Good night from...

Steve .. Command has a 7/24 support operation. You can give them a heads up anytime. Also, they have load support until noon CST on Saturdays.

Petro in IN, juked and jived around the storm and ran 40 miles of ice covered back road this morning. Down to 1 minute on my 70 ... used 69 hrs 59 min in 169 hours, covered 3764 dispatched miles and a driver unload.

Pick up tomorrow and head to OK for Monday.

 

Been staying warm in the cab until the batteries ran low and shut off electrical. Hanging in the driver's lounge, waiting to find out how soon I can get repowered. Once I know that I can schedule a tow to the Freightliner dealership.

It's serious. In daylight I can see that coolant spread out over my chains and mud flaps, perhaps coming through the cylinders to the exhaust. On Road called me to be sure to get money for a motel. Looks like this might be a long layover waiting for repair.

 

Mocksville, NC, the new T/A. Kept trying to too a MAC 30 and getting told that PTA is earlier than del. Found out when dropped that DEL was 12/10. Was sent a pplan this late morning, and pu a 300 mile one for tomorrow up to Richmond. Said no, need to see a back up getting me off the east coast. As of now, I still think that it is still on me. I had a bad feeling coming here. New policy, do not take a load that drops on a weekend unless it is backed up. I do not even care if it is a t-call, want to see a back up

Update, right after I posted this, was sent 2 pplans, pu in Asheboro, NC, going to P&G in Auburn, ME, and then before I had a chance to say, no, was sent a back up, pu 60 miles from there and take to Jefferson, OH for a drop. Almost still said no because of Targets rules about dropping early, and then in the comment, request 1 day earlier and it will be done. Del on the 12th was way to much time and did not help this weeks pay. So accepted both. Have not been to ME in many years. Glad that I can get a lot of the miles done on Sunday. Going to be a long ride up 95

 

Somewhere in Misery.
Yup, a joke.

I got up this morning covered in ice and snow, after picking up my load in Owensboro, KY.
I shut down at a Walmart right after pick up because the roads were all turning to ice.
I had lots of time on this load, but I still won't make it in time due to the ice storm and the roads this morning. So Mac22 tomorrow when I'll get a better idea of my actual delivery time.
It shouldn't be more than a few hours late, though.

The 'big' next storm that everyone has been talking about doesn't seem like that big of a deal.
NOAA indicates 1-3 inches for tomorrow through Monday, so I doubt it will require chains or road closures.

I went past several cars and big rigs stranded in the middle. I guess they were the go-getters that simply had to make it through the bad stuff.
I wonder how they think about it now.

 

After spending all day either in the driver's lounge or sleeping in the truck when the sun was warming the cab through the windows, then back in the driver's lounge after the sun went down, and more than two hours of being on hold with either the weekend DM's or On Road I finally got my load repowered 13 hours after calling it in and THEN could contact On Road (with a 45 minute hold) to get a tow truck. Finally made it to a hotel next to the Freightliner dealership in Peoria, got the amount for two nights, then called the DM's and went on hold another 35 minutes in order to get money loaded on my Comdata card and now I'm set until Monday morning when the shop opens and then I'll find out how long it will take to repair.

At least I'm in a warm room with a refrigerator. It is supposed to get down close to zero tonight so I'm sure the fuel in my tanks will turn to jelly. Bad news is I'm not making miles, but at least I'll get paid for watching football.

 

they told me to let them know when I was low on hours and they would get me towards home for my 34 reset, gave me a load going to Granada hills then up to Long Beach for a Yussen then back to DC and then a load to Lancaster stopping in Tehachapi on the way back, its going to be tight on time since I have 10:24 left on my 70 with nothing gaining. Hopefully I can time traffic just right for the 405 tomorrow. I shut down on the side street again so I can go in and hook up and not start my clock until im ready for a quick pretrip then out the gate.

 

Walton, KY at the Flying J. After getting my load to Fort Worth repowered I sat until about noon the next day. Then was sent a 250 mile load to the other side of Georgia that could deliver until 14:00 the next day. So ended up sitting around with that. Got a preplan from Charleston to just outside Indy. As I was loading that got a follow up from Indy to Orlando pulling a circus trailer. That would have been awesome but it was a JIT load that would have been extremely tight with no room for anything to go wrong since I'm on recap hours. So I declined it rather than risk it being late. Not going to be that guy that makes the circus late. They responded with a tcall from Indy to Hebron, KY with a live unload at 23:00 tonight. So I'll be doing a lot of sitting today.

I was able to talk to my DM on Thursday about the issues I've been having and just got a lot of "yeah yeah yeah" and "OK sure" without actually resolving anything or giving me any advice. Completely pointless conversation I think.

 

On side note. I think it BS the crap we get for being "Swifties" when twice this week I've had another truck hit me in a parking lot. The other night somebody hit my my trailer backing into the spot behind me. Shook the truck so bad it woke me out of a dead sleep. Was gone by the time I got dressed to get out and look. This morning I woke up to find somebody hit my driver's side mirror. Wtf? Thankfully these ProStars have a nice design to them and there was no real damage but still.

 

Yeah, Swifties do get a lot of grief, but I've met a LOT of Swift drivers that have been with the company for years. Many with over 10 years with the company. Sure, we have a lot of new drivers, but folks are sticking with the company for the long run, so there has to be something the company is doing right by the drivers.

 

Ruther Glen, VA. That ice storm that they were talking about, well, it hit when I got just north of Richmond. Got here and decided the heck with it. Was listening to the news and the roads and weather got worse close to DC and Baltimore and Philly. Found out that I have until the 10th to get there. Not going to chance it. These tampons are not that important. Only have 600 miles by Tuesday morning, and still enough time to get my next pplan. the internet here is crap, in fact, can not even get on. Think that tonight I am going to splurge, Golden Coral. Never been to one.