Good night from...

Sitting in a rest area on I-40 in North Carolina. When I attempted to pick up my load near Ashville I found out it wasn't ready due to quality control problems. So after wasting 2 hours at the shipper I finially got that load taken off of me so I could look for a new one.

I pick up in the morning near Winston-Salem. Not one of my favorite shippers, I'm hoping they do better than last time. Then it's off to Ft. Wayne, IN. What I didn't realize is "you cannot get there from here" The route is convoluted to say the least. To make matters worse my GPS wants to add nearly 100 miles to the route in order to keep me on interstate. I think I figured out how to get it (the GPS) to do what I want.

 

Talked to my DM this morning and, after several back and forth calls, found out there is a problem with the dispatch system part of their computer system. It explains why we've been getting these oddball dispatches and pplans. Then I get a pplan for the same mess I've been refusing to attempt. More phone calls and I sit five hours after my unload until I get a pplan for a battery load, Johnson Controls, from St Joe, MO to Florence, SC.

At a Loves in St. Joseph, MO watching the thousands of fireflies in the open field in front of me and heading out a few miles at 10am to load. I'm happy to be going through TN, KY and the Carolinas again; it's really pretty scenery and I'll have plenty of time to enjoy it hill climbing in 5th.

Frank

 

Muscatine, IA.

This has been a real fun day.
Delivered a live unload at 0730, and done by 0830.
Off to here for my next pu. I was ahead of schedule on this one, with plenty of time on both ends.
Until I got to the shipper.
They are very, very picky about trailers, and mine didn't pass.
So I go down the road and pay $43 to have it cleaned out. Still not good enough.
It had some metal shavings embedded in the floor.

So I send a QC requesting a different trailer, and wait.
After several hours of waiting, QC'ing and phoning I finally get sent 5 miles away for another mt.
The only availabe trailer was not food grade.
So I get sent to Heinz, and finally find a good trailer that should pass inspection.
By now 8 hours have passed since I did my Mac 1, and I am down to 2 hours on my 14.
And, the shipping office closed 15 minutes ago. It opens again at 0700.

So now I have to do a live load sometime around 0700 in the morning, and try to get the load over 1000 miles the next day by 1500.
It's a JIT load, as well.
And who knows how long I will wait to get loaded, since my appt was 'yesterday'.

It's almost 2200 here, and still 90 degrees. So it is another night of idling my truck to keep cool enough.

 

Wapokeneta, OH. Stopped at the petro south of Louisville, KY for my 90 day DOT. Was told 1.5 hours. 1.5 hours later, was pulled into the bay. Another 1.5 hours later, pulling out, no inspection. They did not know when. What a waste of 3 hours. Other wise, I would have been here alot earlier, and then been able to deliver my load at least 3 hours earlier, and home.

 

Finally got unloaded at Alcoa about 24 hours after original delivery time all due to not getting a dispatch yesterday that the night crew zombie said couldn't be send because my Elogs were showing negative time. Now it's Friday night and no loads-- well they did offer me one that was 266 empty and 980 loaded, picks up in the morning 0700 and delivers the next evening 2100. Maybe in a 75 mile per hour truck?

Same bat place and same bat parking space as last night lol.

So far the score here is one deer, three rabbits and one racoon that Abby has chased.

 

Camped out at the Columbus terminal and it's HOT! Definitely gonna idle the truck tonight. Not that it matters, only getting 6.1 mpg with this load so far. I-77 north bound out of NC through VA & WV is every bit as bad as I-68. 150 miles to final in the morning and I won't be legal til 3 hours before it's due. TIGHT! Then I got what I consider a dream load. Campbells soup in OH to a Walmart DC in AL. 783 miles of almost all interstate and plenty of time to get it there.

 

..........

 

Mt. Vernon, IL at the Pilot. 752 miles to Florence, SC by Sunday 10am heading east through the Appalachians with a 43k load. I hear a mac22 way off in the distance...
Frank

 

Michell SD. Heading west on a 2100 mile loaded, 250
empty load out of Oshkosh, WI... the shipper had 8 trucks sitting waitin to bbe loaded and only two dock... Also got entertained by a 3.5 year "experanced" Swifty who had trouble getting into the dock... He managed to take out the bumper on his shaker... After he gave up and decided it would be better to wait on dock #1, I schooled him by bumping dock 2 on the first try... No joke.