FedEx Ground Linehaul with JohnBoy

Packages keep moving. I’ve seen the volume picking up with the weight of the trailers I’ve hooked to this week. Hooked a set of doubles at the Murfreesboro hub Saturday and ran the 611 miles to Lenexa KS. Got up there Saturday evening, showered and went to get a bite to eat. Layed down for my 10 then woke up at 7am Sunday with a phone call from my contractor telling me my load back will be ready at 0900. Found my trailers, hooked up and was rolling at 0915. Got back to Nashville Sunday evening, dropped those, then hooked an empty 53’ back to Murf. When I got back my hours were shot, so I was told to take a 34. Monday I woke up and went to start the truck and all I heard was crickets. 4 batteries and a new starter later, I was good to go. The fleet service company my contractor uses was at the hub and had me up and running in 5 hours. Tuesday and Wednesday I did a LaVergne to Memphis turn, today the same thing. All is good on this end. Looking forward to Thanksgiving, which for my wife and I, has a whole different feel this year for us.

 

Been a rather uneventful last week or so. Just moving ground freight from LaVergne Tn to the world Hub in Memphis. Starting my day at 1300 and done at 2300. FedEx is running around trying to find airplanes to fill the gap from the shutdown of the MD-11 since the UPS crash. It looks like the planes are parked on top of each other at the airport here.

My run is 510 miles per day round trip, drop and hook on both ends. Bringing a loaded trailer full of airplane shipping containers to the airport and an empty back. Easy peasy. It runs Monday through Thursday with Friday doing a fill in and Saturday and Sunday off. This past week I was asked on Friday afternoon if I would bobtail up to Goodlettsville to rescue a set of doubles from a driver who broke down and run them up to Cleveland. I said sure. Change of scenery and bonus miles. I leave the hub at 1530 and bobtail up to the driver. Low and behold, he’s broke down in the construction behind a bunch of barrels with a trooper behind him running interference so we don’t get run over. Mind you, I don’t know who’s worse, the cars or trucks not wanting to give us a little room. The trooper said he writes at least 5 tickets a week for vehicles not moving over and that the worst offenders are big trucks. Got that all done then headed to Cleveland. Got there at 1:30 yesterday morning, broke the set down, checked in with Linehaul, then went to bed. Woke up yesterday morning and had a deadhead move back to Murfreesboro. Got up, grabbed a shower, then headed back. On my way back the boss called thanking me for helping out, and told me to grab a steak dinner on him. Nice jester on his part. So I found a Logan’s steakhouse and enjoyed my steak. Got back last night about 22:00 with plenty of time to do a reset so I don’t have to worry about my hours next week.

I’m working through next Monday then leaving to go home early Tuesday morning. I’ll start a full week off Tuesday and be back on the 3rd. I was initially ok’d to bobtail home but my water pump has sprung a leak. So the boss said my call how I want to go home. I opted to rent a car and drive home and back in order to take some things I’ll need for winter, including my tool kit I carry. The plan is to get the water pump replaced while I’m on hometime.

Be safe everyone. Hope you all will be where you want to be on Thanksgiving.

 

It’s putting quite a hurting on the airside. They’re having to put more on trucks. Wrong time of year for that. But, I get it it.

 

Had a completely different run this week. Ran an Ocala from Murfreesboro since Sunday. Things in this racket change hourly. I ran a 575 mile trip down to Ocala, took my 10 then ran a loaded trailer back. Did this run all week. The bad thing about it is Atlanta and Chattanooga at the wrong time. I used up all but 33 minutes of my drive time every day. I’m sitting at the hub in Ocala taking my 10. It was planned that I would be home Tuesday sometime, now I’ll be home tomorrow about noon. I figured I’d be a team player and wait on a loaded trailer going to Port Saint Lucie which is where I park the truck on hometime anyway. I called into Linehaul and asked if they had anything, if not, I was going to bobtail the 200 miles. Dude in the office said he’d hook me up. And he did. It’s the same load I brought down from Murfreesboro that I dropped. It’s going there as a relay and he gave it back to me. I wasn’t able to run it through on paper, but he reassigned it to me and now it’s all good. The best part? I get paid a full day to drive 200 miles, which, if anyone is counting, comes out to $2.00 a mile for my pocketbook.

If anyone was wondering, it’s that time of year. How can I tell? Our loaded trailers are usually 16,000 pounds give or take, all week the trailers have been 31,000+ that shows me someone is spending money. My wife sent out a 9 pound package last week and it cost north of $28 to ship via FedEx. My brain can’t get wrapped around 31,000 pounds in just one trailer. Be safe all, I’ll catch up next week.