Good Night From II

Laredo, TX at TA.

I sat around all day and finally got a pplan at 1515, a nice load getting me up to Cheyenne, WY.
It picked up at 1700 and I was bobtail, so I had to go to the terminal for an mt.
I hooked up to one and was told it wasn't available. Turns out it is being held by the terminal. A note on the trailer would be nice.
I found another and called first this time. This one showed as loaded in Memphis, TN. It took about 20 minutes to clear that up so I could take it. No glad hand rubber either, as usual around here. I took them from another trailer.
I ended up sending a mac 22 for the pickup because that pplan was sent so late. I hate planners that cut the time too short for no good reason. They could have sent it any time today, but waited for the last second.

I wasted another 30 minutes at the shipper because the pick up number was not included in the load assignment.

2 other Swift trucks got there just after me, and this place is FCFS and they were only loading one truck at a time. I thought I would be last in line because of the missing pick up number, but I got in first. I guess no one was sent the number.

2015 when I finally was loaded, so I just headed back here for the night.
Actually, about half an hour earlier. But the loader made me wait until he was more than half way through loading the next truck before he would give me the bills.

I hate this town. Nothing ever goes as planned here and people are jerks.

 

No there isnt. I mistook a carls jr parking lot on trucker path, found that out after i looked closer. In any case the tire guy escorted me to a nice little dirt lot just off the 102 exit. Right next to the caltrans banning yard. At least im off the bloody highway.

 

Helped a rookie Swifty yesterday at the Lodi J with scaling his load ... So the rooks are getting brand new Volvo 780s?

 

Yeah, never heard anything good out of there from van division. Nothing. And last i was down there that lot was rough. (At least the flatbed area) Its why i always preferred parking in the dirt there.

Naturally its flatbed divisions dream for the most part. Except for the time that idiot in transmex loaded a max weight load on an all steel trailer. He could pull it in his day cab carrying nothing but straps. Naturally i could not. So we got it on a trailer 4500lbs lighter. After chasing down the heavy lift driver half the day. Cause i wasnt about to own a load of frame rails.

 

Yeah. Ran into someone in Phoenix that clipped his mirrors with another truck. It just collapsed no damage and the poor fool was going to put it in the shop. I put his mirror back in place and said "good to go" "your shure" "yeah" got a can of grizzly out of it. Oh boy the meat we are getting.

That break away Mirror support arm on those volvos is nifty.

 

That shipper in Laredo was down the road from the TA about a mile. Mexus, it is called.
Neither the QC or RM GPS could locate it, and when I sent Mac 1 the computer didn't see it as a valid location either.

I was there almost 2 hours when I got a QC message saying that I needed to be there by 1900.
I responded, saying I got there at 1705 and was in the process of loading.
Not long after that I got a call on my phone from the person that sent the message, wondering if I was at the shipper yet.
It seems that he was having the same problem with all the trucks going there.

And of course there are no directions from Mac 23.
One would think that CSR would/could/should simply ask the customer for directions when they set up the account, and create a Mac 23 entry for it.

 

That would almost make some sort of sense wouldnt it.

 

Lathrop terminal
Shipper in Vernon was pretty.quick.on getting me loaded.
Traffic on nb5 was not that great lol.
About 565 miles to final in Albany or.
Hopefully can get it there tomorrow evening

 

I agree 100%. My last time in Laredo I lucked out because it was Saturday and when I called Phoenix to fix my MT call the ECT stole a load from Laredo and got me out of there.

 

I may start refusing loads going there, because I don't go to Mexico and I don't speak the language.

The entire culture is different in that town. Is it just an extension of how they do things in Mexico?
Half the streets that are considered two lanes have no lines painted. Drivers just crowd in wherever they can barely fit.

Glad hand seals are missing on nearly every trailer. I asked about it once and was told they are taken out because people steal them. So, one group steals them to prevent another group? I am still left seeking seals every time I go there.

Very few people speak much English there, especially at the shippers and receivers.

And the planners suck. They of all people know what we have to deal with, and yet they parse out loads at the very last minute. They know it will likely take 30-45 minutes to go 10 miles, and that we will have to take extra time finding empties - and then more time if we don't have extra glad hand seals. And the terminal will only give two.