From School to Superior Carriers

7/12 - 7/16

Pretty good week. I headed out around 6:00 AM to Gary In with a load of glue that was preloaded waiting for me on the yard. I ran it easy stopping in Richmond In about 500 miles down the road. That left me around 250 miles to unload and get over to Markham on Tuesday.

This was a new customer and I didn't have directions or even the proper name of the plant. Travel order said one thing, Bill of Laden said another. It turned out to be easy. The plant name on the bills was on a sign pointing down a road.

I got there and was informed that another truck driver had gotten stuck needing a tow truck backing into the unloading point. It was a narrow gravel road that you had to blindside a 90 degree turn off of. I was more cautious than I probably needed to be to keep all my tractor tires on gravel. There were some soft grassy areas off to the left that you had to watch for.

Unloading took around 3.75 hours mainly because I had a problem with the internal valve hydraulic jack system. It was leaking fluid right at the internal valve requiring me to keep pumping it open every 5 minutes. I put a clean bucket under the drip in case I needed to replace the hydraulic fluid in the jack. Fortunately it didn't run dry before the load was off and I now have half a water bottle of fluid in case that happens again.

I was offered a load heading back to Greensboro loading at 1 AM delivering Thursday. I told dispatch that I wanted to stay out and got one loading at 4 AM heading to Baltimore delivering Thursday at 11:00. Unloaded it with another 1.75hrs of demurage pay.

I was tankwashed up to Paulsboro NJ where I am now sitting waiting for my trailer to get washed out and a tire repaired. I got a 15 hour break at the truck stop after dropping my tank last night so the layover clock is running.

I have a load going to Statesville NC delivering Monday morning. Nice thing about loading it is there are no appointments so I should be able to run it back to the terminal Friday evening and have the weekend at home. I will still have to deliver it on Monday unless they have a local driver do it so that could affect next weeks earnings. We shall see. Looks like asking to stay out will net me some more money and still get the weekend off.

 

7/16- 7/19

My plan to get home Friday night was thwarted by the Dana Tankwash in Paulsboro. I pretty much sat around all day waiting for the trailer to get washed out.

They had hooked it up to steam early in the day thinking that would enable them to get the heel off. It didn't work and by the time they realized someone would need to get inside the tank it was 220 degrees. Seeing that the tank is insulated it took hours for it to cool off enough for someone to get inside it.

I went to bed around 9PM. The tank was waiting for me the next morning and I got loaded early and got back to the terminal around 4:30 PM.

It sucked losing the home time especially considering my next load.

Monday I delivered my load in Statesville, headed back to the terminal and grabbed a preloaded trailer headed to Riverside Ca. Its scheduled for delivery on Saturday 7/24 but they will take it early and I plan to deliver it Friday.

Hopefully they will load me back to Brown Summit from Sacramento that weekend like they did the last time I was out West. If they do I could get home Thursday or Friday next week.

One nice surprise was waiting for me when I got back. There was a letter from the CFO in my box saying beginning 8/30 drivers will be getting a 3.5% raise on all loaded/empty miles and hourly rate. That puts us at about 43 loaded, 35 empty and $13.75 per hour.

 

7/19-7/24

Pretty good uneventful week. I pretty much logged between 10 and 11.75 hours per day all week. Got my load delivered in Riverside Ca Friday afternoon and was able to get to the tank wash in LA before rush hour hit too bad. I was listening to the traffic report on Sirius Friday as I was making my way into town. They had about 3 or 4 brush fires that were shutting down multiple lanes on main roads. That's something you don't see much back east.

I made it to the tank wash by 5:30 PM and took my 10 hour break there. Ran about 6 hours north today and have shut down for a 34 at the Holiday Inn in Westley Ca. Its about 70 miles from P&G where I will load at 11:00 Monday morning headed to Iowa City Ia. Only bad thing is it doesn't deliver until Friday 5 AM. I also have a Via for Bluegrass Ia for steaming. Looks like this load will have a lot of hourly sitting around on it. At least at Bluegrass you can drop the trailer and head up to the Iowa 80 Truckstop.

I am going to pick up 16 hours of layover pay on this 34 since I am already so close to Sacramento. Guess I will run hard across 80 and see how much I can log on the back end. I did call Log Opps on Friday and told them I was getting a 34 in and would have a fresh 70 if they need me to run something longer out of Sacramento....hint hint. Either way i am good to go.

This is a nice hotel out in the middle of nowhere. Holiday Inn Express exit 442 off I-5. Truck stop next door, indoor corridors,42" flatscreen, fridge, microwave, plenty of food options within walking distance, and comp breakfast, $72 a night if you ask for the "truck drivers rate"

 

Didn't you say you asked Scott for a West Coast run and he told you there was someting in the computer to route you back home. It sounds like you need to have a conversation with your boss to let him know you want to do more than the dedicated freight they have you on.

The only time I deal with Log Ops is on the west coast stuff where we don't have terminals.

 

I was just there last week. He seemed pretty frazzled. I don't think I helped the situation while waiting for DANA to wash out my trailer. He really did try to find me an MT and get me out quicker. Seemed stressed and I am not the type of driver that gives dispatch crap.

 

Never been there. I have really only had one load to Gary and that was a few weeks ago. I do wind up at our Markham terminal quite a bit. Anything they can't wash out winds up dropped at PSC. I will probably be there next Friday after getting MT in Iowa City unless they change my load on Monday.