From the schoolbus to Transland

September 15th - September 20
Monday started with a knock on my door at 5am. After about three hours I was unloaded and headed to my next load assignment. This was to go from Ogden, Utah to KC, MO and had a wednesday late morning delivery time. Last time I did this run it was a booger going in and out of Salt Lake due to construction, my inexperience, and not knowing the area. This time it was a breeze and it made this run pretty good. I tend to try to start early so my shutdown time is still early giving me a decent time to park and shower.

Tuesday was a nice smooth running day. I like driving through Nebraska. It's too bad I have a 65mph truck I could really put the miles on in this state.

Wednesday I got to KC without incident and was unloaded in an hour. Guessing that I would pick up more than likely the northeast side of kc I headed to my spot to park and await my next load assignment. Two hours later it rings up. In two hours I am to pick up about a block from where I had unloaded. So much for guessing right. With a sigh I figure out I need to fuel at the hook on Front st. This is always a pain. I get there and sure enough the line to wait was messed up. Of course the card readers were down, a bum started asking me for money while I was fueling, and a female fellow trucker decided to cut me and others waiting in line. Apparently she thought that the rules didn't apply to her. Oh well. I can think of other ways to spend an hour that's better than a fuel stop. The shipper was in a tight area and was unmarked so it was a challenge to find. Thanks to a fellow driver I found it and backed into dock. This load was to go to Campellsville, KY. I had until 3pm tomorrow to get it there.

Thursday I show up just in time and found myself at a SMALL feedstore. I found the person in charge. I get to drive this 53 footer into their very tight circle drive and had to watch my trailer that it didn't take out the awning. I get the truck straightened out and backed slightly so as not to block traffic in and out of the store's parking lot. A younger fellow grabs a forklift and a pallet jack and is disapointed when I tell him I can't touch freight. Two hours later I am unloaded and get my next assignment. DH to Danville, KY and take it to Fayetteville, AR. Other than a personal complaint about Kentucky's road signs I pick up the load and head out. If I timed this right I could be in Fayetteville by 3pm and be home (If they deadhead me home) by the kid's bedtime. I requested this weekend home so I wanted to leave some time if I had to pick up something before my FM had to go home.

Friday I drive straight through without a break. I got in Fayetteville about 2pm. Fayetteville delivery was downtown in an area pretty tight for a big truck but I make it through get unloaded and got the heck out of there before rush hour kicked in. I am told I wouldn't go out until Monday. Freight is slow and I get a full weekend.
I noticed that I am getting way comfortable backing this thing and my log and scheduling is getting better. Some of the newbieness is wearing out.
Until next time.

Is anyone still reading this? Any of you newbies or wannabes have any questions from my green point of view feel free to ask me anything.

 

At the advice of a friend I called the county clerk's office and told them I had no problem paying the fine but just didn't want it on my record so they reduced the charge to "disabled vehicle" which means I won't get points or a record for it.
I will get some pics up. I promise.

 

This is a rainbow in Wyoming.





This is a sunset in Joplin, MO

 

I am happy to do it. I was on this board a lot for at least a year before I started trucking school. My research here helped me tremendously. Due to my research I felt I was ahead in the game during school and in my training. It makes things a lot easier. An excoworker of mine recently called me the other day and started to inquire about trucking because he was laid off from his job of ten years and it was clear that he had some classic misconceptions of the industry. I steered him this way. If I had gone through a crappy school or went with the wrong company I might have given up already.
The only thing I am in expert at is screwing up. I learn things the hard way a lot. Anything that I can do to make the "plunge" easier for someone the better.

 

October 12 to October 18

Last week was a 3000 mile week which ended with me bringing a railroad container back to the yard.
Monday started with a load going to Leeds, AL to a new Basspro store. I had only 550 miles to do so I was in no hurry. It was a preloaded trailer. Even though it was one of our new trailers this one had seen better days. Big dents on the top, it took a few times to slide the tandems. And this was after I had to crouch down to put up the landing gear because the trailer was dropped too close to the one beside it. I drive all the way to the store in which I was pleasantly surprised to find the parking lot paved this time. I park for the night. My appointment was for ten am but I knew they would get me in early.

Tuesday I awake to a knock at 7am. Another transland driver had the appointment before mine and I needed to move, After a half an hour of syncronized truck moving while construction vehicles play in and out of our way while manuevering into the docks he drops his trailer, hooks up to the empty that was sitting there and then I drop my trailer where the empty sat and then I hook up to the trailer he just dropped and wait for them to unload it. Oh well still getting unloaded early despite I had to sit in everyones way while I waited for the manager to unlock my trailer. It's always a big cluster of chaos at these new stores. After I was empty I only had to wait just under an hour for my next load. Deadhead 213 miles to Dickson, TN and take it to Kansas City. To my surprise it was a drop and hook (which I haven't been getting lately) and the place was easy to find. My original plan was to drive until my 14 hours were up. I get to the bootheel of Missouri and start getting really tired. I had until midnight wednesday to get this to KC and since we never get a load until late in the day out of there, I decided to pull over for the night.

Wednesday I was off to a later start than I wanted. This put me going into St. Louis right at morning rush hour. Judging by the drama on the cb radio it sounded like I was gonna be stuck for awhile but the reality was one brake check, five minutes of stop and go and then I was rolling again. It seems like everytime I go to kc it's raining. Sure enough I get 10 miles from the city and it started to rain. I also get my next assignment. It was to pick up from the same place I was delivering and take it to Springfield, MO. Here's the catch, I couldn't pick up until 11:30 pm and it had to be in Springfield by 5am. Since my drop in KC was open until midnight I find the casino parking lot and take my ten hour break. Once that was done I drop and hook and head back to springfield. Dang this stuff is easy once you learn things the harder way the first time. If this had been a couple of months ago I would have struggled with how to do this legally, or would have dropped without picking up and struggle with the coloring book.
Thursday I get in early and just park my rig in the yard and slept there. No sense driving home when I needed to be back asap. My next assignment was going into Chicago for a Friday morning delivery. I called the wife and she met me for breakfast. When my ten hour break was done I start for my favoite (sarcasm) city. Good news is I got the toll pass thingy so no more money out of my wallet for chicago runs. Thanks to someone helpful on the cb I find out there is overnight parking at this place. I arrive and hit the bunk. I slept better than I thought I would considering I was next to the airport. Everytime a plane took off the truck would shake. Again I must have been tired because I didn't hear a thing.

Friday I get up about an hour before my appointment time which was a good thing. I am given a dock number and got to back in without having to wait for other trucks. About five minutes after I am in the whole place turns into a clusterfreak with five trucks all trying to dock at the same time. It was one of those docks that were recessed into the building. One barely has room with the trailer doors open and the reflection of light into the mirrors makes it challenging. The guy next to me just about took out my mirror and I was happy to help him out. Two hours later I am empty and I find an abandoned parking lot to sit and wait for my next load assignment. I was skeptical at best because my FM was off today and someone was filling in for him. During my wait I needed to take off the hazmat labels that were on my trailer. The person who put them on stuck em real good because it was more of a challenge than it needed to be. Surprisingly my next load was in. It was to pick up in Chicago and it had a two stop delivery on the Akansas and Oklahoma border. Looking at the map I had two ways of getting to the shipper. One was going back the way I came it would be more miles but easier to navigate. The second way was to continue on the US highway I was on and get there more directly. I chose the latter not knowing what lay ahead. Sure enough the street becomes smaller and now I am pushed onto a "truck route". Who knows how much longer this was gonna go so I find an abandoned parking lot and blindsided into the defunct loading dock so I could turn around. I went with my first plan but since it wasn't challenging enough I took a wrong exit onto the wrong interstate. With the help of the CB I found a good turn around overpass but the opposite direction had a nice traffic jam to rub in my ignorance. Sigh. After some tight turns I find the shipper. Plenty of room to back, I bumped dock and was entertained by a beer truck rodeo that was across the street for three hours while I was being loaded. Luckily I got out of there before the real rush hour began but thanks to a missed turn and a backed up I55 it took three hours to go 60 miles. I just love Chicago.

Saturday morning I pull in the yard. I figured I would sleep at the house saturday and get back on the road Sunday since my delivery wasn't until Monday AM. I went in and talked to the shop. When I was in Wyoming a couple of weeks ago my windsheild got a crack and it was spreading pretty fast. I was informed that my truck needed to be parked so the windshield could be fixed and wouldn't be ready until Monday noon. So my load was handed off to our short haul division and I got a long weekend. My fm said he would call whenever it was ready. Little did I know my weekend would be very extended. I still got about 2000 miles though which is good considering my late start. Freight is really struggling though so who knows what will happen.
Until next time

 

October 19 - October 31
Monday I got a call about noon that my truck was ready but there was no freight to be found.

Tuesday I call my FM and get an answer of Call in the morning. OK.

Wednesday I get a load assignment to New Roads, LA with a thursday morning delivery. New Roads is a small town and more than likely didn't have anywhere to spend the night. The reciever was a feedstore which usually means I will be lucky to get the truck in the lot. Arkansas and Louisiana is a pain for a new guy like me. You can have ten different ways to get somewhere and none of them are obvious. The vague directions from the company didn't help. I thought I would be smart and use Googleearth. I printed out the directions and headed out. When I get to my truck I realized that the internet directions had me going on a non-highlighted hiway which had my "car" crossing a river on a ferry. Glad I looked but I was at square one. After taking way to long to make a ten hour trip I found a truckstop in Baton Rouge and set my aarm for an early wake up call.

Thursday I managed to beat Baton Rouge rush hour and everything was going smooth. That was until I missed my turn in New Roads. The worst thing about it is that I didn't notice until I saw the "10 ton limit" signs on the road I was on. I felt something wasn't right and managed to squeeze in a covenience store parking lot still hanging out in the 10 ton road. The nice store clerk said I needed to turn around and go back to where I missed my turn. She was also able to tell me where one could turn around a large vehicle. I lucked out and found the "factory" she mentioned and barely pulled a turn around. I got on the road she told me but still couldn't find the place. On the right I saw a veterinary clinic. They would be able to tell me where the feedstore is. When I stopped I saw that the store was right next door. This place is SMALL. I had to turn on my flashers and went in to see where the heck I was supposed to deliver this. The owner points out back but says I need to approach the drive from the opposite way. He informs me of the truckstop a mile up ahead where I can turn around and he moves some vehicles around. If only I had known there was a truckstop right by this place I could have saved some time on my clock. Oh well. I pull into the place and basically had to turn around in the back and blindside back to a ramp. That much alone was a challenge but since this place looked like it hadn't been cleaned up since the last hurricane I found myself dodging more obstacles than ordinary. At one point I had to get out and throw some broken pallets out of my way or risk losing a tire or two. Oh and I almost forgot to mention it was raining and I was slinging mud everywhere. Finally I get unloaded but not without incident. I had to call the company to let them know that two bags were damaged. I put in my MT call and drive to the truckstop and sweep out my trailer.

At least that ordeal was over but Thursday was just beginning. After an hour I get my next assignment. this was a nice surprise due to the slow down in freight EVERYONE seems to be going through. I was to deadhead to Baton Rouge and it delivered in Springfield, MO anytime Friday. It was better than sitting but I was nervous about being able to work this weekend. I told my FM to run me this weekend to make up for the short week and I was already being routed through the yard on Friday. Not looking good. Anyways I had better things to worry about. Like how to get to the shipper. There was no company directions and a couple of attempts to call the shipper there was no answer. So I call my FM and politely asked him to googleearth it. After about a half an hour I got impatient and called the shipper again. Finally someone answered and I got the directions I needed. Good thing too because the ones my FM sent had a turn missing. On the way to the shipper there was one incident where I saw a sign for a bridge that said clearance 13'6". Some places you would be ok others this might not so I pulled over and waited. Soon enough another big truck drives by and gets on the bridge. Good now I can go. When I get to the shipper there is another Transland truck there and apparently we get a few loads from here so the lack of directions baffled me. It urns out we were heading in the same place so we decided we would convoy back up to springfield. His load was 10000lbs and mine was just 3000lbs. Sweet. About ten miles into the trip I get a mobilemax message telling me to go to a town that was 20 miles ahead of me and pick up 4 more pallets that were going to the same place. I said later to our little convoy and proceeded to the shipper. Good thing I called because the name of the shipper didn't match the name on the building. I would have been looking forever. After some more wrong turns to make sure I didn't have anymore confidence I settled in a decent truckstop somewhere in AR.

Friday morning I found myself driving in some pretty thick fog. The rest of the drive was uneventful except a funny sign that said "pre-depression clearance sale" on my way back to Missouri. I drop the trailer at the reciever and bobtailed to the yard. At first my FM said there was nothing for the weekend. But while I was cleaning up my truck he called and said there was something. It was to go to Plainview, TX with a Drop and Hook that delivered sunday anytime. Plus there was a preplanned load to dead head to Big Spring, TX 150 miles away that was to be picked up Monday morning at 8am. If I had it to the yard by tuesday 6am I could drop it there instead of having to deliver it.

Saturday I leave around dinner time and take my sweet time getting there. This place was easy to find, it was a wally world dist center. I left earlier than I needed because my preplan directions said to get a specific kind of trailer so I wanted to be able to pick from the empties.

Sunday. Being early was a good idea because there was only one mt left and luckily it was what I needed. Anyone else was gonna have to wait for a live unload. Next I deadheaded to Big Spring where I settled in a TA, swept out my trailer and enjoyed some tv.

Monday I awake to my Mobile Max squealing at midnight. Apparently there was another Transland driver that had the same run I did but couldn't find an mt at Wally world and his appointment was at 5am. Since mine was later they switched us around. I reset my alarm and get a few more hours of sleep. I get to the shipper on time and proceeded to endure a major butthead of a shipping person. After being threatened with "we can take our sweet time to load you if we want" even though I did everything exactly as he said I was surprisingly loaded quickly. I didn't let that bother me though. The rest of the day was an uneventful day of driving that had me back in Springfield that night.

Tuesday a call to my fm informed me that I wasn't going out til the next day. kids didn't seem to mind.

Wednesday I had a load that went from the yard to Commerce, TX. I had some scrap metal that had a delivery time of 8:30 am Thursday. I drive almost all the way there and held up for the night. I found a hotel parking lot where I was able to use some free wifi. Googleearth had me in a bind again but a quick phone call to the reciever fixed that.

Thursday I get unloaded and I find myself with a new load assignment within minutes of docking. It was to deadhead to Fort Worth and bring it back to Springfield with a drop anytime Friday. Friday was Halloween and I requested to be off for the holiday and the first so this was good news for me. I drive to FT. Worth and it takes a couple of hours plus the wait for their lunch hour to get loaded. This place had three other Transland drivers who were all headed to the same place so I got to talk to them. I get out of FT. Worth just before afternoon rush hour. I had just enough hours to drive to muskogee, OK where I showered and made myself a good meal.

Friday I take my time and get to Springfield where I delivered my load. Right when I had to drop the trailer it started to rain and hail real hard. After I dropped the rain stopped which was a good thing because my left windshield wiper stopped working. plus I discovered a headlight out as well. I write up my truck and am off to enjoy the weekend. I hope frieght picks back up.