Driving OTR with US Xpress

Hello There.


Trips and Stats.

While I was en-route to Jackson, MO with that P&G load, I got a pre-assign that picked up in Princeton, KY, and dropped in York, PA, 177, dead head miles, 746 loaded. The downside was I dropped my P&G load at 1000. This load (live) picks up at 1800. With the clock started, if everyone was on schedule, I would have 3 hours left when I bumped the dock, and the closest TS to the shipper was almost 2 hours away. I requested an early pick-up and the reply from dispatch was:


"You can try."

Well, I wasn't going to wait around. I figured if I'm running out of hours someplace, it might as well be at the shipper. So my plan was get there early and maybe, just maybe, I can get loaded early. Sure enough, I walked in, gave him the load number, apologized for being early (wonder if that was actually necessary) and he said "Door 24".

"Right now?"

"Yep. Right now."

Choice.


I roll over and bump the dock. 1600. This could work out nice. At 1800, I still had a green light. So unless they were loading helium balloons in my truck, my guess was I'm still empty. It took until 0030 to get me loaded. But the shipper comes up to my truck and says "Are you out of hours?" I did mention to him in passing that I was way low on hours when I checked in.

"Yes I am."

"Well don't worry about that. You can park over with the loaded trailers. Stay as long as you need."


So I slowly moved into a parking space a space looking forward to a good night's sleep.




The Dark Side.

About 10 minutes into my long awaited rack time, I felt an itch on my leg...............scratch, scratch............and it didn't stop. Next, I have an itch on my foot............scratch, scratch, sctach..........leg............scratch................knee...........scratch, scratch.

That's it. I'm up. Turn on the light. Looking for a reason for my discomfort. Can't see anything. I know! Baby wipes.......wash down the areas............no good...........scratch some more...........it's getting worse.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I see it: A mosquito! This sucker's been having a field day poking holes in me.


I have no guilt about killing mosquitos..............SWAT...............flick.


Ever notice no matter how well you decimate a mosquito, it never makes the itch stop.


Scratch........scratch.......nothing in the bathroom bag of any use...........Figures. Guess I'll stay awake until the itch stops, or I collapse from exhaustion.





If this keeps up, I'm changing her name to Marge.







Thanks for reading.
-Wedge

 

The sad part is that I'm not making this stuff up.


BTW, make sure you have a back up hearing device. That's a DOT mandate if it appears on your medical card. Just giving you a heads up.


Good luck with your orientation and training, and don't forget to fill us in on how you're making out.

 

Hello There.


I forgot to tell you. Next morning, after I spent the night scratching a bazillion mosquito bites and maybe getting 4 hours of sleep, when I looked out the window, what do I see sitting on my door? A mosquito. Probably the opposite number to the one that's still decomposing on my truck floor.

Must have taken a snooze waiting for her to come back from safari.................SWAT............flick.

Onward.


Trips and Stats

This weeks settlement sheet: 2,166 miles for 6 days.

I left the shipper (scratch, scratch) and made my delivery to York, PA and received another pre-assign enroute which picked up in Middletown, PA, and delivered to Culloden, WV, 423 paid miles. This trip was going to be tight because, as is always the case running out of the 'Falcons Region' office, my 70 was real low and I was only getting back a 5 hours at midnight. I saved what I could by expediting myself to get loaded. I decided that it made sense to head to our Shippenburg, terminal, break early, wake up about 0200, and run the load straight to the receiver.

I was up by 0130, made coffee, and jumped out and started my PTI. Sure enough.......my L/S forward tandem tire (outer) was missing a chunk of tread about a foot long ..................Friday the 13th.........figures.


Scratch.......scratch


I filled in dispatched over the DT, and then scrambled into the shop. I wanted this one changed ASAP. Being under load certainly helps. I pulled into the fuel island and had a new tire on in 15 minutes. Dispatch gets back me, concerned whether or not I'd make the delivery on time (0900). My ETA was 0815, so I added 30 minutes and sent them an ETA of 0845.

Quick service on the part of the shop made the save on this one. 5 hrs, 20 to the receiver, 7 hrs 25 available. Only 13k in the box so the hills won't be much of a factor. The tire change delayed my leaving, but barring the unforeseen, it should not be a problem (scratch).

Heavy ran and construction did slow me down, but I made it to the receiver by 0900.

And my favorite kind of backing maneuver........blindside.......uphill.......dirt parking lot.........2 elevated concrete pads that you have to drive the tandems onto..........rain........a dumpster (on the drivers side so I obviously can't see it).............and finally.................an audience..................(scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch).


Oh yeah......no assistance.........they were all huddled under the awning, watch the "Diesel Car Spectacular."

After a few minutes of f...........messing around, I ran in with my paperwork. Someone in the crowd voiced up.

"Say, that truck's pretty big."

"Well, I knew you guys had a small parking lot, so I decided to leave my 106' trailer home."

"Wow! That must be really big!"


Now my brain itches.


"Anybody need a bridge?" 9 people, smiling, shook their head no.

"No?............Just checking."...............gotta be something in the water.

I was unloaded in about 5 minutes. I looked in my mirror as I was leaving, and saw them, once again, huddled under the awning, waving. Probably amazed that something this big actually moves.

I turned out of the driveway onto the street and saw they were still looking at me. I gave 'em a couple of blasts on the air horn and they started frantically waving again. Even my dog doesn't care that much. Flipped open the phone.......yep......still 2012. First thing I'm gonna do when I'm dead is run that one by Einstein. Maybe there's a defect in the space-time continuum.

Hit the highway and headed to the TS in Nitro, WV. Had 50 minutes left when I parked, 69 hours of my 70 used up, only getting back 4 hours at midnight, ......the heck with it........I'm taking a 34. Been a while.


Nothing unusual going on other than your standard TS entertainment...........except for these 3 birds next to my truck.

They seem to be looking at me and.............well...........smiling.


Birds can't smile...............they don't even have lips.







Knew I should have made my own coffee.................




Thanks for reading.
-Wedge