Buckeye hauling Maverick Glass

Thanks for the reminder seawheeler. I'm driving 27644, missing a few of the niceties of the '12 trainer truck, but happy to be on my own. She's run the first 1700 miles just fine. PM your number to me sometimes as you will have experience with the glass I can draw on. See you on the road. You can pick up my physical description from the sewerman entry.

 

We made it into Little Rock with no problems and "momma Kay" picked us up herself. I had heard great things about her and she fills them all and then some. We dropped our stuff in her area and headed over to the shop to find out where our trucks were. Nicholas and I had been together as roommates from day one but, of course that was about to change. We were told where our trucks were and proceeded to check them out thoroughly. He had most of his equipment and was attached to a step deck. Mine, on the other hand had two wet 4" straps, one skid mat and no trailer. Maintenance had told me there was a glass flatbed over on the gravel and gave me the number. Later he came over and said "So, you're really going to take it, huh?". Turns out it had been sitting at NLR for 2-3 months. So I checked it out fully, too. On checking in with the equipment shack I received a lot of new items and a few old ones. In any case, I had the full outfit for glass and most of the steel stuff, too - except for rope, an item used extensively by glass but little by flat-bedders. After completing the truck/trailer checkouts we ran to walmart/lowes for some necessary items and returned to find we both had loads out of Wichita Falls, TX. Nicholas was going to NC from there and I was going to Miami. We took advantage of NLR and showered and washed clothes before departing. My plan was to get into TX and stop for the night but this didn't happen. I learned firsthand that there is really no place to stop overnight on US 82 in TX. Fortunately I had the hours to get to Wichita Falls, then crashed until noon the next day - I thought. I was awakened early by my wife calling to check on me and a few minutes later Charley Brown came over wanting my trailer and the trailer of the driver next to me, also a Maverick. We both had to set up racks and he was quite helpful with breaking out his air drive impact to speed the process. I then sat back and waited until noon to drive. This didn't really get me anywhere since the plant didn't get me loaded until about 1800. It was a crazy load with glass on both racks, a skidrack in between the racks and TWO skidracks behind the back rack. The plant guys had a tough time getting it tarped then I was left with fixing that and getting it fully secured. Finally leaving the facility about 2045 local. I drove to I20 and stopped at a pilot praying for an empty spot. I FOUND ONE! Made sure I said thanks, God and backed in. The following two days were uneventful driving to Ft Pierce, FL, stopping the first night at the I10 FL welcome station. I was in a position to deliver Monday even though scheduled 0800, Tuesday and sent a qualcomm saying so. Response was "Order doesn't mention early delivery". I waited until 1000 to call my FM and she spoke to the CSR. Finally got a response at 1215 saying I could deliver at 1430 but 1500 would be too late. Being 120 miles away I knew I would have to have perfect traffic to get there so I deferred and chose to get a 34 reset. I am 120 miles away because this is the last flying J/Pilot going down I95 or the Turnpike and since I hadn't been to this location yet I didn't want to get dwon there and find nowhere to park. So here I sit waiting for 0445 Tuesday, showered, with clean clothes and ready to cruise. God Bless!!

 

Two further informational notes. The EZPass on the windshield doesn't count in FL - stop for the tolls. Also sending in a qualcomm to extended services in the off hours does not go to your FM. If you need them to check on an early delivery send another qualcomm at 0800 and/or call them.

 

Delivered my glass to Old Castle in Miami and almost immediately go a deadhead to Huger, SC. I lived in SC for 15 years and never heard of Huger; it's not even on the Rand McNally Atlas. Fortunately my GPS knew where it was and got me started until I could get on the computer tonight. Overnighting at Flying J, Brunswick, GA. God Bless.

 

i feel like i've been gone for weeks. I had messed something up with my phone connection and just now figured it out. I feel and 'Jim the Hut' long catch up entry since a lot has happened. When i was almost to Huger I received my work order and it said go the Fairfax, SC for OSB. I was north of Charleston and now they tell me to go to the other side of the state where I just came through. Oh well, as long as I'm getting paid. While at Fairfax, I met SteveO2drive, a friend of Seawheeler. I got loaded and spent the night in the parking lot along with over a dozen others. It was fun tarping the OSB with gusting 20 knot winds but did get it decent looking after a couple of hours. I had to take down my glass racks and of course it was raining, but at least I was doing something to earn $20 while I was waiting. That load went to Lowes of pittsburgh. I stopped early just short of the PA line to overnight and while there received a pre-plan to pick up slinkies in Cleveland at 2000 Friday. In order to get the Lowes delivery done and get time for the slinkies, I showed up at Lowes at 0600 and let them unload and I sat in their parking lot all day to get my 10 hour reset. I was able to get the slinkies and got home to Columbus around 0200. That was a long day. I will get into the next week later. It had a rough start. God Bless! and Merry Christmas.

 

I certainly have dropped my pack on keeping up with this post. To briefly catch up, I have been to KY to drop the slinkies and pick up aluminum coil. Had a bad starter and routed through NLR to get it replaced. The AL coils took me to Ft Worth and from there to Wichita Falls. Took glass to Bensenville, outside Chicago where it was rejectged due to not enough space between the packs. I was routed to Mt Zion, IL to get it repacked and made the delivery Tuesday. As a little humor, I arrived Sunday night the first time and was parked at the consignee which was behind a small church across from the McD. I decided to go to the evening service and when I sat down and listened for a few minutes didn't hear english. So I asked " Is this service in English?" and the lady said "Oh no". I quietly excused myself and noticed the next morning the sign by the church said "Romainian Baptist Church." Oh well, God knew I tried. Anyway, following the successful delivery, I was routed back to Mt Zion where I loaded glass for delivery in Atlanta after Christmas. I spent Christmas in Macon, GA, home of my mother and the rest of my family came there. I delivered in Atlanta on Tuesday fol Christmas and was again routed to Mt Zion then to Owatonna, MN. I was able to beat the cold and get back south before the snow. Once again I found myself at MT Zion taking glass to Cheswick, PA outside Pittsburgh and here the snow caught up with me. Not bad, but cold. Went from there to Carleton, MI to change trailers and pick up a steel coil from Monroe for Richburg, SC. That is where I am tonight. I fully expect to go around the corner to Guardian at Richburg for glass once I deliver tomorrow. I will try to keep up better. Hope everyone has a wonderful new year and God Bless.