Old guy new to trucking

Snakebit

Since I last posted things in general have been great since I changed carriers. The people here are great, I’ve had good routes, and I really like working here. Having said that, man have I had a string of bad luck. 

It started on a trip to Wisconsin. I got to my first destination and spent the night at their lot. I was first up for unloading and got out ahead of schedule for a pickup just twenty minutes away. I got to the address and it was a steel fabricator located off a narrow street. There was no way to turn right into the plant, which was the only entrance. I parked and went in to ask how to find a way in. The plant manager directed me to go to the end of the street and turn left at the T, then left at the light, down three blocks and left again, then straight in. No problem, right? I got to the end of the street five or six blocks down only to find that the T was a residential corner with cars parked on all sides. There was no possible way to make the turn and way to far to back out.  A resident came out and moved his car and tried helping me but there was just no way. I finally ended up knocking on doors to find folks to move cars and finally made a still very tight turn and on to the plant. The guy said that’s the way everyone goes around but I find that hard to believe. I loaded up and headed for Hagerstown. To make matters worse this was Wednesday morning, I made it to Hagerstown Thursday morning and the delivery appointment was Friday afternoon at Amazon and no luck moving it up.

So I was at Love’s getting ready to hit the shower and kill 24 hours when dispatch called and said there was a change of plans. Take the load to a drop yard in Baltimore, pick up an empty, and bring it back to our home lot. On the way I called our training manager for some coaching on when it is legit to use the time extension to 16 hours because it was going to be close on the clock and I was going to be headed south on I 95 through Baltimore and D.C. where finding a place to overnight is always tough. I thought I had a plan.

Not so fast. On the way I got a call from our new dispatcher. New plan. Drop the full trailer as planned and bobtail to Upper Marlboro to pick up a load at Nordstrom and bring it home. So I got there and shipping says the pickup number is not theirs. We found the load on the receiving side but they have no paperwork. So an hour later they let me take the load. I can’t get anyone on the phone and I’m headed home with no manifest and I’m going to run out of clock. I found out the next day that we have blank manifests for such situations but didn’t know it then.

I got to the state line on US 301, noted the full rest area to hopefully make the clock extension legit, and proceeded. I hit the weigh station on the VA side sweating bullets because of not having a manifest AND being over 14 hours and it took FOREVER for the light at the scale to turn green. Whew! Got home safe and sound. One more night on the road than planned.

Next week started with a load first to High Point and unloaded the first half then on to Charlotte to unload the rest. Back to High Point to pick up a loaded trailer at a drop lot to take to  Hendersonville. I would have had time to get it, make it to the destination and spend the night. Only the trailer was parked in a soft spot and the gear was six inches deep in the ground. A wrecker was needed to get it out and I had to spend the night there. So the trip to Hendersonville ate up most of three hours that would have been covered the day before. After a quick unload I got a load to pick up in the Charlotte area and deliver in Mechanicsville. Great! Should be home to sleep in my own bed. I got my dock assignment. This shipper required unhooking and placing a trailer jack, which was a new wrinkle to me. This was a very light load so I expected it to be quick. TWO HOURS later the light turned green and the guy came out to tell me I was good to go. I hooked up, pulled out, closed the doors, and went to the office to get my paperwork. “You pulled out??! Did you have a green light??” Yes, and your guy told me I was good to go. “That wasn’t safe! We aren’t finished loading.” So I pulled back to the dock and it took another thirty minutes to load one more pallet and then go get my paperwork. Over three hours in all, so I spent the night at a rest area north of Durham out of clock. Another extra night on the road.

So the next week I took a load to Trenton, SC. Spent the night just short of the destination and was right on time for an 0800 unload. It took over three hours. I got a load to pick up in Anderson, SC. Garmin give me bad directions and there was a detour that sent me to a road I could not turn onto, but got to the pickup okay. Because of the long unload to start the day I had to take my 10 hour far short of where I would have wanted. The drive the next day up I 77 at dawn was beautiful. I 81 all the way to Harrisburg is not an easy drive but still beautiful country. 

The fun started when I got to Harrisburg. The delivery address was what appeared to be a storefront rather than a distributing company and no place to park. Did a long go around to get back there after passing it and a guy apparently living there said he just rented the place from that company and directed me to a store several blocks down, which was still not right. A guy there said the distributor I was looking for owned the building and his was their old Illini address, and gave me directions to their location.

I got there only to find a truck broken down at the dock. A wrecker got there fairly soon and I got unloaded and headed to Lancaster to pick up a load to take to Richmond. Between the time wasted in Harrisburg and some delay finding paperwork for the Lancaster load I knew I could not make the deliver destination but should be able to find a spot to overnight. 

There is not a single truck stop on that route between Lancaster and Baltimore and the only other parking area was full. I thought I was early enough that I could find a spot on I 95. No luck on the several spots between Baltimore and the DC beltway. Bad to worse – two lanes closed on the beltway for paving caused nearly an hour delay. Both rest areas between the beltway and Richmond were jammed full. I had no choice but to use a two hour extension and that was looking dicey. I made it to our yard north of Richmond at 2239, exactly one minute before the 16 hour mark.

So a lot of things I had read about or seen on You Tube about the stuff that you encounter as a first year driver happened in a three week span. I learned a lot and managed to roll with the punches wrung out but none the worse for wear. Did I mention wrung out??

I just took a long weekend for the holiday and waiting for a load assignment. Time to hit the road again.