Heading For Little Rock! Maverick

My goal now is to just try in get one in Summer. This past week was tough with the temps in the 100's

 

I will have to look to be sure...it was over 24,000 if I remember correctly....but I will look it up and let you know. I finished over 7 mpg.

 

No problem...but are you trying to cut in on my referral bonus?

 

That is excellent! Do you have a Cascadia or Columbia?

 

I had a pretty interesting week. Somethings went as planned and then some surprises.
Headed out Monday Morning for Carter Lumber in Lisbon Ohio with a load of drywall.
Was on US 30 and then there was the detour. No big deal except now I am on some real hilly winding roads that I have never been on before with a 48,000 lbs of drywall.
Finally got there and pulled into this very small parking lot....hardly enough room for me and the customers.
Got unloaded and headed for the nearest rest area. Found a nice place to pull off about a 1/4 mile down the road so I stopped there.
Got my next load to pick up three coils at AK Steel in Coshocton Ohio 92 miles away.
Got to go on some more of the windy hills, but empty this time so it was a lot of fun.
Got there and had to wait of course. Got pulled into one bay finally and got one skidded coil loaded. Then had to go back out and wait in line again to pull into the next bay. In the mean time it started raining really hard. Fortunately for me, when I pulled in, they let me do most of my tarping inside. Pulled out to finish and of course it started raining again. It did not matter as I was drenched with sweat from head to toe. Got finished and went across the street to their lot to spend the night. It poured down rain most of the night. It looked like the whole mud hill behind us was washing past. I was wondering if I would get stuck in the mud in the morning.
Got up at 3 am and headed out to Alsip IL. Got there and waited my turn.
I was waiting for a Melton driver to unload ahead of me.
I see him pull out and he still has a coil on his truck. He comes out of the dock and makes a right hand turn and then stops. He is right next to a light pole.
All of a sudden he takes off and starts making a hard right. I reached for my cb, but it was off. He takes down this 20' high light pole with a loud crash.
He moves out of the way and I go up to the turn around and start to back in.
All of a sudden at least 4 cruisers come flying down the street. They must not get much action there.
Got unloaded and got my next assignment to pick up two skidded coils at US steel Gary works.
Got them loaded with no problem and headed over to the Gary yard to spend the night.
Got on the road again at three Made it to Joplin MO and spent the night at a pilot. While I was there, I looked again at the etap, and they showed me delivering at 2 am in the morning.
I was just about to send them an update and I get a preplan. It is sometime in the evening at this time. I send in the update for 6 am delivery as I could not make the 2 am even if I was inclined to....which I wasn't. There was no way I was going to screw up my sleep cycle that much. Getting on the road at 3 am is early enough.
The preoad had me picking up at Ft Smith at 7:00 AM.
Get a qualcom message telling me to update the shipper. I called and left a message.
I got to Ball metal and was unloaded by 5:30 and headed to Ft Smith about 66 miles away. I call the shipper on the way and he says, your appointment is not until 9:00 am. I said no problem, I will be on time. Got there about 8 hoping to get unloaded early....not...they were over 2 hrs behind. Got loaded finally and put my gut straps on and headed across the street to the Maverick yard. Finished securing and then went in and took a cold shower...not for the usual reasons...lol.
Put my shorts on and headed back towards Chicago.
I made it to the Pilot in St Roberts MO just as my time was running out and my qualcom was giving me the message about my time running out.
My directions for Jernsberg were to turn right just before the 11'4 inch bridge.
So I was a bit concerned what I was going to find when I got there.
Do to the change in loading time and the wait, I had the csr reschedule my appoitment. It was reset for 1400. I had plenty of time and was able to drive 55 most of the way with some breaks along the way.
While I am waiting to unload, I sent in a message to see if I had a preplan. I did.
By the directions, I could tell that it was near gary.
This is where things got a bit disorganized for me.
I send in my empty call and I immediately get a qualcom asking me if I have time to get loaded. It is around 3:15. I tell them that my time runs out at 17:30.
I immediately get the work order to load at US Steel In East Chicago at 19:00
My first thought was...Why did you even ask me if I had time?
So I try to call my fleet manager and could not get anyone after a few tries.
So I send a qualcom message stating that my time is up at 17:30 and the load time is 19:00. There is no where to park at US Steel and they will only let you in 30 minutes before your appointment. Where do you want me to go in the mean time.
I then called my fm again and got him. He said that there was parking. I told him that there wasn't. He finally has a conversation with the csr, who then looks at my message and says....he's right...there is not where to park...so they cancel that call.
I am then told to head to the gary yard. before I can move, I get a new load that picks up on Monday in Indiana....so I am not going to get home. I was a little disappointed, but I knew this would happen from time to time...so I was not upset...at least I had a terminal with showers and a tv.
On the way my qalcom goes off and the red light goes off on my dash. I can not stop so I call my fm again. He says that it was probably just a trailing two part message and that is why the light did not go off.
So I get to the yard and look at my qualcom and it says that my load has been changed....again.
Now I am picking up on Sunday 400 miles deadhead, in Russellville Ky to pick up a load going 834 miles to Sugarland Texas...a 1234 mile load that takes me through the house. So I got a shower...watched some tv....ate my dinner and was on the road at 3:00 am and home by 10:30.
I will not get my reset...but I am not complaining!
So when things seem like they are going against you....do not despair because they can all change in a beep!

I will be heading out tomorrow to pick up at 18:00....large aluminum coils!

Have a good one!