THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE - DFO gets a truck and hops on Schneider's IC Choice Program

Got to Charlotte around 230am after delivering my load from around Wilmington, NC to HD in West Columbia, SC. Running some weird hours, no place to park here tonight. Leaving here tomorrow afternoon and headed for Richmond, VA, then deadhead back down to NC for my pickup running down to south GA. Glad to be back on the road, was going a little stir crazy at home there.

 

Didn't make it all the way down there tonight, gotta finish up the run in the morning... rain all the way down and getting stuck behind 4 wheelers for miles and miles slowed me way down.

As of the end of January of this year I was averaging 6.4 MPG based off total gallons of fuel bought, so that includes bunk heater and APU fuel usage.

I expect to see improved #s due to some work that I have done on the truck, but its too early to tell at the moment.

 

So, yesterday was a LONG friggin day, the night before I realized that what I thought was a 24 hour pickup from Frito-Lay Charlotte NC to Richmond VA, actually didn't pick up until 4pm. Crap. My next load had to be picked up out of Reidsville NC between 2am to 9am on the 6th. Of course, looking at the numbers, there was no way I could deliver to Richmond VA, take my 10 hour break, and then pick up the load by 9am in Reidsville NC, since I couldn't leave Charlotte until at least 4pm. CRAP.

Well, I thought about it, and then realized I could make it work by leaving Charlotte a little late, then driving through the night, picking up the next load, stopping back in Charlotte and break there.

So that's what I did. Got up to Richmond, VA, as usual chip trailer still in the van door (lol), room to turn around this time, but only one slot left, and its the bad slot that everyone else was bypassing and just dropping in front of the other trailers. At this point, every time I go there I go for these bad spots. I don't just cheat and drop it in the middle of the yard. Its just part of the Richmond Frito Challege. So I start working my way into this hole. It is so friggin tight, and the trailer on my sight side is out a good 8 feet compared to the one on my blind side, due to the way the way part of the drop are is staggered. I'm inches off this trailer and inches off the chip trucks with the front of my tractor, one of the Frito drivers sititng there in his daycab gets on the CB and says he'll pull a trailer out and it'll be much easier for me to get it in there.

DO I LOOK LIKE A QUITTER????

Finally, I get the trailer angled into the hole, but I can't get turned out if it without running into the chip trucks with the front of my tractor, so I work it back and fourth a little but until I'm cranked way over now backing on my blind side, after a couple GOALs to make sure I didn't ram the other trailer with my blind side of my trailer, I get it in there. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. No empties there. Send in exception and get a response surprisingly fast, and en-route to my pickup, too.

Then, head off to Reidsville NC for the pickup. This was the latest that I have ever driven, I've ended late, started super early, but never driven THROUGH the night before. It was nice, so quiet. Very cool being literally the only truck on the road for miles and miles. Made those US highways through VA a little more bearable.

Stopped through DG in South Boston, VA to pick up an empty, then picked up my load in Reidsville at around 0230-0300, then took off for the Charlotte OC. Made it from the OC, to the Charlotte Frito, to the Richmond Frito, to South Boston DG, to Reidsville NC, and back to the Charlotte OC with 9 minutes left on my 11, and about 14 minutes left on my 14. NOT BAD. Finally logged off at 0530. Man I was tired.

Left Charlotte today headed for Albany, GA. Total crap weather, SLOWWWW going in the heavy rain and then got stuck behind lots of 4 wheelers on the 2 lane goatpaths that lead down here. Didn't make it all the way there tonight.

Time to see what the load board has in store for me.