Long Day!
I started at 0630 this morning driving north through WI and into MN. I stopped once and made it to my delivery at New Ulm, MN around 1415. That was a good quick delivery I was unloaded and ready to roll in under 30 minutes. That's awesome!
My Qualcomm MCP200 acts goofy once and a while and I have to restart it using control-alt-delete. It runs on Windows and I even get the "blue screen of death" once and a while. You would think that after nearly 20 years of the Windows operating system that Microsoft would have it figured out.
My next load was a live load about 100 miles away in Cold Spring, MN. I got there by about 1720 and tried to get checked in. The pickup number I had and the bill of lading number I had were no good with the shipper. They needed a number that wasn't one I had to get me loaded. I called dispatch and they didn't have any other numbers. Dispatch said they would have to contact customer service to figure it out. Nice. The office people at the shipper were planning to leave at 1800 and it was 1745. I called dispatch back and they said they still didn't have any info for me. I really didn't want to be stuck there until tomorrow. I asked if they had any info about the broker, maybe they could help. Dispatch asked me if I had called the broker. I said NO, I don't even have that phone number. Dispatch said I was supposed to call the broker for information when I got to the shipper. I said that I didn't get any messages on my Qualcomm saying that! Dispatch gave me the phone number for the broker and I called them. They had the number I needed and I got my paperwork from the office people 5 minutes before they went home. What a pain! Someone was supposed to send me a message telling me to call the broker, but they didn't. Little things like that can really screw a driver up!
I got loaded and drove about 20 minutes to a Pilot to scale the load and of course the Pilot was tiny and packed with trucks. I got weighed and found a place to park on the street while I went inside to pay for the scale. Luckily the load was just inside the limits for my tandems, so I didn't need to mess around at the Pilot anymore.
I drove another 10 minutes down the road and found a rest area and parked for the night. I have 15 minutes of drive time left, so I'm glad I got parked when I did.
Tomorrow will be a heavy driving day. My load goes to Carlisle, PA for Friday afternoon. That's about 1150 miles. I have about 18 hours of driving and a full day tomorrow and until 1500 e.s.t. Friday afternoon to get there. I will be tight. I have two fuel stops tomorrow. One in Hudson, WI for 50 gallons, ( i\I don't know why they do that, they just do.), and the Gary terminal to fill up. Other than that, just driving tomorrow.
My Qualcomm MCP200 acts goofy once and a while and I have to restart it using control-alt-delete. It runs on Windows and I even get the "blue screen of death" once and a while. You would think that after nearly 20 years of the Windows operating system that Microsoft would have it figured out.
My next load was a live load about 100 miles away in Cold Spring, MN. I got there by about 1720 and tried to get checked in. The pickup number I had and the bill of lading number I had were no good with the shipper. They needed a number that wasn't one I had to get me loaded. I called dispatch and they didn't have any other numbers. Dispatch said they would have to contact customer service to figure it out. Nice. The office people at the shipper were planning to leave at 1800 and it was 1745. I called dispatch back and they said they still didn't have any info for me. I really didn't want to be stuck there until tomorrow. I asked if they had any info about the broker, maybe they could help. Dispatch asked me if I had called the broker. I said NO, I don't even have that phone number. Dispatch said I was supposed to call the broker for information when I got to the shipper. I said that I didn't get any messages on my Qualcomm saying that! Dispatch gave me the phone number for the broker and I called them. They had the number I needed and I got my paperwork from the office people 5 minutes before they went home. What a pain! Someone was supposed to send me a message telling me to call the broker, but they didn't. Little things like that can really screw a driver up!
I got loaded and drove about 20 minutes to a Pilot to scale the load and of course the Pilot was tiny and packed with trucks. I got weighed and found a place to park on the street while I went inside to pay for the scale. Luckily the load was just inside the limits for my tandems, so I didn't need to mess around at the Pilot anymore.
I drove another 10 minutes down the road and found a rest area and parked for the night. I have 15 minutes of drive time left, so I'm glad I got parked when I did.
Tomorrow will be a heavy driving day. My load goes to Carlisle, PA for Friday afternoon. That's about 1150 miles. I have about 18 hours of driving and a full day tomorrow and until 1500 e.s.t. Friday afternoon to get there. I will be tight. I have two fuel stops tomorrow. One in Hudson, WI for 50 gallons, ( i\I don't know why they do that, they just do.), and the Gary terminal to fill up. Other than that, just driving tomorrow.
posted by BigJohn at 8:36 PM
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