Somewhere,USA

Yep, we have another top secret load so I can't tell you where we are, but I can give you an update on the last few days!

On Monday J was able to get us into Sparks,NV where we spent the night. I got up bright and early so that I could get to our first drop on time. Coming down Donner was an experience because the overhead signs said snow and ice on roadway, so I slowed down, but never came across any. What I did come across was FOG, and lots of it. Thicker than pea soup! Even though I allowed an extra two hours for travel time, I was about 7 minutes late to our first drop. But I called in and let them know so it wasn't a big deal.

Here is where the fun begins. I get backed into a very tight dock, and when I go to chock the wheels, the guy unloading asks me if I was his first stop. I thought it was a silly question since the trailer was obviously full. Of course you are my first stop. It turns out that they loaded the trailer backwards from what the paperwork said so my first stop was at the nose of the trailer and my last stop was at the back of the trailer. He says he has to check with his boss to see if they want him to unload it to get to theirs and reload it or if they want me to come back. Hmmm I tell him I can come back but I won't be back until Wednesday since my last drop is 380 miles away and it is due Tuesday at 0900 meaning I won't have time to get back to them on Wednesday. That would mean a Thursday delivery for something due on Tuesday. As I figured, he came back and unloaded it and reloaded it. He was real nice about it and they just charged the shipper for him having to rework the load.

So, what should have taken 30 minutes or less, it was only 3 pallets he needed, took about 2 hours. This made me about 15 minutes late for my second drop of the day. But again I called and they were aware I would be a little late. I finally make it to the second drop and find I have to back off the street, through a fence and then a slight blindside doen to the dock. Think a backwards "S". With my headset on and J outside to guide me, I backed in the dock PERFECTLY, without a single pullup! Now, if only I had stopped to open my doors! HAHA So one pullup to open the doors then straight back in. We were done there in about 20 minutes. Sweet.

Now our next stop is down in Santa Ana, in the Los Angeles area, so I take off and plan to drive about an hour and then J will start his shift. This load was a hazmat load with two placards and I hadn't had any problems at a scale, UNTIL I hit the scale on 580 in Livermore,CA. I got pulled in. We had some tape on the placards because they keep blowing out and that is a violation if the border is covered. Whatever. <<>> They can see plainly what the placard is. Also, and this is our fault, we flat forgot to put the padlock back on. We know better, but in our rush to get out of there, we forgot. That alone is a $3200 fine. YIKES!! And the page listing all the hazmat material was the second page of the paperwork, and it is supposed to be the first, even though I had it folded over to the top. You know though, some days it pays to be a female and to be nice. The Trooper told me I was going to get citations, so I said no problem. I didn't argue with him or anything and was nothing but nice. After he looked at all my other stuff and saw that I had the current documents I needed, we went inside and he told me to have a seat and wait. After about 10 minutes, he brings my stuff back to me and says that he isn't going to issue me any citations, but to get the tape off the placards and get a lock on there. Of course when I got to the truck it was already done because I was texting J while I was waiting and he got it all taken care of. So in the end, after 30minutes, I walked out with a warning and a piece of paper to send in to Prime, which just shows that being nice and cooperative pays off. And being a good looking chick, according to J, doesn't hurt! :)

Ok, J makes it to Ontario,CA where we spend the night and I get up and make our last drop with no problems. That morning it was actually really pretty there in LA and the haze wasn't noticable yet. The mountains were really pretty with the sun shining on them and having snow on the top. Ahhh It was quite gorgeous.

We already had a preplan to pick up so when we were done there, I started heading to it. Then I get a message that the shipper had changed. Same load, but shipping from a different place. I finally figure out where I am going, get turned around and head to that shipper. That would be the load we have now that is top secret. So I can't talk about it. But needless to say we are somewhere in the USA and save and just travelling along! Happy trails!!