From School to Superior Carriers

#### Dispatchers telling lies again.

Actually I was put on a different load. This one to a paint plant in Orlando so thats fine.

 

I sent you a PM with some contact info for drivers who have been tanking longer than me.

 

4/18-4/19

This load was going great. Loaded tank was sitting right by the gate at the plant. I was hooked up and scaled within 30 minutes. Drove by the terminal to grab some hoses, brewed a pot of coffee and was on my way by 7:15 AM missing all the rush hour traffic around Houston.

I was mistaken about the Hawaiian Tropic load. This one is going to a paint plant in Orlando delivering at 6 AM 4/20. I decided to split it up about halfway. I shut it down at the Loves east of Mobile Ala on I-10 Saturday 4/18 after about 490 miles. I didn't set an alarm and got a great nights sleep.

Left about 8:30AM with plenty of time. I planned to shut down in Wildwood Fla at I-75 and the Fla Turnpike about 55 miles from my delivery point.

I was cruising down I 10 munching on a Slim Jim when I heard a loud bang and saw big chunks of rubber flying off my left trailer tandems. I always wondered how the truck would handle during a blowout. It was rock solid and didn't swerve at all like a 4 wheeler does. Fortunately nothing hit any of the cars in the hammer lane passing me. I eased onto the shoulder, put out my triangles and called the TA I had just passed about 5 miles back. They are one of the shops we have a company account. I then called my Terminal Manager and gave him the contact info for the shop to give them all the billing info.

The road service truck got there about an hour later. I was so close to the traffic lanes and since it was a left side repair he had me drive to the next exit while he followed me with the lights flashing. There was a small fuel stop there and he put the new tire on there. Total time was about 1.75 hours lost. I made it to Wildwood by 5:45 PM so I can still make my delivery appointment after a 10 hour break.

Below are a couple of pics of my tires.

 

Me too. Hope I never experience it.

 

4/20-4/21

Got up around 4:15 AM and headed down tot he customer in Orlando. Had no problem finding the place but was really glad to have GPS. There was no sign on the building that I could see but I could tell from the GPS and the satellite view on Google where the driveways were. Problem was there were 5 53 foot box trucks parked in both driveways blocking them. Fortunately there was a fuels stop designed for trucks right next door. It had tow away no parking signs all over it but was huge and I was able to turn around and get parked on the side out of the way. I left my 4 ways on and walked next door to the plant.

After a while I found someone who told me where to park. I asked him about the trucks blocking the driveway. He told me they should pull into the lot and he didn't know why they didn't since the gate was open. I asked him if it was ok for me to ask them to pull in and woke up 2 drivers on my way back to the truck. They pulled in. I pulled in and went in search of someone who could tell me where my tanks were. Turned out I was within 15 feet of where I needed to be and I just had to back up a little closer to the tanks.

My paperwork had said 60 feet of 2 inch hose, driver unload, customer air. I wasn't surprised to learn that my product was a customer unload, customer pump through 20 feet of customer supplied 3 inch hose. The paperwork couldn't be any more wrong. I was happy not to have to throw hoses. Vented the dome, grabbed a sample and about 3 hours later was unloaded and ready to go. The guy unloading me even rinsed out the only fitting I used.

I was happy to hear from Savannah that I was being tank washed home. I called and got permission to run about 90 miles farther over to Cape Canaveral to pick up my TWIC card. It took a while to find a place to park a big truck close enough to walk. It took about an hour total including the biometric info being loaded into the card.

When I walked back to my truck I was surprised to see about 6 more messages on my Qualcom. I was being tank washed to Jacksonville, picking up a different trailer, pulling it to Savannah, dropping it and loading a different one at 8:00 AM the next morning. This load delivered at 8:00 AM Thursday morning in Canton Ohio.

I called Savannah dispatch and asked if they had someone else you could pull this load. I had already called my wife telling her I was on the way home. I have been out since before Easter and missed my sons birthday last Friday. They said it was no problem and sent me home as was originally planned.

Had I been presented with this load the first time I called I probably would have run it. I wouldn't have messed around with the TWIC card though. Looking at it now I wouldn't have had time to get to the Savannah terminal so it would have been a rushed morning dropping and hooking trailers getting ready to load. Also there were huge thunderstorms in Jacksonville all afternoon so I would have been miserable. I made the right call and now another driver who needs the money will get a load. I have been running pretty well.

I got back Tuesday afternoon and my terminal manager asked me if I wanted a newer tractor. I am going to move into an International with about 300K miles on it. I have mixed feelings about it but with 740,000 miles on my old freightliner its about time. Seems like something breaks every few weeks these days. I am going in Friday to move my stuff into the new truck and will probably get a load out this weekend somewhere.