Heading For Little Rock! Maverick

Greetings everyone! Got home this morning at 0500 and had a very interesting week.
I was off last week and the rest did me good.
I got to the truck at 0700 cst on Monday and got on the board.
I got my assignment at about 0900 cst to go to Butler Indiana to Heitman steel.
It is right next to Steel Dynamics.
Got a single coil going to Mississippi. I made it as far as Sonora KY to the Pilot.
It is a huge truck stop with plenty of parking. When I got parked I looked at my ETAP and it showed me getting there on Wednesday Morning and not Tuesday as my original work assignment showed. I thought sweet! Now I can drive 55 and get my mpg back up there. There is a beacon truck wash there so the next morning I got the truck washed and then went over to get fueled up. I planned it so by the time I would be done, it would be the time for my pretrip, load check and I could be on my way. I did not move my truck more than a couple of hundred yards and my qualcom goes off. It reset my arrival for the Tuesday by 0230. I was really going to have to push it to make it. I did make a call and they told me that they unload coils 24 hrs a day so even if I missed 1430 I was ok. But I did not want to be late so I pushed it the whole way. By that I mean I went 65 when the speed limit permitted it.
I got held up in Tenn for about 30 to 45 minutes due to road construction.
I managed to get there by 1415 and got unloaded. The temp was close to 100 deg.
My next load assignment was to pick up in Mississippi up near Memphis...but Thank God it was for 0700 the next morning.
So I head that way and stopped at a Loves about 23 miles from the Shipper.
I got there at 0630 and they took me at the dock. I was getting a load of neoprene roofing and all the glue and pieces to go with it....and it had to be tarped. The forecast was for 100+ with a heat index of 125. The weather advisory said not to work outside....lol.
It took a long time to load as they had these 10 ' rolls that had to be put on the truck 1 at a time. Even though it was all wrapped in plastic, it had to be tarped to keep the plastic from ripping. It was set on the roof at the job site and would not be protected.
Well I learned that your steel tarps will not cover the whole trailer especially if they make the stack at the rear of the trailer pretty high.
Well it was too hot and I was not going to pull the tarps off, fold them and then struggle with the lumber tarps. Besides, the load of rolls was not very safe to be climbing on and they were in the shape of a pyramid. I was only lacking about 4 feet on the front, so I used two canvas tarps which were saturated in oil, so they were protected. Again, the reason for the tarping was to protect the plastic. ( I verified this at the other end with the roofers).
On the way I had to make one detour do to an accident and two other complete stoppage due to road construction. I lost 2 hours so I ended up making it to Sonora Ky at the Pilot again.
Oh I forgot to mention that when I tried to buy fuel the day before, it would not let me. Maverick had disabled it while I was on vacation and did not reactivate it when I came back.
So I fuel up again...and it worked and go park.
I decide to head in to the Pilot and see how many points I have.
At the entrance was a homeless woman (probably in late 20's) with a sign asking for donations...any amount will be appreciated! God Bless!. I briefly make eye contact and go in and check my points. I have three daughters so the thought of one of them begging for money really got to me. So I went back outside and told her that I do not have much money, but I would be happy to buy her a meal at Subway.
She accepted and I bought her A subway. She was considerate to only get the $5.00 foot long and not a combo, as she did not want to spend all of my money. I told her she could get a drink, but she said water was fine.
While we were eating and talking I asked her if she would like to get a shower. She again said, that she did not want to use up all of my money. I explained to her that they were free. She said, I will have to put the same clothes on. I said, well you will be clean underneath.
While we were waiting in line she went back out and used her sign some more.
I took the shower number before her as I did not want to take the chance of her following me back to the truck.
Before we ate I said grace and asked for The Lord's help and guidance in her life and to keep her safe.
I took my shower and that was the last I saw of her.
I got on the road as early as my 10 hr break would allow me and I needed to push it to make it for my 11:00 est appointment. I stopped once and called for directions as the company did not have any. I read my directions from my gps to the contractor and he said, yes that is the way in.
I get into Jackson Ohio and start heading into an older residential area and have to make a right hand turn. There is a telephone pole on the right hand corner right up to the street. I swing way left as far as I could and try to make the turn. Can not make it. So I get out and ask the car behind me to back up so I can back up. I back out and pull straight up. There is a sign that says no through trucks. I think great. So I am about to call the customer again and the lady that backed up pulls up next to me and asks me what I am trying to find. She says follow me! So I did. She drove me right to the driveway! I was very thankful!
Got there and got unloaded. It took a while as they were using a forklift.
Got my next load assignment to go to Pittsburgh at Metaltech.
I wrote down the directions and confirmed my routing with my gps and off I went.
Jackson is down in the Southwest corner of Ohio and I have to get up to I 70 to go to PA. So I had to travel through Hocking Hills to get there. Some of the hills were higher and steeper than the Roller Coasters at Kings Island. I actually wondered if the truck and trailer could handle the dip at the bottom they were so steep.
It was one hill and hard turn after another for over an hour. I was getting tired just from steering. It was beautiful but I was glad to get out of there.
So I have to go through Zanesville to get to 70. I go right through town and have to make a right hand turn. It is a very narrow street and it is packed with traffic.
I think, great! So I let the light turn as there is no way I can make the turn with cars stopped at the stop light. There is no set back for trucks to turn.
So I just waited until there were no cars there and made a wide left and then a right and made it. So now off to Pittsburgh where the real fun began.
As I am coming into Pittsburgh it is rush hour. I get off at Grant Street and made my right hand turn onto 1st Avenue. Just as I turn, another truck says "Maverick You got your ears on"? Usually when someone contacts me it is to tell me they see something on my truck so I say yea. He says something....I can not understand it.
I say say again, he says good luck with that turn. Well I had been here twice, but when I wrote down my directions, I left out, make first left and then right.
By the time I realized my mistake, I could not make the left, so I went straight.
I had to stop right in front of the Police Station and Court house.
There is a turn to the left and then right, but it says no trucks and then no right hand turn. So I think, I am really messed up now. I looked at the turn, and I was not sure if I could make it anyway. I did I say it was rush hour? There were cars coming from all directions. Fortunately I could get over far enough that cars could get around me.
So I see a cop car go by me so I get out and walk over to where they park...right in front of the police station. I tell them my situation and they tell me that this is not there area. They ask me if I think I can make the turn and I tell them I do not think so. So they tell me to call 911 and they head inside the police station.
Well the last thing I want to do is call in an emergency during rush hour. I am trying to avoid a ticket and a fine at this point.
Traffic cleared out a couple of times to where I was tempted to back up about 100 yards and make the left hand turn. But I did not want to take the chance and get a ticket for sure....did I mention I was right in front of the Police station?
So I call the non emergency and ask for help. I tell the operator where I was and she keeps trying to tell me that I can drive right out of there. I finally convince her that there was no way I could get out without help from the police.
She said "Well, since you did not call it in as an Emergency, you will probably have to wait a long while. I told her that was fine. My time was going to be up anyway and I could load at anytime at Metatech. I was planning on spending the night anyway...so I was happy to wait...anything to keep from getting a ticket.
After about 45 minutes the policemen that I first talked to came out of the Police Department building. I was standing out in front of the truck. They asked me if I had called it in and I said yes, but as a non emergency because I was sure they were all pretty busy during rush hour.
They said, "What do you want to do"? I told them that I would like to just back up and make the left hand turn. They said ok. So about 4 them blocked traffic and assisted me! A big Thank You to those Police Officers.
I backed up and made the left. Now for the difficult right hand turn. I get to the turn and there are cars everwhere and there is no way I could make the turn. I waited for the light to change and when the cars moved out, I was able to turn on the red before more cars could come into the far lane. The ones that did come saw me making the wide turn and stopped back far enough for me to complete the turn. Whew!!!!!!!!
So I get down the road and loaded, tarped and am done for the night. There were 4 other Maverick trucks that spent the night and were headed to Milford In to Brock the next morning plus about three that left right before I got there.
I hooked up with an IC guy that I had met once before. He goes by Hot Dog.
We left out at 0315.
At Brock you have to alley dock into the their one bay. My truck hates alley docks and I started getting the CA (Clutch Abuse Alarm flashing at me.) It really makes you feel like an idiot because it looks like you do not know how to back. I finally got it in after many small pull ups to reduce the angle I had to back.
Got my next load to go back to Butler In to Heitman Steel for a single coil.
When I get into the bay I find out that it is three coils. They turned out to be skinny coils, which I had never loaded before. They have them blocked between each other so you basically load them like on large coil, shotgun.
I got loaded and tarped and shut down.
I got up and headed for home at 01:15 this morning and made it home at 05:00
My 34 hour restart will be up at 15:00 tomorrow and I am on my way to Bowling Green Ky. I will stop and spend the night again, at Sonora Ky.
What I learned this week is that when you go out of your way to show kindness to strangers without any chance of them repaying you or returning the favor, someone will turn around and do the same for you!
I also learned that if you do not panic when something does not go right, and look over the situation and think, you will come out of it ok!
Best of luck to everyone and see you on the road!

Good Bless!

 

Had an easy week which equals low miles1,173 ouch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Made my first delivery on Monday morning in Bowling Green Ky. Next assignment was 35 miles south to Precision Strip. Got there 3 hrs early. They tell me it has not even been ordered yet and they do not have the materials there to do it. They said should be good to go by noon. Check at noon and they say two more hours.
I finally got started to load at 7:00 PM and loaded and tarped by 9:30.
Now the load was not due to deliver until Wednesday. I would have tried to deliver it on Tuesday...but I never got the chance.
On the way to Oklahoma city I stopped in at NLR and then spent the night at Ft Smith. After my delivery on Wednesday I was told to head back to Ft Smith.
Just as I am pulling in I get a message that I will be given my load in the morning.
Got in Line as #4 at about 9:15. Finally got loaded at 11:30.
Got secured and then went in for a cold shower.
Got on the road and the gray bar 49,0000 + load delivers 40 miles from my house on Monday. Next week will be starting off with a this load which is 900 miles.
Hopefully they will not cut me short and I can make up for this week.

 

To the best of my knowledge, they are all still auto's unless you are in the IC division.