Millis OTR journal

Greetings from Olive Branch, Mississippi. Such a cool name for a town. I scrolled back through my previous posts to make sure I never mentioned the name of the shipper or receiver. I didn't, so let the venom flow. This load will from this point forward be known to me as "The Abortion". It is far and away the worst load I've ever had. Everyone who had a hand in it from front to back did their own special part to put this load on the top of my bad load list. After a while, it was so ludicrous that it just became comical. The shipper, for starters, said that the load and trailer weren't there. I had to contact dispatch, and they tracked the trailer. They said that it was indeed there. So I went back in to the office and was told "Well, it might be here, you'll have to go look for it. Good luck". No, I'm not making that up. Good luck? Are you freaking kidding me? Nice display of professionalism. First of all, you dick, this is YOUR load. How do you not know where it is? So, I found the trailer. I couldn't hook to it because it was set too high. It was also parked 3 inches (no exaggeration) from the trailer next to it, so I couldn't manually lower it. Now I have to find a spotter to pull this thing out. Before I did that, I opened the trailer door to look at the load. I'm glad I did. There were a couple pallets that were about to fall over. Christ Almighty. I found a spotter, who asked me to look for someone else because he was busy. Ok then. The next spotter was a very sweet woman that dropped what she was doing to grab a lift truck and yank this trailer out. Before she hooked to it, dispatch asked me to take pictures, so they could see what the load looked like before it was moved. When she hooked to it, she lifted it a mere 6 inches when you could plainly hear the pallets crash. The look on her face was priceless. I didn't tell her the pallets were leaning lol. I assured her that it was ok, and I had pictures if she needed them to clear herself from blame. After a few messages on the Qualcomm it was determined that I had to haul this trailer to the Trenton terminal to have the pallets restacked. That got handled and I pulled out a couple hours later. I made it about 2 miles down the road and heard something fall inside the trailer. F me, man. So I pulled over and cautiously opened the trailer door. Whatever fell was in the middle somewhere, the back looked fine. By the way, I had 4 load straps on the back pallets, so those things weren't going anywhere. They looked fine, so I kept moving. Fast forward to the receiver. They had no record of this incoming load, so I had to wait an hour before I got a dock assignment. The hits just keep on coming, gotta love it. After 4 and a half hours, I was finally unloaded. I got reloaded and was almost out of time. I made it to a Flying J about 13 miles away. Had to pay for parking because of course all the free spots are gone when I pulled in. That's a fitting end to this ridiculous albatross of a load. It will become my new standard for "worst load ever". But it's over. I have a 24 hour delivery window for my current load. I'm sleeping my ### in tomorrow and relaxing. Well, that's it for now. Talk to y'all tomorrow. Be safe out there. Peace.

 

Fair enough, sir, fair enough

 

You'll be fine man. You'll be surprised at what you can handle after a while. That trailer you saw is for specialized freight. Super heavy haul stuff. Those guys are making some serious money. Lotsa stress though.

 

Sup y'all. Reporting tonight from the Albany terminal. Just got in about an hour ago. Being here twice in a week's time is odd for me, I'm so rarely down here. Finished my run, and decided to head here, as I was pretty much out of time. Tomorrow I'll be be catching a run that will take me to Cartersville. Not sure where I'll be picking up yet. But my truck needs a B and a C, so I'm heading there for maintenance. I try to end up at either Cartersville or Trenton for big stuff. I am very biased towards those two terminals. I love the terminals in general, and I'm a huge fan of the guys in the garage. It's very likely I'll end up with a 34. In which case, Cartersville is definitely my winning horse in that race. But service-wise you can't go wrong with either one. Today was pretty smooth, except for a small navigation error on my part. Traffic was extremely light and the weather was gorgeous. I'm not a huge fan of some of the roads I was on, but the scenery made up for it. Almost stopped a couple times to take some pictures. They don't make landscapes like that in Ohio. But y'all can keep this incessant heat and the bugs. I'm at my halfway point on this stretch, I've been out for 4 weeks, I have about 4 to go. Not sure why this one is different, but this trip out has been hard on both me and my wife. Looking forward to going home and seeing her and my daughter. Kiddo has been so busy lately that she doesn't have any breathing room in her schedule, so she's unaffected. But these calm peaceful moments are hard on me. Too much time to think. I miss home, and I miss my people. Sitting for a 34 is going to be hard for that reason, I'm not looking forward to it. Constant movement and responsibilities are what keep me sane out here, and the days fly by when I have that external pressure. Like those deep sea fish that explode when you bring them to the surface. Sorry to end on a down note, I'm just feeling a little homesick. Hope tonight finds y'all doing well. See you on the flipside. Be safe out there. Peace.

 

Wassup y'all. Greets from my second home. Cartersville. Just got parked about an hour ago. Dropped my trailer and got my truck on the list for service. I got pulled in about 15 minutes later. For those who are uninitiated with truck service here at Millis, that is unheard of at this terminal. They are always busy. I'm not the only driver here that claims this as their favorite shop, the proof is in the usual waiting list. This won't be a quick stop, but it's possible now that I'll get out of here without a 34. Works for me. Get back out and make that paper. Once I got my baby pulled in and parked, one of the guys walked up to me and handed me a set of keys. I was confused until I looked at them. My spare set. I have torn my truck apart multiple times looking for those things. Apparently I left them in the shop the last time I was here lol. As usual, I have a list of additional items that need addressed, all small stuff. They always snicker at me a little when I turn in my service sheet, but I've never had a breakdown or needed service out on the road. That's a product of being the son of a diesel mechanic who turned into an owner-operator. If the wheels ain't rollin', you ain't linin' the wallet. So don't be that guy that never lifts the hood. One of these days I'm gonna make a "quick trip" video. That's what I call my pre-trip. Everything that needs looked at gets looked at every day and it only takes 5 minutes. Alright peeps I have come to the point where I recognize I'm rambling. I am grabbing some food and heading to the garage to see if I can sleep in the truck or make other arrangements. Catch y'all tomorrow. Be safe out there. Peace.