*still* sitting in Laredo. I just passed the 72 hour mark...

Talked to dispatch - they have 171 Celadon trucks here with 4 loads available.

Nice planning, eh? Head everyone to an area with no freight coming out.

What *really* boils my blood is that I was supposed to be home today in WV. Guess that's not going to happen. This is my 4th scheduled hometime at Celadon since I started here. In that time, I've been home 1 time when I was supposed to be there. I'm pretty sure that if I had a 25% on-time delivery record, they'd fire my ass.

But, at least it's costing the company money. My truck has ran nonstop since I got here. I've used over 1/4 tank of fuel just idling. Plus, I'm getting $50 per day (after my 1st 48 hrs) to sit here. And I'm definitely not the only truck of ours idling. It would've been cheaper for them to put us all in motels.

 

I was down there today. I heard the border was closed because of some drug lords shooting up commercial vehicles. It has been closed for four days.

 

I finally got out of there yesterday at around 10am. Was never so happy to be heading north.

 

What I heard was that there was some flooding due to heavy rains in Mexico and that freight was slow at getting to the border because of that. But then again, what do I know? I haven't been to Texas in 2 years, let alone Laredo *shrug*

 

Crap... Heading there again... I've got 3 days or so to get there, so get those trailers across the border and waiting for me (well, 1 of them is all I care about).

 

I used to get that a lot when I pulled for Burlington Motor Carriers. Either there or El Passo. But, Burlington's yard was situated near a residential area, and they would complain about the trucks idling on a regular basis. We had to park on the side opposite the residential area if we were going to idle, and space there was limited. Even with the truck AC running, it was a bit warm to get decent sleep. El Passo was a bit different.

There, we'd go to a truck stop and didn't have a problem. And, if you listened on 19, there were guided tours across the boarder. Daytime, it was shopping trips, and night time, it was to all the "bars" and bordellos. But night time was also a very good time to get into serious trouble on the other side of the boarder. Talking to one of the guys that did cross the boarder, girls as young as 15 were available, and they were also open about being infected with HIV. I never figured it was worth the trip, so I can't say I've ever been there.

But, Laredo has a long history of waiting for loads. They've improved the roads, but not the loads. By the way, do the Mexican drivers still dump their loads of pipes all over Mines Road?