Neely's Landing, MO - Exasperation

After going every wrong way, I finally found this place. This time, they had both the name and city wrong. Charming, hm? In any case, I have a 10 PM appointment, which means I won't get to finish my break before they get to me. I could be cute and just not log the time it takes for them to load the truck (lumping it into my break) but I'm not sure if I could get away with that. If I do it that way, it'll ensure that I can use another very full day tomorrow, if nothing else.

Anyway, as for that last load, I hadn't been taken off of it when I made my last post. I was told that by operations but I then received a message from the trip planner explaining that I was still on it and that I would make pickup and both deliveries on time, even after I explained that I couldn't possibly do it. I responded by explaining (again) that it would put me over both the 11 and 14 hour rules unless I averaged more than 57 mph and didn't stop for anything whatsoever; when trip planning, they tell us to normally plan on an average of 50 mph and to allow an hour for miscellaneous stops or delays. Only after I said that it would be illegal for me to do so and that I flat-out refused to do it did they take me off the load, though there was a note telling me to call in before I'd be assigned something else.

So I called in and talked to operations and explained the above. They were as bewildered as I was as to how the trip planner thought I could take the load legally. Even more unusual is that the trip planner claimed she wasn't the one to assign me the load, even though it was on her shift; the information about the load assigner disappeared after the load was canceled. At least ops had some good news: I get to go home next weekend because it'll be the one time this month I want to go home. I need to check the mail and such, especially because they mailed all the drivers a coupon for a free pair of boots, good in October only. Also, I found out that we're doing away with the trip planners entirely, which means I won't have to deal with this kind of load-related crap as often; I'll be dealing directly with operations and operations will handle everything that is normally done by trip planning. There was some bad news, though: I do not get a bonus for this month like I was previously told. At least she took the time to look into it and research the correct answer this time around.

As we were wrapping up the conversation, my current work assignment came in, complete with an appointment four hours after my time ran out. Since I was still on the phone, ops just put me on hold and called the shipper; they're allowing me to take my break here. Of course, what should have been a roughly hour trip here turned into nearly double that, resulting in me ending up in downtown of a small city and having to turn around in open lots twice. I'm finally here, I checked in, and it looks like they're just going to take me in the order I arrived. There are three trucks in front of me right now, so once I post this I'm going to get to sleep, since I don't anticipate them being ready for me within the next three hours. The sooner they finish my trailer, of course, the better; I want to get as close to a full night's sleep as I can.

This load is going up to Wisconsin and the route is easy enough, at least: I-55 to I-94 to the consignee. It shouldn't be a problem, since I can deliver the load any time tomorrow, but Chicago traffic is always horrible. I'll just have to cross my fingers on that front. It looks like one truck has been loaded in the time it took me to write this, which means these guys are working remarkably fast tonight. I might not even bother with a nap and just get eight (or more) solid hours of sleep after they finish the trailer if this keeps up. But for now I'm just going to post this and hope that I don't have anything else happen tonight that's worth writing about.

Bloomsdale, MO - uh?

Things are so screwed up that I don't know where to begin. I have an assignment though, so details will come later.

Mount Olive, IL - Unpossible

They took me off the lord, so I'm going to get fuel. Whee.

Mount Olive, IL - Do what now?

My next load is impossible. More than 600 miles and one day to do it. It might be possible if things go perfectly, but it's a two stop delivery. I would just make the first if I got extremely lucky. Now I'm on hold with ops trying to find out how this is possible or if they'll admit they goofed and not try forcing me into an illegal, unsafe run.

Waddy, KY - Long days ahead

Thanks to all the problems last night, I'm going to just barely make delivery on this load. I'm pretty sure I can make it, since I have about 360 miles to go (I think) and a little under eight hours to get there once I get off my break. I can't afford to take any more time on break than the DOT requires, but if things go well (for once) I should at least be able to make a stop for an early lunch on my way to the consignee. There's conflicting information on this load, though: the work assignment specifies "at" noon while the notes say "by" noon. It doesn't make much difference in this case since there's a very slim chance I'd be there before 11 AM anyway. Hopefully they'll be able to find me another decent load right away; I'm doing pretty decently right now and I'd really like to keep up the positive momentum while I can.

Big Island, VA - Exactly on schedule

Even though I'm here at a manufacturer, I'm stuck waiting for "about an hour" for them to get ready to load my trailer with product. I don't see how these guys can't have the product ready to go several hours in advance; it's not like there are a lot of other trucks getting loaded and they can't keep up. I now have the dilemma of either taking my break here tonight and leaving as quickly as possible in the morning or trying to make about 200 miles tonight and putting myself within one more day's drive of my delivery. Sure, this thing has to be delivered at noon on Tuesday, but the closer I can get to the place on Monday, the easier that task becomes. If I play my cards just right, I could even get to take my break Monday night near St. Louis, where we have an operating center, so I can at least be sure of having a parking space and a shower. However, that requires I get loaded and feel up to driving another three to four hours, which I may or may not want to do. That decision will come after I have a full trailer.

Big Island, VA - Hurry up and wait

I arrived here about 30 minutes ago. It took this long to cut through the bureaucracy and get told where to go. They started unloading me quickly, but my next load isn't ready for another three hours. On the bright side, since this was a shorthaul and wasn't supposed to be a live unload, I got an extra $40.

Carlisle, PA - Relaxation

I hadn't originally planned on taking all day off today. I was thinking I'd sleep in a little, get a shower, then drive into Virginia this afternoon. That plan fell apart when "sleep in a little" became sleeping in until 11 AM. This load has to be delivered by 11:59 tomorrow night, so it's not like I can't spare the time. I guess I'll just relax up here and leave mid-morning tomorrow.

Carlisle, PA - Run to the woods

After finally getting rid of that last @#$*(@#$ load, I got another assignment to move an empty trailer around, then pick up a load going to a place that's 50+ miles off the interstate. I stopped here since there were a couple of things operations wanted me to do while at an operating center. I have two days to spare on this load, if I feel like taking that long, but since I'm pretty desperate for miles I'll probably deliver it quickly as I can and hope they can find me another load. On the bright side, the load is just short enough to qualify for short haul, so I get a couple extra cents per mile. Too tired to think of much else to write tonight.

Mechanicsburg, PA - Where is it?

Pulled into a strip mall's parking lot to get directions since this place is not where my directions claimed. Can't these guys get anything right?

East Berlin, PA - Whose load is this anyway?

When I arrived about half an hour ago, I was promptly greeted by someone insisting I had the wrong place. They started arguing about it before walking off, leaving me confused. I called operations and found out that I was in the right place after all. Further, the load is a drop, not a live unload like I'd been told all week. My next load is just under 300 miles; I'm going to see if I can make it today.

Greenville, VA - Taking it slow

Because freight is horrible right now, I'm not in a huge hurry to deliver this load. I'm still planning on being up early tomorrow, getting a shower, and likely being on the road before dawn, but I could probably leave two hours or so before I actually will. I have a little more than 200 miles to go on the load, so even leaving at 6 AM or so means I'll be there around 10, four hours before the 2 PM deadline. Supposedly I'll be out of there in an hour or so, but it really doesn't make much difference; freight is really bad right now and it's unlikely they'll be able to find me a load no matter when I get out of there. Of course, that's what I figured last time and I ended up getting this 1,360 mile load to Pennsylvania. I wouldn't mind another one of these loads, provided I don't have the mechanical problems to go along with it.

Knoxville, TN - Ready to go

The truck had a problem with the SRS and TRS sensors. I have no idea what that means, aside from the fact it was ready to go several hours earlier than expected. Because the shop had told me that it would likely be late this afternoon before it was ready, operations is going to credit me for two days of layover so I'm not wasting a night in the hotel that I've already paid for. I'll be out of here at (or near) 8 AM tomorrow and hopefully won't have any further problems. I quite literally can't afford much more of this.

Knoxville, TN - Hauled Away

They got the truck towed. One of the guys here at the shop is going to give me a ride to a nearby hotel in a little bit. It'll be tomorrow before they begin working - it's technically after hours already - so hopefully they can get the work done tomorrow as well.

Knoxville, TN - Getting towed, maybe?

They got here about twenty minutes ago, but it seems like something is wrong given how they're acting. If this thing is so screwed up it can't even be towed, that would be impressive.

Knoxville, TN - Waiting on a wrecker

It turned out to be more than they could fix on the side of the road. I was told a wrecker would be here "within the hour" at 3:30. So far, nobody has shown up. I'm not going to have the hours to drive any further today. At least the new information for this load gave me about two days to spare.

Knoxville, TN - I blew what now?

While it might not be the only problem, I blew a fuse inside the battery box. I didn't know the truck had fuses there. The mechanic had to go back to get the fuse - they're larger than the ones in the cab - so I'm waiting again. Hopefully it won't be another two hours.

Knoxville, TN - R.I.P.?

This is... bad. I was riding along, when my engine suddenly stopped. Meaning I was coasting helplessly downhill at 60 mph. I had a gap to pull over; I did so immediately. The engine seemed to refire at about 20, but given that I also had a warning for low oil pressure, I parked it. Now I'm on hold waiting for maintenance. Oddly, the truck will restart, but dies immediately when I try drive. I'm pretty sure there's a shop at the exit I'm next to; there are three major truck stops here. I just hope I didn't kill the truck.

West Memphis, AR - Whose load is this, anyway?

This has to be one of the stranger loads I've had. I picked up the relay this morning, only to find that the paperwork was missing. Normally this is an annoyance that can be worked around; I just have to call operations to get the info I'd need to write up a bill of lading myself. However, in this case, not even operations had a clue about this load. Every bit of information we had about the trailer, its contents, its origin, and its destination was included in my work assignment. Also, it was originally set up for an 8 AM appointment on Wednesday, but when I sent in a message to confirm I could make that (it'd have been close), I received a response saying that if I wanted to request an early delivery I needed to call in, followed shortly by a new delivery information changing it to "on Friday" between 8 AM and 2 PM.

Confused as to why they would have rescheduled a load I'd said I could make, I called in once again. And more confusion ensued. Turns out that, because freight is so bad right now, customer service is doing a lot of things without confirming them in advance; otherwise we'd lose business to other companies that are more willing to cut corners. A few minutes on hold revealed that the load should have said "by Friday" instead. This means that, if correct, I could get there Wednesday morning and still get unloaded after racking up 1,500 miles in about three days. If it's not, I could potentially get two days of layover at the Carlisle OC while I wait for Friday morning to roll around, though they'd probably just have me drop it and take another load instead.

Either way, I need to haul ass tomorrow. If I don't knock out at least 600 miles, I'm in trouble. I have 931 miles to go on this load and time is very, very short if I want to make that original, Wednesday morning appointment. There's a stop I'd love to make it to up in Virginia, but it's 665 miles away; now that the trucks are at 60 mph, there's no way I can do that unless it's downhill most of the way and I have a good tailwind. Amusingly, there is a 5 to 10 mph tailwind along my route tomorrow. Of course, there are other places I can stop if time is running short.

Dallas, TX - And off we go

I woke up today quite a bit earlier than I intended due to the combination of heat and the Qualcomm beeping. However, the news was good for once: it's a whopping 1,368 paid miles to go into southern PA. This is, by far, the longest run I've had this month and it's about time I get something like this! Since I've been finding it impossible to get to sleep before about 2 AM lately, I decided to just try driving overnight for a little while and see how that goes. Once I get further north, the temperature shouldn't be as much of an issue and I should be able to sleep during the day somewhat comfortably.

One thing that I found incredibly disturbing, though, is that there was a homeless person lounging around in the operating center last night. It was pretty obvious he didn't work here; he had to ask where everything was even though there are signs all over the place and was wearing what appeared to be red bowling shoes instead of the boots any of our drivers wear. Given incidents that have happened in the past, I was worried he was going to pull out a gun or something. Thankfully he was only clueless, as opposed to dangerous, though security had missed him. They said more than six months ago they were going to put up an electric fence and sliding gates around the OC to improve security, but that has yet to happen. As it is, where as I once thought our operating centers were at least reasonably safe, this has proved that's not so and I'm probably going to avoid this place in the future, if I can help it.

West Memphis, AR - Continuing Insanity

Unsurprisingly, things have continued to remain chaotic. I left somewhat later this morning than I intended (though I did desperately need the sleep), only to find a massive line at the truck stop on my way out. I needed to use the scale but the line for the unleaded was so long that it had actually blocked the truck entrance off entirely. A quick look at my atlas and truck stop guide revealed that there was another Pilot truck stop about 40 miles further down the road and there were no government scales along the way.

So, of course, I went along. And as I suspected, I was overweight. Because of how close to the weight limit I was, I had to play around with the fifth wheel.For those of you who don't drive, it's hard to even convey how much of a pain in the rear this is; the truck lurches violently forward or backward when you're trying to move it, making the sort of small, controlled movements I needed impossible. Each notch is only two inches apart and the truck displayed a tendency to jump four inches at a time when I needed to make the adjustments. As such, it took over an hour and a half to finally get it where I needed it, to get re-weighed so I could prove the weight was legal, and to get back on the highway. This meant that I wasn't going to make it to Little Rock like I'd originally planned, especially since I needed to get a couple things fixed at the operating center here.

On the bright side, I'm doing laundry right now and had a lovely catfish dinner for $6. On the not-so-bright side, I have 500 miles left to go on this run that must be delivered tomorrow and a message came across the Qualcomm today saying freight is soft across the entire country this weekend. I'll probably end up going to another operating center after I deliver the load, even if it is a fifty mile drive, because I don't want to be stuck with a layover out in the middle of nowhere. Besides, I don't think there are any truck stops nearer than that; they seem to like sending me to places that are way off the Interstate lately. It'll all make sense tomorrow, I suppose.

Also, not directly related to trucking, what is it with gasoline prices? As the photo below shows, sometimes just going across the street can save you 42¢ per gallon. Yes, that Pilot is selling regular for $3.77 while the Shell is charging $4.19. There was another big line at Pilot while only one person filled up across the street.

Nashville, TN - WHARRGARBL

Things pretty steadily went from bad to worse after my last post. The "one hour" live load took almost an hour and a half. I was fifteen minutes over my fourteen hours when I got to the truck stop, then it took me an hour to actually get into a parking space; even that took the help of two other drivers. I could write more, but I really just want to curl up for a while, so I'm going to do that and only hope tomorrow results in me having fewer instances in which I want to rip my hair out.

Red Boiling Spring, TN - Time is of the essence

I was quite happy after I got my trailer unloaded at the last customer; what I had been told would take three hours ended up taking only 30 minutes and I looked like I'd have enough time to pick my next load up before I went on break. Of course, given the way things have been lately, you can imagine how it wouldn't be that easy. Turns out that this isn't a pre-loaded trailer like I'd been told. I was assured it would be an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes before I was loaded; it's been 45 minutes and they've not even started working my trailer yet. This is a big problem because the nearest truck stop I know of is a whopping 67 miles away, most of that on secondary roads, and I only have until 6:30 before I'm out of time for the night. If I were out of here by the top of the hour, there'd at least be a chance I could make it; if I'm not out by 5:15 I'm going to have to get really, really creative with the paperwork. I'm also going to rip customer service a new one when I call in tomorrow morning; this makes three out of my last four loads that they've completely screwed up.

East St. Louis, IL - Simmering

Amazingly, the rest of the day went well after that last post. I ended up getting to the next place, dropping my empty, and picking up the load in a grand total of 30 minutes. So I have a little wiggle room on this load, but only a little; I still have only seven and a half hours to go roughly 400 miles. At least it's all on the Interstate this time, unless I find a significant short cut somewhere; I'll be looking for one in the atlas tonight. For now, though, I'm planning on finishing dinner, doing a bit of exercise, getting a shower, and getting to bed. I'm going to need to catch up on sleep since I have to be up at 4 AM again.

Fenton, MO - Boiling point

I'm trying to be as patient as I can with things, but I'm finding that patience to be running extremely thin right now. I don't think they had a single piece of information right about this load. Originally it was supposed to be picked up yesterday but I never had enough time to get there and find a place to park; I had to get them to reschedule it. The delivery was supposed to be a drop at 4 PM, which then was bumped up to 2:30 after I called and said I could make it earlier; instead, nobody ever bothered contacting the consignee and - on top of that - this was a live unload and not a drop. As a result of that, I might not have enough hours left to pick up the next load and get to a truck stop, which is the same problem I ran into yesterday, only this time the nearest truck stop is about fifteen miles away. It doesn't help that I was berated by another driver for blocking the only trailer drop slot in the yard; I parked there because it was the only place that I could park the truck while I tried to figure out why none of the information I was given about this load was correct.

My hours run out at 6:30 - two and a half hours from now - and as I figure it there's no way I can get everything done before 6:15. Even that assumes that I get in the dock exactly at 4 o'clock, per the original appointment, get out of here within a half hour, get everything done at the next shipper (drop and hook) in less than an hour, then find no traffic problems at all as I drive through the middle of St. Louis at rush hour. Even then, it'll be a hell of a squeeze to try and get the delivery done tomorrow; I'll have roughly 400 miles to go and seven hours to do it in, which doesn't even leave me enough time to stop for a bathroom break. If I can somehow save even fifteen minutes somewhere, that will help immensely, though I seriously doubt anything is going to go in my favor at this point. It's now 4:10 and I just backed into the dock; they haven't even turned on the dock lock to let me know that they're ready to work on it. It's a small wonder I was even able to get it in here, though, due to another driver taking up most of the area I needed to maneuver. At least I'm not the first person who has had to cut across the grass to try and make this work.

I'd be really, really happy to just get assigned a simple drop and hook somewhere at this point. A load going to Wal-Mart would be wonderful; those are always easy to work with and generally have extra time in case something goes wrong. They've just started unloading my trailer (finally), so I'm going to post this and hope I can get out of here within the next ten minutes.

Antioch, TN - How many loads can a trip planner cancel?

So far today, I've had one load canceled outright and it looks like I can't pick up the on I'm currently assigned either. At this rate it's not unlikely that I'll just end up on break after this unload.

Gary, IN - Laid over once again

Due to the weather screwing with the area, the driver who was supposed to relay this load couldn't even get into the operating center; he was stuck in Forest Park, IL for almost twelve hours. I woke up late this morning, got lunch, got a shower... and then found that the trailer was overdue for a PM. You'd think that a driver dropping a relay could at least get that written up and put it in the maintenance row; this guy hadn't bothered to do that. So now I've been waiting nearly three hours for them to do whatever they need to do with this trailer. Instead of being able to deliver this load this afternoon or early tomorrow morning, it looks like I'll be stuck trying to deliver it early tomorrow afternoon, at best, and even that assumes they can get an appointment scheduled for then on such short notice. If I'm not out of here within another hour, it'll be after the consignee for this load is closed and they probably won't be able to set up a delivery even later than that.

It's amazing how many things can go wrong, isn't it?

Reddit for Truck Drivers

Despite the popularity of the site, I noticed that there wasn't a subreddit for truck drivers. So, given that I had a little extra time this morning, I set one up and populated it with a couple of recent news articles. So there's now a trucking reddit that needs links. Anyone have some content to submit or, if nothing else, any interest in joining?

Gary, IN - Not so fast

So here's an amusing problem: the load that I'm supposed to pick up here isn't here until morning, which means that the one time I do want to work I can't. At least it'll be here in time for me to get near my destination tomorrow and have more than enough time to sleep in as it's a live unload for 11:30 AM. Not really much else to write about today, since it was just a straight shot up I-55 to deliver my last load, then directly across I-80 to get here. Hopefully tomorrow will be this uneventful, though I'll be driving through the remnants of Ike later in the day, so I imagine that the weather will be getting rather interesting as I move south. I'll keep the camera on hand in case there's anything worth photographing.

Elkton, IL - I've got nothing

Looks like I am once again going to have more downtime than I know what to do with. Freight is terrible up here so I'm picking up an empty and parking at the nearest truck stop, roughly ten miles south of here. Hopefully they'll find something soon or at least let me to go the OC.

One minute later - Heh, incoming work assignment as I type. This better be good.

West Memphis, AR - No rest for the weary

I have a work assignment. Normally this would be a good thing, but not when it means I have to drive 380 miles by noon. I'm going to have to wake up at 3 AM to have any chance of making this delivery, two hours earlier than I said I'd be available. Apparently, as usual, support shift doesn't care about drivers; they only care about scheduling loads even when it's unsafe for me to be up so early as I'll have gotten barely seven hours sleep. I'll take this load as I'm pretty desperate for miles but I'll be complaining about the delivery appointment while I'm getting unloaded.

West Memphis, AR - Going nowhere slowly

I meant to post this about four hours ago. Oh well. >_>

Due to the storm, they ended up canceling my delivery and had me drop it as a relay right here at the OC. Since I didn't get much sleep last night and just have been really groggy all day as a result, I ended up going absolutely nowhere. I'll be getting up early tomorrow and (hopefully) getting quite a bit more sleep to facilitate a full day's work, though if I get an assignment before bed that allows me the luxury of sleeping in, I'll be very happy to do so. For now, I'm just relaxing in the OC since it's not as hot as the truck (though I'd swear the air conditioning is off) and just enjoying the afternoon.

West Memphis, AR - Racing the storm

Well, this is a familiar predicament. I'm en route to a place that's threatened by a tropical cyclone. In this case, it's Ike, bearing down on the Texas Gulf Coast. However, I should be able to deliver this load either late tomorrow afternoon or first thing Friday morning, hopefully before everything gets shut down, if indeed they do force an evacuation. However, given how many people are on the coast and how long it would take to actually evacuate everyone, I'm not so sure about that. I'll just keep checking the radio every few hours to ensure that there haven't been any more evacuation orders posted and hope for the best. At least I'm not going to be down there on the same day it makes landfall, assuming they can find some freight to get me out of there; the last time I dealt with a tropical storm (Fay) I was delivering on the very same morning it made landfall.

Indianapolis, IN - Getting ready to go again

The shop finished up the truck earlier this afternoon, so I went back over to the operating center to double-check their work. Unlike Atlanta, they did everything that I'd asked for. The truck actually drives in a straight line! I don't have any obnoxious sounds coming from the radio! But since it was about 3 PM by the time I was ready to go, I decided to take one more night off and be ready to leave at about six in the morning. Hopefully they'll have a good run for me out of here since I really need to make some miles this week.

Amazingly, operations didn't seem to mind that I'd taken the time off without even trying to get a loaner truck; my manager just said that everything was okay and reminded me to send in an update on my hours to run and such. I'll send in about hotel reimbursement tomorrow once I'm ready to go since there's a chance I'll even get the room covered. Overall, this could be quite a good week.

Indianapolis, IN - In the shop again

When I arrived in Indy this evening, I had to drop a trailer for a relay, then went to the shop to put my truck in for all the things that Atlanta didn't fix. As soon as I said the truck needed an alignment, the mechanic just glanced at my steer tires and said "Yeah, those are shot." I'm confident that I'll get everything fixed this time. Though it'll be about Tuesday by the time I'm done waiting on repair (assuming they stay on schedule) it'll be worth it to get all those things fixed. I'm just annoyed that Atlanta didn't fix them the first time.

I'm also somewhat annoyed that operations gave me a work assignment even after I'd written the truck up; I sent a message back telling them that my truck is in the shop and I will not be able to make the delivery. I left them my cell phone number and told them that they could call me if they absolutely, positively had to, but so far I've not gotten a call back. Knowing my luck, I'll get chewed out on Monday for missing the delivery appointment even though I explicitly said that I couldn't take the load due to truck repair. They'd probably have me take a loaner truck again if I actually called them myself, but I'd like to avoid that mess since it took so long to return the loaner last time, resulting in the sort of anemic paycheck I can't afford right now.

Anyway, I'm off to sleep to enjoy yet another couple of days off.

Cornersville, TN - On The Road Again

First day back out and I get a 750 mile run. I'll also be going through Indianapolis to get the truck double-checked. I'd say this is a pretty good start.