The misadventures of a rookie tanker yanker

Yeah, that be broken. I found a broken spring while training, but haven't found any since. Tanks are supposed to be serviced every 90 days. Good to know you are pretripping.

It's hard to fathom how some of our fellow truckers just get up and go without so much as a tire check.

 

Doesn't really matter what local plants are doing unless you're a local driver. Once you get under a load out of Kingsport, you run the system until you want to go home. At that point you get a load headed to within a couple hundred miles of home and tank wash into your home terminal after delivery.

I was hanging out with a couple of the St Gabriel drivers in Markham the other day. They had no complaints. One guy has been with us for over 20 years and the other wasn't far behind him. Both were owner operators.

I know that doesn't help much, but it's all I got

 

I'm on a dedicated to Plymouth,MN. I'll deliver today and hit a nearby TA.

After getting the truck taken care of, IllI be catching an Uber to go visit my great nephew in the hospital. He has a heart transplant and suffered two massive strokes. Poor kid turned 15 while in a comma. For a while the med staff was talking end of life comfort. He surprised everyone by waking up, having vision and hearing, as well as motor function. He can't walk yet, but physical therapy is working towards that goal. He can sort talk, butbit hard with a trake in. He has been in the hospital since October.

My sister and two of my nieces will be meeting up with me there. I haven't met the girls she adopted yet. We'l have a meal and visit the young man. My sister has been by his side since October.

Might stick around and do breakfast in the morning with them before heading back. If I do breakfast, I will check with my two older brothers to see if they can swing by. I didn't let anyone but my sister know I'd be in town. Wanted to focus on my great nephew.

 

I try to do system work, or take dedicated loads with some legs under them. It's not worth the drive to do a 400 mile round trip load and go home. Dispatch understands where I'm coming from and doesn't jerk me around. They are always square with me.

 

Caught a load to Helena Arkansas the day after I got back. I am try to keep the wheels turning until just before the family and I head off on a mountain adventure.

I am offloading now and will run over to the Memphis Terminal afterwards to see what's next. My go home date is the 21st and I'm running off recap. Keeping my fingers crossed that I do reset in Memphis.

The clock will be at 13 when I get in but I gain 12 between tonight and tomorrow night, then a 10 hour pickup. That's 35 hours run time in the next 3 days, and I pick up solid hours over the weekend.

Hope I get a Magnolia run or something similar. Good miles on the Magnolia run, and if I run it hard enough, I can sneak in a 34 just before delivery. The last time, I was able to get 39 hours to reset, run, and make some dispatch delay pay