Orientation w Melton March 2014 (Tulsa, OK)

I have taken home time. I got a load sending me to Long Beach. Then picked up another load in long Beach and took it to Arizona where I switched loads with another driver and brought that one to brea.

I parked my truck and trailer at the TA off the 10 fwy since that was the closest to me. They charge you 20$ per 24 hours to park there. Melton will pay for half of that when you are on hometime. My house just recently put up signs for no trucks over 3 tons so I had to park there. There's not very many places you can legally Park depending where you are, unless you have room at your place.

 

From Laredo I got a load of AC units going to Tennessee. 1060 miles. ACs are so light, I think total load weight was just under 9000 lbs. Needless to say fuel mileage definitely got a boost.
Got the load Tuesday morning and was supposed to unload Thursday by 2pm. I got there just in time, about an hour early.
Then I had the shortest wait ever after sending in my empty call. Got Preplan probably less than 5 minutes later. I was to deadhead 200 miles to Birmingham, pickup Friday morning, and take it to Oklahoma City by Monday. It's about 700 miles to OKC from Birmingham. I'll be just shy of hitting 2000 miles for the week. Guess I don't mind seeing as I had a couple of Ok weeks before, just works out that way sometimes.

I'm stopped for the night in Arkansas. I'm only about 200 miles to OKC. I'll do the rest tomorrow then get a reset in by the time I have to deliver Monday morning.

I've never been to Tennessee or Alabama, and I drove through Mississippi on the way out of Alabama. Was a nice view most of the way so far. I don't mind it. Along with some music and it was easy driving most of the way. Was a bit relaxing.

Oh I think I picked up some vinyl fencing. It was wrapped already. They told me to put one tarp on the front and where to strap it down. So there wasn't much to it. Used the forklift to put me on top of the load so I could tarp. Can't say I struggled to much!

I'll take days like that any time.

 

Well let's see if I can remember what happened...

I made it to OKC on a Saturday by 1pm, so I had all of Saturday and Sunday to explore. Consignee was 3 miles from the truck stop. So I walked into the outskirts of OKC into Bricktown, it was only a 2 mile walk. Got some food, checked out the area, and even caught a movie at the theatre. There was a baseball game going on after I got out of the theatre. I thought about checking it out but I was already tired so walked back.

After delivery on Monday I got a pickup just outside of tulsa, and got routed through the terminal after pickup to clear shop. I was just there not but a week ago what now? So I went they asked why I was there I said not sure! Well they said I needed an oil change after checking me out. Went to see why I was routed through so I talked to safety they said i needed my Ravelco fixed. I said I got that fixed about 2-3 weeks ago. Oh I was never told, that's why you are here. Hmm Ok. Well I needed an oil change anyway so go ahead and put I'm all done here. OK go make some money. You're telling me!

I spent about 5 hours at the terminal before my truck was ready to go. Had enough hours to make it to Joplin where I stayed the night. I forget where I delivered this to, but it was in the middle of farms with small roads out. They told me another driver was there the day before me, showed me out. They were small roads and I guess the driver before me didn't make it around one of the stop signs because it was knocked down. I make it out of there and get a Preplan to go to Gary, Indiana to us steel. I pickup 2 coils and deliver to AK. Sorry for lack of details just fuzzy on them as I am pretty tired

I really gotta update as I go. Anyway, right now I just delivered some pipe to North Carolina. Beautiful views the whole way, nothing but mountains and trees. I got a Preplan on Friday morning so I knew where to be once I delivered and got empty. I'm picking up in NC and delivering to Minneapolis. Not sure what it is yet just said building materials. Delivering to a home Depot distro center.

My week went great, I should end with 2900+ miles on this next check and a few tarp loads. This week is starting out great too, 120 mile deadhead and 1200 miles to Minneapolis by Wednesday. I'm going to be running on recap after tomorrow so we will see what I end up with. I'm probably going to ask for hometime sometime this week, so by the time I get home in 2 weeks I would have been out 8 weeks. Originally wanted to stay out 4-6weeks but after truck broke down the first week off hometime, being in a hotel for 4 days, then being routed to shop 3 times, I wanted to make more money.

I was informed I got a raise though, so 3 months in and already got a small bump. From 33 to 35 per mile. So I'm happy about that. Now if only I can stay moving now and no more terminals, I'll be alright.