Superior Carriers 2012

1/6-1/14

Left Sunday after church with a load of polymer sitting on the yard that delivered Tuesday in Houston. I packed plenty of food in the truck expecting to sit in Pasadena at the terminal for a day or 2. Didn't work out that way.

I delivered my load Tuesday, got to the Pasadena load around 14:00 and they put me on a load going back to Salisbury NC loading the next morning and delivering Friday at 8 AM. I have done this load before and its a bit of a pain in the butt. You run in-transit heat on it and have to hit a temperature range of 75-85F at delivery. Run IH too long and you over shoot it.

To further complicate my life the single temp guage on my tank would show a lower temp right after I stopped the truck but would rise 10- 20 degrees within 30 minutes of stopping the truck. It became evident that the actual temperature of the product was less important than what this gauge showed when I arrived at the plant. I would stop every couple of hours and check the temp. Dispatch also wanted 3-4 qualcom reports on the product temp during the day.

The night before delivery I thought I had a pretty good handle on it. I ran IT most of the way. The product loaded at 69F. Gauge read 80 when stopped so I left it off all night. Turned it on and drove 1 hour and checked it. 65F and my input line was leaking coolant. By the time I found some teflon tape to fix the leak it was reading 72. You get the picture. I ran IH all the way through Al, Ga, and SC. When I stopped for the night in Blacksburg SC it read 75 right when I stopped and 87 after sitting for a while. I shut it off for the night and got up early. Temp gauge read 80 the next morning so I ran on up to Salisbury.

I stopped at the truck stop 8 miles from the plant, checked the gauge and it read 65F. At this point I realized that gauge has no relationship to the actual temp of the product in the tank. I turned on the IH, and went inside to grab a cup of coffee. 20 minutes later it was reading 79F. I headed on over to the plant planning to be 30 minutes early to let the temp rise.

Sure enough when I checked the gauge at the plant it read 67. I was 30 minutes early and figured I was OK by the time the plant opened. I sat in my truck and here comes the unloader early. He goes straight to the temp gauge and informs me that it is too low. I explained what had been going on and told him to check again. By then it was reading 75 and by the time I was spotted at the rack it was 80. That was good enough for him and I took a picture of the gauge to cover my butt.

They had me planned on a California run leaving Sunday. My truck started blowing white smoke and running rough so I had the shop look at it. They found more than just an injector so I was taken off the long run. I am spotting a tank down to Charleston SC in another drivers truck Monday. Its another out and back dry bulk load for P&G. Should be a nice 550 mile dedicated out and back, drop and hook load for us or the Charleston terminal in the future. I don't know how many we will run per week.