The Heyl Truck Lines Experience

Edavies, sorry to hear about the divorce.

The past week has been busy. After my final stop in University Park, IL I was sent to Dekalb, IL to pick up a load of Nestle products headed for Omaha, NE. I made the delivery in Omaha and spent the night at the receiver. Once I woke up in the morning I was given a short run from Shelby, IA to the Menards in Sioux City, IA. The delivery went quickly and I spent the rest of the day at the truck stop.

The next day I thought I would be given a Tyson load going from Dakota City back into Florida. I was right about the Florida part, but not where I was picking up. I was sent to LeMars, IA for a load of ice cream. This was a load with a total of four drops delivering on the 14th and the final on the 15th.

The way the load worked out it would have allowed me to make it home Saturday afternoon and spend all day Sunday at the house before making my deliveries. That didn't happen.

Friday afternoon as I was pulling into the Pilot in Murfeesboro, TN the QC goes off. I read the message. Apparently, there was a driver with no hours and he had a Tyson load delivering in Miami Sunday morning.

I had enough hours left on my 70 to make it, but I was unsure if I had enough time to make the delivery on time. After a few minutes of figuring I determined I could do it but it was going to be tight.

I stopped Friday night at the Flying J just north of Atlanta at exit 320 on I-75. As soon as my 10 hour break was up I headed for Tifton, GA to meet the other driver and switch trailers. The switch was done fairly quickly. While swapping paperwork I asked the other driver how many hours he was short. His response floored me. He told me he actually did have the hours to make on time delivery. I figured he just didn't want to go to Miami. I did not say anything further to him. I scaled out the load and was on my way. I stopped in Ocala for fuel and then off to the Pilot in Okeechobee, FL.

Before going to the Pilot I called ahead to see if there was any parking because the truckstop guide did not list any. The young sounding girl on the phone said lot was "large and in charge!". Much to my dismay, when I arrived, I found the lot to have just enough room for 5-10 trucks. Thankfully there were a few spaces open and I was able to park. Next time, instead of making a phone call and trusting the word of some teenager, I will just google it and see what the satellite has to say.

Just over 150 miles away I left as soon as my 10 hour break was over. I arrived at the receiver and sent in the arrival message. The message was 3 minutes late.

The real fun began when I went into the receiving office. I was told I needed to provide a P.O. number. I go back to the truck and get it. When I give the clerk the number he tells me it is a wrong number. I call dispatch and and inform them of the problem. A short time later I find out Tyson had made a mistake and the receiver was refusing the entire load. A few hours later I get a call from the home office telling me I am going to have to wait until tomorrow morning. From what I understand Tyson is going to have to find someone in the area willing to buy the product.

So here I sit at the Seminole truckstop in Weston, FL waiting for word tomorrow on what is going to be done with my orphaned load.

 

I guess Tyson battled it out with the receiver. Monday morning the QC went off telling me to call dispatch. I was told to return to the receiver and they would unload the product. I was told if there was ANY problem to immediately call.

I arrived back at the receiver and there was no problem. A few hours later I was unloaded.

I called my DM and he said to just deadhead home. Very nice of him. He also ensured I got detention pay for the paperwork messup.

I made it back to the yard with no problem. I am going to take another day off before going back out on Friday.