From School to Superior Carriers

10/3-10/7

This was a week of a lot of sitting. It started out pretty good.

I left Sunday after church with a preloaded snot trailer headed to a coal mine in Waverly Ky delivering in a time window of 8-1500.. I had been there once before so it was an uneventful trip even though the directions still say "turn left at the candy shop" that is now a consignment store.

Everything went well and I actually made record time with a snot unload. you have to let these tanks sit for at least 30 minutes with the internal valve open and the external closed to get as much of the product out of the tank as possible. I still finished up in 1.5 hours and that's with 3- 3 inch hoses.

While it was blowing off I got a dispatch message from Cincinnati asking if I could grab a load from Louisville and run it up to Michigan City In by 7:00 AM Tuesday morning. I told them maybe if this load came off fast but that it would be tight and traffic would need to cooperate.

They must have decided against that plan and I got a tankwash to PSC in Cincinnati and a load heading to Marion Va delivering Wed at 1300. It had a loading window for Tuesday so I took my time and easily made made it to the terminal right around sunset.

I took about a 12 hour break and headed out at the start of my window to load. That went well and I even met another driver headed to the same place with the same product. I had a 13:00 appointment and he had a 15:00. We both had a ridiculous amount of time to get there and planned to run up as much layover pay as possible.

I got loaded no problem and decided to run I-71 north to 35 to I64. Its the same route I run all the time on the dedicated and was a little shorter than taking 75 down to 64.

Right where there is construction and 15 mph S curves on US 35 my truck lost power and I thought I was about to break down in the worst possible place. I had my engine brake on coming down that hill into the curves and was thinking that it wasn't holding the truck back much as I downshifted. After almost coming to a stop in the curves I flipped the switch off and was able to limp the truck 25 miles or so to the TA in Hurricane WV.

I got there around 1500 and figured they could fix it overnight and I could still make my delivery on time. They hooked it up to the computer and found 113 fault codes that they didn't understand. I was soon back on the road heading 12 miles East to the International shop near Nitro.

They found a short in the wiring harness underneath the valve cover that hooks up to the engine brake. After waiting for the part they repaired it but the truck was still throwing the same short codes. It was getting close to closing time for them so off to a hotel I went.

The next morning I called Cincy dispatch and asked if I could switch unloading times with the driver I saw loading before me. That was no problem. The mechanics finally decided my truck needed a new ECM. This required more waiting and part hunting but they assured me the truck would run fine and only throw codes when I used the engine brake. I talked to my boss and decided to head home and let our shop do that repair.

That put me about 1.25 hours late for my rescheduled delivery appointment in Marion Va. This was at our Superflo terminal. I pulled in and was told they couldn't get to me until 9:00 the next morning. There were no empty trailers so I couldn't grab one and head home even though I was only 130 miles away. At least they gave me the keys to the company pick up truck to get something to eat.

The next morning the Superflo unloader didn't show up for work until 11:00. All he did was air my load into a rail car. It tool 45 minutes. I had arrived at 4:15 the day before so they could have gotten me unloaded without incurring more than 1 hour of overtime pay for the unloader.

They chose to pay me 4 hours of layover pay and idle the truck for 16 hours. This is our only union shop and they seem to operate on banking hours when they decide to come to work at all. Everyone was real nice there but my first impression of the place wasn't good.

I made it home Thursday afternoon and since I had asked for Sat and Sunday off got Friday as well. I am enjoying the 3 day weekend and have a gravy dedicated run for next week. High point to Hopewell Va to Houston Tx to High Point NC. I have done it a few times and its easy to make it back by Friday afternoon.

 

10/11-10/15

This was a very good week. I ran around 2800 miles. Left on Monday around 8:00 AM and got back Friday around 2:30 PM. I could have made it back earlier but chose to take a couple of 12 hour breaks on the way back.

This run you pull an empty from our yard up to DuPont in Hopewell Va and do a drop and swap spotting it under the loading rack. These are specialized trailers designed to haul very hot liquids. They load at around 350 F. Great people at both plants. It only took 30 minutes to load and 1 hour to unload in Houston Tx on Wednesday.

I also picked up a couple of hours for 2 trailer repairs. Both my empty and the spotted one at the plant had leaking hub seals with oil all over the rims. I had the first one repaired before I left. On the second one I made sure it still had oil in it and ran it back to our yard on the way to save some money.

Next week I am doing a short 150 mile glue load on Monday and then a N Chicago Dry Bulk load Tuesday- Thursday and then taking Friday off.

 

Yeah. I think they felt sorry for me after the crappy breakdown week paycheck I got yesterday. They screwed up my check deducting a hotel reimbursement from it and forgetting to pay me for a vacation day I took to add some money to it. Thank God we get paid every week. Next Fridays check will be real good.

 

Easy out and back week. Monday was like a local load. I left the terminal around 4:30 AM with a glue load going to Farmville, NC. It was an easy run and the plant was only about 2 miles off the big road. Backed up to a 3" pipe sticking out of the wall. The hardest part was the pipe was about 9 feet off the ground and you had to drag hoses up to it. They had a set of steps and a metal platform in front of it. Also the plant workers didn't help with anything. Usually they will help you connect hoses and such.

It took 2 3" hoses and about 1.5 hours to air it off. I was home by 1:00 PM.

I had a dry bulk run the next day and didn't need to leave before noon to make it. I took the opportunity to grill some chicken on the deck Monday evening. I love the crisp fall days in NC. This is my favorite time of the year.

I headed down to the terminal around 9:30 the next morning and got an early start. This allowed me to not worry about a deadline and take a 12 hour break Tuesday night. Wednesday my drop and swap took 2 hours because I had to wait 1.25 hours for a chemist to get back from lunch before they could give me a COA. Seems like this is usually the case at this plant. A 12 noon appointment doesn't seem to help the situation. I have been as much as an hour early before and then you wait for another guy to finish loading someone before you. Best to just plan for 2 hours.

I made a sandwich for lunch and was on my way out of Chicago by 14:00 in plenty of time to miss the rush hour.

I shut down in Richmond In and after 10 made it back to the yard by 7:00 PM Thursday. Looking forward to a nice 3 day weekend. heading back out around 5:00 AM Monday with a live load scheduled Tuesday at 6:00 AM back up in N Chicago.

 

10/25-10/29

Good week. I ran a N Chicago liquid ZAG run Mon-Wed. The most interesting thing about it was my load time was right when that big weather front was moving through. 60 mph wind gusts. Fortunately I got there Tuesday morningbefore it hit and stayed at the customer an extra hour after loading to run behind the thunderstorm line.

Got a qualcom message saying our Markham terminal was damaged by the storms probably about when I would have been heading through there. Made it home by 5:00 PM Wednesday.

Thursday they had me deliver my load at Brown Summit then go directly to another plant to grab a load heading to Avon in Cincinnati. I delivered it this morning and am chilling at the Cincinnati terminal the rest of the day. I plan to attend the safety meeting and head up to the back porch this evening. I will pick up around 7 hours of layover pay today.

I am loading at Cognis in the morning at 10:00 AM with a load delivering in Raeford NC Monday. I plan to pull it back to our yard and will be home Saturday night. They may have me deliver it Monday or they may have a local driver do it. It needs to be steamed up to 160 F. I am good either way. If I do it I will be home Monday night as well.

 

11/1-11/4

This will be a good week mainly because I have an 800 mile load that i am heading out with in the morning and that will put another 500 or so miles on this weeks check.

I delivered my Raeford load Monday morning and was immediately sent back out on a 380 mile load to Dalton Ga delivering early Tuesday morning. I was tankwashed down to Morrow Ga. I got there by 14:00. They had me picking up a load in Winder Ga at 3:00 AM Wednesday morning delivering in Cambridge Oh about 600 miles away.

I bob tailed up to Winder and camped out at the Express tank wash about a mile from the plant. Grabbed that load the Wednesday morning and headed up to Ripley WV about 100 miles away from the plant. That ended up being a mistake. Had I driven a little farther I could have gotten home the next day but I didn't know what they had planned for me. I also feel much better if I start my day with a shower making that Loves attractive.

My live unload took around 4 hours for some reason and I was tankwashed down to S Charleston WV to grab my next load. It was a preloaded trailer delivering in Greensboro at 8:00 AM Friday. I realized en route that I would be about 30 minutes over on my 14 so I shut it down at the Loves in Max Meadows Va about 100 miles away from the plant.

I was back to the terminal and on my way home by 11:30 AM Friday. I was given 3 choices by dispatch; a 900 mile snot load to Madison Wi, or a 450 mile load to Cincinnati both delivering Monday. My third choice was to go out Monday. I was tempted to opt for Monday but was told it would be a system load as well. If i have to run the system I might as well get a good start on the week so I opted for Madison Wi. It has a 6:00AM -6:00 PM delivery window Monday so its a low pressure run on whatever schedule I choose. I like those.

 

11/7-11/12

Pretty good week. They kept me moving.

I headed out Sunday morning with a preloaded tank. My only problem was finding 2 3 inch hoses. There were around 10-12 soaking in the caustic tub. The High Point terminal pulls them off the clean trailers. I had to pull 2 off of some preloaded trailers. That probably screwed some other driver but that may be why I didn't have the hoses I needed. It was probably a short time once the tank wash opened that the soaking ones were clean.

and ran to Just north if Indianapolis and shut down at that TA on I-65 around 10PM. Took 10 and and an uneventful ride around Chicago.

I got into Madison Wi around noon Monday and was happy to find an easy down hill unload. On my way up there I got a tankwash write up and drop message for PSC in Chicago so I figured I was heading back to Markham. After hooking up hoses and turning it loose I got another tankwash message. This one had me staying with the wash 130 miles north in Neenah Wisconsin a few miles north of Oshkosh. I had a live load scheduled for 8:00 AM in Milwaulkee. It delivered at P&G in Neeleys Landing Mo Wednesday on an 8-1400 window.

The washout took about 4.5 hours and ran all but about 45 minutes of my 14 out so I camped out at the tank wash. It was a decent place with a drivers lounge, cable TV and free clean showers. Only down side is it closed at 9 PM but I was ready to go to bed anyway.

Tuesday mornings load was uneventful except that the scales were tight and hidden behind a building on the left after you pull into the gate. They are easy to get on if you stay to the far right but I was right in the middle of the driveway. It took a while to work the rear of my trailer over enough to get on them but my other option was to back out into the road.

I got loaded in under 2 hours and headed south. I decided to run 94 down to 55 because my wife requested some Wisconsin cheese when she found out where I was going. I have stopped at the Cheese Castle at exit 340 before and they have a good deli and bakery as well. I at lunch and stocked the truck up with sandwich meet, cheese and a loaf of fresh baked wheat bread. I figured to be sent to Memphis and the last couple of times have sat long enough to get layover pay and in those cases its good to have food in the truck. Sure enough I was tankwashed to PSC in West Memphis. I shut down at Troy Il just outside of St Louis Mo

Wednesday morning I headed out early and arrived at P&G at the front end of my window at 8:00 AM. It was another sub 2 hour unload. I dropped my empty at PSC, grabbed a barbecue sandwich at Raes right around the corner and headed over to the Memphis terminal. I was told my load was ready at BASF heading to Greensboro. They gave me an empty to spot and I was out of Memphis heading home before rush hour.

I ran the load to the terminal Thursday, delivered it Friday morning and was off by 10:00 AM. Looking at almost a 3 day weekend.

Monday I live load transformer oil and run it up to Chester Pa near Philly. TM told me I am spotting the trailer and bob tailing back so its sort of like a dedicated load and should put me at around 1000 miles by Wed AM. Hopefully they will put me on N Chicago or Holland after that. I have a feeling this trailer spotting could be a PITA. The last load of transformer oil I dropped was tight backing in a substation around live 12,000 volt power lines and transformers.