Millis OTR journal

Thanks for the help actually needed that information today. Driving some back road state highway and came a across a 6% grade. Won’t lie since it was first time doing it in this truck I was squeamish.

 

It wasn't too bad. Those back docks had trailers positioned almost identical to what the satellite view looks like, so it took some jockeying around back there to get turned around. Getting backed into the dock wasn't too bad. I've definitely seen worse.
Ugh I'm a bit annoyed with how I've been dispatched the past couple of loads and I'm not really sure if I should be. That East Syracuse load was due yesterday. However, by the time it was given to me, the only way I could have gotten it there before they stopped taking loads at 1400 is for everything to go absolutely perfect...and they didn't. Delays at the shipper caused that one to be late before I even got out the door with it. Then today my reload was a Budweiser load going to Gastonia. Again it's due tomorrow before they stop taking loads at 1400, and again I'm not going to make it, due to delays at the shipper plus the weather. On top of that, I'm due home in WV at 1800 on Friday.

And again, hauling plastic pellets in pneumatics is starting to look appealing again,.

 

Were you in Pennsylvania? Because that sounds like Pennsylvania.

 

Ok. I hoped it all worked out.

Yeah a lot of those beer loads seem to always be dispatched already or nearly late. Not your fault. I just tell dispatch it was given to me too close for comfort and it could be late. Usually the receivers never say anything.

The few times they did I told them it was not given to me in a timely manner and I did the best I could. Just focus on getting home in a couple days.

 

Yeah what bothers me is that this starts affecting my bottom line when it happens repeatedly. I was hoping to get 3 decent loads this week before going home and now that's not going to happen. If I could've delivered the E. Syracuse load yesterday, I probably could have done it.

I remember getting a beer load once. It was a load home, actually, that was due before I even picked it up. I didn't notice this until I was halfway there with it. I sent dispatch a message and told them that it was "probably going to be late" and they got a kick out of it.

When I was with my trainer, we got a wine load out of Illinois that was really late. So late that the shipping clerk had a hard time finding it at first. When I told her that it was supposed to be picked up a couple days before she was like "Oh yeah! That's the one that's been holding up my door! Get it out of there!" That was one of the few loads that we teamed on...all the while me cracking jokes about how we were going to have a soccer mom mutiny in Cincinnati if we didn't get their wine to them. We got it there on time., I don't know how.

 

I understand that.

 

On your week to go home its best to just not expect much. You live in WV and you're in New York on Tuesday/Weds there isn't much they can do at that point to get you miles by Friday. Especially this time of yr with the way the weather has been.

 

It’s like they took my brain when they handed me the keys to my truck. So focused on the big things I forget the little things. Like take the #### straps out of the trailer you drop. Pretty sure I’m doing fine on the Qualcomm stuff but 10-1 I get a message from someone. Stopped to go to bathroom forgot to go off duty. Can’t grab back that time you lose by doing something stupid. Could have used some of that stupid time yesterday it would have cut out a huge chunk of snow driving on back roads of Wisconsin.

 

Get some post it notes to stick on the dash with little reminders of the little things you're mentioning. What you are forgetting has all been done before and still happens to more experienced drivers from time to time.