Otherhalf, now that's funny right there! Back on the road and running my butt off. Had me going from Columbus, OH to Coyahoga Falls, OH, then Drop down to Massillon, OH and from there to Chambersburg, PA. And that was just wednesday and thursday. This morning I picked up a load in Carlisle, PA heading for New Jersey, but was told to t-call it at Jonestown, PA terminal so I can pick up my stuff. So here I stand at the kiosk waiting to get my stuff. Gonna be nice. I didn't pack very much for this trip and I didn't realize how much I was missing until I got out here. More later. Until then, be safe!
Finally made it back home. What a run it's been! Good times and not so good, but that's all part of trucking, isn't it. After I got my stuff back and loaded on my truck, that is to say the stuff that wasn't missing, I headed back to Columbus then picked up a load going to Wisconsin. To keep it brief, from Wisconsin, I went to Provo, UT, then picked up a load going to Seattle and back to Salt Lake City. Unfortunately, this was on Wednesday and my hometime was set for friday, 2000 miles out. The loadI got was going to the Chicago area, 1350 miles, and delivered on friday. But they backed it up with a load going to Columbus on saturday (today) then I could deadhead home. And for Gladiators benefit, I return on tuesday, so I got 2 1/2 days hometime. Overall, lots of good runs. The best part of the whole trip is that during the run from Provo to Seattle, I was able to stop and spend the night at my Dad's house. I was in heaven. I haven't seen my Dad (or Mom, she came over to see me too) in 12 years and his health hasn't been real good for a while now. At 70 years old, I'm sure he won't be with us for long, but I was glad I got to see him again. On the downside, and let this be a lesson for everyone, if for any reason you need to run through Oregon, whether delivering there or just passing thru, you need a permit called a weight receipt. This isn't one of the normal permits that you find in the permit book. You need to get this permit before entering Oregon or you'll get a citation worth $472. I found out the hard way. Oh well, live and learn. As far as my health problems, I've been feeling much better since my ordeal. Not having any complications from having surgery, and, best of all, I haven't had any of the ill feelings I was having before it took me out. Thanks for everyones concern. It's good to be back out on the road.
I was in Wisconsin too. It was Friday-Sunday. I hauled a load of tile to Milwaukee, and Green Bay. I had to do a reset up there. 27* the first night and gale force winds! They predicted snow. It never happened. I picked up a load of laundry detergent there and hauled it to Albany Georgia. Good run, plenty of time and it was summer down South!
I was actually in Wisconsin a couple weeks ago, around May 3. Picked up a T-called load in Columbus, drove by the house and picked up a couple of items (since one of the items missing from my personal stuff from my other truck was my phone charger, I needed to get the home charger which works with my inverter), and headed for Wisconsin. I delivered in Manitowoc, WI monday morning then I found that the planners are not too bright. I get two preplans back to back, the first is a 158 mile run going to Augusta, WI backed up by a 930 mile run to Loveland, CO. Ok, I can do that. The problem was that the first load picked up 48 miles away with about an hour til the appointment time. Sounds reasonable, except that the only roads going there are the back country roads going thru towns with 25 and 35 mph speed limits. I was going to be late, so I called my DM and told him why and he got it rescheduled. But this caused another problem. Being late to begin with, then having to wait to get loaded (waiting on another Swift driver with exactly the same load plans I had, going to Augusta, WI then to Loveland, CO) meant I was also going to be late delivering. Back on the phone with the DM again. The planners just didn't leave much room for errors or backroads. Adventures in trucking! I actually ran into some snow heading to Utah from Colorado. I took I-25 from Loveland to I-80 in Wyoming and just before I hit Laramie I ran into some heavy snow coming downhill. Fortunately, it was just starting so the roads weren't really icy yet, but it still called for some caution. Listening to the radio about 2 hours later, I heard I-80 had been closed in that area due to a major accident. Dodged a big one there! On my return trip, I picked up my load from SLC, UT to Chicago, IL on wednesday, May 12th. The route plan had me going up to I-80, but I-80 was closed again at Laramie, WY due to a snow storm. I figured that wasn't going to work out to well, so I headed south to I-70 going thru Denver. Figures, I hit snow going over the mountain before dropping down into Denver, and this time it was enough to really slow down, most of that going 25 mph. Of course, trying to pull 43,000 up that hill didn't help the speed factor any either. I think I can honestly say I am not looking forward to this coming winter, or any other winter from now on. I love snow, there is nothing more beautiful than fresh fallen, undisturbed snow, but taking these trucks down a 6+ % grade on snow covered roads just scares me.
So how is the new truck dodgeram? Atleast compared to ur last one. Didn't u have a freightliner before? What kinda stuff was missing outta ur stuff besides the phone charger?
I've only had Volvo's so far, 3 of them in 3 months. The first one they assigned to me after testing out was a real piece of junk. I never even made it out of the terminal that night. My second one wasn't too bad. Didn't really have any mechanical problems and wasn't as nasty dirty as the first truck. It didn't smell like an ashtray like the first truck, but it did have some kind of strange funk to it. My third truck, the one I have now, isn't really a bad truck. It doesn't smell at all inside, no smoke, no funk, so I'm happy about that. I need to wash it badly. The snow from Colorado last week really made the truck dirty. It's had some mechanical issues, mostly a coolant leak and an air leak. It is sitting in the shop at Columbus right now, as we speak (so to speak, lol) awaiting a new radiator and lower radiator pipe. They think the air leak is the leveler valve, but they always think it's the leveler valve. Ok, let them replace it and If I still have problems, I'll just bring it back. The stuff I'm missing isn't anything that can't be replaced. The guy told me when they clean out a truck, they do it as quickly as possible because they have so much to do. Yeah, whatever. With a good systematic approach and that kind of practice, there is no excuse for missing anything. It's really just more of an annoyance than anything to cry over and nothing worth more than $10-$20 was missing.
But 5-10 $10-$20 items sure add up... Glad to hear you got a non stinkin truck! I hope that is what I get... lol
Well, some weeks are good, then some weeks not so good. I finished my hometime and hit the road tuesday morning. I was home empty, so they sent me north to Old Fort, OH to pick up a load to take back to the Columbus terminal to T-call, then I could put the truck in the shop for repairs. This was a short run, 113 miles empty and 97 loaded. It took all day to run. It didn't help that it took them 3 hours to load me. Then the trip back to Columbus was all country hi-ways. Got back to the terminal at 20:00 (8:00 pm) and got the truck in the shop. So there was one day shot to hell. I was hoping to be back much sooner so the work could begin. Finally got the truck back at 8 the next night. My PTA had been set for 2300, not knowing just when I would get the truck back. Now was decision time. When do I ask for a load? I could change my PTA for 9 pm, and try to get a run out of there that night, but I hadn't slept all day and didn't feel like falling asleep at the night. Or I could set my PTA for in the morning and start out fresh. I opted for the latter and ended up with a 34 hour reset that I didn't need. I actually got a load offer that night to pick up a t-called trailer there at the yard and run it to PA. I don't know, maybe I should have turned it down, but I don't believe in turning down loads unless I can't do it based on available hours. This was a 430 mile run that didn't deliver until 2300 that night. That means I didn't have to leave until about 2pm. Got to the customer at 2230 with 4 hours left on my 14. It took them 3 hours to get me unloaded. I had just enough time to get to a truckstop and hope I can find a spot at 3am. Unbelievably, there was actually a couple open spaces, but I found out they were open because they were impossible to get into. I did finally get squeezed into a spot, but it took me 1/2 an hour to do it! Set my PTA for 10 hours later and went to sleep. Unfortunately, 10 hours later was 1300-1:00 in the afternoon. 5 hours later, (another wasted day!) I get a load that picks up right around the corner from where I delivered the night before and goes to Monroe, OH, 521 miles. The best part of this run...it delivers at 5 am MONDAY morning! I've got 3 days to deliver a 9 hour load! At this point, I'm entering a whole new level of PTFOff (for an explaination of that send me a PM). Of course, I asked if I could t-call this very non-productive load in Columbus. Over an hour later, my request came back denied. PO level rising. Knowing it took 5 hours to get this wonderful load, and not wanting to waste any more time sitting there, I took the load and hit the road. The one bright side to this load, it delivers one hour from my house. I figure if I'm going to sit for 2 days because of their poor planning, I'm going to be comfortable doing it. So far for this week (pay period week from thursday to wednesday) I've barely got 1000 miles. I certainly hope the next 3 days turn out much better. I know stuff like this happens from time to time, but I'm so frustrated right now I could cry. Seriously, I didn't get into this to sit around looking all pretty, making their truck look good. I'm here to drive, I'm here to run. I don't care if I only get a 100 mile run, as long as it's backed up with a good run afterwards. Sitting still doesn't make money for anyone. Sorry about ranting. Like I said, I'm just really frustrated right now. Here's to hoping for some real improvement come monday.
