Good Night From II

You would THINK that they could put the scale in a different location than perpendicular to the exit. Maybe... oh I don't know... somewhere out back where drivers could scale and have a convenient spot to slide their tandems? I hate it when entry and exit points at terminals and customers are jammed up because nobody thought about bottlenecks in the layout or procedures (for procedure bottlenecks think SLC terminal).

 

At the Petro on I-35 in Hillsboro TX. I had wanted to make Denton tonight but lost a LOT of time getting out of Laredo which then put me square in the middle of Austin's rush hour.

To be on par with how the morning went, the customer in IA changed the delivery date to Thursday from Wednesday. What would've been a 3800 mile week will now be only a little over 2500. Oh well, gives me a good start on next week.

Yeah Lepton, you'd think they'd put the scale somewhere else but....
besides being Monday with all the loads to deal with...the situation there today, and the frayed tempers of some of the drivers, would've been greatly reduced if common sense and courtesy would have been shown by some. A little cooperation and consideration would have made it better for all.

 

I've started taking the 410 to 10 east to the 130 toll road and bypassing both Austin and San Antonio. It adds about 20 miles, but it's an easy 20 miles.

 

jurupa terminal new fuel island/scale location probably be no better. right next to the shop building. scale is on the side of the fuel island

 

Its a good bypass, I do this when its around one of the busy times or I know construction is bad.

 

another day, another bad liftgate (sigh)

 

Last year I was delivering an entire seasonal store in a truck ... literally backed up to the front entrance of a mall ... the owner and his brother come out with a couple of those platform carts and ask me to lower the liftgate ... sorry guy this truck doesn't have one ... guy spends the next few minutes looking under my truck trying to find it and convince me that there has to be one ... that I just don't know where it is ... took them over 8 hours to hand unload.

 

rancho domingue ca getting loaded, then head back to ross in perris ca. they sent me to santa fe springs for an empty last nite so did my 10 At montebello yard. got up and went to get coffee at am/pm . got about 500 ft out the gate when heard a crunch. looked back and a dsw driver coming out the gate tore his bumper off a pole then he prceeded to make the hard right to go down that side street and hit the power pole on the corner. knocked down some wires and made a loud buzzing sound with flash. pole leaning over but not all way down. driver ok. talked to him abiy to see if he's ok and he said he only been doing this for 4 months. yesterday while waiting in line at ross, saw a swift driver go around a corner and knock his trailer door off. drivers need to start paying attention

 

Leaving El Paso for Phoenix, hoping to be able to t-call this load and get back to Jurupa Valley asap for my "home time". Actually, that will coincide with my trainee getting 200 hours BTW and I'll immediately start another trainee. There's apparently quite a glut of trainees at Jurupa Valley. I'll take a more official home time for Christmas.

Delivered a live load in El Paso (from Jurupa Valley) and I took the 2 am to noon shift. My trainee needed to find a bank, so we plugged in the address for a bank that is just off TX-375 (the beltway around El Paso that goes over the pass with 8% grades). I've GOT to take a 10 at one of those picnic areas on the eastbound 375 at the pass. Spectacular views.

I was also very impressed with the Super Target shopping center. Parking in the back was HUGE, with room for several trucks. Produce department was first rate. They have a STARBUCKS inside. Many restaurants and shops. I'm definitely looking to take the 375 beltway in the future and avoid the cluster at the truck stops if I need to take a 10. If there's rush hour to deal with in El Paso I've heard the beltway is the way to go. Freeway the whole way.

 

Doing my 10 in Edwardsville. Will be in Dubuque by lunch and then wait till Thursday morning to unload.

The terminal feels like a ghost town. There's hardly anyone here, as compared to normal, and LOTS of mty slots to drop a trailer. I went straight to the back yard to get some peace and quiet to sleep. Have gotten woke up many times the last couples nights due to reefers, lawn mower APUs and the thumping resonance of SuperTrucker straight pipes. Fatigue is catching up to me.