CRETE - A Year in Review

I left Tuesday from my home time. Picked up in Tifton, GA headed to Atlanta. Then pick up at the paper mill west of Rome, GA headed to Battle Creek, MI for Friday. It will put me just shy of 1100 in 3.5 days. But this is going to be a screwed up tour for me. My Prepass was showing its age. I've had it for 5 years and the last few weeks when it beeps at a scale, the light is real dim until it is done beeping...plus every once in a while it only 'blips' and no lights flash at all. I figure the battery is getting weak, so I message Prepass, and they tell me they're shipping me a new one, and to send the old one back. The problem...I send in the old one, but the new one arrived 3 hours after I had to roll...so I am Prepass-less until I get by home again. Which sucks because this paper load puts me exactly at 80,000 lbs. The closest I can get to legal is 34040 on the drives and 34240 on the trailer...boy would I love to have a sliding 5th wheel on this truck...my steers are only in the 11,700's. Op's says go with it since we have the 400lb anti-idle equipment exemption and the only state that doesn't honor that is KY, and I will have burned 240lbs of fuel off by then. I tried to explain that I'm not overgross, and the trailer and drive axle weight won't be changed by fuel weight since my fuel is carried mostly by the steer axle...but they don't get it...at least I have the "ok" via q/comm so my wallet is covered.

 

I know I haven't been myself lately...much less 'snackbar-tuid'(snackbar attitude) but...I have a little rant...not about Crete, but about what the Peelots are doing. I tried to park in the Dalton, GA [x-328] Peelot the other day. This place use to always have somewhere to park, but not now. I know, it was late, I was slightly over weight and tired...but what is it with this LNG filling stations and this replacement of Idleair. I went in, drove around for a bit looking at all the empty Idleair spots that were coned off for members only, then pulled around and there was the LNG filling bays...WTF...they killed of more than a dozen parking spots for that thing, and had "reserved" another dozen spots for Idleair customers only...with all the ground around that lot, they had to ruin spots instead of building on behind/beside the existing property for LNG, that won't likely be profitable for at least 5 years since there are limited companies making LNG powered trucks. And when was it ok for Idleair to reserve spots and lose customers for Peelot... I wish we could get the fuel boss here(and from many other companies) to start dropping Pilots that build both of these...when those locations see a drop in customers and revenue, perhaps they'd get the message. But I doubt they could resist the penny/gallon savings that Peelot would dangle in front of them to lure them back.

 

I'm with ya 100% here....another great idea by your truckstop giant!

Getting ready to round out another astounding week...2300 last week (albeit with a holiday and an A service), but this week will only be about 2400. Been in short-run land this week. Got another 11 days out, so maybe it'll go OK. At least the truck is trouble-free.

Dang...NOW I've done it...

 

As much as I dislike the overall International feel of this truck...it still amazes me. Pulled that 80,000 up and over Monteagle...I dropped to 8th and was able to gain a little speed. Plus I drove from north FL to Tifton, GA , delivered in Atlanta, picked up in Rome, GA and made it all the way to Battle Creek, MI w/o filling again (because of the heavy load) 1070 miles, and it still only took 150 gal. 7+ mpg

 

I delivered in minersville pa and got a message asking if id run walmart loads the next week. Sounds good to me. Just sitting in lavelle pa getting my reset. Just learned to scan my paperwork with phone. Very cool indeed. Be safe fellow drivers and rake in the big bucks!

 

Are you using Turboscan? If so, that is one cool app!

 

No CamScann

 

I've been using the iPhone transflo app for sometime now and have been very pleased with it. The convieniance is very nice.

 

Iphones work much better when scanning paperwork for some reason...certain androids do too, but my Thunderbolt doesn't do well (big shock...it doesn't do most things right). But I did start using the PDAnet tether on occasion to scan using my laptop and scanner/printer.

I talked my receiver into taking the load a day early (didn't have to say much...it was fcfs) even though my A/M hesitated to authorize it, I did it anyway. When I got there, there was another Crete ahead of me. His load was also set for tomorrow, but his A/M asked him to deliver as early as he could. I then went around the city(Battle Creek) to pick a load headed to Menasha, WI for Friday. Another 367 miles. Will put me in the mid 1400's w/hours on a home time week and early on a Friday...I hope freight is moving good out of the Green Bay/Appleton area tomorrow. I also hope the Packers don't get their butts whipped too bad, that way everyone up there won't be in a crappy mood.

 

I have an iPad and would like to start using Camscanner+ but was delaying because of that Qcomm message saying there was some kind of glitch with the update. The Crete message said they would be sending out the full instructions later but I never saw them. Does Crete have the full instructions online anywhere? Do you have to email to Crete after scanning? Thanks