[Goin Fer It]

Originally Posted by devildice

9/25-26/07


Anyways, I was only 150 miles from my customer but decided to get up early and try to avoid any traffic. So at 3am Eastern time, I was up and doing my usual morning routine and by 4am on the road. I was utterly surprised to find so much traffic on the roads at this hour. It was like rush hour traffic at 4am. (WTF is up with that?) Not to mention the crappy roads, tight turns, etc….the list could go on.

I always see recruitment ads of trucking companies enticing drivers by stating that they do not run the NE, or if they do they offer extra $ for it. I never paid much mind to it until now. I understand why and I can whole heartily say that I HATE the NE!!! I will never, and I mean never come back here again. Davis is a forced dispatch for the company drivers and when I say I will never come back here, I am sure you all know what that means. Some of you may think I am being a baby or over reacting, but that is the way I feel about it and that’s the bottom line.

On a brighter note, I did get these last 2 drops 2 days early!! The down side is, even though I called in my empty status at noon Eastern Time, they never found me another load and now I am stuck here at a “Travel Center” on the turnpike in MA. I will call in first thing tomorrow and cross my fingers they have something for me heading WEST!!

Hey DD,

Is this the first time you have been back there? I think hubby was back around the turnpike with his trainer I know he said it was crazy but I think he is more use to it now. I think all drivers should have to go back when they are with their trainers.

I really hope you do not leave Davis so early on! Going East and West is what makes the runs so long!

I hope it looks better to you in the morning! If this was your first time back there it is understandable as hubby thought it was hectic also the first time he was there.

Goin Fer It's Wife

[devildice]

Originally Posted by Goin Fer It

Hey DD,

Is this the first time you have been back there? I think hubby was back around the turnpike with his trainer I know he said it was crazy but I think he is more use to it now. I think all drivers should have to go back when they are with their trainers.

I really hope you do not leave Davis so early on! Going East and West is what makes the runs so long!

I hope it looks better to you in the morning! If this was your first time back there it is understandable as hubby thought it was hectic also the first time he was there.

Goin Fer It's Wife

yep, first and LAST time too. I don't want to leave Davis either, but I will not run the NE again. I know some out there think I am over-reacting, but it's my choice and that's all there is to it. There are many driver that like this area and they can have it, I'll stay on the left side of the U.S. :wink:

[dewercs2]

Well I dropped my load in San Antonio and was told to get to Clifton, Texas. Only problem is I can't p/up until 2pm Friday. :roll: So I'm in New Braunfels, TX hooked to Idle-Air.This load will be going to northern CA. Figure that will put me Deadheading to Oregon for a load back east....

I walked in to do laundry and started 2 loads when someone came in and said ... the dryers don't work... so I'm cheating and using the dryer for the Housekeeping Dept. When they finish with a load of towels I can throw a load into the dryer and then they will toss a load of towels. I have to do this three times before I'm done.... It's gonna be a long night

Hope everyone is having fun out there....

pb
339T

[Goin Fer It]

:P See what happens when I mention the s-word! Now you have gotten to experience Alcoa!

I hope it did not take you to long to get out of there!

Goin Fer It's Wife

[Goin Fer It]

Originally Posted by tootie04

carpet is good for padding....usually you can get some at any carpet store sometimes they will just give you the pieces. My uncle lays carpet so we get our supply from him.

Also good padding can be old torn straps. At Arrow we used to take the burlap bags that padded the pipe and keep them when we unloaded. Also old torn up tarps. Arrow used to let us get pieces of old tarp to use under our good tarps.

tootie

I will have to tell my husband some of these ideas! The sharp edges of the machinery was what had ripped up my husbands tarp so bad the one time.

Davis will have them put on something to protect the tarps next time. I don't remember how many tears and holes it had it in but it I think it was close to 20 from the one load :shock:

Goin Fer It's Wife

[steelhauler2007]

At Maverick we carry three canvas tarps in addition to the 2 lumber and 2 steel tarps.The canvas sure come in handy sometimes.

[dewercs2]

Today I screwed up......... I thought I had plenty of time to get to the customer today.
I woke up this morning early and went and had a nice big breakfast and then went back to the truck. Since my housekeeping was done and laundry was done I figured I would sit down and watch a DVD. I put it in and was out.... I woke up at 12pm and was hustling to get to the cust by 2pm. So here I am running to the customer... I'm running late and dispatch calls. I talked to them and then called the customer. I'm speaking to the customer and I'm telling them I'll be there before 3:30,,,yes I was late...
They tell me they shut down at 3:30 but if I can get here before they will load, Ok cool.. I tell them it's 1:30 now i'll see you in a little while. That's when they told me no...It's 2:30 here. YIKES!
I got to the customer at 3:20 Montana time and 4:20 customer time...damn,,,
I called and spoke to Davis and told them all about it. I was told to not let it happen again.
So what really is messed up is that I screwed myself out of home time. I was going to get to run by the house for maybe a few hours or the day. I don't think I'll fo that now. I have to get to the customer and maybe I can get home after that...maybe...
I'm soooo friggen embarrased..... Damn won't happen again.....

[devildice]

Originally Posted by dewercs2

Today I screwed up......... I thought I had plenty of time to get to the customer today.
I woke up this morning early and went and had a nice big breakfast and then went back to the truck. Since my housekeeping was done and laundry was done I figured I would sit down and watch a DVD. I put it in and was out.... I woke up at 12pm and was hustling to get to the cust by 2pm. So here I am running to the customer... I'm running late and dispatch calls. I talked to them and then called the customer. I'm speaking to the customer and I'm telling them I'll be there before 3:30,,,yes I was late...
They tell me they shut down at 3:30 but if I can get here before they will load, Ok cool.. I tell them it's 1:30 now i'll see you in a little while. That's when they told me no...It's 2:30 here. YIKES!
I got to the customer at 3:20 Montana time and 4:20 customer time...damn,,,
I called and spoke to Davis and told them all about it. I was told to not let it happen again.
So what really is messed up is that I screwed myself out of home time. I was going to get to run by the house for maybe a few hours or the day. I don't think I'll fo that now. I have to get to the customer and maybe I can get home after that...maybe...
I'm soooo friggen embarrased..... Damn won't happen again.....

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: I am laughing with you paul, not at you......oh hell, who am I kidding, I am laughing at you.....that is too funny. i really shouldn't laugh as I have had my fair share of bonehead mistakes and certainly will have more in the future.

[devildice]

09/27-28/07
Even though I was empty by Wednesday afternoon, 2 days early, they did not have anything for me so I sat over night at one of the Travel Plaza’s on the turnpike.

I called in first thing Thursday morning and still nothing. Called back a couple of hours later and still nothing. This was a little discouraging. Again, I called back a couple of hours later and BAM, I hit the jackpot! I was instructed to go to the Alcoa plant in Massena, NY and load out at 10am on Friday.

This has 5 drops in Wichita, KS, Tulsa, OK, Richardson, TX, Garland, TX, and finals out in Houston, TX. It will be something like 2500 miles and since Houston is only a couple of hundred miles from San Antonio, I will be heading home for a couple of days off. The best part of all this is that I get the HELL out of the NE!!!!! The only part that kind of sucks is that this is a side kit load.

I truck on up to Hogansburg, NY where there is a small truck stop. Since it is an authorized fuel stop for us, I went ahead and filled up. I then proceeded to put that pain in the rear end side kit up. I keep my side kit stored in the rack on the trailer in a certain way (trainer showed me this) so that when you take it out it is a little more efficient putting it together. Well for those of you that have been following my thread will remember that a while back I swapped out trailers in Eugene, OR, therefore I did know how the previous driver put his side kit away.

Anyways, I get all the pieces put up on the deck and begin the assembly process. I start at the back and work my way forward. Well to make a really long story short, it turns out there is one post missing and one of the front panels. The post was not so much of an issue as the panel was. You see, the front end panels are about 2 inches smaller in width than the sides. When I realized that I still had one panel but it was too wide, I figured I must have accidentally put the front panel up on one of the sides. So I start looking for a smaller panel. Well when the panels are up, it is difficult to spot one that is 2” smaller. I ended up pulling every single panel back out just to measure them and find the smaller one. Well guess what…..it’s not here! Great, now what do I do? If it was a side panel I probably could get away with it missing because the tarp hangs down to the rub rail. But the front panel is essential for obvious reasons.

About the time I am trying to figure it out a Davis Lease Purchase driver pulls in and after introductions, we try to figure out together. After much debate and thought process, I finally figure that I could probably use the wider panel to overlap the other from the outside and secure it in a way with posts and the chain so that it would work. Besides, once the tarp is on and tight I should be OK. So that is what I did and what should have taken no more than an hour ended up being closer to 3 hours of messing with that dang side kit. Tomorrow I get the pleasure of disassembling part of it to be loaded and then repeat that process over the 5 drops. Sometimes flatbedding can be such a joy!

I got to the customer one hour before my appointment time and they told me to go ahead and back into the dock. As soon as I pulled the tarp and bows to the side and removed the 2 back panels, they started loading me. Within about 20 minutes I was loaded. However, it took me close to 4 hours to secure and re-tarp the load.

This was the first time I officially had to use the kit and what a major pain in the ass it is. It is extremely difficult to strap a load with those panels in the way. I propped them up as far as I could to allow me as much room as possible to work, but it was a major pain and slowed me down drastically especially since I needed to “gut wrap” it. If I did not need the kit, I could have had the load secured and tarped in less than 2 hours.

I finally get on the road and all I can think about is getting to a truck stop for a long hot shower and a meal. I decided that I would head to the TA located on I-90 in Pembroke, NY (Just east of Buffalo).

After a few miles on I-81, I come across a truck inspection station that was open. I got a level 3 inspection and happy to say I passed with flying colors. That was yet another easy $25 I earn from Davis.

I am shut down here in Pembroke and will sleep in tomorrow, (in other words no alarm clock which means I should be up by about 6am naturally) and continue my journey toward Wichita, KS for the 1st of 5 drops.

[dewercs2]

Devildice,

I wonder if the rear panels are the same as the front ones? the only exception would be the grain gate. I'll have to look next time. Hey go by Home Depot or Lowes and have them cut you a peice so it'll fit the front for you.