Climate Express

Pretty good just got home not too long ago. Fridays my birthday so I’ll be home until Sunday then rolling back out on monday

 

A week and a half of light loads on 70 did pretty well for my fuel mileage

Learned something new today: Climate doesn't want trucks using I-68. I vaguely remember hearing that in orientation, I think, but I completely forgot. I always followed the routing when loaded, but was heading back to west PA for my reload tomorrow and asked what they preferred.

I was a little surprised -- almost every carrier prefers 322 to get up to 80 or 68/79 to skip past 76 to 70 when running light/empty. I reckon someone cooked some brakes or got into a wreck at some point on that long down hill into Cumberland and someone decided 'never ever again' lol. Or maybe it's the 50 mile stretch of absolutely nothing where a road service call for a blowout gets crazy expensive

With all the crazy state routes in MO, NC, and SC we run grossing 78k+, I thought 68 was pretty reasonable. I won't complain about getting the easy ride on the turnpike though

 

Agreed lol. They said not to worry about writing the fuel costs in because their fuel card provider sends all that info, but I can't bring myself to leave a well organized envelope blank

 

I love that little truck stop in Wakeeny. So much better than fighting for parking at that congested little Love's down the road.

I guess worst case is you run that straight through to Pageland and do a 34 before Saturday delivery. Reloading on a Saturday probably won't be the best odds though.

This load out of west PA I'm picking up doesn't deliver til Friday at 10am. Hoping they'll let me drop it Thursday on the yard since it's a Saint James Walmart delivery

 

I ran 68 here while back in my mack. It was like taking the slow boat to china climbing outta Maryland with this truck.

 

We made it to Ottawa Ks. Pushed to get here to get a free shower at the Loves. Then we get here only to find that it's closed for the night for some reason.

 

I didn't realize Saint James Walmart was a drop and hook customer, so I'll be headed there after the shop finishes up this trailer and my B service. Was loaded in Eureka, 15 miles from terminal, by someone else with a bad tire and a marker light out however many days ago, but I'll save my breath on it lol. It's an LED marker light with a corroded pigtail style plug, so I know it didn't happen overnight, but anyways...

Dropping this load in Saint James, heading back with an empty to the climate yard, and picking up a load going to McDonough, GA for a Saturday 03:00 delivery. I'm guessing they'll probably have me do a long 34 and reload out of there Monday. I'll be on your tail if you're running that all the way to Pageland @bryan21384

 

Props to the Climate shop today -- got a couple trailer tires knocked out, a DOT inspection, marker light, new headlight so no more high beaming folks on accident, B service, and door handle fixed in 1.5 hours.

These one piece, sealed Volvo headlights aren't cheap at all, so I'm surprised they didn't tell me to tough it out like most carriers would've done. No idea what engineer decided on completely sealed headlights being a good idea lol, but I reckon they work well when they do work.

I know the shop is getting tired of seeing me, but truck is finally lined out, so should be good to go for a while. They're always friendly, but I know they wish dispatch would keep me away from I-44 sometimes lol. I try to be courteous when I go and offer lunch on Saturdays, and offer to deal with whatever's wrong until next time if they're busy Mon-Fri.

 

I got one of those sealed headlight units for this mack. It was 700 bucks. The shop doesn't get tired of seeing you. Dispatch plans intentionally to try an get everyone through the yard at least once a month. They do that to try an stay on top of maintenance issues. It helps the company keep stuff fixed which in turn helps keep the CSA scores low. The shop guys are all paid to do a job an get the job done. That is their primary function.