CDL in hand... Now What ? Decision time, that's what...

Going in early was darn well worth it. Even so it was crazy in there. Trucks parked in the middle of the road, etc. The city coming alive before the dawn. Glad to be in and out. Had to back into a lot from the street while my trainer stopped traffic. Both receivers unloaded us early, so very cool. All told it was not that bad. Proper planning makes the difference.

Now at the Pilot off I-95 in Milford, CT. Supposed to pick up a basketball court floor from an arena in Hartford tomorrow morning. Routing takes us over toward Buffalo, NY and thru Canada down to Detroit. The load is due in Michigan on Friday.

So yeah, NYC, Canada, we do it all. LMAO

Stay safe and have fun.

Perpetual.

 

The company gave us a standard 4 digit bond number to use for all transit loads through Canada.

 

So we get to the arena in Hartford, CT and I take a walk round the building to see if surely there is another entrance for trucks since this skinny little angled service entrance ramp going down below can't be for anything but cars, right?

Wrong.

The security guy comes up the ramp and says back it on down, trucks do it all the time... So wow that was really challenging. Had to jig and jog and zig and zag and finally got that thing down the ramp. Able to back up far enough to make a right into the underground of the building. Then the guy says, oh trucks can come down forward too. Well thanks for that info pal, a little late...

Go inside with the truck and there is room enough to turn around facing out. I imagine being part of a rock band road crew or something like that, feeling the anticipation of the night's concert... oops... digressing...

We get loaded with a forklift. 17 banded pallets of about 250 4'x4' pieces of basketball flooring that was used in the big east (?) tournament. It has to go back to the manufacturer for refurbishment. We stack the bundles on the deck, 10 on the first tier and seven on the upper tier in an "I" formation. Then secure with 15 four-inch wide straps. Then tarp with 2 lumber tarps that weight over 100 lbs each. The forklift guy was kind enough to put them on top of the load for me.

Then getting out of there. 6 other vehicles in the way. Track down owners and get them to move. My trainer took the wheel to get it out cause he knew it would be too hard to get the thing out of there. Took him at least 30 minutes to get the rig pivoted around one corner. Up and back, up and back at least a dozen times to walk the trailer to the left. Finally out and we are on our way.

Now at a TA in Fultonville, NY along I-90W. Shower felt good. Did some laundry also.

Planning to be up early for the run into Canada. Hope to make it across to Michigan by the end of the day if possible.

Stay safe and have fun.

Perpetual.

 

Yes I enjoy gaining knowledge and learning new skills. It is quite challenging. I feel at this point a semblance of a routine is beginning to emerge in that some things are becoming a little more automatic. For example changing the note on a duty status on the e-log when I stop to do a load check.