Good Night From II

At a Cenex in Belle Fourche SD. Picking up a live load just down 212 in WY in the morning bound for a live unload in Portland OR.

Kept banging away on mac30 during my unload in Minot and nothing. Sent some notes to Houston to push on a planner..as if that would happen!! Went back to the TS and back to bed. As I expected got a ppln at the last possible moment to DH 400 miles to WY for my P/U. Been to this customer before and knew they had onsite parking. Ran 7 hours nonstop on 2-lane roads to get down here ASAP but was a crummy 9 minutes short on my 14 to make it to their lot. So I had to hold up 20 miles away. Arrrgh!!

Ive come to expect late dispatches but still find it irritating that they couldn't of sent it 30 minutes earlier. My DM and I chatted a couple minutes on the way and tells me it was booked a few days earlier. Wonderful!!

On the bright side though the drive down was great with good weather and virtually no traffic. Nice change from Jersey, PA and KC a few days ago. Delivery is set for mid morning Monday so I have the time to spread my drive-time evenly over the weekend without feeling rushed. It's heavy and I've got lots of mountains to crawl over on the way there.

 

If it is American Colloid out of Colony, WY, I'll never accept a load from there again.
I'll start a 34 and wait it out first.

A 4 hour loading time, and that was only because I was able to get in front of 6 other trucks that were asleep when the line moved up.
Snooze and lose...
Many of those trucks, I'm sure, waited until the next day to get loaded because the nearby factory could not keep up with the demand.

 

i can put up with traffic...but not when it sits for about 5 min b4 moving 100 yrds lol. normally what i do is multiply the mileage to shipper by 2. that gives me the minutes there. but that wont count for a bad accident like there was this morning. i drove for coke for 13 yrs in the san fernando valley,simi valley,and santa clarita, so i'm used to traffic. still havent got used to some of idiotic things driver do though lol

 

Yup, that's the one...kitty litter for Petco. I hadn't really had issues there before and didn't make the connection the other day when you were talking about the gal driver etc etc. now I'm really irritated I didn't make it there to park if they're now holding up loads due to production problems. If that's the case every minute they delay my loading over two hours might very well get mac22'd as a delivery delay. I'm not bustin' my tail all weekend to make up for their delays. My plan is in place and will remain in place

 

Just thunderstorms now, but Illinois had an interesting day.

 

Here in some pullout between Delores, CO and Cortez. Was sent a pplan to pick up cans for Montebello, CA and declined due to 1000 miles for Sunday at 2200. Then resent with a t-call in Phoenix, so that I took. Thought that I would follow the GPS and what a mistake. Should have looked at mapquest. A better route and the same miles. GPS, US-385 to US 50 and US-550 and CO 62 to CO 145. Will be picking up US160 in Cortez. The Map quest route had me on I-70 all the way to US-191 and start south. Well, this new truck and automatic is sure getting a workout.

 

I plan my trips around accurate and reliable times.
Like you said, anything that takes more time caused by a shipper will get added to my delivery time.

 

I'm in Buffalo, NY.
Very nice and easy delivery. I walk in, the guy says drop your trailer along the wall and grab an mt

I was stacked with 2 pplans today.
The first picks up about 7 miles from here. A heavy load going to a Walmart DC in PA, 170 miles away.
A live load at 0700 tomorrow, delivering by 1115.
Unless the loading takes less than an hour, it'll be a bit later than that.

The second was picking up in WV, 265 mt miles (so possibly 300 and 5-6 hours, depending on roads...), at 1900 that night.
Let's see.
I start my clock at 0600 for the 0700 pu, then go to another live load at 1900?
That leaves 1 hour for loading and getting to a parking spot. The notes said that we could NOT take a dot break there.

Those planners sure like to cut things close.

I took the first, turned down the second.
The second still hasn't been removed.

 

jv terminal...did 2 trips today. redalnds to perris. both same shipper. had a 1300 appt,asked when i checked in the 1st time if i can get here early. he checked if load was ready and said get here as soon as i wanted lol. truck needs a 90 day bit service, so now in line for shop....see how long this takes. 2 trucks in front of me in the prequal lane

 

I need that stupid bit inspection as well. Just got a message from my DM about it.

I'm due home next week in MN.
I'll get it done either when I get there or before leaving, depending on when I get there.
If I get there early I'll get it done when I get there to kill some time, and if a bit late I'll do it on my return day.
We just moved to a new place in Burnsville, and I'm taking the truck home this time so my sister doesn't have to shuttle me back and forth. I couldn't park at the last place, but I can at this one.

And I've still got the check engine light and a problem with my air compressor, and both things have been a thorn in my side for well over a month.
And no one seems to ever find the real cause of either.

I'm not about to give up this truck; it has been the most reliable truck I've ever had.
I can work around both problems without it being a safety issue, but I hope I don't get pulled in for a DOT inspection in the mean time.
It's like giving up on a relationship... I won't do it without a fight.
I may have to wait several minutes for the air compressor to kick in when picking up a load, but once running it is fine on the road.
And I may have the engine de-rated to half turbo boost for the duration of that driving segment, but once I shut it down for a couple minutes I have full power back until the next time it happens.

A couple of pain in the back issues, that every shop so far (be it Swift or TA) can't seem to track down.
Except for the battery issue, which the shop at Columbus finally fixed for me. (And yes, both 2 other Swift shops and a TA shop failed in that one as well.)
My idle times are now getting a LOT lower.

Since I can deal with the problems I'll only put the truck in the shop once every couple weeks, because I can't afford any more time and money than that.
But, I think with this home time, I'll let the boys at Inver Grove have a shot - hopefully once and for all.
I'm getting a very good paycheck this next week (BONUS week!) and I can afford a couple more days in the shop if I need to.

And I won't leave it there unattended while I'm on home time.
The problems with the check engine light or the compressor don't always show up.
I want to be there when they are checking things.
They have a check list, but I have the experience with these problems.