2-26-07 - Monday - Down in Tampa,,,
Well, I'm in Tampa today. I delivered this morning and I leave out of here for Atlanta tomorrow. I ran out of hours, so I get to relax for a day.
I started out if Denver last Monday. I went up to Whiteriver, CO to get a load of baking soda. That's when the fun began. I didn't really read the load assignment closely. That was my fault. I got to Rifle, CO and called the shipper to let them know I was about an hour away. They said it would be ready when I got there. Well, I got there after an hour drive up the little two lane road into the mountains to Whiteriver and they said they had no record of a load for me. What??? I called my DM and we tried all kinds of load numbers, bill of lading numbers and PO numbers. Nothing. Then the guy at the warehouse asked if I was sure my load wasn't at the Rifle warehouse. The WHAT? I had no idea they had a warehouse in Rifle. I went back and pulled up the load on the Qualcomm and what do you know? The load was at the Rifle warehouse. I jumped in the truck and drove the hour back down to Rifle and of course, I drove right by the warehouse. Damn! I had to go about 2 miles out of the way to get back to it. Once I got to the warehouse, because it was President's Day, there was no one there. I saw the only Roehl trailer there and checked to see if it was the one I was getting. It was. I dropped and hooked the new trailer and then saw the sign that said the shipper wanted the trailers left with the doors open and swept out. The trailer I dropped was fairly clean, but it did need a little sweep out. They didn't want trailers swept out on the ground, but they didn't have a dumpster either. Guess what? Yup, the ground got it. Oh well.
The load I picked up was 44,000 lbs of baking soda. I usually weigh the truck before I hit the road, but there was no scale there and I didn't know where one was before I was going to hit the DOT scale near Denver. I did my best to guess where to put the tandems and got rolling.
I got to Denver with no issues from the DOT scale and parked it for the night and went to the house by 8:30 pm.
Tuesday I headed east. I had to take the load to Chicago by Thursday morning. The run across going east was uneventful. I stopped Wednesday afternoon about 30 miles south of Chicago. I got up at 3:30 am Thursday morning and headed up the road to the exit that the Qualcomm directions told me to and about 2 blocks off the highway I was looking at a bridge that was lower than my eye level. I backed up and went down another block and found the street that the customer was off of. The customer was on 42nd St. That's what the Qualcomm said. I passed 42nd Pl. and again came to a bridge that was only about 12'4". I called the customer and what do you know, they are on 42nd Pl. I love Qualcomm directions. NOT! I backed up about 6 blocks and turned down the right street and got to the customer about 5 am. Ontime. I sat at the dock waiting to be unloaded until 6 am and watched as 2 other trucks came and went. I got a bit impatient and went in to the dock area to find out why I was just being left to wait. Funny. As soon as I asked why I was being ignored, I got unloaded in 5 minutes. Go figure. I left the customer and in morning rush hour drove over to the Roehl terminal in Gary, IN.
They did a PM on my truck and replaced the passenger side windshield. It was cracked all the way across. While I was waiting I drove two other drivers to the South Bend IN airport. When I got back my truck was fixed and I headed out with a load to Omaha, NE.
The load to Omaha went well. I delivered to the customer and thought I would be getting a load heading back towards Denver. I ended up with a load from Muscatine, IA to Tampa, FL. I called and found that my DM was out of the office. That's probably why I went to FL and not to Denver. Oh well, it's really good miles. I headed east towards the shipper and stopped in DesMoines, IA for the night.
Saturday morning I headed to the shipper and ran into serious icing. My truck had about 2 inches of ice all over the front of it. The ice lasted until I got into southern IL.
At the end my driving day on Saturday, I stopped for fuel at a Loves near Mt. Vernon, IL and found that it was not open. They had a fire and everything was shut down. I ended up going back up the road about 10 miles to a TA and getting fuel there and then findinga rest area to stop for the night. That was a run around I really didn't need at the end of a long driving day.
Sunday was an even longer driving day. I got from southern IL to Ocalla, FL. This mornng I drove the last 135 miles to deliver. I had to help unload this load. I logged it so I would get paid. I was out of hours for the week so I found the closest TA and parked it.
Here are some pictures I took over the past months,,,
I'm not sure this is what the scale is really for!
This is what happens when a truck backs into another truck at a truck stop. OUCH!
This guy must be really bored. I saw him parked next to me and he's painting his tires with what looks to be "White Out" or some kind of house paint. He's using a little brush. He really needs a load!
I started out if Denver last Monday. I went up to Whiteriver, CO to get a load of baking soda. That's when the fun began. I didn't really read the load assignment closely. That was my fault. I got to Rifle, CO and called the shipper to let them know I was about an hour away. They said it would be ready when I got there. Well, I got there after an hour drive up the little two lane road into the mountains to Whiteriver and they said they had no record of a load for me. What??? I called my DM and we tried all kinds of load numbers, bill of lading numbers and PO numbers. Nothing. Then the guy at the warehouse asked if I was sure my load wasn't at the Rifle warehouse. The WHAT? I had no idea they had a warehouse in Rifle. I went back and pulled up the load on the Qualcomm and what do you know? The load was at the Rifle warehouse. I jumped in the truck and drove the hour back down to Rifle and of course, I drove right by the warehouse. Damn! I had to go about 2 miles out of the way to get back to it. Once I got to the warehouse, because it was President's Day, there was no one there. I saw the only Roehl trailer there and checked to see if it was the one I was getting. It was. I dropped and hooked the new trailer and then saw the sign that said the shipper wanted the trailers left with the doors open and swept out. The trailer I dropped was fairly clean, but it did need a little sweep out. They didn't want trailers swept out on the ground, but they didn't have a dumpster either. Guess what? Yup, the ground got it. Oh well.
The load I picked up was 44,000 lbs of baking soda. I usually weigh the truck before I hit the road, but there was no scale there and I didn't know where one was before I was going to hit the DOT scale near Denver. I did my best to guess where to put the tandems and got rolling.
I got to Denver with no issues from the DOT scale and parked it for the night and went to the house by 8:30 pm.
Tuesday I headed east. I had to take the load to Chicago by Thursday morning. The run across going east was uneventful. I stopped Wednesday afternoon about 30 miles south of Chicago. I got up at 3:30 am Thursday morning and headed up the road to the exit that the Qualcomm directions told me to and about 2 blocks off the highway I was looking at a bridge that was lower than my eye level. I backed up and went down another block and found the street that the customer was off of. The customer was on 42nd St. That's what the Qualcomm said. I passed 42nd Pl. and again came to a bridge that was only about 12'4". I called the customer and what do you know, they are on 42nd Pl. I love Qualcomm directions. NOT! I backed up about 6 blocks and turned down the right street and got to the customer about 5 am. Ontime. I sat at the dock waiting to be unloaded until 6 am and watched as 2 other trucks came and went. I got a bit impatient and went in to the dock area to find out why I was just being left to wait. Funny. As soon as I asked why I was being ignored, I got unloaded in 5 minutes. Go figure. I left the customer and in morning rush hour drove over to the Roehl terminal in Gary, IN.
They did a PM on my truck and replaced the passenger side windshield. It was cracked all the way across. While I was waiting I drove two other drivers to the South Bend IN airport. When I got back my truck was fixed and I headed out with a load to Omaha, NE.
The load to Omaha went well. I delivered to the customer and thought I would be getting a load heading back towards Denver. I ended up with a load from Muscatine, IA to Tampa, FL. I called and found that my DM was out of the office. That's probably why I went to FL and not to Denver. Oh well, it's really good miles. I headed east towards the shipper and stopped in DesMoines, IA for the night.
Saturday morning I headed to the shipper and ran into serious icing. My truck had about 2 inches of ice all over the front of it. The ice lasted until I got into southern IL.
At the end my driving day on Saturday, I stopped for fuel at a Loves near Mt. Vernon, IL and found that it was not open. They had a fire and everything was shut down. I ended up going back up the road about 10 miles to a TA and getting fuel there and then findinga rest area to stop for the night. That was a run around I really didn't need at the end of a long driving day.
Sunday was an even longer driving day. I got from southern IL to Ocalla, FL. This mornng I drove the last 135 miles to deliver. I had to help unload this load. I logged it so I would get paid. I was out of hours for the week so I found the closest TA and parked it.
Here are some pictures I took over the past months,,,
I'm not sure this is what the scale is really for!
This is what happens when a truck backs into another truck at a truck stop. OUCH!
This guy must be really bored. I saw him parked next to me and he's painting his tires with what looks to be "White Out" or some kind of house paint. He's using a little brush. He really needs a load!
posted by BigJohn at 5:02 PM
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