Good Night From II

Flatonia, tx on my way to Laredo

 

I had a short load coming off home time to Barnesville, MN.
It was a 'special request' from the Inver Grove terminal. By special I mean I was called on my phone Saturday morning to ask if I would take it instead of just sending me a pplan.
The driver had a doctor appointment Monday morning when it delivered, and they needed to make sure they could cover it so he could get his home time.
The person that called me was pretty hesitant throughout the conversation. I got the feeling he was expecting my to say no - just coming off home time with no miles for the week, and him asking me to do a 200 mile load...
And he woke me up, so my voice was a bit edgy.
But I was happy to oblige. I come back from home time late in the morning, so I never desire to run full miles that day.


It was a live unload at 0700 this morning.
Then I waited 4 hours for a pplan, which doesn't pick up until 0900 tomorrow.
Not a bad load though, around 1000 miles.

So I'm at the Pilot in Alexandria, MN, about a mile from my pick up.
I'm going to be there when they open at 0700 to see if I can load early. It's a live load, so who knows.
Then I'm headed for Lebanon, TN.

It's been a long time since I've been that far east. The past couple months I've been stuck in the western third of the country. It will be a nice change.

 

Lancaster, recall on my fuel pump dine. Now I can sleep.

 

Birmingham, AL.

With a 0800 PTA this morning I set my clock for 0630.
That was a waste of time as nothing came in until 0915.

I was given this pplan twice before, both times turning it down because there wasn't enough time to do it.
A 0900 live load on the 11th, then delivering 405 miles away at 0200 on the 12th for a live unload.
As I would have had to take a 10 during that time it didn't seem possible to deliver at 0200.
This last time it had a pick up time of 0930, and still the 0200 delivery - sent to me at 0915. I hadn't begun my pretrip yet and the place was nearly 30 minutes away.
So I turned it down a third time.

And hour later another pplan came in. This one has enough time but it is a live load at 2345 this evening.
That's where I'm at now, and I'll be taking my 10 here after I'm loaded.
It's been a long day waiting and I wasn't able to sleep before I started driving at 1900 to get here.

 

I knew someone was going to say that.

I don't do splits. Period.

 

And another thing...
Loads should NOT be scheduled to make us do a split to complete it on time. That shows a total lack of consideration for the driver.

Anyway, I got to my pick up on time and shut down at the shipper at about 0230.
I hate those late nights, but as I said the load has enough time to get my clock readjusted.

I didn't drive very far today and stopped just south of Nashville, TN at the Love's.
With the choice of fighting through Friday evening rush hour in Nashville or saving some time and flying through early Saturday morning it was a no-brainer.

 

Yeah, I've been getting a lot of pu at 2300 loads after I deliver at 0900 lately.

Good call on Nashville. I got caught in a no win at DC the other day. Evening rush hour and not enough clock left to get through it. But far enough away that after my 10, I landed right in the middle of the morning rush.

 

I only drove a few hours today so there was no worry about running out of time.
Since I was within the driving window to make delivery tomorrow I just didn't want to waste break time with heavy traffic. I'd much rather watch TV than sit in traffic.
And Nashville is one of those places that is a real bear to get through during rush hour. Too many converging and branching roads, and crazy people.

 

Now that you mention it. We managed to get one of those frustrating split loads. Granted less frustrating in team status. But never the less, student complained ceaselessly he didn't get a full shift out. Still on Vancation.

Also frack Nashville.

We are currently in littlerock headed to somewhere north east of ATL.

My former Fleet manager died yesterday. We are all hanging black bandanas on our mirrors in his honor. To Phoenix flatbed he was awesome. He helped me out several times. And if drivers had problems he took care of em. RIP Chris Morgan. All but the worst amongst us had good things to say about him.