My Experiance with Watkins Shepard!

OK so Wednesday morning I got a message from dispatch saying that the Dalton, GA terminal didn't have enough loads to cover me, so they were trying to broker a load for me.....as much as I dislike broker loads I just wanted to keep moving.

So I go and deliver like an hour or so early, and while they were unloading me I get my next load assignment. I had to go 30min west of Atlanta to pick it up BUT I couldn't pick it up until 11PM......so hmmm lol

So I drove the 30 min to the Wilco/HESS TS right across the street from the shipper and spent the night there, thats why I couldn't update yesterday they don't have WiFi for some reason..... Any hoo I needed to clean my trailer out and there wasn't a truck wash around and the TS didn't sell brooms sooo I had to borrow one from the shop at the TS, apparently they have a problem with people stealing there brooms so I had to give them my license while I was cleaning the trailer lol


anyway so I had called the broker as instructed, and he says I can pickup between 10pm and 1am. And I had 2 stops one in Fayetteville, NC and one in Greensboro, NC. I had 14.25 hours so I was good to go on that but thats a LONG way to go and do 2 stops all in one day....So I had it ALL figured out....

Well since I had slept 10 hours that morning and then did 1.5 hours of work before having to take another 10 hour break lol I got to sleep some more so I could run all night .

So I get up at 9:45pm and go inside to grab some drinks and snacks for my long day....and I almost slipped and broke my #### neck....it had rained for a little while and then the temp DROPPEDED so everything was covered in ICE! so I make it inside lol and theres these people in there yelling and screaming about how they almost just died or whatever on the off ramp because it was all covered in ice...So I ask the people working there what was up and they said that the roads are all ice.....GREAT

So I need to drive the 1.5 miles across the street to load but I can not and WILL NOT run like that....SO crawled up the street at 10mph and as I was coming around a curve theres a long line of cars all bunched up and going really slow (now this is odd being that this is US78 a small little road in the middle of nothing at 10:30pm) and they're all flashing their Hi-Beams at me and I'm like WTF.............then I look at the road in front of them and its a SHEET OF ICE! and I'm like Oh ####! Buy the time I was on the ice I was only going like 5mph but I could feel the truck and trailer sliding a little but I made it across and then I see blue lights up ahead and I'm like crap now I have to wait for an accident to clear up before I can get loaded. Luckily the wreck was just after the road I needed so after crossing the ice I put the 4 ways on and did 2mph all the way there for the last 1/4 of a mile lol


Then after getting loaded I did the same thing on the way out and this penski driver comes flying up behind me and starts yelling on the CB about going slow ignore it for a minute until I know we're on that ice patch and I told him to hit his fuel peddle for a second and he found out REAL QUICK why I was going so slow . Then a car was coming at us REALLY fast so I did the same thing those 4 wheelers had done to me I flashed my Hi-Beams and luckily for him he knew exactly what I was trying to tell him and he locked them up just in time so he could craw across the ice.



THEN! I go back to the T/S and I'm listening to the CB and the Weather band and I'm hearing about the 100+ accidents and the closed roads and what not so I call the broker and tell him whats up and he's like ok just go when you can, (i just wanted him to know I might not be there when I wanted to be) around 1:30am it started to warm up a little and the word on the CB is the roads were ok just watch out for the Overpasses/bridges/ramps. So I pull out of my spot scale my load and Off I went at 3AM the first hour sucked there was like 30 of us (trucks) putting along at 40-45mph about a half mile apart from each other and the occasional Billy Big Rigger would blow by us. Then the 2nd hour it got a little better then they were fine from there. I was able to make my first stop 7 hours away at 10am, and then the next one 2 hours away.

BUT WAIT THERE MORE!


When I got loaded the guy hands me 3 seals and I ask what for he says 3 stops and I said No 2 stops. and he says oh no we added 1 more...... So since its a broker load I don't care and took it because it was in the nose and at midnight I didnt feal like argueing with the guy....so I call the broker and asked him if he knew about the 3rd stop and hes like no......well I'll call your dispatch and let them know. And I told him that there was NO way I could do all three today and he just said do what you can....


And I did I got the first 2 done and now I'm sitting here at the TA and I will deliver tomorrow morning at 7AM then Dead head Conover conover unless local dispatch needs me to grab something from thomasville. Then I'm going to take my truck to get its oil changed and a lube job. Then I'm going to try and get a load that I dont have to leave with until Saturday afternoon so I can go home for the night and get my haircut and do my laundry, seeing as I haven't home since Nov 7th...






American Trucker