Happy Memorials Day to all my past, present and fallen Veterans. THANK YOU for serving!!! atriot:

Well I guess its that time again for me to get off my lazy rear and post an update.


After my delivery in Ste. Genevieve, MO, I got a call from an agent that asked if I would be interested in a load from Clayton, MO to Chattanooga, TN. The rate was decent and Clayton was only about 60 miles up the road from where I was. I loaded crane parts at the Washington University campus in Clayton with 3 other trucks. Getting in and out of the job site was a bit of a challenge in its self as I am sure you can imagine that the lay out of a campus was NOT designed with a big truck in mind. I was the first one in and after almost 2hrs of sitting, they finally loaded me. The other drivers came over to help me secure the load since they had nothing better to do. That is one thing I have always admired about flatbedding.....the comradery (*sp) amongst us. Once I was all secured, I in turn went and helped each of them out.

Although none of us really planned on running together, we did all rolled out at the same time with me in the lead. Along the way though, one by one we all got separated. The owner of the crane was on site and said that we could park at his shop in overnight in Chattanooga if we wanted. So that was where I was headed. I got there just after dark and parked right in front of the gate. About an hour later the 2nd trucked showed. He was the only one there with me by the time I went to sleep. When I awoke in the morning, I seen that the 3rd truck had arrived sometime in the night but not the 4th.

While waiting to be unloaded, I get a call from another agent asking if I wanted a load from Chattanooga to Knoxville. It was a short run but paid decent. This would also allow me to stop by the TA there in Knoxville and get a PM service done on the truck, so I took it. It was a light load of machinery and easy to secure.

Once unloaded, I headed over to the TA for the PM. While in the shop, the mech tells me that my left steer wheel seal is leaking. I go and inspect and sure enough. I tell him to go ahead and replace the seal (crossing my fingers that the bearings were not shot) When he gets it apart, there was barely any oil in the hub. . Fortunatley everything was still in good shape. While he had it apart, I noticed a crack in the top brake pad and told him that he might as well change the brakes too. Some $400 and 3hrs or so later I was rolling out of there.

Unfortunately i was not able to find a decent paying load to carry me through the long weekend . There were plenty of loads around, but they either went to the NE (which I avoid like the plague) or too cheap to even look at.

So by Friday off I went and got a hotel room for a couple of days and just relaxed while drinking a few cold beers:booze:I have been out for about 3 weeks now and am ready to head back towards the house so will be looking and crossing my fingers that something good pops up within the next day or 2.

 

Devildice, I finally got a chance to catch up on your thread. Happy Memorial Day to you, our fellow Chief, and all those men/women who served and still servicing. I retired July 08 and been OTR fellowing the dreams as yourself. Your OTR experiences are definitely a motivation to any new driver, including myself to strive for excellence in the trucking business. Thank you for sharing your OTR experience as Chiefs always do the fleet (Once A Chief, Alway Chief). r/ Jax, YNC(RET)

 

Happy belated Memorials Day to you too Chief, thanks for your service. Also thank you for the kind words. I am glad that you like the thread and it's always great to hear people are following their dreams even if its in this hard industry. I would be interested to hear how you got your start and who you're with.

 

Thanks DD for updating....I like reading about your adventures too...even though we are not on the road anymore...I still like reading them.

 

You are most welcome. Thank you for being a devoted "follower"

 

DD,

I hope this past week has found you well. Thanks a million for your feedback in the PM I sent you. Every bit helps.

I hope your Memorial day was safe and relaxing and you were able to book a load that took you towards the house.

R/

Frat

 

No problem on the feedback, I am more than happy to provide you with any info I can. By the nature of your questions, I can tell you are a fellow Chief!

I had about the best Memorials Day I could for where I was at and THANK YOU for serving

 

Come Tuesday morning I booked a load going from Cookeville, TN to Jackson, TN. It was a short run with a nice rate and it was heading west and that's the direction I wanted to go. Everything else on the board was either too cheap or heading up into the NE. The agent had told me it was 37k of metal shelving, the kind you would see in a warehouse. I get to the shipper and sure enough it was metal shelving but only weighed 11k .

As soon as I hit the road I get a "load alert" for a load coming out of Covington, TN to Carson City, NV with an extremely good rate. I called the agent and as I suspected it was coming out of the same place I just loaded at about 2 weeks ago. It had a stop in Las Vegas and then finaled in Carson City. Although I wanted to start heading to the house, I could not pass up on the money so I booked it.

I call my consignee in Jackson for directions and receiving hours. The first thing he starts asking is about the length and width of my equipment and if I had a fixed set of trailer tandems or a spread axle He then tells me that he grew up around trucking and was very familiar with the equipment and that he knew a spread axle trailer was going to be a little more challenging to maneuver since they are located in downtown Jackson which is full of narrow streets, traffic, etc. He tells me he is going to have me pull into a certain parking lot and then help back me up the street about a half mile to where they will unload me. :roll: oh boy this sounds like fun.

I get there and as nice as this guy was, he blew the situation out of proportion in my mind because it really was not bad at all. I have had much worse places to maneuver in and out of than this. It was a piece of cake.

Anyways, I get unloaded and bounce the 50 some odd miles up to Covington to load. I usually don't like to talk about what I have on deck until after it's been delivered but I believe I've already mention it before in a previous post since this is the same place I loaded at 2 weeks ago. If I didn't mention it, all I will say is that it is a Military load.

I get to OKC to fuel up and as I am doing so, I notice that the left outside drive tire on #3 axle looks very low. I put my gage on it and it reads nothing :eek2:. I look over the tire the best I can and it does not appear that it has any foreign objects in it. Of course there are no air hoses at the pumps, they are located at the shop. My conclusion is that the valve stem must be shot so since I had to go to the shop for air, I went ahead and told them to replace the stem. I figured I would be in and out & back on the road in no time. I was wrong. They had only ONE mech working and he had about 5 different projects going on at the same time. $42 and 3 1/2 hours later I decided to just park, get a hot shower, something to eat and call it a night.

The next morning the first thing I do is check the tire and she is good to go, guess I was right and it was in deed the stem. I hit the road and and called the consignees for receiving hours and directions. The good news was that the places where I was going are easy to get to, the bad news is that they take every other Monday off and it just so happens that this coming Monday (June 1st) is that day. :hellno: Boy I must have joined the wrong branch of service. I can make Las Vegas by Friday with no problem, but that means I would have to sit until Tuesday before I can final out.

I get to Vegas Friday afternoon and off load. I then head over to the Petro for the rest of the day and/or possibly the weekend. I figured out that I had 400 miles (+/-) to Carson and basically 3 1/2 days to get there. Come Saturday morning I decided that I would just head up to Sparks, NV and sit it out there. This would put me about 35 miles from my final drop in Carson on Tuesday.

So here I am sitting at the Petro in Sparks bored out of my mind. I am half tempted to drop my trailer and bounce the couple of miles up the road into Reno and do a little gambling .

 

If yer in Sparks, good place to idle right here...

Trucker Info

Just sayin'...

Rick

 

Ummm DD, Wonder if that would be a tax deductable expense....?:smokin: I just showed my wife the link, she shook her head and laughed saying you boys. Whatever is behind the green door is not free....