Thanks, it actually feels good to be back out and rolling again. There is frieght in Texas, the problem is that they can not find any LTL that is headed in my general direction. Guess that's the way it goes :roll: I know this is going to sound wrong, but it really makes no difference to me since I am paid cpm and not percentage. All I want to do is RUN.....

 

09/12-13/07
I got up early and it was yet another beautiful day for driving so I ran as hard as I could. Before I knew it, my 11 hours was almost up and I had put some 650+ miles of asphalt under and behind me. I made it to Glencoe, KY where I shut it down for the night at some small mom & pop truck stop.

I only had about 350 miles or so to get to the customer but it was the longest 350 miles because Ohio is a 55mph state for big trucks. I-71 between Cincinnati and Columbus was littered with Smokey’s today as I counted 5 on the north bound side with captured 18 wheelers and 3 on the south side. Then from Columbus to Cleveland there were 3 on the north side and all 3 had one 18 wheeler pulled over. So I kept my speed to 57 and crawled through the state.

When I made my morning call in to Davis, I was told by the inbound dispatcher that he had a load already assigned to me. I asked if by any chance it was going to the “left coast” as I just came off home time and could use the miles. Sure enough it has 2 pick ups in Louisville and E. Palestine, OH with 3 drops all in Albany, OR, a little over 2,700 miles!!!!! They tell me that the first pick up in Louisville shuts down at 4pm eastern time. O.K. no problem as I expect to get to my drop off customer about 1 or 1:30pm.

I get to the customer (after a wrong turn) at 1:05pm. When I go to check in, they are surprised to see me. For the next 50 minutes, they try to figure out why I am here. I am getting frustrated and repeatedly have to show my BOL to several people. Everyone keeps asking me where it came from; over and over I show them on the BOL that it came from company “X” in San Antonio, TX to THEM in Cleveland, OH. Finally they tell me to go over to a maintenance building and they’ll unload me.

I get there, and the guy says is that all you have? (There are 11 rectangular blocks of steel weighing about 2,000lbs each) I replied, “No….there are 2 more in my side box. He looks at me with the “deer in the headlights” look :shock: and I start laughing. He did not laugh with me so I guess he did not think it was funny. While I remove my chains he goes and gets the forklift, when he returns, he scratches his head and says to me “where should I put these?” I looked at him and said “Excuse me…. you’re asking me where YOU should put them?” He says “Yeah”……I laugh out of disgust with how this whole process has gone so far and tell him in the nicest possible way; “this is a scrap yard, I could care less where you put them, push them off the side of my deck onto the ground for all I care, just get it off my deck so I can be on my way”. Again, the “deer in the headlights” look :shock: .

Needless to say, by the time I am empty and on my way, I have 1 hour and 15 minutes to go 77 miles. I hit the road and decided to roll the dice and push the speed limit to 65mph, continually getting bear reports on the CB along the way. Well I get to Akron and traffic come to a halt. It’s the beginning of rush hour and we are moving at a snails pace of 35-40mph. By the time it thins out, I now have 20 miles to go before I exit the interstate and then another 10 miles or so to the customer and only 35 minutes to do it. So I know I will not make it but the customer did tell me they have overnight parking. So that is where I am shut down right now, outside the customer’s gate in Louisville, OH.

Let’s hope that tomorrow is a better day.

 

you mean yer not the super trucker with the answers to everyone's problem in his hip pocket??? shesh im so disallousoned

lol

sorry man, but yer starting to get my kinda luck...lol

 

:lol: :lol: :lol: you know the old saying......if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all.

 

DD,

It has been many years since I have been out there, but I would warn you not speed in Ohio. IMHO, the OSHP are the big Aholes!! Please read my blog which I published here 2 months ago.

http://www.classadrivers.com/phpBB2/...ghlight=danske

In the 90's the OSHP had ZERO tolerance for speeding trucks and I believe it is still true today. But, this is only my opinion. Some drivers will say that California Highway Patrol is worse, but I was given several breaks by them when I was driving(It may have help that at the time I had a California CDL).

Happy sailings and I am glad that you have another great load to the Left Coast and my home state(Don't tell GFI cuz he hates Oregon!! :lol: )

 

Hey Devil Dice

I've started with Sage in Missoula. Staying at the Days Inn @ Muralt's Travel Plaza. The lot and the motel is full of Davis Drivers & Trucks. Unit 371 was in the lot last night- I know, close but no cigar. I knew you were supposed to be back east but it sent me back to the 'puter to look up your #.

Jim Palmer, Davis, Interstate Watkins Shepard and others- sort of nice to be in the middle of it all. Hope this message finds you well.

Rick

 

09/14-15/07
I set my alarm to wake me at 6am local time. That would give me 1 ½ hours to wake up and do my morning ritual before the customer opened. The alarm goes off and I hit the snooze and the next thing I know its 7am. This should have been my first clue that the day was NOT going to be a good one.

I go to the guard shack at 7:30 and check in. He verifies that I am on his ‘roster” and gives me a slip of paper and tells me to go to door number 8 and give the paper to the loader. I go to door #8 and give the paper to the loader inside. He asks “what is your pick up number”, crap, I left my notebook in the truck, but I believe it was “such & such”. He says “nope, that can not be it as our numbers start with a “5 series”. So I go out to the truck and get my notebook then back inside to give the guy the number, which, was exactly as I had told him a short while ago. He again states that it can not be the number to which I reply “it’s the only number I have”. He insists that it is wrong. I go back out to the truck and call dispatch to inform them of the issue. Dispatch in turn calls the contact at the customer but gets her voice mail.

I go back inside and explain to the guy that it has to be the number because when I called yesterday to get directions, the woman (customer contact) acknowledged the number and gave me direction to the plant. I also describe to him what it is I am supposed to be picking up as well as the weight and destination. The guy again insists that it’s wrong as he is looking through the paper work in front of him. After several minutes of fumbling through them and repeatedly insisting that it’s not the right number he finds the BOL, and low and behold, it IS the correct number. Now the guy is pissed and is making sure that every little rule, regulation and detail is being followed to a “T”.

The day gets even worse at this customer and on my way to my second pick up. The past couple of days have been less than perfect due to many issues to include several BONE HEAD things from minor to major on my part. However, I will not share the details of these “events” since there is at least one Davis Transport office person that reads this journal and it is in my best interest that I NOT post the details on here. Perhaps some day I will post what some of these events were as there are some very valuable lessons to be learned, especially for the “newbie’s”.

Anyways, by late morning I am completely loaded from both pick ups and on my way. I get on the Turnpike and set the cruise control to 65mph. Typically, on a day that I load, I generally go as far as I can but never run too hard. Well this was an exception and I ran all the way to Walcott, IA (legally) before shutting it down. I did it this way because… 1) I did not want to stay in Indiana or Illinois for the night and 2) I wanted to get this day done and far behind me. 3) And lastly, so that on Saturday I could take it easy and try to “re-group”.

I get to the Iowa-80 truck stop and was surprised as large as that place is (I think it has something like 800 parking spaces), there were only a couple of parking spaces available. I get it parked and shut down and decided not set my alarm clock. I awoke about 8am local time and I did my morning ritual of brewing a pot of coffee and catching up on world events. I got an over priced hair cut, took a nice hot shower and shave, replaced my CB antenna cable, fixed a trailer light that was out, did a load of laundry and fueled up.

By the time I left, it was already noon and I just took my time rolling down the road. I ended up going only as far as York, NE before shutting it down at a Petro that has IdleAire. I see that there are at least 2 other Davis trucks here hooked up to IdleAire but I did not see the drivers so I do not know who they are.

After the past couple of days, actually the past couple of loads (including the one that took me to Houston, TX) I needed an easy day like today to re-group and re-focus myself. I am happy to say that it seemed to have worked as all went smooth. I hope that my bone head issues are behind me now.

I only have about 1,600 miles give or take to go and until the 20th to do it, but tomorrow I will be back to my “normal routine” of getting up early and running hard. My goal is to get there by the 18th.

 

Congrats on starting school!!! Muralt's is the "unofficial main terminal" for Davis........ :lol: If I were running I-90 I'd stop by there and say hello but instead I am running 80. Anways, good luck in school and make sure you have FUN!!!!!!!!

 

i wish i had known you were in walcott, as i was there too...and we even left around the same time

maybe next time around huh

 

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days.....

I was in Missoula for about 3 days. I had to test drive my truck about 3 times up the sissy course and into that driveway that us trainiees have to drive out of to get issued our own truck. I ended up coming out of truck 374t and was issued 402t. I looked at the outside and it has a new chrome tank and the wheels have been polished so I was think'n cool Im getting a truck that has been taken care of by the previous driver. I spoke to the yard guy and he was scrubbuing the floor boards of the truck to make it look good for me. I went around to the passenger side and poked my head inside the truck......
I was greated with the aroma of cigerattes :sad: and since I don't smoke I was a little bit upset that I would have to deal with my new home smelling like an ashtray. I was in my truck cleaning and wiping it down and after an hour I went in and spoke to my truck boss. I explained that I was not a smoker and the truck I was to move into was a smokers truck. He said no problem and gave me a list of 2 other trucks to look at. 8) So back out to the lot I went. I looked for the first truck on the list and could no find it. I was told it was not road worthy yet. So off to look for the other truck which I found next auto repair shop. I looked inside.... 8) I'll take this truck. So now I'm moved into a 06KW with a cummins 450 ISX motor. I like this truck!!!!
I took off from Missoula on Friday night and as I was getting into Bonner, MT the check engine light came on. To turn back or keep going sprung into my mind but the heck with it... Off to Laurel, MT I went. I called in on Sat am and told Davis what was going on and they transferred the call to the shop. I pulled the code and was told it was a coolant sensor. I told them that the motor was running fine and that there was nothing else wrong. I was tod to contact the shop on Monday.
I have been driving this for 2 days now and it rides so nice. The power to climb hills and not worry about anything is such a relief!
Im in Walcott right now and still need to have this load to S. Carolina. The original date to deliver was Monday the 17th. But with being in Missoula for the 3 days knocked that off date off.
Well gotta get to sleep...

Paul
339T