High-Seas to Highways

[danske]

dd,

I delivered last Sunday evening on time, but then sat 3 days in Greenville, TX waiting for a load. Finally on Thursday, I got a load from Scott's in Cresson, TX to deliver Friday at Lowe's in Wichita. On Friday I reloaded w/ a OD load from Spirit Aero(formally Boeing) in Wichita to Boeing Everett, WA.

Right now, I parked behind the Days Inn next to Muralt's in Missoula. Tomorrow, I leave here at dawn with 490 miles cover to Everett by 3pm. There is a 3-7pm curfew for OD moves in the Seattle area. If I can't make there by 3pm, then I will have to wait until 11am on Tuesday.

Did you make it out of LA last week?

[devildice]

dd,

Did you make it out of LA last week?

Yeah I sure did.....

[devildice]

Typically when I post an update I say how my trip for uneventful for the most part.....well this past week was anything but.

I made it to Barstow, CA Tuesday afternoon and shut down as I was pretty much out of hours for the day. I had gotten ahold of the consignee and the gal there told me they start receiving at 6:30am. This is great, because I have a load to pick up in Henderson, NV going to Ranches De Taos, NM and they want me to load as soon as possible on Wednesday with a Thursday morning delivery.

Wednesday morning I get up and head on down to Bloomington (L.A. area) and arrive at the consignee at 6am. By 6:15 they are coming out to unload the 2 AC units I had. This again is great. I start making my way north on I-15 towards Las Vegas. Up to this point everything is going smoothly. Enroute, I get a call from an agent asking me if I had anything lined up yet in NM. He tells me that he has 2 flatbed loads out of Albuquerque, NM to Eunice, NM that were scheduled to ship but something happened to both trucks and now he was in a bind to get them moved. He offers me a very nice rate and all I had to do was pick it up no later than 3pm on Thursday and deliver Friday morning. I say sure and go ahead and book one.

I finally get out of that slow state of CA and cross into NV. I hammer down and figure I should arrive at the shiper right around 11am or so. Well I come to that first chicken house in Sloan (mm 25) and get pulled over for a Level 1 inspection. I am not really concerned except now they are going to slow me down getting to my customer (which is only about 22 miles up the road)

The first thing the officer says after he introduces himself and informs me of the Level 1, is that he heas an audible air leak between axles 2-3 and KNOWS EXACTLY what it is (with a little $h%t grin on his face). I too know what it is.....it's my leveling valve on the tractor, it takes a couple of minutes for it to settle when I come to a stop. But the officer believes it's coming from my brakes. We roll through the motions of lights, horns etc. he rolls under the trailer and checks the brake stroke. All is good to this point. He gets to the tractor does the stroke check and continues to try and find this air leak he believes I have. By this time I have explained to him 3 times that it was the leveling valve but I guess I am just a dumb driver that doesn't know his equipment because he insists its on my brake line somewhere and he'll find it.

After about 30 minutes looking for this air leak he finally gives up (it has long since stopped as the truck had settled already) and I get the feeling that he is not that thrilled. After looking over my brake shoes he states that there is a hair line crack in my front right bottom shoe and it's on the "border line" of being put out of service and that he needs to check with so & so. I tell him that I will bounce right up the road a couple of miles to the Las Vegas TA and get it replaced ASAP.

He takes my log book, license, registrations, insurance, etc and tells me to go park over there and he'll be back shortly. an hour later he shows up and says he has good news and bad. The good news is that my trailer will get a decal and my logs are good. The bad news is that he is putting my tractor OOS.

I call the TA Road Service and 4 hours and $256 later I am rolling. During the time I was waiting for the TA to show up, I called both agents on the 2 loads I had lined up and explained to them what was going on and how I was going to have to cancel. I also called LS to inform them of the situation.

About an hour or so after talking to the agents, the one from the first load called and asked if I would be able to pick it up before 6pm that evening. I tell her that the road service still has not shown up and I would hate to say "yes" and then have to call back saying sorry I can't make it. I tell her "besides, even if I could, there is no way I can legally run 700+ miles and have it delivered the next morning. She understands and says thanks anyways. Well about 30min later she calls and tells me that she's in a real bind and that if she can reschedule the pick up and delivery so that I can do it legally would I still be interested? I said sure, let me know what you work out. A couple of hours she calls me back and tells me that I can pick it up Thursday morning and deliver Friday before noon. By this time the road service is there working on my truck and are almost done. So I tell her that I can in deed make the pick up before 6pm if she likes.

So, I bounce up the road and get loaded. I am just about out of hours and since it doesn't deliver until Friday, I head over to the TA for the night. The next morning I get up at the crack of dawn and hammer down. I call the consignee and tell him I can be there as early as 3pm Thurdays or first thing Friday morning. He says friday will work better for them since the load (cell phone tower equipment) is going to a job site. I shut down in Albuquerque and roll out the following morning.

I get up to Ranches De Taos (which in up in the mountains of nowhere!!)and it's freaking cold and snowing. The guy wants me to turn right into the paved driveway that is about 10' wide and so snow covered that you can't even see where the driveway edge ends and the culvert begins. About 15' up this driveway I have to go through a rout (*sp*) iron fence attached to a succo wall. I swing as wide as possible and slowly start my turn. I am watching the passanger mirror to ensure my clearance on the wall/fence. Well i am not going to make it so I stop and slowly back up in hopes that I can reposition and make it through. As i am backing the trailer (I have a spread axle) isn't tracking where I need it to and before I can stop she slides off the driveway and down into the culvert. The entire trailer it twisted in ways that it just shouldn't be and it is impossible for me to get it out.

The consignee comes over and starts yelling and cussing at me about what a crappy driver I am, this that and the other. I inturn have several choice words for him in exchange. I ask him "when's the last time you drove a (cuss word) big truck? When's the last time you drove a (cuss word) big truck with a spread axle flat bed? When's the last time you drove a (cuss word) big truck pulling a spread axle flatbed and tried to make a (cuss word) tight turn like that? Before he could even say anything I respond that's what I (cuss word) thought. Look at my (cuss word) tracks in the snow (showing I was as wide as possible). So until you know what the (cuss word) you're talking about, then just shut the (cuss word) up!!!!! And I walked away.

About 10min later he comes over to me to apologize stating that he has had a bad couple of days. I too apologize and as I point to my trailer tell him I am having a bad day. They eventually get one of their front loaders over and I hook a chain to it and my ICC bumper and they pull me out. No damage to the load or trailer what so ever. I get unloaded and now have to back out the way I cam it. Not easy but at least I was empty and able to jack knife the trailer if needed (not good to jack knife a loaded flatbed).

I head on down to Albuquerque where I figure I'll be stuck the weekend. Fortunately, I get a call from an agent that was ASLO in a bind (what is with all the agents and them getting into binds lately??? good for me because they are paying to save their butts) on a load from Aztec, NM to Houston, TX. It has to load on Saturday and deliver on Monday. It was a tiny 10' container that was modified with a built in water purification sysytem for GE and weighed a whole 4,500lbs.

I delivered Monday in houston and bounced over to the TA in baytown (not because I like it here, but because my log is shot and I only had 2.5 hours left on it). Here I met up with Broncrider and a friend of his. We all have been swapping road lies and having a good time.

[Orangetxguy]

Don't you just love those guy's who are gonna write you a ticket, no matter what??

[devildice]

Don't you just love those guy's who are gonna write you a ticket, no matter what??

Yeah and I think that was what he wanted to do. Luckily for me I wasn't cited, he just put me OOS.

[tootie04]

There is alot of that crap going on here in AZ lately....Bo fixed up a truck (used off road) so it could go to Tucson to get fixed and they "inspected" it at the AZ line....the only things they could find was the windshield washer fluid was empty....not like we are expecting any rain storms....the the reflection tape was not on the back of the trator....these truck hardly ever bobtail anywhere...nit picking for sure!!

Glad you got out of the ditch OK! That could have been bad!!

take care out there!!

[devildice]

There is alot of that crap going on here in AZ lately....Bo fixed up a truck (used off road) so it could go to Tucson to get fixed and they "inspected" it at the AZ line....the only things they could find was the windshield washer fluid was empty....not like we are expecting any rain storms....the the reflection tape was not on the back of the trator....these truck hardly ever bobtail anywhere...nit picking for sure!!

Glad you got out of the ditch OK! That could have been bad!!

take care out there!!

When the road service guys showed up they were telling me that they personally have been out to that chicken house 5 times in the past 2 days not counting how many times guys on other shifts had to go. He said that for whatever reason, that station has been cracking down and in many cases nit picking all week.

As for the trailer in the ditch.......you ain't telling me how ugly that could have gotten. The ironic thing about it was that the total weight of the load was only 25k and I had 5 concrete blocks weighing about 2k each stacked on 2 skids. Normally I would load those over the spread axle because it can carry a lot more weight than my drives but this time I loaded them on the nose of the trailer. It turned out to be a smart move (or lucky move) because the way the trailer was leaning in the ditch had I had that weight back there it might have rolled the trailer.

[broncrider1]

who says you cant teach an old (sea) dog new tricks?

ol DD has been posting without needing all the prodding!!!

i hope things pick up man, but it was fun hangin out with you again

next time though, lets do it at my house

[devildice]

who says you cant teach an old (sea) dog new tricks?

ol DD has been posting without needing all the prodding!!!

ha, ha.....you should be a comedian instead of a driver!

i hope things pick up man, but it was fun hangin out with you again

next time though, lets do it at my house

Looks like I got something lined up for Wednesday the 29th. I'll find out all the details later. If we hang at your place, make sure you got plenty of the cold stuff coz I got a feeling we would be there a while......

[broncrider1]

with our combined level of motivation......FO SURE

[devildice]

with our combined level of motivation......FO SURE

I wasn't gonna admit that our combined motivation was less than stellar, I was gonna say it was just the way we rolled......

[Jay B]

DD, was that you on I-35 in Waco yesterday around lunch time?

[devildice]

DD, was that you on I-35 in Waco yesterday around lunch time?

Nope, I DH home from Houston on Thursday.

[danske]

Nope, I DH home from Houston on Thursday.

Hey, where are you at? I am headed back to Ft Worth from WA with another OD load(aircraft maintenance stand) that delivers on Monday. Also, on the trailer is aluminum forgings which go to Wichita(I have to deliver the aircraft stand first as I am routed for the OD). I plan to get the second stop off late Monday afternoon, so I hope I don't get hang up at the first stop. Once empty, my dispatcher is working on my picking up another 12' wide load in Wichita. I make an extra 10 cpm on these loads and with the days getting longer it works out pretty good.

You mentioned a DOT inspection. Last week I was inspected at Wheeler Ridge, CA on I5. Trailer passed, but the truck's service line pigtail had a kink in it and I was put OOS. Fortunately, I dropped the trailer, ran back to the TA truckstop, replaced the pigtail, and was reinspected that night. It cost me an hour, but I made it to my customer in the morning on time.

When I emptied out, I was sent to Calexico, CA for a cross border load of aircraft insulation blankets. The company has a couple old dry van trailers that they have shuttled back and forth over the border. The load then has to be moved from the dry van to my curtained trailer. It was 95F degrees in Calexico, so I hired the Mexican driver to help me lump the freight(this is the only load I have had to hand load/unload). It was hot, but we got it done in under an hour.

Hope to cross paths again. Funny how by chance we met up at the Eastgate TS in Casper last year. Do you make runs up to the NW?

[devildice]

Hey, where are you at? Do you make runs up to the NW?

I'm in Cali. Got to make a delivery to Elk Grove Monday. The last time I was in the NW was when I was leased onto the other "LS".

[devildice]

I left out of the house on the afternoon of the 27th and headed back over to the TA in Baytown, TX as I had to load 9 pieces of coated pipe first thing in the morning in Channelview heading to Elk Grove, CA. Funny thing about going back there was that I parked in the exact spot I did when I left there a week earlier, guess they knew I was returning and saved it for me .

Anyways, the agent with whom I booked the load had sent me directions to the shipper which were pretty straight forward, get off exit such and such, head south 1 1/2 miles and the customer is on the right side. He also stated that they open at 6am and start shipping by 6:30. I leave out of the TA right at 6am and bounce the whole 6 miles or so to the shipper. When I got there, there were 2 other LS trucks waiting. So I get out and we all shoot the B.S. One of the drivers has loaded here before and he tells me that they don't even open until 8am and usually don't start loading until 8:30ish. Freaking agent!

This was a decent paying load except 3 things.....
1) it's going to Cali
2) They won't allow us to deliver before Monday giving us a ton of time to get it there
3) Did I mention its going to Cali?

I get loaded and since there is a ton of time to get it there I decide to stop at the house for the night. The next day I lazily roll on out and head to Las Cruces, NM for the night. Again the next morning I lazily head on down the road and end up stopping in Coachella, CA. Talk about a piece of $hi* TA!

By now it's Saturday morning and I am only 500 miles away from the customer. I know I am going to reset my log but haven't decided where to do so. I get up on Hwy 99 north and stop at a TA in Livingston, CA for fuel. As you may know by now I usually stop at TA's mainly because I get a decent discount on fuel with LS (cost +). This was the first time I stopped at this particular TA and I must admit I was impressed. Not only was it clean both inside and out, but the staff was friendly!! The only thing I can think is that it must be faily new and the employee's haven't been poisoned yet by rude drivers.

Since I was now only about 80 miles from my customer and this place was so nice, I decided to go ahead and shut her down there and reset my log. While I am there, I watch an employee come out and check/clean the parking lot and empty the trash cans about every 2 hours or so. Again, hence why it was so clean. If you're ever rolling through the area and need a decent place to shut down I would recommend stopping there.

Got up early Monday morning and head the 80 miles up the road to the customer. They start receiving at 7am and I was there at 6:30. The 2 other drivers that I was B.S.ing with back in TX were already there as well as 2 other drivers that must have loaded after me. So I have 4 trucks in front of me but I think no big deal as we all have the same 9 pieces of coated pipe on deck and it shouldn't take too long. How wrong I was!!

They had one crane and unloaded one piece of pipe at a time . By the time I got emtied, it was 1pm and my log was shot. So I headed about 50 miles up the road and over to Dunnigan, CA off I-5. I am sitting at the Pilot here waiting to find a decent load and by the looks of it, I am gonna be here a while.

[Fratsit]

Devil,

Happy to see things are going well. I remember you asked to let you know how school was going. It WENT great and I had a blast. I tested with DMV and was issued a CDL on 29 April. For whatever reason (nerves) I could not downshift to 7th for the life of me during the road test. I skipped it and got 6th. When we were doing our driving with the instructors, I had no problems at all downshifting....go figure.

I hit 20 in August, not sure if I want to stay longer or not. I do believe that until I see some more companies loosen up on the hiring I will stay. I plan to be a "company" hand to learn the ropes and gain experience with the ultimate goal of going out on my own.

[Orangetxguy]

They had one crane and unloaded one piece of pipe at a time . By the time I got emtied, it was 1pm and my log was shot. So I headed about 50 miles up the road and over to Dunnigan, CA off I-5. I am sitting at the Pilot here waiting to find a decent load and by the looks of it, I am gonna be here a while.

DD....Does LS load pipe up at Fernley NV, out of Rinker Material? Maybe you ought to ask.

Scratch that idea. Looks like the plant was closed down.

[devildice]

Devil,

Happy to see things are going well. I remember you asked to let you know how school was going. It WENT great and I had a blast. I tested with DMV and was issued a CDL on 29 April. For whatever reason (nerves) I could not downshift to 7th for the life of me during the road test. I skipped it and got 6th. When we were doing our driving with the instructors, I had no problems at all downshifting....go figure.

I hit 20 in August, not sure if I want to stay longer or not. I do believe that until I see some more companies loosen up on the hiring I will stay. I plan to be a "company" hand to learn the ropes and gain experience with the ultimate goal of going out on my own.

Good to hear from ya'. Congrats on getting your CDL!! You know with the economy the way it is right now I wouldn't blame you one bit if you stayed longer than 20. I hung up the hat at 22 only because I felt that I had achieved all I could and didn't feel like there was much more I could give the Navy. I never have been and never will be one of those people that stick around for a free ride.....know what I mean?

Anyways, congrats again and stay in touch.

[devildice]

DD....Does LS load pipe up at Fernley NV, out of Rinker Material? Maybe you ought to ask.

Scratch that idea. Looks like the plant was closed down.

I see loads out of Fernley all the time but to be honest I am not sure what they are.