Good Night From II

I will not. You can give me a load from FL to CA and I will say okay, where do you want me to t-call, El Paso or PHX. I am even changing my home from PHX to El Paso when feel like staying down South since it seems that the majority of the loads that I am always offered when there is CA. What PO'd me the most was when they removed a nice load from me saying that the customer cancelled and then offered me the same load again, as if it just magically appeared. Even the same load number and then saying kinda, you want it, then help us and shuttle a trailer for a live long unload at Safeway at night. Been there. Done that, and then all of a sudden the load disappears again.

 

At a Loves outside of Lake Charles LA a few miles from my live unload in the morning.

Planners jerking me around today. I think it must be in their job description all over the country these days.

On the way down from Memphis I get a ppln..D/H both ends, 45.5k lbs from P&G in Pineville (BFE) LA going to Union City GA for Tuesday. Wrong direction for Thursday hometime Ms Planner BUT if you stack it with something picking up Tuesday to tcall or deliver Thursday in Houston I'll haul it. After 30 mins got no response to my offer so I told them NO. We have plenty of accounts in that area off I-85 SW of Atlanta so I'm a bit surprised they couldn't do it. No big deal, I didn't want the load anyway.

20 mins later I get the same ppln thrown back. And again I asked that they stack it or shove it. No response other than a note that it was a hot load and I needed to do it. Politely told them I didn't care if it was the temperature of the Sun, either stack it or the answer is still NO!! A "hot load" on your end doesn't constitute a crisis on my end. Planner wouldn't remove it so I had my ECT take it off me.

Mac30 was garbage as well. Seems to be the case 99% of the time east of I-35. Turning into a worthless perq pretty much. Had 3 offers, the heavy to GA and 2 one milers in Beaumont from ExxonMobil. Seriously!?!

Called my ECT to ask about the Exxon details. He laughed and said DONT TOUCH IT..doesn't pay #### and will tie you up all day. I don't like dealing with that ExxonMobil facility anyway. Get jerked around too much by their Rent-A-Cops and their slow lazy overpaid window people. So as of now I'm still looking for something to do for a couple days until I go home.

I'll be talking to more prospective employers while home. Ashley Dist truckload regional is high on my list. Good money, all D/H, home for two full days on the weekends, great equipment and all their drivers I talk to love them. Also talking to 2 tanker outfits. I need a change from this daily BS that just keeps slowly getting worse, plus I'm not feeling the inside cameras at all.

 

Acona, NM. Wanted to get to the 140mm but just cutting it to short. If no delays then might have pulled in with about 5 mins left. Ohhh how I hate US-191/491 in the summer on a Sunday. The GPS was routing me across 64 to 550 and I-25. checked on MapQuest and it 1 mile difference to come all the way down 491. tomorrow see what it brings since have to play D&H and wal-mart and then the terminal and again at General Mills since it has to be a washed out trailer. Have to get South. These fuel prices up here are killing me. Actually today for the first time saw T/A cheaper then Peelot.

 

And I'm just outside Charleston, SC on I-26 at a little truck stop.

I completed my reposition at 1000 this morning, then sent a Mac 30. Nothing.
And nothing for the next 2 tries.
Nearly 4 hours later I get a pplan that didn't give me enough time on either end, and the load had been sitting at a Sam's DC for 3 days judging by the pick up window.
I adjust the times with Mac 9 and it was removed. An hour later I get the same pplan, and reject it again.
Five minutes later it comes through again, with a message from the planner to 'please pick up this load'.
So I accept it.
When I did the loaded call I also sent a Mac 22 to update my ETA to what I first sent in the first Mac 9.
The response was a PTA update, and very quickly I might add.

I could have made the times if they had noticed me sooner, like 4 hours sooner.
They could have sent the pplan as I was heading down to GA and saved even more time - for both the load and my clock.

And to top it off, my first fuel stop was sending me 20 miles in the wrong direction to pick up 60 gallons before the pick up.
I ignored that entirely. Either I will make it to my next fuel stop, or I will stop somewhere and call for fuel.

Maybe it's because it is the weekend people?

 

Kicking back at the Jake Break. Our load out of Denver canceled just as I was pulling up to the shipper, which killed the following two preplans for the rest of the pay week.

We ended up with a can load (6700#!) out of Golden that T-called here in PHX. We have an Amazon load to high tail to Cali for an O-dark-hundred delivery, then an early afternoon pickup to deliver in Louisville on Wednesday. Finally going to break 5000 miles this week.

 

Sigh. Stranded in Ontario, California; our load canceled. According to the shipper (that I called ten minutes before the cancelation), Swift managed to cancel the wrong load. Ours will be ready on time, and now nobody will be there to get it.

So much for the 5000 mile week...

 

Okay, so maybe there is hope for this week yet.

The planners don't like to let teams sit, so they found a load heading to El Paso, then a follow on load to South Carolina. Happily motoring down I-10, when a drive tire goes boom and sends shrapnel all over the road. Supposedly, the repair truck will be here in a half hour. I spent 15 years trying to get out of California; the next five miles will have to wait a little while longer.

 

MsJamie, with that last I count 3.
Bad luck happens in three's. so the saying goes.
I guess that second shoe bounced back to hit you in the eye.

Hopefully you haven't broken several mirrors to get stacked up on bad luck.

 

As for me, I'm at a Love's in KY along I-75 headed for Indiana.
Then I pick up a load ~20 miles away headed for MO the day after, and in the pay period for my next home time in Denver to pick up one of my daughters for a summer ride along.

I was hoping to take them somewhere fun when I got there, but I don't think I'll be able to afford it.
$400 is going to airfare to get my youngest daughter out to MN with my sister for the summer vacation. She is very happy about that, since she won't have to sit idly by during her big sisters' ride along - like last year.
That really got her down last year, but I was able to plan better for her this year.
And next year she will be the one in the truck with me.

We are supposed to be in the best time of year for freight, but this year it seems to be down for everyone.

 

Doing a 10 at my home terminal in Houston. Picked up a load of paper in Evadale TX for a live unload in Laredo in the morning.

Had planned on reaching Laredo today but as I pulled into the Petro in Beaumont TX to scale the load my DM called me. She had a stranded driver with a busted truck back at the Loves in Vinton LA and wanted to know if I would mind going the 40 miles over to pick her up. She needed her brought to a truck repair place in Beaumont to pick up another truck. She would pay me miles plus extra cash to get her. Extra cash!?! How could I refuse!! Seriously though I like my DM and would've done it anyway. So I went and picked her up and brought her to Beaumont.

The only downside was the delay would put me square in the middle of trying to cross Houston in 5pm traffic. No thanks!! Parked it at the terminal for the night. Will still get there on time while crossing the city while traffic is nil.

On another note, freight coming out of Laredo is really good...too bad I start hometime in a couple days and don't want to go further than Dallas or so where I can easily pick up a tcall right back to Houston.

I've turned down a half dozen great loads going all over the country from Laredo. Almost all over 1500 miles. Darn!! I guess the "new and improved planners will get you home on time" procedures haven't kicked in yet.