From School to Superior Carriers

I had heard several months ago that Louisville was closing after losing a big account.

 

4/5-4/8

Went in Monday and worked about 6.5 hours loading 2 trailers with waste water from our tank wash and spotting them on the yard for other drivers to pull. I had Tuesday off, got a 34 hour reset in and left for California about 10:00 on Wednesday.

I decided to take the southern route I-85-I-20-I-10 rather than running I-40. Its about 40 miles farther but you don't have to go over Black Mountain or through the gourge. I also plan to visit my cousin in Tyler Texas tomorrow night.

This load delivers Monday so I can run easy about 500 miles a day. Its a lot easier than local work. I sure am glad Superior lets drivers route themselves. I read these boards about drivers that are planned down to fuel stops...that would suck. I am looking forward to seeing I-10 from Phoenix to LA. Last time I ran I-8 into California.

 

Will do. I can't complain this week other than working over Easter. My dispatcher said we had around 6 of these Greensboro to California runs this week. He thinks since California is broke they are stocking up on the Waste Water polymer while they have money to spend.

 

I forgot about that... whoohoo. Lets see I drove 520 miles today at .41 plus the holiday pay. I will gross close to $350 for the day. Maybe I will have one of those good Texas steaks to celebrate.

 

4/7-4/12

This trip has gone pretty well. My trailer was waiting for me on the Yard 4/7 so I got a good quick start. I stopped in Birmingham Ala at the Petro Wednesday night. I decided to drive around 500 miles per day to even out my hours for the inevitable deadhead to Pasadena TX after unloading.

4/8

I got up around 7:00 ate breakfast and headed to my planned stop in Tyler Texas. I have a cousin in Tyler and whenever I run I-20 I like to stop and go out to dinner. Last time I saw him i stopped at one of the truckstops listed in my little pocket guide. It was a dump. This time I stopped at a Texas Barbecue restaurant with a Sonic and paved truck parking. It was a great little place. I don't know if they have showers but the bathrooms were real clean with tile that reminded me of Mittens TA in Colorado.

My cousin came and got me about an hour after I got there and we went to a local Mexican restaurant that was real good. Afterwards we went to a movie and saw The Fast and the Furious. It was a nice diversion from the truck and that movie starts out with a scene where they hijack a gas tanker down in Mexico. Considering my route that was thought provoking.

4/9

Got up the next morning and made it down to Pecos Tx where I stopped at the Flying J. This is my first trip after buying 1000 gallons of fuel in a month at Loves and I have unlimited free drinks and showers for April. I like to shower every day and this allows me to fuel every other day. I also found myself stopping at Loves for bathroom breaks rather than rest areas. This is saving me money as the cans in my cooler are lasting longer.

4/10

Drove a little farther and shut down at the Loves in Casa Grande Az. I originally pulled into the TTT truckstop in Tucson and was going to stay there. I ate dinner then heard some guy on the CB talking about breaking the legs of whoever stole his CB. Guess he had a spare. I was getting a bad vibe so I headed down the road another 60-70 miles to Casa Grande.

It was a bit of a pain as there were some pretty bad wind and rain. The front that spawned some tornados in the southeast this week was just forming in the Rockies just north of me. I was real glad I ran I-20, I-10 as I-40 got hammered all week. This was really the only weather I have seen this trip.

4/11

I got up Easter Sunday and headed over to the Petro in Casa Grande to check out the Church Service. I thought I had heard 7:00 on the CB but it was really scheduled for 11:00. Since I had fueled and started my clock I couldn't afford to wait 4 hours for the service. I got my truck washed at the Blue Beacon instead and hit the road.

I drove to Coachella Ca and shut down at the TA using Idle Air since you aren't supposed to idle your truck in California. That put me about 130 miles away from the WWTP plant I was delivering to. I had considered getting closer and stopping at one of the TAs in Ontario. I have heard bad things about them and as a general rule try to stay away from big city truck stops. Coachella was a more laid back place still in the mountains.

4/12

I had a wide open window to deliver on Monday so I left right at daybreak. It was typical LA freeway driving. The worse thing about it is all the stop and go where it backs up for 5 minutes then clears to 55 MPH+. You have to be real careful. I made it to my delivery point no problem. Air unload with 40 feet of 3 inch hose took about 1.75 hours. I was on my way out of LA by Noon. I logged my longest day of the trip making it all the way back to Casa Grande Az by sundown. Shut it down for the night. The next morning it got a little more interesting.