Missing a Gear: Pulling the Hills of Western PA

Well, loaned out to another distribution center for the week. Last time this meant seeing some of Columbus, Cincy and Lexington, and taking some fairly long runs. Also, maybe I'll see the driver with the window AC unit! I looked around tonight, but didn't see him.

And... the truck's AC stopped working this morning on the last leg of my trip to this distribution center. On possibly the hottest, most humid day so far this year. Once I arrived, shut the engine off and then re-started, it was fine, and has been fine since. Unless I come up with a better explanation, I'm assuming it was some sort of hiccup in the computer that cleared once I restarted everything. And it didn't last that long - only about 60 miles from a fuel stop at Pilot till I arrived here. But man, was that ever an uncomfortable 60 miles...!

 

Waiting to be unloaded right now. Ran a load down to West Virginia yesterday – Beckley area, and then continued on down to Wytheville, VA – first time I’ve driven a truck in Virginia! – to pick up a load bound for outside Columbus; Obetz, to be exact. And that raises a noob question. I’ve never scaled loads, because Walmart distribution centers have scales on the way out, and while I occasionally need to slide trailer tandems to even out the axle weights, I almost never have to worry about being over gross. I say “almost,” because I have had one load that had to be returned to the warehouse to remove a pallet; so it’s happened once. And usually backhauls or other outside loads I’ve done are under 30k, so I haven’t worried about it. But this load was listed at over 45k. Wondering if I should have headed for a scale after leaving the shipper?

And how do the CAT scales at truck stops work? Just roll over and then go inside to pay and get a ticket? A quick search didn’t turn up much on the step-by-step of how this works. Can someone walk me through it, in case I need to do it in the future? And because I’m an idiot?

Anyway, I’m being unloaded now, and I know I wouldn’t have been over gross, but not sure whether axle weights were okay, and wondering whether I was taking a risk by just running it.

Aside from that, this has been a nice week so far. Some long runs, and some different areas. Headed to Lexington, Kentucky after I finish this load, and likely spending the night somewhere around Georgetown. We’ll see…

 

Perfect! That's exactly what I needed and wasn't seeing when I went looking. I'll have to remember this thread next time I need a scale...

 

Man, Seville is a creepy ghost town kind of place!

We were on mandatory 34-hour restarts this past week (as opposed to the usual two days off) due to increased volume for the 4th. So I came in early last week and stayed on for seven days; I figured I'd just run out my 70, which could potentially take me into the 4th, but I'd still be home in time for fireworks with the kids. Anyway, I came in yesterday with about seven hours left on my 14 for the day, and nine left on my 70. It was 4:00pm, so I figured loads would already be assigned for the day, but I could probably pick up a next-day (trailer already loaded, but can't be delivered till after 9:00am the next day - usually you drive out whatever hours you have left and spend the night at the store, or nearby) and use up my remaining hours.

I came in to the office to see what what there since I didn't already have an assignment, and was asked if I'd ever done a watermelon load. The answer: Nope, but I don't think I'm excited about where this is going...! Since watermelons on the 4th of the July are a big deal, there were a number of trailers being loaded for a 2:00am start time - 5-7 stops each, stocking all stores with plenty of watermelons for the big day. I could see myself being asked to take my 10-hour break early and then starting again at 2:00am. And I was right.

BUT... they needed drivers with full hours, and I was only going to have about nine hours left on my 70, instead of a full 14. So, I got taken off that list, and instead sent to Seville. An OTR driver had come into the distribution center and then assigned a Walmart load. Apparently, when OTR drivers do this, Schneider trailers are used so that the drivers don't need to return to the distribution center. But in this case, no orange trailers were available, so the OTR driver took a Walmart trailer and then was up for a 34-hour restart and time at home after running the load, and the trailer wound up being dropped at Seville. Now they needed it back. Enter me.

I was also up for time at home, so my DBL said, "Bobtail out to Seville, bring the trailer back, and go home." I thanked her, we high-fived, and I was off, hoping the assignment would show up in Workflow by the time I got to Seville (It didn't, but that's another story).

When I got there, I played a very, very short game of "One of these things is not like the others" to find the stray trailer - the single white Walmart trailer in a sea of orange. And yeah, that was a creepy place. I would hate to spend a night there, though it looked like a few drivers were doing exactly that. If Schneider ever wants to hold an epic company Halloween party, complete with haunted house (haunted OC?), this place gets my vote.

Home now; back out in a couple days. Happy Independence Day, everyone!

 

After two weeks off (and no, it wasn’t paid vacation time – just had a family event that was scheduled long before I even knew I’d be driving for SNI), back at it this week and sent over to the Washington Courthouse distribution center.

So today I got an assignment with a backhaul on it: the EGG FARM. I’ve heard of this place, but haven’t been there yet. I couldn’t make sense of the assignment – it looked like I was picking up at a truck stop and then delivering to a farm. Turns out that the truck stop is where I need to get my truck washed – and the trailer, inside and out – before going to the egg farm to pick up the backhaul. I was pretty excited about this, and the dispatcher said she’d never seen anyone so excited to go to the EGG FARM. While I WAS excited about the egg farm, I was more excited about getting my truck washed. I try to run it through the wash bay at Wintersville once a week or so during my six-day shift, but it doesn’t do a great job, and I’m not paying out of pocket to take it somewhere. But the EGG FARM has done me a solid, and I’m now in line behind a pickup truck at the Truck-O-Mat. Yes, that’s right: I’m behind a pickup. It’s an F-250, so pretty nice, but still looking small between me and the Prime guy ahead of him. But I guess the sign says, in big letters, “TRUCK WASH,” and he’s a truck, so…

I did not expect this to take so long, however. Hopefully I’ll be out soon. And sparkling! And then off. To the EGG FARM.

 

Just saw a driver walk by at the terminal where I'm waiting on a load in SWIM TRUNKS. But it IS summer. And he was wearing a safety vest, though it clashed slightly with the Hawaiian print trunks...