Good Night From II

You're an O/O? Did you decide to relocate to Franklin or did he say to relocate to Franklin? ... If you did it at his direction, you get paid and if he doesn't know how, he better learn how to do it.

 

West side of Meridian MS at a T/A on I-59/20.

Got a load to Raphine VA out of Evadale TX while on hometime. Terminal mgr called me at the house to tell me he reserved an Mty for me to take to the shipper and that Houston ECT would have the keys for the gladhand and kingpin lock but when I arrived to get ready the kingpin key was nowhere to be found. Had to go scrounge thru the yard to find another trailer.

Finally got to the shipper only to run headlong into one seriously rude obnoxious security gal. I just wasn't in the mood to be talked down to like I was something she scraped off her shoe and found myself dishing it right back at her. When I left with the load surprisingly she was all peaches and cream. Go figure.

Drove through heavy rain all day long, not to mention all the crazy 4-wheelers heading home and shopping after the holiday. Finally got a break from the traffic once I got off I-10 and turned north onto I-59.

 

yeah traffic sucks during holidays, on my way to Vegas there was a 30mile stretch or so that traffic would drop to 15mph then speed up to 50 and then a min later back to 15, dont know what the hell is wrong with people sometimes, if everyone would just set their cruise to a decent speed instead of constantly cutting each other off then everyone would get to their destination quicker including those arseholes doing the cutting.

 

Camping at a Petro in Glade Spring VA on I-81 a couple hours from my unload in the morning.

Watched a Swift L/O in a grey KW get popped by a TN State Trooper in Knoxville on I-40E today. He deserved it.
3-lanes, trucks only in right 2 lanes..speed limit was 55 but truck lanes were running ~60-65 and the cars in the restricted lane were running 65-75mph..moderate holiday traffic and trucks. Wet roads with soaking heavy mist in the air.

So I'm in the center lane following another truck with a truck to my right with the Swift in my lane behind two cars that were following me. A large gap opened in the restricted left lane as we started down a hill. I don't know what he was thinking but he went for it with the hammer down. Came flying by me like I was in reverse and ran right up onto the back bumper of a family filled Chevy Tahoe, maybe one car length at probably close to 70mph. I'm thinking WTF Dude!

At the bottom of the hill was the cop tucked up against the inside barrier and he wasted no time going after him. I'm sure Swift will be thrilled to see those tickets. Exactly the kind of driving they've been griping about in the videos.

 

15 over and tailgating sounds like reckless driving and one driver not working for Swift anymore.

 

That type of driver is exactly the thing we don't need.

Denver, CO at the Super 8.
The truck is in the shop, but it should be finished by now.
Got together with my little girls today to deliver Christmas presents and cook them a good dinner.
We are going to the museum tomorrow.
I'll grab one more day here in a motel, then I'll pick up the truck and trailer and head to the TA until I deliver my load.

 

Back on road...left Idaho and delivered in North Las Vegas. Got a pplan to deadhead all the way to Phoenix to pickup a trailer at the terminal bound for a popular DC in Pueblo. They told me to bobtail for 300+ miles...I asked if there were any loads leaving Vegas area, said they are trying to find loads for drivers.

 

Back in Raphine VA at the PETRO on I-81.

Got to my unload in Raphine this morning a couple hours early. Customer got their big 6 rolls of paper off pretty quick. Then headed an hour west on I-64 to Covington VA to pick up yet another heavy load of roll paper to take up to Hazleton PA. Got this load dropped on me after checking mac30 for 18 hours and coming up dry (was hoping to get back west over the Appalachians). This makes 9 loads in a row over 44K lbs..don't have to tell you what it's like dragging this kind of weight up through TN and VA in heavy rain and traffic...but it's better than sitting.

So I get to the shipper where you get your MTY inspected at one location and drive 5 miles to another locale to do the D/H. So I knew I'd have to get my DM to fix the Lcall because of the second location. Was given the trailer # to p/u in the ppln so I already expected the 5-series to be a POS. I wasn't dissapointed. Two of the retractor pins were highly corroded with broken springs and I could not move the tandems. Wonderful!!, plus it had a fresh inspection..yeah right!! Did my Lcall so I could do a mac55 for repairs. It's only a 6hr hop but I saw that fading away quickly.

Lcall wouldnt fly and neither would the 55. Called Houston and sat on hold forever and eventually got the Lcall fixed, now mac55 worked. While on hold with Breakdown decided there's no point in hanging around so went the one hour back to the Raphine Petro to weigh it to see what I had...79.5k gross and perfect spread on all three axles. Yay!!, lucky break!!

After finally getting Breakdown I told them I'm gonna roll in the morning to final with it as is..no problem, and get the trailer mty. Told them if my next load is a D/H I'll mac38 it and Swift can deal with it. If I get a live load then I'll decline and DH to Jonestown an hour away and dump it there for repairs. Both options save Swift from paying an outside vendor for repairs. Everyone's happy, so we'll see how it goes. Just another day in the life.

 

Augusta, GA at a Pilot. Got unloaded at the new Walmart Market Store this morning and had almost 8 hours left on my 11 hoping for a bit more productivity, but it wasn't happening. I've sat all day and nothing picks up until tomorrow. Nap time again.

 

Richmond, VA terminal after running an Amazon JIT load from Moreno Valley, CA. My trainee had moderate improvement with his productivity, with a new record of 425 miles for a shift. Both full days he drove I had to take over after 10 hours in the sleeper. His break times were still an issue and he needs to increase his average speed.

Tomorrow morning I'll drive to Gap, PA to get a trailer headed to Reno, NV. Looks like we'll be headed into the teeth of the polar front moving down. I'm sure by the time we get to Wyoming it will be a challenge.