31 Days and Counting...Starting School June 28th!

At least someone is putting MY thread back on track.....lol. Just managed to get some wifi for once. YAY!

To say the least, the last 5 days have been interesting.

Started out in South St. Paul, MN yard with a load headed to Archbold, OH. That load went great! Not a single hitch whatsoever. Then the fun began. They decided to give me a primary/secondary load(so they called it). Primary was a Xtra trailer going from Lafayette, IN to Covington, VA. Secondary was a load from Maumee, OH to Lynchburg, VA.

Began with needing to get rid of the Roehl trailer somewhere in OH. They sent me to a Lowe's DC, in the wrong direction, then when I got there, was told that they only take Roehl trailers that have roll up doors.....WTF! Then was sent back the way I came to Defiant, OH to a Johns Manville plant to drop it. Then off to Lafayette, IN. Got there with pains, because no one seemed to be able to find the street that it was on, on a map. Or a working phone number for directions. Got there and checked in only to wait for the trailer. Problem was that no one informed me that it was a Xtra trailer, and not a Roehl trailer, to it sat there for about a half hour before I realized that it was for me.

Finally out of there, and off to Maumee, OH to another Johns Manville. Got there and couldn't get a response off the call box for the gate, dude lost his phone and had no idea I was there. Sat for another half hour until someone pulled up with a gate code to let me in. Got loaded and proceeded to Lynchburg, VA. Got here without much trouble, besides a bum knee troubling me due to shifting constantly on the #### mountains.

Anyways, got unloaded this morning, then went to Covington, VA with the trailer. Dropped it off and was informed that they didn't have anything for me so they wanted me to do some local runs(dedicated). So for the rest of my day today, I was hauling massive rolls of paper for Mead about 60 miles. With mileage and the $20 short haul pay, round trip works out to $56 a run. Much more than I could be making straight out on the road. Looks like I'll be doing the same thing tomorrow as well, which if I knock out 5 of those I'll be doing pretty #### good. However, I want what the dedicated guys get, $80 a run.

Anyways, its been very interesting to see and deal with all the little things that can come with this. It was a mess with the primary/secondary, but now, the short haul #### is making up for it, was just a really fast crash course.

 

Well, thankfully, I'll be out of VA soon. Got a plan to pick up paper(of course) from Mead, and haul it up to Appleton, WI. Hopefully that plan sticks, because my hours are coming up short real quick, not to mention I still need to get a empty trailer and there doesn't seem to be any decent ones around.....

Thanks belleye, I try my best to deal with everything that comes my way. Today was actually a tough day. For some reason all the ######## made me hit emotional overload. I was seriously rethinking this whole thing. So I stopped for about 1.5 hours, chatted with a friend about it all, had lunch, and was ready to proceed with the day. Just had enough #### for the last week that it pushed me to that point. Hopefully, now, everything goes well so that doesn't happen again.

There are definitely some interesting situations out here on the road. You'll be going down some seriously interesting roads sometimes where you really have to wonder if its legal to. Then you'll miss something or make a wrong turn, then have to hunt for someplace to turn the 75 ft beast around(happened yesterday to me, drove 3 miles before I found a place). The mountains aren't too bad once you get used to them. My first time running the paper I didn't go above 55, tonight, in the dark, I was running them at 65, just had to get used to what the truck can handle. As for the shifting, it can be major work. I have to wonder if my clutch is brand new tho, because its pretty stiff and the first time that I have had knee trouble from shifting. We'll see tho, I'm gonna baby it some and hopefully I'll get used to it and the pain will go away.

Anyways, off to dreamland for me.....

 

I haven't thought hard enough floating yet to try it at all. I used to do it in a 4-wheeler that I had, but with this I'm unsure about it as of yet. With the mountains it would help out some tho. Glad I can be of some entertainment, thanks.

Well, here is the extent of my pathetic day. Got up and informed the weekend support that I didn't have a non-dedicated empty trailer to grab to get my load. So the guy(complete ######) told me that he'd find on for me. After a couple hours, I call back and ask him what the plan is, he tells me he hasn't heard anything yet and that he'll let me know. So I proceed to inform him of one that was rejected before that smells like soap that just needs washed out. He basically freaks out at me and says, "We don't do that...." So I get off the phone and wait a couple more hours when a message comes through the qualcomm telling me to call the shop to find out where I can get the trailer washed. So I sent a message back to confirm asking, "I thought we didn't do that." He replies, "Last resort."

So I call the shop and sure enough the truck stop I was sitting at(White's Truck Stop in Raphine, VA) can do it for me. I explained that before to the guy. Anyways, I go 60 miles to get the trailer, drive 60 miles back to the truck stop and am only 5 miles away from the shipper. Wait an hour before I get in and get told, "Wood deck, count on 12 hours for it to dry."

So at this point, here I sit, waiting for the trailer to dry. Doors are wide open, and it still has the strong smell of soap. For the most part, the water has either been evaporated, or soaked into the wood. I'm fairly sure most of it soaked into the wood. But, it might not matter anyways, because the company that refused it before for the smell, is the same company I'm supposed to get loaded at. So, this whole day may have been wasted just to get refused anyhow.

However, there is a whole plus side(always is with me). I was getting low on hours, and this day has allowed me to save some for tomorrow. So, if I get loaded, I'll be sitting good. Just at this point this load isn't gonna get to WI by Monday at 1700. Not my fault tho, all Roehl's.

 

LOL! I'm doing my best to stay sane....just ready for a break tho. Soon, hopefully.