Good Night From II

Leroy, IL. Was going to try and get to Oakwood or close to the Indy circle but getting tired and the severe thunderstorm warnings and only 14k in the box, why chance it. Have until 2100 tomorrow to get 320 miles. Plan to drop by noon and be home by 1300 in more thunderstorms.

Oh for those that do not have this app, found it this morning. Trucker Path pro. You can plan a route on it and it will show you all the truck stops, rest areas and weigh stations along your way. Even the small mom and pop

 

JV terminal, they've been trying to run me all over Cali with preplans, even tried to send me to Saint George, Utah for a Family Dollar. Last reject was noted to not send me another load to California, I have home time next weekend in Houston for my psychiatrist and endocrinologist. Let teh games begin.

 

Rest area in Marshall, IL. Although no longer working for Swift I thought about my Swift experiences a lot today, especially during my time running the vampire shift on the LA to East Coast dedicated.

I delivered a load of Frac pumps to Waynesburg, PA this morning. No problem, the pumps were new and bolted to the pallets. Strap 'em down easy peasy. I had a "back haul" from the same customer back to OKC, billed at half the rate of the outbound shipment. That's when the whole thing became interesting.

The back haul were used Frac pumps of various sizes, none of which were strapped or bolted to the pallets. They were all loose. For the first time in my flatbed career I broke out the chains. I chained the larger 7K lb pieces fore and aft, then threw as many 4" straps as I had over and around everything. I cut up a used strap to pad some edges, and inserted a dozen edge protectors as well. In total it was almost two hours of work getting that load ready to get out the gate, and I was nervous as I hit I-79 northbound, watching that load like a hawk on every bump and turn.

I ended up stopping five times to tighten the chains and straps. Tomorrow I'll make delivery in OKC and make more on this four day round trip as I made in a really good week running solo at Swift. I'll still have about 25 hours left on my 70 and it will be good to throw in 2-3 local rig pipe loads before I take my next 34.

My only regret working at Swift is I never took advantage of working flatbed and getting the one week orientation for load securement. Might have come in handy more than a few times in the last month.

 

P.S. Anyone heading eastbound on I-70 through Ohio or Indiana better run it at night. Construction zones are bottle necking traffic for miles on the backups.

 

Home sweet home. Not sure is still have that Laredo load on Friday. The one that I am l picking up on Thursday changed to pick up at 1300 so my PTA is 1000 on Friday and preplan says pick up at 0800. Sent a message to my DM and never heard back.

 

Stuck in JV with the planners doing the same thing to me as they did blsqueak. Due for home this weekend to see my psychiatrist and they won't give me a load unless I take locals.

 

I'm just outside of Nashville, TN at a Petro.

My fan motor went on the blink this morning as I was doing my second stop.
So I finished up the final and called on-road. They sent me to the TA because there are no nearby terminals.
When Swift heard it was the blower they said it would have to be fixed at a terminal, so I am now headed for Memphis - 230 miles away.

I didn't have the hours to get there today, and the rain was so bad, I decided to shut it down until morning.
I have a few other issues with the truck that I was hoping to put off until a home time, but I'm sure Memphis will notice the cracked windshield and check engine light.

I was due in Denver on the 11th for home time, and to pick up my daughter to ride with me.
I will be several days late I guess.

 

Just before I called my DM to get the DH to Memphis I got stacked with 2 pplans.
One was very short, only 70 miles. But the backup had me going to NE, which was close to my requested home time in Denver.

Even though it fell through, they were thinking of me and trying to get me home.

It's better for me this way, however.
With the blower out I would have had to put the truck in the shop at Denver, and I need the use of the truck during this home time because my ex doesn't have her car to use right now.
This way the truck will be 100% when I get there, and I can drive it to her apartment complex to park for the home time.

 

Bandit truck stop kutztown pa I78( it's not as bad as the reviews said) eb thru the heart of the beast tommorrow,lol....Bol says 45150 but it sure doesn't feel like it's that heavy? Weigh it before the jersey scales tho....this is the high paying load to just south of Boston ma.but to get out off the east coast have to take a loser rate back west,but I knew that and have 6 days after to build revenue

 

fr8 ... get with your boy wonder or find a broker who will work with you ... the secret to the NE is get that high revenue load in. Then short hop on high pay NE loads, working your way down to VA or to Western PA. Once you're down to the Carolinas or the Midwest you can pop it back to the NE ... rinse and repeat.

You can do the same thing in to Texas ... good rate in. Short runs in Texas, working you're way out back to the Midwest or SE.