Thanks, I will be updating this thread as I go once I'm down there. Too bad it's so hard to post pictures on these threads. I'm going to check with the State Dept. and find out as much as possible, but I'll do it closer to the time I am leaving so I can get the most up to date information. I"ve been lucky in being part of the advrider.com site. It's a huge wealth of information and I've met a couple of people on there that go down there regularly. They can provide me with at least some information about those areas to avoid. I know just recently a member on that site told me about which roads to avoid coming back up out of Mexico towards the U.S.
I figure I have pretty good common sense and a pretty good gut instinct. If something doesn't feel right or sound right I'm going to go with my gut and get out of there quickly. When I was younger and much more of a hooligan we used to tease the security guard at the local middle school by riding our little 2-stroke dirtbikes across the soccer fields, baiting him to chase us. He would take the bait and it would lead off into the woods where we would lose him pretty quickly. I like to think that there was something to gain from this experience in eluding a captor on a motorcycle.![]()
The only thing I really worry about is conflict locals have with the government. This type of thing has been known to slow travel down. I've read about it. As far as gorillas and the drug trade go, I"m going to try and find out as much information from locals and other travelers as I can along the way and act accordingly.
I just got here! Sorry...
Yes, It's really a shame.
I've been following that story since January when he first turned up missing. He isn't on the advrider.com site but he had a blog going, something like "A New Yorker Travels". When he first came up missing someone posted a link to the article and I read about him. Since then there has been an ongoing thread on advrider.com about it but not really any info. until recently. Just like everyone else, there really wasn't any info. out there before this most recent discovery. There would be articles that popped up about travelers found or that turned up but they were never Harry.
I haven't read anything in the past couple of days on it but it seems that that body is going to be him. That's his motorcycle they found half buried next to the body. It seems he was buried somewhere else and then reburied where they found him.
I guess the best they can do is speculate on what happened to him at this point and by whom. Obviously he was murdered but the where, why, exactly when and by whom is what is intriguing. I'm sure his family wants answers.
When you read the story about the last texts he sent to his girlfriend back in January it was ominous. Especially considering what happened. It seems that he sent his girlfriend a text about having to be escorted out of the area by military due to some rebel or drug cartel activity. He then texted something to the effect that there may be a military escort for him up ahead waiting for him. And that was it.
It leaves me curious. Generally the violence we hear about in Mexico revolves around the drug trade. Rarely does it involve tourists. It is also centered around certain areas. I looked up on a map where he last sent his texts and where he had been and I'm avoiding the area. It was never part of my plan to go there although one of the towns he was in before the texts I planned on visiting. I think it was Morelia. Las Guacamayas is where I think he was last heard from. So, it leaves me wondering why they would have killed this young guy. When I was discussing it with my dad he mentioned something about robbery and not leaving a witness. But I'm not sure it would matter to these guys if they were witnessed robbing him. I doubt a description would do any good to a pretty ineffective police force, especially one out in the country (as opposed to Mexico City/DF). I would think that if the motive was robbery alone that it would be fairly easy to rob him and just leave him somewhere. I couldn't imagine a police force running around for some guys that robbed an American of his money and property. So maybe he put up a fight. Maybe they were extorting him for money and he wouldn't go along with it. It's odd and I don't know if we will ever get the answers. It could have been something completely random. But judging on his last texts it sounds like he was about to run into a dangerous area. Maybe the military that was to be waiting for him up at the next town never showed and the bad guys got him. Maybe the military up ahead wasn't actually military. I'm not sure what was to gain by murdering this guy.
It's a shame.
Swift - Starting the New Year training with Swift 1/7/13 - A long read...
Discussion in 'Swift' started by DocWatson, Jan 3, 2013.
Page 102 of 165
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At the Memphis terminal...only one day late.
Man, these last couple of days have been rough. Actually most of this last time out on the road, the past month, has been pretty rough. Low miles. Issues. No really long loads. 7 days sitting in Ocala without getting paid. 1.5 days in Richmond with a B Service. It's been a really rough stretch. Although it's only been a month it feels like I've been out for 3 months.
Stress makes me tired. More than driving or anything else, stress wears me out. For example, here I sit at the Memphis terminal waiting on my laundry to be finished and I'm exhausted. I'm pretty sure I look the part too. Feels like I do.
I was expecting to be here at the Memphis terminal last night. Stress. Stress is...
- This current load I have right now...
- Calling HR for weeks and not getting any response to the issue of those 7 days my truck was in the Ocala shop and then finally getting hold of someone only to be told I probably won't be getting paid...
- reviewing my miles lately on a 7 day revolving scale - as if this afternoon, 1700 miles in the past 7 days.
- that last load that had me bouncing from place to place only to have the load not ready for pickup and subsequently dropped off of me.
This current load is killing me. Here's the breakdown. I got the preplan and accepted it without exceptions or revisions. The pickup was for 1100 AM yesterday and it was 188 miles empty from where I sat at the Loves in Mississippi south of Jackson and close to Louisiana. I left early that morning arriving at this shipper in Mer Rouge, Louisiana at 10:29. I was let into the gate, trailer was inspected and I was told to stage in front of the dock. I waited. Sometime around 1100 a guy comes out and tells me that they are going on lunch and that since it is raining anyway (guess they couldn't load the rice out in the rain?) they will load me after. Sometime around 12:30 another guy comes out and tells me to back up and they will load me. I'm loaded, about 11 pallets at the nose of the trailer. All rice I"m assuming.
I pull forward, trailer is sealed and I drive around front to get my paperwork. Up a flight of stairs, inside to wait for a while and I'm back out sending my Macro 2. They had a scale on site but it wasn't a separate axle scale. It was on a slight incline and weighed the whole truck at once. I drove up each axle and scaled them. My drives were closest to being over and were only under by 60 lbs. My steers were about 100+ lbs under I think. I called the terminal and told them that I scaled it at the shipper and that my steers were barely under by 60 lbs. The nearest CAT scale was about 40 miles (actually turned out to be about 50 miles) away along I-20, in the opposite direction of my destination. I was told to go scale and see what happens. I did. Got to the Pilot almost an hour later after driving slow country roads, scaled twice, moved tandems and still couldn't get the weight correct.
I called the shipper and let him know. His response, to paraphrase, was something to the effect of "we can try and squeeze you in tonight but it's not likely. Can't you run it as it is?". I said no I couldn't. I asked about getting it reworked tomorrow morning (today). He said it wouldn't be likely as today they had a rail load to take care of. He might not be able to get to reworking it until after the weekend. Unacceptable and my blood pressure was rising. I let Swift know and started to head back to the shipper. After following the GPS and driving around in a road just barely wide enough to fit my truck, in a canyon of tall corn that shouldered me on the sides of the road, I made my way back to the shipper. No sooner did I hit the gate when the guy that loaded me earlier (not the guy on the phone I had been talking to) was leaving. He asked if I got lost. He didn't know why I had returned. I explained everything to him and he said that they would be back at 0700 the next morning (today). To come back then. I drove to the Walmart 5 miles away, got permission to park, bought some food that was bad for me to make life better and went to sleep.
I returned this morning. I waited until a little after 0700 so they could have some time get themselves situated. I could see cars parked on the property behind the closed fence so I knew there were people there. I called the number I had called the day earlier, the one posted on the fence, and no one answered. I rand the little buzzer by the gate. No response. As I did this a guy was chugging around on a little lawn tractor and continued mowing. I moved the truck out of the way, parked in the gravel nearby and called Swift. I was very frustrated at this point to say the least. I sat and waited for the CSR's to respond to the DMs messages on what I should do. Eventually, becoming more irate I just parked in front of the gate again. Someone will have to come in or out at some point so I'll just sit here until someone does. I'll be even more obvious.
The guy that was on the lawn tractor earlier walked over. He asked what was going on although it seemed like he asked already knowing the question. I started to relay the situation to him and told him about the guy I spoke to last night. Before I could finish he interrupted and said that it was him. He told me that I would have to clear the gate and that they probably wouldn't be able to take me that day. They had rail loads, just as he had stated the night before.
I got even more frustrated but kept my cool with him. But I told him directly that I have to roll on this load and that I'm not going to wait much longer for them to rework the load. He said I had the option to drop the trailer but it would have to be in the gravel and that if the 43,000+ lbs. dropped into the soft earth that it would be on me. The other option was for me to wait.
I told him I would get back to him as I pulled away to call Swift again... -
DocWatson Thanks this.
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Swift advised me to go and try to scale again. They said I could drop the trailer but if it dropped it was on me. Not many choices so it was all the way back to the Pilot again. Moved the 5th wheel, moved the tandems, back and forth. Then closest I could get it was 80lbs over on the drives. Steers were barely under. It was just too much weight in the nose. I was told I could go back to the shipper and wait until whenever they were ready to take me, whenever that may be. Or I could try and burn off the weight in fuel before I hit the scale. I thought about it, started to head back to the shipper and decided I couldn't wait there indefinitely. I pulled over, rerouted myself and ran it towards the Mississippi border. There was a scale house about 48 miles away just before Mississippi and then another a few miles in to Mississippi. I kept my fingers crossed. I had been going back and forth with Swift about what detention pay I would get. My argument is that had the shipper took me the night of the pickup to rework the load I would have been in Kentucky already this morning. Load was originally scheduled for delivery before 1600 today. But since the shipper chose to be difficult, chose to not take me that night or today, I should get the max detention of 9 hours. I want answers and haven't gotten them yet. They haven't reworked the additional 150 miles back and forth to scale yet. Hey, its only my money. No big deal right? I'll say that they have been good on working with me on this but no one seems to have answers yet. I've been working with my original DM these past couple of days since my regular DM is on vacation. Its been kind of cool working with her this time around as she is knowledgeable. The other DMs I have been communicating with over the past couple of days have been understanding as I've been venting quite a bit. I'm just absolutely frustrated. I think they understand. But it doesn't help with the money situation. I gotta get a break soon as this is wearing on me lately. This second class citizen stuff some of these shippers subject us too doesn't fly with me. I do not like it. I will not be punished because you can't load the truck correctly and legally. Something similar to this happened last year at the Coca Cola shipper in East Hartford, CT. Unacceptable. My only real relief was when I finally got on the road rolling and doing what they pay me to do. Hope next week is better. I'm not going west and haven't been west in a long time. Maybe 2 months. And I won't get west before home time because I put the request in for the end of this month. Counting down the days till I get this much needed break.
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Me thinks that when he scaled at Peelot found that the weights were way off. Learned long time ago, never trust a scale when it has a little incline to go up.
DocWatson Thanks this. -
No I wasn't t-calling it. Drives were barely under at shipper but when I scaled at Pilot they were over. Either way when I moved my 5th wheel or tandems either the steers or drives would be over. I had plenty of play in the tandems but it didn't matter. My gross weight wasn't even that high. I've taken much heavier loads, gross, before and can get them to scale legal easily otpr at least with some work. But not this time. It was frustrating because I wasn't over my much but it was over.
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Bisqueak....that was it exactly. There was a slight incline and I was legal at the shippers scale. Under by 60 lbs on the drives and barely a little more under on the steers. Those incline scales mess with me every time. The flat scales where I can drive up each axle are usually more accurate.
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Regarding those state scales in Louisiana and Mississippi, first was closed and the second I got the green. Lucky. I do not like to have to burn off fuel to be legal especially if I have to cross scales in the near future. I don't feel that it should come down to us drivers to work things that close to the edge. It should be the shippers responsibility to rework a load I can't get legal by moving the axles.
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Ok it's better to be over your steers as most states it's legal to be at the tires max rating usually ok at 12300 in most states....there are three states that strictly specify 12,000 max on steers.....and hardly any enforce it strictly......better luck next time on that...better to run it the ay it was,but I wasn't there.....
DocWatson Thanks this. -
Yeah I've heard that about the 12,300 on the steers also. What 3 states are strictly 12,000? I don't have my atlas on me at the moment to check. I'm going to run it up to 12,300 on the steers next time if its not one of those 3 states. I've been reluctant to let me steers be over 12,000 because they hammer that 12000 lb steers weight into you in training.
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