Here we sit in OKC at a Carrier Service shop. The reefer unit shut down about midnight with three alarm codes. One of them being a blown fuse. J was half way between OKC and Tulsa and they had him turn around and come back to OKC to get it fixed. Of course we didn't get here till almost 0400 because the next exit that J needed to turn around at had an accident. A fatality that has the freeway shut down and he couldn't get to the exit. He ended up sitting there somewhere in the vicinity of close to 3 hours. So now the reefer has been off a total of a little over 5 hours. Not good. And of course now we will have to reschedule our appointment once we get finished here and figure out what time we can get to the receiver. I am hoping that we don't lose this load because of the temperature. We haven't opened the door so it is holding what temperature it can. So now we have less than 24 hours to get to destination with 1237 miles to go and the on-call guy isn't even here yet. It is just a waiting game at this point. Hopefully it is a quick fix and we can get moving again. But you know how our luck is. LOL We will probably have to find another trailer and move all the product to the new trailer to keep moving. Just our luck I tell ya. But I will let you know what happens with this.
I need to get the camera battery charged so I can take more pictures and load them on here. Especially of Smokey. I need to get one of how big he is now compared to how big he was when we first got him. He was 15 lbs when we took him to the Vet for his first shots back in March. I would guess he is about 45 lbs now. I am hoping he doesn't get much bigger, but since he is a mutt we just don't know. He sure is a pretty boy though and we get a lot of compliments on him. He has beautiful coloring on his coat and is really good natured so that is a huge plus. Having him out here with us has been so enjoyable I can't imagine not having him out here. If you are a solo driver and don't have a pet with you, and you like dogs, I would recommend getting one. They are so lovable and just a ton of entertainment. Except for when you are trying to potty train them. :) Luckily, for the most part, Smokey has done real good with that. He has had a few accidents, but nothing a load of laundry wouldn't fix. And thank goodness I had the forsight to get a vinyl mattress cover when we brought him along! LOL
We are looking at property again for our Guest Ranch since that is what our ultimate goal is. Drive for several years and save enough money to buy some property and build some cabins on it with a camping/RV area and open up a small guest ranch. One of the nice things about driving is that we get to see the whole country and see what areas would be a good place to have that kind of business. You have to have major attractions that would draw the people to the area. And we also want a place that has four seasons and that has activities year round. Skiing in the winter, hunting in the fall, hiking in the spring and rafting or fishing in the summer. So that is what we are looking for. So far the area we like best is up in Chewelah,WA. Just north of Spokane about 45 minutes or so. There is the 49 North Ski area that is expanding up there and it appears they are going to turn it into another Vail which means growth. And there is national forest which is a big plus for trail rides. And although there is the skiing in the winter, it will be a COLD winter being that far north. So that is our favorite so far, but if we could find something affordable with the same offerings but a little further south, like in Colorado, then that would be better. Except property in Colorado is EXPENSIVE. Especially when you are looking at buying around 100 acres. We will settle for less acreage if we can find something that borders national forest though
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Salinas,CA
That is where we are headed to pick up our next load. Then we have until Monday at 0430 to make it 2700n miles. Piece of cake. The rest of today and then three full days of driving before it is due.
Joel I think it was asked about our 70 hour rule. Let me see if I can explain this. Per DOT a driver can not work more than 70 hours in an 8 day period. There are two ways to gain hours back. The first is to take a 34 hour restart when you are out of hours. This essentially wipes your 70 hour clock and you start with a clean slate. The other way is to gain hours back. At midnight on the 8th day, you gain back the hours that you worked on your first day. For instance here are the hours I worked this past week. Day 1-10.75 Day 2-12.75 Day 3-11 Day 4-13 Day 5-9.5 Day 6-9.25 Day 7-3.75. At the end of this 7 day period I have worked exactly 70 hours. On Day 8 I can't work because I have hit my 70 hours. Now, at midnight on the 8th day, Day 1 drops off and Day 2 becomes Day 1 and Day 3 becomes Day 2 and so on. So now, if you look back at the hours I had, now it looks like this: Day 1-12.75, Day 2-11, Day 3-13, Day 4-9.5, Day 5-9.25, Day 6-3.75 and Day 8-0(because I couldn't work). Add all these up and you get 59.25 so you subtract that from 70, so 70-59.25=10.75. 10.75 are the hours that I dropped from my first day and gained back to work. So now I can work 10.75 hours today. There you have it. The two ways that you can gain back hours. Do a 34-hour restart and completely wipe the 70 out and have a fresh start, or gain back hours on midnight of your 8th day from what drops off of that first day. Clear as mud? :) It is easier to do a restart if you have the time. A lot of the time, you are under a load and just have to work off of the hours gained back. After a while that gets real tiring because you don't really get any time off, even though you are working legally. We try to run about 2-3 weeks and then at least take a 34-hour restart. This time I just blew through my hours and was forced to stop. I did manage to get a 34-hour restart out of this but J didn't. But somehow he still has hours that he can work off of. I must be working harder then him I guess. As his boss, I am going to have to light a fire under his ass!
To those that answered where Justin is stationed at, THANK YOU!! Now if we can just get a mailing address for him we will be all set!
Joel I think it was asked about our 70 hour rule. Let me see if I can explain this. Per DOT a driver can not work more than 70 hours in an 8 day period. There are two ways to gain hours back. The first is to take a 34 hour restart when you are out of hours. This essentially wipes your 70 hour clock and you start with a clean slate. The other way is to gain hours back. At midnight on the 8th day, you gain back the hours that you worked on your first day. For instance here are the hours I worked this past week. Day 1-10.75 Day 2-12.75 Day 3-11 Day 4-13 Day 5-9.5 Day 6-9.25 Day 7-3.75. At the end of this 7 day period I have worked exactly 70 hours. On Day 8 I can't work because I have hit my 70 hours. Now, at midnight on the 8th day, Day 1 drops off and Day 2 becomes Day 1 and Day 3 becomes Day 2 and so on. So now, if you look back at the hours I had, now it looks like this: Day 1-12.75, Day 2-11, Day 3-13, Day 4-9.5, Day 5-9.25, Day 6-3.75 and Day 8-0(because I couldn't work). Add all these up and you get 59.25 so you subtract that from 70, so 70-59.25=10.75. 10.75 are the hours that I dropped from my first day and gained back to work. So now I can work 10.75 hours today. There you have it. The two ways that you can gain back hours. Do a 34-hour restart and completely wipe the 70 out and have a fresh start, or gain back hours on midnight of your 8th day from what drops off of that first day. Clear as mud? :) It is easier to do a restart if you have the time. A lot of the time, you are under a load and just have to work off of the hours gained back. After a while that gets real tiring because you don't really get any time off, even though you are working legally. We try to run about 2-3 weeks and then at least take a 34-hour restart. This time I just blew through my hours and was forced to stop. I did manage to get a 34-hour restart out of this but J didn't. But somehow he still has hours that he can work off of. I must be working harder then him I guess. As his boss, I am going to have to light a fire under his ass!
To those that answered where Justin is stationed at, THANK YOU!! Now if we can just get a mailing address for him we will be all set!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Ontario,CA
Well, we are here for another night. Sometimes I just want to kick myself in the ass. You know how I was telling you I could only drive 3.75 hours yesterday? Well, I had it in my head that today would be my 8th day and that I could gain some hours back. Nope, not the case. Today was only my 7th day. And as of yesterday I was at exactly 70 hours. Now the DOT rule is that we can not work more than 70 hours in an 8 day period. Today is my 8th day and I have already hit my 70. That means I am done until midnight when I will gain back 10.75 hours. Luckily we stopped early last night so when we got up this morning to make this last delivery, J had already had a 10 hour break so he was able to get us to the receiver. After we delivered there we came back to the TA here in Ontario and we are just staying till in the morning. I sent our FM a message with my hours and told him I couldn't drive so we wouldn't be available until tomorrow morning at 0300. He sent a message saying OK so we are good to go. I did tell him though that if he gets us a load lined up for tomorrow to let us know as soon as he gets it. If he finds something today that picks up at say 0800 in the morning, then there is no reason for me to get up at 0300 to check the Qualcomm. Our Qualcomm times out after the truck has been turned off a certain period of time. So unless I get up and turn the truck on I won't get any messages. So I am really hoping that he finds us a load before he goes home.
Right now I am sitting here watching TV in the truck and blogging. The cool thing about Idleaire is that you can just give them your drivers license to hold and you can get a TV to watch. Plus the Idleaire lets you hook up to the internet (which I don't need since I have an air card), has four 110 outlets, pay per view movies and A/C which is the most important when you are in California and they have these stupid no idling laws. And is it REALLY hot here already.
We still haven't heard from Justin yet. We know he is in Illinois for Basic Training but we don't know what town. He called his home twice. Once at 0230 in the morning, according to Jessica and the second time no one was home and he left a message. I am anxious to get his address because it is always great to get mail. Also I really want to know when he graduates Basic so we can be there. J said when he went through Basic he didn't have anyone there at Graduation and he knows how he felt. He said it would have been really nice if someone was there for him. So we are going to make it a point to be there for Justin's Graduation.
I guess that is about it. At least we are parked a little closer this time so I don't have to walk as far to the bathroom!
Right now I am sitting here watching TV in the truck and blogging. The cool thing about Idleaire is that you can just give them your drivers license to hold and you can get a TV to watch. Plus the Idleaire lets you hook up to the internet (which I don't need since I have an air card), has four 110 outlets, pay per view movies and A/C which is the most important when you are in California and they have these stupid no idling laws. And is it REALLY hot here already.
We still haven't heard from Justin yet. We know he is in Illinois for Basic Training but we don't know what town. He called his home twice. Once at 0230 in the morning, according to Jessica and the second time no one was home and he left a message. I am anxious to get his address because it is always great to get mail. Also I really want to know when he graduates Basic so we can be there. J said when he went through Basic he didn't have anyone there at Graduation and he knows how he felt. He said it would have been really nice if someone was there for him. So we are going to make it a point to be there for Justin's Graduation.
I guess that is about it. At least we are parked a little closer this time so I don't have to walk as far to the bathroom!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Ontario,CA
What a week this has been. I am worn out! I made the mistake of not adding up my hours and woke up this morning to realize that I could only drive 3.75 hours. Not near enough time to make it to our drops. Well hell. But first, let me back up.
After we dropped in Nutty New Jersey, we went up to Waterford,NY to pick up a Hazmat load of some chemicals with two stops in California. The first in Ontario and the next 25 miles away in LaHabra. Ok, pick up the load and head out. Our first stop in Ontario shows a delivery on 07/01 but no appointment time set yet. Our last drop in LaHabra shows a delivery dabe of 6/30 between 0700-1600. Ok, first off, how can our last drop be scheduled before our first stop? And they have to be in that order because that is how the trailer is loaded. Well, this morning I wake up and realize I am out of hours so I drive us as far as Havasu City,AZ. I stop for a few hours and realize if I get J up early, not early as in illegal, but he can get us in to our first stop. Now during the trip we got a message saying they had changed our last appointment to 07/01 0700-1600 and I confused that with the first stop that didn't have an appointment yet. So I was thinking that both were on the same day just before 1600. Well, as it turns out, they still did not have an appointment for our first drop and what they sent me was that they changed the DATE of the last stop from 06/30 to 07/01. Either way, I am still thinking I have an appointment at BOTH places.
Anyway, J gets up and takes off and we start having problems with the reefer shutting off. Our FM sends a message and by this time it has shut off twice. So we get on the phone with Road Assist and we have to take it to a truck stop because there is no Carrier/ThermoKing dealer close except for in Ontario, which is where we are headed. We make it to Barstow,CA and stop at the TA and have them look at it. It turns out that it was OUT of coolant. We get that fixed, after a few hours but we aren't going to make it to either place before 1600. So I call our FM and talk to him about it and that is when we realize that there is still NO appointment for our first drop. He said they had been e-mailing and calling them for the last two days and couldn't get ahold of anyone. We just decided we would head over and see if they could get us unloaded and if not then we would come back first thing in the morning. Before all this I had called our last stop and found out that even if we had made it by 1600, they don't take receiving past 1400. They changed that as of June 1st and apparently our Sales department didn't get the memo. So I am STILL waiting on an actual appointment time for them in the morning. He said that I would need an appointment to get unloaded, not just show up when you can and we will get to you. So I still don't have an appointment with them.
Now, on the bright side. We made it to our first drop about 1800 hrs and they were open and they unloaded us. So now all we have to do is head to the TA in Ontario for the night and find out in the morning when our next appointment is at our last drop. I am exhausted after this week. It isn't good to work as many hours as I worked in the last 5-6 days. It will wear you out!
Now if I can get a shower and a hot meal, I will be set. A good nights sleep on top of that and I will be one happy girl!
After we dropped in Nutty New Jersey, we went up to Waterford,NY to pick up a Hazmat load of some chemicals with two stops in California. The first in Ontario and the next 25 miles away in LaHabra. Ok, pick up the load and head out. Our first stop in Ontario shows a delivery on 07/01 but no appointment time set yet. Our last drop in LaHabra shows a delivery dabe of 6/30 between 0700-1600. Ok, first off, how can our last drop be scheduled before our first stop? And they have to be in that order because that is how the trailer is loaded. Well, this morning I wake up and realize I am out of hours so I drive us as far as Havasu City,AZ. I stop for a few hours and realize if I get J up early, not early as in illegal, but he can get us in to our first stop. Now during the trip we got a message saying they had changed our last appointment to 07/01 0700-1600 and I confused that with the first stop that didn't have an appointment yet. So I was thinking that both were on the same day just before 1600. Well, as it turns out, they still did not have an appointment for our first drop and what they sent me was that they changed the DATE of the last stop from 06/30 to 07/01. Either way, I am still thinking I have an appointment at BOTH places.
Anyway, J gets up and takes off and we start having problems with the reefer shutting off. Our FM sends a message and by this time it has shut off twice. So we get on the phone with Road Assist and we have to take it to a truck stop because there is no Carrier/ThermoKing dealer close except for in Ontario, which is where we are headed. We make it to Barstow,CA and stop at the TA and have them look at it. It turns out that it was OUT of coolant. We get that fixed, after a few hours but we aren't going to make it to either place before 1600. So I call our FM and talk to him about it and that is when we realize that there is still NO appointment for our first drop. He said they had been e-mailing and calling them for the last two days and couldn't get ahold of anyone. We just decided we would head over and see if they could get us unloaded and if not then we would come back first thing in the morning. Before all this I had called our last stop and found out that even if we had made it by 1600, they don't take receiving past 1400. They changed that as of June 1st and apparently our Sales department didn't get the memo. So I am STILL waiting on an actual appointment time for them in the morning. He said that I would need an appointment to get unloaded, not just show up when you can and we will get to you. So I still don't have an appointment with them.
Now, on the bright side. We made it to our first drop about 1800 hrs and they were open and they unloaded us. So now all we have to do is head to the TA in Ontario for the night and find out in the morning when our next appointment is at our last drop. I am exhausted after this week. It isn't good to work as many hours as I worked in the last 5-6 days. It will wear you out!
Now if I can get a shower and a hot meal, I will be set. A good nights sleep on top of that and I will be one happy girl!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Nutty New Jersey
First, pardon my language, but ANY directions we get to this area are FUCKED UP! It really just makes me want to pull my hair out. We made it to our drop in Fort Worth and then picked up a load to Newark,NJ. This was going to their international facility at Newark Airport. One of those rush rush runs where we have to haul as to make it there on time. We made it with about 30 minutes to destination but it was a complete cluster. I'm not eve going to go into detail because it will just make me mad again! Let's just say that after taking 3 wrong turns and calling three times we finally got to the right exit and found the place. We had actually passed by it I think 3 times, but we just couldn't GET to it.
So, get that crap straight and find the place, drop it off, pick up an empty and we get our next load. Gotta head about 180 miles up to Waterford,NY (right above Albany) to pick up a Hazmat load with two stops in California. We just picked that up and now we have 2800 miles to go by Tuesday morning. We should make it by 0700 on Tuesday so we are good to go but we will have to haul a little ass. :) But not too much, We may go 60 instead of 58. LOL!!
That is all for now. I drove my complete 11 hours and worked my full 14 to get that load there so I am worn out.
So, get that crap straight and find the place, drop it off, pick up an empty and we get our next load. Gotta head about 180 miles up to Waterford,NY (right above Albany) to pick up a Hazmat load with two stops in California. We just picked that up and now we have 2800 miles to go by Tuesday morning. We should make it by 0700 on Tuesday so we are good to go but we will have to haul a little ass. :) But not too much, We may go 60 instead of 58. LOL!!
That is all for now. I drove my complete 11 hours and worked my full 14 to get that load there so I am worn out.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Green River,UT
Well, we made it out of Vegas! A little lighter in the pockets, but who cares. We had fun. We stayed at the Super 8 and went to Bally's to gamble since it was the closest one. Smokey did real good in the hotel other than eating, or more like shredding J's paperback he was reading. But he didn't touch anything else so I consider that a good thing. :)
Our FM called us Tuesday morning saying they had a team broke down in Vegas and needed us to pick their load up and take it to Grantsville,UT (425 miles) and then he had another that loaded last night to go to Fort Worth,TX for a Thursday morning delivery. Cool. But it didn't work out that way. We were available at 1500 local time and we were headed to pick up the load by 1530. Stop first and fuel and that takes forever. Got blocked in and the lady inside was having issues with the printer so it was just a fiasco. Finally make it out of there, go pick up the load, hook up to it and can't leave. The trailer was at a Detroit Diesel shop. As we were trying to pull out, they had one of those huge city buses (that bends in the middle) in the shop, sticking out, and it was blocking our way out. Sat there for probably 45 minutes before they got it moved so we could leave. Hit 5pm traffic and get stuck in traffic for a wreck. Great. By the time we get out of Vegas it is close to 1830 local time which is 2030 our time. So we are supposed to have the first load dropped 425 miles away by midnight and the second one loaded by midnight. Not going to happen. Hell, even if we didn't have problems, we MAY have been able to get the first load dropped, but the second load was 11 miles away and we had to go find an empty trailer. We made it to the first drop at 0330, got out of there about 0400, headed out, stopped to wash the windows off and go to the bathroom, then went to our yard in Salt Lake to get an empty. Couldn't get in because the lady was doing a yard check so by the time I get the trailer hooked up, get fuel and get out of there, it is 0530. Drive from there to Logan and get there around 0730. And they wanted us there last night. Virtually impossible. I just do what I can and go from there. I'm not a miracle worker and I can't pull extra time out of my ass to get a load someplace when there isn't enough time to begin with. Bad planning on the dispatch end. They should have seen the miles and known it wasn't possible to make it on time. Oh well, we got the load and are headed to Fort Worth and that is all that matters. We didn't waste any time getting there so they will just have to deal with the consignee and get a different appointment time for us. I'm not going to stress over it. Nothing we could have done differently.
So that is where we are right now. We switched drivers in Green River and J should be able to get us to Santa Rosa,NM or maybe a little further. Depends on how fast he is able to go. We are taking the shortest route which is a two lane road through UT and NM to cut down to Albuquerque. It goes through the mountains. Not a bad road, just not a great one to drive at night because of all the turns. Hopefully he can get that far and then I can get us in to destination sometime before the end of my shift tomorrow. Somewhere between 1300-1500 hours.
Our FM called us Tuesday morning saying they had a team broke down in Vegas and needed us to pick their load up and take it to Grantsville,UT (425 miles) and then he had another that loaded last night to go to Fort Worth,TX for a Thursday morning delivery. Cool. But it didn't work out that way. We were available at 1500 local time and we were headed to pick up the load by 1530. Stop first and fuel and that takes forever. Got blocked in and the lady inside was having issues with the printer so it was just a fiasco. Finally make it out of there, go pick up the load, hook up to it and can't leave. The trailer was at a Detroit Diesel shop. As we were trying to pull out, they had one of those huge city buses (that bends in the middle) in the shop, sticking out, and it was blocking our way out. Sat there for probably 45 minutes before they got it moved so we could leave. Hit 5pm traffic and get stuck in traffic for a wreck. Great. By the time we get out of Vegas it is close to 1830 local time which is 2030 our time. So we are supposed to have the first load dropped 425 miles away by midnight and the second one loaded by midnight. Not going to happen. Hell, even if we didn't have problems, we MAY have been able to get the first load dropped, but the second load was 11 miles away and we had to go find an empty trailer. We made it to the first drop at 0330, got out of there about 0400, headed out, stopped to wash the windows off and go to the bathroom, then went to our yard in Salt Lake to get an empty. Couldn't get in because the lady was doing a yard check so by the time I get the trailer hooked up, get fuel and get out of there, it is 0530. Drive from there to Logan and get there around 0730. And they wanted us there last night. Virtually impossible. I just do what I can and go from there. I'm not a miracle worker and I can't pull extra time out of my ass to get a load someplace when there isn't enough time to begin with. Bad planning on the dispatch end. They should have seen the miles and known it wasn't possible to make it on time. Oh well, we got the load and are headed to Fort Worth and that is all that matters. We didn't waste any time getting there so they will just have to deal with the consignee and get a different appointment time for us. I'm not going to stress over it. Nothing we could have done differently.
So that is where we are right now. We switched drivers in Green River and J should be able to get us to Santa Rosa,NM or maybe a little further. Depends on how fast he is able to go. We are taking the shortest route which is a two lane road through UT and NM to cut down to Albuquerque. It goes through the mountains. Not a bad road, just not a great one to drive at night because of all the turns. Hopefully he can get that far and then I can get us in to destination sometime before the end of my shift tomorrow. Somewhere between 1300-1500 hours.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Man am I behind! The cord to the computer had a cut in it and we had to get it fixed. Nothing that a little electrical tape didn't fix though, so now I am back in action. I have a weeks worth of happenings to catch you up on so I better get to it.
My last post we had left Irwindale,CA and were in Carlsbad,CA picking up our next load. We had hoped to meet up with some other Prime drivers, but they got a load before we could get loaded and get up to meet with them so things didn't work out. But we will catch them at some other time. We sat in Carlsbad,CA for about 3 hours before we were finally loaded and out of there. Earlier in the day I had sent off for a Fuel Solution (telling us where to fuel) and we got the response back that fuel was too low for a recommendation. No shit it is low, that is why I need a place to fuel! I had about 3/8th of a tank and figured that would get us to Carlsbad and back which is only about 160 miles round trip. Then we could hit the TA in Ontario,CA on our way out. Get loaded and get about 5 miles on our trip headed to the Ontario TA to fuel and our fuel light comes on. It is up hill and mountains so there was no way we were going to make it. Call weekend FM and he says there is a Pilot in Otay,CA. I get the address and number from him and we head that direction. It is a new one in the Fuel Book so there is no adress of phone number listed. Well, our GPS won't take the address and no one answers the phone, after it ringing FOREVER. Ok, time to formulate Plan B. Google San Diego Truck Stops. Find SoCal Truck Stop off of Marina Way. They take Comdata, even though it isn't a fuel stop so we can just use a Comcheck. Get there, get fuel, get the authorization for a Comcheck, after paying $5.039 a gallon, and the lady can't get authorization. WTF? Finally figure out she has to call it in and enter my name to the system and then it gives her an approval code. That only took an hour. Now we are headed out and hit rush hour traffic in San Diego. What a pain. And to top it off, they give us an impossible appointment time. They set the time before we were even loaded, not taking into account that we weren't even loaded yet. See, this one, unlike most, didn't have an appointment already set when it was dispatched. So, you would think that they would wait to set the appointment until we were actually rolling to get an idea of when we would get there. Didn't happen so we just told them when we would be able to make it. Couldn't get in until 2000 hrs on Wednesday, being loaded on Monday evening and 2200 miles to go. Then we find out they aren't a 24 hour facility. So we finally get the appointment changed to 0900 on Thursday morning. Cool. Now we are in business.
Make it out of San Diego and J makes it to Phoenix. This load is going to Hebron,KY which is right outside of Cincinnati,OH on the KY side. I take over in Phoenix and get us to Santa Fe,NM. J takes over from there and gets to OKC,OK. Then I wake up Wednesday morning there in OKC and head into Springfield,MO. I get in around 1000 hrs and we make use of the down time since we only have about 550 miles to go and it isn't due until the next morning. I go put the truck in line for a PM in the shop, we go do laundry, grab some lunch and head back to check on the truck. Truck is in the shop but not done. Now, as I am putting laundry away I realize that Smokey has gotten a water bottle and managed to get it opened up on the bed. All of the bedding is wet. UGH! Ok, put laundry up and grab bedding and take it into the laundry and throw it in the dryers. Since we have about 30 minutes for them to dry, we decide Smokey needs a bath! Off we go to the detail shop to the Pet Wash and get him cleaned up.
Ok, got that done so back to the truck. It is ready and we are off! Head out to the main road and stop at Waffle House on the corner for some dinner before we take off. Guess what Smokey does while we are in there. He finds the other water bottle! I am just thankful that we have a plastic cover over the actual mattress. No dryers at Waffle House, duh, so I am left to just drape that bedding where I can to let it dry. Grab the bedding off the top bunk and I am off to bed.
That night J gets me to right ourside of Cincinnati and I only have 58 miles to go to destination when I wake up. Piece of cake. Get there early aud don't get unloaded until about 2 hours after my appointment time. Ok, that load is done, head out down the road to the TA and we get our next load. Pick up in Kentucky and deliver to Black Creek,GA (which by the way is NOT on the map or our GPS). Short 600 mile trip but no biggie. Pays decent. And it will set us up nice for a trip back across the US. Get that delivered on Friday morning and find out that J's son got his orders to ship out on the 26th, this Thursday.
So we get on the phone with our FM and see what we can work out. We actually don't need to get back to Dallas, we wanted to get to Las Vegas. Justin and his girlfriend and her family were going to Vegas to see her Aunt this Sun-Wed. So we figure if we can get to Vegas, we can see him before he goes. It takes about an hour or so, but our FM hooks us up. He sends us t0 pick up a load of Bud Light Lime from Anheuser-Busch in Cartersville,GA going to Sacramento. Drop the load off in Denver where another team will pick it up and then he got us a load that was dropped in Denver and we are taking it to Henderson,NV which is a Las Vegas Suburb. Absolutely perfect. It delivers Monday at 1230 so that gives us the rest of the day to spend with them, the evening, breakfast Tuesday morning and then we can head out after that.
The saga continues. We pick up in Cartersville,GA and haul ass to Denver. Drop at the Denver yard this morning and go inside to see if our load going to Henderson is there yet. It is, but it appears that it has been given to another team. HUH? Apparently our FM, or evening shift, didn't get us preplanned on it when all the plans were being made because we were still on another load. After a few phone calls, the other team that was supposed to pick it up is still 250 miles out and they still have to make their local delivery before they can come pick it up. We are there so we get the load assigned to us and they said they would find them another load. Cool. Hook up and we are off.
Now we have to stop and grab something to eat before we continue. We stop at the Denver West TA and are able to hook up with J's best friend Kevin from school. He was the best man at our wedding and we haven't been able to get together since we got married over 11 years ago. We had a great time visiting and sat there for a couple hours bullshitting. It was great! Now that we have our own truck and can take off when we want, we are going to try to take a few days off at some point in Colorado Springs and visit with him.
So we are back on the road and headed to Vegas and we get a phone call. Justin isn't going to make it because they are making him do the physical test again, even though he already passed it once. Something to do with the recruiter pushing him through so he could go through with his other two friends and they wanted to make sure the recruiters stats were good so as a checks and balances system, they are making him retest. There goes that. So we figure we will head to Vegas anyway and see his girlfriend and her family. Then we get a call that they can't get a flight. See, her dad works for the airlines so they were flying standby and they couldn't get enough seats for them to all make it going standby. Well hell! Our FM did all this work for us and it turns out it was for nothing. Now we aren't going to be able to see him before he leaves. And we have a non refundable room that is already paid for. So as it stands, we are off to Vegas by ourselves for a night. We will make the most of it though. I haven't been, except for driving through, so it will be fun to go gamble and walk the strip, Even if is is only for one night. I wanted to stay at one of the bigger hotels but they don't allow pets or want an astronomical non refundable pet deposit, so Super 8 it is. Only $49 a night and $15 pet deposit. That I can live with.
Right now we are headed across I-70 almost to Vail and on our way to Vegas. We will be there before the appointment time, so hopefully we can drop it early and then I can get lucky. On the machines that is. Or maybe that isn't what I mean. :) I'll let you know how things go!
My last post we had left Irwindale,CA and were in Carlsbad,CA picking up our next load. We had hoped to meet up with some other Prime drivers, but they got a load before we could get loaded and get up to meet with them so things didn't work out. But we will catch them at some other time. We sat in Carlsbad,CA for about 3 hours before we were finally loaded and out of there. Earlier in the day I had sent off for a Fuel Solution (telling us where to fuel) and we got the response back that fuel was too low for a recommendation. No shit it is low, that is why I need a place to fuel! I had about 3/8th of a tank and figured that would get us to Carlsbad and back which is only about 160 miles round trip. Then we could hit the TA in Ontario,CA on our way out. Get loaded and get about 5 miles on our trip headed to the Ontario TA to fuel and our fuel light comes on. It is up hill and mountains so there was no way we were going to make it. Call weekend FM and he says there is a Pilot in Otay,CA. I get the address and number from him and we head that direction. It is a new one in the Fuel Book so there is no adress of phone number listed. Well, our GPS won't take the address and no one answers the phone, after it ringing FOREVER. Ok, time to formulate Plan B. Google San Diego Truck Stops. Find SoCal Truck Stop off of Marina Way. They take Comdata, even though it isn't a fuel stop so we can just use a Comcheck. Get there, get fuel, get the authorization for a Comcheck, after paying $5.039 a gallon, and the lady can't get authorization. WTF? Finally figure out she has to call it in and enter my name to the system and then it gives her an approval code. That only took an hour. Now we are headed out and hit rush hour traffic in San Diego. What a pain. And to top it off, they give us an impossible appointment time. They set the time before we were even loaded, not taking into account that we weren't even loaded yet. See, this one, unlike most, didn't have an appointment already set when it was dispatched. So, you would think that they would wait to set the appointment until we were actually rolling to get an idea of when we would get there. Didn't happen so we just told them when we would be able to make it. Couldn't get in until 2000 hrs on Wednesday, being loaded on Monday evening and 2200 miles to go. Then we find out they aren't a 24 hour facility. So we finally get the appointment changed to 0900 on Thursday morning. Cool. Now we are in business.
Make it out of San Diego and J makes it to Phoenix. This load is going to Hebron,KY which is right outside of Cincinnati,OH on the KY side. I take over in Phoenix and get us to Santa Fe,NM. J takes over from there and gets to OKC,OK. Then I wake up Wednesday morning there in OKC and head into Springfield,MO. I get in around 1000 hrs and we make use of the down time since we only have about 550 miles to go and it isn't due until the next morning. I go put the truck in line for a PM in the shop, we go do laundry, grab some lunch and head back to check on the truck. Truck is in the shop but not done. Now, as I am putting laundry away I realize that Smokey has gotten a water bottle and managed to get it opened up on the bed. All of the bedding is wet. UGH! Ok, put laundry up and grab bedding and take it into the laundry and throw it in the dryers. Since we have about 30 minutes for them to dry, we decide Smokey needs a bath! Off we go to the detail shop to the Pet Wash and get him cleaned up.
Ok, got that done so back to the truck. It is ready and we are off! Head out to the main road and stop at Waffle House on the corner for some dinner before we take off. Guess what Smokey does while we are in there. He finds the other water bottle! I am just thankful that we have a plastic cover over the actual mattress. No dryers at Waffle House, duh, so I am left to just drape that bedding where I can to let it dry. Grab the bedding off the top bunk and I am off to bed.
That night J gets me to right ourside of Cincinnati and I only have 58 miles to go to destination when I wake up. Piece of cake. Get there early aud don't get unloaded until about 2 hours after my appointment time. Ok, that load is done, head out down the road to the TA and we get our next load. Pick up in Kentucky and deliver to Black Creek,GA (which by the way is NOT on the map or our GPS). Short 600 mile trip but no biggie. Pays decent. And it will set us up nice for a trip back across the US. Get that delivered on Friday morning and find out that J's son got his orders to ship out on the 26th, this Thursday.
So we get on the phone with our FM and see what we can work out. We actually don't need to get back to Dallas, we wanted to get to Las Vegas. Justin and his girlfriend and her family were going to Vegas to see her Aunt this Sun-Wed. So we figure if we can get to Vegas, we can see him before he goes. It takes about an hour or so, but our FM hooks us up. He sends us t0 pick up a load of Bud Light Lime from Anheuser-Busch in Cartersville,GA going to Sacramento. Drop the load off in Denver where another team will pick it up and then he got us a load that was dropped in Denver and we are taking it to Henderson,NV which is a Las Vegas Suburb. Absolutely perfect. It delivers Monday at 1230 so that gives us the rest of the day to spend with them, the evening, breakfast Tuesday morning and then we can head out after that.
The saga continues. We pick up in Cartersville,GA and haul ass to Denver. Drop at the Denver yard this morning and go inside to see if our load going to Henderson is there yet. It is, but it appears that it has been given to another team. HUH? Apparently our FM, or evening shift, didn't get us preplanned on it when all the plans were being made because we were still on another load. After a few phone calls, the other team that was supposed to pick it up is still 250 miles out and they still have to make their local delivery before they can come pick it up. We are there so we get the load assigned to us and they said they would find them another load. Cool. Hook up and we are off.
Now we have to stop and grab something to eat before we continue. We stop at the Denver West TA and are able to hook up with J's best friend Kevin from school. He was the best man at our wedding and we haven't been able to get together since we got married over 11 years ago. We had a great time visiting and sat there for a couple hours bullshitting. It was great! Now that we have our own truck and can take off when we want, we are going to try to take a few days off at some point in Colorado Springs and visit with him.
So we are back on the road and headed to Vegas and we get a phone call. Justin isn't going to make it because they are making him do the physical test again, even though he already passed it once. Something to do with the recruiter pushing him through so he could go through with his other two friends and they wanted to make sure the recruiters stats were good so as a checks and balances system, they are making him retest. There goes that. So we figure we will head to Vegas anyway and see his girlfriend and her family. Then we get a call that they can't get a flight. See, her dad works for the airlines so they were flying standby and they couldn't get enough seats for them to all make it going standby. Well hell! Our FM did all this work for us and it turns out it was for nothing. Now we aren't going to be able to see him before he leaves. And we have a non refundable room that is already paid for. So as it stands, we are off to Vegas by ourselves for a night. We will make the most of it though. I haven't been, except for driving through, so it will be fun to go gamble and walk the strip, Even if is is only for one night. I wanted to stay at one of the bigger hotels but they don't allow pets or want an astronomical non refundable pet deposit, so Super 8 it is. Only $49 a night and $15 pet deposit. That I can live with.
Right now we are headed across I-70 almost to Vail and on our way to Vegas. We will be there before the appointment time, so hopefully we can drop it early and then I can get lucky. On the machines that is. Or maybe that isn't what I mean. :) I'll let you know how things go!
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