Back to Dec 2006

I got up when I woke up, the third or forth time.  I sent a note saying that I wouldn't mind dropping the load for relay, and get a relay to make use of my day.  Then I took a shower, and was on my way about 0800.  Along the way, I received a note saying, no relays.  I drove three hours, and arrived at a company lot, with some facilities, at 1100.

I dropped the trailer, and left the lot to go to a cinema theater about a miles away.  There I watched three movies.  Afterwards, I returned to the lot, fueled up, an hooked up the trailer.

I was closing in on the address of the delivery.  I saw the address, but the name was different.  I have seen things like this before.  It is interesting that the company that is giving me the load doesn't know where the loads are going.  The bill of lading had the right name on it.  I guess I am going to have to pay closer attention to the name and address of the bill of lading.  My employer doesn't always know the name or address of the shipper or consignee.  Anyway, I looked for the entrance for deliveries.  By the time I realized that it was farther back, I couldn't get turned around, and had to go over five/six miles to get back.  When I came upon the address this time, I saw this nothing of a street, (not part of the directions) with a sign indicated shipping and receiving.  But, it had the name different from that given by employer.

Well, as I got there, it didn't look very busy.  Why?  They were not open.  And, just as I arrived, I got messages with new delivery times.  I am being directed by morons.  I had left an okay lot to now be in a not so okay parking lot, with not much to recommend it.  I called my TL, who probably wasn't there, per usual, and asked for a relay, a motel, or to go back to where I was.  I had expected to be in Gary that afternoon, where I planned to shower, but now I was nowhere.

I was given permission to go back to the company lot, where I microwaved a meal, and had a shower.

Now I was driving some distance, the first in three days.  I drove to Gray IN and got fuel.  Then I drove to the home lot.  I had eight hours in for the day, and I could have driven to the delivery point, and maybe even delivered tonight, but I thought I would take a chance on getting my person vehicle back.

I asked around, looking for a ride back to Gary.  I was about to give up, when I found someone going to Gary.  And, it was the same guy who had given me a ride from Gary to the home lot back in December.

He drove me to Gary, and I drove my vehicle back to the home lot.  I spent the night there.

When empty, I drove up into the upper peninsula of MI.  The shipper was a paper mill.  I had been there before.  I kind of in the country.  Along the road to the shipping office, I got a picture of three turkeys.

I dropped the empty, and picked up the load.  Five hours later, I was back at the home lot.  I called to see if there was going to be a load for me tomorrow.  I was told that none had been assigned.  I told them to put my available time at 0800.  I went home.

I left at 0900, drove to the lot, picked up an empty trailer, and drove twelve miles.  At the shipper, I was loaded in about an hour.  Then I drove back to the lot, and dropped the trailer for someone else to take.  I asked about another load, and was told to go home.  It wasn't even worth getting out of bed for.

End of tour 45

Like the start of most tours, I had to go and get my load.  The last two loads I picked up were brought out of the boondocks for other to haul the distance.  At least I didn't have to deliver what someone else had driven the distance.

I picked up an empty and drove an hour north.  There I was loaded in two hours.  I headed south, driving almost to St Louis.  There is a new operating center, OC, there.  I fueled and stopped for the night.

I took the empty to a shipper, where I dropped it.  Then I drove to the Dallas OC to pick up a load for delivery.  This is an example of what I mentioned on the 8th,  someone had brought the load from WA, and I get to take it sixteen miles.

While at the OC, I showered.  I also saw two people that were part of my training.

I drove to the delivery.  There, I found out that some of the pallets had tipped over.  I had to pick up the product and restack the pallets.  I was not paid for this.

While on the way to the delivery, I received order for my next load.  After I was unloaded, I drove the empty to the next shipper, a 340 miles deadhead.  I had just enough time to get to the shipper, in AR.  It started with almost 300 miles of Interstate.  But once I was off the Interstate, the states roads were hilly and curvy.  One road was so bad that I was under twenty MPH most of the time.  I don't think that was a legal road.  I was running out of time on the fourteen hours.  I came upon a small town where I saw another truck parked.  I pulled in and parked just as I ran out of time.

Now, because it was supposed to be a live load, I had sent a note that I would deliver at 1200 tomorrow.  It was suppose to be delivered at 0900.  Someone at the company sent me a note wanting to know why I was going to be late.  Simple put, it seemed that I was given the load without regard to the short haul delivery in between my first delivery yesterday, and this load.

Anyway, the rest of the day was a driving day.  I stopped three times during a ten and a half hour drive.  The stops added up to an hour and a half.

I was unloaded in an hour.  I then drove hour to get my next load, another paper mill.  The pickup was a drop and hook.  I was able to scale the load there.

As I headed south, I thought about all the options I had with his load.  It was to be delivered on the morning of the 15th.  I thought about stopping at a Flying J near Beloit WI.  But, as I drove, the delivery time was changed to late in the day on the 15th.  I wondered why the time had been changed.  A calculation of my available hours made me think that who ever made the change might have thought that I didn't have enough time.  My calculation said that I would have about four or five hours left for the day..

Anyway, I now had enough time to do a recap.  I could do one anywhere along the route.  There were six Flying Js, and two OCs to stop at.  I could even go out of route, and go home for two nights.

I drove to Gary, and arrived just as my fourteen and eleven hours were up.  There I took on some fuel, but was told not to fill up

I drove to the OC in Seville OH.  There I fueled up, ate lunch, and took a shower.  I might not get to take another for three days.

I continued to drive to the farthest Flying J.  I arrived after ten hours and fifteen of driving.  It was just before 1900.  I would be staying here until 0500 on the 15th.  A break of 34 hours, basically a day plus a ten hour break, is a recap or restart.  This means that I will have a fresh seventy hours, and eleven hours to drive.  I had driven about 21 hours in two days.  I could have driven three seven hour days, including tomorrow, and would have only four hours available on the 15th, and eight on the 15th.

At the delivery, I got into a dock right away, and was out in less than two hours.  I had eight hours available for the rest of the day.  But, I get a load that was sixty miles away, and had a delivery time tomorrow morning, sixty miles away.  A waste of my day.

My next load was about forty miles away.  There I was loaded in a couple of hours.  The load was hand trucks and pallet jacks.  They didn't seem to be loaded well, and I was concerned that the load would bounce around.

My drive west included stopping for fuel.  I fueled and ate lunch.  When I left, I thought that I should have eaten faster.  I was concerned that I wouldn't get to Seville, where I wanted to stop.  The load didn't required me to stay there.  I could have stopped at a Flying  J near the OH/PA border.

As I drove, the lightness of the load allowed me to make good time, even in the mountains.  I was averaging 63 mph.  I gained fifteen minutes in five hours.  And, despite some snow, I made Seville as my fourteen hours ran out.

I drove to Gary, where I ate lunch, fueled up, and showered.  I then drove to within fifteen minutes of the delivery.  It was under twenty degrees, and concerned about using the CPAP, sleep apnea machine, I ran the truck over night.

The next load was only two miles away.  There I was loaded in less than two hours.  While at both locations, I noticed that I was running out of power a lot sooner than normal.  One test should have provided enough power to run my cooler for an hour and a half, but the battery protection shut the inside power off after eight minutes.

As I left the shipper, I sent a note that I was having a battery problem, that I would have it checked in Gary, and that it was unknown when I would be available.  I drove to Gary, where I dropped that load.  The load was over 36,000 lbs of what looked like bales of dried lint.

As I was dropped the load, I noticed a rotten smell.  I didn't remember ever smelling this garbage like smell before.  As I unhooked the trailer, I saw smoke coming out of the battery box.  I was cooking a battery.

I put the tractor in the shop.  I also wrote up the front brakes, which had been squawking when I used the brake the first few times in the morning.  I stayed at a motel for the night.

End of tour 46

I arrived at the lot, transferred my stuff, and was ready to go by 0800.  I was given a load that was in the lot, but only going 125 miles.  It was a drop, so that wasn't too bad.

I drove the distance, dropped the trailer, and drove to another location near by to get an empty trailer.  I found the trailer, but the brakes were frozen.  It was at a repair shop, where they had apparently worked on the brakes.  A guy worked on the trailer, and after an hour, I was able to get going.

I was heading to the UP of MI to get a load.  But, I didn't like that the load had two deliveries, 145 miles, and a day apart.  I had to go to the OC where my TL is at to get fuel, so I ate lunch, and went to talk to him about moving the second stop up to tomorrow afternoon.  He put in it the system, and said that I would get a message.  I left.

About fifteen minutes away, I got a couple of notes saying the I had been taken off the load, and to stop somewhere.  I exited the freeway, and waited.  When I got the new load, it was the same load, with the first stop moved out to the second day.  This was not any better.

I went and got the load, then drove towards the delivery.  I was thinking about getting as far as I could in the remaining four and three quarter hours.  If I got far enough, I could sit for twenty-four hour, and get paid layover pay.  But then I would probably have to get up at 0300 on the 25th.  I was getting tired, and didn't think I would get as far as I would have liked, so I stopped for the in Wausau WI.

Driving the distance now, I saw where I would have been less than three hours from the delivery location.  I would have had to get up at about 0315, but would have made $90.

For the whole day, I only drove four and a quarter hours.  With yesterday, I have only driven eleven and a half for two days.  This is terrible.  A real waste of my time and hours.  This company is not foing right by me, and I am seriously thinking of quitting.

Just before a stopped, and because I had so much time to kill, I stopped at a Cabelos.  I had never been in one of the stores, but had heard much about them.  It was like a museum, with all sorts of stuffed, and mounted animal displays.  It also had a large fish tank.

Three miles down the road, I stopped for the night.

I drove to the then stop, and arrived an hour and a half early.  There no other trucks in the receiving dock, and I was in a dock right away.  What was suppose to take four hour, took thirty minutes.  I was four hours ahead of time.

I drove to Des Moines, where I was to pick up my next load.  Now, because to of the unload times stated in the orders, I had sent a note saying that I would be available at 1500.  The drive to Des Moines took three hours.  So, my load, which was on the way for a relay, was still three hours away.  I had to wait for it.

While waiting, I took a shower, and attended a business meeting that the company wanted drivers to attend.  The meeting left me wondering what was going on with the company.  It seemed to say, "There are problems", "Don't believe what you hear", "We are trying to fix the problem", and other troublesome information.

The load came in on time, and although I could have stayed in Des Moines for the night, I could still drive two and a half hours, and I wanted to make up for lost time over the last two days.  I drove until the fourteen ran out.  I got into MO.

Along the way, I sent a note to my TL, asking whether the delivery point was open on Saturday, and if there would be load out of Laredo.  I had heard that drivers were spending days, waiting for a load out of Laredo.  If there was no load, I wanted to drop the trailer in Dallas, for relay.  I got a note to drop the load I was hauling at the Laredo drop lot.  That meant the consignee was closed.

When I arrived, I dropped the trailer, ate lunch, and took a shower.  After all that, I still hadn't received orders for a load.  I call the weekend weenies, who are useless, to see about a load.  I got the SOS about no loads, over a hundred drivers waiting.  At one point, I thought I was getting a load, but the trailer had left yesterday.  I imagine that the weekend weenies had a good laugh over that.

The highway runs right along the Mexican border.  The names of the towns and stores reflect this.  Like the city of Zapata.  I notice a real interesting cemetery, with beautiful graves, of short, above ground mausoleums.  I should have stopped to get a picture.  But, I did stop for the next one.

I arrived at the shipper at 1000, and was loaded in two hours.  The rest of the day was a good drive.  To start, I took another U.S. highway, then hooked up with I37 to San Antonia.  I continued to Waco, but the Flying J there was full, so went fifteen minutes farther north, and stopped for the night.

I updated this page to this point, and posted it to the Internet.

I arrived at the delivery a half hour before I said I would, but I had received orders for my next load.  After dropping the load at the delivery, I bobtailed to Gary to pick up my next load.

At Gary, I picked up the loaded trailer, fueled up, and stopped there for a while.  I had some time because the load wasn't to be delivered until tomorrow.  It was about three hours away.  So, I went and talked to the operations people at this location.  I had been told in that meeting back on the 25th that my current OC, Operation Center, was going to be for dedicated accounts only, and that I would be getting a different OC.  As my current OC wasn't doing a good job of utilizing my time, having wasted four or five days of driving time in January alone, I talked to the operation manager in Gary about moving me to them now.

When I left, I drove little over two hours to a Flying J south of Milwaukee WI.