J&R Schugel New Ulm, MN

Sitting here in the Tomah yard, with no motivation whatsoever to do any driving today.. This next preplan they assigned to me was sitting right here at the yard, its pretty good miles, and will give me 2855 for 6 days, but it's going to my least favorite customer in the universe, The C & S warehouse in York, PA. My appt is for 10 am Monday, so I should be all ready to roll again by 10 am Tuesday.

 

C&S aka E3 in York, PA is not a fun place to be, but the 83 diner down the road is a good place to grab some decent food, and take your ten if you're there for longer than you would like. I wish I could say something good about E3/C&S Foods in York, but that is not at all possible.

Right now, I am on my second load to California. Just picked up yesterday in Arvine, CA at Grimmway Foods going to Johnstown, NY. This is a good 2767 miles loaded, 199 empty miles. Not too shabby. The load out here from Gaylord, MN was 1900 miles. Not going to get much of a paycheck this week, but next week I'll have just over 4800 miles in. Not too shabby. I run one more week; most likely east coast regional stuff before I take some home-time in North Charleston, SC of 4 days. I'm getting off to a fairly slow start this morning, as I had to do some recuperating from my trip out here. I'm at a truck stop in Bakersfield, trying to wake myself up to get me some coffee, then hit the road. I'm shooting for Tucumcari, NM tonight, or possibly Liberal, KS. This is all dependent on the weather coming through Flagstaff.

I'm actually fairly happy at Schugel. Josh has been taking good care of me, giving me good hearty runs, and I'm averaging 10k miles a month. I can't complain what-so-ever. J&R Schugel is what you make of it, and I'm making the best of it. Of course, I'm the type of driver that has no problems staying out 3-5 weeks at a time, so it works out well for both me and the company. J&R Has NEVER made me sit for longer than a couple of hours. Can't say that for other companies!

I'm going to try to do more updates here on TTR, I haven't been good at it, as all I've been doing of late is drive/eat/shower/sleep/repeat for the last few months.

 

Those are some darn good miles.. Keep up the good work, glad you're keeping a positive outlook about the company. I try to do the same. Despite the restricted toll roads, the per diem, and the dash cameras, I do enjoy working here too. And C&S was actually not too bad this time, just over a 3 hour unload, which is like record timing for them.

After the C&S load, I deadheaded to Baltimore for a load of sugar going to Beecher, IL that I delivered this morning. Got that off in about 30 mins, then picked up in Naperville heading back to Jessup, MD for tomorrow evening. Shut down now at the speedway in London, OH due to the snow... I've been having horrible luck lately with snowstorms lol.

Oh yeah, and my miles for February: 8883. Since I had 7 full days off at the house, that's 21 days of actual work. Very satifactory miles!

 

I think I set my goal to high for today. I ended up in Holbrook, AZ with 1:20 minutes on my drive clock, and looked for anything an hour and a twenty minutes up the road with a shower, but Gallup, NM was two hours, and I didn't want to get caught out on a get-on ramp, so here i am at the TA in Holbrook, AZ.

Today I managed a measly 566 miles. I have to deliver this load 3/8 at 7am, and I don't think I'm going to make it.

3/5 I hope to make Hooker, OK or even Liberal, KS. Then after that 10 hour break Kansas City. Then after the next 10 hour break Indianapolis; then after the next 10 hour break IF I push KC and Indy to the furthest east I can go in each respectively, I might be able to run an all-nighter and get from Indianapolis to Johnstown, NY in 11 hours.

I have a strange feeling Josh is going to end up T-Calling it in Columbus and swapping it with someone who has hours when I get to Columbus. No biggie, but he needs to plan it so I have a pre-plan to run! Will keep ya updated.

About tolls, I just pay them when I need to. Tax-Deductible. No biggie. The more I can write off at the end of the year, the better!

 

Sounds like a good one, enjoy the new gig Rogerthat! Make us proud!

Got to my consignee in Jessup at 2130 for a 2200 live unload. The trip there was brutal, but only because I made the phenomenal mistake of taking 79 to 68 through Morgantown, West Virginia instead of staying on 70. I did this only because I was light enough to climb the hills on 68, and I'd rather deal with the hills then deal with the curves on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Interstate 79 was in good shape in Pennsylvania, but once I hit the West Virginia border, the roads were not cleared or sanded whatsoever. I stopped at the welcome center to use the bathroom and that was closed due to a power outage. Jesus Christ, this place was a mess. I could barely keep the truck at 30 miles an hour.. Finally I hit Maryland, and the roads are almost as good as Pennsylvania's. Almost. On that note, I will be writing an angry letter to governor Earl Ray Tomblin on these piss poor road conditions.

Maryland was an adventure too, there were still lots of ice lingering around, and I was seeing cars spun out all over the place. I figured I would be next with my load only weighing 12,000 pounds, but I kept my wits about me and played it safe, and made it to the customer successfully and on time. They let me park at their facility overnight too, which was a huge help considering the TA up the street had a 100% chance of being filled to the brim.

Woke up the next morning to a preplan that picks up at a paper mill near Charles Town, WV. Really nasty place, awful smells, water dripping from the ceiling, bricks from the wall were missing. I thought the place was going to collapse on all of us. But the people there were nice enough, and they got me in and out within 45 mins. I'm heading to Owatonna, MN for Monday morning, and will put me at 2613 miles for the week.

Safe travels everyone, and THINK SPRING!

 

welcome to where I live. west virginia is always bad especially here in morgantown.

 

I was shocked to see the roads in that bad of shape. I figured they would've been as clean as Pennsylvania's, but no. Not even close. Which is surprising to me because when I drove through Wheeling and the Northern Panhandle, the roads were just fine.

 

Did my Owatonna delivery this morning. Backed into a door at 7:30, red light came on less than 5 seconds after I finished the back, was unloaded by 7:45. After that record-breaking unload, deadhead to MOM up in Northfield for my home load; 2 stops in Celina, OH and Fairfield, NJ. Will be empty by Thursday morning, then it's home sweet home for me.

 

Well, I've been out since the 9th of February, and I'm getting a little worn out. It's time for a break. I want that break on Sunday through Wednesday in North Charleston, SC. So I get dispatched a load by Josh for a load out of the Columbus terminal going down to Lexington, NC that is scheduled to deliver today (Thursday). That would put me on home time an entire two days early. I asked for 4 days! Not 6. Tickled me pretty good, so I got on the phone and called Tim Oneal. He wasn't in so I called Carrie and she took me off the load and plopped me on an Atlanta load which delivers tomorrow (Friday) sometime.

I'm not sure why they couldn't plan this out better. I told Josh about my need for home-time in North Charleston, SC weeks ago and reminded him every week. Not fun. Then Carrie told me "You can't get the best of both worlds" referring to being home on time. They want their loads there on time. I want to be home on time. I plan for life, I don't think that's asking too much. Is it?

Well, taking my 10 here at the Columbus Terminal, going to grab some fluids and supplies, talk to my Fleet Manager in person, and then haul ##### to Atlanta.