom bunk is some storage space. Most of the back wall is padded vinyl. To the left was a tiny cubby hole for our clothes and on top of that was a small strapped down (with bungee cords) tv/vhs combo. To the right was a small fridge on top of a microwave (our viking) and another cubby hole where we kept our dry food. Pretty much it. Two feet in front of that is already the back of our seats in the front of the cab, which you can separate by pulling a vinyl curtain and zipping it down the center.

rough sketch

19 AUGUST 2008

Truck is finally fixed. Waited all morning for a load. Had lunch at a mom&pop stop - Stockmen's Truckstop across from the Pete dealership. Picked up an empty from Menard's in Eau Claire, WI. Drove to Performance in Lakeville, MN for a live load of 42,840 lbs of paper rolls.

18 AUGUST 2008

one of the many shops we were in

Truck still not fixed. Watched the olympics most of the day while walking back and forth from the hotel to the Pete dealership. That's 3 days for us not rolling, no miles and no loads.

17 AUGUST 2008

Our company put us up in a nearby hotel from Peterbilt, a rarity....usually they make you go to a company terminal and expect you to sleep in the drivers' lounge or just wait it out in your broken down truck. Luckily for us they had no terminals nearby, and we can't stay in our truck if it's in Peterbilt's shop. The dealership told them (our company) our problem was bigger than a day's work and it was the wknd so they were waiting for a part to come in on Monday. Something was wrong with our alternator's sensor.

The shop was walking distance from the hotel so we checked in every now and again to see how our truck was doing. On one of our many walks back, we met a couple who drove team from northern Minnesota who was parked outside of the Peterbilt dealership fixing their own Pete. They came late the night before when the dealership was closed, parked out front and began trying to fix it themselves. Next day, the dealership saw them and said they wouldn't take in their truck because they cannot be liable for any additional damage they may have caused. Going on day 2, they had to call a nearby road squad to help them out. You pay those guys by the hour, so their bill was looking pretty hefty. Their daughters drove down to get their mother and before they left they had a little picnic around the truck. The mother only drives in the summer while some of the kids are in school, but stays home throughout the year on their farm, looking after the cows. It was a bit of a party, and we offered the husband to use our shower if he needed to since it seemed like it would go on to day 3 and he would have to man it alone.

16 AUGUST 2008

Our home time is up today. Have to check in the truck at 10am and contact dispatch. Sometimes if you're lucky enough, and your dispatcher likes you (meaning you don't complain and give them any trouble), you'll have a load waiting for you. Had a good-bye breakfast with an old friend who styled the shoot. Good bye Red Wing, we're rolling out.....or so we thought. Our '07 Pete wouldn't start....again. Waited for a wrecker from St. Paul to come get us and tow our tractor to the closest Peterbilt dealership. We took the wrecker driver's portrait. Story is probably sounding old, but that's the life of a trucker, sometimes you roll and other times you break down.

13 AUGUST 2008

Picked up an empty in Brooklyn, IA at a Kellog's DC. Drop and hook (when you drop your empty for a loaded one) at Elkay Plastics in Bensenville, IL of 40,000 lbs of plastic wrap. We repowered and switched loads of 14,679 lbs of random plastic fittings for a Menard DC in Eau Claire, WI. Today was supposed to be our first day of home-time. Usually you get 2 per month. Supposed to be one day for every seven you drive, but most drivers don't take it so they can keep rolling and making money. Our home-time this time was in MN as we had a shoot for 2 days to do with Red Wing Shoes in Red Wing, MN. Kinda crazy to do a shoot while we were full on truck drivers, but we made it work and they loved seeing us roll up in our big, red and shiny. Loads of fun, and a nice break from our day to day.

12 AUGUST 2008

Dropped off at a Family Dollar in Maquoketa, IA. Bob-tailed (rode tractor only without a trailer) to the nearest truck stop and waited for a load. We wait almost as often as we drive. No load, no pay. Doesn't help that we don't have an empty, so we're even just waiting for an empty to pop up. When you're rolling around with an empty, it's easier for you to either pick up a live load, or switch out an already loaded trailer with your empty. Never can you just show up with no trailer and expect to get a loaded one. At big distribution centers, they like having a number of most company's empty trailers so they can keep loading them and switching them out. Hurry up and wait...

11 AUGUST 2008

Picked up an empty in Byram, MS at a Belk yard. Stopped at a Pilot to shower.Live load of floor cleaner from Sun Pine Corp in Canton, MS. 35,145 lbs of floor cleaner! Parked at Moto Mart truckstop in Perryville, MO and photographed our first fuel island which would set the tone for the rest of the series.

10 AUGUST 2008

It's a Sunday and we were stuck along the bible belt in Mississippi. No loads to be picked up nearby as everything is shut down. A local driver saw us just sitting in the front of our cab bored as hell and directed us to the nearest movie theater right near a Walmart so we'd be able to park. Caught a flick and camped out at another Wally World (trucker slang for a Walmart.)

9 AUGUST 2008

Got a live load of Meow Mix from Decatur, AL headed for a Walmart DC in Brookhaven, MS. 27,000 lbs of meow mix, the factory stunk. Wondered how many strays lingered around this place. Took one of our first portraits from this series of a driver named Rex Cox, from Michigan, now Alabama. He has been driving for 31 years and is 61 yrs old. Stayed at a nearby tiny mom and pop stop....pretty gross. Put it this way, we brushed in the truck with a water bottle.

8 AUGUST 2008

Woke up and went to the port to get loaded. It was a live load (when you don't just switch your empty trailer for an already loaded one, but actually back up into a dock and wait to be loaded then and there) of copper. There was no way we would make the load in time because we were out of drive hours, so we had to re-power with another driver. A re-power is when another driver comes and takes the load you have and you either take their empty, or their load. We met at a Pilot in Tuscaloosa, AL for the repower. It was a female solo driver, came in the middle of the night, and we switched trailers. Got an empty and waited for a load. Re-powers are beneficial in many ways. If a driver or team is out of legal hours of driving, then another driver can come get your load who has enough hours to deliver it on time. Another benefit is for family emergencies which we've had quite a few times while on the road. If you have a family emergency and are loaded, they will give you another driver's load closest to you that are headed in the direction of your home to get you there the fastest. One time we drove all the way from Arkansas to Kearny, NJ straight. Definitely not legal but, reason enough to hurry home. We've re-powered many times for drivers who recently lost family members, and it's hard. Not being home often is very difficult for a lot of drivers.

The legal driving time for a driver is only 70 hrs/wk of actual driving. Each day you are only allowed 14 work hours, 11 of which can be drive hours. The other 3 you may use for fueling, pre-trips, etc. If you go over 70 hrs before you week is up, you have to take a mandatory 34hr restart to basically start your clock over again. That's 34 hours of doing nothing, with no pay. The way drivers keep track of all this is with a driver log. There you track your hours and where you've been, which you keep a copy for yourself and send a copy to your company. Werner started digital logs, so drivers didn't have to keep a tangible log in the truck. Paper is always better, with a little white-out you can play with your hours and miles. The possibility of having your log checked by DOT can happen at any time, especially when you go through a weigh station. Just like speeding tickets, they too have a quota to meet for drivers who went over their legal drive time or have any other violations. A lot of times you see drivers pulled to the side of the road, a few miles before a weigh station, filling out their logs so they're up to date. Usually if you have your ears on (cb) other drivers will tell you if they're checking logs, etc.

7 AUGUST 2008

Dropped our shelves off in Tallahasse at a Costco DC (distribution center). Had another load to pick up from a port in Panama City, FL. We were fifteen minutes late and arrived after they closed which was 3:30pm. As soon as we pulled up to the gate, all the employees were already in their vehicles driving off. We ended up staying at the closest truck stop called Kangaroo. A lot of small stops are connected to a fried chicken chain, as was this one. This Kangaroo not only had fuel, parking spaces and food, but a Washaroo too for big trucks.

If you've ever been to a truck stop before, depending on the size, you probably never been where all the trucks are parked in the back and asleep (though still idling) for the night. It surprised us to learn that these monstrous vehicles are never shut off for the sake of the driver's comfort. Most owner-ops (owner-operators - drivers who own their own truck) turn their truck off as often as they can. They pay for fuel and even idling you burn a lot. You can almost pinpoint them out, first of all they lack the decals of a company truck, and you see them sitting in the front of their cab, not idling with windows rolled down. Certain parts of the country have idling laws. It has to be a certain temperature outside before you can idle for the night. Mainly for noise and emissions pollution and primarily out west and certain northeast states. When you arrive at a stop for the night, there's a certain ritual that becomes the routine of your life. Shower, eat, walk around the small store to look at things you've seen a million times that every other stop has, then back to your truck.

6 AUGUST 2008

Drove through Mississippi, Alabama to Florida. Stopped early at a Pilot (another chain truck stop) to shower. When you fuel over 50 gallons, you usually get a free shower. Not bad, and not as dirty as one would imagine. They give you an extra hard towel from bleach and over-drying, which isn't a bad thing, and a bar of soap. Plus they clean it after every use, so you didn't get surprised with gross remnants. It's funny when you're at a truck stop you know a driver is about to shower when he/she either has a gym bag or backpack with them. Sometimes the lines are so long you have to wait until your number is called on the intercom. Shower time was always a good time. Free from your truck, and able to stand under nice hot water. Called quits for the day since we weren't so far away. Tried dropping early (so we can get another load faster) but the company wouldn't take us. We were carrying 12,000 lbs of shelving for Costco (owned by Walmart).

5 AUGUST 2008

At the Pete dealership we met an old driver named Glenn, from Houston, who has been driving for over 27 yrs. Glenn had trucking in his blood, his father drove and all his uncles on both sides drove. 47 yrs old, he just bought himself a brand new Peterbilt! 150k! Was having check engine light issues, which is why he was at the dealership. Been there going on 10 days and stressed as all hell. When your not rolling, you're losing money. Everyday you sit still, you lose money. Glenn hauls and specializes in moving over-sized heavyweight equipment (cranes, windmills, etc). When you specialize in a particular part of trucking, there's room to make loads of money. Driving a regular old dry box (trailer), you make the least. Reefers (refrigerated trailers) make a little more, then there are tankers, livestock haulers, hazmat haulers, loggers... On a good week, Glenn can make up to 11k/wk, but generally averages 7-8k/wk. We probably made that in 6 months. We worked for a major trucking company, and were paid per mile. We averaged 19 cents/mi and on longer loads around 32 cents/mi. Not very much, but we were also rookies. Glenn's truck was still on warranty, so of course they took their time getting it fixed. When company trucks come in they usually work on those first because they're guaranteed payment.

Hurricane Edouard had us all worried. Glenn headed back home, but called us later that night to be sure we were ok as the storm approached. He told us in situations like this to make sure we were between two trucks at a truck stop and not at the end. You're safer that way in case it gets too windy. Truck was fixed yesterday, so we headed to a Love's (another chain truck stop) and slept for a few hours. Another knocking on our truck as we were parked in an emergency fire zone. Truck stop was packed!! We ended up driving back to our yard in Dallas and slept there. Woke up to Hurricane Edouard full on! Luckily got a load right in the yard headed for Tallahassee, FL. We basically drove right through the eye of the storm in Louisiana, those couple of seconds of no rain where you can almost see the whirlwind above you! Super windy and kind of freaked out. We stopped in Rayne, LA (the frog capital of the world) at a local truck stop called Frog City. Had some jambalaya! Made it safely to Mississippi, couldn't find a truck stop, so parked in a Walmart lot to spend the night. The one thing we like about Walmart is that they are truck-driver friendly. Usually 24 hrs, they don't complain when there are random eighteen-wheelers parked in the lot for a night's rest. You go in, use the restroom, brush your teeth, walk around, maybe grab a dvd to watch for the night, then head back to your truck. Also, unfortunately, it's the only place you can park and get groceries. A lot of newbie drivers park in Walmart lots. They get 'stage fright' when backing into a spot at a truck stop. All eyes are really on you as there's nothing much for a lot of drivers to do when they're parked for the night than to stare out their cab. Plus, it's always fun watching someone back in, especially if they're really good.

No Lot Lizards

4 AUGUST 2008

Of course we got a knocking in the middle of the night, a lot lizard wanting to know if Frank "needed company." We saw her earlier yesterday night starting her night's work. Now you have to understand that that is an invasion of privacy. You don't knock on some one's truck, you just can't do that. Unless of course you're a lot lizard. It's your home, you never let anyone inside your truck, and watch those who even come close to it.

Woke up again by a second knocking on our truck, this time it was 8am and was the wrecker (tow truck for big trucks). He hooked our tractor-trailer, and we slowly made it basically across the highway to a Peterbilt dealership. Our truck hooked up to his, we were over 130,000 lbs and long as hell! We sat in the front of his cab with him, all hazards on, and watched. The driver was no more than 24 and made turns like he was driving a Smart Car.

The Peterbilt dealership was huge and really nice. Their shop had 25 bays, working on both sides, so they can have up to 50 trucks in the shop at one time. Waited all day, told it was our alternator. Showered in their driver's lounge and watched tv; nicest one we've been to. Hoped our truck would be fixed as Hurricane Edouard was about to hit Houston hard. Peterbilt said they may not even open the next day...

3 AUGUST 2008

Started our day at our company yard in Dallas, TX. When you drive for a big company, they usually have yards all over and terminals. Yards are basically what they sound like, big open lots to hold empty and loaded trailers. It's one of the places you can go to pick up a loaded trailer and switch it out with your empty. We picked up a loaded trailer #4275581 of Oxallic Acid (non-hazardous) headed for Arkansas, weighing over 40,000 lbs (trailer weight included, tractor excluded). Maximum weight for a loaded tractor trailer combination is 80,000 lbs. Stopped at the seediest truck stop we've been to called 'Truckers Paradise' in Houston. Perhaps a paradise for some, but sketchier than ever! Of course our truck at the time, an old Peterbilt wouldn't start and kept shutting off. So we're broken down, a humid August day in Texas, stuck in a truck that won't turn on at one of the worst truck stops in the country. We waited about an hour dripping in our truck while TA's (truck stop chain) Road Squad (similar to Best Buy's Geek Squad but way cooler) came to the rescue. Fifteen minutes after their arrival, they tell us we need to get towed. Back and forth on the phone with our company, we're told we need to spend the night until they can get a tow truck over. With luck our truck turned back on, so at least we had A/C for the night, but we dared not to drive it fully loaded.

Not much to do at a truck stop when you're stuck there other than wait, so we turned the CB on to listen to the local entertainment for the night. Lot lizards (truck stop prostitutes aka sleeper leapers) heaven. There was a 4-wheeler (trucker talk for car) driving around, pimp driving, lot lizard in the passenger side on the CB selling everything you can imagine - bootleg DVDs, porno, batteries, and a 2-for-1 special - one 24 yr old and one 29 yr old. Nuts! Meanwhile, another driver broke out his grill and started to barbecue in the back of the lot inviting everyone over. Lot lizards everywhere, pimps going wild, truckers looking restless,...you know when you're at a bad truck stop when there aren't many company trucks around and most of the other trucks around you look all beat up..... that's pretty much the situation we were in. Had enough, turned our ears (cb) off and hoped nobody knocked on our door at night.

Countdown

Our show is in about a month....no pressure at all.
Printing, mounting, framing, editing, editing again, etc.......

To lighten things up a bit and to put some of our work into perspective, we will begin giving you a day to day of what our year on the road was like, so stay tuned!

The Original Copy

Looking forward to seeing this!

The Original Copy : Photography of Sculpture 1839 to Today
MOMA : 1AUG-1NOV

The Original Copy presents a critical examination of the intersections between photography and sculpture, exploring how the one medium has been implicated in the analysis and creative redefinition of the other. Bringing together three hundred pictures, magazines, and journals by more than one hundred artists from the dawn of modernism to the present, the exhibition looks at the ways in which photography at once informs and challenges our understanding of what sculpture is.
(from the exhibition site)

Cats and Watermelons, 1992

© Gabriel Orozco