FCC--Fremont Contract Carriers

Load of Glass Bottles today. Heading to AB in STL... I’ve hauled aluminum beers cans before but this is a first for bottles.

At times it just blows my mind just how many “miles” go into a product... raw materials from who knows where... to make cans or bottles to go from CO to MO to be filled with product that came from who knows where... to then be shipped back out across who knows how many States... it’s amazing that it all works.

 

On the flatbed side, we haul aluminum coils from Ontario CA to Golden CO for cans.
So there’s my 2 cents.

 

*flatbed*

Drop my load of plate steel at our yard in Lincoln. Grab an empty, drive 5 miles across town to drop that trailer and secure a load of granite slabs, and pallets of boxed tile.

I’ve hauled glass with maverick in my past. And granite slabs are now my least favorite load.

That includes the “junk” loads that I’ve hauled with McElroy coming out of the Lowe’s DC’s where they stack ladders on top of lumber and bricks next to rolled roofing.

Granite slabs no bueno.

But made it to CB tonight. I have 10hrs left on my 70. And no time coming back for a few days. Looks like I’ll get to the customer in Waukesha tomorrow and be all but stuck there.

 

*flatbed*

Parked at customer last night in Waukesha WI, Get up this morning and unloaded the granite and quarts slabs, indoor with a crane.

But before all of that, called DM to remind him I only had 1h54m on 70, and 0 to be gained. That the appointment for pickup needed changed to either tomorrow (getting good hours back on recap everyday) or the next morning (Wednesday) and take a 34.

Unload, empty call, new message, palletized stone from Fond Du Lac WI to Roca NE. Pickup Tuesday for a Wednesday delivery.

5 miles from pickup tomorrow. Let’s take a 20hr nap.(21mins on 70)

 

Bumping my 70 today as well.

clocks, accident detour, and construction had a different plan for my day than I did. Didn’t get as far as I had hoped. Going to be an early morning to get to my 5:30am appointment.

In general, I don’t really have many issues with HOS until I start bumping my 70... so now after a 12 hour break, only 6 hours of driving and still fresh, wide awake, and can safely drive, I have to shut down only to wake up at in the middle of the night to continue this load when I’m not so fresh, not so awake, and as for safe? Well, I’ll make that call at 3am but ya I feel safer driving right now at 3pm rather than at 3am...

but ya, you know, some clock knows best.

 

Forget that!! I’d take the 34.

 

But driver, I sit behind a government issued desk, in a government building in Washington D.C., I know how to do your job better than you...and I say it's safer OUR way.



I honestly wish they'd do it more like Canada's HOS. 70 in 7 and 36 hr restart...just don't make us have to take a full 24 hrs off in a 14 day window.

 

What’s wrong with getting up at 03:00???? That’s a great time to get started.

 

BOVINE EXCREMENT!!!!!

 

Those situations suck but I can see why the HOS rules are put into place. Not all companies, but a good enough percentage of them, would run their drivers ragged to the point where it's not safe. It also forces companies to raise the pay because they can't calculate the salaries that they pay a driver based off the driver running illegal, like they could before ELD's (I seriously doubt more than 50% of OTR drivers were running legal log books before ELD's but I wasn't around driving back then so correct me if my assumption on that is wrong).