Old guy new to trucking

Two Up and Down Weeks – Welcome to Trucking

The week started out Monday on a good note. We picked up a load from a nearby shipper and headed for a two location drop in PA. We didn’t start until evening but still hit heavy traffic in NOVA. Took our 10 hour in the parking lot of the first destination. This was the first time I had delivered to a retailer with no dock. They had a portable loading ramp. The lot was very tight and we had to get turned around the right way for it. We finished there and headed to the second drop. It was the same unloading situation but no big deal other than the cramped turnaround. We waited quite a while and still didn’t get a normal load. Dispatch sent us to a company facility to meet another driver who was out of clock and could not finish the trip to VA.

The trip through the town we were leaving in PA and to our meeting point in NJ was very difficult. Three lanes wide in city traffic at rush hour on a road I would not have chosen. 

At our meeting point I did get good backing practice as it was very tight and had to work from a non-standard setup. Learning every day. By the time we got out of there traffic wasn’t bad on I-95 all the way to Richmond. We had to T-Call the load (leave it at our terminal) because we ran out of clock. I did get to sleep at home, a bonus even though I only made it home at bedtime. Things went downhill from there. I got to the terminal the next morning when our mandatory 10 hours was up only to find out that the truck was past due for preventative maintenance and we weren’t going anywhere until it was done – and the shop was booked all day and the next. Dispatch intervened and they promised to “work us in”. That didn’t happen until about 1800 after I had headed home (another bonus, at least). The worse news was that a broken seal was discovered (about a five hour job) and the mechanic that did that would not return until 1100 the next day. We picked up our load the next morning and delivered to Tidewater. Another bad parking lot situation as the normal approach was blocked by a construction crane. Back to Richmond empty. Not a good week.

So we started late again the next Monday with a load of Clorox out of Maryland and long drive to NC. The next day the delivery at the consignee took almost three hours and really messed up our clock. So a very early morning pickup about an hour away and a good run to Carlisle, PA. The last part of the run was really tough with 20-25 knot crosswinds on I-81. This was another good learning experience having to anticipate greatly increased wind force when clearing a hill and hitting big wide open fields on the windward side. Easy drop and hook and the next load only one mile away. We took our 10 hour in a Cabella’s parking lot. Those same winds rocking the truck and howling made for a lousy sleep.

On to CT the next morning for a quick drop and headed to MA. We took the empty through winding back roads into the Berkshires and left it with a regular account that needed one. My trainer took over as I was out of drive clock, bobtailed back to Worcester and picked up another empty, making it to a Pilot with only minutes left on the clock.

We headed to Attleboro, MA the next morning. We saw a really bad wreck involving a semi on I-90 headed in the opposite direction. A box truck rear-ended the semi, apparently without even slowing. The impact was so great that it sheared the kingpin, driving the trailer forward hard enough to split it open. There wasn’t much left of the box truck cab. I don’t know the fate of the drivers.

We arrived at the shipper only to find that they had made a clerical error and shipped our load elsewhere. Fortunately they had another load to go to the same place, but had to load it. Another three hour time sink. As a result we couldn’t make it to Richmond, taking our 10 hour at the Chesapeake House service plaza in MD. Easy run to the destination south of Richmond the next morning, but no empty to pick up. We waited several hours to be dispatched, but no Jo, and called it a week. 

This week is the last of my training and I am due to test next week and get my own truck. I’ll keep you posted!