10/12/07
I got to the customer at 8am and they said they were ready to load me. So I back into the warehouse and since they will be loading me with an overhead crane I know I will be out of there in no time. Wrong!!!! They didn’t even start loading me until about 9:30am and they took forever. By the time I was done strapping and tarping, it was noon.

I decided to run as far as Santa Rosa, NM before shutting down for the night. Since I can not deliver until Tuesday, I doubt I will go very far this weekend. I’ll study the atlas and try to “position” myself somewhere outside of Los Angeles maybe a 100 miles or so from my customer by Monday, this way I won’t have to stay over night in the L.A. area.

 

10/13/07
I was in no hurry to get up and rolling so I took my sweet time. Once I did get going, I kept the left door shut with the exception of one stop to get fuel. I got to Flagstaff, AZ and shut it down at the “Little America” truck stop/travel plaza.

I looked over the atlas and decided that tomorrow I will go as far as Barstow, CA and shut down there until early Tuesday morning. This will put me about 120 or so miles from my customer and I won’t have to stay in the L.A. area over night. I am hoping I can get both drops off as early as possible Tuesday and get reloaded and out of the area as fast as possible. I won’t hold my breath on it, but it is wishful thinking.

 

Why don't you want to stay in the LA area overnight. If you mean staying at a truck stop I agree. If you can park at your consignee I would park there.

 

Plus that last 100 miles or so could be an absloute nightmare with the LA traffic. You could think you're going to be early and end up being hours late :?

 

10/14/07
A slight change in plans. I decided to stay here in Flagstaff, AZ and reset my hours. This is a clean and decent little truck stop and over all not a terrible place to reset. So I’ve been watching TV and surfing the internet most of the day. I did a load of laundry and straightened the truck up a little.

At 4:30am I will have a fresh 70 available and will more than like hit the road by 6am heading to Ontario, CA. According to MS Streets & Trips, this will put me about 50 some odd miles from my first customer.

I am crossing my fingers that I can get in and out of L.A. not only as fast as possible, but smoothly and without any hitches as well.

 

10/15/07
Other than some afternoon traffic, it was a fairly uneventful drive from Flagstaff to Ontario. I am shut down at one of the TA truck stops here only because my customer said there was nowhere on or near his property to park over night.

I have a 12noon delivery appointment but will be up early due to traffic

 

That is what I always try to do, but unfortunately this customer said he does not have overnight parking on or near his property :cry:

 

I was born and raised here but have not been back in some 25 years, i could have easily gone at least another 25 before coming back.....one of the things I hate the most is this crazy ass traffic.

 

10/16/07
Knock on wood, but so far so good dealing with all the crazies in L.A. I got to my customer early and with in 30 minutes of taking my tarps off and un-strapping, they were unloading me.

I was on my way to my second customer when all of a sudden I was driving through South Gate. I was born and raised there and it took me by surprise that I was driving through it so many years later. I knew that being in the L.A. area I would be close by, but had no idea that I would actually drive through it.

So much of it looked the same and yet so much has changed. I was within one block of where I grew up and wish I could have drove the truck by my old home. I did go past the corner store where my friends and I used to go to buy candy when ever our parents were generous enough to give us some spare change. I could go on about the various things I seen and the memories it brought back, but will not bore you. I will say that it was very nostalgic for me.

Anyways, I get to my 2nd and final customer and although everyone there was friendly and a pleasure to deal with, they were extremely slow getting me unloaded. I spend more than 2 hours there waiting for them to take the 4 skids off. It wasn’t like I was waiting in line to be unloaded; I was the only truck there. They were just plain slow.

I called in my empty status and was told to head back to the Ontario truck stop since I was number 3 on the board. Not sure where the other 2 Davis trucks are, but they are somewhere around here.

Oh, I forgot to mention this yesterday. When I called in for my morning report, I was told that my truck manager wanted to talk to me. He tells me he has some good news. Apparently CAT has a recall on some of their motors and mine falls into the category. Guess they have a problem with pitting in the cylinder walls and are going to rebuild the motor. Since this will take a week to week and half to complete, he is issuing me another truck when I roll through Missoula next time. I am getting a 2006 with a Cummins. How SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

You'll like the Cummins... It's so nice, easy to push throttle runs and shifts nice an smooth....the Jake.... :shock: so nice....

I PM'd you...