Good Night From II

Education day for me. Shut down at Loves just inside the Show Me state off I-35. Spent last night in Edwardsville terminal. By far best Swift terminal of the ones I've seen.

The 18 miler to ExxonMobil of COURSE was a live unload even though listed as a drop and confirmed as a drop when I questioned. I made the most of the 2 hour 15 minute wait sitting in the cab admiring my customer required/issued officially licensed handy dandy styling hardhat. Exchanged qc messages with dm re: loads offered/accepted as drops or preloaded only to arrive and get the "live" slap in the face. He took care of me with the admonition going forward to let him know how long it takes to complete the short runs and he'll get me local pay.

Feeling like Steve Martin when the new phone book arrived I headed north to Centerview IA to pick up the (ahem) preloaded heading to Texas for a l/u. You'll NEVER guess what I discovered on arrival. Yyyyyyyyep, even though there were 3 Swift trailers in their very small yard, the lady in charge told me they have no equipment to move said trailers so they could INITIATE my live load in ohhhhh about an hour ish. Asked if she might assign me one of their six mt doors, allow me to drop and bobtail back to Wally World. They agreed and I left them my cell. Glanced at my phone on the exit and realized I was in bfe Iowa thus no signal. Two hours of "let's slowly peruse every aisle" shopping later and restocking my loyal Cassia I headed back.

Three hours fifteen minutes after dropping my trailer at their dock I was ready to depart.

What did I learn?? First, I learned even though I'm only in second month solo, if I have to seek confirmation disregard same knowing it's going to be a live load/unload. Second whenever the planners give you two at once it isn't cuz they luv ya. Put on your Sherlock Holmes hat before blithely accepting.

Anywho, I know, expect the unexpected. Will be late for the l/u in Texas. At least it should be warmer down there. Gonna idle tnite as last three nights got woke up due to cold. The wabasto is on the fritz but no way I was heading to a shop. Home time scheduled Saturday. They can tend to it then.

Keep em upright and tween the lines friends.

 

Family Mobile from Walmart Dan? Yea me too. I know.

 

Here in Wallace, AL. After 5 hours waiting to get loaded today messed me up getting this 1100 miles on this payroll. There is no way that I could make Laredo by 1600 on Wednesday. Another 8 days until get to pick up my new 680 with a fridge already installed. This one cost me about $600 4 years ago, and that was fridge and installation at KW in PHX. Called Command when getting loaded today and let them know where I am going to be on Thursday and to see what they have available and was told call Wednesday afternoon and they will have a better idea. By then I will have one from Swift. This is why with this Agent I will not do short loads. Seems that she can not tell me 2 days in advance what they have in a area.

 

Heck no we have Sprint. Their coverage SUCKS.

 

yeah Sprint is the worst for a driver to use, its fine in major cities but sucks anywhere else. I have ATT and its a lot better but ultimately Verizon is the best, I have unlimited data with ATT still so not giving it up.
Recently I got a galaxy tablet and got the Freedom pop coverage setup for free where I get free data monthly and can buy more etc, it uses the sprint and the speeds are ridiculously horrible even in the city. Top speed I have seen is maybe 1.5mb/s or so.

 

So you like Edwardsville...LMAO...wait till you go to my home "terminal" in Houston!! It's the Best of the Best, with Honors!! Bwaahaahaa

I had a good chuckle when you said Exxon too. I've been bringing loads there on & off for 4 years from Exxon in Beaumont TX (usually after home time). I went thru the same as you the first time..live unload. Been telling Swift for 4 years it's #### live unload but NO ONE CARES and it NEVER gets changed on the ppln. They're usually very quick unloading though..you're just lucky!!

You got double screwed coming out too. At the bottom of the hill on KS-5 where you stop at the light to turn left to go to Exxon you will see an Owens Corning straight ahead... I virtually always get stacked with an outbound preload from there. Loads are always ready on time, quick in/out, ~25K lbs on, usually, a good trailer going somewhere far away from Kansas City.

Welcome to Swift!! You'll learn to compensate and roll over the BS to keep moving and making money. The longer you run OTR you'll learn there are many situations similar all over the Country...and the pplns will always be wrong.

As as far as local pay...what payroll has given me the few times lately on really short loads (usually in Houston to burn time when I get back a day early) is 0-24 miles is hourly plus miles. Of course miles don't equal #### in that equation, especially in Houstons huge zip code areas, so I take my sweet ##### time (a lowly $12/hr) to milk it. On loads 25-99 miles I get paid short haul (flat $25) plus miles and I hustle. DM has to submit the former to payroll, the latter is automatically handled by payroll.

 

I'll be there Saturday for the first time, dropping a t-call I picked up today in the booming metropolis of Wallula, WA (I almost missed it when I was changing channels on the radio).

Today was an interesting day, reminding me so much of growing up and spending most of my life in a state that has such a wide range of climates, geography, and flora and fauna. Woke up before dawn in Markham, WA at the customer that loaded me yesterday evening. Restful night with the smell of salt air coming off Grays Harbor and the marshlands. HEAVY rain showers all night.

Driving through Olympia, past Sumner and North Bend, then up and over Snoqualmie Pass with almost constant rain and heavy commuter traffic. Knowing the local area I got off I-5 to take the Puyallup/Sumner bypass, but either way sucks.

Topping Snoqualmie in heavy sleet I KNEW that I'd soon be in sunshine, on the rain shadow side of the Cascades. It didn't disappoint. By the time I got to my live unload in Selah it was sunny and crispy cool. By the time I picked up my trailer in Wallulah for this load it was 70ºF.

Coming up and over Cabbage eastbound in the late afternoon was another delight. The sunlight was cutting across snow dusted hills.

All in all a good day. Had to park on the dirt exit road from this armpit of a truck stop in La Grande.

By the way, the options for getting to Houston from here are numerous. The hilarious one came from the Qualcomm nav system if I plug in the final, it wants to route me over the Rockies on I-70...

... riiigggghhhhtttt.

I'm going to be reopting my fuel route so I can run US-6 from Provo, UT and work my way down to Albuquerque. Debating whether to get of I-40 to head toward Lubbock and work SE, or stay on I-40 through Amarillo and get to Houston by way of D/FW.

 

Lepton..when I'm going to/from the ID/WA region Swift usually routes me (from where you are) US-6, 191 to Green River, I-70 to 191 down thru MOAB then 491 thru Shiprock to I-40. On past Amarillo to 287 thru Wichita Falls to Ft Worth. Pick any way you want to get thru Dallas to I-45 on down to Houstons 610 East Loop to get off on Mcarty Street. It's a real cluster along Mcarty due to the HEAVY truck truck traffic at the Loves and Pilot side by side. The terminal is just down the road from there.

Expect the worst you can imagine at the terminal. All mty's are dealt with at the front gate. Good luck getting one!!! Mileage rates to go chase mtys across town are squat due to large zip code areas. Depending on where you go they'll expect you to run 50+ miles for less than $1.00!!!!

At all cost AVOID rush hours...I-45 turns into a parking lot north and south in several places. Enjoy your visit to Houston!!! Bwaahaaahaaa!!!!

 

HousTank I lived in hades......er Houston for a couple of years. You speak truth. I shudder every time I get near. Don't really want to see our terminal there.

Thanks for your insight as well. Not bragging but I pay attention to the minutiae and learn quick. Fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me applies. I missed a couple of clues on those yesterday. I WON'T let that happen again.

 

houstank right...i like that route. i was up northern utahand qc nav wanted to go 90 to the 25 south lol. but my fuel route given by swift was the route you mentioned. i just kept heading south on i-15 and hit reroute button till it finally got it