CRETE - A Year in Review

Id rather have a root canal.....

 

here's the topper. I have 3 deliveries with an open window of 0730 to 1600. All are within 30 to 45 minutes from one to the next. The fourth load is 2230 to 0300 I drove 611 miles today and I will drive 605 tomorrow to get to Hagerstown which is 45 minutes from the first stop. Looks like I will have about 5 hours sitting at stop 4 (which will let you park until they unload you then you have to leave) then try to get to Elkton, MD before my 14 is up and then on to DE for the cons the next day.

 

I have had maybe 3 or 4 multi-stop loads since I started, and I have had issues with the appointment times for the first drop on all of them; the one I'm currently on, no exception.

774 loaded miles, 74 deadhead miles. Driveway-to-driveway, following the route suggestion exactly, according to Google Maps: 539 miles from S to 01. That leaves just over 230 miles from 01 to C.

Pickup time 0001-1300. 01, 8/20 0800. C, 8/21 0800. Seriously!? 01 should be around 1300 or so, not 0800. This means I'll have to do 613 miles in one day to make it happen. Anyone who drives a 62mph truck knows that's pushing it HARD, even when the route is basically all-freeway. Did I mention they're routing me down US 69 and 75 through Oklahoma? Time-eating whistle stops galore! AND there's a fuel stop in the mix before I get to 01.

And of course you don't find any of that out until after you accept. And the part of the preplan that mentions extra stops is so insignificant that it's very easily overlooked. Add in to the mix that I've had them so infrequently that I really don't even think about them when looking at a preplan. That part is arguably somewhat my fault...but still.

Long story short...I'm very tired, shut down at 2100...I'll be able to be rolling by 0708 tomorrow...and I'm 4 hours out.

 

I hear ya. And don't forget the 30 minute 'break' too. Perfect example of how the current HOS actually make things more difficult and less safe.

 

'Current' HOS? ####, ever since they came out with the 14-hour rule things have been less safe and more difficult. I can't afford to stop and take a nap on a tight load thanks to that crap, so if I need all my driving hours, I have to drive tired. Way to go, FMCSA.

 

And more fun happens: some ####### nearby is 'idling' at 1200...fan cutting in and out at that engine speed. Yeah.

 

I think there is a defect issue with some of our newer trailers. I had a 219### like that a few weeks ago. The spring had disintegrated and ruptured the brake bladder...and like yours' was left by the previous driver. I think many of our so-called drivers wouldn't know they had an air leak until they were signing the ticket from the DOT. Mine took 6 hours for breakdown to send a service truck.

 

I would have answered her by asking if her crystal ball was available because yours was in the shop...and without it you cannot predect the future of your current load...and if she didn't understand that then a simple 'N' on the pplan and 'unable to predict future beyond current load' as the reason.

 

My fun continues. I delivered my glass jars to Inlay City, MI. I have requested I be routed to the D/FW for personal reasons..and will be taking a weekday off. And in typical Crete planning fashion, I was offered a load to Breinigsville. If I took that load, I wouldn't make D/FW before Friday...and they claim that was all they had. Which was total bull *bleep* because the driver that unloaded right after me was given an ASAP load to Ohio that he didn't have the hours to do. I called their bluff and said that I couldn't take the load and was proceeding to a bigger truck stop and would check back on Monday. Monday I was given a load from Battle Creek to Clinton, IA. It could have delivered the same day, but there was a 45 minute delay in Gary, IN for some construction. I unloaded 1st thing Tuesday morning and my A/M came through. Pick up from P&G in West Branch, IA going to the St. Louis area for Wednesday, then a plan from down by Rolla going to Roanoke, TX that I can drop anytime. Now I'm waiting on a reload at P&G because they took the same 'loading trucks for dummies' course that Social Circle took....all the way forward my tandems were 2000 lbs over. But I'm still smiling. After Friday, I will expose my future plans if anyone hasn't already figured it out.

 

Maybe an interview and physical with.... Polly Trucking ??