Good Night From II

Dropped a t-call in Columbus, pm & 90 day tomorrow, video games now.

 

Doing a 10 at a rest area somewhere in the NC mountains on I-40. Heading to Searcy AR to a Wally World DC to drop.

Drove into NC from KY this morning thru some moderate rain but not too bad. Grabbed a Mac30 load from Charlotte to Arkansas on the way in before the planners got to me. Was a preloaded trailer ready to go as soon as I dropped my load from WI. Only 10 minutes away and as always lately with Walmart..Hyper Focus and JIT etc etc.

 

I avoided that load to Laredo and was sent another to NM.
I like this one better.

So I get to the terminal to find an mt, and find my truck in front of the shop with the side cover off.
It seems that they went to move it this morning and the batteries were dead. They decided to replace all 4.
The third item I listed when I put it in the shop a couple days ago was to check the batteries! I guess they found out I was right.

So I got the b-service, new steers with an alignment (although it still bounces for some reason when I am bt), and new batteries.

It only took them another 30 minutes or so to replace the batteries, and I went and found a nice mt.
I went in to the window to get dispatched, and they didn't want me to take that nice new trailer for a load to Lowe's. They needed the newer trailers for other things.
I thought I would have to waste more time finding another mt, but since Lowe's had a surplus of trailers I was sent bobtail. Sweet.

Until I got to Lowe's.
It took 30 minutes just getting up to the gate, then another 20 to wait for a yard dog to bring my trailer from the door.
Then it was 500+ over on the tandems, so it had to go back to be reloaded.
They did the BARE minimum, and now I have 33,760 on the tandems with it set all the way back in the last hole. The drives are at 27k. Talk about an unbalanced load!
I was told this is a very common thing here.

 

I got burned like that in Laredo once for an Mty. Now when I'm in a terminal and they tell me they have no mty's and I have to wait on a planners solution, which means a goose chase, I go out and find one myself. Then I call my terminal to see if it has any flags on it..if no, then I have them dispatch me with it and I drive on out. I've done it at more than a few terminals. I've stopped dealing with local staff for terminal mty's.

I really dislike picking up a load that has bad weight distribution too. I like my weight spread to within a couple hundred pounds front to back, with just a tad more on the tandems. My ProStar rides like a Caddilac when balanced like that...with firm precise steering too. I can't handle hobby-horseing for hours on end coupled with light jittery steering with too much understeer.

 

Sitting at the Petro in Amarillo. Some observations about the trek from Tonasket, WA:

- The route from Tonasket down to Lewiston is a fun trek. Narrow winding hills with 8% grades. Challenging with an empty trailer in slick conditions.

- Calling 911 is your friend: when we went south on US-95 we missed the scale (which exited to the left side in the middle). I had my trainee pull over, park, and set the 4-ways on just past the scale and I called 911 and explained the situation. The lady said to go find the nearest turn around and go back to the scale and she would call the scale house. We got back to the scale and when I started to show him our trip permit the officer said, "I don't need to see them. The fact that you pulled over and called 911 tells me you are legit. Have a good day!" I found a drivers license laying on the ground just outside the door on my way in and gave it to him. "Oh, that's the guy I put out of service over there." The license was for a Russian with an Illinois license. Hmmmm

- Found out my trainee did actually have a critical event recorded, for taking a corner too fast (I never felt it). So apparently those 18 critical events weren't in fact CE's, they were repeat messages to call the 800 number and Safety forgot to turn off the repeat message function.

- The truck is running great, the check engine light issues are resolved, but the windshield continues to whistle a bit at speed or high winds. Since Troutdale partially fixed the problem by gluing down the seal around the windshield I figure I'll get a caulk gun and try to work on the problem myself.

- We have time before our live unload in OKC on Saturday morning, so my trainee is running out the balance of this trip to be in position to test out in Memphis and I've put in a request for a load to Memphis. I've taken our down times to go over chaining procedures, review load balancing, trip planning, and help him study for the written exam. While I was going over chaining procedures at the Petro in Laramie yesterday I ended up teaching a small group of newer drivers that had never chained before.

I'm planning on taking a longer home time back in Jurupa Valley this time, so I'll talk to my DM regarding how long I can take off without having to give up "Jenny".

 

Taking my 10 at a T/A on I-40 an hour east of Memphis. Wanted to get to the terminal so I could also do the winter SIMS and get fluids for the truck but was 3 mins short on my 70 and zero for a post trip. Could've made it happen if we were on paper logs. Oh well.

After dropping this load at walmart DC in Searcy AR have a mac30 load that I pick up in Pine Bluff AR going to Richmond MO. Has too much time on it so I'm tcalling in Edwardsville Saturday. I took the 500 miles just to keep moving. Gonna keep checking mac30 on the way in to see if I can latch on to something BEFORE they give me a local delivery off the yard. Might get lucky or I might not. The next hurdle will be scoring an mty..will see if I can "snatch" one off the yard without them knowing..I'll get my terminal to clear it. Usually works

 

T-calling a load in Edwardsville.... on a Saturday.... voluntarily!!!???? Are you crazy!!???

You are in my prayers.

 

You got me cracking up!!
Im gonna be doing a rain dance around my QC all the way there hoping for a way out. Otherwise I'll have to sit on it till Monday morning. Gonna kill my week

 

TA off I85 in Georgia getting loaded on salad bar before gaming

 

I hope they clean the salad bar after you two are done.