Good Night From II

Oh boy...

... as a previous mentor I hear you loud and clear. Any sense of how long they had been rolling?

Some takeaways from their predicament:

1. When they said Navigo "wasn't working", does that mean it froze up on them? I always taught my trainees how to reboot the system by either changing the speaker setting or pulling the plug on the black box for a couple of minutes.

2. Did they at least have smart phones? If so, then there's absolutely no excuse not to be able to look it up on Google Maps and satellite view.

3. They HAVE the customer phone number. Uhhmmm, they have at least a flip phone, right!!!????

4. Rand McNally truck atlas - never leave home without it. That being said I've had trainees, an alarming percentage of trainees, that never seemed to develop that fascination with maps I learned as soon as I could read. One gentleman couldn't even tell me which direction on a map was North, South, East, or West!!!???? Some couldn't tell me which states we were going through from point A to point B if I showed them the origin city and destination city on the USA map. Seemed like their eyes would just glaze over when it came time I asked them to break out the RM and start trip planning.

"Uhhh, Virginia... where's Virginia?" (as they are flipping through the middle of the book)...

"It's alphabetical."

"Oh yeah, I knew that!" (then they start flipping toward the front of the book)

^^^ True story

 

Lepton, I hear Ya!!
Yesterday for several hours the navigation system was down company wide. A PITA but certainly not the end of the world. Neither of these Cats had smartphones either so that didn't help.

I wrote down the major roads for both guys and showed them pics of their finals using Google Earth. Showed them mac23 for local instructions but then I had to get going.

They both had only been driving a month or less. They're on a very steep learning curve to success. I hope they make it.

 

My student woke me up at 3:00 am to tell me the Qualcomm was down, but he had made it to the final without the nav. He'll be alright. I've been drilling him on using macros 12 and 23, as well as using the atlas. Qualcomm went down for every company that used the system. I wonder how many steering wheel holders hit service fails?

 

I started a thread about my transition to running flatbed to and from oil rigs, in case anyone is interested.

Speaking of the Navigo system, that's something I don't miss at all. The owner of my truck has a Garmin, which has some nice features like alerting you if a steep curve is ahead or there is a speed limit change. Not sure if I'll take my brother's RM 720 and install it in the truck or not.

So far navigation for this job requires RM Atlas, Oklahoma and Texas atlas, gps coordinates provided for every rig together with turn by turn directions from the center of the closest town or paved road intersection, copious use of Google Satellite view, the RigData app, and phone calls to dispatch or to the rig if I am suspicious of a dirt road at a turn.

I can't imagine someone trying to use only a navigation system and getting this job done.

 

Here at IGH. What a day. Was sent first a pplan, pu 40 miles away and t-call 80 miles away and then pick up another and take to Topeka. The issue, pick up tomorrow morning. Called into the terminal and talked to the TM, and he asked me why I had a PTA for this morning. Told him that I set my PTA for Saturday at 0800 and that I never changed it. That got him going. Wanting to know why this morning DM's did not catch it and wanting to know who changed it. I told him about a discussion with my DM about how they are supposed to change PTA to show a more correct time when we have been sitting and my concerns about that putting us to the bottom of the list. He informed me that there is no such policy, or about her putting us on the vacation board when we are on home time, and again no such policy. After I got off the phone, 3 plans. Pick up in Janesville and t-call here. Then pick up in St. Cloud and drop in Shelby, IA tomorrow night or Wednesday morning and then over to Purina in Crete and pick up going to Phoenix for Friday if can make it by then. Want to get this truck into KW by afternoon so done by Saturday and not stuck the weekend. Plus Purina is a live load at 1400 on the 20th. Getting real tired of these late in day loads and have to drive the rest of the day. Oh well. Even the one that I am picking up tomorrow is showing the earliest 1600. Electrolux

 

At a Love's in OK, around mile 4 on I-40.

Enough is enough!
Rain, that is.
It's coming down so hard traffic is going under 40, except for a few super truckers blowing past at 65. Often I couldn't see more than 100 feet in front of me, so I decided to get off the road before something bad happened.

I don't have time for a delay of several hours, so here is where I take my 10. I'll just have to be driving by 0330 to make up for it.

I picked up this load from El Paso yesterday and it was already 2 days late.
I guess no one would take it, what with the wonky paperwork that came with it.

It has 4 additional stops covering MO, IN and IL, but the BOL doesn't show any of that.
Every address is for the parent company, Flexsteel, out of IA.
The CSR told me that she has been trying to get better paperwork out of Flexsteel for some time.
They send her a spreadsheet of the destinations, and that is what she has to work with when setting up the load assignments.
It had been t-called on the 12th, and I didn't get the pplan until the morning of the 18th - over 200 miles mt.

As I was entering NM yesterday I got pulled in for a Level 2 inspection.
It's been years since I've been pulled in, and this time with a wonky load.
I passed it with no problems, though.

 

Moosetek, with a 3:30 am start you should be able to blow through OKC before rush hour starts. Assuming you run I-44 to MO you might catch a little in Tulsa.

I here you about the weather. Just had flash flood alerts come over my phone. Camped in the truck right now in OKC with thunderstorms and heavy rain coming through. Might need to put the new Itasca rubber boots to good use to walk over to the terminal and have a "comfort stop".

I recommend the MyRadar app for everyone. Gives real time radar wherever you are, zoom in or out, and see three day forecasts in any location. Together with the Simple Weather Alert app it gives me heads up of heavy storms, flash flood warnings, and tornadoes.

 

Yes, I'll be going I-40 to I-44 into Springfield, MO, then down US 65.
I was due to go through OKC at around 1800 tonight, stopping on the other side to fuel at the Loves.
This schedule saves me that rush hour, and hopefully Tulsa won't be too bad.

I'm looking forward to the next leg of the trip which is also along I-44 east bound.
It goes through Rolla, and just before that is the Mule Trading Post.
It is one of the few places that I can get my pipe tobacco at a good price. At home in MN it is 3 times the price.

 

Here in Avoca at the J. Today while at the terminal the TM asked me if could deliver early, like 0800 since CSR said that could so I said yes, as long as my pickup is ready early. It was. Almost 2.5 hours early. Now I just hope. The assignment says FCFS 0700-1900, Final is drop and the bills say appointment at 1400. The TM says that even though my pplan says live load 1400-1800 that it is really 1400. What gives? Today I was also showed a email that he sent to 3 DM regarding my truck from yesterday. He was just a little PO'd. Wanting to know how my PTA was changed from Saturday to Monday and nobody caught it. They searched all through the computer and my truck and could not find any reason for the change. Was told that this was the reason that I could not get pplaned on Sunday. Today all got my new DM. Lets see what happens now. Now to get to PHX by Friday early afternoon will be a little more of a push then I like since a late start in the day.