Back to June

At the Flying J, I update the blog to this point.

After forty-five minutes, I left, and drove to the delivery.  There I dropped the load.  I had to wait there for forty five minutes while the trip planners tried to find another load.  I only had four hours available to drive, so I didn't expect anything.  I was right as I was told to bobtail to the lot, and go home.

Here is an interesting note about this tour.  Three loads were delivered to state capitols, Denver CO, Columbia SC, and Harrisburg PA.  I also drove through Indianapolis IN, and Columbus OH.  Plus, I drove by Frankfort KY.  I guess you could call this the capitol tour.

End of tour 55

I got to the lot, and was ready to go at 0800.  But, the load had a pick up time of 1000. It was only thirty miles away.  I left at 0930.  At the shipper, there were other trucks ahead of me, so I had to wait.  Plus, I was not given the correct pick up number.  This took awhile to get.  It was after 1100 before I got into a dock.  For all this fooling around, I got to haul it thirty miles back to the drop lot where I park when I go home.

The next load was better.  I bobtailed to a customer lot in Milwaukee, picked up an empty, and drove to the shipper, thirty miles north of Milwaukee.  The load was thick steel wire that you see on flatbed trailers.  I was concerned about how this was going to work.  But, my load was stacked horizontal on racks.  The rack keep the wire rolls from sliding.

I was loaded in about an hour.   I drove about two hours, and weighed the load.  Because I could see how far from the end of the trailer the load was loaded., I set the tandems to the place where I thought they should be.  I had the drives and tandems within a hundred lbs. of eachother.

I drove another hour and a half, and stopped at a Flying J.  There I updated this page to the end of the tour 55.

It was hot, but once the sun sets, running the truck for fifteen minutes cools the interior enough that I only need a fan to be comfortable while I sleep.  I like to drive later into the day, so that I am not sitting in the sun at the end of my day.

The delivery was to a drop lot.  There I dropped the trailer, and was supposed to picked up and empty, but the trailer wasn't there, and there no other empty trailers.  I was sent to another location.  The location was within the city limits of the city I was in, but it added almost thirty miles to the trip which I don't get paid for.

I picked up the empty, and drove to the shipper.  There, I dropped the trailer in a dock, and picked up the load.  I drove two and a half hours, and stopped for lunch and a nap.  I wasn't in a hurry, so I didn't set an alarm.  I usually nap less than thirty minutes, but slept an hour.  I must have been tired.

I then drove almost four hours, and stopped in West Memphis for fuel, and a shower.  When I left, I drove another hour and a half.  I needed to cover about a third of the distance to the delivery.  Yes, a third.  The delivery is in the morning of the 11th.  I started in OK, and stopped in MS.  I was going to FL.

I made that delivery in Miami.  The temperature and humidity were in the nineties.  Miami was the farthest  I have ever driven the truck in FL.  I have driven to Key West, while on a vacation.  The drive to Miami took me over pieces of I95 that I have not been on.  I have now driven all of I95 in FL.  It should also be said that Miami may be the farthest south I have driven in  the truck.  I did go to a shipper in TX that may have been farther south.

Once I was unloaded, I drove to Ft. Lauderdale to get my next load.  It took about fifteen minutes to get there, and two and three quarters to get loaded.

By the time I got going, I only had  a little more than three hours to drive, and I used an hour of that to take a shower.  I stopped at a rest area when my fourteen hour ran out.

I did not get a load at that shipper.  I had to drive a hundred miles to another shipper.  There I hooked up the load, and left.  I had a little more than three hours of driving time left before my fourteen hour day was done.  I drove two hours of back roads, and one hour of Interstate before stopping for the night.  I only had fifteen more minutes left.

The drive to the delivery was less than four hours.  It might have been a little less if I hadn't had problems with the GPS.  It kept trying to take the shortest route.  I followed the company directions, but missed a turn, and wound out on really back roads.  Ones that I probably shouldn't have been on.  I followed the GPS to get out of the back hills.

I dropped the load, and picked up an empty.  The drive to the shipper was fifteen minutes away, and the GPS  took me right to them.  I was early, and the load time was supposed to be a couple of hours, but I was put in a dock right away, and was loaded and out of there in an hour.

I drove another three and a quarter hours, and stopped at a Flying J.  I updated this page up to yesterday.  It was a short day.

The load assignment said that I could park at the delivery site, but I was told no.  However, I was allowed to park there anyhow.

My next load was a local delivery.  The trailer and delivery were an hour and a half away.  I picked up an empty where I was, and left two hours before the delivery.  I didn't want to start my fourteen to early.

I dropped the empty, picked up the load, and drove four miles to the delivery.  The bill of lading didn't seem to be right.  It didn't have the address of the delivery on it.  But I have seen bills like this, where the buyer directs the delivery to another location.  At the delivery, the consignee said that the load did not match want they were expecting.

I call my team leader, TL, and told her that the load I had appeared to be for some place else.  I was put on hold while they tried to figure out the problem.  Apparently, there were two loads shipping from the same shipper.  Two other drivers were given load assignments to haul the loads.  Either the shipper or the carrier confused the loads, and the drivers were hauling each other's trailers to the wrong delivery locations.  I noticed that something was wrong with the address on the bill, if either other drive had questioned the address, the error would have been caught earlier.

I was told to take the load to its correct destination, about a 180 miles.  I drove to Gary, where I fueled up, had a tire changed, and ate lunch.  Before leaving, I scaled the load, and had to adjust it.  It was 160 lbs heavy in the front.

I drove to the delivery.  Along the way, I got orders for my next load.  This could have been a problem.  The current load had a possible unload time of five hours, or more.  It turned out that the next load could be picked up as late as tomorrow.  But that was moot, as I got into a dock right away, and was out of there in a half an hour.  I asked the person who unloaded the trailer if someone had showed up with a wrong load at 1000.  A driver had showed up.

I drove about seventy miles to the shipper, dropped the empty I had from the late load, picked up the load, and took off.  I drove almost three hours, using up my fourteen.  I stay in a rest stop.

I went looking for an empty trailer, anticipating that I would be told to pick one up.  But, I was told to bobtail to the next shipper.  The only problem was that the pickup time was at 1400, and it was only 0830.  However, the load was a 130 miles away.  Initially, I was told to take the load to a delivery on the 20th.  The problem with this was that I could get it there today.  I wondered if I was going to have to sit a day and a half, or could I drop it for relay.  Plus, I am supposed to get home on the 20th.  I took off, and drove a little more than an hour to a Flying J.  Along the way, I got an order to drop the load at the OC in Seville.  Actually a little farther.

At the Flying J, I check my mail, and other sites.  I also posted this page to the Internet, updated through yesterday.  After about an hour an a half, I left, and drove forty-five minutes to a Pilot station.  There I got some fuel, and ate lunch.  I was told to fill up.  I thought that I had enough to get to Seville, so I only put in fifty gallons.  That way I got a shower coupon, in case I needed one.

I left the Pilot station, and headed to the shipper.  I arrived an hour early, in case the load was ready.  It was.  I picked it up and took off.  I used the GPS to get me out of the area.  The company directions had so many turns that it would have been a mess.  Besides, those directions were to the original delivery location.

The GPS route had me take U.S. 30 to I76.  I had not been on this part of U.S. 30, but I expected an interesting trip because the sign on I76, going east, says that the road has sharp curves.  They were right.  The hills, curves, and road destruction slowed me up, and I was concerned that I couldn't make it to the OC before my fourteen ran out.  The GPS said that I would arrive just as my fourteen ran out.  I got there okay, and when I checked my log book, I actually had another hour left.

I dropped the load there for relay, and stayed there for the night.

The drive to the delivery was a short one, less than five hours.  There I dropped the loaded trailer, and picked up an empty.  I left for the shipper of the next load.

The time to get to the next shipper was all I had available to drive.  The shipper was two an a half hours away.  That was what the GPS said.  I couldn't fool around if I wanted to get there today.  The pick up time was tomorrow, but I could sleep on the shippers grounds, and I wouldn't have to start my fourteen until I left.  If I were to stop, and then drive there tomorrow, and they took a long time to load the trailer, I might not get home tomorrow.

I made it to the shipper as my time ran out, and able to place the trailer in a dock

The company directions wanted me to go to Gary to get fuel.  This would have been out of route.  I went to Indianapolis.  This allowed me to drive to the delivery by the most direct route, saving time and miles.  It took just over six hours to get to the delivery.  There I dropped the load, and picked up an empty.

I drove the empty home, just over two hours.

End of tour 56

Ahead to Aug

I arrived at the lot, and was ready to go at 0800.  I waited for a load assignment.  None came, so I called after about forty-five minutes.  Usually there is a load waiting for me.  I should have sent a note saying I was available.

I drove thirty minutes to pick up an empty trailer.  I took it to the shipper, where I dropped it.  The load was ready, and I was on my way after a short time.

The delivery way about two and a half days away, but the appointment time was three and a half days away.  I drove a short day, and stopped at the OC outside St Louis.

From the beginning of the day, the ar conditioning was acting funny.  Actually, it might of been the blower.  The blower would go on and off.  Sometimes it would be on for more than a few minutes, as long as forty minutes.  Then, sometimes it would be off as long.  The fan in the bunk worked, but when the blower up front went out, the A/C would go off too.

By the time I got to the OC, it was working okay.  I told a mechanic, he said he would look at it, but then found out that the truck was due for a PM.  It was 2000, and he said that it would be done by 2400.  It was a little after 2400, but it was faster than if I had been at another OC.  And, the A/C worked.