01/22/2010

01/22/2009

Started my day so I would arrive at the south end of the GWB (George Washington Bridge) a few minutes before 6am. There was some risk that is would have already started backing up. But today was a full speed meander thru the New York metro area. I stressed for nothing.

I arrived at the consignee a few minutes past my 7am target time, due in most part to an unscheduled bio-break. Some much coffee in so little time. "Pull over on the side of the road there and untarp and we will call you in" I was told. So about 45 min later I had untarped and pulled all but 2 of the chains. Forty mins later I was told to back in. I just so happen to get backed in at the beginning of their break. This along with either union mentality or common slovenliness it took them forever to get me unloaded. I called and gave my fm a heads up that I won't even be making it to New Jersey by noon. They promptly pulled that load off me. Ah shucks now I won't be able to deal with Chicago rush hour traffic.

Once I did get unloaded at 10:30am. I got a W/a going from Conshohocken, PA to Newton, NC. I lost about 100 miles to the switch, but I won't be in Chicago. Fair enough trade to my way of thinking.

Traversing back through New York went extremely well. Other than people rubber necking an accident at the #3 mile marker in Connecticut. Once past that it was smooth sailing all the way through. Got down to Conshohocken got loaded and other that the bay we have to angle back into it went off without a hitch. The bay was designed at a time when the trailers were shorter and the wheel base on the tractors were shorter as well.

That all for today have a nice day.

Bookerz out

01/21/2009

01/21/2010

The planets, the sun and my luck were all lined up today. The drive up I95 around the east side of Washington out 50/301 out to the Bay Bridge and back to I95 just short of I295 and the Jersey turnpike went off without one slow down. Oh we dropped to 45mph or so here and there, but that a slow does not make.

The driving portion of today ended about 3pm eastern and then it was time to cool my heels and google tomorrows delivery and pick up point. Tomorrow I get to drive across the George Washington Bridge into New York city and continue through the city to Bridgeport, CT. for a 7am delivery time. NOT my favorite stretch of highway. Then once I make my delivery and get all my equipment put up. I get to do it again except for going the opposite way. To goto Carlstadt, NJ to pick up a load. Once there I have to set up my the glass a frames to pick up a load of granite. Original I was suppose to be there at 10am with my a frames set up. That would almost be impossible. The pick up window has been expanded till noon and I can set up the a frames on the shippers property. So now it becomes doable and a whole lot less stressful. I'm still going to hurry as safely as possible. I want to cover as much of the westward journey as possible. That load will delivery on Monday in the Chicago, IL area. Only 800 or so miles so I'll be able to get a reset in somewhere along the way.

Here hoping tomorrow goes off without a hitch

Have a good day

Bookerz out

01/20/2010

01/20/2010

The waking was easy a quick pretrip and away I went.

Not so fast the truck told me.

The trailer lights were blinking on and off annnnnddddd it was time for the red air line to fail.

So it is back to the maintenance shop. "Hey I got this and that going on and I have a 11 o'clock appointment 200 miles away." They got on it right away, but the hour and fifteen minute cushion I built in to my drive was gone.

So once I was repaired I fire walled the accelerator or as fire walled as a governed truck will go. I made it with two minutes to spare according to my clock and a couple of minutes late according to theirs. And as they are the customer their time prevailed. They only bumped me back and hour. A small price to pay compared to some of the horror stories I've heard

This was a new place to me so I called a fellow driver to get the skinny (low down) on the place. His description eased the process quite a bit and made for a generally nice day. Time between scaling in and scaling out was only 2.5 hrs not bad considering I had been given the wrong tarp a couple weeks ago when I was replacing equipment for a relay load I did right before Christmas. The tarp in question is designed for a particular glass trailer and not system freight. With a little creativity I was able to make it work and the product is covered.

Three hours up the road and I called it a day at the Flying J in Oak Grove, Sc. Tomorrows journey will entail working my way around the Washington DC area and on up into New Jersey. Should be somewhere between 500-600 miles hopefully more towards the 600 mark. With that I'm gonna call it a night.

Have a good day

Bookerz out

01/19/2010

01/19/2010

There are days when you don't feel like doing anything. If you exclude the fact I drove almost 300 miles before 9am that is exactly what I got to do today. I had a PM scheduled for 9 and it wasn't a full blown PM. I did included some write ups in the PM ticket. The bunk heater parts order I submitted at my last pm went where ever parts order go when they are not going to be completed. But the rest of the write up were taken care of. It took them until 6pm, but it did get done.

On a positive note I did get a work assignment and a follow on pre-plan. The W/A picks up in Huger, SC tommorow and delivers to Bridgeport, CT Friday morning. That will make for a 2600 mile or so week. Nothing to complain about there. The pre-plan has me picking up some granite in New Jersey Friday and Deliverying it Monday morning in Chicago, IL.

All in all it was a good and rest full day.

Have a nice day

Bookerz out

01/18/2009

01/18/2010

Woke up this morning about 6:30 central. Fired up the coffee pot and put my boots on.

I figured on checking in about 10 min prior to my appointment time and was waiting when the head shipping/receiving dude stop by the truck and told me to back in the first door and that he would open the door for me. SWEET! They got their act together today, especially for a Monday morning. WRONG!

I should have got clued in when in fact the second door was rolled up. So reposition and back into the second door. It wasn't really a problem cause this place is real easy to get back into anyway.


Next clue.

There is 20-30 crates of glass on the dock I backed up to. It is this way every time and something I had forgotten about this place. You would think if you were receiving a load that the receiving dock would at least be clear. But who am I but a dumb truck driver. So I can't say anything about how stupid it is.

No harm no foul I can't move for a bit anyway. So I commence to remove all the securement, throw away my trash, and pit away all the equipment I can (at least until they get the load off). Once all of this was done I get asked if I can unhook and pull the tractor out. Ahhhhh.. NO (the glass isn't secure and unless you are willing to take responsibility << thought running around in my head>>) sorry about that, but the glass is unsecured. Come on it's only 50 degrees. Well anyway I've been pakred in the dock for 1.5 hours and there is still crates in the way. We will just have to see how slow they can be.

Finally unloaded at 11 am central. I'll get an hour of detention pay out of the deal. I'll have to wait an hour more before I can move anyhow.

Well got a deadhead move back to Laurinburg. Only made it to Madison, GA. There is a Pilot here with a Krystals right next door and that is my fast food weakness.

Once I get back to the yard the truck is due a "wet pm" and I'll write up a few other items to see if they will get fixed. During the last pm I wrote up the bunk heater. They said they will have to order the parts and they will let me know when they come in. So far no one has let me know and I never remember at good times to see if they are in. So I'll write it up again tomorrow along with windshield wipers, the seals that go in the red line glad hand.

Well that is all for today

Bookerz out

01/17/2010

01/17/2010

The weekend while painfully short was a very good one. Lot of relaxing, socializing and eating good food.

I needed to leave about 5pm and the time arrived too soon to suit me. As I was pre-tripping the truck I discovered why my brakes were acting "spongy" on Saturday. There was a break in the primary air line up next to the glad hand. Fired off a macro to Fleetnet and 1.5 hours later IO was ready to roll.

There is a Pilot about 8 miles down the road from where I live and that would need to be the first stop. Topped off the tanks and my wallet and away I went. The rest of the trip to the consignee is only 360 miles so I figured on arriving there about 2am eastern, if no naps were needed. I arrived at the projected time and dragged me arse to the bunk to grab a few hours of much needed sleep.

Now from here there is a few possibilities:

Back to Laurinburg, NC

Wichita Falls, TX

Corsicanna, Tx

and maybe, just maybe Tulsa, OK

The trailer I'm currently pulling precludes everything but glass loads. Once we send in the empty call we will just have to roll the dice and see.

Have a good day

Bookerz out

01/15/2010

01/15/2010

Got out of the gate at 1am. Tanks are full so the only stops that will be needed today are bathroom breaks or getting something to eat.

Hit Fredricksburg, MD and I-270 at 6am. It's 30 miles down I270 to I-495 a little over 20 miles from there to I-95 south. So in an hour I should be on the south side of DC heading out whilst most will be headed in to DC. And that is just how it went maintained at least 45 mph the entire way. The smart commuters were out in force today and that is a good thing all the way around. Took a meal break in VA and proceeded to arrive in Laurinburg at the projected 1pm. Sweet.

Grabbed my load cinched it down fired off the macros to tell the computer as much and off to the bunk I went till 11:30pm. I'll roll into the house about 3am and call it a week.

Sunday I'll take off about 5pm and that will put me in Selma, AL about midnight. Unless I find a TA along that way without a line. In which case I'll roll in to get my PM done and then roll in to Selma later than that.

Have a GOOD weekend

Bookerz out

01/14/2010

01/14/2010

Today went so smooth as to be unbelievable. No hold ups at the border. As soon as I checked in with the consignee they backed me in the door. Unload went very fast. No sooner than I sent in my empty call and secured all the equipment to the deck I got the deadhead order to Laurinburg, NC, Then it was back to Kanona for the night.

I got back to Kanona, NY a few minutes before 2pm. That will allow me to continue my journey to Laurinburg anytime after midnight. I have accumulated a respectable 2400 miles for the week and hence the first good paycheck of the year will be coming in next week. The weeks paycheck while weak was still more than I earned in my previous industry.

Once in Kanona I got a beep. They have a W/A for Selma, AL and it delivers Monday do I want it. I thought it nice of them to ask and I could have said no without prejudice, but that would most likely mean not getting out of the house till sometime Monday and not delivering till Tuesday or Wednesday. Not a recipe for a week with some good miles so I readily accepted. What that will mean is at 8 or 9am Monday I'll have 1300 miles on the books and the rest of the week to close another load.

So it is off to bed. The plan is to take off about 1-1:30 am and be in laurinburg by 12:30 or 1pm. This is doable as long as the DC metroplex cooperates

So for today

Bookerz out