Good Night From II

Franklin, TN at the TA.

I've had worse days...

I got to my 0700 delivery at 0630, then sat on a little side street until they felt like unloading me. At about 0730 they directed me to the dock - an angle dock on the side of a small street (and please angle the tractor when you back in so the traffic can get by).
I got out of there at just about the time I was supposed to pick up my next load, which was voided because of the delay.
During that time I was sent the same pplan twice, both times saying that I could not pick up before 1300.
Just before I left I got a load that was possible, so I grabbed it.

I get to that shipper an hour early, only to be told my load was already claimed by another driver.
After calling my DM it was found that the other driver had transposed the last two numbers of his - 31 for 13 - so it was fixed and I was given a dock.

After another 90 minutes I heard the dock plate, and then I had to go in while they loaded me.
They were not having a good day, either.
Some of the product was damaged before loading and they had to replace it. Other parts were in a very far away place in the warehouse so it took some time to bring it up.
The forklift driver had a bad headache and had to turn over the loading to his partner. (I gave him some Excedrin Migraine for it, and he was happy about that.)
Then they learned that the last of the load was not to be found in that building. I had to relocate to a different dock to complete the load.

Yes, I have had worse days - many times.
Today was just an exercise, and none of it really stressed me or got me upset.
It did, however, tire me out.

Being inside while they loaded me let me see some of the things that I normally don't see.

We all get upset over long load/unload times, but sometimes there are reasons for it that can not be controlled.
These guys were upset because it was taking so long to load one trailer, because everything seemed to stack up and go wrong for them.
Product in the wrong place, one of them sick, then product in a totally different building. I'll bet they will be glad to get home tonight!

And the first place I delivered to...
I get there with insulation bags that have fallen over. They didn't fall out when I opened the doors to the trailer, but they had to deal with that. It took them some time to sort it out.

And I know exactly when it happened.
It was when I got on to the interstate this morning.
I heard the slightest thump, and felt a slight tap as I was on the on ramp. And I thought... hmmm.
But with a pre-loaded trailer, you can't look inside to see if you can secure it any better.

Today was a set of circumstances that left me very tired. I'll have a longer day tomorrow because I shut down before I hit Nashville rush hour, but I'll save some time by going through there in the early morning.
A Mac-22 to update my delivery time, which is well within the window, and no problems.

 

I was just at that TA until Sunday morning, I spent two days at my mom's before going to North Carolina. Now I'm at Columbus, my load was repowered from here and they pulled my backup load. Meh.

 

Those days happen moose ... I just take a zen approach and roll with it.

 

Speaking of which, I'm ready to roll up some Zen and watch Deadpool

 

Not a bad movie.

 

Taking a rolling 34. Maxed out my 70 @ about 3:30am in OKC enroute to Springfield OH. Good ol' Qualcomm sent me to a Love's that was just a 4-wheeler station. That was fun.

After we drop in Springfield I'm headed to the Memphis terminal for a few days @ the Holiday Inn while my partner goes on home time.

First order of business when I upgrade...spend my Flying J points on a Rand McNally tab. Qualcomm's Nav sucks.

 

You may still need the QC GPS from time to time, even with the RM.
Every now and then the RM doesn't know an address, but the QC does.

 

Got that right.

Today was better.
I started early and finished late, with 12 minutes left on my 11 after 629 miles. And I was able to skirt rush hour traffic in both Nashville and Knoxville.

There were only 2 mt's at Walmart, both older trailers and full of trash.
(There was a full line of trailers, newer trailers, that were full of pallets and paper bundles. I guess they keep the good ones.)
Now Walmart has a 'little' pile of trash on the ground.
There was dirt and paper and pieces of pallets... And when are the trucking companies going to require receivers to leave the trailer in the same condition it was loaded?
So I left it for them since I didn't want to foist it on an unsuspecting truck stop.

I got a pplan earlier today which I was glad to accept. It is headed to Romeoville, IL.
16k with a very wide delivery window.

Freight seems to be picking up in the past few days. I've had pplans before finishing the last two loads, instead of having to wait a day.
Hopefully I'll have a load out of Romeoville when I get there Saturday morning.
Hopefully I'll have an mt when I leave the Sear's DC. The last time I was there they would not release any.

 

Go back down the street to the - I think it's a Kimberly Clark DC. It the first warehouse you'll pass on Normantown as you head to the Sears DC. Go into shipping and use the generic "they" sent me over here to see if I can get an MT. They almost always have one.

 

Mr Squeak must be having a really good time in teh Phillipines.