Stevens Transport Aviary . . cont'

Well. I'm home bound after I drop these cheese nips off in savannah! Everyone have a great Christmas!

 

Well I spoke with my DM yesterday (after several attempts to get thru to him) and explained this just wasn't going to work.
He apologized and told me all DM's have a second 'back line' extension so people inside the building can reach them. He gave me that extension and it works great.
So if you have trouble, ask your DM for that second extension and it will solve your problems.

 

Avoiding the "take it for granted" mindset is why I will always be a Student. One cannot give in to that or you might end up, say, driving past a receiver's driveway and continuing onto a non-truck road with VERY unfriendly residents...and no way to turn around. Or make 4 left turns. So backing a long way out is the only recourse. Did I mention the possibility of VERY unfriendly residents? With cars?

Not saying I KNOW anyone that happened to (today)...just saying...

 

Had to do something like that in downtown philly yesterday. It made me appreciate Wal Mart.

Apparently Jill and Janet had a meeting and have decided to flip a coin in every city to determine who is going to provide the fubar directions. The atlas doesnt want to get involved, but its been the tiebreaker twice now. Evil GPS.

Want to apologize to whoever picked up the first/last stop of my load from Hades. It really wasnt my fault. Really. If I had done it my way, I would have fixed and delivered, but Stevens told me they had it handled.

 

Well, the weather outside is frightful...
I had to hang it up early for the 2nd night in a row due to road conditions.
I've got my home load. Bellington, WA (20ish miles from Canada, eh) to Arlington, TX. Pick on the 17th, drop on the 20th with a TBD appt.
We drove what was left of our day and got beyond Seattle. Next day, student got us all the way to Ontario, OR, but roads were iffy and as we approached the Loves, a car spun of the road about 1/4 ahead. Good time to quit.
Today we awake to an appt of 2330 on the 20th. Ouch. That'll be tight.
So we saddle up and roll. Student makes it to Ogden, UT, and I take over. I was only able to make Rawlins,WY before the weather got real ugly. I knew it was cold and snowing, but I didn't realize how bad it was until I came upon a truck whose tail lights were completely covered and blocked by snow. He was going 35, and while I gathered the gumption to pass a truck that wasn't all too visible, a Werner rig blasted by, kicking up all the loose powder in the hammer lane, and effectively sent me into an instant white out... BOTH trucks and the road completely disappeared for FAR longer than I was comfortable with. Both I and the student simultaneously uttered a 4 letter expletive beginning with "S" and decided it was quitting time...

So now we are 1002 miles out and we will most definitely be late.
I have this sinking feeling that we're gonna get rescheduled for Monday -the day my RTO is supposed to begin.
If so, the load's headed to the yard because I'm not playing that game. If it were a normal RTO, fine whatever. This is Christmas. Don't eff around with my Christmas time...
And it's getting harder and harder for my wife to make the 180 mile one-way trip to get me because Texarkana is "local." I beg to differ.

ANYWAYS... Good night, Neverland!

 

This time of year more loads are rescheduled than repowered due to their being loads home. Drivers just won't give them up, regardless of the empty threats.

 

Its not going to help you this time, bit if you get another load coming out of the PNW when the weather is nasty, you generally have better luck taking the southern route. 15s to Spanish Fork, then take 6 to 191 to 491 to 40. You will go through Moab, which is beautiful and Shiprock NM and pick up 40 in Gallup. There is the added bonus of Soldier Summit so you can always get a mountain if you need it.

I have gone that way and found out later Wyoming had closed so it was a good choice for me.

Something to think about next time anyway.

 

If that Arl delivery is McLane, disco, any appt stevens gives you is bs because they are first come first serve. They open their gates for receiving at, if I remember right, 1130pm, and usually the line of trucks is 8 to 10 deep waiting. They also tend to be quick about unloading. Just fyi for future reference.

To those of you on the roads this holiday, prayers of safekeeping. I hope those of you trying to get home, do, and that your holiday is wonderful. For those who are already home, I hope the memories you make are filled with precious moments.

Merry Christmas, Aviary. God bless.

 

All FCFS appointments list the first hour that you can be unloaded. Some McLanes start at 2100, others as late as 2359. But they're all FCFS. That's often the same reason that when you call because you're running late, we tell you to just head there. As long as you're there before they are finished or their closing hour (around 0500-0600), you'll get unloaded.

 

It has been pouring all morning and most of last night in Ohio. I get to my drop at the Limited. Guard says drop the trailer on the gravel lot. I drop the trailer, grab an empty and head back to the guard shack, I tell the guard I couldn't find the gravel lot so I dropped it in the big mud puddle... what a mess that lot is, I dumped three bottles of water over my boots before getting back in the truck to try to keep the mud level down.

And my preplan to Florida was canceled. I was kind of looking forward to a warm Christmas. Time to sing I'm dreaming of a Green Christmas I guess.