No real excitement....
Well it's time to report that nothing too exciting has occured since my last blog. Unless you count sneaking in a little at home time TWICE in so much as a week genuine excitement. I mean, I do... but I doubt you do.
I relayed that horrendous Jersey load to our Operations Center in Charlotte, NC I believe it was Saturday. When I got to the company terminal I realized that one of the tires on the trailer needed replaced. So I took it into the shop to have that done before I dropped the load (which EVERY driver should do if it needs done instead of leaving it for someone else to deal with). As I was talking to the shop guy I kept hearing this horrible hissing sound coming from my truck.
When I arrived at the terminal I heard it as I was driving across the lot to the shop, but honestly thought it was just my airbags equalizing more than normal. Turns out it was actually an air line leak on my tractor!!!
I am so thankful we found it and had it fixed then and there. Had I let it go, I'd have likely ended up in a really bad situation out on the highway. It was losing air steadily and that would have been a really bad thing on the interstate at 60 MPH.
So, we added the line to the work order and I was pulled into a bay to get the tires and air line fixed. After it was all replaced, I headed out of the shop and found a proper place to drop the load.
Lucky for me I found an open spot next to the load I was to pick up for my next assignment. So it was a quick drop and swap! As I was doing a pre-trip on the new loaded trailer, I noticed that two of the trailer tires were in extremely bad shape. To the point that had I taken the load out of the terminal and onto the highway it would have meant certain disaster and if not disaster, then a DOT shutdown for bald, smooth as a baby's butt tires. It was insane.
And I feel kinda bad for the idiot that dropped that load off there at the terminal for the relay. Because when I took the trailer to the shop (which I'd just been in minutes before with my relay load) the guys asked me for the load number and apparently notified the drivers' manager, which might have resulted in a service failure for failing to report a TBO (trailer bad order) trailer without making a proper request for repair before leaving the facility. Oops.
So company drivers beware! Report a TBO on any relay to make life easier for you and the next driver.
Moving on... the load I was relaying was going to Pontiac, IL. This was great because I had enough time on it to make a stop off at my house finally to try to get my bank issues squared away. Unfortunately my bank isn't open on weekends, and I was home on a Saturday. But it didn't matter much, since my new card that finally arrived in the mail didn't work any more than my original card did. I was miffed... but resigned.
So I just enjoyed the short trip to the house by hanging out with my ol' man and our good friend Stu. It was peachy.
And then the next morning I was off again, on my way to Illinois. I made it to the place I'd planned to stop in an hour less time than I'd anticipated. Which I guess was good, but my planning didn't factor in the time difference so I was there a good two hours before I really wanted to be (on my body's time anyway).
But I made the most of it and enjoyed my night. The place I stopped at had a great little mom and pop restaurant that served some absolutely delicious food! It was well worth the extra stay!
Monday morning I headed up to Pontiac to deliver my load. The directions I had to get to the place were bunk... I ended up stopped on "Main Street" in front of a small school calling 9-1-1. I couldn't get ahold of the consignee that I was going to, no one would answer either of the numbers I had for them. So I figured the police would be able to help. Plus, the road I was on which was in my directions did not look truck friendly. Most of the trees looked like they were ready to attack anything over 13 feet at any moment.
So I called 9-1-1 and spoke to a very nice operator who assured me that trucks go down that street all the time and it shouldn't be a problem.
"I live three doors down from where you're sitting right now... in that blue house... trucks pass by all the time! You just keep going straight the way you are and you'll run right into the place. You'll turn right into the driveway for it! I promise." she told me.
And she did tell the truth and her promise was upheld. I was still skeptical that trucks with a height of 13'6" ever traversed that street, but I only heard one scraping sound that upon inspection at the delivery location showed no signs of doing any actual damage.
I was docked, unloaded and wrapped up in less than 30 minutes when I did finally arrive at the consignee. Which is always awesome to get out a lot quicker than anticipated! I was then on to my next load pick up in Romeoville, IL. just between Chicago & Joiliet.
The pick up was pretty uneventful. The facility was simple to find and simpler to maneuver in. I was in and out of there in about an hour. And most of that time was just waiting in line at the Service Counter to get and sign the paperwork.
Actually I guess that whole load was entirely uneventful. I took it to our Indianapolis terminal for a relay drop and aside from taking a state route south out of Romeoville and thru some tight areas it was pretty well cut and dried.
En route to Indy I received my next load assignment which I was to pick up as a relay from the terminal. The load was headed to Richmond, VA, which was awesome because it got me to an area that would be easier to find a load to get me to my home for my time off this weekend.
Ok...here's where a slight glitch in the system occurred. I arrived at the terminal and dropped my relay load. I found my relay pick-up trailer for my next assignment and got all hooked up to it (after a pre-trip and getting the key to remove the kin pin lock from the service desk). I was just pulling out of the parking spot and headed in the direction of the exit gate when I received a macro stating that my work assignment had changed.
Oh I was miffed for real now!
I turned around and found another parking spot and read the macro for the explanation (as I can't use the Qualcomm while the truck is in motion...which sucks sometimes). Turns out they were taking me off the Richmond bound load to have me pick up a load that was headed to extreme north east PA.
The load would take two days longer because the pick up wasn't until Wednesday and the delivery wasn't until Saturday. Of course, this conflicted with my desired home time 100%. So I called my dispatcher to ask why in the hell this was done.
He didn't even do it, he claimed. Apparently another dispatcher saw me as being in the general vicinity and knew I'd "save" loads without complaint so he took me off my good load and put me on the other one without consulting my actual dispatcher or checking for info about home time.
So... after much holding and I'm sure much finagaling, my dispatcher was able to get me taken off the PA bound load and put back on the Richmond bound load and I was none the happier!
The VA load also took me through the house and got me another night at home as a side benefit. I was at the house last night and enjoyed another night of just hangin' with my sweetums (and our transient worker house guest and a surprise visit from Chris and, briefly Kat and her friends daughter).
Today I had to drive to where I am now, about 50 miles out of Richmond. I will drive the rest of the way in the morning and make my delivery. Then I have to head back east to pick up my next load (and probably stay at home again tomorrow night) then deliver near Dayton, OH on Friday.
Hopefully... if all goes well I'll end up either being deadheaded home or given a load to relay either in Columbus or in Hurricane, WV. We shall see! It's always a mystery!
Exciting wasn't it?
I relayed that horrendous Jersey load to our Operations Center in Charlotte, NC I believe it was Saturday. When I got to the company terminal I realized that one of the tires on the trailer needed replaced. So I took it into the shop to have that done before I dropped the load (which EVERY driver should do if it needs done instead of leaving it for someone else to deal with). As I was talking to the shop guy I kept hearing this horrible hissing sound coming from my truck.
When I arrived at the terminal I heard it as I was driving across the lot to the shop, but honestly thought it was just my airbags equalizing more than normal. Turns out it was actually an air line leak on my tractor!!!
I am so thankful we found it and had it fixed then and there. Had I let it go, I'd have likely ended up in a really bad situation out on the highway. It was losing air steadily and that would have been a really bad thing on the interstate at 60 MPH.
So, we added the line to the work order and I was pulled into a bay to get the tires and air line fixed. After it was all replaced, I headed out of the shop and found a proper place to drop the load.
Lucky for me I found an open spot next to the load I was to pick up for my next assignment. So it was a quick drop and swap! As I was doing a pre-trip on the new loaded trailer, I noticed that two of the trailer tires were in extremely bad shape. To the point that had I taken the load out of the terminal and onto the highway it would have meant certain disaster and if not disaster, then a DOT shutdown for bald, smooth as a baby's butt tires. It was insane.
And I feel kinda bad for the idiot that dropped that load off there at the terminal for the relay. Because when I took the trailer to the shop (which I'd just been in minutes before with my relay load) the guys asked me for the load number and apparently notified the drivers' manager, which might have resulted in a service failure for failing to report a TBO (trailer bad order) trailer without making a proper request for repair before leaving the facility. Oops.
So company drivers beware! Report a TBO on any relay to make life easier for you and the next driver.
Moving on... the load I was relaying was going to Pontiac, IL. This was great because I had enough time on it to make a stop off at my house finally to try to get my bank issues squared away. Unfortunately my bank isn't open on weekends, and I was home on a Saturday. But it didn't matter much, since my new card that finally arrived in the mail didn't work any more than my original card did. I was miffed... but resigned.
So I just enjoyed the short trip to the house by hanging out with my ol' man and our good friend Stu. It was peachy.
And then the next morning I was off again, on my way to Illinois. I made it to the place I'd planned to stop in an hour less time than I'd anticipated. Which I guess was good, but my planning didn't factor in the time difference so I was there a good two hours before I really wanted to be (on my body's time anyway).
But I made the most of it and enjoyed my night. The place I stopped at had a great little mom and pop restaurant that served some absolutely delicious food! It was well worth the extra stay!
Monday morning I headed up to Pontiac to deliver my load. The directions I had to get to the place were bunk... I ended up stopped on "Main Street" in front of a small school calling 9-1-1. I couldn't get ahold of the consignee that I was going to, no one would answer either of the numbers I had for them. So I figured the police would be able to help. Plus, the road I was on which was in my directions did not look truck friendly. Most of the trees looked like they were ready to attack anything over 13 feet at any moment.
So I called 9-1-1 and spoke to a very nice operator who assured me that trucks go down that street all the time and it shouldn't be a problem.
"I live three doors down from where you're sitting right now... in that blue house... trucks pass by all the time! You just keep going straight the way you are and you'll run right into the place. You'll turn right into the driveway for it! I promise." she told me.
And she did tell the truth and her promise was upheld. I was still skeptical that trucks with a height of 13'6" ever traversed that street, but I only heard one scraping sound that upon inspection at the delivery location showed no signs of doing any actual damage.
I was docked, unloaded and wrapped up in less than 30 minutes when I did finally arrive at the consignee. Which is always awesome to get out a lot quicker than anticipated! I was then on to my next load pick up in Romeoville, IL. just between Chicago & Joiliet.
The pick up was pretty uneventful. The facility was simple to find and simpler to maneuver in. I was in and out of there in about an hour. And most of that time was just waiting in line at the Service Counter to get and sign the paperwork.
Actually I guess that whole load was entirely uneventful. I took it to our Indianapolis terminal for a relay drop and aside from taking a state route south out of Romeoville and thru some tight areas it was pretty well cut and dried.
En route to Indy I received my next load assignment which I was to pick up as a relay from the terminal. The load was headed to Richmond, VA, which was awesome because it got me to an area that would be easier to find a load to get me to my home for my time off this weekend.
Ok...here's where a slight glitch in the system occurred. I arrived at the terminal and dropped my relay load. I found my relay pick-up trailer for my next assignment and got all hooked up to it (after a pre-trip and getting the key to remove the kin pin lock from the service desk). I was just pulling out of the parking spot and headed in the direction of the exit gate when I received a macro stating that my work assignment had changed.
Oh I was miffed for real now!
I turned around and found another parking spot and read the macro for the explanation (as I can't use the Qualcomm while the truck is in motion...which sucks sometimes). Turns out they were taking me off the Richmond bound load to have me pick up a load that was headed to extreme north east PA.
The load would take two days longer because the pick up wasn't until Wednesday and the delivery wasn't until Saturday. Of course, this conflicted with my desired home time 100%. So I called my dispatcher to ask why in the hell this was done.
He didn't even do it, he claimed. Apparently another dispatcher saw me as being in the general vicinity and knew I'd "save" loads without complaint so he took me off my good load and put me on the other one without consulting my actual dispatcher or checking for info about home time.
So... after much holding and I'm sure much finagaling, my dispatcher was able to get me taken off the PA bound load and put back on the Richmond bound load and I was none the happier!
The VA load also took me through the house and got me another night at home as a side benefit. I was at the house last night and enjoyed another night of just hangin' with my sweetums (and our transient worker house guest and a surprise visit from Chris and, briefly Kat and her friends daughter).
Today I had to drive to where I am now, about 50 miles out of Richmond. I will drive the rest of the way in the morning and make my delivery. Then I have to head back east to pick up my next load (and probably stay at home again tomorrow night) then deliver near Dayton, OH on Friday.
Hopefully... if all goes well I'll end up either being deadheaded home or given a load to relay either in Columbus or in Hurricane, WV. We shall see! It's always a mystery!
Exciting wasn't it?
Comments
I also carry one for the trailer lines also. I had a spring bust on me once and drug a hole in it. After waiting for ever for some one to come out and fix it I went in and picked up one for it also.
Best of luck to you DAVID
Drivers that don't write up trailers suck and it couldn't be simpler at my company. All you have to do is fill out a trailer write-up sheet or a qualcomm macro and drop the trailer. No babysitting required but can most of these guys (and it's usually men that are the worst) do it? Nooooooo, let it be somebody else's problem. Grrr, I can go on and on because that's a major peeve of mine.
Gabrielle
http://www.redstateroadtrip.com/
Do you have a phone number where I can talk to you? I want to talk about the article I'm writing. What I'm interested in is when you started writing, when you started writing a blog, how did you learn about blogging, what you get out of blogging and what you hope others get out of your blog. What's the bottom line for you, what do you want from blogging? Also, I'd like any suggestions you might have for the trucker who'd like to start a blog. Do you podcast? -- all of these types of questions.
Your blog makes me feel like I know you and that's really a great ability in a writer. Congratulations,
Traveler
by the way, my phone number is (821) 701-6549. Call anytime.