CRETE - A Year in Review

Hey Redbeard, good stuff on your thread!

How's life out there on the road. Anyone run into any of the white stuff yet.

Can you believe this. I put in for home time after two weeks out to get my butt out of PA to be home at the three week mark and guess what. I got home in 3 weeks with the help of a 1900 mile run out of Indiana. Sweet!

Phoenix is amazing this time of year. Nothing like putting up Chistmans lights when its almost 80 degrees out. HO! HO! HO!

Unfortunately, when you get home after 3 weeks they actually expect you to go back to work a few days later.

I fully well expected a Tx run out of the house, but today it didn't happen. Instead I had the good fortune of re-powering a Tcalled load out of the Phx yard going a whooping 180mi to Nogalas. Then, when I'm done with that live unload at noon they tell me there is some kind of Mexican holliday in full swing and no one is working down here. "NO Freight".

So after driving for 3hrs, I get to sit in a Kmart parking lot for the rest of the day only to live load tomorrow at a place that is directly across the street from where I delivered this morning. Then I get to run it 1000mi up to Denver, but it doesn't deliver until Thursday morning.

I knew I should have spent an extra day at the house. But this load has so much down time on it I can actually run some back roads and shave 60mi off the trip, swing by the house tomorrow and be home by noon and get a free home day, well, 18hrs or so. Not really the way I like to start the week. I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope the end of the week goes better than the beginning.

WEEK FORTY ONE
Monday, October 11th through Sunday, October 17th
Miles include deadhead


Vacation
Pay
$1202.25

WEEK FORTY TWO & FORTY THREE
Monday, October 18th through Sunday, October 31st​

I'm falling way behind, so I'm going to knock out a couple of weeks with this one.

My first week back on the road after a wonderful 12day vacation was to begin on a Wednesday and the first run out of the house as usual was a good 1000mi+ run to get me back to the east side of the country as soon as physically possible. It seems to be a contest each time to see just how fast they can accomplish this feat. They fell somewhat short on there first attempt with an insulation load going to the Dallas area.

It was a painless drop and hook on both ends and could be delivered anytime. So after picking up my load on Wednesday morning I hightailed it on over to Texas and made my delivery 3pm the following day with 4hrs of drive time left and high hopes of another long mile run going somewhere up in Minnesota or Wisconsin because I had just delivered to an insulation plant that has a number of outbound loads and I often get reloaded out of here with just such destinations.

But not this time! Instead, I was looking at a load with a two stops in the Odessa-Midland area and a grand total of 360mi on it. So not only was this a short run, but these insulation loads take forever to get unloaded, and when you throw a couple of stops into the mix, I could expect to loose the entire morning and perhaps a fair portion of the afternoon in the process.

I was able to run all but 70mi of trip before shutting down for the night and pulled into my first stop by 8am Friday morning to begin the process, and let me tell you this, I was not looking forward to the rest of the morning. Every insulation load I have ever hauled is always accompanied with a message on the Qualcom that the driver may have to unload assist/ tailgate load. It also states that if required to do so, it would be printed on the bills. Up to this point, over the last four years, I had never seen such a requirement on my bills, until today that is.

Today, for the first time in four years, I was expected to unload my trailer. Fortunately, all I had to do was push the bundles of insulation to the end of the trailer, but wow, where these some heave bundles of insulation. The entire load weighed 24,000# and there were 121 wrapped bundles. So that puts each one at about 200# each. No big deal to start with, but by the time I got to the half way point I was one hurtin' pup. Life would have been much easier if I had a brand new trailer with nice smooth floors, but I wasn't so lucky. Instead I had one of the oldest in the fleet with torn up, splintered floors that constantly snagged on the fiberglass reinforced packaging of the bundles and made my life an absolute living hell. A week after this awful experience I was still feeling the aftereffects of that day. Ouch! I really can't see how Crete can expect some of our older, or less physically fit drivers to do this. Not a lot of fun, but what the heck, it paid $85 for the driver unload and an extra $30 for stop pay. So even though I wasn't getting any miles today, at least I was making some money.

By the time I had the truck empty the clock was almost ready to strike 2pm and I was wondering what kind of load I would be getting out of the middle of nowhere Texas on a Friday afternoon and expected the worst.

The load offer was slow in coming, (not a good sign) and after some time had passed I sent off a message to dispatch asking for a load offer. Instead of an offer I was simply told to head to Amarillo and I would get a load offer once there. A bit odd, but the 250 miles of dead head along with what I made delivering my load today would make for a profitable day. Plus, with a 250mi dead head, I assumed dispatch would put me on a long run once I made it Amarillo to help cover the d/h expense.

By the time I made it there I still had a couple of hours left and sent off a message to dispatch stating such and offered to pickup a load tonight if they needed any loads covered, or I could get started anytime the following morning. I was all but possitive that I would be picking up at one of two customers that I general haul out of when in this area and both of these run a drop and hook operation. Therefore I was quite certain that I would have enough time to pickup my load tonight and maybe able to fit in an extra hour of drive time before shutting down for the night.

As suspected, I was to pickup a preloaded trailer at one of the afore mentioned customers, but due to a delay in receiving my initial load offer and the pending load information I only had enough time to pickup the load and make it back to one of the truckstops in the area to weight the load before calling it a night. For what started out to be an awful day, it concluded with me feeling somewhat content with its final outcome.

My earlier assumption that I would get a nice long haul after my 250 deadhead run to Amarillo turned out to be correct because the trailer I picked up the previous night was destine for somewhere in the middle of Indiana that would add 1307mi to my weekly total. This gave me a solid two days of driving and I after checking with Google Maps I was able to determine that there was plenty of parking at the customer and I was able to spend the night at one of their dock doors.

I had initially planed on spending the night at a nearby truckstop, but since I had one of those first come, first unloaded appointments, I didn't want to take the chance that a number of other trucks would be arriving with similar parameters. By spending the night at the customer I would assure myself of a quick unload first thing in the morning. As it turned out it was a wise plan of action, for when I woke up the following morning at 5am there were 6 other trucks scattered around the lot waiting for a dock door that I was parked in front of.

I would love to say that being the first one unloaded that morning put me in a great position to get an early start and crank out a bunch of miles once again, but because things had been running relatively smooth ever since leaving the house, I had pretty much burned out my hours for the week. The ideal situation would be a nice 600mi run or so that delivered the following day, after which I could shut down for a 34reset and resume with a fresh 70hrs.

Knowing that I was a mere 30 miles away from the now infamous Lowes DC in North Vernon, (a place known for drop n hook loads that often leave you sitting for 24hr in a Lowes parking lot waiting to drop a trailer while staring at an empty trailer sitting in one of their docks) I thought I would see what I could do about getting one of those load. I asked dispatch for something very specific. "My hours are getting tight, do you have a Lowes load with 650mi or less on it so that I can deliver it and fit in a reset". Low and behold, 633mi run going to AR was offered up along with a message that this load should be ready to go.

Great! That will put me at 3400 miles for the last 7day since leaving the house with time for a reset after. Not as good as doing it in 6days, but acceptable.

But I didn't like the "Should be" part of that message and decided to call the shipper to check on my trailers status. I waited patiently as I could here the keyboard clicking away and after a few minutes the lovely lady on the other end informed that my load was indeed suppose to be loaded and ready, but there was a problem filling the order on that particular load and it wasn't going to be ready until the following day.

Perfect!

Back to the drawing board. I informed dispatch of this little hiccup and proceeded to wait for them to jump through whatever hoops they have to navigate in just such a situation and about 30mins later I had the load pulled off of my truck. It was another 30 before I got my next load offer. Another Lowes load, but this one only had 474mi on it and would leave me with just enough hours on my log to prevent me from having a legitimate reason to insist on a reset. So after sitting in that fine Lowes parking lot for the better part of 20hrs I dropped my trailer at 1pm and waited to see what awful thing dispatch was going to do to me.

Awful doesn't begin to explain this one. A 93 mile run that delivered at 10pm with 73mi of deadhead. I would still be ending my 7day run out of the house with close to 3400mi, but instead of starting out my next week with a clean 70hrs after a reset, this piddly little run was going to wipe out my reset and make a complete mess out of the rest of the week.

The load was ready to go and I figured I just as well put some effort into delivering this load early. The worst thing they could do was say "no" and I would just sit in a dirt lot waiting for my appointment time. I headed up to the Post plant in Jonesboro (the very same place that I once sat for 32hrs waiting for an empty last year) to pickup my preloaded trailer. It went by uneventfully enough and I even had the chance to chat with two other Crete drivers. It seems that freight in the Memphis area was a little tight because they had both been sitting around since last night and both of them were on short loads similar to mine. As a matter of fact, one of the drivers was going to the exact same place that I was and his appointment was set for one hour before mine (tuck that little bit of info into your short term memory).

I was purposeful with my actions, and although I was the 3rd in line pulling into the plant, I was the first one out and made my way towards the receiver. I wanted nothing more than to get there ASAP, but was in desperate need of fuel and a shower and stopped off at the Pilot in W. Memphis along the way. Even with this one hour delay I managed to get to the customer about 4hrs early, pulling in with high hopes and was absolutely thrilled to get a green light. Not only was I being allowed to deliver early, it was a drop and hook to boot. All I had to do was find and empty trailer and I would be good to go. This wasn't something that appeared to be a problem at first glance because there were a large number of Crete trailers on this property, but as I started walking down the line I was finding all of them to be loaded trailers.

There was one other Crete truck in the yard and had been there ever since I had arrived who was able to find an empty, but I was beginning to think he had grabbed the last one until I stumbled across one on the far end of the property, and it was indeed the very last empty trailer on the lot. Wow, that was close. While I was hooking to said trailer the other Crete driver stopped by for a chat and I found out that he had just been put on a nice 1000 mile run going to Virginia, but didn't think his log would allow him to deliver it on time. From the sound of things, he had just enough hours, but wasn't overly thrilled about the middle of the night driving he would have to do to get it there.

I didn't think much of the load planning either, but if that's what needs to be done to get a productive 1000mi run, I'll do it. I even told him if he wanted out of the load to let dispatch know that I was sitting next to him and would be happy to cover the load. I guess he decided to run with it because he pulled out of the yard shortly thereafter.

It was about this time when another Crete driver pulled in. Want to guess who it was. Yup, the driver I referred to only a few paragraphs ago. The one who arrived at the shipper before me, but left after me. He was also trying the early delivery thing, but not early enough because the last two empty trailers had just been claimed. He was allowed to drop his trailer, but how long he had to wait for an empty I will never know.

While he was waiting for an empty I was waiting for a load offer, and after seeing the driver ahead of me pull out with a 1000mi trip I was feeling hopeful. Time for a reality check, my load was slightly less productive going to Atlanta. It was currently Tuesday night and the load didn't pickup until the Wednesday morning. Then it had a wonderful 10pm delivery Thursday night with a grand total of 400mi. Maybe getting that last empty trailer wasn't such a wonderful thing. Enough!

You know, for the most part I will take my lumps without too much grumbling, after all, I just spent 20hrs in a parking lot waiting to drop a trailer, then I accepted a 166 mile run that, which at the time I assumed would wipe out the rest of my 14hr clock with not so much as a peep. But throw a 2 day, 400mi run on top of that and I going to put up a little bit of a fight. I wasn't going to be so bold as to out right refuse the load (just yet) but I did send off a message to dispatch pointing out the above situation and ask for a preapproved Tcall in our Marietta yard or something a bit more productive.

I was rather surprised by the timely response to my request and even more so that the Tcall had been approved without the slightest fuss. I was equal surprise by the even faster response that followed the Tcall approval. This message rescinded said Tcall, "Load can not be Tcalled, will send you something else".

Moments later I'm offered a load that picks up the following morning about 100mi away with a final destination in Aberdeen, MD. I can't say that I'm all that thrilled about going to MD, but the 1100 mile trip sure beats what I was looking at moments ago. I had enough hours to get to the shipper and spent the night in their parking lot and was ready to roll with a quick drop and hook as soon as my 10hr break had concluded.

My failure to fit in a reset this week hit me hard and I was only able to drive for about 4hrs before shutting down that day. My next day of driving got me within a hundred miles and those were cleared off the books in the early morning hours of a Friday in order to avoid Baltimore's rush hour traffic. Great idea on the way in, but by the time the load was delivered and the load that followed which picked up just a few miles down the road I managed to hit it in full force on the way back into town in an effort to weight my load before crossing state scales. It wasn't what you would call a great load, only 378 miles going to Canton, OH. But compared to where I could have ended up from that part of the world I wasn't going to complain to much (maybe a little under my breath). More so because I was going to a Sam's Club DC with a 10:45am appointment and would be there the night before. That's a fine way to waist a day.

Sure enough, I arrived that fine Saturday morning an acceptable one hour early, waited an hour for the unloading to begin and left 2hrs later, just like clock work. That little treat of frustration was compounded by a load offer that picked up anytime after 10pm that night. This would be what one refers to as the perfect example of a wasted day. I'm just loving this week. And just to rub it in a little bit (OK, a lot bit) it was a 3stop delivery going to Chattanooga and Knoxville. And get this, I drove through Knoxville on the way to my first two drops in Chattanooga only to turn around and go back to Knoxville to make the final delivery. ????At least it was a 732mi run, but the 3 deliveries to come on Monday was going to once again consume an entire morning and leave me looking for a load out in the middle of the day. I'm sure that's going to work out great for me. I'm really not enjoying this week.

The final numbers of the last couple of weeks don't really look all that good, but that's because I left the house on a Wednesday and by the time Sunday rolled around I ended up with 2742 miles, but did it in 5days, that's an average of 548 miles a day. I'll take that.

By the time 7 days out of the house rolled around I had turned 3472 miles. But due to an unfortunate turn of events, a load that would have allowed me to put in a reset was pulled off my truck because the customer didn't have it ready. As a consequence I missed out on the reset and restricted hours during the following week didn't do me any favors. By the time the week had concluded I ended it with 2744mi. 2 more miles than the previous week. But it took my 7 days to reach this total as opposed 5days of the previous week.

Over all, since leaving the house I put in 5486 miles over a 12 day period for an average of 457 miles per day.




WEEK FORTY TWO
Monday, October 18th through Sunday, October 24th
Miles include deadhead


Eloy, AZ to Waxahachie, TX...........................................................1075mi
Waxahachie, TX to Odessa, TX........................................................360mi
Amarillo, TX to Crothersville, IN......................................................1307mi


Total Paid Miles.......................................................2742 Miles
Actual Miles..............................................2753 Miles

2742mi x .45 = $1233.90 + $30 Stop Pay + $85 Unload Pay = $1348.90
(Wen - Sun only, home week)

WEEK FORTY THREE
Monday, October 25th through Sunday, October 31st
Miles include deadhead

North Vernon, IN to Memphis, TN.....................................................474mi
Jonesboro, AR to Olive Branch, MS..................................................166mi
Paragould, AR to Aberdeen, MD......................................................1093mi
Aberdeen, MD to North Canton, OH..................................................379mi
Hebron, OH to Knoxville, TN (first leg)..............................................632mi

Total Paid Miles.........................................................2744 Miles
Actual Miles.............................................2777 Miles

2744mi x .45 = $1234.80 + $25 short haul pay = $1259.80