Back to Feb

I left, and four hours non-stop to the delivery.  There I dropped the trailer, and was going to bobtail out, but was told that I had to take a trailer with me.  My orders were to get go to another location, and get a trailer there.  I called my TL, explained the situation, and picked up a trailer, there, at the delivery location.  This used up close to an hour.

I drove to the shipper for my next load.  By the time I got there, and was ready to go, it was after 1200.  Actually, 1300, as I was in MI.  The load was suppose to have been picked up two hours ago, and this was one of those JIT loads.  See Feb 21.  The load was suppose to be delivered by 0900 tomorrow, but the orders said that they didn't expect me to get there until 1200.

I left with the load, and drove to get it scaled.  It weighed okay.  I took a lunch break at the OC there, and left forty-five minutes later.

Now, having driven this same route last week, I knew that it was possible to get there in nine hours, from here.  I drove the same route, and made the same stops.  When I got to Indianapolis, where I was going to get fuel, I had to put the trailer in for a PM.  I had an hour to drive, and I had planned to drive it.  But, I had to stay there that night.

I was supposed to fuel outside of  St Louis, but I only needed 43 gallons, and it would have wasted over a half hour of time to go out of route to get the fuel.  I drove to the delivery.  I got there at 1000.  Only and hour late.

I picked up an empty, but was told there was a problem, and that I should wait for an okay.  I ate and swept out the trailer while I waited.  After a while, I decided to call my TL.  That is when I found out that my cell phone wasn't working.  Well, it was, but every call went to ATT.  Plus it took a long time to get a real person out of their stupid voice mail system.  It turned out that I forgot to pay my last bill. But, did they call me before shutting off the phone.  No.  They called the home phone, and sent a letter.  That didn't help me out on the road.   I had to pay with a credit card to get it turned on.  Even with that, it could be up to four hours before the phone was turned  on.  They did put me through to my TL, and I was told the I was okay with the trailer.

I hooked up, and inspected the trailer.  A side light was missing.  I had one, but couldn't get it installed.  I had installed this light before, but this one just wouldn't work.  I started to look for another trailer, but they were all full of racks.  I couldn't make a call, so decided to go to the OC, on the other side of St Louis.

At the OC, I was taken care of quickly.  Now I know the correct way to install the side light on a trailer.  I felt pretty stupid.

Now, you might be wondering about the next load.  Well, I had to drive 130 miles, but the appointment time was 1700.  I had screwed away over four hours of time, but still had just enough time to make the appointment.  I arrived at 1700.  The load time was suppose to be two hours, but I was out of there in a little over an hour.  Good thing, I only had forty-five minutes left on my fourteen.  I drove fifteen minutes to a Pilot station, and stopped for the night.  There I scaled the load, and showered.

I dove to the Columbus area, where I dropped the empty, and parked for the rest of the weekend.

It the morning and evening, I worked on the blog and got updated to right here.

Once I left, I drove about three hours, and made the delivery.  Then I sat for three hour because my next load wasn't ready until 1300.

I picked up the load at 1300, and drove for five more hours.  I had to stop because I was half hour from my fourteen ending.  Sitting for three hours in the middle of the day really ruins day.  I still did nine hours of driving.

Remember the sixteen.  Nine from the sixteen means that seven hours went unused.  So, the restart pay was for seven hours, but if I had driven those seven hours, I would have made thirty to fifty-seven dollars more.

I drove six hours non-stop before stopping for lunch.  I stopped at a Flying J, and posted the blog pages to the Internet.

About the time I was leaving, I received orders for my next load.  One of the things I was to do while driving the current load to the delivery, was stop for fuel in Atlanta.  But, fueling in Atlanta meant going out of route a few miles, rather than going straight to the delivery.

The next load was farther past the delivery point of the current load, and came back past the fuel stop.  However, there was going to be a two hour gap between the delivery and the pick up.  I didn't want to waste time after the pick up getting fuel.  I sent a note to see if I could up the load sooner.  When I didn't get a response by the time I had to pick a direction, I drive to the fuel stop.  There, I fueled up, and took a shower.

I drove to the delivery, and dropped the load.  Then I drove to the shipper, and arrived at the pick up time.  I forgot to ask if I could have picked up earlier, but I don't think so.

When I left I had two hours to drive.  Now you know why I fueled and showered when I did.  I wanted to get some distance in so I could have an easy day tomorrow.  However,  the air pump had been acting up ever since I left the fuel stop.  I was having problems keeping the air pressure up, and it got to low, the brakes would engage.  It was so bad, that I had to go back to the OC, where I had fueled, and write it up for work.

This is the same problem I have had problems with since last summer.  This was the forth time I have tried to get this fixed.  Mostly the problem was that it took a long time to get the pressure up.  Now it was going up at all.

I said I needed to leave by 0500, but was told that it would get worked on until tomorrow.  So, I parked it, ate dinner, watched TiVo, and went to sleep about 2215, thinking that a mechanic would wake me up sometime after 0500.

I hooked up the trailer, check it out, and left.  The left of the day was a drive day.  I made only one stop, for fuel and lunch.  I was tired, but did okay.  I drank four cokes, instead of two, and ate more than I usually do when I drive tired.

I stopped after ten hours, knowing that I couldn't make the next parking spot.  I was south of Washington DC, and within less than three hours of the delivery.  The reason for wanting to drive late yesterday, and the ten, plus, hours today, was that the load had to be delivered by 1000 tomorrow.  And, that's EST.

Once I got to the bypass split, the pace picked up.  I was following I95 east instead of I495 west.  The west route is usually bad.  The main reason for going this way was that I was taking US 50 east, past Annapolis.  This route goes over Chesapeake Bay to the eastern part of MD.  I have been over this bridge a couple of times, but this was the first with the truck.  Note that this is a picture from a personnel trip.  The weather today is sunny.

I made the delivery on time.  There I picked up an empty and drove to my next load.  I stopped at the rest area as I entered PA, and cleaned out the trailer.  The next load said that the trailer had to be clean.  I also had an hour to spare because of an appointment time.

When I arrive at the shipper, I found out that the load was a drop and hook.  I had been a half hour early, but I probably could have arrived earlier.  Also, it was suppose to take a while to load, but I was on my way.  Well, almost.  One of the tire was low, and looked a little bald.  Luckily, there was a tire bank about ten miles away.  I drove and had the tire replaced.

Now I was going.  My big worry was rush hour traffic around Baltimore and Washington DC.  I got to Baltimore before it ready got started.  At Washington, I had a choice of using the west or east bypass.  The route instructions say to go west.  East is a couple of miles longer.  But, past experience has shown that west is more congested.  Plus, I warning sign said there was an accident on the west route, three lanes blocked.  I went east.

There was a slow spot to start, but for most of the route, I was up to speed.  This continued all the way until the east an west come together to continue south on I95.  This is the worst part of the day.  The traffic is terrible from here to Fredericksburg, thirty miles away.

I wanted to get as close to Richmond as possible.  I was going to stop at this Pilot station, so I could shower.  But the lot was small, and the place was crowded.  There was little maneuvering room, so continued on for ten miles, and stopped at a TA for the night.

Near Petersburg, there was a Pilot station.  It must be new because it wasn't listed in the truck stop book.  Had I know about it, I would have stopped there last night.  Anyway, I was ahead of time, so I pulled in an showered.

I drove to the delivery, arriving fifteen minutes before the appointment time.  It took two hours to get unloaded.

After that, I drove to the next shipper.  The distance was almost twice want the directions said.  I had a little problem finding the place because of the directions, or my interpretation of them.  At the shipper, I expected to be live loaded, but, like yesterday, it was a drop and hook.  I at lunch there, and was on my way in an hour.

The start of the route was US highways for a 140 miles.  That used up some time.  Another thing was that there was no place to scale the load.  Once I got to the Interstate, there was a scale, but I needed fuel, and that would have an affect on the weight.  A hundred gallons of fuel will add a thought pounds of weight to the rig.  The fuel stop was another twenty miles.

I stopped for fuel, then weighed the rig.  I was right on.  I drives were heavier than the tandems, but the tandems were already as far forward as possible.

I drove another two hours.  I dropped the trailer in a drop lot for relay.  The load was going to Miami, but did have to be delivered until Monday.  Today was Friday.  Miami is about 616 miles away, and could be driven in a day.  If I had driven all the way, I would have been sitting for most of one day.

I had order for my next load, but the pick up time was tomorrow afternoon.  I could park at the drop lot, so that is what I did.  The best part about this is that the lot is quiet.  I didn't have to get up early, so I shut off the alarm, and went to sleep.

The pick up window for the load opened at 1400 EST.  Sometimes the loads are ready earlier.  I didn't want to start my fourteen hours too early, but I would like to get started.  Also, the delivery date for the load is the 12th, all day.  I would like to get there early, so I can drive the rest of that day.

I started at 0900, CST. That is four hours before the pick up window opens, but I still had to go get an empty.  That took a little more than an hour.  I did make a stop before getting the trailer, to clean up a bit.  I got the trailer, and took it to the shipper.  The load was ready, and I was out of there an hour and a half before I had been told that the load would be available.

I drove for an hour, stopped to have lunch, and then drove a little more five hours before stopping for the night.  I stopped in AL, at a truck stop with a large lot.  I could have driven longer, but it was dark, it was about the time I usually stop, and I wasn't sure where the next stop would be.  I was on a US highway with few stops.

I dropped the load, and waited for my next orders.  When they can, I knew that there might be some problems.  The shipper was 225 miles away, the delivery was another 865, it had to be delivered on the 14th, and I only had less than seven hours left today and nine and a half tomorrow.  The result of this is that I may have to get up in the middle of the night on the 14th.

I picked up an empty trailer, and took off.  I covered the distance as fast as I could legally go.  I stopped once for lunch, and arrived about in three and a half to three-quarters of driving time.  The load was a live load, and I had to wait awhile to get into a dock.  But, once I did, I was loaded in a half hour.  I drove to their scales and was weighed.  It just made it.  I was 180 lbs over on the trailer tandems with the slider in hole ten.  I would be going through IL, so I could only go back to the hole twelve, but that was enough to just get me under 34,000 lbs max.  I hoped that their scale was correct.

I left with only about two and three-quarters hours left.  The route I was taking was similar as one I had taken a couple of weeks ago.  After a half hour, it was the same.  I thought I make this truck stop at the MO border, but after another hour, I realized that that was three hours away not two.  I got to this one truck stop with an hour left.  I wanted to go farther.  I remember another truck stop, and continued on.  I got there in forty-five minutes.  I still had fifteen minutes left, but no where to stop beyond this point.

A check of my remaining distance showed that I was 193 miles away.  I could actually sleep a little later tomorrow.

I got up and drove a little over three hours to the delivery.  I got into a dock right away, and was unloaded quickly.  Then I sat there for two hours waiting for a load.  There were other drivers there, and we compared notes on how well we were being run.

I got a load, and drove to the shipper in about an hour.  There, the load was supposed to be ready to go, but I had to wait four hours for the pre-loaded trailer to be loaded.  When I left, I drove a little over two hours before I had to stop, having run out of time.  I was an hour from my home lot.

I still had ten hours available to drove, and was given a load.  I picked up an empty trailer, drove to the shipper, was loaded, and drove the loaded trailer back to the home lot.  I had eight hours left to drive, but was cut loose to go home.

End of tour

I was sick with flue or a cold.  I exposed from to a crowd at a party, and now I was paying for it.

I took an empty trailer to a shipper, and got loaded quickly.  On the way, I stopped in Gary to have some holes in the trailer filled.  Then I drove another five hours to the Canadian border at Post Huron, MI.  The shipper had faxed the paperwork to Canadian Customs, and I got across the border without any problems.  A little more than an hour later, I stopped for the night.  Nine hours of miserable, achy driving

This shipper didn't fax the paperwork to U.S. Customs, so I stopped at a company OC in the area.  There, they helped me make sure I did it right, not having done the paperwork in a while.

I entered the U.S at Detroit.  It took an hour and a half for the line to get to the customs booth.  There, it took about five minutes.  I then drove to an OC south of Detroit, where I stopped for the night.

I only did about six hours of driving, but worked almost a fourteen hour day, sick, hot and achy.

Two more hours of driving, and I dropped the load at a rail yard on OH.  The load was going to CA

My next load involved driving three and a half hours, with a trailer picked along the way.  Even with the driving time, the trailer pick up, and a lunch break, with nap, a total of five and a half hours, I was over an hour early at the shipper.  I had to wait awhile to get into a dock

 Once I was in, it took a few hours to get loaded.  Once I was loaded, it was past my fourteen.  It had been another long day with only a little driving.  I was able to spent the night on the shipper property.

I drove back roads to get to WV from KY via OH.  I was instructed to get some fuel, but not fill up.  Just under four hours of driving later, with a lunch break and nap within, I stopped for fuel again.  This time to fill up.  As I was pulling up to the pump, my clutch froze up, and I was disabled.  I could shift into gear.

I help the company road side help, and was told, that if I could shift without the clutch, I should drive to company repair shop sixty miles away.  With the engine off, I shifted into first gear, and started the engine.  I thought it would jump, but it drove off easy.  I drove out of the fuel stop at slow speed, and once clear of other trucks and traffic, shifted up into higher gears.  Out on the highway, I drove along smoothly, and only had problems when I had to down shift going up the Blue Ridge.

At the repair center, I was told that the through-out bearing was fused to the input shaft of the transmission.  This prevented the engaging of the clutch.  Someone had not greased the through-out bearing because the grease fitting was gone.  Two PMs since I got this truck, and everybody misses this.  A classic example of preventative maintenance failure.

Worse, there are no motels in the area, so I had to sleep in a different truck, meaning I had to move my bedding to another truck.

I drove the empty to a shipper, about three hundred miles away.  There I was loaded in a couple of hours, then drove to a truck stop near by to stop for the night.

I rearranged load weighed okay.  I drove the load to an OC in PA, where I dropped it for relay.

I was an hour early to the delivery, and got into a dock right away.  I guy that was going to unload the trailer said it would take an hour and a quarter.  It took five hours.

I drove to the place where my truck was at.  I arrived after midnight.

I had hopped to move back to my truck, but it was not done.  I picked up more cloths, and other stuff.

I took off when the break was over.  I drove an hour and a half to the shipper.  There I was loaded in an hour and a half.  When I left, I drove a with miles out of route to weight the load.  I was okay.  The rest of the day was a six and a half hour drive with one stop.

I dropped the load and stayed for the night at the little OC outside Columbus OH.

I drove about two hours and stopped for lunch and a shower.  Back on the road, I was heading across PA into MD.  I figured that I was going to go by Washington DC, and south, during rush hour.  I took a different route that was forty miles and forty minute longer, but from past experience, I knew that rush hour would take an hour and a half or more to go forty miles.

I stopped close enough to the delivery to be able to be on time.  Had I taken the shorter route, I would probably would have been an hour farther away.

I was unloaded in under three hours, but had to wait another two for a load.  The next load was over two hundred miles away.  Along the way, I stopped at a WalMart, and bought some supplies.

The load time was supposed to be about one hour before my fourteen was up, and take five hours.  When I got there, I was told that the load time had been changed to the morning.  I had called my TL telling him about the time problem.  He said he would call the shipper to see if I could park there that night, or be loaded in the morning.  I was never told what had happen.

However, I was placed in a dock, and told I could park there.  I expected to get loaded within five hours, but nothing had happen in four hours, so I went to sleep.  I couple of time during the night, I felt movement in the trailer.  But, no one came around to tell me I was done.

I drove to Charlotte, where I fueled, showered..  When I left, I drove two hours, and stopped for lunch.  One short stop after that, and I delivered the load in FL after eight hours of driving.

I dropped the load.  I was supposed to pick up an empty, but there were none there.  I was sent to another location close by, but there were no trailer there either.  I called my TL, and after some discussion, was told to bobtail to the next load.

I drove another two hours, and stopped as my fourteen was about to run out.

Ahead to Apr

At the shipper, I was told that I can't pick up the load because I hadn't brought in an empty trailer.  Great.  I was in the process of calling my TL when independent contractor leased to the company brought in an empty, and wasn't picking up a load.  It was treated as if I brought it.

I picked up my load, left, scaled it, and got going.  I drove the load to the Charlotte OC, where I dropped it for relay.  I expected to get a load going towards my tractor, but was told to take an empty, and drive the other direction.  I had started the day south of Savanna GA, and now I was going to a shipper west of Savanna.

I back tracked the route I had driven earlier until I got to Columbia SC.  From there, it was back roads to the shipper.  I was probably less than twenty mile from the shipper, driving in the dark, when I missed a turn on the route.  I was off route, but knew about where I had to go, having been to this shipper once before.  I had to use my Streets and Trips to find the place.  I drove some extra miles, and used some extra time.

At the shipper, I dropped the empty, and parked for the night.  I was about out of time, and the load wasn't ready yet.