Superior Carriers 2012

There are lots of nice looking bed and breakfast places in Damascus Va. There are not as many different things to do there as in Asheville though. We stayed in a Cabin in the Mt Rogers Rec area my brother in law rented. He is retired Air Force with a Colonel's pension and a full time job in the private sector so it was a pretty nice place. If you just want to spend time in the woods its a great place. There was a nice restaurant on the water in an old mill in Damascus.

 

9/30-10/1

Headed out early Sunday morning with a load of glue going to N Haven, Ct. The plant was easy to find and only took 1.5 hours to air off this morning. Tankwashed up to Springfield Ma. Swapping an empty for a loaded trailer in the morning heading back to Greensboro with a Thursday morning delivery. I ran I-81, I-84 up here and plan to do the same thing back. The leaves are starting to turn in the mountains and its a much prettier view than the I-95 corridor.

 

10/2-10/4

Split my run back to Greensboro roughly in half. It was raining pretty hard in Pa so I shut down at the Loves at the 90 on I-81 around 4:30 PM. I called dispatch to see if it was worth my while to leave at 2:30 AM and try to deliver a day early. He said no so I rolled out around 5:30 AM for the 430 mile trip to the terminal. I got a call when I was just past Roanoke with an offer to run the weekend that I jumped on. I dropped my trailer on the Yard around 14:30 for a local guy to deliver this morning.

I am at home grabbing a reset and will head out Friday with a snot load delivering to San Bernardino Ca Tuesday morning. The icing on the cake is my son is home for Fall break and walked in the door about 30 minutes before I did. We got to spend the evening grilling steaks and watching TV. Only down side is I will miss going to the Panther game Sunday. The way this week was shaping up I probably would have needed to run Sunday anyway to avoid a 1000 mile week. Got to pay that college tuition.

 

10/5-10/10

Headed out Friday morning around 8 AM. Pretty much averaged 600 miles per day and stopped in Barstow Monday about 70 miles from the plant with a delivery window of 08:00-15:00 Tuesday. I decided to sleep in a little and headed out around 7:30. Got to the wastewater treatment plant around 9 and was unloaded by 11.

Got another unsolicited att-a-boy from an Ashland rep who just happened to be at the plant and watched me unload the tank. He walked up, shook my hand and thanked me for the good job all of our drivers do for them. We talked a little and he told me the Greensboro plant where my load came from was "kickin". I told him that was a good thing and maybe there will be so many loads we won't need to run as many coal mines this winter. He said yeah coal mines are a pain LOL. Pretty cool guy.

I had called log ops before I headed out that morning in hopes that they would have me preplanned as soon as I was unloaded. They were waiting on some return calls so I picked up an hour of pay sitting at the plant waiting for a tankwash message. To my surprise they sent me to Stockton to a tankwash I had never been to before. I called dispatch to make sure since so few places will clean a snot tank. Apparently they have been having problems with the wash rack I had been to before. They also needed a special process done for this product.

No problem. I still had plenty of hours to run. I ran it on up to Westley Ca and shut down at Joes at the 441 on I-5. Headed out the next morning(Wednesday) and rolled into the Tankwash at 7 AM. Dispatch was hoping I could get washed out and up to Sacramento to load by 11. That plan was shot all to hell when the wash rack in Stockton informed me that they do not wash snot.

I called dispatch and was tankwashed to Oakland Ca. It took me almost 2 hours to go 62 miles in rush hour traffic and this place was in the hood. I have never seen so much gang graffiti on everything. Lots of hoodies hanging around. Thank God it was morning before the real gangsters get up. Fortunately they got me out of there in 1.5 hours.

I then had to head back to Stockton for the "special process". By then loading in Sacramento today was out of the question and my 70 was getting thin. I suggested to dispatch that I go ahead and reset in Stockton, load Friday and run it on down to Houston by Monday or Tuesday at the latest. Running the recap would have gotten it there about the same time. This way we apply the 10 hour break I had to take today to the 34.

It took about 3 hours for the "special process" and I was at the hotel with a sparkling clean, dry, and odor free trailer by 4:00 PM local time. I still don't have a load appointment but expect something Friday morning. This load is going to Mexico and will probably sit on the yard in Pasadena Tx for a few days after I get there so its not that rushed except for the fact that the shipper wants it gone.

Personally it's all good for me. I pick up $150 in layover pay for the reset in a company paid hotel and am looking at 2,000 loaded miles at .46 over the weekend. No rush, no appointment, just drop it at the terminal when I get there.

 

10/12-10/17

Headed out Friday morning arriving 30 minutes before my load appointment in Sacramento Ca. They still use the off site scale so I headed over there. Came back and waited about an hour and a half. Finally got the call to load. That took about an hour and a half. Went back to the scale and then waited at the gate for the COA for another hour and a half. Finally was ready to leave right at rush hour. I drove a couple hundred miles down I-5 and shut down 1175 miles from the terminal in Pasadena. I figured traffic would be better Saturday and Sunday morning.

That proved to be the case and other than a couple of pickup trucks playing bumper cars on I-210 near Pasadena I had an uneventful trip. I was pulling a small hill in the far right lane with the hammer down milking every every bit of horsepower my Maxforce could muster. I was going about 45 when a pick up truck whipped around me on the left. He over steered and crossed into the second lane to my left smacking another pick up broadside destroying both mirrors.

I saw it coming and hit half of the shoulder giving him half of my lane for the inevitable over correction into my lane. Sure enough he used it, then cut in front of me before stopping on the shoulder. The guy he hit pulled over behind me to the shoulder for the insurance info exchange. Just another day in LA LA land.

I continued on feeling fortunate to come out unscathed shutting down south of Phoenix. Continued on the Ft Stockton Tx Sunday and rolled into the Pasadena terminal and dropped my trailer around 7PM Monday. Dispatch was still there and he told me they might need me to run this load on down to Laredo after it was prepped for Mexico. I told the shop where it was and watched a little Monday night football.

Sure enough after checking with dispatch I headed on down to Laredo around 10 Tuesday for a drop/hook 750 mile out and back. Got back to the terminal around 11 today(wed). Hung around until dispatch figured out what they wanted to do with me. They had me all set up to load in Kennedy Tx with a load heading to Pa. It was quite a complicated process. Get my pump steamed even though I wouldn't need it, weigh light and heavy at an off site scale and they were going to work with High Point to relay it and get me home. I had not really asked to get home but that's the way this company is. After processing everything she was telling me I said:

"You do realize I only have 15 hours left on my 70 and don't pick up anymore until midnight Friday" I had told her that earlier but she was pretty slammed. After a couple of cute little curse words she told me that wouldn't work. All she could do was sit me until Friday at 8AM with a load going to Matthews NC delivering Monday.

I am once again in the company hotel for a couple of nights. This will actually work pretty well. My wife grew up in Matthews and its just a few miles from the high school that we both attended. My sister lives about 10 miles away. The Panthers are playing the Cowboys on Sunday in Charlotte. I should be able to run it on up there by Saturday afternoon, visit my sister, go to the game with my wife, and deliver it on Monday. Hopefully it won't be a hazmat load so I can stay at my sisters house with the load parked at a truck stop of course.

 

10/21

Had my load changed. I loaded a few miles from the terminal and ran back to High Point Friday and Saturday. Got home around 8 PM. Heading to Charlotte with my wife in a few minutes for the football game. Load delivers at 10 Monday morning. This was better than trying to coordinate going to the game from a terminal or truck stop. Probably be off for a couple of days after that.

 

10/22-10/28

Delivered my load from Texas over in Greensboro on Monday and was home by 13:00. Did a bunch of yard work Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday, Friday and Saturday I ran dedicated around 1500 miles and was back at the house by 15:00 Saturday. This week won't produce much of a paycheck but my last 3 grossed over $1500 and the time off sure is nice.

I am supposed to head back out Monday with a snot load heading to Springfield Ma delivering Tuesday. They need to call the Water treatment plant before I leave to see if hurricane Sandy will impact whether they are open or not. I have a feeling it may be pushed back a day or 2. These loads are usually not just in time and deliver in a window from 8am-3pm. These plants often are near water and flooding is a concern with this storm. Either way its going to be a blustery, rainy, windy trip.

I expect to stay on dedicated and regional loads with good home time for a couple of weeks. I have asked for home time the Nov 11 weekend. We are heading up to Raleigh for a NC State football game with our son and then the Panther Broncos game Sunday in Charlotte. After that I will be ready to head back out West if they have anything.

 

10/29

Called in this morning and was told there was no way they were sending anyone into that storm. They had 2 loads heading to Ma and 2 to NY and postponed all 4 until after the storm.

I got another N Chicago out and back. It loads Wednesday at 6 AM in N Chicago but I left this afternoon with it. I chose to run 100 miles out of route to avoid blizzard warnings in West Virginia. I am going to Chicago Via Knoxville. It was clear sailing up I-75 and I will not have to get up at 3AM to make the appointment time. I will also have a full set of hours to run after loading which gives me flexibility if Sandy decides to keep dumping snow on West Va.

 

10/30-11/01

Uneventful trip. Made it up to the TA at the Il Wi line on 94 Tuesday. Loaded at 6 AM in N Chicago with 10.75 hours to drive. Shut down in Hurricane WV Wed night and dropped the load into Brown Summit Thursday around noon. It was still snowing across Flat Top and down into Princeton WV but the roads were just wet.

When I got back to the yard dispatch asked me if I had any trouble running through the blizzard warning Mon and Tuesday. I told him that I ran around it and had smooth sailing up I-75. He said next time I do that let him know beforehand and he will put a VIA in the system to pay me those miles. He actually added 100 miles to my check for this run. I was surprised that they would pay me for that. I think I have read so much on here about companies shorting drivers mileage pay that I assumed I wouldn't get paid for it. I felt fortunate to even have the option to run the out of route miles since so many company drivers can't.

It looks like things are slowing down a bit. I was willing to keep running through the weekend but they didn't have anything. Monday I am live loading glue at 5 AM with a 300 mile load delivering same day as soon as I get there. I need to be home next weekend so it is looking like 3 sub $1000 weeks in a row for me. Hopefully I can get back out west again by the end of Nov to make up for it.