Heading For Little Rock! Maverick

Delivered somewhere in IA on monday. I started a new book, so I do not remember where it was. I drove out there on Sunday. Oh well...getting old I guess. Got a load to pick up at SSAB in Montpelier Ia going to Steelton Pa. I was early so I got to sit in the lot for about an hour. I noticed every load coming out of there was tarped. My work assignment was no tarp. When I got called in, I asked the lady if this was a tarped load, and she looked and said yes. So I thought ok, no big deal. When I was getting ready to chain it up, the loader told me that I needed to protect the edges because they weld it together to make a 40' pipe. So of course I did. Got all secured and tarped and headed to the scale. I pull onto the scale and walk in and the same lady in a very loud and unhappy voice says "Maverick, That is supposed to be a no tarp load!" I look at her and say, I asked you and you told me It had to be tarped. So she says, well I am putting it on the bol that it is not supposed to be tarped because that is what our customers want. Again I tell her, you told me to do it. To that she replies, well, I make mistakes some times.
I let my fm know he he paid me. This was a 813 mile run so I had an entire day of driving the next day which was nice.
I had a tire that was leaking so I stopped in the gary shop to get it fixed. They also did a recall on the trailer on the brake chamber. That night all of the air leaked out of the trailer and my red button poped.....I thought it was just the lines equalizing. It did the same thing the next night and I was then able to find a where it was leaking. So I was going to have to deal with that.
Made my delivery and got a load to pick up at Terminal Corp in Baltimore. Got there early and they got me in line right away. Was getting a load of wood moulding going to Green Bay WI. 891 miles, so I was going to have another day of driving all day.
I was planning on stopping back at the gary yard and getting my leak fixed, but ran into a lot of snow, so I figured I would just get around chicago and deal with it later. Made it within 30 miles of green bay and shut down. It was 0 when I got there and dropped down to -6 that night. The back flap on my lumber tarp completely came apart at the seams, so now I was definitely going to have to stop at the Gary yard and get it replaced.
I had an approved time off request for being home by noon on Saturday....so I was looking forward to seeing how it was going to be handled.
Unloading and rolling up my tarps was fun in the -6 temp. The parking lot was solid ice as they had just had snow the day before. I got one of the tarps in but the second one, which was damaged, ended up on the top of the trailer.
I called my fm and asked him if they were still going to be able to get me home for my time off request. There was a pause and I can only assume a deer in the headlight look...lol. He said he would see.
Ended up with a load that was going to pick up in Saukville going to henderson ky.....not going home. He said that he would try to get me a swap. I told him if he could, that would be great, but if not, it was ok. After all, this is trucking....lol.....I will continue with the rest of the story later.

 

The best part of the load swap was getting to talk with you in person! Thanks again!

 

So as I was heading to Gary, I was talking to John. I was telling him that I did not think I would get home, because Load swaps never worked out for me. As we were talking he tells me that he thinks that he just got a message requesting that he do a load swap with me. I told him that he did not have to do it and I would not be upset if he choose not to. He said he would check to see if it was me and get back with me. The next call I get is from my fm telling me that it was a go and he knew that I had already talked to John.
So I got to Gary and got the truck serviced and met John the next morning. I made it home just in time to get a shower and drive down and meet my sister and daughter and her other half for dinner. Had a great time.
I will be watching the super bowl tonight at home and then spending the night at the truck so that I can leave out early.
I remember where I delivered on Monday. It was in Camanche Ia...lol
Everyone have a wonderful night and thanks again John!

 

Made my delivery in Hubbard Ohio and then came down to the flying j. Got fuel and have been sitting for 2+ hrs. Freight is always slow on Mondays up here.
The power outage at the super bowl cost me 30 min of sleep..lol

 

gotta lotta pick up in Bedford Heights Ohio going to Sumter South Carolina