It seems like I'm running faster than even the trip planners can keep up with these days! I ended up getting to the place where I was supposed to get "unloaded" at around 4:30AM, to find out that it really was just a drop. I also was supposed to bobtail to pick up my next load, but that wasn't supposed to be ready until 3PM. Oops. Well, I went down there and found out (unsurprisingly) that it wasn't ready and that they were running behind schedule. So instead of wasting most of the rest of my hours down there, I instead went back up the road to a truck stop, where I'll be taking yet another 10-hour break. I'll get eight hours sleep (hypothetically), grab some food, then pick this thing up and drive to Indianapolis for the night. I'll put my truck in the shop, most likely, since I have enough time on this load that I can afford to take the extra 24 hours or so.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Danridge TN
Yet another day where a whole lot didn't end up happening. I started driving around 3AM, stopped for fuel in Knoxville, then continued on to here. I'm about a half hour's drive from where I'm delivering and I plan on getting there as shortly after midnight as possible so I can leave there early as I can. Why? Because it's scheduled to take a whopping four hours to get the trailer unloaded, but I am hoping that if I get there at an early hour, they'll get right on it and be able to finish it more quickly. Then, since this trailer is due for maintenance, they'll probably send me toward another operating center to get it fixed. The nearest one is probably Charlotte, but Atlanta isn't that much further away and I could possibly make Indianapolis or even Memphis before my hours ran out, so there's plenty of options for the trip planners to consider. Of course, there's a very real chance that they'll have forgotten I need to take this trailer by an OC and they'll just route me somewhere random.
Friday, March 28, 2008
I-57, exit 10, MO
I'm so tired that I didn't even look at the sign off the Interstate, so I couldn't tell you what city this exit this is supposed to serve. I woke up around 6 this morning, drove to make the delivery, picked up an empty trailer, dropped the empty to get a load, and weighed the load to find it was perfectly legal. Today was one of those entirely uneventful days, really; the only thing even remotely interesting is that this trailer is about three weeks overdue for its annual inspection. They'll probably route me to an OC to get that looked at; since it'll have to be the nearest OC, that means I might end up in Charlotte or Atlanta on Sunday.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
West Memphis, AR
Today was one of those days where I only wish I could have gotten myself out of bed earlier. Not that it would have helped, mind you, except for the fact I'd have been able to shut down the truck earlier and get the day over with. I woke up at around 5, but couldn't convince myself to get out of bed until nearly 6. I got breakfast, then started driving back toward Mobile to wait for a trailer again. There was a problem already, though; just a after I left the truck stop I got a message telling me to go north about 80 miles to pick one up from a company drop yard and I couldn't get the message until I stopped where I thought I needed to be. So after wasting half an hour going down there, then turning around and going back north, I went to get the trailer, then headed to the docks to pick up a load.
I arrived at the front gate without a problem, but the first guy to give me directions omitted a key piece of information (namely, where I was supposed to make another right turn), which resulted in me driving straight out the back exit of the place. I was more than a little angry, at this point, as I was several hours behind schedule and running out of time to pick up this load. The second time I asked for directions from someone else and gave me better directions, which got me to where I needed to be. The place loaded me remarkably quickly - I barely had time to confirm the route I was taking - so I simply closed the truck and drove back to the truck stop I spent the night at to scale the load. It was just fine where I left the tandems, so for once, something that could have gone wrong didn't.
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful; I didn't make any other stops, nor were there any big traffic hangups. But when I got to the OC here, I found that the transient (overnight) parking was full, many of the spaces taken by bobtails even though there's several signs that say "no bobtail parking" in the area. There are also probably a hundred empty tractor parking spaces that people aren't using, for whatever reason. So instead of being able to park near the fuel island, I'm parked well back in the trailer parking area, at least a quarter-mile from the main entrance. So I'll have a bit of a walk just to go inside to take a shower; as soon as I post this, I'm doing that, then going to bed. I need to be up at 5:30 and out of the OC at 6, since I really, really need to maximize the hours I have available to drive.
I arrived at the front gate without a problem, but the first guy to give me directions omitted a key piece of information (namely, where I was supposed to make another right turn), which resulted in me driving straight out the back exit of the place. I was more than a little angry, at this point, as I was several hours behind schedule and running out of time to pick up this load. The second time I asked for directions from someone else and gave me better directions, which got me to where I needed to be. The place loaded me remarkably quickly - I barely had time to confirm the route I was taking - so I simply closed the truck and drove back to the truck stop I spent the night at to scale the load. It was just fine where I left the tandems, so for once, something that could have gone wrong didn't.
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful; I didn't make any other stops, nor were there any big traffic hangups. But when I got to the OC here, I found that the transient (overnight) parking was full, many of the spaces taken by bobtails even though there's several signs that say "no bobtail parking" in the area. There are also probably a hundred empty tractor parking spaces that people aren't using, for whatever reason. So instead of being able to park near the fuel island, I'm parked well back in the trailer parking area, at least a quarter-mile from the main entrance. So I'll have a bit of a walk just to go inside to take a shower; as soon as I post this, I'm doing that, then going to bed. I need to be up at 5:30 and out of the OC at 6, since I really, really need to maximize the hours I have available to drive.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Satsuma, AL
I just came back out on the road today after nearly a week off, so I was ready to go and hoping for plenty of miles. Only... I didn't get it. I have a run that's just over 600 miles, but I can't find an empty trailer anywhere! I was sent to one place, only to find they didn't have any empties. I sent in a message... only to get told to wait for an empty to become available. Fantastic. So I wait, and wait... and four hours later find out that they're not unloading any more of ours today and that the three they already did (taken by the three drivers in line before me) were the only three.
So I had just an hour and a half left to get a trailer and get to where I was picking up a load (it was just around the corner, but had to be by 3PM). Instead of sending me somewhere else, though, I was given permission to go up to a truck stop for the night and to be back at the place to try get an empty in the morning. So I'm going to sleep, wake up, shower, and hit the road, in the hopes one will be there when I arrive. It's a long shot, especially considering that there are apparently nearly twenty other drivers waiting on trailers from this place, but I'm hoping that I luck out.
So I had just an hour and a half left to get a trailer and get to where I was picking up a load (it was just around the corner, but had to be by 3PM). Instead of sending me somewhere else, though, I was given permission to go up to a truck stop for the night and to be back at the place to try get an empty in the morning. So I'm going to sleep, wake up, shower, and hit the road, in the hopes one will be there when I arrive. It's a long shot, especially considering that there are apparently nearly twenty other drivers waiting on trailers from this place, but I'm hoping that I luck out.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Edwardsville, IL
While I originally planned on driving one more day and going on to my 34-hour break tonight, my truck developed a really bad air leak yesterday, one that was losing air at a rate nearly double the DOT allowed threshold. As such, I had to go in to the operating center here and get it repaired, since the DOT would have shut me down if I were unlucky enough to get an inspection. I'm still waiting on them to finish the repair - my truck was supposed to be ready half an hour ago - since I want to leave fairly soon to get plenty of miles knocked out tonight. I want to be as far down the road as possible before I have to stop, such that I have as much time left as possible after I make my delivery Tuesday morning.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Hours of Service
Labels:
tutorial
I'm sure you've noticed that I keep referring to the number of hours that I can work, but I haven't really gone into a lot of detail about what that means, aside from a short post I made while I was still in training. I'll explain that all in greater detail here.
There are rules regarding the hours of service for freight-carrying truck drivers, as part of the regulations governing the industry. The technical details are on that page, but I'll put it into a simpler set of terms here.
11 and 14 hour rules: Once I begin working after a ten-hour break, I can drive up to 11 out of the next 14 hours. After 14 hours, I could continue to work, but not drive. For example, I could continue to unload a truck, finish a DOT inspection, or do any other task required by the job that doesn't involve being behind the wheel.
70 hour rule: After working 70 hours in any eight consecutive days, I can't continue to drive. This is a rolling eight-day period; that is, it's the last eight days, regardless of what the date or day of the week is. Under DOT regulations, I may still do non-driving work; under Schneider's company policy, I can't do any work at all unless it's an emergency. I'll take a sample out of my own logbook - the recap page - for the last few days to further explain this.
This is exactly how my actual recap is formatted. In order, the columns are the date, the hours I worked that day, my hours for the previous eight days, for the previous seven, and what I have available (out of 70) for the next day. All I do is copy my hours from my logbook page onto this sheet, then do the addition. Then, after that, I subtract the "previous seven days" number from 70 to figure out how many hours I have left for the next day. So if I were to have worked 10 hours today, I would have this:
Since the number of hours available is now less than 14, I wouldn't be able to work a full day; I'd be capped at 10 hours, 15 minutes. Basically, I can think of it as picking up the hours I worked eight days ago at midnight; I'll get five hours back at midnight (since the 5th will no longer be one of the last eight days), then tomorrow I'll pick seven hours back up. If you do the math, this means that I can work a maximum of 8 hours, 45 minutes every day without running out of hours somewhere. If I consistently work more, I'll eventually either have to take a shorter day or take a 34-hour restart.
Breaks: A break must be ten hours (or more) spent not working. It doesn't matter if it's off-duty time or spent in the sleeper, but it must be a minimum of ten hours. A 34-hour break is considered a restart; after 34 hours off duty, I have a full seventy hours available again, as if I'd taken the last eight days off. Obviously, I can take more than 10 or 34 hours and still satisfy the conditions; I just have to get back to work in time to make the delivery.
Ultimately, that's about it. I'll cover logging itself another time.
There are rules regarding the hours of service for freight-carrying truck drivers, as part of the regulations governing the industry. The technical details are on that page, but I'll put it into a simpler set of terms here.
11 and 14 hour rules: Once I begin working after a ten-hour break, I can drive up to 11 out of the next 14 hours. After 14 hours, I could continue to work, but not drive. For example, I could continue to unload a truck, finish a DOT inspection, or do any other task required by the job that doesn't involve being behind the wheel.
70 hour rule: After working 70 hours in any eight consecutive days, I can't continue to drive. This is a rolling eight-day period; that is, it's the last eight days, regardless of what the date or day of the week is. Under DOT regulations, I may still do non-driving work; under Schneider's company policy, I can't do any work at all unless it's an emergency. I'll take a sample out of my own logbook - the recap page - for the last few days to further explain this.
| Day | Hours | Previous 8 | Previous 7 | Next Day |
| 4 | 11.25 | 11.25 | 11.25 | 58.75 |
| 5 | 3.5 | 14.75 | 14.75 | 55.25 |
| 6 | 5 | 19.75 | 19.75 | 50.25 |
| 7 | 7 | 26.75 | 26.75 | 43.25 |
| 8 | 6.5 | 33.25 | 33.25 | 36.75 |
| 9 | 7.25 | 40.5 | 40.5 | 29.5 |
| 10 | 8.5 | 49 | 49 | 21 |
| 11 | 11.25 | 60.25 | 49 | 21 |
| 12 | 9.25 | 58.25 | 54.75 | 15.25 |
This is exactly how my actual recap is formatted. In order, the columns are the date, the hours I worked that day, my hours for the previous eight days, for the previous seven, and what I have available (out of 70) for the next day. All I do is copy my hours from my logbook page onto this sheet, then do the addition. Then, after that, I subtract the "previous seven days" number from 70 to figure out how many hours I have left for the next day. So if I were to have worked 10 hours today, I would have this:
| 13 | 10 | 64.75 | 59.75 | 10.25 |
Since the number of hours available is now less than 14, I wouldn't be able to work a full day; I'd be capped at 10 hours, 15 minutes. Basically, I can think of it as picking up the hours I worked eight days ago at midnight; I'll get five hours back at midnight (since the 5th will no longer be one of the last eight days), then tomorrow I'll pick seven hours back up. If you do the math, this means that I can work a maximum of 8 hours, 45 minutes every day without running out of hours somewhere. If I consistently work more, I'll eventually either have to take a shorter day or take a 34-hour restart.
Breaks: A break must be ten hours (or more) spent not working. It doesn't matter if it's off-duty time or spent in the sleeper, but it must be a minimum of ten hours. A 34-hour break is considered a restart; after 34 hours off duty, I have a full seventy hours available again, as if I'd taken the last eight days off. Obviously, I can take more than 10 or 34 hours and still satisfy the conditions; I just have to get back to work in time to make the delivery.
Ultimately, that's about it. I'll cover logging itself another time.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
London, OH
Today was one of those incredibly long days that just didn't feel that long. For various reasons, I got just two hours of sleep last night, but I actually was wide awake when I started driving. I made it to my delivery point with about fifteen minutes to spare, but since they didn't open until 7AM, it was a moot point. Even so, they finished unloading me much more quickly than expected and I got a work assignment just as they returned my paperwork, so I got directions and took off again, heading 19 miles back down the Interstate.
The next load also went ahead of schedule, so I was back on the road in about two hours (instead of 3.5), which left me just under three hours to find a place to park. I found a Pilot about 160 miles away and decided to go for it... I ended up parking the truck just as my fourteen hours ran out for the day. I plan on catching up on sleep, so I won't be leaving immediately when my 10 hour break is up; I can afford to take a few extra hours on this run. I could probably just take a full 34 hour restart, but I'd rather keep moving so I have a nice, fat paycheck come in when I get home.
The next load also went ahead of schedule, so I was back on the road in about two hours (instead of 3.5), which left me just under three hours to find a place to park. I found a Pilot about 160 miles away and decided to go for it... I ended up parking the truck just as my fourteen hours ran out for the day. I plan on catching up on sleep, so I won't be leaving immediately when my 10 hour break is up; I can afford to take a few extra hours on this run. I could probably just take a full 34 hour restart, but I'd rather keep moving so I have a nice, fat paycheck come in when I get home.
Willoughby Hills, OH
Another long drive without a break; I had to do about 350 miles without even stopping to get breakfast, which was certainly unpleasant. Otherwise, though, the drive was nothing special. The snow that I thought might hit near Cleveland never actually materialized, so the weather was a complete non-issue. I haven't received a new work assignment yet, which always concerns me; they're working fast on this trailer and there's a risk that they'll be done before operations actually gives me something else to do. And since they made me hand over the truck key for safety (as if I'd actually be dumb enough to move the truck while they're working in it!), I can't just leave the truck on to ensure I get the messages right away. I just hope they come in quickly when I fire it back up.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Indianapolis, IN
Today was one of those days where I just drove and never looked back. I left as soon as my ten-hour-break was up, then never stopped the truck until I arrived in Indianapolis, 9 1/2 hours later. No lunch break, no bathroom break, just a straight drive for 580 miles. This leaves me about 330 miles from where I'm delivering, with a 7AM appointment; I plan on leaving around midnight to make it there on time. I can't get there early, due to various noise restrictions on the load, so basically I have to get there as close to 7 o'clock as possible. I'll do a trip plan while they unload the trailer, then nap with whatever time I have left. Hopefully I'll be well-rested enough to have a nice, full day again; I like being able to drive 600 miles.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Vinita, OK
I'd say today was "one of those days," but they come up so often anymore that it's hard to simply call them "those days" now. I started off near Oklahoma City, leaving the truck stop around 1AM after getting fuel and food. The trip down to the consignee was uneventful, but when I arrived there, I found that one of the tandem pins on the trailer was broken. I could force it in with a hammer, but there was nothing to keep it pulled and it would immediately pop back out. The guy there just said to forget sliding them and back into the dock, but I knew the next place I was going (to drop the trailer off) would require me to slide them, so I sent in a message to maintenance asking if there were any places along the way that I could go to get it fixed. They suggested one - a TA about five miles out of the way - and I went there on my way through Oklahoma City.
The TA, however... well, to say they were having a bad day would be putting it nicely. The manager was screaming at himself over various things, the guy at the counter seemed clueless, other customers in line in front of me had such obscure requests that even I wanted to beat my head against the desk, and to top it all off: they couldn't even fix my trailer. It took them two hours to determine that it was something they didn't have the part for, since it was something in the pin-pulling mechanism itsemf, and they simply said "We're not a trailer shop" when I asked why they couldn't do it. So I called maintenance from the pay phone and got directions to another shop, two exits up the road. This one also had a problem: it was out of business. It wasn't even there. So I spent half an hour trying to find somewhere to turn around, ultimately going about 15 miles out of the way, just to make my way back to the TA I was at.
The third time, I finally got directions to a place that still was in business. I went there, explained the problem... but the pin actually retracted when the shop guy pulled the handle. I actually slid the tandems all the way back, then all the way forward again. I still don't know what he did that I didn't do, but apparently it just suddenly decided to start working. Confused, but happy that I wasn't going to have to waste any more time on it, I took off for Jenks, OK.
Of course, you know what happens next: more trouble. When I arrived at the facility, the tandems wouldn't slide because that darn pin was stuck once again. They wouldn't let me drop the thing until I moved the tandems, either, so I had to figure something out. After perhaps ten minutes of banging on the thing with a hammer and a crobar, I actually had a useful idea: I used the crobar to hold the pin in, then used duct tape to hold the crobar in place while I moved the trailer. I couldn't help but laugh at the sheer silliness of having to resort to duct tape to make this work, but I got the tandems moved, dropped the trailer, and picked up the load. For once, I picked up a trailer with no glaring problems, but this one has a tire that's probably in need of replacement and a tandem-puller that won't stay pulled without using pliers; those are just minor annoyances, though.
Since I'd lost four hours trying to get the trailer fixed (and still, ultimately, not getting it fixed), I was down to just an hour left on my legal workday by the time I left the shipper. The nearest rest area on the turnpike was about 80 miles away, so I decided to go for it and just round off the extra few minutes. I got here without incident and immediately shut the rig down. Now I just have to wait until about 12:45AM before I can start a pre-trip inspection (that level 2 inspection the other day has me paranoid now) and about 1:15 until I can start driving. My plan for tomorrow? Make it all the way over to Indianapolis, about 575 miles away. That would leave me about 323 miles to where I'm delivering. Assuming all goes well, I can just make this on time, but it's going to be exceptionally close. Hopefully I'll be able to pick some time up somewhere along the way.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Oklahoma City, OK
Note to self: never plan on having a ten-hour day after getting five hours sleep. That's not a good recipie for driving. My day started off reasonably well, but about an hour into the day, I got pulled over. So I pulled onto an exit ramp (since there was one right there) and found out I was getting a level 2 DOT inspection. Why? My truck's right headlight is out; I was told by maintenance that nobody cares if one headlight is out, but apparently that's not true. For those who don't know what that means, a level 2 inspection is just a basic walk around; the officer looks at all the things I'm supposed to check every time I leave the truck. A level 1 inspection is a full inspection, covering everything I'm supposed to do on my pre-trip, all 104 items. There apparently are also other kinds of inspections, but those are the only two I'm familiar with so far.
As this is the first time I've been pulled over, given an inspection, or otherwise had to deal with the DOT aside from having to drive through a weigh station, I really wasn't sure what to do. The officer was a little unsure as well, since the Kansas police force just started using a new computer system. I was dinged for three items: the bad headlight, a bad tail light on the tractor, and one trailer tire that is below 2/32 tread depth. I knew about the headlight and tail light, and planned on getting those fixed at the next OC I come to, but even after taking a second look at all my trailer tires I can't see any of them that are below 2/32. There are little rubber nubs instead all the major grooves of the tire, which correspond to that minimum tread; if they were sticking out or ripped out, then the tire would be below that mark. Even so, if I still have the trailer with me when I go through another OC, I'll tell maintenance about it.
Thankfully, the rest of the day was entirely uneventful. Since I didn't sleep so well (or so much), I decided to call it a day about 100 miles earlier than I originally planned on, since there was a Pilot truck stop, I wanted a shower, and would feel a lot more confident if I had full fuel tanks. Given that I'm going to be heading west of I-35, I'd rather not screw up something trivial like my fuel supply. Since I'm supposed to be home in 11 days, I can't imagine they're going to keep me out here for too long, but I certainly wouldn't mind a quick jaunt out to the west coast, perhaps followed by a trip back across on I-10. Of course, I think I have a better chance of winning on the Powerball ticket I bought while I was in Iowa.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Kearny, MO
I decided to sleep in today, since I have extra time on this delivery... but I didn't anticipate sleeping in until 11AM. Oops. Well, it doesn't matter that much, since I still made about 350 miles today, leaving me about 490 for tomorrow. I'll plan on taking ten hours to do that, leaving me about an hour to pick up another load or to make my way to the nearest truck stop and take my DOT break.
One thing I just realized about this load earlier today: I'm going well west of I-35. Sure, it was pretty obvious from my directions (take I-35, then go west on I-44), but it just kinda sank in that I'm going past that arbitary border by about a hundred miles. I'd be ecstatic if I were able to continue west, but they'll probably instead send me south into Texas or start routing me east again. Either way, I'll need to be up before 5AM, so I plan on getting a shower shortly and sleeping after I'm clean. I'll just clear out the truck a bit first.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Ugh. I absolutely hate driving in major cities. Minneapolis has to be one of the worst, though, in that it seemed like the drivers were actively trying to make it harder for me; I had my turn signal on for a mile before an exit and just merged over before the ramp. Of course, it didn't help that the directions I had were incomplete; I incorrectly went south on a road instead of north because the instructions simply said to take the road! As such, I had to navigate downtown Minneapolis with a 53' trailer; it's a small wonder I didn't have an accident with the way people were driving.
Once I finally found the place, things went smoothly; I actually dropped my old trailer and picked up the new one in about 35 minutes, which is quite a bit faster than I normally can get it done. I planned on going all the way down to the Iowa welcome center, but I realized that I was down to 45 minutes left on my 14 hours by the time I left that customer! So, instead, I've stopped at this truck stop where I weighed the rig, and have pleasantly discovered that they offer free wi-fi, so I might stay here a bit longer than my normal 10 hours. The delivery I have is about 850 miles from here - obviously more than I can do in one day - but I'll try to leave fairly early tomorrow (perhaps 6AM, not as early as I've been going) and drive straight though to maximize my mileage. Hopefully it will be a much better day than today!
Once I finally found the place, things went smoothly; I actually dropped my old trailer and picked up the new one in about 35 minutes, which is quite a bit faster than I normally can get it done. I planned on going all the way down to the Iowa welcome center, but I realized that I was down to 45 minutes left on my 14 hours by the time I left that customer! So, instead, I've stopped at this truck stop where I weighed the rig, and have pleasantly discovered that they offer free wi-fi, so I might stay here a bit longer than my normal 10 hours. The delivery I have is about 850 miles from here - obviously more than I can do in one day - but I'll try to leave fairly early tomorrow (perhaps 6AM, not as early as I've been going) and drive straight though to maximize my mileage. Hopefully it will be a much better day than today!
St. Paul, MN
Shortly after I wrote the last part of that previous post, a state trooper pulled up and asked me what the trouble was. I explained it to him, more or less as I've written it here. Seeing that I was shivering fairly significantly and the temperature was -5F, he let me sit in his squad car for about an hour while I waited for maintenance to get some kind of service out. It was about 8:15 before I got a message saying that someone would be there in half an hour, but since the officer needed to leave, he took me back to a truck stop six miles down the road. He even called the company to tell them this, but for some reason maintenance never bothered calling to tell the service guy; he spent an hour trying to figure out where I was. Apparently all he did was replace the fuel filter, then sprayed about half a can of ether into the air intake to get the truck to fire up. Once it started, it ran just fine.
Driving up here went well; I actually arrived more quickly than I expected to. And while I was told they would "fit me in" somewhere, they actually were ready, waiting for me, and immediately began unloading the trailer. It sounds like they're just about done, actually, which is a bad thing since I don't have a new work assignment yet! I really hope that operations can find something for me in the next couple of minutes, since I really do not want to have to try and find a truck stop around here; I hate driving around without knowing where I need to be next.
2:05PM: Speak of the devil... soon as I type that last part, I get an assignment. Looks like a good one!
Driving up here went well; I actually arrived more quickly than I expected to. And while I was told they would "fit me in" somewhere, they actually were ready, waiting for me, and immediately began unloading the trailer. It sounds like they're just about done, actually, which is a bad thing since I don't have a new work assignment yet! I really hope that operations can find something for me in the next couple of minutes, since I really do not want to have to try and find a truck stop around here; I hate driving around without knowing where I need to be next.
2:05PM: Speak of the devil... soon as I type that last part, I get an assignment. Looks like a good one!
Clear Water, IA
Now this just sucks... I stopped for fuel, filled up, then pulled the truck forward. Everything seemed just fine; it started without a problem and ran smoothly as I eased it out of the fuel island and parked it in front so I could run inside and grab a drink. But when I came back out, it had a hard time starting. I let it idle for a couple minutes, thinking that perhaps some air got into the lines, then drove off. I didn't notice anything obviously wrong until after I got out onto the road, when I couldn't get the thing above 1500 RPM and it struggled to even get that high; normally it'll go to 1750 without a problem. With a bit of creativity and a few downhill stretches, I barely got the thing up to 40, but when I came a long, slight hill, the thing practically died. I had to take 8th gear, then 7th, then 6th... then I just gave up and pulled over, figuring I'd never even make it to the top.
I double-checked the oil (it's fine), then looked at every other thing under the hood that I could think of... nothing is obviously wrong. I'm thinking that I might have somehow pulled too much fluid out of the fuel-water separator again, but I didn't let any more out than usual and it started just fine the first time, so I'm a little unsure as to what the problem might be. Whatever it is, I hope that the emergency maintenance team can figure it out and send the appropriate stuff here, since I still don't have a cell phone and am three miles from the nearest exit. I'm also hoping that I don't get chewed out for missing the delivery appointment again; after the road conditions prevented me from making it yesterday morning, they rescheduled it for this morning and now I can't even make that. It's not like I could have foreseen the truck dying, but that isn't necessarily going to make me look any better for failing to make a delivery appointment twice on the same load. I know I'm going to have to call management and I'm sure I'm going to get an earfull...
6:20AM: Got a message back from customer service before I even heard from maintenance. The people I'm delivering to are going to "work me in when I get there," so hopefully that means I'll still be able to get this load delivered today, instead of having to wait yet another day on it. The longer I'm stuck here, though, the greater the risk that I won't be able to restart the truck even with help; it's -2 right now, and if the engine temperature drops below +10F, there's a very real risk that it won't start again. And since it wasn't running right, it was only at 150F when I turned it off instead of the usual 180...
6:40AM: Well, road repair messaged a couple minutes ago asking me where I was. I put in the original message that I was at mile marker 200; I'm literally parked next to the sign! Hopefully they won't get confused this time. Speaking of time, I'm still very much worried about running out of it, since the engine temp is down to 120 after being here about an hour. Even scarier is that my voltmeter is down to just below 12, since I have to leave my hazard flashers on and they draw a lot of power; I really hope I don't need to get the rig jump-started, since I've heard that can take an hour or more.
6:45AM: Just a note about the situation... my hands are rather quickly going numb. I've lit a candle for warmth and keep trying to heat them up, but it's a steadily losing battle. It's also so cold in here that I can see my breath, and I know it's going to only get worse as time progresses. I really wish I owned a pair of mittens or something to keep my hands warm.
7:00AM: It's getting steadily colder in here and there seems to be precious little I can do to keep my hands warm. My feet are also starting to go numb, especially my left foot. I'm seriously considering lying down in my sleeping bag, with the Qualcomm within easy reach, just for survival's sake. I really am starting to worry about hypothermia setting in, as well as frostbite for the exposed areas. For anyone reading this later and wondering why I'm so worried about this, keep in mind that I'm from Florida, where it rarely gets below freezing; I'm now trying to deal with zero-degree weather and don't really have any idea how I'm supposed to handle it.
I double-checked the oil (it's fine), then looked at every other thing under the hood that I could think of... nothing is obviously wrong. I'm thinking that I might have somehow pulled too much fluid out of the fuel-water separator again, but I didn't let any more out than usual and it started just fine the first time, so I'm a little unsure as to what the problem might be. Whatever it is, I hope that the emergency maintenance team can figure it out and send the appropriate stuff here, since I still don't have a cell phone and am three miles from the nearest exit. I'm also hoping that I don't get chewed out for missing the delivery appointment again; after the road conditions prevented me from making it yesterday morning, they rescheduled it for this morning and now I can't even make that. It's not like I could have foreseen the truck dying, but that isn't necessarily going to make me look any better for failing to make a delivery appointment twice on the same load. I know I'm going to have to call management and I'm sure I'm going to get an earfull...
6:20AM: Got a message back from customer service before I even heard from maintenance. The people I'm delivering to are going to "work me in when I get there," so hopefully that means I'll still be able to get this load delivered today, instead of having to wait yet another day on it. The longer I'm stuck here, though, the greater the risk that I won't be able to restart the truck even with help; it's -2 right now, and if the engine temperature drops below +10F, there's a very real risk that it won't start again. And since it wasn't running right, it was only at 150F when I turned it off instead of the usual 180...
6:40AM: Well, road repair messaged a couple minutes ago asking me where I was. I put in the original message that I was at mile marker 200; I'm literally parked next to the sign! Hopefully they won't get confused this time. Speaking of time, I'm still very much worried about running out of it, since the engine temp is down to 120 after being here about an hour. Even scarier is that my voltmeter is down to just below 12, since I have to leave my hazard flashers on and they draw a lot of power; I really hope I don't need to get the rig jump-started, since I've heard that can take an hour or more.
6:45AM: Just a note about the situation... my hands are rather quickly going numb. I've lit a candle for warmth and keep trying to heat them up, but it's a steadily losing battle. It's also so cold in here that I can see my breath, and I know it's going to only get worse as time progresses. I really wish I owned a pair of mittens or something to keep my hands warm.
7:00AM: It's getting steadily colder in here and there seems to be precious little I can do to keep my hands warm. My feet are also starting to go numb, especially my left foot. I'm seriously considering lying down in my sleeping bag, with the Qualcomm within easy reach, just for survival's sake. I really am starting to worry about hypothermia setting in, as well as frostbite for the exposed areas. For anyone reading this later and wondering why I'm so worried about this, keep in mind that I'm from Florida, where it rarely gets below freezing; I'm now trying to deal with zero-degree weather and don't really have any idea how I'm supposed to handle it.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
I-35, mile marker 159, IA
So, here's an interesting point: Iowa's rest areas have free wi-fi. So the state actually has something going for it other than corn fields. Anyway, yesterday was not the most effective day, to say the least. I left the OC a little later than I intended (nearly 9PM, instead of around 8PM), then got held up slightly due to icy road conditions, then simply became too tired to even keep the truck on the road. So I pulled into the rest area here and asked them to reschedule, blaming the road conditions for the delay (because, even if I weren't falling asleep, I wouldn't have had enough hours to leave the customer). So they've rescheduled my delivery for tomorrow morning at 8AM. I can't really complain too much, as this gives me a bit of time to relax and catch up on sleep, since I'm not feeling so well at the moment...
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Edwardsville, IL
I'm just about exhausted right now, but at least I have a lot of time I can use to sleep, since I don't have to leave here until about 8PM. I'll work out the details a little later; I'm just in the mood to sleep now.
Hazleton, MO
When this tow truck gets here, I'm going to ask him to stick around while I try to get this backed in, since I have a feeling I'll get stuck at least one more time. Alternatively, I might just ask if I can drop the trailer somewhere that isn't completely covered in snow, so there's no risk of me being stuck a second time, then just hoping I can get out of here with the empty that I'm supposed to take with me. Of course, while I was stuck here, another driver ALSO got stuck in the snow, so I think they might be a little more sympathetic since there are two of us stuck in this mess. At least I hope they are. I don't expect them to let me park here for ten hours (or more), but hopefully they'll be able to give me an alternate place to put this damn trailer so I don't get stuck again.
And... there it goes. It's now 6:30. My fourteen hour workday is up. Any driving I do after this time is a big no no, but what else can I do? I'll just have to find some creative way of putting this in the logbook so it isn't blatantly obvious that I had to cheat; I might just log it as if I left here at 5:30 or so, when I originally intended to head out. I can't imagine any other way that I can make it look even close to accurate. I just hate having to do that since I know it's going to come back and bite me in the ass later. Given my luck over the last few days, probably sooner rather than later.
Indianapolis, IN
I'm just stopped for lunch, but figured I'd give an update on the day so far. Despite all the "winter storm watches" and hype about overnight snow, it seems the system is moving more slowly. It's going to suck when it actually hits, but I just might be south of the snow by the time it rolls in. So while I still have about 250 miles to go to where I'm delivering, I'm optimistic that I can do that in less than five hours, which leaves me roughly two hours of driving time to get started on another run. Obviously, the sooner I get there, the better: I've been making a habit of getting up earlier each morning and it's working out pretty well so far. I just need a bit of caffeine to kick start the day.
Anyway, they've finally made my burger, so I'm going to eat and hit the road!
Edit (10:20AM): So much for missing the snow; the national weather service is already listing heavy snow in the city I'm delivering to, with snowfall rates of two inches per hour and a forecast total of six to eight inches. I just hope that it isn't as bad as they're saying, but they don't usually throw out warnings lightly.
Anyway, they've finally made my burger, so I'm going to eat and hit the road!
Edit (10:20AM): So much for missing the snow; the national weather service is already listing heavy snow in the city I'm delivering to, with snowfall rates of two inches per hour and a forecast total of six to eight inches. I just hope that it isn't as bad as they're saying, but they don't usually throw out warnings lightly.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Monroe, IN
Well, today was another somewhat frustrating day, but at least it ended on some rather optimistic notes. I left Indianapolis at around 6:30 this morning to make a 10 o'clock appointment in Ypsilanti, and JUST made it in time. It was 9:59 when I got there, which is right on time for that appointment. Unfortunately, the people inside couldn't seem to comprehend that a driver might actually show up right on time for their appointment and weren't ready for me, so I had to wait about half an hour for them just to get ready. Then, while they were unloading, someone banged on the door and said I had to re-stack a pallet because it fell over inside the truck. I still don't see how that's my problem - they're the ones getting paid to unload it, not me - but I did it just to get the guy to leave me alone. Unfortunately, three of the cases in that pallet were damaged as a result and it took nearly an hour and a half for cargo claims to tell me to throw it away.
Anyway, while I was waiting for claims to figure things out, I got another assignment for a 575 mile run down toward St. Louis. Not bad, but the pickup time is in two hours, it's 90 miles away, and I have to drive directly through Detroit to get there! Since I was talking to operations at the time, I just warned them on the phone that it would be razor-close for the pickup. They knew that already, though; my work assignment even said I'd be five minutes late for the 3PM appointment. But once again, I hit it on the nose; the clock radio rolls over to 3:00 while I was waiting in line at the gate. The guard was a complete asshole who seemed to delight in giving me a hard time for being unable to read the signs that were covered in dirty rain water, but once I got inside, it took me only 15 minutes to drop the trailer.
The next problem came when I tried to find the trailer that they said the load was in: 208-thousand-something. The problem? Even the oldest trailers we have left on the road have numbers of at least 400,000; newer trailers have higher numbers. I took a few moments to look around, on the off chance that that trailer really did exist, but of course I didn't find it. I went back inside and it turns out that they somehow put a different company's trailer number on my paperwork. Twenty minutes later, someone figures out which trailer I'm actually supposed to have, corrects the paperwork, and sends me on my way. By this point, I've been at the plant for nearly two hours when I'd hoped to be in and out in thirty minutes.
So what does that mean? It meant I got to experience the joy (/extreme sarcasm) of Detroit's rush hour. Of course, I was held up for at least an hour compared to the time I'd hoped to make going through the city. So instead of making it down to Indianapolis, as I'd originally hoped, I didn't even make it out of Michigan. I was rather lucky to find an easy parking space here at a Pilot, so I grabbed some food from Arby's, spent about ten minutes typing this while watching the BBC World Service, and will eat, sleep, and hit the road around 4:30AM. I just hope that I can make this delivery with enough driving time left to get started on another load!
Anyway, while I was waiting for claims to figure things out, I got another assignment for a 575 mile run down toward St. Louis. Not bad, but the pickup time is in two hours, it's 90 miles away, and I have to drive directly through Detroit to get there! Since I was talking to operations at the time, I just warned them on the phone that it would be razor-close for the pickup. They knew that already, though; my work assignment even said I'd be five minutes late for the 3PM appointment. But once again, I hit it on the nose; the clock radio rolls over to 3:00 while I was waiting in line at the gate. The guard was a complete asshole who seemed to delight in giving me a hard time for being unable to read the signs that were covered in dirty rain water, but once I got inside, it took me only 15 minutes to drop the trailer.
The next problem came when I tried to find the trailer that they said the load was in: 208-thousand-something. The problem? Even the oldest trailers we have left on the road have numbers of at least 400,000; newer trailers have higher numbers. I took a few moments to look around, on the off chance that that trailer really did exist, but of course I didn't find it. I went back inside and it turns out that they somehow put a different company's trailer number on my paperwork. Twenty minutes later, someone figures out which trailer I'm actually supposed to have, corrects the paperwork, and sends me on my way. By this point, I've been at the plant for nearly two hours when I'd hoped to be in and out in thirty minutes.
So what does that mean? It meant I got to experience the joy (/extreme sarcasm) of Detroit's rush hour. Of course, I was held up for at least an hour compared to the time I'd hoped to make going through the city. So instead of making it down to Indianapolis, as I'd originally hoped, I didn't even make it out of Michigan. I was rather lucky to find an easy parking space here at a Pilot, so I grabbed some food from Arby's, spent about ten minutes typing this while watching the BBC World Service, and will eat, sleep, and hit the road around 4:30AM. I just hope that I can make this delivery with enough driving time left to get started on another load!
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Seville, OH
Ever feel like your entire weekend consists entirely of going through the required motions but not actually accomplishing anything? That's about what's going on for me. My day yesterday was probably the most embarrassingly short load I've had yet: I had to drive 80 miles to get a trailer loaded, then a lousy 24 miles up the Interstate to drop it off as a relay! And since it was a relay, I don't get any of the bonuses that might accompany such a short run: no short haul pay, no live load bonus, nothing. I even sent in a message asking them if they could give me anything better, but of course they couldn't. The only upside is that the load took less than an hour, instead of the four-and-a-half hour wait they had planned!
At least today has been somewhat better. I just wasn't in the mood to do anything yesterday evening, so I took a very early night, shutting down around 2PM and getting ready to go shortly after midnight. It turns out I was picking up another relay from that same drop yard, though this time I finally got to move a respectable distance (about 550 miles). Since it's a live unload tomorrow morning, I just shut down here in Seville, since there's really not much advantage to going further up the highway. I'll figure out when I need to leave here a little later this afternoon, before I go to sleep, but I imagine I'll be able to sleep 'til at least 5AM, probably later. I just hope that my next run is also a worthwhile trip; I've really been hurting for miles the last week or two.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)