|
Date |
Activities in June
2007 |
1
Back to May
|
Today is the date I was guaranteed to be home.
The shipper was about fifteen minutes away, and the load was going
to Gary, less than four hours away. I had eleven hours
available to drive. It looked good.
I drove the shipper, and was told that they had moved the pick up
date out a week. I called the TL with the news. I was
given another load near by, but was told to take the trailer to
another location farther away, and bob-tail to the shipper. I
drove over an hour to the location. There I was told that they
did not want the trailer. I was told to take the trailer to
the shipper, an hour and a half away. What a waste of time.
At the shipper, they rejected the trailer because it didn't have
an inspection sticker on it. It may have, but it looked like
someone had pealed it off. The company said it had been
inspected since the beginning of the year. Anyway, the options
were drive around trip of a hundred miles, dropping the trailer in
Battle Creek, or have it inspected five miles down the road at a
truck stop.
At the truck stop, they said they could do the inspection in less
than an hour. This would have worked okay if it hadn't been
for the three back tire. I had to go to another location two
miles away to get tires. Anyway, all this took five hours.
I went back to the shipper, got the load, and got going. I
drove three hours to Gary, arriving just as my fourteen hours ran
out. So much for guaranteed arrival at home today. I was
livid. This company has no honor.
|
2 |
I got up after my ten hour break, and drove to the
home lot. I was in my house by 0930. This is early
enough to not have a wasted day, but I missed out on a night at
home, and what I could have done last night.
End of tour 53.
|
5 |
Beginning of tour 54.
I went to the lot later than usual. It was 1045 before I
stated my day. I drove an empty trailer to the shipper,
dropped it, and picked up a load. I drove two hours to Gary,
and stayed there over two hours. I talked to my Team Leaders
about the screw up the day I was suppose to get home. While
there, I had a meal on the company. The company was showing
its appreciation by feeding us and giving us little trinkets.
I say, show your appreciation by paying us for miles driven, grief
incurred, and get us home on time.
When I left, I drove another four hours, and stopped for the
night in a rest area. It was a short day, but driving any
farther was not going to get me there any earlier tomorrow.
Besides, I was an hour from the Canadian border, and I didn't know
where I could park over there.
|
6
|
I got up at 0600, and left a half hours later. I
drove three hours, with two short stops, before arriving at the
delivery. The border crossing was uneventful. At the
delivery, I dropped the trailer, and bob-tailed to another location
to get an empty. The drive to get the empty was through farm
country on back roads. The company directions were goofy,
starting fifteen miles from where I was. The GPS wanted to go
another way. I followed the GPS until I got to a road that
didn't look good. I knew that the company route was off to the
west, so I turned west. Between the two, I got to the
location.
I picked up the empty, and followed the GPS to the shipper.
I had trouble getting onto the main highway because of construction,
but the GPS got me to the shipper, even if it wasn't the shortest
route.
At the shipper, I was loaded in about an hour. I drove out
to the main road, and stopped at a truck stop to scale the load, I
set it right at the shipper, and to fax the paperwork to a company
the handles border crossings. I then drove an hour and a half
to a fuel stop. I could have been there sooner, but the
directions were poor, and I had trouble find the truck stop as it
was not next to the highway.
I put in some fuel. Then I called the company I had faxed
the paperwork to to see if they had received it. I was also
informed that it take about five hours to process the paperwork,
whereas my instructions said three. I was an hour from the
border, but my time for the day would be up by the time the
paperwork was processed. I stayed at the truck stop for the
night. I got a note about a half hour before my fourteen was
up, saying that I was okay to cross the border.
|
7
|
I woke up at 0430. I was going to get up at 0500
anyway, so I got up. I was on my way by 0500. I was at
the border in less than an hour, and through customs in less an five
minutes. The company I faxed the paperwork to handles
all processing between the shipper, the broker, the driver, and
customs. It worked real good. A half hour later I took a short stop break, then drove another
two hours, where I stopped for an hour to fueled up and
shower. Two hours after I left there, I stopped for lunch and
a nap. Some time during the drive my
odometer turned over sixes. It was last July when I turned
over fives. That meant I put 111,111 miles on the truck, but
drove more than that in eleven months because I had used loaners a
couple of times.
Another four hours of driving, with two stops, and I
arrived at the delivery. I was a drop and hook. I left
with an empty, drove to the next town, where I was able to park at
the back of a 'park and ride' lot. I drove less than ten
hours, but the stops used up most of my fourteen.
|
8
|
I didn't seem to sleep well over the night. I
had be tired yesterday, and was concerned that I would be even more
tired today. When I checked the time, the alarm was going to
go off in thirty minutes, so I got up. Getting up early meant
I didn't have to worry about get to the shipper late. It was a
long 250 mile drive to the shipper. The last fifty miles was
on narrow back roads, with a couple of towns. I was in ME, and
I drove up to the capitol, Bangor, before heading east. The town was so small that it wasn't listed in the road
atlas. The town, but not the address, was found in Streets and
Trips. Both were found in the GPS system. The town was
right on the Atlantic
Ocean. This
bay was next to the shipper. This was also the farthest
east I have ever driven in the United States. Looking at the
map, it is probably the farthest east I will ever get.
I was load and on my way in less than an hour. I drove two
hours, one on the back roads, one on the Interstate, then stopped
for fuel, to scale the load, eat lunch, and take a nap. The
drive up to this point was okay, and I was not tired. The nap
insured that I was okay for the rest of the day. I drove four
more hours before stopping for the night. I had driven more
than yesterday, and with only one stop, besides at the shipper.
At the stop, I updated this page to this point.
|
9
|
Today was a drive day. The route took me through
the Bronx, across a little of Manhattan, and over the George
Washington Bridge into NJ. In NJ, on I78, some
of the bridges have bushes and tress on them.
I stopped in Carlisle for some fuel, a shower, and lunch. I
drove eleven hours in order to get to a Flying J. There I
entered this day's info, and posted the blog to the Internet.
|
10
|
I got up a little late. It was only two and a
quarter hours to the delivery. I said that I would be there at
1000, and be ready at 1200. I drove to the Charlotte OC, where
I dropped the load for relay. There I picked up a relay
load. I rested a while, and left. I drove back the way I
had come, passing the Flying J, and continued north.
The delivery was tomorrow, and I had to be there by 1200.
This forced me to drive more today than I wanted to. I only
had twenty-five hours to available for today and the next two
days. I drove to the little OC outside Columbus. There,
I fueled up, and stopped for the night. I used over ten hours
today. I still had five hours to drive to the delivery.
|
11 |
I got up 0500, and drove to the delivery. It
took two hours to get unloaded. I checked the hours available
to drive. At this point I had about eleven hours available for
the rest of today and tomorrow combined. Then I get six for
the 13th, and seven for the 14th. I called my TL, and
suggested that given the few hours that I had to drive each day
through the 14th, that I get a load going to an OC so I could put my
truck in the shop. I was told to drive to Gary. I
did. Put the truck in shop, showered, did paper work, and
worked on the blog. I am now updated with the maps and days to
this point. I stayed in a motel for the night. |
12
|
I returned to the OC from the motel about 0900.
My truck was being worked on. About an hour later, I was told
that it was done. My best guess was that it had only been
worked on three or four hours. I felt, that given the problems
I was having with the truck, it could not have been fixed. I
figured that something like this would happen, and I was right.
I went up the food chain, and talked to my TL boss, the Team
Operations Manager, TOM. I explained the problems with the
truck. In case I haven't mentioned the problems before, they
are: 1) The air pump the provides air for the brakes takes a long
time to pump up. This has been going on for a year, and I have
written this problem up six or seven times.. 2) The clutch
slips. This had occurred since it failed a couple on months
ago, and this is the second time I put the truck in for this.
3) Check engine light come on. This problem has occurred
on and off for a year.
The TOM said he wasn't mechanical, so we went to talk to a
mechanic with some authority. I explained the problem, and
that there was no way that the problems could have been fixed in
only four hours. He wrote up the problems, and had a master
mechanic work on the truck. Right off, the master mechanic
agreed that the air pump was bad.
Anyway, it was going to take until tomorrow morning before it was
finished, so I went to the motel for another night.
|
13
|
I arrived back at the OC around 0700. They said
that they were finishing up the work, and that it should be ready in
an hour. It was 1000 when I got it back. The check
engine light problem was traced to a ground short. The clutch
problem was interesting. The pressure plate that clamps the
clutch disk between it and the flywheel is shipped with bolts to
take the pressure off the springs. One of the bolts had not
been removed. Great job!
I had done a restart over the two nights in the motel. I am
going home tomorrow. I now had twenty-two hours to drive over
two days instead of the twenty-one hours I had for three days.
No gain, no loss.
I picked up an empty at the OC, and drove to the shipper.
There I dropped the empty, and picked up a loaded trailer. I
drove to north WI, and delivered the load at a Wal-Mart
center. There I picked up an empty, and drove to a truck stop
and stopped for the night. I worked eight and a quarter hours.
|
14
|
I got up at 0600. I drove to the shipper of my
next load. The pick up time of the load was 0730, and I was
thirty minutes away. I was loaded in an hour. It took
six hours to drive to the home lot. I was done at 1530.
Of the twenty-two hours I could drive, I used fourteen and a quarter
hours.
End of tour
|
18
|
Beginning of tour
I was at the lot and ready to go at 0800. I was given a
load going to Canada. First, I was to bobtail into IL to get
an empty trailer. The trailer was near where the load
was. Once I started toward IL, I noticed the the air
conditioning wasn't working. Of course it was very
humid. When I stopped to get the empty, I sent a note saying
that the air wasn't working, and I was unsure about the delivery.
I drove to the shipper, and backed into a dock. They had a
lunch room there where I could sit and cool off. The drank a
couple of bottles of water. I had a headache. It was a
one hour drive to the Gary OC, but the over one hundred degree temp
in the cab, the high humidity, and the slow moving traffic, was
burning me up.
At the OC, I put the truck in for repair. I was told that
it would be done at 1900. I then went to talk to my TL.
When she found out that I put the truck in the shop, she got
angry. She had expected me to deliver the load first, then
have the A/C fixed. I told her no, that I was burned up
now. She then said that this was going to be a service
failure. That meant that I wouldn't get a bonus for the
quarter. I told her then I was quitting. That got other
people involved.
I talked to them about how I haven't been happy about a lot of
things lately, and that I have been angry about a lot of things, and
that was the reason for my attitude. I was probably in a
depression. I had been thinking for awhile that I needed to
get back on my medication. I talked to someone from health
department. I was allowed to drive back home, but I wouldn't
be able to drive again until I was cleared by my doctor. I set
up an appointment for tomorrow afternoon.
The truck was finished at 1800. I could have showered,
eaten a dinner, and cooled off. It was 480 miles from the
delivery, and could have delivered the load two hours early.
but, because of the overreaction of both me and the TL, I was
driving home for a doctor's appointment.
|
19/20
|
I saw the doctor, and got my prescription
filled. This is something that happens every few years or more
depending on how my life is going. After a couple of months, I
am better. The meds also help me sleep. I got nine hour
sleep the first night. |
21
|
I was cleared by my doctor to drive, so I was back in
the truck. I took an empty trailer from the lot, drove to the
shipper, and traded it for a loaded trailer. I drove to Gary
to scale the load, and continued another three hours. I
stopped for the night east of Fort Wayne IN. I had driven
eight hours, and it was 2000. The delivery window tomorrow was
until 1500, and I could be there before 1200. I was taking it
easy because of the medication. |
22
|
I got up at 0700, and drove three hours to
Seville. There I took fueled up and took care of some
things. I drove to the delivery, arriving at 1200 CDT. I
was unload in an hour, and drove to the shipper of my next
load. There I dropped the empty in a dock, and picked up the
loaded trailer. I drove to Seville and scaled the load.
It needed some adjustment. I then drove five hour to
Indianapolis, arriving just as my fourteen ended. |
23
|
Although it was quite in the OC, I didn't seem to
sleep well. I got up, took a shower, ate a cooked breakfast,
and left at 0815. It was a little over four hours to the
delivery. I was tired most of the time. I dropped the
load. Then I had trouble getting an empty trailer. The
one the company want me to pick up was loaded. The next
one wasn't available either. The one that consignee said I
could take was still loaded. The next one was okay. I
drove it a short distance to an OC. There, I dropped the
empty, and picked up a relay load.
I ate lunch, and took a short nap before leaving. I had to
drive at least 250 miles to put me close enough to the delivery to
be able to drive the rest tomorrow, and be close enough to make the
delivery at 0600 the next day. I stopped in a service plaza on
the KS toll road. |
24
|
A driving day. Felt good. Drove five hours
with one stop before stopping for fuel, food, and a nap. Drove
another four hours with a short stop. I got to a Flying J in
under nine hours. I was about five miles from the
delivery. But, I had a problem finding a place to park at the
Flying J. I drove around the lot for forty-five minutes
looking for a spot. I got tired of this, so I left for another
truck stop. I saw a Wal-Mart with other trucks in it, so I
stopped there.
There I updated this page to here. |
25
|
Got up at 0400 MDT, so in my mind it was 0500.
The delivery was at 0500. I arrived at 0445. I got in a
dock right away, and was unloaded in forty-five minutes.
i drove to the shipper of my next load. It was fifteen
minutes away. I dropped the empty, and picked up a preloaded
trailer. I was able to see how the trailer was loaded before
putting on the seal, so I adjusted the tandems based on what I
saw. When I left, it was about five minutes to a truck stop,
where I scaled the load. There was only a forty pound
difference between the drives and the trailer tandems. I do
pretty weel when I can see how the trailer is loaded.
While at the truck stop, I showered.
The rest of the day was a driving day. I stopped once for
fuel, and once for a rest break. I stopped early because I
only had about thirty-three hours available for the next four days.
|
26
|
I got up early, 0500, only because I had a good night
rest, and I didn't want to over sleep. That just seems to make
me groggier. I drove three and a half hours to the
delivery. It took two hours to get unloaded. I must have
been low on the priority list because two trucks that came in after
me got unloaded before me, and both had left before me.
After I was unloaded, I drove the empty to the next shipper,
where I dropped it. The load I was to pick up wasn't finished
yet, so I had to wait over two and a half hours. It was
suppose to be ready at 1100, and I got there at 1130.
When I left, I drove two hours, and stopped for 50 gallons of
fuel. I then drove five minutes to a Flying J, where I updated
this page to here, and posted it to the Internet.
|
27
|
Drive day. Drove from the Joplin to Indianapolis
in eight and a half hours. I only have eighteen available for
today and tomorrow. The fifty gallons of fuel I got yesterday,
along with the sixty I had, was enough to get me their. The
company wanted me to stop at an OC outside of St. Louis, but that OC
is out of route about twenty miles, and wastes time. The
company says I can stop at any OC for fuel without
retribution. |
28
|
Another drive day. I got up at 0430. I am
shifting my time for tomorrow. After yesterday, I only had
nine and a quarter hours to drive. The distance today was
about fifteen miles less than yesterday, so I had a half left on my
seventy hours for eight days.
I note on this tour. On the 23rd, I started my taking I70
out of Indianapolis to St. Louis. From there I took I70 to
Denver. I came back a ways on I70, then picked it up again in
St Louis after having gone to OK. Today I took I70 from
Indianapolis into the middle of PA. Along along this I70, U.S.
40 runs closes to, and coincides with I70. The funny thing is
that U.S. 70 runs near and along side of I40. Go figure.
|
29
|
I had to get up real early, 0300. I am in the
eastern time zone, and the appointment is for 0500, so I got up at
0400 EDT. I left at 0430, and arrived at the delivery at
0450. The load was paper towels, and it was a straight
unload. That meant the a pallet didn't have to broken down for
separate products, or lesser quantities per pallet. It also
meant I had to do it. But, it isn't that had, and I do get
paid to do it. But, you have to log the time. I worked
fast, and did it in an hour. That left me just enough time to
drive to the next shipper, and get to Charlotte.
I went to the shipper, got the load, and headed south. Not
quite two hours later, I had to stop and take a nap. Even
though I went to sleep at 2000, I didn't sleep well, and it seemed
like I was awake most of the night. I should have slept
better, as it was kind of cool, and it was quite.
Anyways, I took about a forty-five minute nap, and continued out
my way. I arrived at the Charlotte OC just as my seventy hours
ran out. I fueled the truck, dropped the trailer for its
annual inspection, same thing happen in Indianapolis two days ago,
washed my truck, and showered. I talked with some guys, and
had a dinner while I waited for the sun to go down. Once the
sun was low in the sky, and behind overcast, I went to the truck,
worked on the page to this point, and posted it to the
Internet. I lot of the OCs now have WiFi connections to the
Internet. Finally. |
30
Ahead to July
|
I got up at 0500 CDT. The delivery time was 0900
EDT. I was going to walk to the drive service building to go
to the men's room, but decided to check the truck then drive
over. Good thing I did. One of the tires was flat.
I drove to the service area, and while the tire was being changed,
went to the men's room. The mechanics changed out all drive
tires on that axle. One of the tires was foreign because of
the time I had a blowout.
I left the OC on time to get to the delivery. I arrived at
the first of two stops fifteen minutes early. The GPS took me
right to it. It took a while for then to start unloading their
part of the trailer, but once they started, they were done in
fifteen minutes.
I then drove to the second stop. The GPS wanted to go one
way, and the company directions want to go a different way.
One reason for this may have been that the GPS was going a shorter
route that may have used roads that I couldn't go on. But, I
think that the company route was based on coming from the other
direction. Anyway, both got me lost. The company
directions said to look for the place after seven or eight stop
lights. I think they put up more stop lights since that
direction was written. The GPS took me to the road, but it was
a residential area. Part of the problem there was that the
address I was given stated Pine Log Rd, and the delivery was on E
Pine log Rd. Even the shipper had it wrong on the Bill of
Lading. Anyway, I called them, and they got me there. I
was unloaded quickly.
I then drove to the shipper of my next load. It was 118
miles away, and require of a one hundred miles of back country U.S.
highways. The GPS took me right to it with no out of
route. I dropped the empty, and picked up the loaded
trailer. I drove another four hours, and used up most of my
available driving hours before stopping for the night.
|
|