Wrong-Tarps she's talking about are used for Scrap paper-wood chips-etc and are used to prevent them from flying off of the Trailer.

Novacane...

If you come to Houston way....let me know... I'll buy your lunch...dinner or what ever time you get here.....

I'm a want a be in an office........

Thanks for the offer Nivek, but I am almost back in Little Rock, I just stopped to have a bite to eat, of course I won't be picking any wild plants here to take home, lol. The next time I come down(if I ever get a chance that is) I will take you up on it.

Yoopr, why would they put the "screen tarp" on the same load as what I have? I mean, why even take the time since it will provide no protection, just seems like a waste of their time to use them. But there was either scrap wood or paper around there, I am pretty sure that is what they used to make whatever the product is I am carrying, but I am not 100%.
Only thing I can think of is they were required to tarp the load, and they knew that it wasn't going to rain by the time they delivered it so they just skimped and tarped it the easy way.

Hello all, been enjoying my home time so that's why I didn't post yet.
I tried to make it home Thursday night but I got stuck less than 3 hours from the house due to being caught in traffic along the journey home. I almost said screw it and drove illegal to get home, but figured better to be safe than sorry, I haven't messed with the logs yet so why start now, it was just terrible being so close to my home and having to sit there waiting to drive even though I still felt good and could have easily made it.

As soon as the 10 was over I was on the road, and made it home Friday morning. The only thing that didn't go perfect besides not making it home Thursday was that they wouldn't give me a closer fuel stop again, I tried to make it to where they wanted me to fuel, but there was no way, so I stopped and pumped 50 gallons and BARELY made it to the place they assigned, so without the extra fuel I would have been on the side of the road waiting for fuel.(just so you know, I had about 18 gallons of fuel when I finally stopped, that was after getting 50 gallons earlier)

Anyway, I made it home Friday, and Saturday morning I get a call from my dispatcher and he said that I needed to relay my current load so another driver could get some hometime(my route went by his house) and that he would be there sometime today. The new load was going to MO and was around 30 miles shorter, so it was no big deal, besides it meant that I didn't have to travel through the "gorge" on I-40(although it's no big deal, but straight interstate is easier yanno?)

Now it has been seasonably warmer here in tn this year, but Friday night we got around 6 inches here where I live(it was in the 50's today, figure that one out) and he shows up Saturday morning, and since we have to do a inventory of everything on the trailer, and since I thought nothing about having to do that, here I am in a dress in the freezing cold hanging out in the back of a truck stop parking lot, can anyone guess what happens?

I am literally freezing and a truck stop employee comes out and tells me to leave or he is calling the cops, he thinks I am a LOT LIZARD! :evil:

Since I drove my car there, and I was dressed nothing like a truck driver I decided to let the poor guy live, but I told him very quickly what the truth was and that he should have at least talked with me first before accusing me of this. And you know this isn't the first time someone has mistaken me as something besides a driver, I mean, can't I dress nice and do this job? It's called overalls people, you can have nice clothes on under them and they don't get stained or dirty, shippers and loaders just can't seem to grasp the fact that wear dresses and have nice jewelry, OF COURSE I am dressed for the job when I am doing some work loading or unloading, but who says I can't look good while I am just driving or waiting? I just don't get it.

So all the snow is gone, and it has been a wonderful day, and I am back to doing the best job I think there is, so it's cool. Funny thing is that when I went to hook up to my trailer today, the same guy was there emptying the trash cans in the parking lot, and we looked at each other, again I was in a dress, but this time he only offered to throw his hand up in a friendly gesture. I made sure to let him see me driving by to ease any doubts he had, it was awesome.

Now I am anxious to see what kind of loads I get this week, although again I am getting the week off to a good start, and I actually got a decent paycheck last week, almost $500 and this week should be about the same so I am happy any way it goes.

Sounds like things are going better for you lately and you're getting a little bit more miles. I wasn't sure if you were aware of this but it sounds like you only needed to take 8 hours off and since you only had 3 more hours to drive you wouldn't have to worry about taking the other 2 hours off since you're going home and will be off duty for a couple days anyways. You could have been home 2 hours sooner! :P :P I always try and get home asap so if I can get home a couple hours sooner I will. Anyways, enjoy your hometime.

Not if she had used all of her 11 hours driving (or 14 on-duty.) You can't just take the 8 hour sleeper and reset your clock while "promising" to take the other 2 later. The clock doesn't reset at the "post 8 hr point" until AFTER the other 2 hrs are taken.

That is true but it sounds like she likes to take her time off in 10 hour increments and not screw with the 2 hour deal. Anyways, I was just pointing out another option she may have had since she was headed home.

That type of tarp is just used to prevent Fly away debris if you saw what I'm thinking it was. we used them alot for wood chip hauling and things like that.
PS-be aware of Signs in Arizona about Picking Cacti-Stiff offense if caught-It's a Greenie thing out there :P

So I start my day off early in the a.m. and after doing a PTI I decide to call the consignee to get detailed directions since I was having a problem finding the address I was given in the pre-plan.

Well I call, and what do you know, they are closed today since it's MLK day. But I talked to the security guard and he told me that even though there wasn't anyone there to unload me that I could come and drop it off and grab a empty trailer Roehl had sitting in the lot. I asked the guard to get me the trailer numbers and both of them started with a 4, and that is good news cause the trailers that start with 4 are new ones, and the one I had was old, and only had portable winches which is a pain to deal with, plus the rails were bent up and it was hard to get straps on, so I was more than happy to get rid of this piece of junk and get a new one, plus I figured it would be a drop and hook and I wouldn't even have to un-tarp anything, cool. 8)

I was getting bummed since I figured I would be sitting all day waiting to get unloaded but after the talk to the security guard, I was happy, drop and hooks rule! So I call dispatch and let them know whats going on, and they tell me to go ahead and drop off my trailer and pick up a empty and even gave me a pre-plan for............da, da, duhhhhhhh......TEXAS baby!

So I head to the consignee that was closed, and since it was less than a mile from where I stayed was there in just a minute. But when I checked in with security, he informed me that I would have to un-tarp and un-strap the load, and pull it under a shelter, oh well, so much for my drop and hook, but no big deal. I got done and went back to ask where to look for the empty trailers at, get the information and head out to look over the parking lot.

I look and look, but I can't find it, so I go back and tell the guard it isn't where he said it was, there were only 3 trailers from Roehl there, and one of them was mine, and the other 2 were fully loaded. So I spend the next hour searching and decide to give up, they obviously aren't there, so I call dispatch from the guard shack to cut down on my cell minutes, and plus the guard can tell dispatch personally that the trailers aren't there.

They tell me to bobtail back to the truck stop and wait, so I do. Come to find out, that 2 other drivers delivered loads this past Saturday, and they picked up the 2 empty trailers, and since it was weekend dispatch nobody knew anything about it. I'm telling you that weekend and night dispatch are virtually worthless, the only thing they know to do is tell you to wait for day dispatch to get there, lol.

So since it was Roehl's screw up, I get paid for sitting here(or at least I am supposed to, we will see) and have to go to the same place tomorrow to pick up a loaded trailer to take to Texas. Now here it gets even more messed up. They tell me my destination city is Atascocita which is a smaller town outside Houston, or Humble Texas, and that the consignee is a school that is under construction there.

Now that's not weird or anything, BUT they are paying me over 200 miles extra, they say it is around 708 from where I am at, but it is only around 530 miles. So that made me start looking closer, and the directions they gave me is to a town called Atascosa, but I can't find that city name, just a county named that. And that place is around San Antonio which is another 200 miles down the road. And that is where their directions send me.

So now I am confused as to what to do, so I get on the internet, and sure enough there is a school under construction in Atascocita, plus when I call the number they gave me for the consignee, the guy on the other end tells me that he is in Humble Texas. So they gave me the right city name, and phone number, but the wrong directions to get there. Part of me says to just keep my mouth shut and see if they actually pay me extra or see if they catch it out their own, but the other part of me says hey they have been pretty good to you, so don't try to screw them out of money(even though they screw me by not paying city miles). But I have to admit, I will probably call and tell them that they messed up so I don't get into trouble.

So now the plan is to pick up another trailer in the morning and head out to Texas again, and will have decent miles again this week, cool. 8)

Novacane,
Your posts are great! I really enjoy reading them daily, or when you do post! Have you thought of starting a blog or podcast? You could still post the links here for your new posts. Again, thanks for letting us enjoy your trips along with you.
American By Birth
Texan By The Grace Of God!
Ken