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End of tour 38

The tour started with a lot of fooling around to get a trailer.  Although I had started at 0900, it was 1230 before I got to the shipper.  I was loaded quickly, but had to drive 24 miles on a state road with a hundred stop lights.

I drove until 2030, just to get in eight hours of driving.  I was at a Flying J, but didn't get online.

I dropped the empty, and picked up a relayed load at a company drop lot.  I then took the trailer to a shipper where I was to pick up a second load going to the same delivery.  When I arrived at the shipper, it looked like I was going to be able to delivery by 1600 that afternoon.

At the shipper, they had problems finding the papers for my load.  After 45 minutes, I was told that the load was at another location.  I was given directions to the location, and drove there.  It turned out the location was under ground, in a old salt mine.  I had heard about storage facilities around Kansas City, and now I knew where they were.

The ceiling is high enough to drive a truck and trailer around in, but space between the columns was tight.  Basically, the ceiling was supported by columns that were about ten by fifteen feet, and thirty to fifty feet apart.

There was no Qualcomm or cell phone signal, so I was lucky to find a phone that I could use to call my TL.  I explained the different pick up location, and that I probably wouldn't be able to deliver by 1600.  It should be noted that I was afraid that if I didn't delivery by 1600, I wouldn't be able to deliver until the 11th.  My TL said he would check on the delivery, and to call back once I was loaded.

I called my TL when I got out of the salt mine.  I was told to take the load to another location in the same area, and that I would be unloaded until 2100.  I scaled the load, and drove to the location.  I arrived at 1730.  I was unload in an hour, but by the time I could leave, my fourteen hours were up.  I had to drive off the lot for fifteen minutes to get to a safe haven.

I was at a Flying J, and I used the Internet connection to work on my computer, that has been having problems.  I installed new virus protection.

At the Flying J, I worked on this blog, and got caught up.  I was about ten days behind.

I did show up about an hour early, and got into a dock right away, but unloading didn't start until an hour after my appointment time.  I was unloaded quickly.  However, when I tried to move the tandems forward, having moved them backward for unloading, something broke, and I couldn't move them.  I took the trailer back to the OC for repair, where I dropped it.

I called my TL to inform him that I didn't have a trailer anymore, and that I may need one, depending on the load.  I was told that I would get a load soon.  I still had about four/five hours I could drive.  When 2000 came, I sent a note that I would be available until 0600 in the morning.  At about 2130, I received a load order.  I could pick it up anytime at the OC.  It was about 500 miles, and due at 1300 on the 13th.  More wasted time.

I was still at the OC, so I went and talked to my TL's boss, the team operations manager, or TOM.  I explained that my time was being underutilized.  He look at my statistics, and agreed.  It was decided that someone else could take the load I had been assigned, and I was given one with more miles.  The new load would have me moving well the rest of today, and tomorrow.

I went to the shipper, and was loaded quickly.  While there, I planned the trip, and found that the trip wasn't all that great.  It was about one thousand mile.  I could have gotten it there tomorrow, but it had an appointment time of 1300, on the 14th.

It was almost noon when I left.  I drove to Des Moines, where I fueled up, and stayed for the night.

I called customer service, CS, and asked for a change in the appointment time.  I asked if I could delivery at 0600/0700.  I was told that the consignee is strict about appointment time, but I could go in early, and maybe they can work me in.

I drove eleven hours, and was less than ten miles away.

I was unloaded quickly, and after an hours wait, received order for my next load.  I drove an hour to get the load.  I drove to a TA to get fuel, scale, and eat lunch.  I then drove almost seven hours with one, short, unloggable stop.  The wind was blowing quite hard out of the south.  This caused me to have to steer to the right.  The wind also caused some dust storms.  I stopped at a Pilot station in Salina KS, where I showered and stayed the night.

I was an hour early, but wasn't started until the appointment time.  While there, I received orders for my next load.  When I got going, I had to drive twelve miles the other way to get fuel.  That resulted in 24 miles that I was not paid for.

It was about two hours of driving to get the load.  It was a drop and hook.  That is, drop the empty, and hook up the load.  I was in and out in 45 minutes.  I drove another 2.25 hours, and stopped for the night.  I could have gone farther, but it was dark, I didn't know where to stop down the road, and I had put in a regular 8.75 hour day.

Today is Saturday, and I was concerned about getting a load.  But, I did get one.  I drove an hour to the shipper.  There I had to fill out a lot of paperwork.  I think I had to sign my name, and write the truck number and date on ten or more bills of lading.

Once I got going, I had to drive about twelve miles out-of-route, OOR, to scale the load.  The bill of lading said it weighed over 45,000 lbs.  The scale weight was a lot lower, so I don't think the bill weight was right.  Another getting weighed, I showered.  The company had an OC across the highway, but they don't have a scale.

I drove six hours to make the delivery.  I arrived with one hour left on my fourteen.  I had a load that was coming out of the same place, but I wasn't expected to pick it up until tomorrow.  I wasn't going to go anymore today, so I bobtailed to a truck stop about a mile away.

Now, another reason for not picking up the load until tomorrow was that I didn't want it.  It had a delivery time of by the 18th.  It was only four hours away, I was concerned that the place might not be open on Sunday.  When I had received the order, three hours before the end of my day, I sent a mac29, a request for a change of delivery time.  I said I could deliver the load by 1300 tomorrow.  By doing this, the company had thirteen hours to make a decision about the load.  If the place is closed, they would take me off the load, and give me something else.  Something with enough miles to carry me into Monday.

The roads I took were mostly U.S. highway back roads.  I left the Interstate at Alexandria LA, and drove north into AR.  The road was better than I thought, and the many towns I went through were off the highway a bit, and didn't slow me up.  The scenery was mostly trees.

I arrived much earlier than I thought, only to find the place was closed.  Customer service hadn't done anything with my request for an earlier arrival.  I call my TL, actually second shift support, whom I like to refer to as weekend weenies because there're not qualified to do anything, to see if they would set up a relay, and get me another load.  I was told that there were no loads available at the time, and that I should stay with the current load.  I was sitting in an industrial park, in 99 degree heat, and extremely high humidity.

I drove about 45 miles to get the next load.  The shipper required that the trailer be clean, so I had to sweep it out, and remove any nails in the floor.  The trailer wasn't real dirty, but had a lot of old nails in the floor.  It should be noted that the floors are made of hard wood so that load can be secured with blocks that are nailed to the floor, if need be.

Once I had the load, it was about 350 miles to the delivery.  I would be able to get it there late afternoon, and I sent a note on when I would be available.  I would have some time left to drive once I dropped the load.  As I got close to the destination, I got orders for my next load.  I would have enough time to drive most of the way to the pickup tomorrow morning.

When I got to the delivery, I needed a drop number.  I hadn't been given one.  I called my TL, who called CS, who called the consignee where I was at, and the person who handles the assigning of drop numbers was done for the day, and would be back at 0600 in the morning.  Luckily, I could park there for the night, and I did.  I sent a mac29 stating a late delivery time on the next load.  I  was taken off the load due to the delay.

I dropped the load, and waited for over an hour for my next load assignment.  It was 0930 when I got it, but the pickup time was 1700.  Well, I needed fuel, and a shower, and the shipper was over four hours away, so I had time to do everything.

Now, the most direct route was 170 miles.  But, there were no approved fuel stops along the route.  This is the same shipper as the load I had been taken off of, and on that one, I had sent a note to my TL about having to go 50 miles OOR.  He had said okay.  But, when talking to a secondary TL, he said no, that I was to buy fuel with my money, and get reimbursed.  I checked with my TL again, and was told to go to the approved fuel stop.

I drove to the fuel stop, got fifty gals, took a shower, ate a big lunch, and drove to the shipper.  I was a half hour early.  The trailer was in a dock.  But, from listening, I could tell that they didn't start loading it until 1830.  It was 1945 when I left.

I had started late, so I could drive late.  The load didn't have to be delivered until anytime on the 21st.  But, if I drove until the end of my fourteen, I could deliver it tomorrow, and have enough time to go home, if the company cut me loose.  I drove until 2330.

When I left, I drove to Joplin MO, where I got some more fuel, as prescribed in the routing instructions.  I then drove to Bloomington IL, where I filled up.  I lost some time here because of a lot of trucks filling up at the same time.

I was about two hours out from the delivery when I received orders for my next load.  I was to get a load in Gary, and take it into WI.  I figured that I would have enough time to get the load, and get beyond Chicago, and miss morning rush hour.

I was close to the delivery, but the directions didn't match the streets.  I was to make a left, but the intersection had two rights.  Well, left would have been west, so I when west.  I couldn't find the place.  I took awhile to find a place to turn around.  I went the other way.  The directions had said .3 mile from the turn.  I was over a mile.  I found I place to park, and called for help.  I had been going the right way the second time, but still had to go a half mile.

I got to the place, and delivered the load.  There I was to pick up an empty trailer, but there were none.  It took some more time before I was told to bobtail to Gary.  On the way, I ran into road construction.  They were paving lanes.  More time lost.  It took forty-five minute longer than it should have to get to Gary.  Once there, I stopped for the night.

I sent a mac29 stating that I was going to be two and a half hours late on the delivery, tomorrow.

My next order was to take the empty trailer to my home lot, and go home.

I had been hoping to leave for a camping trip today, but by the time I got to my house, and was ready to go, it was later than I would have wanting to leave.  The bad directions, and road construction had cost me too much time.  Had I left went I was ready to go, I wouldn't have gotten to my destination until 2100.  I would have sent up in the dark, and gone to sleep.  I left early the next morning.

End of tour 39

I had said that I would start this tour at 0900.  I arrived at the lot at 0800.  A check for load assignments showed that the pick up time for the load was 1300.  I had time to kill.

I needed to turn in my paperwork, so I drove my personal vehicle over to a nearby truck stop to do so.  There I saw the office of a doctor that does DOT physicals.  I remembered that I needed to renew my physical, so I arranged to have a physical.  I passed.

Once I got going, I drove to a lot near the Milwaukee airport, to pick up an empty trailer.  As I went by the airport, I noticed a large number of police offices.  I remembered hearing that the vice president was coming to town.  I got the empty, and got out of there before traffic was halted or diverted, as I saw happening just as I cleared the area.

I drove to the shipper.  I arrived an hour early, but the load was ready to go.  I dropped the empty, picked up the load, and was on my way.  I drove an hour west of  St. Louis, and stopped for the night at a Fling J.  there I updated this page through the 21st.

My next load wasn't a load.  The orders were to bobtail to San Antonio to get an empty trailer, and then deadhead it to El Paso.  Total mileage was over 700 miles.

While driving to get the empty, I had to pull into a DOT inspection station.  I probably got picked because I was bobtailing.  They checked the truck, brakes, lights, wipers, horn, engine, and frame.  They also looked at my log book, CDL license, medical card, and the trucks permits.  The end result was that there was an engine oil leak that had to be repaired.

I got the trailer, fueled up, and stopped for the night at yet another Flying J.  I updated this page to right now, and post the page to the Internet.

I planned to drive a short day, to even out the last two long days.  I stopped after seven hours.  I along the way, there were a few sights to see.  I had traveled this road once before, in 1970.  The first thing to note is the speed limit.  I had heard the it was raised last year.  Trucks are only 70 mph.  The western part of TX is mountainous.  This one looked interesting.  Mostly, the mountains are in long ranges.

Along the way, I received orders for my next load.  Instead of taking the empty to the east side of El Paso, I would be going to the west side of El Paso, to a town on the NM border.  The load was going to VA, so I would be passing two OCs along the way.  The first would be mid-day on the second day, and the second would be at the end of the third day.  This assumes that I do 610 to 630 miles a day.  The reason for the rush is that the repair of that oil leak might be an over night job.

The load was not ready.  It wasn't even being loaded, at that time.  So, I, and six/seven others, stood around for hours waiting to get loaded.  My load was done eight hours later.  That left only three hours to go on my fourteen.  I took this picture as I left.  This is the view looking east on I10 at the TX/NM border.  I drove back to the truck stop I had stayed at last night.  I fueled there.

Ahead to Oct

I left at 0700.  I was back in the CST zone, but so far west, that it was still dark out.  Driving east in the morning can produce some great sunrises.

The drive today was across TX, to an hour east of Dallas.  I started out on I10, to I20, to I30.  And, tomorrow I will get on I40.  I20 to I30 was new highway for me.  The start of I20 leaves the mountains of western TX, and becomes flat plains, with little vegetation.  The farther east I drove, the more oil wells I saw.  This area is called the Permian Basin.  The farther east I drove, the more the terrain changed from flat to hilly, and the brush and bushes turned to trees.