Good Night From II

I was in Las Vegas for my birthday, got comped a steak dinner and got offered a free bareback ride if I promised not to use my spurs . Decided turning 65 was far more fun than 21 .
Frank

 

Back at the same Pee-A-Lot in Cleveland TN after doing my live unload this morning.

Woke up at 3am and decided to check Mac30 again and found a load to central IA. Jumped on it like a fly on poop. D/H at both ends but doesn't P/U till morning but I don't care. Wanted anything going west away from the Appalachians and Eastern Seaboard. Iowa will do just fine.

Was afraid the Memphis folks would get to me first and try and push me down to Atlanta or hang a baked bean load to New Jersey on me again. Got lucky.

 

Acoma nm,sky city travel center

 

Torrington, WY. Right now worried about my first stop. One of these that on the bills it says that the customer needs 24 hour notice before delivery. Have been burned a few times in the past on these with a Monday delivery after picking up on a Saturday when the customer is closed and never get a phone call only to show up and can not get unloaded because they need a crew. If this happens and I lose my next 1300 mile load there will be phone calls and will get reimbursed.

 

Middletown, DE picking up a lot of something heading for Mexico. Fortunately, we have a preplanned T-call in Houston, then we're off to my partner's place for a 34.

We are finally off of the Target dedicated account, and on the national team hazmat account. Target is great for a solo driver, but they simply can't use a team effectively. So, after our 34, we will be burning our 70s on the interstate, getting stuff halfway across the country by tomorrow... which is what teams do best.

And the best part is that this account is 99% D&H. Turn and burn, baby!

 

Denver, CO on home time with my girls.
I go back tomorrow with my daughter, Leann. She is very excited to be back on the truck..
As always, it's very nice to have a real kitchen to cook in. Roast beef last night and curry chicken tonight.

I was out almost 9 weeks before this home time, but it will be a short 2 day ht. I need the money and I'm hoping to get a load in before the cutoff.
Our next home time in MN won't be short, though. I may take an extra day over the usual 3 when we get there.

 

Sapp Bros, Cheyenne, WY. Stops went great this morning. On my way to pick up my next load sent a msg to make sure that could drop in Oregon on Wednesday. The crap hit that fan shortly after. Was told that no, it is a set appointment for a drop, 1300 on Thursday. Something that my DM forgot to make sure before offered me the plan. So this week, another 1300 mile pay week. I have hit the breaking point now. And their words, well look at it this way. A great start to the new week, and my reply, yeah, where am I going to be Sunday morning, Denver, the home of lets play games with the L/O and short loads. If lucky I might see a whopping 4400 miles for 2 weeks.

Also something strange when I sent in my loaded call. Put in the same PTA that the assignment said, and got a message back that driver changed PTA. I used the same one. Wonder if something changed on the load and was not told. Would not be the first time it happened, like once I had a load that was told delivered on a Friday and showed up to only be told that it was for Monday. They still unloaded and called it in and then found out that it was supposed to have been t-called in Edwardsville and not delivered to Tulsa. That was missed miles.

 

And yet with the same DMs you had, I've been averaging 3K a week for 5 years now ...

squeak ... call the planners directly. Swift wants you to call the planners, they're begging you to call the planners ... they put a field in Mac 34 so you can get the T/N of the planners of the area you are going or are in.

If I don't get anything on Mac 30 that I like, I've been calling the planners directly and it's been working great so far.

 

I was stacked with these 3 plans when I left the home. With the understanding that I would drop on Wednesday just outside of Portland and then pick up in Portland on Thursday. Will still pick up in Portland on Thursday, just not in the morning now. Can not call the planners until Friday to find out about what is in Denver until then, and still, hate to deal with them. They could have a bunch of can loads on Sunday but they will not be released and into the system until at least on Saturday. And like I said, I will not be in Denver until Sunday. Have to just take my time getting to Portland and back to Denver so that not burn up what is left of my 70 for the next 4 days, 39 hours, and then start to get some back on Saturday