From School to Superior Carriers

Not sure. I have heard something through the grapevine about a hiring freeze with some Carry Terminals. Best thing you can do is give the terminal manager a call.

 

5/19-5/24

Interesting week this was. I got a polymer load to a waste treatment plant just south of Louisville. I headed into the terminal and ran into a Skywalker who I met through the Class A Drivers forum. The shop guys were washing my truck so while I waited for them to finish I talked to him and mapped out my route on the computer. The shop guys delivered my truck right up to the office door and Skywalker even got his truck washed.

This was a preloaded tank and when I hooked up to it and pulled away It felt so light that I stopped and looked at the tank number to make sure I had the right tank. Then I checked my paperwork and saw that it was only 10000 Lbs. This load would be a piece of cake in the mountains. I was able to pull fancy gap in 9th and thats unusual in these company trucks. I shut down in Grayson Ky just a couple of hours away from my my delivery. I then noticed something in the paperwork "80' 2inch hose" I had checked the hoses before leaving and had a standard set 1 3" and 2 2". That would only be 60 feet. I had plenty of time in my delivery window and considered going to a terminal to grab an extra hose. I decided to go to the customer first at the early end of my window and deal with it then. I have drug lots of hoses to customer unloads because the paperwork said you needed it but you really didn't. I said my prayers and went to bed

The next morning I was up waiting the last 15 minutes of my 10 hour break before leaving when another Superior truck pulls in to fuel. I went up to that guy and he was able to give me another 2 inch hose he wouldn't need. My prayers were answered. Turns out I needed it. This delivery you parked on the street and 80 feet just barely makes it to the inlet with no curves in the hose. No way to back in closer without getting stuck.

Unloaded without a hitch and was sent to Louisville to drop my empty and pick up a preloaded tank 10 hours after I arrived that delivered in Memphis at noon the next day. I like running like that because it maximizes the miles/money. Only problem was the pick up was 2 am and ment driving all night. Fortunately I was dead tired and had no problem falling asleep at 6 PM and woke up rested and ready. I got my tank from the plant and the paperwork said 1 3" hose. Of course there were no hoses on the tank so I went back to the terminal at 3 am hoping to find one. Found one outside the tank wash and threw it on the tank giving me a late start. Turns out it was customer unload and I didn't need it. You would think they could get that information on the travel orders (more on that later)

I made great time and my unload went without a hitch the next day. There were several drivers unloading at this plant and they make you get out of your truck so we had a good time shooting the breeze. They sent me to the terminal in Memphis and I got a load that loaded in Union City Tenn about 130 miles north and delivered in Charleston SC. Here is where the paperwork got screwed up again. My original travel order had a delivery window of 800-1600 5/23. Dispatch crossed that out before handing it to me and wrote not before 1900 and stressed that they would not take it early but that I should call the Charleston Terminal and see if they could deliver it for me since this load was getting me home.

I went to bed and got up the next morning. I wasn't in any hurry since the load had plenty of time to deliver and my load time was whenever I could get there. Got to Union City found the scale no problem then went looking for the plant to load. The travel order had a different companies name on it. I road up and down that street several times before calling Memphis dispatch and asking where this place was. They couldn't tell me and finally they found a local driver who could tell me the name of the plant. It was huge and you couldn't miss it if they could just put the name of it in the directions.

This plant had a unique loading situation. It required you to back off the street into a gate with a ditch deep enough to roll a truck on both sides. You had to jack it about 240 degrees sight side. I decided to try it blind side because it looked like it would be more straight line. After a couple of tries that way. They told me the guys that do it all the time set up from the opposite direction. Sure enough it was easier that way.

Got loaded and made it to Knoxville. There were 2 major traffic jams so I didn't get as far as I wanted. Shut down at Idle air and played on the computer then went to bed.

The next morning I got up, showered and called Charleston dispatch. They explained why the load had to deliver later. Then she asked me for the load number. She put that in the computer and told me I had a different product and that the original delivery times were correct. That made a leisurely time line tight on the Friday of Memorial day weekend. I was a little pissed because misinformation on the travel order was causing me headaches. I could have left earlier the day before or even that Friday. I was bumping up against my 70 and only had 9.5 hours that Friday. If I left too early I would have run out of hours before I was empty. Finally they told me just go go to the plant as soon as I could.

I got there and was sent to 3 different places. Finally got to the right one and the unload went off without a hitch. I got to the truck stop with 15 minutes to spare legally. They sent me home with the empty and I am off until Monday when I get another wonderful Michigan load that delivers at 2 am on Wednesday. At least I get to run this one at my pace and not deliver 24 hours after pick up. Its sitting on the yard now. I will probably leave Monday PM and split break while they unload me to get back home quicker and get another load out next week. Thats one good thing about this load. Its 1500 miles and you get through the house during the week

 

5/27-6/7

Pretty good couple of weeks. All dedicated runs out and back to our terminal. Started out with a High Point NC to Holland Mi that I have done several times. Tank was waiting for me at the terminal Memorial day. I get an early start and get to the yard to find my truck wouldn't start. I had left a light on ant it drained my battery. Fortunately I had some jumper cables and 45 minutes later I was on my way after jumping it off of my pick up truck. I get 20 minutes down the road, look up and see disco lights in my mirrors. I pull over and the DOT officer tells me he is going to do a level 2 inspection. 45 minutes later I am on my way with no violations. I am beginning to wonder what else can go wrong. I had left a couple of hours earlier than I had to in hopes of spreading out the driving equally over the 2 days and being more rested to hit the road after unloading. I had a 2:00 AM delivery time. I wanted to be there in time to get at least 8 hours off before delivering so that I could get back faster and maybe get another load this week before the weekend. Sure enough there was a big traffic jam going into one of the tunnels on I77 N. I shut it down about 8:30PM in Charleston Wva. It had taken me 8.5 hours to get where I usually stop on this load driving 4.5. Not a good start to the week.

The next day went off without a hitch. I got to the truck stop 5 minutes away from the customer in time to get my 8 hour break in. Got up at 2:00 Wed AM, got unloaded by 6:00 and made it all the way back to Charleston by 4:00. I called dispatch to see if they had anything else for me this week. He told me no so I slept in a little and left at 6:30 AM that morning. Got a call on the way back asking if I wanted a load that loaded back in Charleston the next morning delivering in Brown Summit NC. I pulled into the terminal around 11:30, dropped my trailer, went to lunch and was on my way back to Charleston. This was some kind of emergency last minute load. I think the plant was running out of this chemical. I was 30 minutes early loading at Dow. They were having computer problems and it took 4 hours to load me. Dispatch called me twice wanting an ETA. He gave my cell phone number to the unloading guys where I was going and they called me twice en route. I drove it nonstop and got unloaded by about 9:00 that night. Overall a good week.

I took Sat Sun and Mon off and ran a load of Lacquer up to a furniture plant in Orleans Vt. It was a beautiful trip. I decided to go I81-I84-I91 rather than drive the I95 corridor through all those big cities. It was only about 50 miles longer mileage wise and this load was only about 25,000 lbs, in 2 compartments of a 3 hole tanker. Not much surge and pulled the hills easy.

I stayed at P&H truck stop in vermont. It was an old school type of place with a good restaurant. Had an Elk Burger on the menu so you know its getting up north.

The plant I went to the next day was real tight. Finally got it turned around and spotted when along comes a box truck that needed to get around me to unload so I had to move to let him by. This was the first time I have used the pump on my truck. Found out it leaks severely. Fortunately we were able to catch all the leak in a 5 gallon bucket and the customer was OK with that. I was surprised at how fast it pumped off. Even with pulling up, hauling 2 3" and 3 2" hoses, and pumping 2 different products I was finished in an hour and a half and on my way home. I made it well into Penn before shutting it down for the night. Got home around 4:30 last night. I am going to N Chicago on Monday with a new dedicated run we just got so I will be through the house next week.

Only bad thing about the dedicated stuff is it doesn't pay as well since 50% of the miles are empty. The trade off is that you get home more and its less stressful knowing where you are going. I am still happy with the company. I have had 3 straight weeks with checks over $1000 gross. This week it will be a little less but I took Monday off and got to go to Vermont.

 

6/9-6/19

Had a nice long weekend off and started this week out by going down to the terminal around 12 noon. We are starting a new dedicated run from N Chicago to Greensboro. You pull an empty tank up there load and bring it back. I got one of those. When the local driver brought it back to the yard it needed springs. My terminal is home to the shop where all major trailer repairs are done so they were able to fix it before I left.....4 hours later. That was fine though because I had 2 days to get to N Chicago. I got to a mom and pop type truck stop off US35 in Ohio around 11:00 that evening. This is a good place to stop. Plenty of parking and a good restaurant for breakfast the next morning.

This tank is different than most. It is fiberglass lined and the internal valve works off of air pressure. Below is a picture at the truck stop.

I made it up to the Markham terminal in plenty of time to meet my 7 am load appointment the next morning. Traffic wasn't too bad for that time of day. I got loaded in under 2 hours and made it all the way back to the truck stop I stayed at the night before. I slept in a little and got back to the terminal by 3 or so the next day.

I was sort of hoping they would have a local guy deliver this load the next morning because we had a safety meeting that evening and I didn't want to drive the 70+ miles round trip from my house to the terminal twice in one day. Better still they had some local work for me to do.

At this point I thought I was looking at another week with a less than great paycheck. Boy was I wrong.

I was given another dedicated load that loaded Monday 6/16 in Plaquemine La. I left Saturday afternoon and ran it pretty easy arriving in Plaquemine Sunday evening. You can run this load one way in 24 hours but I gave myself plenty of time on the front end so I would have a full 11 hours to run after getting loaded. It worked out well because I got another dedicated run to N Chicago as soon as I got back.

I am now sitting at the TA in Russell In waiting for my trailer to get loaded. This is another first for me as this is a dry bulk load. It took 3 hours for me just to spot the trailer for them this morning. They are using an overhead crane to load it with big bags and it had to be positioned just right. They didn't know exactly where the trailer needed to be in the building and kept having me move it 2 feet to one side or the other. Then once it was in place we had to wait for the engineer to get back from lunch.

This is another example of why its better to pull a tank than a box. This trailer probably will not be ready until tomorrow after noon. I shut down at the truck stop at 3:30Pm. After 15 hours will go on the clock for layover pay. The plant guy told me he would call me at noon. That gives me at least 6 hours layover pay.

I will be interested to see how powder handles in a tank. I would imagine it doesn't surge as much. However this tank is as tall as a box trailer so I plan to take it just as easy around curves as I do with liquid.

 

Got home with my dry bulk trailer. It pulls much different than liquid. I would imagine its like pulling a loaded box. I found myself bracing for the surge to hit snub braking in the mountains but it never came. Got back today about 5:00 and am off until Tuesday. This load delivers Monday but they are getting a local guy to deliver it for me so I can take the day off to spend with my son. They are also giving me some time off because my next load is going to Carlin Nevada delivering on Monday 6/30. I get to see some real mountains now!

 

I know its powder and figured it wouldn't move as much as liquid. Having never pulled one before I thought it might move some.

Looking at the map the mountains look pretty big to me especially across Utah on I80. MS Streets and trips highlighted a section in red saying it closes in the winter. Will be a good learning experience either way.

 

6/24

I had planned to leave today for Nevada. Got a call yesterday from dispatch asking me to come in early and load some waste water. Wound up working local for about 9.5 hours today. Loaded a trailer over in Greensboro. We have been really busy these last two weeks. Our local man told me he put in 14 hours yesterday and they had so much work today they had to call me in. Thats fine with me. My load delivers Monday so I still have 5 days to get out there. Today just made my check a little bigger this week.

Got all fueled up and hooked to my trailer before I left and plan to get an early start in the morning

 

6/25-27

My trip out west is going well. I have until Sunday to get to Nevada so I have been trying to spread out the driving so once I get past 8 days out I will recover 8-10 hours to drive each day. I have about 785 miles to go. The trip has been uneventful so far. I shut down early yesterday due to a roll over accident backing up traffic into Kansas City on I-70. I had wanted to get about 80 miles further down the road. I easily made that up today with the 75 mph speed limit on I-80 through Nebraska. I shut down tonight in Sidney Nebraska at the Sapp Brothers truck stop. They have free wifi so I don't have to use my aircard bandwidth