Good Night From II

Effingham, IL at the TA.

Got a load out of the Columbus area to Kansas City. Don't much like the 0600 live unload time, but...
At least I stayed running through the holiday weekend. Lots of full truck stops with people just sitting, from the looks of it.

And I learned something new during my stay at the Columbus terminal.
I had delivered to the Walmart DC in Grove City and didn't find an mt.
The next morning I went in to the desk to inquire and they sent me back there... almost.
It seems they have an off-site drop lot just down the street which is never mentioned by the guard shack.
They put our trailers there when there is little room at the DC. And there were quite a number of them there, but most were behind other Swift trailers 3 deep.

Heading to the DC on Southwest Blvd, it is the 5th driveway on the right after the railroad tracks.
All the way to the back on the left. Simply go in, grab the trailer and leave. No one to talk to.
I will remember that place.

 

Don't believe I ever went to that DC.

My trick at any DC, was to look for a trailer on a door, there would always be one.Then go in and ask when it was going to be mt. Never had to wait more than hour.

 

I tried that in Portervile, CA a few years ago and struck out. Then again I'm an impatient SOB which MIGHT have had something to do with it, that and no pre-plan so I bobtailed out to a hotel.

 

Only went to Porterville twice. Once was when I first started running with CRE and teaming with my son. So that don't count. The other was my hometime load. Bobtailed out and dead headed to Sacramento.

 

Foristell, MO at the TA.

After a longish 0600 live unload this morning (they scheduled 4 trucks for 0600 and only one dock) I picked up a load at Edwardsville terminal.
It was already late when I picked it up.
42k, and there was a scale ticket with it. Way, way over on the tandems, and the driver wrote in "slid tandems, now legal".
WTF? When I scaled it, it was still 34,420 on the tandems. I hate drivers who do that.

My first stop was supposed to deliver before 1100 today (the final has the exact same date and time... go figure) and I said I would deliver at 1500.
That was before accident traffic just east of KC slowed things down. Then it was 1515 for delivery.
That was before another accident just west of here. Then it was 1530.

That was when I called my DM to inquire about the customers' times for delivery.
0600-1100, so I was out of luck for delivering today before I even started the trip.
Glad I called when I did, as I was only a mile away from here and it is the last place to park before that stop.

The final is over 300 miles away from stop 1, north of Chicago.
By the time I get unloaded it will be late in the day, with nowhere nearby to park.
Maybe I'll try to put off delivery until the next morning.

 

Kept getting better and better.
The load was days late thanks to Swift not getting a driver on it when it was t-called, so there was a $200 reschedule fee and I had to wait to be worked in.
Then there were 3 damaged bags, which they put back in the trailer.
3 40 pound bags of dehydrated mashed potatoes, on a pallet.
I was told to proceed to the final and they would work out the details on the way.

Their solution was to tell me to discard the product.
Like I can simply get rid of all that on the side of the road or something?
???

I set my final delivery at 0800 (yup, the next morning...), and I started driving the final 60 miles before 0600. That Chicago traffic can be a bear.
But there was little traffic all the way in. I got there at 0715.
They said I was a drop, but when I explained that I had damaged goods also in the trailer that I needed loaded back on it turned to a live unload.
I was unloaded in less than 30 minutes, and I was impressed.
At 0800 that place was very crowded, so the timing was perfect.

Going back out the west bound traffic was a parking lot, but my side was perfect.
I went to the Manteno terminal to offload the damaged stuff, which I simply dropped in the empty garbage bin at the fuel lane.

I had one of those perfect mornings when everything worked to my advantage.
That was a nice conclusion to a nightmare load.

 

san Diego ca at a hotel.
was a busy week last week.
ended up doing a live unload at same place in city of industry beginning of each trip.
1st trip I picked load up in Colton ca and ran out if hours. so we met at t/a in parawon ut.
next 2 trips I picked up at terminal and made it to beaver ut with no issues.
after tcalling load at jurupa terminal yesterday, I grabbed my fishing gear and drive down hete.
leave in the excel for an 8 day fishing trip
no phone service once I am onboard.
see you all when I get back in a week and a half

 

I hope you have a great vacation.

 

So I've been told that I have been sent info about my million mile truck, something to fill out on a web site.
Never got it.
And today my DM told me a text was sent to my phone with the link, never got that either.
I don't do that kind of thing on my phone. If you want a response from me it has to be to my e-mail, which I will get to once I've shut down for the day.
I told her to get them to send it to my e-mail and she sent a message, but nothing yet.

 

West Des Moines, IA at the Costco.

Looks like I'm stuck here for the night.
I showed up at 1715 for my 1800 drop delivery.
Not only did they have no mt trailers, they had a full dock and 2 trucks waiting ahead of me for live unloads.
One had been waiting since 1600 and the other was this mornings 0530 that turned up late.
They said it would be around 2200 before they could get to me, which was well past my 14.
After a few phone calls I was able to get it rescheduled for tomorrow morning at 0800.
Let's see how that goes. I'm hoping they have an mt by then.