Diary of a current Swifty

OK, I haven't been here in awhile. Yes, I did get irritated, but I realize I have a "fan club" and I will continue for the sake of those who want me to. I've been busy lately, and haven't been online as much, so this thread may not be updated as often, but I will continue. Thank you all for your support and kind words.

I did get to Phoenix for some time off. They got me a load going to California and told me to T-call it at Phoenix. I came back to work on the 16th. My first load was Phoenix, AZ to San Diego, CA (pd miles 351). Pickup went OK, but around the CA border, I started leaking air. I stopped at a rest area to check it out. There was a brake chamber on the trailer that was gushing air, so I messaged onroad and they got a repair truck out there to fix it. When they were done, I had already been there for a couple hours, so I went ahead and took my break there at the rest area and drove to San Diego the next morning to deliver. While making the delivery, I did a walk around and discovered I had a flat drive tire, so when they finished unloading me, I went to our terminal in Otay Mesa to get it fixed. Once it was fixed, they kicked me out of the terminal telling me they don't have room for drivers who are just waiting for a preplan and I would have to park on the street. That was the first time I have ever been kicked out of a Swift terminal.

Later that same day, I got a preplan that picked up in Wilmington, CA going to Sparks, NV (I forgot to record the miles on that one- I think it was something like 110 empty and 460 loaded). I knew once I had made the pickup, my 14 would be wiped out, but I accepted the load because we have a terminal in Wilmington and I figured I'd pickup and then go sleep in the terminal. On my way to Wilmington, I noticed my trailer lights were flickering on and off. I just put a new pigtail on the truck in January, so I was a little surprised it was failing already. I nursed it along and picked up the load and headed to Swift Wilmington. At the entry gate they weren't real keen on letting me in, but I told them I was out of hours and they did allow me to sleep there.

I just took an 8 hour break so I could beat the traffic leaving the city. I duct taped the pigtail (which worked for about an hour- at least it was daylight by then) and hustled up to Sparks. That's actually a hard run with a heavy load. ( I take US395) Even though it isn't high miles, it takes the full 11 hours. I delivered and headed to Swift Sparks to spend the night. They put 2 preplans on me. The first was a local going from Sparks to Fernley, NV (pd miles- 31, plus $25.00 short haul). I accepted that. The second was supposed to be a reward load for doing the local. It was overnight back down US395. I turned it down. I was tired and grumpy and sometimes a girl just has to say "enough!!!"

The morning of the 19th, I got a new pigtail as soon as the shop opened ( I hope this one lasts) and took the local to Fernley. After delivering I was able to make a much needed grocery run at the Fernley Walmart, which has a large dirt lot next to it perfect for parking a truck. I had a few hours off in the afternoon, then they sent me a preplan that picked up in Stockton, CA and delivered to Grantsville, UT on the 23rd- but could deliver early (pd miles 858). I made the pickup that night and took my time over the next couple days sleeping in and reading a lot and generally resting. I planned to deliver on Monday, the 22nd. I spent Sunday night in Wells, NV and got up Monday to deliver. I hit the weigh station in Wendover, UT and was pulled in for inspection. Level 1.

Ho Boy! What a mess that was. The license plate light on the trailer was out. I hadn't even noticed. I certainly look at that now...lol...lesson learned. But the big brouhaha was my truck registration. My truck is registered in Oklahoma and it has always expired at the end of April. I never noticed the current one expired at the end of February. No biggie, because Swift automatically renews our registrations. Or so I thought. The officer looked it up in the computer and said it was expired there, too. So I contacted my DM and asked if she had a new registration for me thinking maybe they had changed the state. She found nothing. I called permits in Phoenix. They told me Oklahoma has a grace period and that even though it says it's expired, it's not really expired until the end of April. They assured me I would have a new one by then.

What kind of messed up law is that? It says it's expired on the registration, it says it's expired in the computer, but it's not really expired? Grumble, grumble. Lawmakers have way too much time on their hands.

Anyway, I went to Salt Lake City terminal to get the light replaced because it had to be fixed before I dropped the trailer. A five minute repair and I had to wait in line for an hour and a half to get it done. Swift shops have something called a quick lane where a driver can go to get quickie little repairs done, but those lanes are anything but quick. I then got the trailer to Grantsville Monday evening and shut down for the night.

I got a preplan the next morning for a load that picked that evening in Tooele, UT going to Mira Loma, CA on the 25th (pd miles 645). The load was preloaded, but overweight on the trailer tandems, so I had to go back to the shipper to have it reworked. Got to Mira Loma without any other problems. While being unloaded, I got a preplan for a load from Torrance, CA to Kissimmee, FL (pd miles 2536). The load was scheduled for pickup at 0900. I got out of Mira Loma at 0715. I'm driving across the LA area in the middle of rush hour, and I was only 4 minutes late. Amazing.

I'm in Ocala, FL tonight. I deliver tomorrow. I've already got a preplan for a load from Ocala to Charleston, SC (pd miles 415). That load delivers on the 1st. I'll also mention I've got a hometime request in for Detroit on the 5th. We'll see what happens with that.

 

High flight: I really don't care about the mileage of a load, I care more about where it's going and how much time I have to do it. I very rarely get a load over 1000 miles anymore anyway. The shorter runs do burn up my 70 quicker because there's more onduty time involved. And, of course, we don't generally get paid for onduty work. But I take what I can get.

Rug trucker: hometime was pretty good last year. They were always right on or one day late or (once) one day early. This year, it hasn't been so good. I asked to get to Ocala in January and they were very late on that one, like a week and a half late, but they did eventually get me there. Then, as said in previous posts, I asked to get to Phoenix on March 15th and they got me there on the 20th. I understand it can be hard to get to Florida, but I was surprised about the delay getting to Phoenix. They do seem to be on track to get me to New Boston ontime, though. We'll see.

Back to the diary:

I drove to Kissimmee yesterday to make the delivery and when I got there I had to wait because they had some fire drill or false alarm or something and they wouldn't let anyone in until they had it straightened out. (How was that for a run on sentence? lol) When they did open the gate, of course all the truckers made a mad dash to get in, except little ol' me who moseyed on up to the back of the line once the mad dash was over and the dust settled. I dropped the trailer, but they didn't have any empties for me. I sent a message to my DM and she messaged the planner who told me to go ahead and bobtail to my next pickup.

So I bobtailed up to Ocala Kmart to get my load. Once I had it picked up, I only had 2 hours left on my 70, so I just shut it down early. Of course, that meant I had to get up early this morning to get to Charleston, SC by 1400. I stopped for a short nap, but I'm still sleepy. I got here to the Kmart and they didn't have an empty, so they did a live unload which took 3 hours. I had asked them to let me know when they were finished, but they didn't. I went in and asked when I was no longer hearing them banging around back there. At that point, I barely had time to get to a truck stop, where I paid $5.00 for the privledge of sleeping here.

I am preplanned on a load picking up in Ladson, SC which they want me to T-call in Gary, IN (pd miles- 855). The pickup window is 04/01 0700 - 04/04 1800. I was planning to get it this afternoon, but that won't happen since the unload ran right up to my break. I'll just get it in the morning instead. No rush.

I'm having some electrical problems with the tractor. Nothing major (yet) but we'll see how it pans out. Usually I can just get into the batteries and tighten everything up and that takes care of it, but it's not working this time Can't wait till I get a new truck. All these mechanical issues are frustrating.

 

T-call is relaying a load. Example, Driver 1 picks up a load in New Jersey and drops it in Columbus where driver 2 picks it up and takes it to delivery in Denver. This is used when a driver wants home time and they don't have a load delivering there (in above example say driver 1 lives in Columbus and there is no freight going from New Jersey to Columbus) and it is used when there is a big gap between pickup and delivery appts. Say a load picks up on Monday and delivers 400 miles away on Thursday. One driver will pick it up, T-call it at a terminal where it will sit for a couple days, then another driver will take it to the final.

T-call stands for transfer. This may help you remember what it means.

Yes, I've got a Volvo. It's a 2006 with about 490,000 miles.