ATS/school

First, thank you to all for your kind words. This will be a bigger relief for my wife than she knows. Homeschooling 4 kids, delivering papers at nite, and taking care of an almost complete invalid, don't know how she did it as long as she did. Well, i'm back on the road. Picked up in Fairbault,MN. Five skids of air coolers going to NM. Load only weighs 12800, but had to be tarped. And of course they units are 9' tall so the tarps dont quite reach. Fortunetly the bottom 12" are a base that doesnt need to be covered. Good thing because it was tuff enough with all the various sizes. Pretty sure i'll be needing at least one new tarp when this is done. Lots of sharp edges, padded as much as I could but its just that kind of load. Made it to Clive,IA tonight.Talked to another couple ATS O/O's today, actually loaded with one. Both are happy,the first guy even just took possesion of a new Cascadia. Still thinking hard about the lease thing. No, not my first choice, would rather buy on my own then lease on. But, being realistic, probably need to lease for at least the first year for some coin. We'll see, more thinking. Although patience isnt my strongest suit. Ok, not even close! Well the second overtime is about to start, so talk to ya later! Hey, its the cup!

 

Ok, so I get unloaded right? Well, can't forget about trying to fold tarps in a hurricane, alone. They are on the truck, look pretty good, but if I dont re-roll them when im home I know i'll regrett it. So off I go towards Brownsville, then the new load info comes in, no of course not right away! I'm not picking up in B.ville, but Brownwood! Just a bit different. So I spent the night in Pecos and headed out in the am. I had another load of 42" diam. pipe, only this is plastic. Da** heavy, around 8,000lbs per tube. I had to watch a safety video, JOY! Well, got loaded pretty fast, amazing what the RIGHT sized forklift can do! And with a competant operator! I was told they required 2 straps on the bottom and 5 on the top two. No thanks boys, I'll go with 3 on the bottom and 7 on top. And am I ever glad I did!. I'm tooling along on one of the US hwys(cant rem. exactly which) when a pickup towing a camper decides at the last minute that he WILL get gas, right THERE! If I hadnt been doing 5 under the limit and watching for idiots he would now have a new camper on the way and i'd probably be hitchhicking home, looking for a new job. As it was, the toop two pipes slid about 2' forward, breakiing several of the wedges used to keep the pipe from rolling off sideways. So now what? Call in of course, let FM know what adventure i'm having now, and ask how they want me to proceed. No one was around, of course. So I took out some of the wedges I had, from hauling coils waaaay back somewhere. I nailed them in where I thought best and tried to cross strap the two renegades. I say try, but I did do it. Several times, da** pipe is slippery! Well turns out that is what they would of told me to try anyways. I got the load delivered on time, and made it to the next load before they closed. Whew! Taking another load of steel grating up to St. Cloud, to be moved on up to Canada. I'm supposed to be home on Thurs. anyway for a recital, baseball and softball games, and my oldest's bday party.(15! no way! I cant be that old!) So I dont know what they will have me do. Doesn't matter, as long as its not granite! God I hated hauling that crap with my trainer. I know thats almost grounds for termination, ATS started with granite and has a huge share of the pie still. I still hated it!

 

Hey all, ended up sitting all day Monday. Yeah, I know, cant complain when your at home. I finally called and just asked if it would be easier to just start hometime Tues instead of Thurs., there were around a dozen trucks waiting in Cloud, and was told that would be easier. So I get to work on that "to do" list! Oh yeah, number one on the list is a new water heater! Found out on my way home Sunday that ours died. Thank God I have a buddy who is a plumber! Will have hot water again tom. nite!

 

Well I got the yard mowed on Tues, all 6 acres. Then it rained every day! Only got to see part of my sons baseball game, and none of my daughters softball. She was pretty disapointed. Got through another dance recital, and my oldests b-day party. Called in on Mon. to get a load, around noon Im told to go back to Cloud and get a 53' flat. Heading out to CA. Cool, nice long run to get back in the swing of things. Only problem, there are NO 53' flats. Steps yes, flats no. So after 3 hours I get told to grab a 48' and be up near Fergus Falls by 6am. If they were just going to use a 48' why not have me grab a step and they could load it the same? And come to find out there were a whole bunch of new 53s across the street, just not ready yet. I really wish they would come up with some way to keep track of whats out in the yard. This is the 2nd or 3rd time this has happened. Anyway, I was there at 6am, this was one time GPS came in handy. By the time I got officially dispatched everyone had gone home from the shipper. And no, no-one was around early for me to call, so I went with the GPS. Bill Gates was right. I made it inside MT, need to crash. I wont make it to CA in time for Thurs, at least not unless they stay past 5pm. So Im guessing first thing Friday. Oh yeah, going to Pacifica. Thats all I know, south of Pacifica, the Devils Slide. Got these fancy galvanized handrails for the walkway. Nite all!

 

Well my little black cloud is still hanging around! That or I need to go home and shoot both of my black cats as they aren't countering any curses! So I get up early and head of to traverse SF. Actually went as good as could be expected. I had basically all day so I wasn't really worried about delivery time. I find the job site( after trying to get hold of my contact, for the third time). Fortunetly the receptionist actually knew what she was talking about! So I drive down this very steep goat path, to the bottom of the gorge. This thing is barely wide enough for one truck. I had to blind side around a corner, then up this narrow "path" with crap on both sides. I got backed around the corner ok, one pull up. But the path, that took a bit of work. Of course when I finally got to where they wanted to unload me, they bring in the front loader and start moving things out of the way! Glad I could make it easier for the next guy! Now I get the bad news, the tower crane is broken, have to wait for the mech.. Not too bad, I don't have another load yet, so who cares. After 31/2 hrs, the crane is ready! So they unload the back half of the trailer. They are lifting the pieces up and setting them on the new bridge, about 70' above us. OOOOPPPSSS! We dont have enough room! After another hour they finally decide to just unload me and put the stuff on the ground for now. Duh! Oh yeah, by now I have another load, I need to get moving. Only have to go to Napa but lets go here! After i'm finally unloaded I start out. Got about 150 yards, just around the corner, and there is another flatbed getting loaded with some steel beems. That takes another half hour. By the time I finally get back on the Interstate, traffic! And oh my God! Think Houston bad, with construction and a few broke down 4 wheelers. I got to Napa 7minutes too late to load! SEVEN DA** MINUTES!!! They hadn't even started to leave yet! No luck, too late. Nope, not open on the weekend. How the H*ll do people afford to live out here? They never work a weekend or past 4 oclock! At least not if i'm picking up! So here I sit in the J in Lodi, aaallllll weekend long! JOY! I plan on being there REEEEAAAAALLLLL early Mon. am. I am heading back to Rapid City, SD with some cultured stone. Sure hope the Chips stay away, I am planning on idling! Two and a half days with no air? I dont think so!