My May Journal

Wow, there has been 5 pages of posts with no update from me. I know I have been slacking on updates, but did not think it was 5 weeks worth either. Anyway, I'm just going to post the past 5 weeks with mile totals. I did take roughly 7 days off for hometime and to get home for a doctor's appointment.

Weeks #22, 23, 24, 25 and 26
October 19th - November 22nd

Miles These Weeks:
Miles Driven: 10885
Miles Paid: 10468
Miles Difference: 417 or 3.8%

Miles Total:
Miles Driven: 55553
Miles Paid: 53585
Miles Difference: 1968 or 3.5%

 

Week 27
Nov 22nd - Nov 28th

This week started out well. After being able to drop my load early at Smuckers in Fairburn, GA, I got a pre-plan out of Decatur, AL to keep me busy over the holiday. I also was able to snag a brand new trailer - #1447 to go along with it.

I picked up Wednesday at 1330 and was able to make it to West Memphis, fuel and spend the night. The next day, Thanksgiving, I made it into Oklahoma City, OK and met up with some friends to spend the holiday with. On Sunday I got to City of Industry, CA and got permission to drop my load in our drop yard there. It was not supposed to deliver until 1330 on Tuesday. I then headed over to Fontana to wait for a load. Monday morning I get a load of orange juice headed to Woodburn, OR. Not a bad week at all. Got to drop 2 loads early and was able to get over 3k miles.

Miles This Week:
Miles Driven: 3258
Miles Paid: 3160
Miles Difference: 98 or 3.0%

Miles Total:
Miles Driven: 58811
Miles Paid: 56745
Miles Difference: 2066 or 3.5%

 

Week 28
Nov 29th - Dec 6th

This week started out well again. Maybe this is going to be the norm for a while (crosses fingers). While I was getting unloaded at WinCo in Woodburn, I got a load to pick up out of McMinnville, OR going to Meridian, ID. A ncie short run that delivers Thursday at 1200. I have been to this consignee before and know that they take deliveries at 0800. Thursday morning I get there at 0930 and they unload me within the hour. After cleaning my trailer and dragging my feet I finally get a pre-plan to pick out of Ontario, OR at the Americold.

The thing is, this load is supposed to pick up at 1200. I don't get it until 1230. I know there will be a late fee to pay. I don't understand why I got this load late, unless another driver had it and they couldn't make it. Who knows. I get there and am told there is a $100 late fee. Get the fee paid and now I am a work in. At 1500, they call me and give me a door. Guess it was a slow day anyways at 1700 I am out of there on my way to the pilot to get scaled. Scale out fine and I am on my way to Orlando, FL. A nice 2750 mile run that delivers on Wednesday, December 7th at 0200. Not a bad gig at all. The only problem is that I am going to be short 3 hours to make delivery. I got with my DM and let her know before I accepted the pre-plan, but was told to pick it up and roll. She would see what CSR wanted to do.

Well, Friday comes and I fuel at Layton. I never hear back so I keep going. I get into Cheyenne, WY after an hour or so in the snow. Saturday morning comes, don't hear anything, so I keep going. After only being able to do 400 miles, due to fun ice and snow in Nebraska, I shut down in York, NE. Sunday morning, still nothing, so I make my way into Missouri. Monday morning I send another message to my DM about being late and was told to continue running with a possible swap in Atlanta. Monday night I end up south of Nashville, TN and shut it down. Tuesday morning I get a message that delivery has been re-scheduled for Thursday morning at 0100. Sweet. I can stay on this load and get some extra miles in. Im only going to post what I got paid for since this load won't deliver until Thursday. I could of called payroll and maybe they would of put it on this week's check, but it is not a big deal to me. I will just get a bigger check next week.

Miles This Week:
Miles Driven: 509
Miles Paid: 506
Miles Difference: 3 or .05%

Miles Total:
Miles Driven: 59320
Miles Paid: 57251
Miles Difference: 2069 or 3.5%

 

Week 29
Dec 7th - Dec 13th

So I get my load in Orlando delivered Wendnesday night and make it to a truck stop before my appointment time. Gotta love getting in early. Doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, it sure is sweet.

I get a pre-plan Thursday morning to pick a pre-loaded trailer out of Macon, GA Friday afternoon. So much for having a good day today. Macon is only 340 miles from Orlando. At least it is pre-loaded. This load also has two extra stops on it so I do get a little extra pay. It is going to St. Louis Park, MN for stop 1. Sioux Falls, SD for stop 2. Then off to Rapid City, SD for stop 3. Not a bad run in all at a little over 2200 miles. The last stop delivers Tuesday morning so I will be able to get this load on this weeks check.

I get to Macon Friday afternoon and check in. Told to go around back to shipping. I get back there and there is 4 loaded May trailers. Three of the four are on brand new refers. Guess which one I get? I get the older trailer. Oh well, can't have em new all the time. I get my trailer and go to a nearby moving company and scale out. Everything is good and I hit the road. I end up parking Sunday night at the my first stop. Monday I make two deliveries and stop at the Bosselman's in Rapid City, SD with 10 min to spare on my 11 hour clock. Tuesday morning I make my final delivery.

All in all, not a bad week. With the miles from the Orlando run tacked on this week, almost makes up for last week. Averaging the two weeks puts me at 2667/week.


Miles This Week:
Miles Driven: 5059
Miles Paid: 4828
Miles Difference: 231 or 4.5%

Miles Total:
Miles Driven: 64379
Miles Paid: 62079
Miles Difference: 2330 or 3.6%

 

Week #30
December 14th - 20th

This week begins with a recovery load out of Billings, MT. The load has one drop in Indiana and two drops in Ohio. I tell them my PTA to my first stop and they schedule for Friday morning. I then get a message that they scheduled the second stop Friday night. I gave a ETA to second stop for Saturday morning since I have yet to get a 34 hour reset since I came out this time. So it gets rescheduled to Monday morning and the thirds stop, 107 miles away, scheduled for Tuesday morning. This load is starting to be a big pain in the ###. I know I am recovering the load and it has to be rescheduled, but a full week for a 2100 mile load is ridiculous. The best part is that the load sat in Billings, MT from Saturday night until I picked it up Tuesday afternoon. Why they could get nobody else there to pick it up is beyond me.

After my final delivery Tuesday morning, I got a load to head back to north of Cincinnati to the Miller/Coors plant to grab a load to swap out for a driver to get home to New York for Christmas. Due to the great planning of logistics, I was an hour late for pickup and in turn, sat there for almost 7 hours waiting to get loaded. My final delivery on my last load was at 0500 and I was supposed to pick this load up at 0730 110 miles away. We are supposed to give 2 hours for unloading before we can set PTA. I told my DM I was going to be late, in turn, was told "But, you are showing available at 0700. Why are you going to be late?" Anyways, I finally got loaded and contacted the other driver to let him know I was running low on my 14 and we needed to find a different spot to swap at. We finally met up north of Columbus at the pilot in Marengo, OH and swapped out.

Miles This Week:
Miles Driven: 2354
Miles Paid: 2348
Miles Difference: 6 or .3%

Miles Total:
Miles Driven: 66733
Miles Paid: 64427
Miles Difference: 2336 or 3.5%

 

Week #31
December 21st - 27th

I start this week with a pre-plan out of New Concord, OH to Loveland, CO. I love going to New Concord since it is drop hook and the miles are usually pretty good. I get there and drop hook to a new trailer. I got a little over 2 days to do 1400+ miles. Not a bad run at all. I get to Loveland, CO and deliver at the sams club an hour early. While sitting there I get a load to pick up out of Budweiser in Fort Collins that I am to drop in Layton so a driver can take to Portland so he can go home for Christmas. I don't mind dropping in Layton to help a driver get home.

On my way to Layton I get a load to re-power out of Layton going to the Safeway distribution center in Denver for a late Monday night delivery. I ask if I can drop in Denver Sunday morning on Christmas so I can keep moving. I don't need to be home for Christmas since I was planning on home time later in the week for New Year's and my Mom's birthday. I get told twice "No go on the drop, we NEED you to deliver this load." I then ask "There is nobody that is coming off home time Monday that would like to stay home another day and deliver Monday night?" I promptly get another reply - "NO". Well, Sunday morning I meet up with my parents for breakfast at Johnson's Corner in Johnstown, CO. If you have never stopped there before, do it. Grab a cinamon roll and enjoy! Anyway, I make it to Denver monday night around 1830 and deliver at Safeway. I don't get out of there until near 0130 Tuesday morning. I made my way to the Denver yard which is over flowing. I find a spot Tuesday morning to drop my trailer and and go in to talk to my DM. I was told that there were drivers sitting most of the day Monday waiting on a load. Nobody to cover my ###. The best part was I got a call at 0430 that showed up as unknown so I didn't answer it. Night dispatch needed me to do a "favor" and delvier a local load early Tuesday morning. Well, I was running out of my 14 so I couldnt of done it anyways. But, someone else got drop their load ..... I then went on hometime for the rest of the year.

Miles This Week:
Miles Driven: 2505
Miles Paid: 2341
Miles Difference: 164 or 6.6%

Miles Total:
Miles Driven: 69238
Miles Paid: 66768
Miles Difference: 2500 or 3.6%

I also ended the year at 116464 miles total. I think that is miles paid, but that is almost 30k less than what I got last year. I only trained 7 guys this year compared to 11 last year. It is ridiculous that since I didn't train for roughly half the year, I get 30k less miles. For the 31 weeks I did this blog, I averaged 2154 miles/week. Just sad. I think its time for me to move on.