Millis OTR journal

Wassup y'all, and greetings from Lebanon, Indiana. The last few days have been a little nuts to say the least, and I haven't really had any time to post. So here comes my update for Wednesday through today, along with a fair amount of angst. On Wednesday I got to my final to discover that appointment times aren't even used there, and the dock is first come first served. That would have been good to know, because my day could have gone a lot better if I had gone there earlier. Whoever I spoke to there obviously had no idea what they were talking about. Once I was empty, I headed to Cartersville to drop off my trailer for service. I also needed to get another Prepass unit, because mine died. Opie sent me a load with the intention of getting me back to the terminal to get another Prepass, but there was no chance I could take the load he sent me and still make it back before my 14 ran out. So he pulled me off that load. I was then told by the guys in the shop that there were no units available there. So the maintenance department said I needed to go to Trenton to get one. Here's where the angst starts. I only had a little over 2 hours left at this point. I was sent to Chattanooga to pick up a load heading to Cincinnati. 70 miles away, with 2 hours left, in rush hour traffic. You gotta be friggin kidding me. I made it to the shipper just fine. But my 14 ran out while getting loaded, and I was not allowed to park there for a 10. So now I get a violation. Awesome. Here's the kicker... that load was ready for pickup two days earlier. That is absolutely infuriating. And to make it even better, I had to pay to park because the closest truck stop was completely full and only had reserved spots left. AND... I barely had enough time after my 10 to get this load there on time. So I was sitting behind the wheel as the last couple minutes of my 10 ticked away. I don't mind loads like that, but it pisses me off when my delivery is that squeaky tight because of the load being picked up late. Once I got that load delivered I went to Trenton for my Prepass. I was given a load going to Menomonee Falls that had a delivery time that was even tighter than the one I just finished. And for the exact same reason. It was supposed to have been picked up the day before. Once I got unloaded, I was sent to West Allis to snag a load going to Cleveland. Same song, different verse. Late pickup, very tight delivery time. I was so relieved to be done with that run. I got a preplan for the load I picked up this morning. It had a blessedly wide pickup window of 6am-2pm, and it was dnh. Thank god. I made a b-line for my home truck stop. Didn't go home, as my wife is out of town. But, I did make time to meet with a guy who is going to school next month and wanted to sit down and ask some questions. That was a very enjoyable experience. He's a really nice guy and will make a fantastic addition to the company. After parting ways I went to bed immediately. I definitely needed that. My current load is heading to the Menards DC in Plano. And the window on the delivery time? All day, whenever I get there. So here comes another long-ish round of sleep. Got some laundry and paperwork done, and heading to bed in a minute. I'm grabbing a shower in the morning and heading out. I'm a little under 4 hours away, which will leave plenty of run time for the rest of the day. Last night, my cooler died. This is the second one I've had, and the second time I've lost a decent amount of food. Time to get a good fridge I think, I'm giving up on coolers. Then, this morning, my wireless keyboard died. WTF man. I had to stop at Wallyworld to restock my food supply and get another keyboard. It's been a crappy few days and I'm so glad they're behind me now. Home time isn't coming fast enough. In the words of Cypress Hill, "#### the hammer and raise the white banner". My white flag is up. Stick a fork in me, I'm done. This has by far been the most exhausting run I've been on since I started trucking, and I'm ready for it to end. That's it for tonight, my pillow is calling. Hope you guys have been doing good. Talk at ya tomorrow. Peace y'all.

 

Ugh, the censorship on this site. That wasn't worthy of being censored, that wasn't a swear word.

 

Likewise! That was fun, brother

 

Wassup Truckerland. Tonight I'm in Gary, Indiana. Not much to report today, barely even worth posting. It was a short day, but not really by choice. I finished my load out at Menards, and hooked to an empty. When I got dispatched, I had to drop the empty and grab a preloaded trailer from their yard. I'm heading to Holiday City, Ohio. I had to stop here at the Love's for my fuel stop, and decided to just stay here. I still needed a shower, didn't get that done this morning. I called my final to see if the had overnight parking and alas, they don't. I could have gone further but I decided to get some prep work done for when I go home. I have just under 3 hours to get there, so there will be plenty of time left to run. I also wanted to strengthen my 70 a little more so that I don't run out of time before heading home. Getting closer to my final won't really do much of anything for this paycheck anyhow. So, I'm just chillin and doing some legwork for later. Sadly, that's all I got for today. Hope you guys are doing well. Be safe out there and keep the rubber side down. Catch y'all on the flipside. Peace.

 

Wassup everyone, hello from Sturtevant again. I just had my 3rd trip around Chicago in two days, good grief. Considering the time of day, it wasn't overly horrible. Not sure what the deal was with the cars on this trip, but not a single one of them could seem to locate their gas pedal. C'mon you boneheads, it's the long skinny one on the right. Today went pretty smooth for the most part. I made it to my final without a hitch, and did a quick dnh. Opie gave me a load that picked up really close to Toledo, then back up here to Wisconsin. Traffic was pretty thin until Chicago and I was able to make good time. This load is going to Sheboygan and I'm about 90 minutes away. I have a huge delivery window, 7am-10pm. My plan is to get to the area a little early and hit a truck stop until 7 so I can avoid Milwaukee rush hour. I'm guessing that if I leave here 30 minutes earlier than necessary, I'll miss it. The construction there seems to be slowly getting better but it's still a mess and getting caught in heavy traffic there with those narrow lanes is a little hairy. I'm betting that my next load will be coming from either the brewery or Bemis, and sending me in the direction of home. I can already feel the comfy seat of my chair on the deck. It's getting closer.... Hope you guys had a good day out there in Truckerland. Be safe guys, and keep the rubber side down. See ya tomorrow. Peace y'all.

 

Looks like I'm sleeping with my marker lights on tonight. Apparently everyone around me forgot how to park a truck