Good Night From II

yeah me too. This terminal has always been one of my favorites because of the layout, showers etc but mostly because I've always gotten pretty darn good loads out of here with only doing a local type job once in a blue moon. I've never really even sat there longer than a 10 hr break. This 144 mile job is the WORST by far I've ever gotten from this terminal.

But I've been reading about all these recent horror stories about Edwardsville and was beginning to wonder what the heck has changed. And now I've gotten this crap load to do from them. I'll be there after lunch tomorrow to tcall the load I have now and wondering if I'm gonna find trailers double parked everywhere AND if they're gonna jack me around getting an mty. My ex terminal mgr from Houston is there now so I think I'll go see him and get his take on things. He was always up front with me.

 

Was there the other day and found out that one of their best planners up and quit not long ago.

 

Oh great, not a good sign. Might be a sign that levels of discord are rising within the support group. Who better to take it out on than us at the bottom of the food chain.

Im still withholding judgement for time being till I see if I get shafted on my next load behind this junk I have to do today.

 

I remember the last time that I was in there, there would be at least 5 people working. Was there this Saturday, there was 2. I am still sitting home waiting for a pplan. This weekend in messing up everything. Even command had nothing that was decent. They found out and then the shipper did not like $1.35 mile. It would have been a nice weekend run. Pick up on Friday and del to Cason, NV on Tuesday.

 

flying j in lebanon in. !-65 ex 139. after delivering that load of rice to general mills in belvidere il.got a load out of joliet il going to knoxville tn for a 1700 live unload tomorrow. pick up appt was for 1700 today, but got there about 4 hrs early and load was ready to go. . forgot to mention when i delivered that load of rice, they sent me to their other warehouse the other side of town. about 6 miles away.

 

Lepton...

I have to admit I cheated today getting another load from Edwardsville. The terminal manager is my old terminal manager from Houston. Dropped in on him, chatted for a bit, then eased into telling him I didn't get a stacked load towards TX when I took this 144 miler. He said "Let's see what we've got!" He went into the system and set me right up with a load picking up right after my unload in the morning going straight to Dallas. He was going to stack another from there to Houston but I told him I didn't want to get too far ahead and would check with Lancaster when I got down there. So at this point can't say if the planners would've jacked me up again.

Parked at the PDQ Truckstop on Hwy 69 in Prescott KS 15 mins from my final in the morning at Tractor Supply in Ft. Scott.

After tcalling my previous load and chatting with my old boss went to the window to ask for a trailer to go get my current load out of St Joseph MO. He gives me a trailer number for one in the yard..pleasant surprise that I'm not gonna get sent to BFE for one. I go find it and it's tagged out with a hole in the roof the size of a canoe. Jeez!!

Go back in and get told they don't have anymore mty's and a planner will let me know something later. Ya think!! I'm not falling for this BS!! I humped too hard today to tcall early, pick up the next and get to Ft Scott to set my 10 to have the hours to run in the morning. No keyboard monkey is gonna screw me over this time!! Told him "Fine!!", bobtailed through the rows of trailers and found a nice clean 12series mty. Called my terminal to verify it was good..it was..I told them hook me to it and dispatch so I can get out of here. Five minutes later I was rolling out the gate thinking Kiss My A@@ and left.

Sometimes ya ya just gotta get proactive and take what ya need.

 

Hous Tank.... if I ever get to Edwardsville I may need to send you a PM to get the skinny on the terminal manager!

Taking a 10 at the paper mill in Toledo, OR. We arrived with only 90 minutes left on my trainee's 14 and I'd already dipped into available hours yesterday to get us in position to make 3 stops on our load in the Portland area. We made each stop on time, got to Troutdale to D&H a load of scrap paper out here and planned on doing another D&H to grab a load of paper headed to Otay Mesa.

The guard shack ladies were quite friendly and advised us that trying to grab our new load would be a pack of trouble, since there isn't any real legal truck parking available on the slow and go 101. We underestimated the time it would take to run out here on the narrow, curving hills and tourist traps. A PRETTY drive and a challenge for the fourth day behind the wheel for my trainee.

We're parked in the bobtail section outside the guard shack. Had a nice rib eye steak a couple blocks away, overlooking the port of Toledo and the paper mill.

Tomorrow I plan to run a super single, getting back north up the 101 and back over to hook up to I-5 near Corvallis. After that I plan to give the rest to my trainee to run to Otay Mesa. By the time we get there he'll be over 40 hours BTW and had a belly full of running hills and heavy traffic. He did nicely with the three backs at the small retail stores this morning. I think he has the chops for this job and should be ready for more challenges in the next couple of days.

 

theres a bbq place down the street from that paper mill. i always go there to eat if i'm spending the night there. you can stop at the scalehouse on the way out to verify your weights. place is always closed when i drive by and the scale is always on. the scale at the mill is pretty accurate.

 

Pig Feathers. Nice joint. Great pulled pork and the ribeye was real tender.

 

Kept getting preplans to golden, co so I drove to my truck & did a mac 30 & found a load leaving from perris, ca going to Alabama. 2000 miles. Now why didn't they send me that in a preplan. Picked up the load & I'm in lordsburg, nm @ the flying j