My May Journal

Week #2
June 1st - June 7th

After sitting for another full day in Springdale, AR (The Pilot here just sucks tbh) I finally got a load out of Stilwell, OK heading to McDonaugh, GA. Not a bad run, 760 total miles and it delivered Friday morning at 0330. After getting a little lost I show up and get loaded. Took about 30 min to load after a 2 hour wait in the door. I could here my old Thermoking trailer just crying sitting open. After I'm done getting loaded, I went to the Wal-Mart just up the road and spent the night. After a 10 hour break, it was get up at 0230 and drive my 11 hours. No stops this day except in West Memphis, AR to fuel at the Pilot. I barely make it to Temple, GA and call it a night at the Pilot.

I actually got a pre-plan this time before I made my delivery. Perhaps things are looking a bit better than the last few weeks. Got a load going from Rockmart, GA to Stockton, CA. 2500+ mile run in 4.5 days. Piece of cake. Only thing is, its another -10 load. I really do not want to take this old Thermoking refer all the way across i-40 in the heat. I called my DM and asked if I could swap out my trailer for a different trailer in Atlanta. I asked her if I could go to the Mead Packaging plant and swap there since all of our loads out of there are dry, and I get the go ahead to do so.

As soon as my 10 hour is up, I get going to make it to my delivery. Show up 20 min early, and get a door right away. After an hour, I'm done. There were two other May trucks in doors when I got there and were still there when I left. I guess I was the lucky one After sending in the empty call, I head over to Mead Packaging. Stupid me forgot to get the directions before the system went down for nightly backup. Whoops. I know google maps knows where it is Found the address and was able to remember how to get there. Got in and made a swap to a super single trailer. Not a new side skirt trailer, but a newer than a Thermoking trailer at least. I then make my way over to the Petro in Atlanta for some breakfast. First time there. That place is huge.

After breakfast I head to Rockmart to pick up my load. I get there 4 hours before appointment time. Got into a door 2 hours later and get loaded 2 hours after that. I got in and out before my appointment time. Gotta love that. Anyways, made my way to the Pilot in Birmingham, AL and crashed there for the night as I had run out of time to drive. Next morning I make my way back into Arkansas to West Memphis and fill up at the Pilot, again. I end up in Checotah, OK at the Flying J and settle in for the night. The next morning I met up with some friends in Oklahoma City and grab some breakfast with a side of good conversation. Oh, and they paid for it too! After breakfast I head to Amarillo, TX and fuel at the Pilot. First time to fill DEF not at a terminal so this should be interesting. Got everything filled just fine and grabbed some lunch and headed towards New Mexico. Ended up at the TA in Santa Rosa, NM and went to sleep. The next morning I got up and headed west into Arizona and ended up in Lake Havasu City, AZ. Was a little warm, but when the sun went down it cooled off and I slept pretty well. Today I drove all the way to Ripon, CA and am currently sitting at the Flying J waiting for a 8 hour split sleeper break so I can deliver tonight at 2300. Overall, a pretty good week. Finally got to stay on the move and throw down some miles.

Miles this week:
Miles Driven: 3305
Miles Paid: 3210
Miles Difference: 95 or 2.9%

Miles Total:
Miles Driven: 4138
Miles Paid: 4015
Miles Difference: 123 or 3.0%

 

I got my iPhone and a Verizon mobile 4g card. Not all places have 4g yet so it will connect off 3G as well. Allows me to play world of Warcraft on the road too

I dropped 8666. Old thermoking pos I tell ya!

 

I have heard the ones that make it to Brooks are being cleaned and sent down to the LA area to the Great Dane dealership. Since they are all CARB compliant for Cali, they are getting a good deal on trade ins for new Great Dane refers. Bout time we got rid of em.

 

Week #3 & #4
June 8th - June 21st

Started the week extremely early by finishing up my delivery in Stockton, CA. Due to not having enough dunnage some of the pallets tipped and there were 8 cases of frozen chicken that were busted and the bags ripped. Oh joy. Due to the product being that way they were refused and since they were open, no chance of someone accepting them. I had to toss em out, which pains me to do. It was about 2 in the morning when I got done there and headed to the Lodi/Stockton drop yard and was able to stay the night. After my 10 hour break, I headed down to Tulare, CA to pick up a load that was headed to Ohio. Its too bad that I did not have the hours to deliver the load, so I got the okay to drop in Layton and have my hours of service fixed on the qualcommm. I got into Layton around 9am Friday morning due to only having 4 hours to drive the previous day. Had to start my day at midnight in order to make it to Layton for the driver that was re-powering it to Ohio. I checked my truck into the shop and and waited a few hours and it was done.

I got a pre-plan to take a trailer from Layton and drop it in Jubitz. It was a load of dry groceries from Goodland, KS headed to Clackamas, OR. On the way I was able to meet up with a buddy of mine I play World of Warcraft with in Caldwell, ID and had dinner. I got into Jubitz on Sunday at 1000 and dropped my trailer. I did end up getting a pre-plan this morning so I needed to find an empty refer trailer and head to Woodburn, OR to the Americold. Found a clean trailer but it had a rivet sheared off on one of the cross-members. I found it odd that this one rivet was not fixed because this trailer had around 10 new cross-members and half of one side had new plating. Someone did a real number to this trailer. So I hook up and head to Brooks to have them fix the rivet. Once I get there, I talk to a guy in the trailer shop and he fixes it in under 2 minutes. Hooray! After I get parked I go and spend the night in the driver's lounge watching the NBA finals. Suck it Heat! HA!

The next morning I go to pick up my load in Woodburn. Its only a 16k pound load headed to Lewisville, TX outside of Dallas. It doesn't deliver until the next Monday at 1300, but I am dropping in Denver for my much deserved 6 days of home time. I have been out 8 weeks and would really like to get home for a few days. I could of taken 8 days, but 6 is long enough for me. I can take it easy for a few days which is not a bad thing I get into Layton Tuesday night and fuel up the truck/trailer. I will be checking my truck into the shop tomorrow for its 8k mile service. Its been almost 4 weeks since I have been in the truck and only 8300 miles. Not the best, but, I am told it is a bit slow and I haven't been in the best of freight areas. Hopefully things will turn around soon. I end up getting into Denver and dropped the trailer Thursday morning. I will merge this week and next's into one post since I am taking off until next Thursday.

Miles this Week:
Miles Driven: 3098
Miles Paid: 3016
Miles Difference: 82 or 2.6%

Miles Total:
Miles Driven: 7236
Miles Paid: 7031
Miles Difference: 205 or 2.8%