Good Night From II

It's nice to follow the rules, and read them as you go in.
Some drivers just have an attitude, it seems.

You did good, squeak.

 

Husband is stuck at the minnesota terminal. His drop at a sears required him to swap trailers instead of being a live unload. So, he looks at his "new" trailer and notices that the door is held on by one hinge and the door latch. So starts the communication with onroad. After a few hours with that issue, he then needed an empty solution so he could grab his next load. Let's just say he only drove one hour yesterday and still doesn't have an empty.. Not a happy camper. Lately, they have been sending him on wild goose chases for an empty until his dm steps in and tells him to bobtail. The last time, he spent 7 hrs. driving through Chicago to different places.

 

Been there done that it happens. For some reason Swift has a hard time knowing where they're empty trailers are. my record is going to 6 places to find an empty. In Lincoln Nebraska going to Denver Colorado..

 

I don't get how swift is short on empties. But then when I visit a terminal. They usually have a yard up the road from the terminal just crammed full of tons of mts. What the heck are they using those for?! Are they dedicated to one customer during a certain time period or something?

 

Personally I would've done a mac38 on that trailer and skipped wasting my time with OnRoad. Wouldve messaged my terminal that I need a trailer solution for next load and let them deal with finding an mty. You're still getting paid driving around looking for one.

I don't attach to a trailer that's not road worthy.

 

At my terminal in Houston we have over 700 empties locked down just for Baytown Walmart DCs fall holiday blitz.

It's a huge PITA to find an mty in Houston but I've developed a couple techniques to get around that issue.

I could tell ya but then I'd have to kill ya

 

Another option for finding an empty is get proactive. On the Navigo system on Qualcomm you can search for customers nearby. You'll get a list of customers. Then you can start going customer to customer on your own and see if they have empties they will release. The downside to this option is you won't get paid for the time driving around.

 

Lisa's T/S in Moriarty, NM. I was planning on getting to at least Grants Pass today but the small towns on US-54 where just not going to let that happen and then a nice little accident on I-40 stopped me from even getting to Acoma, my next plan. Had 2 hours left on log and with rush hour getting into full swing at ALBQ and the rain on and off, not going to attempt. Now just 500 miles until get to drop this heavy load and get this truck into KW for new wiring harness. Hope can be out by Saturday but seem to not have good luck with KW on Friday's. Sure have been missing my XM the last 7 weeks and also not happy with this 6.5mpg pulling these hills and all of this stop and go and slow down and speed up.

 

Just outside Indy, IN at TA.
I have 1 more stop before my final tomorrow, on this 1+4 load.
It has been interesting trying to get into some of these places. They are all retail stores or small warehouses that usually don't deal with a 53' trailer.

And not many have been happy about not getting a copy of the paperwork. I only have one document showing all the stops, and it is a single document that includes all five - it is a running list, not single pages for each.
My last stop told me that Flexsteel is undergoing changes so things are really messed up right now. I'd say so.
They do seem to make some really nice furniture, though.

My next load is picking up at Costco in Morris, IL, headed up to MI.
It's short, but then again so are my available hours for the next couple days.