My Day By Day Experience At Eastern Freightways Flatbed Division

@LeadFarmer I actually found an edge protector placer in an old truck that was being cleaned out. It wasn't in the best of shape but it works for now. I bought a winch strap winder on Friday in PA. HaHa that thing is awesome.

 

Day 1

Up at 2:30am and got to the terminal a little after 4am. I moved the rest of my stuff in the truck, well threw it in the bunk is more like it. My plan was to finish taking care of it tonight. Which I did do. I had about a 2 hour drive to attleboro, MA and left around 5am. Hoping to get to the receiver as they opened. I needed to fuel so I asked the mechanic about the pump set up. Sweet same as I've been using. I drive around and fuel up the passenger side. Hmmm not sure if it will reach the drivers side or not.... Nope after a little tugging it was about 2" to short. Well 35 gallons is good enough to get me to MA. I head down the road and get on the interstate. #### it! I went north instead of south. Get off the next exit and get on the south on ramp. Traffic was light until around 495 which is always a cluster luckily I'm heading down 95s.

GPS says "take this exit". OK "Turn right" OK "Take your next right" Ummm no that looks like a residential neighborhood. I go past the turn and pull over, re-check my receiver info, google earth the place, recheck the info. Well it looks like it's back there so... Take the long way back around to the turn. Left, right, right, left DEAD END.. Check the info again.... Ahhhh I entered Fuller Drive and not Fuller Ave. Again, simple newbie mistake. The good thing that did come out of this was I became pretty good at some seriously tight right and left turns...

Got to the receiver at 7:40. Time to untarp and fold these babies. They were not pretty but it worked. Got unloaded pretty quick and received my next pre-plan. Picking up in south Windham, Ct headed to Phillipsburg, NJ It was a nice easy drive to CT. Got checked in and loaded pretty quick. Now it's strapping & tarping time. Roll em out, spread them over the sides and.... why are they uneven? err even them out and ready to bungee. "End flap first, no last wait I remember now".. 80* and I'm seriously sweating pretty bad. Loads tarped and looks freaking great. Time to go as far as we can.

Get ready to leave the shipper and what's that hissing noise from the Trailer protection valve? Our schools truck did that once. so I decided to take a trip to the Meriden terminal. I needed fuel anyways. Mechanic comes out and I apply the trailer breaks and wouldn't you know it, the canister is shot. I got it in within about 30 minutes and about an hour later we're good to go. Well that killed my plan. I was coming over 84w so I decided to get as far as I could. I was familiar with the area and was hoping to make it to the Montgomery terminal. 26 miles short and 5 mins left on my clock, Rest area it is.

Till tomorrow.

 

Day 2

I actually slept like a baby last night. Woke up at around 4:45am feeling refreshed! Started the coffee pot and went out to Pre-Trip. Finish the pre-trip and coffee is done. This little 12v coffee maker isn’t that bad. The chord does get pretty warm though. My goal this week was to not spend any money. So far so good.

Finish my coffee and head out for NJ. Nice ride without much traffic. I get to the receiver 5 minutes early. Nice little hardware store. Friendly people. I untarp and roll them. (Man it was hot at 8am.) and unstrap the load.

I get my next pre-plan. Back to Danville, PA for a drop and hook. Wish it was that easy. This place tarps the load for you but you usually have to spend about 30 minutes fixing it so it doesn’t fall off. Sometimes they are not that bad but today was not one of them. This load of sheet rock is headed for an overnight/early morning delivery at Home Depot in W. Hartford, CT 3:10-4:10

Had a good ride from PA to Waterbury, CT. I’ll be glad when they’re done with that section in like 10 years.. HaHa. What a mess! And 4 wheelers were horrible today. Trying to squeeze between me and a barrier then flipping me off after they realize it’s better to get behind me and then go around me. What a freaking concept..

I was headed to park overnight at home depot but wanted to fuel tonight and there was a tornado warning for the area and it was rush hour. Screw it, I stopped at the T/A in Southington ( @Caterpillar6nz This one?) and filled up. Glad I did. The wind started to gust and a soon as I started putting in DEF it let go. Sideways rain, lightning, wind. Yup $5 in DEF.. good enough. I got back in the truck and was soaked. It was like someone had dumped a bucket of water on me. Another screw it moment. The lot was full so I bought reserved parking and used my shower credit.

Back to the truck and made 2 double cheeseburgers with my lunchbox cooker. Another great investment.. That brings us to this point. I can’t start my clock till 3:35 so up at 3am and heading the 25 miles to HD as soon as I can. Till then

 

Day 3

Got up at 3am and started the coffee pot. Got dressed and waited a couple of minutes and the coffee was done. Did my Pre-trip and forgot to mention last night that I had ripped one of the mudflaps off while backing in last night. Caught it between the tire and the curb.. I grabbed the flap and threw it in the passenger side and headed to HD. Called them when I got there and they came right out. A quick unstrap and untarp and they unloaded me quickly. Sent in my empty code and got a pre picking up in MA going to DE. Go to the shipper about 40 minutes early and chatted with another Eastern driver. Goes by the name of Whitey. Nice guy, he had a lot to say.

Live load of 2x6's strapped it and headed out. Stopped at the Meridan terminal again for a fix of the mudflap this time. Quick in and out and on the road again. Went down 87-95 for the first time. Man I thought CT and MA drivers were rude and impatient.. No one will give you an inch. I got lucky 2 times that someone let me get over. There was an 18 wheeler broken down at the entrance to the GW and that caused the unbelievable back up for miles. Once south of the city it was clear sailing. Got into Middleton, DE with 50 minutes left on my clock. Had a planned stop for the night and I roll through in 2nd scouring for that 1 spot that no one wants. What time does everyone start that causes the truck stops to be full by 4pm? So I decide to head a little south to see what I can find. Well, you get south of Middletown and there is nothing. 10 mins left on my clock and it's to late to go back. 7 mins left. I get off the first exit I find. Around 2 rotaries and I spot the potential. Hmm it's closed, vacant and for lease. Let me just sneak in there for a quick 10 hours. 2 hours later I'm still alive and not arrested so lets hope for another good 8 hours. I know, I know, most of what I listed could be prevented by having a better back up plan. Rookie mistake.
Till Tomorrow (hopefully)

 

Day 4

Well I survived the night. Even after I was just falling asleep and the engine decided to start doing this weird cycle. I don't believe it was a regen as it only lasted about 30 seconds. I actually got a good 8 hours in. I decided to get to the receiver about 30 minutes early in hopes of getting lucky. They were ready to receive.! Nice! Another quick unload by 7:30, send in my empty macro and head down the road to starbucks. I had made coffee this morning but I was ready for more. Got my coffee, still nothing. Hmm I've never had to wait before. I call dispatch and get a load within minutes. Back up to Danville, PA to drop n Hook a load of Sheetrock headed to Cohoes, NY. I head out looking forward to the day, then I hit traffic on 476 in Philly. GPS screams out.. "to save 15 minutes here is an alternate route" At least that's what I heard. Hmmm ok let's try it. Exit 1 I get off there. It immediately says take the left to 476. Well I can't there are about 20 plastic dividers up. So I go straight looking for somewhere to possibly turn around a 60' rig. Nothing. GPS says "take next left at the light onto Fairview road. Alright this doesn't look bad. A heads up. That road gets narrow and tight. "at the end of the street take a right onto S. Chester road. Tight and narrow again. Come to a rotary "take the 3rd exit" ummm no that's not a street. I go around again. Ahh I see it S. Chester rd and N Chester road are counted as 2 exits. "go straight, take a left on Swarthmore" ok that was a test of my left hand turns.

Finally get back to 476 and lost 20 minutes. It's a crawl for about 30 minutes more. I'm not even sure why. No construction, no accidents. It was around 9:15. We get past plymouth meeting and it was smooth sailing all the way to Danville and up to Albany where i'm at for the night. A NEMF terminal which comes complete with a shower.

All in All it was a good day. 495 miles and 1 1/2 hours still left on my 14.

 

Yes it sucks man. Friday was a day from hell for traffic and this was mid-day. A game of E-log vs traffic vs dispatch vs my home time.

So where do you usually run?

 

Day 5

So Friday Morning rolls around. Up at 5:00, make the coffee, get dressed & Pre-trip done by 5:30. Head out for the quick 15 minute drive to Cohoes and get to the receiver by 6:00. 2 trucks already in front of me and my tablet says 7-4 for receiving. 1 of the other trucks was another Eastern truck so I talked with the driver for a minute. He seemed a little standoffish at first so I went and started to unstrap and remove the 1,000 bungies holding the tarp down. The other driver whistles to me as he's walking in the gate. Someone is ready to take us in early. We give them the paperwork and I'm 3rd in line. I go back and pull off the first tarp fold and roll. I start folding the 2nd tarp and the other driver comes over to help me. We talked a little more and he was actually a nice guy. He even mentioned that he really isn't a people person. Explains his standoffness from earlier.

I get unloaded, again another quick unload and head up to my live load in Queensbury. This load is taking me to my home terminal. With any luck I would be back by 15:00 and home by 16:30. A 3 stop load of Lally columns headed to MA and CT on Monday. Good paying load also.

I get loaded and strap the hell out of it (Insert rookie over strapping here) Get in the truck and have a message to call dispatch. Ehhh . "Hey can u do us a favor? Is there anyway you can deliver this to the 2 CT stops today?" I look at my clock, the distance and the map, did some quick calculations. Nope I'll never make it. "can you drop it at the Meriden terminal?" That seems a little more doable but all this will depend on traffic.

I had to take a 30 so I hit the service plaza down on 87 just south of Cohoes. To be honest I'm kind of mad at this point. I had a nice 3 hour ride home which is now going to turn into a 6 hour ride home through some of the worst traffic yet. 84-90-495-93 during the start of rush hour. I head down 87 and hit 2 spots of stop n go traffic. (there goes 45 minutes) All good from there. Hit 90 E and my GPS is freaking out. "live traffic ahead" "Delay ahead" "alternate route ahead" I'm not falling for that one anymore! A couple more spots of stop & go (30 minutes gone) and I see an electronic sign 10 miles to I91s 45 Minutes What? this can't be good. My route shows red for the next 10 miles.. after about 2 miles, 20 minutes later and some quick calculations I call dispatch. I'm not going to have enough hours, I'll be short by 30mins from hitting my home terminal and this doesn't include any extra traffic. Dispatch gets the authorization for me to drop it at our Springfield terminal. Sweet that just saved me 2 hours.

Drop the load, and decided that I know a better way home then going through that MA mess near Boston. Hit 91N to 9w to 202w to 89s bam home with 1 hr and 20 minutes to spare. 20 minute post trip and 1 hour left on my clock. I grab my stuff for the weekend and head home.

Dispatch did care care of me $$ wise and I've got a load that was dropped in Concord headed to ME on Monday. I'm not one to complain but when you mess with my $$ or hometime then I tend to feel the need to say something.

 

Day 6

Had a great weekend. Finalized a majority of our final wedding details. 12 days to go. This will be my 2nd and her 1st. I'm never doing it again though I tell ya that!

Headed out close to 5:00 for Auburn, ME. I needed to get fuel so I told myself after pre-tripping to fill up. Old age, distractions or just the thoughts of the day I completely forgot. Deep into Maine I was like (hand to the forehead) I was low but not scary low yet. We have a terminal in Scarborough so I figured I'd grab it on the way back through. Got to my first stop which was Home Depot in Auburn, got checked in, unstrapped & untarped their portion of the load. They got me unloaded pretty quick. Another great guy to chat with. I think I could write a book with some of these stories I hear from receivers. Re-tarp the back of the remaining load and head to Waterville, ME. Another hour north. Same deal with them Quick and easy just not as talkative.

I notice that I am getting to the scary level on fuel now. Hmmm I park and do some calculations after I get my pre-plan. Going south to Casco, ME... Hmmm empty there, then loaded to Scarborough. I decided against chancing it and being the Idiot that calls dispatch and says he ran out of fuel. I had to take my 30 pretty soon anyway soooo. I fuel up. Make some lunch and notice that this place is a ghost town until I drive around the other side. It's a big terminal. Head up to Casco get checked in and the guy was ready with the first batch of lumber before I even started backing in. Man I love flatbed after hearing some horror stories of Dry van, Refers waiting hours.

Live load, strap and tarp. It's about 80* at this point and here I am wearing my jeans, boots and polo shirt. It was definitely warm. I start my trip plan at this point because it really depended on how long it took me. 3 hours and change left. Well the Montgomery terminal is out. Meriden terminal? Nope going to be rush hour and to much traffic, Worcester truck stop? I'd have maybe 10 minutes to spare if all went well... Home terminal and then go home for the night. Had the time but it really din't advance the load. N. Reading, MA it is. Nice easy ride down here with minimal traffic. Parked, post tripped, had dinner and now I'm finishing this up. Should be on the road by 4:00 I still have about a 5 3/4 hour ride to get to the receiver. It's starting out to be a good money week... Keep the miles coming!