Hackleburg, Alabama

Monday, October 27, 2008

Hackleburg, Alabama

We got a load of Wrangle jeans from New York to Hackleburg, Alabama. We stopped by our house for a few hours. We had a short week from taking home time but we still got in a good week especially considering the northeast pay and the New York City pay. I am glad to be out of New York. Some of the streets that we were on were horrible to be driving on. To make it worse New Yorkers double park to load and unload so getting around them on a already narrow and crowded street with a semi was very challenging. Next we had to double park to unload but the guys got it unloaded quickly. I found that New Yorkers were friendly and helpful even though they are in a rush. I had people help direct me around vehicles and corner several times. I had rather stay out of New York but when I do have to go back at least I have some experience in how to get around New York.

Long Island City, New York

New York City Skyline

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Long Island City, New York

We are in Long Island City, New York. We have a delivery for 08:00 tomorrow. We were dead headed to the West Memphis, Arkansas terminal and got a load to NY. We had a 317 mile DH to the terminal and then an 1137 mile load. I called my dispatch and requested that he get me a load out of here and not let me hang all day in NY. We will see what happens with that. It was quit difficult to get here. After finally getting to my destination I was in the wrong direction and the wrong side of the street. The area was not and area that I wanted to try to circle the block so what did I do….. a U Turn on a New York City 2 lane street. It had a couple of wide side walks and I used both. I slide my tandems all the way up, got on the side walk and cut sharp and made the turn in one try while traffic stopped and waited. It was kind of fun but not something that I would want to do everyday. Tomorrow I have to make it out of here. I hope to get dead headed out of the city for a pickup and that I don’t have to try to get to another location in the city. Getting here was a nightmare.

Home for a few Days

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Home for a few Days

It has been a while since I have posted to my blog. We have had some pretty crappy loads. We went to Chicago and Pennsylvania and then home. I had work that I needed to do to my house before winter. I went back on the board this morning and I still haven’t got a load. I am waiting. I will try to start blogging more regularly.

Broke Down in Wilcox Arizona

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Broke Down in Wilcox Arizona

We got routed to Joplin to get my hand slapped for hitting the roof in Florida. Bad Driver!!

From there we got a load to Santa Ana, California with a rush load. We made it early and no problems with the unloading of the load. They were quick. We had got there early so we waited for awhile but it was convenient to places to eat. We got unloaded before our appointment time. They had already preplan us a load that was only 5 miles away in Irvine. It was a drop and hook and it was ready three hours early. We got hooked and headed to Sam’s in El Paso, Texas. This was all before noon on Friday and we had an 11:00 Monday delivery with 800 miles. We were going to be there Saturday (today). We drove across I-8 to I-10 taking it easy and enjoying the trip and scenery. We had a couple of mild sand storms that wasn’t bad. Then we started having problems! Shelly had said that the truck wasn’t sounding right. We had just had the alternator replaced with the batteries but it sounded as if the alternator was making noise. I watched the gages and stopped and checked the truck a couple of times. All the gages looked good but the sounds were getting worse. We were in the middle of the desert and things were deteriorating. Then the air conditioner stopped and it stopped charging. It was hot and sand was blowing but we had to open the windows because of the heat. I called CFI Repair and to find the nearest shop. We made it to Wilcox, Arizona to a T/A. They are having an annual event here that everyone attends so they are having a problem getting parts. It turns out that it is the pulleys have gone and the belt broke. I don’t know if the blowing sand contributed to the problem. They are saying that it might be Monday before they can get parts. They got in touch with the KenWorth parts person at the event and he is going to check on parts after he gets out of a concert tonight. I hope he has the parts. If he doesn’t I am not sure what we will be doing. We are now waiting in the repair shop.

They have our parts!!!

Earth City, Missouri

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Earth City, Missouri

We are in Missouri waiting for a Monday morning delivery. We had gone home for a few days from Miami. We relayed a load to Wildwood, Florida that was going to Laredo because we had hi lighted for home. We picked up a Michaels load in Jacksonville from the seasonal warehouse that went to four stops in Nashville. This was another screwed up load. First we had a 06:00 drop and hook in Jacksonville. The streets were flooded with cars and people wading water up to their waist. I found the warehouse only to find that no one was there. I called operations to inform them of the situation. The information that she said that she had was that they open between 06:00 – 07:00. The one warehouse came in at 08:15 and took about 30 minutes before he was ready to do the paper work to do the drop and hook. That only took a few minutes so I was ready to go at 09:00 but I hadn’t had a break. I had driven all night and had to do my 10 hour break. We had plenty of time because this was Saturday morning and our delivery was for Tuesday.

The deliveries: We had 4 stops on our delivery and they started bad. I was early for the first one. It was very difficult to get into the dock but I had plenty of time so that wasn’t a real issue. The unloading sucked. They Michael employees took two hours to unload and I had two hours between each stop. The truck was loaded with small boxes that had to be individually handled. My second stop was already late and it was going down hill from here. I get to the second stop at 100 Oaks Mall and the complete is under construction. They had just resurfaced the parking lot in front of Michaels so they had be back through a construction area half the length of the mall covered with equipment, materials, and vehicles. They had to take down and move about a dozen cranes, move materials and fences for me to get backed up to the dock. It took more that an hours to get to the dock. It was about impossible to get there and then another 2 hour unloads. The construction was totally pissed. I had tied up about 2 dozen men for over three hours to make the delivery. One of the constructions Forman parked his ATV where I couldn’t get out and left it. I again had to call operations to get then to call the store to get it moved. The last two stops went well but they were also 2 hour unloads so my 05:00, 07:00, 09:00, 11:00 stops became 05:00, 10:00, 13:00, 15:00 stops.

We picked up on Friday after being home for a few days for this Monday delivery. This was only a 450 miles total dispatch. We get to the pickup and there was a ConWay Freight truck at the dock that they have just loaded with my load. Oops! They had not only loaded it but had unloaded what was on the truck so they could put this load on the front and reloaded his other freight. They didn’t want to unload and call ConWay to see if they wouldn’t take it to Nashville and have me drive back 100 miles to Nashville and get it there. They didn’t go for that so they unloaded the ConWay Freight and loaded me.

I will have a 34 hour restart and I hope that I can get some miles.

Accident

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Accident

After getting to North Carolina we got a load to Laredo. That went well but all has gone down hill from there. When I got to Laredo the broker was closed. We had a Saturday 8:00 ETA but had got there on Friday at 16:00. The dispatch gave me a delivery to make that was rushed because the broker was closing for the weekend and wanted the delivery for some reason before he closed. It was a high value load so I drop my trailer and hook to this one and get to deliver to the broker. While I was dropping this trailer the dispatch called and asks if I wanted a load to Las Vegas. I said yes and he dispatched it through. After dropping the load I looked at the dispatch and I didn’t have the hours available for the delivery time. When I got back to the terminal I go in to tell the dispatch and he tells me I now have to go through Joplin. I had just driven for 10 hours straight to beat the hurricane and had no time to drive that night. Joplin told me to take it and they would get me a relay. So I dropped the load in El Paso, Texas and get a load to Miami, Florida. For any of you that haven’t been to Miami, it sucks for parking. I go to the Seminole Truck Stop on 27. I had been driving 700 mile days to get her. We took I-20 across Texas to avoid Huston and I was tired. I got into a tight turn and was watching my wheels around a corner and the trailer got an overhanging metal awning. I was stuck on it. I couldn’t go forward and it wouldn’t let be back up. I dropped the trailer and came back in at an angle to push it away. I made sure that the king pin was catching it to push it away and it worked. But the police was called and did an accident report. It put a scrape on the trailer that is very minor and bent the corner of the metal awing but this is Miami. The cop was cool and didn’t want to make the report but just have us exchange information but the owner insisted. So now I will see what happens with all of this. I have hi lighted for home. We have been out for 6-7 weeks and I need a break.

Seattle, Washington to High Point, North Carolina

Montana Mist



Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Seattle, Washington to High Point, North Carolina

We made a trip from Laredo, Texas to Green River, Wyoming to a Chemical Company. It was a mine that mined soda ash. Just a couple of miles away we picked a load of the soda ash that had been processed for food use that was being shipped to Fairbanks, Alaska. We carried it to the dock in Seattle. There we picked up a load of tables and chairs that we took to High Point, North Carolina. From here we are headed back to Laredo. After delivering today we had to sit because we had run out of hours. We only have 6 for tomorrow so we won’t get far. Then we start picking up more hours the rest of the week. We are to be in Laredo Saturday Morning in time for Ike the Hurricane. We had 3450 miles for the week on our trip to Seattle and 3800 miles for last week to High Point. Of course this is the reason we ran out of hours. We have started with 1570 on this trip. If we can get a load before Saturday midnight then we can make it another good week.

We really enjoyed out trip west. We have now been in 37 states trucking. We did Washington and Oregon so for me personally I only have two states that I haven’t visited; Maine and Rhode Island. Shelly has been in them but not some of the other South West States.