Superior Carriers 2011

Woodmode in Kreamer Pa. We have been doing it for over 20 years back to the Central Transport days.

 

5/26-5/28

Had a pretty good vacation. Spent 6 days in Florida not sleeping in a truck. I really need to stop spending my vacation time hauling mine and my wife's parents around. Next vacation will be a beach house and doing a lot of nothing.

I got home Tuesday. Wednesday I got a call from dispatch. In an almost apologetic tone he told me I had a load picking up at 6:00 AM Thursday heading to a Chicago suburb delivering at 8:00 AM Friday. I was all ready to spend the holiday weekend in Markham.

I got over to the plant at 6:00 and they told me my tank wasn't loaded yet. It was supposed to be loaded at 8 the night before. After about 3 hours waiting on it I got a call from dispatch saying they were going to put me on a Winder Ga out and back dedicated run instead. I got paid for 3 hours sitting at the plant and ran 300 miles down to Winder. Got loaded in about 1.5 hrs but the lab guys had a 2 hour staff meeting so I had to sit for that. They ran out my 14 and i picked up another 3 hours of demurage pay. Wound up sleeping at the plant.

I got to experience the ELogs when you are moving the truck over on hours. the plant made me leave and drive to a vacant gravel lot on their property. It fussed at me constantly about being out of hours but stayed on the on duty not driving line until I got parked. I got back to the yard Friday around 3:00 PM.

Saturday they had me run down to Raeford NC and live load my load for next week. Its going to Indianapolis delivering Wednesday June 1. I got back to the yard today about 4:00 PM and am off Sunday and Monday. This weekend worked out great. Time to fire up the grill and the brewery. I plan to brew up a light low ABV Centenial Blonde Ale on Monday to drink when the weather gets hot in late June early July.

 

Not this week. Been troubleshooting up in Paulsboro and starting my days at 2-3AM. Time for a summary now that I have some time.

5/31-6/5

Headed out Tuesday with my load to Indianapolis. No problem there but that plant did make me nervous. The other trucks that were unloading were class 6 and the plant guys were wearing tyvek suits and respirators. They were in different bays but the doors were open. Got unloaded with about 1.5 hours of demurage pay and was tankwashed to Cincinnati.

They had me rescue a load that was sitting on the yard from a driver who had an erg valve go out. The load was a day late by the time I got it so it was run it as hard as possible. I delivered it to P&G in Mehoopan Pa.

I was tankwashed to Paulsboro that night. They had me loading in Plainsboro NJ Friday AM. I knew I couldn't get the tank there that evening. I only had 2.25 hours to get from Scranton to Paulsboro at 3:00 PM. I called Paulsboro dispatch and told them the tank would be there the next morning to give them a heads up in case they needed it for a load the next day.

I also asked him to send me directions to the plant I was loading at since I had never been there before. I hate those pick up shipment qualcom messages that don't give you directions and just say pick up travel order at terminal. He argued with me a little then said he would send it...never did.

I headed out around 2:30 AM from the Petro on I-81 and got to the yard a little before 5 AM. I would have had 3 minutes to spare on the E logs had I continued on but rush hour backups would have screwed that up the day before. I got my tank dropped at the tankwash, picked up my paperwork and hooked to my trailer to load. That was when I saw that this load weighed light and heavy at Boardentown Petro and realized i didn't have as much time as I thought.

I pretripped my trailer and discovered a flat tire. I then proceeded to call dispatch. No one answered the phone. I talked to another local guy who is based there who kept telling my the phone should roll over to an on call cell. It never did. I have been directed before to use the DANA shop and figured they were the preferred vendor. I could have headed up to the TA a couple of miles away or called road service. By then it is after 6 and I learned the shop guys would arrive around 7 so not being able to talk to a dispatcher or TM I just waited. I also knew the TM is almost always in by 7:00.

Shop guys arrived at 7 and told me I had to get a key from the terminal to the "superior tire room". At this point I figured road service was out since they had a tire room and I wasn't about to put a flat tire on the road. I headed over to the terminal. A girl finally got there around 8:45. I told her I was already late and they should call someone at the plant. She finally got me the key and I got the tire changed. Took about 30 minutes.

I finally got to the plant about 11:30. They promptly rejected the trailer because the seals were not new and had an odor. I called dispatch who wanted me to go to Keasby 30 miles away, get the tank washed and come back to load. I informed him that I would probably run out of hours if I did that. I had about 4 left. He told me to quit wasting time and head to Keasbey.

At this point I decided to take control of the situation and asked the loader if he could load me first thing in the morning. He got his supervisor and said they could do it at 5 AM. This would still allow me to easily make the delivery in Augusta on Monday. I called dispatch back and told him what I had worked out. He seemed relieved that I had solved the problem. He was still ready to send me to Keasbey when I suggested that I come back to Paulsboro where the washout wouldn't cost anything and they have a shower and decent driver room. I hate Keasbey.

I finally got loaded Saturday and ran the load down here to Augusta where it delivers at P&G a couple of miles from the terminal. That's where I am now. I chose to just head on down here since I couldn't get a 34 instead of going by the house and leaving at 2 AM Monday. That way I have some hours to run if they can get me out of here Monday. I have 16 hours left on my Elog and 14.5 on paper. Don't start rolling them over until Tues at midnight. Its funny how the logs are different. They are identical except for the rounding to 15. 1.5 hours seems like a lot. I use the time stamp on the elog to fill out the paper. I think I will ask the TM here which one I should go by.

 

6/6

Sitting at the house having a home brew. Got unloaded this morning and was tank washed back to High Point. Taking Tuesday off and Scott told me if they get a west coast run called in the next couple of days he will put me on it. Keeping my fingers crossed. Best case for me would be leaving Thursday delivering Monday with a window.

 

I was talking to the guy who trained me with Superior last Tuesday. He was meeting a trainee who was coming over from Service Transport. You know him? Could have been a different company. I get Service Transport and Transport Services confused unless i am looking at the trucks.