02/24/2010

Had the midas touch today. Well....almost and that is good enough for this ole boy.

I awoke a bit early as is my habit and the work assignment described the load as a single coil. So I set up the deck with coil racks and such to receive a coil weighing 44,200 lbs. With this being a brokered load there is a chance that the load description is totally wrong. Such as multiple coils and so on. Next the work assignment said not to show up for the appointment more than an hour early or an hour later than the appointment. The hour later than the appointment was the weird part. Next potential problem is sometimes steel plants take forever to get you loaded and then bust your chops to get out of the way. Next weird thing was there isn't a pick up number in the work assignment. Most places if you don't have a pick up number, well you don't get to pick up anything. With all these potential problem points I kinda figured today might turn into one hassle after another.

But this is how it played out.

I left the truck stop early enough to arrive 30 minutes prior to the appointment. The highway was crawling at 30 mph till I got considerable closer to Toledo, OH and road conditions improve quite a bit. So that I ended up only 5 minutes prior to my appointment. So far so good. I pull up to the guard shack and before I can explain anything the guard hands me my pick sheet to give the loader. She tells my to pull in the door all the way to the right (no backing! Sweet!!). I take a second to look at the pick sheet. Load description is right and the destination is right so far so good. Next I pull into the building there isn't truck one in here. Wow!. I pull up to the indicated spot. Hop out with load sheet in hand the factory guy waves me off and says just get your deck set up. He said it nicely though. So I pull the strap that is holding down my coil racks and put on a couple of coil pads. I soon as I get the coil pads on here comes my coil. Then he wants my pick sheet signs it and hands it back. Then he starts talking about his son and the weather and where I was going and and. Nice guy usually you can't get them to answer simple questions and this guy is talking my ear off. I did during the course of the conversation ask him if I should secure and tarp the load here. He said if it is going to take you a while to pull off to the side and secure it there. Cool inside out of the weather what could be better. An hour and fifteen minutes after pull in the building I'm pulling out secured, tarped and ready to roll. And don't you know the tarp job actually looks like a professional did the job. Will miracles never cease. Everything I was worried about was for naught.

Now the only bad thing about this load is the “up the hill down the hill” pull the the Virginas on I-77. It was overcast all day but until I got to US35 in southern Ohio there hadn't been any precipitation. Once there it decided to snow and the further south I got the heavier the snow. Once in West Virgina it even had some freezing rain for a bit. The whole time I am thinking Charleston is going to be a nightmare and rush hour to boot. Once I got east of Nitro on I-64 though it dried up at least until I got to the higher elevations on I-77 where it snowed some more. So now I am thinking to get out of the mountains at least before I call it a day. Perhaps I won't have to face snow/ice covered roads in the morning. So I made it to the new Loves' at exit 1 in Virgina and called it a day.

Have a good day

Bookerz out